One Room Down!

With flooring that is....there's now one room that has the flooring down, lol.  All I have to say after getting this room installed is that completing the rest of the house is going to take FOR-E-VER!! (Another movie quote, lol)

 

I just LOVE how it looks though!  LOVE the dark chocolate floors and light walls!

We've gotta get that trim picked out and ordered though...it would look even better FINISHED, lol!

We also worked on cutting the countertop in the appropriate sizes.  We're using this on the main countertop which is 15.5' long.  Then on the other side of the stove (only 18" there).  We're also using it in the mudroom and the clutter/laundry room.  So 2 16" pieces,  1 24" piece, 1 36" piece and a 48" piece.  Whew!  That's a lot of pieces :)

First we squared up the ends.  That's Dad helping Kade....hey...somebody had to take the photos :)

We used a straight edge clamp for this...it made it so much easier to get a perfect cut.

I went through each board and "picked" out which section went on which cabinet base.

This only took us about an hour and a half...so we were done before noon!  The flooring at the top we actually finished this evening, just wanted to post it first since I was excited that we got it done :)

No joke!!

OH MY GOSH!!!  This has been such a frustrating day!!!  I decided since the weather was decent that I should probably go ahead and sand the wooden countertops...after all...these boards are just regular 2x10's like you'd use as a floor joist!

Here's an idea of what I had to deal with....

and this is NOT a joke!!  I seriously broke that many sheets of sandpaper with my belt sander!!  I used the Black & Decker Dragster.  I love that thing...but COME ON...what's with all the broken paper???

I honestly can't believe how flat we got these.

Here she is again....the 16 footer  :)

 

So my arms are about dead...can't believe I could sand so much!  I FINALLY ran to the local hardware store and bought some new paper.  I guess the paper I had was just old...so the tape at the joint kept tearing or just falling off, lol.  Dad helped for awhile with his belt sander...so we tried to crank out the work!  We used 80 and then 150 grit....I'll hit it with 220 when I sand by hand before staning.

I can't believe we got them all done today!

Dresser to Vanity....DONE...and more!

The hall bath vanity is finally DONE!  Yeah!  So, I couldn't quite get to the color that I was hoping for....in fact...it almost looks like it didn't absorb any stain at all...but I'm still happy with the way it turned out!  I finished this while Kade was at work.

I just love the curves of this dresser.  Now we've got to modify the drawers, etc. for the sink, water and drain lines.

 

We finally started the hardwood flooring tonight.  I am IN LOVE with the flooring!

Rustic, handscraped solid 3/4" walnut...ahhhh

Hopefully today wasn't an indicator of how this part of the project is going to go though....if so...it's going to be MONTHS before we can get all of the flooring in.

Wooden Countertops!!

Let the wooden countertops begin!!  This is the second time we've built these (we did them back in 2006 when we remodeled the kitchen in our current house...still have them...and still love them!)  Maybe some day I'll remember and edit this post to add a picture of how our other countertop has held up over the last 7 years.

We used just regular 2x10's to build these.  We made 3 different lengths too...this new house has LOTS of counter space.  So we did a 16', 12' and a 10' section.

It took a little while to figure out what widths to trim the boards to...we needed to end up with just a few extra inches of overhang.  Enough to make a proper edge on the front.

Dad & Kade took LOTS of measurements and we made several test pieces to make sure we got the correct "tongue and groove" size on each board.

We finally got all of the widths figured and ran all the boards through to square them up.

Dad's expression is cracking me up...he's so focused!

We needed to do another test piece....all these tools and Kade decides to use a HAND SAW??  He is crazy!

Look at all of those "tongues"....not too shabby!

16'....what were we thinking??

Kade has to inspect and measure everything to make sure we're going to have it right!

This is when we cut the "grooves" in.

Closeup of the groove!

I can't believe we got them all cut, tongue & grooved and clamped and glued today!

Feeling so productive (for once!!)  :)

Well...not entirely perfect...

Does anybody know what movie that is from?  It's from the 90's...and I LOVE it, lol.  So yesterday we got to walk on the tile job - and I got to really see what kind of job was done....and I'm not going to say that I love it.   In fact...here is the end result after 24hrs. of contemplating...

Maybe we should have thought a little harder about doing the job ourselves.  :(

So we pulled these out in the half bath....

and this one in the clutter room (laundry room)

Kade cut, and I actually laid the new ones today...so tomorrow we can grout if we want to.  Ugh..what a crock though.  I really don't think we're THAT picky either.

Here's a neat shot I took with my iPhone today!  That's the first "macro" type shot I've done with it...turned out pretty nicely I think.  I am SOOO addicted to photography!!

Oh....and here's Kade showing me what "plain" trim would look like in the sunroom...hmmmm....still no decision has been made ;)

Another tile floor!! Yeah!

Oh my gosh...it's crazy how fast someone who lays tile all the time can actually get it done!!  The guy was here by 8 and DONE by 3:30!!  INSANE!!  It would have taken me 3 days!!

 

 Tiling mess!  See those cabinets on the right...those are the mudroom cabinets.

I can't believe how fast he's going.

 

I just love this pattern...it's so much nicer (in my opinion) than just straight tiles.

 Can't wait until tomorrow when we can get in there and really look at it.

Here's the dresser that I'm using for the main bathroom vanity.  I worked on sanding it today while the tile guy was here.

Tomorrow I'll try to get this bad boy stained.  I'm hoping I can get it as dark as the original stain!

See the nice original stain??  It just wasn't in good shape though.  The finish was beaded up on most of the piece.  Ugh!  I wonder what caused old finishes to do that....

I'm trying to figure out what trim we want to use too.  I've been through TONS of magazines and just am not really inspired by much.  I had picked the one below...but now I'm thinking maybe just plain.

This one just looks like a little too much to me.  I know it's not FANCY...let's just say I don't LOVE it!

I think I'll continue my hunt for the proper trim/casing.  Not sure why I'm so uninspired lately.

Tile, Toilets & Window Jambs

Here's the tile that we picked out for the clutter room/mudroom/half bath!  I love that it looks like slate...but hopefully we won't have trouble with it flaking off like slate  ;)  These are 13" square.  We laid them out several different ways, and decided on the brick looking pattern. (not sure what it's really called)  We're having a guy come in and install it tomorrow.  We've got to get this show on the road...and I really think it will go quicker if someone else installs it...and we just have to worry about the grout! :)

 

Kade worked on assembling our first toilet tonight too!  Can't wait to actually have one here we can use!  There's Kade having the first "sit", lol.

We also installed all of the window jamb extensions that we made in the sunroom.  Just need flooring trim & doors in here and this room will be done! (did I really just say DONE...something might be DONE??)

Perfectly level...love it!

Looks pretty spiffy to me!  I can't believe what this room has turned into...it was soooo dark and gross in there before!

An Oldie

Today my Dad comes rolling in in his truck honking the horn....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RAIN!!!  I look out and start running.  He had been down at my Aunt & Uncle's and picked up an old cabinet that had belonged to my Great Uncle...and we're pretty sure it was built by either his Dad or his Grandpa!  So I had to get out out there quick and help him unload this piece of family history!

It's got a few things that could stand to be repaired...but that will have to be done in time :)

It also came with this little box that has some detail pieces off of the big piece.

How cute is that box?  and WHY do I love it so much?

Who knows...maybe my Great or Great Great Grandpa built that little box too!

So at the end of this nasty rainy day...I happened to catch this shot with my phone of the humid mist settling over the hills.  Kinda cool.