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Week 8: And Then There Were Walls

And then there were walls..... you would think that Matt and I just hit the lottery. No more studs, holes, hot air, exposed insulation, this house is starting to turn into a home. The hangers for the drywall started on Tuesday and man is that some interesting work. Due to our lovely existing plaster we weren't able to remove it like typical dry wall sheets so we were left with a few holes in the walls and in the ceilings. In this situation they had to lay either1/4", 3/8" or 1/2" thick drywall to meet up flush with the existing then either mud those together or lay another layer of drywall over all of it. Both the bathrooms and kitchen/dining got the double layer treatment. The entry, hallway, new bedrooms and their closets had the single layer. The finishers came in on Thursday after the hangers were done and got through the first layer of mud that night. This stuff takes a day or so to dry before they can sand out and mud a second layer. Lucky for us since it is a holiday weekend they wont be back till Tuesday to finish the job. Like I have always said this construction/remodeling always takes longer than you think, ALWAYS.

So that brings me to my original timeline of 6-8 weeks for this remodel. 8 weeks from the day we got the keys would have been this weekend and the weekend I was fully convinced Matt and I would be living in our new happy home. Jokes on me haha. However we did add on several projects that were not in my original timeline of work so I guess you could say that if we didn't gut out the basements and all 3 bathrooms we probably would be moving but I am oh so glad we did it they way we did.

We got a few more deliveries again this week: our new kitchen sink & faucet, bath vanity lights, tp holders and towel bars. I also picked out new door knobs & deadbolts for all of the doors on the main floor. I went with a satin nickel finish on those to compliment the kitchen hardware and appliances. Now that was the fun shopping and then I had to do the not-so-fun shopping. I got the project of doing a walk through to calculate all of the electrical outlets, light switches, vent & register covers to replace. A word to the wise, always go through the house and make a list for these because you will never remember how many 1's and 2's switches even if you think you don't have that many because you do (I just realized I didn't get a cover for the outlet on the kitchen island). I also had to measure all of the vents because majority of them were not standard sizes. Make sure you remove your current covers and take the inside dimensions of the duct, both length and height, because that is how they are sold.

I shouldn't complain to much about my task of the week because Matt had the pleasure of working with my brother Aaron to cut down some trees and bushes. Thank you Aaron for all of your hard work!
 
We had a really pretty crepe myrtle on the side of the house that was unfortunately over grown up on the roof and gutters so it had to be taken down. The boys also cut back the magnolia tree on the other side of the house so we can actually now access the gate to the backyard from the driveway.

 Before: Over grown Magnolia & brush
 
 Before: Over grown Magnolia & brush
 
  After: Cleaned out
 
 After: Cleaned out

The second best part of the week was having our cable installed back in! We had our electrician drop all of the cable wires since Direct TV was going to charge out the wazoo but it still took the technician about 5 hours to wire up 4 rooms. Matt was very pleased that he now will be able to catch all of college football while we work :)

Kitchen: We now have the ceiling and walls put up with the electrical outlets and piping for the appliances. Next up is painting & trims then we can lay the tile floor. In this high traffic area I picked out a 18x18 porcelain tile which is a bit more durable then just ceramic tile.

 After: New Kitchen walls. The pipes in the middle are for the island sink & dishwasher

 After: The LVL beam doesn't seem as large with the drywall over it

Main Entry: The stairs now have a covered ceiling and the half wall complete. I am happy I kept the wall, it gives a good space separation to the downstairs. I am going to dress it up with some trim and wainscoting and top it off with a wide counter.

 After: Can you tell it is dusty in the house?

  After


Hall Bath: The tile work is complete here! I choose to use the subway tiles in here to keep the design in order with the house. I love the look of the larger over sized tiles that are seen everywhere today but I just felt that it would make the room look out of place compared to the rest of the house. Our plumber went ahead and hooked up the bath tub hardware. I went with a dark oil rubbed bronze finish for this room since it will be what all of our guest and the bath that our future kids will use, it doesn't show finger prints like brass or chrome does. Once we get the bead board installed we can put in the vanity and fixtures.

 After: New tile floor

 After: New subway tiles and hardware


Master Bed & Bath: This room got the full drywall treatment in here due to that awful grass cloth wallpaper we just couldn't get rid of. Our walk in closet is enclosed and you can now see how much of the second bedroom's space we actually took to make it. The bathroom also got the full over lay since the walls will simply be painted. The tile work is completed in here too! We are so very proud of the shower, it turned out so beautiful and the details just set it off. I went with the classic chrome finish in here because I wanted to reuse the existing sink faucet that was in the old pink bathroom. I just loved how old school it was so I decided to keep it and match all of the other fixtures to it.

 After: New bedroom walls

 After: New bedroom walls
 
 After: Master shower

 After: Master shower
 

Bedroom 1: The drywall is up in here for the new closet and new washer/dryer closet.

 


This week we are chugging right along with our painting starting on Wednesday. I have had the paint colors picked out for weeks now and cant wait to see some color to start going up!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! Go Cards!!
 
 
 

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