Going Green

So, another snaffoo added to the list. After two weeks of slowly trying to piece the kitchen together, we found that the handles on the stove do not allow us to open the drawer or door that it is adjacent to. My best friend (the tape measure) informed me that we had an extra 9 inches that had not been accounted for before walls were removed and rebuilt. I called Lowes, where everyone now knows me on a first name basis, and ordered an extra base and upper cabinet.. being expressed shipped.... in two weeks. Since the counter guys were coming in a few short days to template, two weeks didn't seem very express. Nontheless, a call to the countertop guys with lots of sweet talking and pleading home-makeover ignorance, they rescheduled the template for two weeks out, but held our same spot in the manufacture schedule... so (to make a long story short) we will have the countertop installed the same time that we would have even before the cabinet hickup. Whew
We are now on week 4 of wood floor installation. A few hours here and there equals a few rows here and there. We have the main room 75% complete with the pantry and a bedroom waiting in the wings. Cracks, chips, and humps in the floor all add character, right?

And yes, a woman can change her mind. A late night call (before next day siding installation) sounded something like this- Hi! Yes, this is Marie again. I think I am having second thoughts on the white siding under the porch. It will blend in too much with the window trim and door surround and I don't want to paint those things...just wanted to let you know before the morning. Thanks!

My ever-so-patient contractor called in the early a.m. and had me meet him at the house because he had went and picked up about 50 color samples for me to look at. I went with his green suggestion because I really had nothing jump out at me. It hasn't grown on me yet, but I am sure it will.

We just have decking to lay for the front porch and down-the-road we will add some nice white decorative railings. The electric wire to the front lamp post also got annihilated in the process, so we have to decide how badly we want to keep it...

Perhaps spring break next week will bring about some interior progress. Have a Happy Easter!

A Porch!

Just wanted to share how much the front facade has changed. (Click on January postings to the right to see initial posting). The old siding is starting to go back up. We don't have enough to piece together for the entire area so I think we will be putting white siding under the porch overhang. Another bonus to this improvement is the housewrap and weatherstrips around the windows. The plywood around the windows had rotted on the original house (which we discovered after taking the siding off).
He loves tools so much that it almost drives us crazy! He always wants to know what he can "bamm".
Our kitchen needed a few plugs moved around... which accounted for 29 holes in the kitchen alone!
Any color votes?

What a Weekend!

Perhaps it is the spring sunshine energizing everyone, or possibly the offer of birthday cake, but regardless, we were so thankful for all the helpers that stopped by to lend a hand this weekend. It was the first time that we could see real progress being made. We had a partial Kraft clan, Tomczyk family, Dad Kenny, Dad Brace, brother Jason, sister Meegan and kids and others that I am sure I have left off.... but thanks to all!

How many times during this project have I been reminded that nothing is as easy as it seems? Take this weekends kitchen install for example. Seems fairly simple, but add a big unlevel hump in the middle of the floor and a roughly knocked out wall that we don't know how to refinish...and there end up being a lot of stumbling blocks. A combination of about 6 minds were finally able to level the lower cabinets after 6 hours of frustration. While that was being attended to, there were an army of helpers battling the fish wall paper in the bathroom, and yet more who were trying to clear out the construction rubble, dust and such so that we can continue onto the next step in the bedrooms. Several large holes were drywall patched....only later to find out that the drywall was the wrong thickness and no amount of magical mudding would fix the problem. Not a big deal in the land of positive thinking... we now have 1/2 inch drywall on our Home Depot list.

The Collick family joined us again Sunday to tackle the floor project (check out our progress). My brother Jason was on hand to try and tackle the cuts when needed ... somehow the manufactored cut and our cuts wouldn't match up and only Jason seemed to have the magic in fixing this stumbling block. The whole wood floor idea began a few years ago when Uncle John suggested having the black walnut milled... and we are so glad that we did. The black walnut really makes the floor!

And finally, we have to wish Mataya a happy birthday- our spunky little girl who is now 5!

Gaining Speed?

I have many new pictures to post, but am without my camera. So, I wanted to share a few photos that the Collick family took when they came to help last weekend. The two Chad's began putting the wood floor down in the kitchen. The girls worked at taking off the fish wallpaper in the bathroom. There were also about 14 paint samples added to the walls to try and come up with a color combination.

The new front entry also has shingles on it and the old front door wall has been removed. Now we have electrical, drywall, insulation, cabinet installation and continued floor installation on our immediate list.

We are having a work day tomorrow (Saturday) at the house. All helpers will be treated to a spagetti dinner and birthday treats (Mataya turns 5) at 6pm.