Work, Work, and More Work

I'm tired.
As we speed toward our for-real-this-time final appraisal, rest and relaxation will have to wait. Check out the progress we made this weekend:

Hooray for Hired Professional Help!

Thanks to a suggestion from our friend Marie, we hired Paul Welchert (http://welchertwoodworking.com/) to assemble wood trim on the 10 windows we had replaced in the 1920 portion of the house. Paul used a combination of the original wood trim (which we pulled off during the good ol' demolition days) and a few new pieces that he fashioned. He brought along his 8 year old son, Cooper, on Saturday. Cooper did a great job helping Paul but also had time to make friends with Wilson and the more-stand-off-ish Leo.

In what seemed like about 5 minutes, Paul had the trim back up on the two windows in the parlor.

Paul also put the trim up in the smaller bedroom - including the door trim on the closet and entry doors. It all looks fantastic - and saved Scott a lot of time, stress, and heartache.

Just when you think that all the woodwork is "done" . . . 

As you will recall, the big guest bedroom was created when the wall separating two smaller bedrooms was removed. All of the woodwork in those two bedrooms had been painted (some white, some yellow.) Once removed, that stack of wood trim got moved from room to room and eventually languished in the barn. I was supposed to strip it all but I always had a really good reason to avoid that task. With our completion deadline looming, Scott agreed to take the painted trim to The Strip-It Shop. It only took 4 days and about $260 for the Shop to complete the stripping. Scott brought it home Friday afternoon, and Carl started sanding it for finishing. Later Friday, I finished sanding and applied stain to all. (We were up til 1:30!) Saturday, I was able to get the first coat of poly applied. As soon as I get this wood ready, we can call Paul and he'll come slap it up.

Meanwhile . . . Carl Kept Working, Too!

Dad Camp has been a super duper helper this past week! He spent a few hours at noTTafarm several nights this week, mainly working on patching and sanding the drywall in the old kitchen. 

He somehow manages to keep smiling through all the back-breaking and dusty work.

Sunday afternoon, Carl took a well-deserved Father's Day break - so I spent a few final hours sanding the patches. It was exhausting and dirty. And I never want to do drywall again. Ever.

Scott gave it one last review. He declared that "Level 3" finish was good enough for this project, and granted me permission to paint. ("Level 5" is perfection. "Level 4" is his normal standard.) 

We chose Sherwin Williams 7732 Lemongrass for the old kitchen (which will soon be the new home office.) This same color was used on the accent wall in the connector.  

First Coat Finished!

Those darned soffits probably should have been taken down when we removed the cabinets. It took a lot of time to paint all of those surfaces! The effort was worth it; we are both very happy with the result, and the second coat will make it look even better. 

Meanwhile . . . the Railing Project Continues!

Scott finished the rail around the second floor landing on Saturday and shifted his attention to the basement stairs. He will need to finish these rails by Friday so we can spend next weekend finishing the master bathroom. I know he is up to the challenge!

Go, Scotty, Go!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!