Out of house - put up last of fence

Moving next door

So, this is how you move next door.

dump, packing, trail blazing

Today, Steve and I awoke and came up with a plan of what we would accomplish. And then we left the house and the plan disintegrated. We took out a portion of the fence and cleared a path through the brush (did I mention how overgrown the property is?), took out a bunch of pointy rocks that were placed there long ago but will probably cause an ankle break. We sent the countertop boards off the Urban Lumber to be planed. They should be done by now but we have not heard yet. Steve spent most of the rest of the day organizing the new house (recycling, garbage, dump run, etc) to prep it to move stuff in and I spent the day organizing the old house and prepping everything to get it out in the next few days. Then Steve went to work at 6pm. I will never again call him "the laziest doctor I know."

And, of yeah, the painter came and caulked but didn't quite allow enough time to get to all the "oopsies." So, he will be back on Sunday. The same day we are moving most of the stuff in.

Packing etc.

The shoe is done! The painter comes back tomorrow to caulk and paint it (and to fix all those little boo-boos that "happen"). Mike and I glued the last of the countertop boards together. They will sit overnight and then be taken to the co-op mill tomorrow to be sanded so that the 3-8" boards are a uniformly flat surface.

The kids left with my mom this afternoon for a few days. After they left I frantically began going through toys and clothes and whatnot. I have started packing (and filling my car with cast-offs that some other family may want). I have a list a mile long and 5 days to get out of here. I just cleaned out the fridge as I realized tomorrow is the last garbage service here at the house. I am amazed at the quantity of old salsa containers. Not sure what that means.

Last things before moving our stuff in

Steve and I were over at the house until about midnight finishing up those last minute details. Steve was working on finishing installing the shoe on the baseboard and I was filling in holes wherever I saw them - wall, ceilings, trim, etc. I also cleaned up some so that we can move right in starting this weekend. We also had it confirmed today that we will be moving in without a fully functioning kitchen. The cabinet painter put on one coat today but will come back on Monday for the second coat. He then said the doors to the cabinets cannot be put on until Wed which is the day we have to be in the house. We should be close (let us hope a week or less) but I think we will survive being without a kitchen just fine. Now how do I get everything over there?

Steve and Mike have started gluing the countertops together. Here is the first one.

Ze cabinets have arrived

Here are photos of the beauties. These are not their doors because those are coming with the painter tomorrow. Took two guys a whole day to get these in. Steve and Mike ripped a bunch of 2", 2yr cured maple boards today and then mapped out how to make the countertops. They will glue them together tomorrow. They then get resanded, epoxyed, waterloxed and installed (did I say 8 days left yet).

We started the day out differently with Steve teaching himself how to cope (so funny on many levels!) but he finally got it and so some shoe is appearing on the baseboard. Takes much longer to do in reality than those online DIY guidos make it look. Coping is just a fancy word for a method of cutting a forgiving joint to make a corner. I painted the kids closets - nothing special, just something the painter felt wasn't explicitly requested by me and so he did not do. I would normally have waited until later to paint these but I was irked and had to finish it.

9 days

So, we have 9 days. This has prompted us to consider getting a POD to put our junk in and store in the front yard until we are ready to either drive it all over a ravine or put it into our new home. The cabinet guy brought most of the cabinets today. He will install tomorrow. Our friend Mike brought the raw maple pieces over for the countertop. Tomorrow we will go through them and pick out which pieces we like so they can be cut, glued, and sanded. I can't wait to see what this will look like. Steve spent most of his time today (before work) working on fixing the range fan. I barely helped again as Donovan had a post-op appointment and we went around thanking the nurses on the Peds floor. We were able to find the time to get a bunch more drywall and bicker about a few things though.

I don't know yet if I have mentioned about the timeframe and the "other" things that are occurring simultaneously. On the day we have to be out of here is the same day that our renters have to be out in Klamath Falls. The next day (the first) is the day we have to clean the house and replace a toilet so that the new renters can move in. This day is also our ten year anniversary. It is actually quite humorous and would be perfect for a 1980s sitcom storyline. If all of this happens I think we'll spend a few days taking a break.

Cabinets are coming!

Cabinets should start to be installed tomorrow. Steve and I tried to get all things ready for him. For instance, the old cut-out for the range fan is off by about 8 inches and it extends about 1/2 in out past where the new trim will be. We also will start putting the shoe back onto the baseboard. Not sure if we can do that while the guy is installing the cabinets or not. We shall see.

floors and lillies

Quick bloggin - floors are done and I am going to environmental hell for all the VOCs we just discharged. For what it is worth, I tried hard to find a good alternative, but for flooring the alternatives are just not adequate. We did use no-VOC paint but paint VOCs barely touch the amount of cancer we just put into the atmosphere with these gorgeous, hard-as-nails, last forever floors.

Here was a nice surprise in the way too overgrown yard! These beauties were hidden around a corner. Speaking of that, I spent the morning cutting back the bushes that line the walkway. The cabinet guy, who is coming on Monday to install the cabinets (whee!), let me know that he couldn't get the cabinets in past the bushes - then I realized that we can't move furniture in without these being cut back anyway. I will add a photo tomorrow of the bush carnage.

June 16

Sometimes I feel like these details are soooo dull. The daily grind of all of this remodeling makes your mind go numb sometimes. The most interesting part of today is that the painter mentioned yesterday that he smelled gas near the meter. I smelled it also but then went to bed and didn't call until today (I kept thinking there was something important to do!). The gas co. was out here lickety-split and had a high tech way of determining a leak - spray bottle full of soapy water. The guy found about three leaks. Fixed them and went on his merry way.

Steve and I spent the day putting up drywall on the ceiling of the utility room. A bit of a learning curve but it seems to be going on OK. Steve has the day off tomorrow and although we were hoping to get a lot done we have all these people coming by. The heating co. is coming to put the gas line all the way to the stove location and the downstairs fireplace. The internet/phone co. is coming to install our line locations. And the floor guy is coming to put the final finish on the floors. And then I had a call from the boy of the family I stayed with while I was in India. Haven't seen him in at least 10 years! He sent me this beautiful wedding photo after we spoke. He is driving through town tomorrow and will stop by for lunch. Can't wait to see them and we shall see what we can accomplish.

Two weeks

So here is the deal - we only have two weeks left and there is not a single thing packed and in a box. Steve is over there cursing at concrete screws because he wanted to finish the basement before we moved stuff over and he can't get the screws into the wall all the way to put up the drywall. This will be a race to the finish. He even bought a contraption today called a "helper" - I am a little bit miffed, but I guess it doesn't ask a lot of questions and probably a quiet helper is what the man really needs right now. I think I will be putting some things in boxes this week and maybe moving kids stuff over to their new room as that will be the only room that is done. We shall see.

Paint and can lights

Here are a few photos of Steve's new lighting scheme in the basement (a huge improvement over the two naked bulbs that were there before) and some of how the paint is looking. These colors aren't so true and I will get better ones later - but they give an idear.

Donovan

So, not everything was put on hold because of the "pissed off appendix" as I was able to tell the cabinet guy the color to paint the cabinets (Marscapone) and the window guy to crawl through an unlocked window by climbing up a ladder to get into the house. I bought the appliances today with practically no research but it is a local company and they seem to know what they are talking about. The painters also came today and I scribbled some color names on a piece of paper and sent Steve off to meet with him today. By the time I looked over there again the entire house was masked and the ceiling was already painted. Those that do these things for a living that would take me so many weeks of work and heartache truly amaze me. Should have photos of some painted walls in the next few days. This photo is from the amazing peds floor playroom. First excursion.

Floors

They look beautiful! One of these photos is from before the finish was put on and the other photo is of all the wood shavings and the rotten wood that was taken out from the bad spot. We can't go in it, so we are just hanging out. If feels good.

Emptiness

The floors are looking great. There was one spot that is about 8x3 that needs to be replaced though. Maybe from a pet, it is black and a bit rotted. Other than that the guys think the floors look great for their age. The main reason we hired them though, versus us doing it ourselves, is because we needed three large patches. Two of the heating supply vents were made smaller and one of the heating returns was abandoned. They patched these yesterday and they look amazing. Really a skill. I'll post those photos later.