Additional News

Construction on the addition began this weekend! What we currently refer to as the addition, was an addition to the original 1960 house and was added on in the 1980s. It consisted of a kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom, and hallway. It wasn't constructed well and did not have central heat/air. Since the addition was going to need quite a bit of work to bring it up to speed, I decided to add on to the addition a little bit to make it more of a master bedroom and bathroom, and turn the kitchenette into a laundry room.

View from the outside:

On the left is the hallway back to the main part of the house. The door was previously an exterior door, but now it is a doorway to the new section of the bathroom. On the right is the new walk in closet!

The house is a bit chilly now that part of the house doesn't have a roof over it! We used some drop cloths and duct tape to seal off the roofless part of the house from the rest of it. Additionally, my furnace broke this weekend...and there's more snow in our forecast...yikes!

Dumpster #3

Dumpster #3 was delivered today, and is now ready to be filled up with more junk from my house. Hopefully the neighborhood kids will stay out of this dumpster since I have educated them on the dangers of climbing into something filled with nails....they sure liked Dumpster #2...

Lights On

My dad has finished the electrical work in the Jack and Jill bathroom. The bathroom now has an electrical outlet - a revolutionary idea! He also moved the light switch out of the shower (another revolutionary idea), and added a fan/light in the shower.

This is his next electrical project - the middle bathroom. There used to be a hole in the wall covered with masking tape. Now it is a large hole in the wall ready for electrical work!

Sweet Surprise?

My dad took the baseboards off in the sunroom and discovered some kind of nest. I had an exterminator come out who thought it was probably the former home of honey bees. After cutting out a section of sheet rock, he uncovered this honey comb!

Tearing it Down and Building it Up

This comic in the paper is posted on the door to what will become the master suite of my house. The bedroom is the closet and the closet is the bedroom : )

My contractor is working on turning the kitchenette into a laundry room.

The washer and dryer will go on this wall. I think that will be much more functional than having a kitchenette right next to the kitchen...

These posts will support the new foundation.

Kitchen Assembly

I went to Ikea to buy my kitchen cabinets today, and I was excited about bring all of the boxes home to assemble. Then I found out that they will soon be having a huge kitchen sale, and I was even more excited! I just bought one cabinet so that I could bring it home and get it all figured out. I'll buy everything else when it's on sale : )

Unfortunately, I hammered one of the wooden pegs into the wrong hole. When I tried to take it out, it broke in half. My dad performed surgery to remove the peg from the hole, but then I was short one peg. I went out in my backyard and found the perfect sized stick to turn into a new wooden peg.

I was pretty proud of my ingenuity. I then discovered that Ikea had sold me a wall cabinet and the parts for a base cabinet, so I didn't end up being able to finish assembling the cabinet anyway, but at least I got to practice my wood carving skills : )

Design on a Dime

I bought this great bench at an antique store to go underneath a shelf that I bought on craigslist, but I wanted it to be white to match the shelf.

Enter my mom and a few cans of spray paint.

Now I have a pretty white bench!

Sparking Ceilings

My dad painted the bedroom and bathroom ceilings! They are so sparkly white!

Snow Day #2

Yesterday I went to my house to do a few things before going to work in the afternoon. I got there just as it was starting to snow, and within 30 minutes, the snow was already starting to cover the grass. Then I headed to work, where I was supposed to work 3pm-3am. I didn't think it would really snow that much or stick to the roads, but just in case, I drove my dad's 4x4 SUV to work so I could drive home at 3am. But after 2 inches of snow and ice, the roads were in no condition to drive on at 3am and I made the short commute down the hall to ER room 3.

This is the stretcher I spent the night on. (I don't recommend this one, it's REALLY squeaky!)

After a few hours of sleep, the sun was out and the roads were melting, and I headed out into the winter wonderland to make the slow drive home.

Still Sheet Rocking

The kitchen walls are now all sheet rocked! Now they just need to be taped and mudded. And maybe a few other things need to be done before I start cooking in here : )

Trade Wind and Coastal Plain

This weekend, 2 of the bathrooms got 2 coats of Trade Wind.

My dad rewired the bathroom and installed a bathroom fan. The light switch was just inside the shower area, but that seemed a little dangerous, so my dad moved the light switch to a more conventional location, added a switch for the fan/light, and added an outlet because there wasn't one in the bathroom.

The dining room (room with the fireplace) got 2 coats of Costal Plain. The unpainted wall in this picture is the new wall between the kitchen and dining room.

So now the 1960s wood paneling is a beautiful shade of green!

The new garage wall even got a coat of primer!

Kitchen Walls

Check out the progress on the kitchen walls!

The doorway from the front room to the kitchen is now completely closed in!

Believable Buff

I spent yesterday afternoon and this afternoon painting the walls of the very large front room in Believable Buff. It looks unbelievably better than the old purple/gray color that was on the walls before!

Kitchen Happenings

My dad has been busy with finishing the electrical work in the kitchen. The light in the dining room is now working again, which is handy since that is the staging area for all of our materials, and it even has a dimmer switch. The recessed lights in the kitchen are now hooked up as well!

Bob has started hanging sheet rock on the new sections of wall between the kitchen and dining room!