The Week in Review: October 16 - 20

The week of October 15 started with a lot of promise - we were especially looking forward to having the exterior of the house painted. Wouldn't you know that, once all of the windows were covered with plastic, the rain began? We had three days of gloomy, sprinkle-y weather that kept our painters away from their task.  Living in a house with the windows sealed off is like living in a snowglobe...light can get through but you can't see what's going on unless you go outside.

In the meantime, interior work progressed slowly. The drywall hangers were done on Monday, then the tapers and mudders started Tuesday...then stopped until Thursday...then didn't do much on Friday. That being said, the drywall looks great; one more coat of mud in most rooms, then the sanding, then they'll be done - hopefully on Monday or Tuesday!

 A view into the kitchen from the great room.

Does this look safe?

The drywall crew set a ladder on the stairs, leaned it onto the high wall in the connector hallway, then made a place to stand by putting a piece of scaffolding through one of the rungs. Perhaps I'll have to employ this same method to stain the windows and paint the ceiling & walls!

Inspection Cat

It's always nice to get Leo's approval on the progress. Here he is, exploring the perimeter of the master bedroom.

One Step Closer to Heat

Big progress was made this week toward the installation of our new heat pump. The equipment arrived on Monday, then the necessary copper piping was run through the space, and the electrical was provided. They also installed a water tank which will harvest excess heat exhausted by the heat pump then send the hot water through a series of pipes to the hot water heater. Pretty spiffy!  (Again, Inspector Cat gave his approval.)

Mechanical Room

All of the heat pump equipment is now housed in its own room in the new basement. Drywall has since been installed here, too. 

No Going Back

The old furnace was placed on our driveway on Friday - which means we really can't use it any more. Before we take it to the metal scrapyard, Scott wants to take it apart and save the "interesting" pieces. I have penned a letter to the producers of the Hoarders television show . . . I think they need to do a barn-full-of-lumber-and-stuff episode!

Sunshine Returned on Saturday

With clear blue skies and warm sunshine on their side, the painting crew arrived Saturday morning. They have worked off and on over the past two weeks, scraping and priming the older parts of the house, and painting the soffits. They started spraying the body of the house at about ten this morning, and are going over parts of it with a brush. So far, it looks fantastic!

With all three sections (1920, 1972 and 2012) of the house painted the same color, Scott's vision for noTTafarm is shining through.

The mossy green of the Hardieplank siding you see on the great room at right will soon be covered with two coats of Sherwin Williams 6204 "Sea Salt;" the trim is painted 6203 "Spare White."

Grant Street Revisited - Again

We used Sea Salt in our kitchen and the 2nd floor bathroom at our old house. Hope Kevin and Sara don't mind sharing another piece of Grant Street style with us!