Thursday, September 06, 2007
Landscaping
Well, we finally bit the bullet and started on some landscaping. After living here for 2 years we thought it was time! We had a side section of our yard that wasn't cleared and was mostly full of alders. I will try and find a picture when I have more time. Yesterday the excavator started and by the time I got home at lunch time most of the bushes were gone. Here's what it looks like this morning!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Slow and steady!
That pretty much sums up our progress on the house since Nathan has been born. Lately we've been able to get a bit more done as Nathan's been going to bed earlier in the evenings and is getting into a better routine during the day.
Today I finally got a coat of paint on our closet. It's kind of depressing painting walls white, as there isn't much of a difference between the primer and the finished product. Oh well, I know it's done. Tonight we'll move our dressers in there with our temporary racks and then we're set to install the closet doors. Yay!
Peter has been diligently working on our kitchen cupboards. Until a month or so ago I had one drawer (unfinished) on sliders that didn't work. The upper cupboards also had no finish on them. Right now here is where we stand (please forgive the picture colouring - I'm not very good with this SLR camera):
I now have eight drawers. Six of them are completely varathaned and filled with stuff. The other two are filled but will need to be taken out and finished at some point. The first set of sliders we bought were terrible, so we've replaced 6 of the sliders so far with better ones. In the above picture you can see that Peter has made some fronts for the drawers. All the fronts are now stained and two of them are all varathaned as well. They will look so nice once they're attached! We bought brushed nickel drawer pulls.
Here is our upper cupboards all cleaned out with 2 coats of stain on the face frames. We still obviously need shelves in the ones on the left. Also, on the left-hand end of the run of cupboards Peter made and installed his first raised panel (essentially a cupboard door that is fixed in place). I really can't wait to get the varathane on these cupboards so I can put stuff back. My kitchen table and counters are full!
Peter has the doors for this cabinet (under the sink) all made, but they have to be sanded, stained, and finished before we can attach the hinges and install them. It's such a long process! Peter has a goal to have all the bottom drawers and doors on before Nathan starts crawling (for obvious reasons).
So, next on the docket will be to varathane the upper cupboards, install our closet doors, varathane the drawer fronts and install them. Peter also has a few more cupboard doors on the go. It's so nice to see progress again!
Today I finally got a coat of paint on our closet. It's kind of depressing painting walls white, as there isn't much of a difference between the primer and the finished product. Oh well, I know it's done. Tonight we'll move our dressers in there with our temporary racks and then we're set to install the closet doors. Yay!
Peter has been diligently working on our kitchen cupboards. Until a month or so ago I had one drawer (unfinished) on sliders that didn't work. The upper cupboards also had no finish on them. Right now here is where we stand (please forgive the picture colouring - I'm not very good with this SLR camera):
I now have eight drawers. Six of them are completely varathaned and filled with stuff. The other two are filled but will need to be taken out and finished at some point. The first set of sliders we bought were terrible, so we've replaced 6 of the sliders so far with better ones. In the above picture you can see that Peter has made some fronts for the drawers. All the fronts are now stained and two of them are all varathaned as well. They will look so nice once they're attached! We bought brushed nickel drawer pulls.
Here is our upper cupboards all cleaned out with 2 coats of stain on the face frames. We still obviously need shelves in the ones on the left. Also, on the left-hand end of the run of cupboards Peter made and installed his first raised panel (essentially a cupboard door that is fixed in place). I really can't wait to get the varathane on these cupboards so I can put stuff back. My kitchen table and counters are full!
Peter has the doors for this cabinet (under the sink) all made, but they have to be sanded, stained, and finished before we can attach the hinges and install them. It's such a long process! Peter has a goal to have all the bottom drawers and doors on before Nathan starts crawling (for obvious reasons).
So, next on the docket will be to varathane the upper cupboards, install our closet doors, varathane the drawer fronts and install them. Peter also has a few more cupboard doors on the go. It's so nice to see progress again!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
What ... a post??
It must be a miracle. Well, in case you don't read my other blog, Baby M arrived (Nathan) on May 20th (read about it here). So, as you can imagine, work on the house has slowed considerably.
One thing we have done since Nathan was born is to get some more drawers installed in the kitchen. None of our drawers were sliding very well and we weren't sure if it was our workmanship or the sliders. We bought another type of slider and it totally fixed the problem - yay! So, we're slowly replacing the 'old' ones with the new ones. Peter recently cut out three drawer fronts and finishing them will be the next project.
Shortly after Nathan was born Peter's Dad came up and finishing crack-filling our bedroom closet. We finally got around to sanding and priming it in the past few days. This morning it looked like this (after Peter sanded it and I washed the walls):
And here it is after a coat of primer. A big difference!
The goal for this room is to get it painted (white) and the move in two portable hanging racks along with our dressers. Then we'll put the doors on (they've been in our back entryway for months) and leave it alone until we have time to design a nice organizer. That could be a couple of years, so once the doors are one we'll consider this project completed for now. I can't wait!
One thing we have done since Nathan was born is to get some more drawers installed in the kitchen. None of our drawers were sliding very well and we weren't sure if it was our workmanship or the sliders. We bought another type of slider and it totally fixed the problem - yay! So, we're slowly replacing the 'old' ones with the new ones. Peter recently cut out three drawer fronts and finishing them will be the next project.
Shortly after Nathan was born Peter's Dad came up and finishing crack-filling our bedroom closet. We finally got around to sanding and priming it in the past few days. This morning it looked like this (after Peter sanded it and I washed the walls):
And here it is after a coat of primer. A big difference!
The goal for this room is to get it painted (white) and the move in two portable hanging racks along with our dressers. Then we'll put the doors on (they've been in our back entryway for months) and leave it alone until we have time to design a nice organizer. That could be a couple of years, so once the doors are one we'll consider this project completed for now. I can't wait!
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Closing Time
So ... what have we been up to in the last while since I posted? As you can imagine, we're still so excited that we are finally finished enough to get the mortgage. There's been a flurry of activity in the last week and a half getting papers all together and signing everything. We've both met with our lawyer and the banker (twice). After all that running around - today is our official closing date! I feel like we are entering the world of the grown ups after playing around with this line of credit stuff for too long.
According to the bank we should receive our last cheque from them by Monday, and our first actual mortgage payments start in two weeks. I am so glad we got this all straightened out before Baby M is due to arrive.
Other than that, not too much house-related has been happening. We seem to have lost our motivation ;) Peter is actually hard at work building Baby M's crib so the rest of the house projects have been pushed aside for a while. This weekend my goal is to finish caulking the trim in the nursery. Then all that's left will be to paint the trim and wash the floor and the room will be good to go. Not any too soon, either, considering June is coming very quickly!
According to the bank we should receive our last cheque from them by Monday, and our first actual mortgage payments start in two weeks. I am so glad we got this all straightened out before Baby M is due to arrive.
Other than that, not too much house-related has been happening. We seem to have lost our motivation ;) Peter is actually hard at work building Baby M's crib so the rest of the house projects have been pushed aside for a while. This weekend my goal is to finish caulking the trim in the nursery. Then all that's left will be to paint the trim and wash the floor and the room will be good to go. Not any too soon, either, considering June is coming very quickly!
Friday, February 23, 2007
A Banner Day!
As you know, we had our appraisal yesterday at 5 and .... we passed! The appraiser said we're over 95% done and that she'll make sure she gets it to the 97% we need for the mortgage. I can't believe how excited I am about this. I was ready to run over and hug her when she said this would be her last visit!
She also said that her initial appraised value of the house was missing lots of upgrades, such as the garage, radiant heat, wood stove, built-in appliances, etc ... so as long as the bank requests it she will do up another appraisal to give us a better idea of what the house is worth as built.
Not too much else going on with the house ... just had to share the awesome news. A long process will hopefully end in the next few weeks with the signing of some mortgage papers!
Peter and I are busy all night tonight, and tomorrow afternoon and evening. I'm hoping to get the last two window cases painted tomorrow morning but that's all I have planned for the weekend :) We don't want to get too slack now that we don't have the financial motivation to finish the house, but I think the impending arrival of Baby M will help with that.
She also said that her initial appraised value of the house was missing lots of upgrades, such as the garage, radiant heat, wood stove, built-in appliances, etc ... so as long as the bank requests it she will do up another appraisal to give us a better idea of what the house is worth as built.
Not too much else going on with the house ... just had to share the awesome news. A long process will hopefully end in the next few weeks with the signing of some mortgage papers!
Peter and I are busy all night tonight, and tomorrow afternoon and evening. I'm hoping to get the last two window cases painted tomorrow morning but that's all I have planned for the weekend :) We don't want to get too slack now that we don't have the financial motivation to finish the house, but I think the impending arrival of Baby M will help with that.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
We got the call ...
**ETA: Appraisal is tonight at 5 ... eeks!
When we got home last night there was a message on the machine that the assessment should be done by the end of the week. Peter called the bank back this morning to arrange an appointment but hasn't heard anything yet. I'll update when we have a time.
In case anyone's interested, I've been slowly going back and adding posts from when we first started building in the 2005 archives. We originally had these at a different url until they decided to stop having free service. Enjoy!
We have slightly slowed down this past week, but we've still accomplished quite a bit. Since my last post, Peter has finished the trim downstairs (pictures will be forthcoming when I get a chance). I managed to finish caulking almost 4 windows (1/4 of the total - yay ... I guess). I have continued with the house clean-up and things are starting to look pretty good. Peter installed most of the trim in the orange room - he needs some strong help to move the desk before he can finish the baseboard along one wall. He also installed the window trim in our bedroom, the nursery, hallway, and laundry room. Wow - he's really flying!
We're still missing trim in our bedroom and bathroom (other than the windows), the laundry room, and the yellow (guest) room. Actually, the half-bath still needs trim, too. Other than that all the trim is on. Peter still has 2 closet doors to install (our bedroom and guest room) before he's finished with doors forever. I'm sure he'll shed a tear on that day ... not ... lol. He's really not a fan of hanging doors.
I will keep you posted on the appraisal.
When we got home last night there was a message on the machine that the assessment should be done by the end of the week. Peter called the bank back this morning to arrange an appointment but hasn't heard anything yet. I'll update when we have a time.
In case anyone's interested, I've been slowly going back and adding posts from when we first started building in the 2005 archives. We originally had these at a different url until they decided to stop having free service. Enjoy!
We have slightly slowed down this past week, but we've still accomplished quite a bit. Since my last post, Peter has finished the trim downstairs (pictures will be forthcoming when I get a chance). I managed to finish caulking almost 4 windows (1/4 of the total - yay ... I guess). I have continued with the house clean-up and things are starting to look pretty good. Peter installed most of the trim in the orange room - he needs some strong help to move the desk before he can finish the baseboard along one wall. He also installed the window trim in our bedroom, the nursery, hallway, and laundry room. Wow - he's really flying!
We're still missing trim in our bedroom and bathroom (other than the windows), the laundry room, and the yellow (guest) room. Actually, the half-bath still needs trim, too. Other than that all the trim is on. Peter still has 2 closet doors to install (our bedroom and guest room) before he's finished with doors forever. I'm sure he'll shed a tear on that day ... not ... lol. He's really not a fan of hanging doors.
I will keep you posted on the appraisal.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Encouragement ...
I was reading through last year's posts the other day and came across a list I had made just after the assessor left last time. Here is the post. Here is the list along with updated comments about what we've actually accomplished since that time - I feel much better after seeing all the things checked off!
Last night we didn't get anything done on the house. Tonight Peter is planning to install the rest of the baseboard on the main floor and possibly do another bedroom upstairs. I think I'm back to caulking and painting trim ... probably won't be any progress pictures from that, it's slow going!
Big Items Left to Finish (As of August 18, 2006)
- Urethane on stairs (Not really done, but not noticeable)
- Hang drywall in third spare room (Done)
- Hang drywall in back closet (Done)
- Hang, paint and install doorknob on door to half-bath (Not painted, but done otherwise)
- Crack-fill, prime, and paint third spare room and second spare room closet (Third bedroom done, second closet not done)
- Crack-fill, prime, and paint master closet (Have a few coats of crack-fill on it)
- Crack-fill, prime, and paint back hallway (Done)
- Finish laying and grouting tile in kitchen (Done)
- Build and install pantry and oven cupboards (Done)
- Build and install upper cupboards (Done)
- Build and install shelves and drawers in kitchen cupboards and master vanity
- Build window returns (Done)
- Install trim throughout (About half done)
Last night we didn't get anything done on the house. Tonight Peter is planning to install the rest of the baseboard on the main floor and possibly do another bedroom upstairs. I think I'm back to caulking and painting trim ... probably won't be any progress pictures from that, it's slow going!
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