Day 42 March 28

My intention during the day was to do the second coat on the ceiling, but when girls start to talking it’s hard to stop. I asked my prayer partner from Stephen training to swing by to check out our work and get some pointers on interior design, considering my track record in the area. It started with paint swatches and ended with us sitting in the family room wondering where the last five hours went. While I ran some errands I was hoping to during the day but couldn’t, David added the second coat to the ceiling and called it a night.

Day 41 March 27

It’s painting time! With the advice of others, I first primed all the areas where we had installed new drywall in hopes that we’ll only need one coat of actual paint after that. I left before David came home but when I came back later he had touched up a few patches. With paint on the walls now it’s easier to see blemishes and holes so he sanded down and respackled some areas that needed attention. It’s now just fine-tuning at this stage.  

Day 40 March 26

Appliances arrived!! We had to move a few things around but they were delivered in the morning and are nicely stacked by the stairs waiting to be put in their place. After they were delivered I was free to make yet another Home Depot run for more paint samples, and YET AGAIN wrong colors! I swear the third time is going to be a charm! I got two more green samples and they were just too “crayola green”. I like the earthiness of the first green but just a few shades lighter.

I sanded a few patches but there really wasn’t much work left in this process… finally! David came home, and soon after a guy from our small group came over to check out our work. He’s done dry walling and spackling most his life and when he heard about our “little” project, he offered to come over and give us some pointers. It was really encouraging because he thought it looked pretty good, other than the fact that we had been using way too much mud, which led to our large quantity of dust everywhere. He grabbed a trowel and gave us a demonstration on how to do it in a way that will lead to incredibly less sanding. If only we could have seen it a few days earlier. Oh well, we’ve said from the start this whole process is a learning one. Corey left and David and I got to cleaning. We vacuumed and shot vac’d all we could to prep for paint that I am hoping to start tomorrow.

Day 39 March 25

It was my turn today, and I sanded the poop out of that mud! Let’s just say a shower at the end of the day has never felt better. David got home and we went through it all with a finer tooth comb and mudded a few patches.  We are practically there!! And the appliances come tomorrow! Things are a happenin’!

Day 38 March 24

I’m pretty sure we’re doing something wrong because we had to make another trip to Lowes for a bucket of mud. We’re on our third, is that normal? I’m pretty sure it’s not but oh well. While we were at Lowes we also picked up 17 boxes of flooring! After seeing the load we were a little hesitant if our blue buggy could take the heat, but she got the job done once again! That is of course not without me looking over my shoulder every 10 second for fear of a box flying out onto the road and causing a domino effect of collisions. But my vision in my head didn’t come true and we made it safely home and unloaded all 17 boxes into our family room!

Our mess of a table that will one day need
cleaned so we can remove the rest of the carpet

We then pulled up more of the carpet because we kept on dirtying it when we’re planning on keeping it. It’s a lot easier cleaning up now without that tarp over the carpet and mud droppings splattering on just the concrete. And then what followed is no surprise, mudding and more sanding. We’re both really ready for this phase to be done. Also because we have an insane amount of dust everywhere. I’m always reaching for a bottle of lotion nowadays. 

Before the end of the night I persuaded David to screw in the last wall piece in the mudroom. He admitted that he wasn’t looking forward to this piece, hence it not attached yet, because of the shallow boxes with all the wires and the risk of cutting one with the dremel. But in the end it turned out fabulous and no wires cut! Aaaand, I finally got the sample paint on the walls! With the cabinets delivered David brought in a small one to compare the colors. Unfortunately the yellow just doesn’t go. We like the green but the shade is too dark. This means I’ll be back to Home Depot checking out more color samples. I really suck at this interior design part. Little help!

Day 37 March 23

Ceiling all wrapped up! Well there’s still the ceiling in the mudroom but all the drywall in the kitchen and the dinette are completed. And then…mud, sand, mud, sand, mud, sand… at least I’m not having dreams of mudding and sanding yet. All day I went around and mudded while David sanded. I’m positive we have made this process longer and more difficult due to our lack of experience and knowledge, but we’ll spare our time instead of shelling out a lot of money for someone else to do it quicker. 

Day 36 March 22

I finished the mudding of the screws and seams during the day. David came home and started sanding the mudding I’d done the previous day which was dry, and then we had to clean up and head to small group. We did get a phone call that our floors were in and ready to be picked up! We’ll get to that sometime during the weekend.

 

Day 35 March 21

I think this is going to be a long weekend ahead of us. I mudded some during the day and then left for training while David took a break for the night and napped on the couch. 

Day 34 March 20

It was a bit of an eclectic day for me. It started with adding a little insulation to spots we were still working in but have now wrapped up and needed some before we put up the drywall. Then came a seek-and-find-the-hidden-junction-boxes in our basement wall. The previous owners really did love those hidden junction boxes. One of them we’ll keep but David will do something to make it accessible, whereas the second one got removed. It had wiring for a couple of baseboard heaters that we aren’t using anymore so bye bye! Then I added a sliver of drywall in the mudroom in the corner, as well as the cut out the part of the wall David had to remove to get to the three switches by the door. That was fun since it was an oblong piece. I cut it to size and removed the outlets to set up for David to use his dremel when the piece goes up. And then it got crazy because…

THE CABINETS CAME!!!! I guess it would be even more exciting if we were ready to install them but hey, I was still pumped. Two guys in their truck rolled up and unloaded 25 boxes into our garage, now patiently waiting to be stripped from their cardboard walls and put into our kitchen :o)

   

I left before David came home but came back to him slopped in mud. Well not really, but he did get started working on the seams. The videos we watched online make it look so much easier and fast. Damn professionals and their false skill they instill in us. 

Day 33 March 19

Oh boy I got paint samples today!! Fun fun :o) I picked out two different yellows, which are actually really similar, and then a green possibly for the mudroom. I’m thinking either a green or peach color but I only got the green in a sample. I started making the extra supports for the mounts on the peninsula but left the last bit for David ‘cause I thought it needed a finer touch with a power tool, when in reality he just rotated the board to fit. Duh Laura! I continued mudding the screws that David had started last night. When David came home we tackled the rest of the drywall!! Well we still have a couple more pieces for the ceiling but the walls are all up! We finished the mudroom dividing wall and then the other side of the peninsula. Now that we’re in the drywall, mudding, sanding phase the amount of dust covering every surface in our house has really picked up. I was dusting it off but it just seems like a lost cause at this point. 

Day 32 March 18

Picked out a counter top sample
and some paint colors while I was
back home with Mom. 

David and I were waiting for this day, cabinets were to come! Yes, we’re not quite ready to install them, but we were still excited to see how they looked. But once 5 o’clock rolled around and no delivery truck ever came, we were a little confused. I had cleared a second spot in our garage and laid some plastic in preparation for the boxes, but cleared it was left by the end of the night. We later received a call telling us our delivery had to be rescheduled due to the truck breaking done. We’ll just have to hold our excitement until Wednesday when they’re supposed to be delivered.

During the day I hung a few of the small pieces of drywall that went between the mudroom and the kitchen. David came home and we then attacked the dividing wall. We were able to complete the kitchen side but still have the mudroom side to finish. That should be easy work considering all it’ll take is two large sheets and no outlets to cut! We staged three chairs for our seating at the peninsula to evaluate where to install the countertop brace brackets. After measuring it looks like we’ll need to add a few supports between the studs for the brackets to mount onto. David got a little antsy and started filling in a few of the screw holes with mud, but that job will have to wait until tomorrow. Sad news for the day, I went to clean my glasses on my shirt and they snapped in two. After trying electrical and packing tape, I had to call them goners :o(

Day 31 March 17

It was great to be home and have so much quality time with my freakin’ adorable nieces… and family, but back to my other home I went. I came back to men hard at work and a ceiling almost completely drywalled!! One of David’s coworkers, Ben, offered to help with our remodel and we were quick to take him up on the offer. So with a case of beer and sheets of drywall they got to work. Ben had had some previous experience with installing drywall which made a huge difference. Where David, or myself, would be questioning certain spaces or holes, Ben was there to reassure us that it would be fine in the end. They worked their tails off and I couldn’t be more appreciative of it. Thank you so much Ben for the help, you brought a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for us and a boost of confidence that we needed.

 

Day 30 March 16

While I was playing with my nieces all day and catching up with ex-swimmers, David strapped on his tool belt and got to work. After our previous attempts to install drywall, David tweaked his strategy which made all the difference. Before, he would measure the outlets, draw onto the board, cut, and then install. This way created lots of room for error with measurements and just wasn’t working. So instead, David would loosely install a sheet, use his dremel tool to cut out the shape of the box, and then screw in the rest of the sheet when it was flush. Loads easier! Thank you dremel :o) He still ran into difficulties with the boards not meeting flush with each other due to error on the builders part with the studs. Nothin’ a shim, mud and tape can’t fix, right? Pictures of the kitchen are complimentary of David this time :o) And a few of my niece from me.

Day 29 March 15

I left to head back to Columbus to visit family, friends and celebrate a former swimming teammate in her preparation for marriage in June. While I was hammin’ it up back home, David extended his day of relaxation. He may not have work on the kitchen tonight, but Paul did return and he was able to walk through the system with David. The majority of the project is complete, but there’s still about 10% of things on hold while David and I complete our project. Paul reiterated that once we had finished our remodel he’ll be back to tweak, adjust and answer any more questions we might have. We couldn’t have been more fortunate to work with such an honest and intelligent man that takes great pride in his work. David wrapped it up with Paul, attended small group, and hit the hay.

Day 28 March 14

Let there be heat! Paul and Mark returned and after a little of this and a little of that they were able to wrap up their project and got our new system running. Since it was their last day David came home early just to pick their brains a little and watch them in action. We left for a bit to pick up some drywall in our truck that David had made a contraption for to hold the sheets since the bed wasn't big enough. It worked like a charm and we returned home and stored them in the dinette ready to be installed. We had to leave again later before the guys were done but when we returned they were gone and our new vents were a blowin!

Made cookies for their last day of work :o)

After yesterday, I told David we are taking it easy tonight! I opted out of my regular Thursday training to spend the night with my man before I left for the weekend. We had dinner with some coworkers, finally finalized our floor and purchased it, came home and played a little with our new programmable thermostats, and headed to bed. Mind you it was about 8:30 at this time but we didn’t care. It was a needed and we were ready to take advantage of it. 

Day 27 March 13

Large piece we struggled to install/shotty
piece on the bottom right already removed

Sometimes you just have to listen to your body. Today was one of those days. David came home looking exhausted and spent, but still wanted to rally on. It ended with shotty drywall installation and an even more exhausted hubby. It wasn’t a big deal since it was an existing small piece of drywall which David used as his first attempt. But in the end I think it also gave him a sickening feeling as to the task of installing drywall which is quickly approaching… actually it’s already here. I’m going out of town this weekend and his plan of recruiting some help from guys at work has sort of fizzled out due to different reasons. Now that isn’t to say there aren’t small tasks he can’t get done while help is scarce. With the work that Paul and Mark have completed, it’s left many areas for touch ups, walls to be built, and holes to be filled.

While we’re on the subject, the guys killed it a second day! After today’s work they said they only have about a half a day until completion… saaaweeeeeet! They finished all the work in the loft and our bedroom, built up a gravel patch, set a concrete slab onto it, and then placed the AC unit on top, wired the AC unit, squeezed the furnace in the closet, and wabaam! Good thing because we’ve already tore out the baseboard heaters and only have about 4 more bags of pellets. Anytime Spring, anytime.

We’ve finally finalized a floor at Lowe’s that I’ll order tomorrow and are looking at counter tops now. I don’t think I mentioned earlier that about a week ago we stopped in at a local kitchen store and had them price out an estimate for us. They got back to David the other day and it was significantly higher than a previous estimate from Lowe’s. They had more options but not worth the price difference. So today, David and I met up at Lowe’s with a sample of our cabinets and the floor, and once again looked at counter tops.  If only one of us had a definitive design sense I’m sure we could have wrapped this up awhile ago. But David can be apathetic and I question everything so it leads us down a never-ending path. But I’m positive the day will come, it has to right?

I picked up more insulation and plastic for the vapor barrier, come to find we’re not going to use it. The guy who helped me at Lowe’s said the risk of using a vapor barrier is that it can trap moisture between it and the tarred paper on the insulation, causing water damage. I told David this when he got home and he did some research that was inconclusive (the factor of using it is the part of our house that is under grade that accumulates more moisture). He made a definitive answer and said the possible negative effects of using a vapor barrier versus not using it was worse, so we’ll no use it for the walls under grade. This only lead to removing one section we had installed the night before. No biggy. And that’s the conclusion of a jumble of thoughts for the day :o)

Day 26 March 12

Such a productive day!! Well at least it felt like that because we finally got around to the large pile of insulation in the middle of the space! Actually it WAS pretty productive because Paul and Mark got to work on our new HVAC unit! I didn’t get a picture but wish I would have of the mess it was in here. What little space there was to walk in was now occupied by all their tools and ducting. It was pretty humorous. But they seemed to get quite a bit accomplished for day one. They started installing the duct in the loft and the small bit in the downstairs bedroom closet, as well as bringing the new unit inside.

They left before David came home, but you can be sure as soon as he walked in the door he was doing his rounds to check out their work. He seemed pretty impressed :o) After he mentally OK’d their work, we got to finishing wiring the 3-ways for the recessed kitchen lights. It was quick work and before we knew it we had lights! That dimmed!! I was pumped. Since both walls that the boxes are on have drywall, David was able to shove the mess of wire into the box and close them up. Oh I’m gettin’ giddy!! 

Next was to connect the wires for the range in the junction box. We used some fancy clamps (I’m sure they’re not fancy but they were new and shiny !) to connect heavy gauge wires together. I stripped the wires and clamped them together, David checked the tightness and then wrapped them with electrical tape and closed her up. Then it got exciting…

Remember that huge pile of insulation that has been in every picture smack dab in the center of the kitchen?? Time for it to go back where it came from! We shoved it into as many spaces as it could, leaving only a few areas for more that we’ll pick up at the store. We had kept the material underneath the original laminate floor (all the insulation was piled on top of it which made for easy shifting abilities) and decided to use the plastic as the water vapor barrier. We only had enough to cover the exposed wall in the mudroom so more will be purchased later. Staples were flying while the broom was sweeping and by the end we had a space large enough to skate around! I was loving it :o) With the realization it probably won’t last long but I’ll take what I can get. 

Day 25 March 11

During the day I removed two more baseboard heaters from the first bedroom and the bathroom. There’s only one left but it’s behind a bunch of large sheets of drywall that I’ll be needing David’s help to move them out of the way. David explained one of the 3-way switches to me in the mudroom so I was able to connect that switch, but left the doozy to him until he came home.

His first task after work was to finish his project the night before of removing the outlets and wiring upstairs. Originally when we had removed part of the mudroom ceiling (that’s right below our bedroom), there was a hidden junction box that we had no idea where it went to. It’s been a considerable challenge for David to try and understand the wiring of a space when it’s not open, which was the case for upstairs. However, after tugging on the wire, David figured out the secret junction box were for the upstairs outlets. Since he wanted to remove the box, we had to do some more fishing which got a little sketchy at times. But in the end we got all the wires through and in their rightful place.

Next was the doom of wires David had been avoiding until now. I finished wiring the one outlet that would stay in its originally spot upstairs while David got the box in the wall. I joined him downstairs and connected the wires to the breaker box. At that point David had connected the 3-way switch for the mudroom and it was time for the test… FAIL! Well not quite completely, it turned on and off but it wasn’t connected correctly for it to always work on both switches. David was thoroughly confused so he went to his trusty IPad to investigate. Within 10 minutes he had fixed his mistake and it worked! He was pumped and wanted to continue with the rest of the lights, but exhaustion was getting the best of him so he called it a night. We’ll get to it tomorrow. 

Day 24 March 10

As usual, after church we hit up the hardware store for supplies for today’s work. When we got back, I got to work on wiring the dinette switches we had wired the night before, while David got to work on Paul’s prep. He cut the holes for the vents and some of the ducting going through drywall, and then a whole in the back of the closet that the wiring will run from the inside to the outside to power the AC unit. Paul’s partner, Mark, dropped off the correct wiring for the furnace the day before, so that went in next. While the first time it wasn’t all too difficult, it was especially easy with David there the second time. We go it wired, as well as pulled the second wire through the whole David cut that will lead to the outside.

We had picked up wire for the range as well a junction box because we were using the existing line to the range. The holes were already drilled so all that was left was to wire it. I was on that task while David was planning out the connections for the 3-way switches. Talk about difficult, try fitting 6-3 gauge wire into a 3/8” wire clamp at a 90 degree angle. It ended up working out all right, I just had to strip the outer plastic and string each wire at a time. At this point David was upstairs removing some of the outlets that were going to need moved or else they would be covered by the ducting. We were able to pull the wire out so we could use it once all the ducting is in. By this point we had to leave for a hockey game, but we were pleased with what we were able to accomplish for the day.

Day 23 March 9

It seems like the electrical part keeps growing legs! I’m sure it really hasn’t it only feels like we’ve wired so much and there’s still more to wire. While I may not understand the whole system, I at least get some of it, can do it, and don’t mind it :o) David went back to his work from the previous night and evaluated that more of the wall had to go, as well as a portion of the ceiling. There was just no way he would be able to get the preexisting wire to the new switches we’re adding. So while David was playing in drywall, I jumped on the task of wiring the outlets David put in the night before in the peninsula. Badda-bing, badda-boom, and done! Then came the pendant lights right up above. I had measured earlier and was ready to install. Once the boxes went in they got wired up and all’s good in the neighborhood!

While I was wiring by the peninsula, David was wiring in the mudroom. He wired up the two recessed lights. I picked up where he left off to strip and connect the wires while he was running the lines to the added switches. The more he brought wire to the box the more concerned he seemed about whether they would all fit or not. We’ll only know until we try! But David still needed to conjure up how it all would be wired before we went to town on them. So the next best thing was to go fishing!

After listening in on a few of David’s work conversations, as well as his nightly updates about certain jobs, I’ve heard a lot about fishing. This isn’t your catch and release with a wet, floppy, scaling sucker on the end of a lour, but more like retrieving shit in the bottom of a well that’s impeding drilling. Sometimes this takes creative juices from the men to think up different scenarios and tools to do the job. In the case of tonight, it was a wire coat hanger. In the dinette is an existing box we’re hoping to use again, however we needed to run wire to it. This is challenging when you’re trying to preserve the drywall, a task we’ve rarely done during this project. But David was adamant and looking for a challenge, so there we were, pushing and pulling, tapping and twisting, yelling STOP or to the left/right. To be honest I didn’t think it was going to happen, considering the hole David drilled up top was at an angle because the space was too small for the drill to go straight vertical, and the tiny hole we were trying to hit on the box. But with David’s persistence we managed to find the hole from the bottom up and pull the wire through. I’d say that was reward enough to call it a night.

First appliance to be delivered!!