Color Has Arrived!

Painting.
Painting.
Painting.
Yes! We've done a lot of painting over the past few weeks. It seems like it has taken a long time to prime all the walls and paint all the ceilings but our efforts have paid off, and color has arrived!

This is Griffin. Since I've been visiting Sherwin-Williams on a regular basis, he didn't call Security when I took his picture. The whole crew at SW has been very helpful!

Color 1:  SW7640 Fawn Brindle

We chose a soft brown/taupe for our master bedroom, closet, and hallway. Even though it looks like wet concrete, it has created a cozy space! I admit, I really liked the name as it references the deer that call noTTafarm home.

I took a vacation day on Monday, November 12th, and completed the first coat.

While I have fun with color, Scott makes his own brand of fun by painting the ceilings. It's a back-breaking task but he did two coats on every new ceiling without so much as a whimper. Good job, Scott!

Color 2: SW6875 Gladiola

I decided that the pantry should be a fun, bright color since it's "my" space and will be mostly behind closed doors. This color is the same deep orangey-pink that I used for the lawn chairs last summer.

Everything started out really well.  What a cheerful color! But, the more I painted, the more I started to second guess my selection. And by the time I was done, I seriously needed these:

Yikes! That paint was bright!

So . . . after church on Sunday, I was back at Sherwin Williams for a new color.

Color 3:  SW7757 Recycled Glass

Two coats of Super Paint later, the pantry was still a cheerful color but without the potential retina damage.

Half-way Done

All Done!

Color 4: SW6394 Sequin

The parlor was painted in August, 2011 in this sunny gold. By painting a portion of the hallway behind the new kitchen this same color, the new and old portions of the house have a connection. 

Beautiful and Bright!

The painting will continue this week. We have a few more colors to add but the bulk of the first floor will be a more subdued color . . . details of which will be revealed in a future post!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

The Week of Snafu

This week was a little "off" at noTTafarm. A series of odd events threw wrenches left and right - so I am glad it is Friday.

Allow me to elaborate, in no particular order:

1.) Wednesday morning, our good coffee maker decided not to work so I had to use my back-up coffee maker.

2.) Friday morning, our back-up coffee maker decided not to work so I had to have a cup of instant! (Those of you who work with me on a daily basis know that this probably led to a little grumpiness until my at-work coffee kicked in.)

3.) Wednesday, the countertop manufacturer came over to make templates of the kitchen and master bath counters. They discovered that the corner drawers I am so proud of will whack right into my stainless steel farm sink if you try and open them. The only solution is to uninstall and move most of the cabinets on the west side of the kitchen south by 2 inches then add a filler strip.  Fortunately, this task was easily completed on Friday.

4.) Tuesday, Scott discovered that the toilet we purchased almost two years ago for use in the remodeled 1920 bathroom wouldn't fit. It seems that the soil stack was positioned two inches too close to the wall. The only solution was to order another new toilet with a shorter rough-in position.

5.) Thursday, Scott was excited to see that the new toilet (along with all the accessories for our new master bath) arrived via freight at his workplace, less than two days after placing the order. As he moved his Escape into position to move the items from the pallet, the Escape decided to remain in "reverse." No amount of moving the gearshift would help, so he had no choice but to call a tow truck. I came to pick him and the toilet and all the accessories up in the Mini...and after an hour of waiting, we were on our way home.

6.) While we were waiting for the tow truck, an expected delivery of wood trim was made at noTTafarm. When we arrived home two hours later, Leo was missing! The silly delivery people let our kitty out in the dark wilderness! Luckily, Bibbers kept an eye on him and they both came running when Scott went outside with the flashlight.

7.) Not only did they let Leo out, the wood trim is not all the correct size. Scott and our Project Manager are going to go through everything but it looks like most of it will need to be re-done.

8.) Monday afternoon, just as the electrician was leaving for the day, he noticed a switch in the parlor that he had missed because the temporary wall had hidden it. It was a few days later when he had time to return and install the switch, thus allowing three light fixtures in the 1920 hallway to finally work.

9.) Also on Monday, the electrician (his name is Troy) was working in the master bath, making-up the wires for the new sconces. The only problem here was when he leaned on the countertop infrastructure, cracking off a big chunk...so that's going to have to be glued or replaced before the counters go on.

Whew! That's enough whining!

Good things happened this week, too!
A.) I painted the master bedroom, closet, and adjacent hallway...and they look great!
B.) Scott installed the new, new toilet in the 1920 bathroom and it works! I will not reveal who got to piddle first but it wasn't me.
C.) The Escape is repaired and it cost less than $300 so that's no so bad.

Stay Tuned for The Weekend's Progress!

Good Morning, Mr. Deer!

Even though we see them nearly every day, Scott and I are yet to be bored by the deer that visit. We've watched two fawns grow up over the past few months, and there is usually a Gang of Nine hanging around the combine at dusk. Wednesday morning, we were treated to a rare sighting of a buck! We stood in the great room and watched him walk through the west yard with a few lady friends. Amazing to be that close to such a beautiful animal!

Our great room is going to be a wonderful space to relax and watch the noTTafarm wildlife (we just need some flooring, lighting, and a chair or two.)

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

P.S.  As a reminder:  hunting is not allowed at noTTafarm. (Unless you are killing snakes and then remember rule #2:  I don't want to see them or know about them.)

Prime Time

Priming walls and painting ceilings continued through the weekend. So far, we've use up nearly 5 gallons of ceiling paint and 10 gallons of drywall primer - so we must be getting something accomplished!

Scott dragged the extension ladder in from the barn to reach the tippy top of the south great room wall. Lucky for him, he also got to do the tippy top of the north great room wall. The fun part of all of the priming is remembering that you still have two coats of color to come.

We were happy to have Carl and Marita lend a hand (ok, 4 hands) on Saturday! They tackled priming the walls in the bedroom while Scott and I worked in the great room. This room, its adjacent hallway, and closet are all ready for "real" paint!

On Sunday, Scott figured out how to secure a ladder and a 2x8 to the floor to create a makeshift scaffold over the connector staircase. It worked!

In spite of all the painting that needed to be done, Scott couldn't resist the urge to peel all of the factory-installed protective plastic off the new windows. I thought the plastic was transparent but the view out of each and every window is now fantastic! The photo of the great room above does not do it justice - so you'll just have to visit noTTafarm to see how great it is.

And now for something a little different . . . 

When I left the house to attend a church conference late Sunday afternoon, the 1920 bathtub was sitting in the landing where Monte and Jason deposited it on Monday. Scott had worked on sealing all of the tile in the bathroom, and had moved on to touching up the drywall, so the tub was safe where it sat.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived home a few hours later and found this...

. . . the tub was in its place in the bathroom!  

All by himself, Scott wriggled the tub down the hallway, using a piece of carpet to help scoot it along. He described in detail the tilting, wedging, lowering, and praying that it took to maneuver the tub into its spot. He even got to take the dusty and grimy plastic wrap off the tub, revealing the pretty yellow paint I selected oh so many months ago.

Scott also brought the toilet and pedestal sink into the room to get ready for installation. The plan is to ask the plumber to hook up everything when he's here this week working on the new addition. 

The only thing standing between me and painting this bathroom are those damp portions of spackle on the ceiling.

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Special Deliveries

It's election day, America!  Just as Scott and I were headed out the door this morning, aiming to make it to our polling place right at 8 AM, a big truck arrived with our cabinetry! We couldn't resist the urge to take a peek so we stuck around and watched the delivery. 

A sunny morning for cabinet delivery!

The driver earned his pay today, maneuvering with ease around the trees in the south yard. The truck's ramp easily bridged the new patio.

One of the master bath's base cabinets was among the first to be unloaded. The crew of two from Cabinetry by Design unloaded all the parts and placed them in their respective rooms by following a numbered layout. A different set of cabinet dudes (that's right. dudes.) was on-site later in the day to install everything.

The first of the kitchen cabinets brought in was the incredible corner. The special drawers I insisted on are even better than I imagined! I am so glad to have this awesome storage space (4 deep drawers) rather than a traditional lazy susan. The fronts of all the cabinets are solid birch and will soon be stained a dark espresso.

By the end of the day, all of the cabinets were in place!

The refrigerator and microwave will be housed in the kitchen's northeast corner.

I love the width of the cabinets that will flank the range - made all the better by using the exposed-brick chimney to house the range hood exhaust flue.

 Another view of a drawer in the corner cabinet.

Not to be outdone by the beautiful kitchen - the gorgeous master bath vanity! We'll have plenty of storage within this 11'-6" span.

In addition to all the cabinetry, UPS delivered the light fixture for the casual dining area today! Because the 48" wide fixture was delivered to Scott's office fully-assembled, Scott had to strap the box to the top of the Escape to get it home.

Scott took a break during election night TV coverage and opened the giant box.

A whole bunch of tape and bubble wrap secure the fixture. We can install it in the dining area as soon as "someone" paints the ceiling.  I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow after work!

This is a catalog cut of the fixture, a "Flight Ring" by Bruck Lighting. In addition to the lights attached to the perimeter, four spot lights will be added.

Here's a close-up detail shot from the catalog. Each little LED lamp is held to the frame by tiny springs.  Very cool!

Oh my goodness, what a day! 

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Heavy Lifting

Relax, members of our immediate family:  you will not be called into duty.  The 300 lb. +/- cast iron tub has been moved upstairs! 

Super-Friend-of-noTTafarm Monte B. stopped by after work with his buddy Jason to manhandle the tub up the new staircase and into the hallway outside the 1920 bathroom. They got started just as I got home from work, so these pictures are from Scott's phone; they didn't seem too anxious to replay the action so that I could take "better" photos!

As soon as Scott gets the floor tile sealed, we can wriggle the tub through the door, put its feet on, and put it in place for good.

Thank You, Monte and Jason!  

Just as Monte and Jason were leaving, a delivery truck arrived, loaded down with the tile! Scott had arranged for the delivery guy to place the four pallets of tile (all 6,975 pounds of it) on the old concrete driveway. It was then to be our job to take each box of tile and walk it into the garage for storage. As you can imagine, I was quite worried about how I could escape from this tortuous task! Then the delivery guy asked the magic question, "So, do you want me to wheel these into the garage for you?"  My heart sang with joy as the pallet truck was called into action. By this time, I had my camera ready to capture all of the action.

The first pallet of tile and the pallet truck were loaded on the lift and lowered to the ground.

The pallet truck was easily maneuvered by the delivery guy (let's call him "Bob" since I forgot to ask.)

Bob started moving the truck to the north, then made a quick turn toward the garage, hedging that the momentum would take it up the slight incline.

After pushing the first pallet, the other three were pulled. The large wheels on the handle-end of the truck made it over the lip of the garage a bit easier.

Fast forward about 45 minutes, and the task was done! 

The orange tubes are rolls of Schluter DITRA, a polyethylene membrane substrate that the T. Hurt crew will install before the tiling begins. This tile will cover the walls and floor of the master bath and the powder room, as well as floors in the kitchen, casual dining area, and all of the first floor hallways.

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Entering the Home Stretch

Now that a lot of sub-contractor work is wrapping up, it is time for Scott and me to start earning our sweat equity. We concentrated this weekend on drywall clean-up and paint!  Before you get too excited, it was primer and ceiling paint...not any of the fun colors that will soon be selected and applied.

The painting began with the purchase of five-gallon buckets of ceiling paint and drywall primer. I already have a suspicion that I will be making another trip to Sherwin-Williams before this task is complete.

I started the ceiling paint with the cove in our master bedroom. It wasn't too long before the tedious, arduous work had wiped that smile off my face. Thankfully, my strong husband stepped in to help finish - then he moved on to ceilings in the adjacent hallway and the master closet.

As you can imagine, the dust left in the wake of the drywall installation was plentiful. Rather that continuing to track white trails throughout the house, Carl and Marita "volunteered" to spend a few hours on Saturday with the Shop Vacs.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for pitching in so cheerfully!!

By the time I got home from church on Sunday, Scott and Carl had made great progress in the kitchen; most of the ceiling painting was done. After lunch, we split the duty: Carl and I worked on priming the walls while Scott carried on with the ceiling in the kitchen, back hallway, and pantry.

It's amazing how a coat of primer can make a construction zone look like a "room!" Scott and I continued to work on priming in the master bathroom, master closet, and hallway. We've taken a bite out of this chore but still have a way to go.

In other news. . . 
Some electrical progress was made this week. The breaker switches have all been installed on the new panel in the basement, correctly labeled and everything! The lights in the basement are even hooked up and operating as expected. The exterior paint crew was back on Saturday, and are probably one more day away from wrapping up the trim paint. It is looking great, and most of the plastic covering is now off the windows (good bye, claustrophobia!)

Coming up this week . . . 
The T.Hurt crew should be here Monday to install some sub-floor materials in the kitchen. The cabinet crew will be bring our cabinetry (yes, can you believe it!?) on Tuesday. Our tile is going to be delivered this week, so we'll be moving it into the garage until installation time. Electrical needs to continue, we need to keep painting, and Scott needs to get that darned 1920 bathroom done! (We're so close, really, I'm not exaggerating.)

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!