"Orange You Glad" I Posted This Photo?

Monday morning, as scheduled, a subcontractor installed the Schluter DITRA underlayment for the first floor areas that will soon receive porcelain tile. This polyethylene membrane has a grid structure of square cavities, each cut back in a dovetail configuration, and an anchoring fleece laminated to its underside. The DITRA serves as an uncoupling layer, waterproofing membrane, and vapor management layer that accommodates moisture from beneath the tile covering - performing all these functions while still providing adequate support/load distribution for the tile covering. 

Can you tell I copied that description from the manufacturer's web site? It seems fancy but all I know is our floors are really, really orange! 

It sure is nice to have most of the OSB sub-floor covered! We've been walking on some sort of particle board throughout the house for a long time. Real flooring is just a few days (weeks?) away!

I must say the orange is growing on me. Such a cheerful note when you walk in the door.

Stay Tuned for More Progress!

Welcome to Dreamland

With the flooring complete and the woodwork finishing almost done, I decided that Saturday would be a great day to set up our new bedroom. Lucky for me, Scott was happy to set aside the stain and polycoating for a day to help move the furniture down the hall.

First, the bed and nightstands were put in position, centered between the two windows on the west wall.

Then, our friends from the Furniture Mart delivered our new mattress! It's going to feel so great to sleep on this new cozy, plush, fluffy, pillowy, soft cloud-of-comfort.

The mattress and new lamps are in place.

On the east wall, we placed this maple vanity/armoire/cabinet that I bought at an outlet in Minneapolis. I was so proud of myself for helping carry this thing up the stairs! We took all of the doors and shelves off first to lighten the load but it was still pretty heavy for an old lady like me. I found the perfect ottoman to use as a stool at Target this afternoon.

The finished sleeping area - all ready for sweet dreams!

Now all we need is to finish the woodwork (including baseboards) and find some window coverings. The to-do list never seems to get any shorter!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Kitchen Details Shine Through

Friday evening, after the excitement of the new flooring died down, we tackled the task of installing the drawer and door pulls in the kitchen. I thought I was being such a savvy shopper by purchasing stainless steel bar pulls at Ikea last September but wouldn't you know that the screws supplied by the manufacturer were an inch too short? After a trip to the hardware store, we were ready to get started.

Scott marked the holes for drilling with the use of a handy template purchased for just this task.

Once the holes were marked, it was a cinch to drill, add the screw, and attached the stand-offs and bars.

Leo watched Scott ready the corner drawers for their small round pulls. Sadly, we need to make another trip to the hardware store for screws that are the correct length.

While at Lowe's, Scott selected LED undercabinet lights which the electrician will hard wire.

Saturday, Scott installed the kitchen faucet and sprayer. The plumbing is not yet hooked-up but the faucet is ready to work.

Now with most of the lighting installed, the drawer pulls in place, and the faucet installed, my kitchen is nearing completion! Major components still to-come are the flooring and the open shelving (which Scott is designing to fill the opening at the right in the photo above.)

Speaking of flooring:  the sub-floor for the tile will be installed on Monday (Jan. 7th). This is the last step necessary before tiling can begin. And: the great room wood flooring will be installed on Thursday (Jan. 10th) which means that particular space will be completely, 100% done by Friday. (OK...maybe 90%...we still have to finish and install baseboards!) 

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Fantastic Friday Floor

Well, it happened.

The second floor wood flooring was installed on Friday (January 4)! It looks fantastic, and we couldn't be more pleased. Scott checked on the progress at lunchtime and reported that they appeared to be about 75% done; a pretty fast completion after a month of delays!

When I got home from work, I followed the trail of taped-down-flattened flooring boxes to our new bedroom. It was my job to peel them off the floor and stack them in the garage for recycling. (Oh, and then I got to vacuum up all of the leftover sawdust.)

The connector hallway looks great, too! 

We've been walking close to the windows the past few days so as not to step off and down into the entryway. While Scott refines the plans for a permanent railing, we'll make do with a temporary fix.

Stay Tuned for More Progress!

Progress Continues on Thursday

Even though the electrician didn't make it today, the woodworking crew was back and so was the HVAC guy (finally!) The beautiful colonnade wall is complete, and the pantry door is up. The return air ductwork has been installed, and register vents now cover holes in the walls around the house. A good day, all-in-all!

 The completed colonnade (from the kitchen to the south, into the parlor.) 

The moulding on each column adds great detail. 

It's amazing how much this addition has dressed-up the joint!

 The pantry door is now hanging courtesy of its barn door hardware. 

Even Leo approves!

The range hood was installed today!

Scott spent about an hour peeling all of the protective plastic covering off of various pieces. Why that wasn't done before it was assembled and installed is a mystery. The hood is not yet electrically hooked-up but at least it's in the correct spot.

Remember the Powder Room?

The HVAC guy finally installed the duct leading from the basement up through the powder room and into the 1920 bathroom. We now have heat coming directly into the bathroom! The powder room will be finished soon, I promise.

Since staining woodwork didn't seem appealing, and being TV-watching bums was out of the question, we decided to add more lamps to the cable light installed in the kitchen. The electrician did the difficult task of running the cables yesterday so we figured we could hang the lamps. My job was to open each box and peel  the labels off each piece.

It took a bit of thinking, aiming, and mathing to choose the placement for the six lamps. . . 

. . . but the end result is great! 

The electrician needs to do just a few more things before he's done with our little project:  install cable lighting in the great room to highlight the fireplace, install the pendants above the peninsula, and install the switch on the laundry closet light. Hopefully, he will return on Friday to make more progress!

We are also anticipating the installation of the second floor wood flooring. Stay tuned to see if this long-awaited task is finally completed!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Back to Work for Us and Them

Monday (New Year's Eve), while we were showing off our progress to our buddy Sonya, our project manager stopped by to discuss a "to do" list with Scott. While we were sad to go back to our "real" jobs Wednesday, we were pleased to see the woodwork crew and electricians both return to tackle more tasks. 

The colonnade wall is taking shape!

The oak trim that was original to the space dividing the 1920 parlor and dining room was lost long ago but it has been Scott's intent to reintroduce this feature. The crew assembled one of the columns and added all of the trim which outlines the colonnade.

The recessed-panel columns arrived in pieces which the crew assembled. Each column will be finished with crown molding and trim at the bottom. Then, "someone" will get to stain and poly all!

The electricians added two cable light fixtures in the kitchen; one running east to west and the other running north to south. Combined, the fixtures will hold nine mini spot lights - plenty of light to illuminate every nook and cranny in the kitchen! We will most likely require dimmers or charge for the tanning service our visitors will receive.

Let's See What Gets Done Tomorrow!

Meet Me Back Here Thursday Night

Long Weekend Yields Lotsa Staining

Staining the great room and dining areas continued through New Year's Eve and New Year's Day . . . and we are quite pleased with the results as well as the progress made. We are not quite done clear-coating these areas but the staining is 90% complete.

The patio doors looked even better with two coats of stain.

 Same with the windows!

Even the brackets on the back side of the peninsula needed to be taped off and stained.

Finally, on Tuesday (New Year's Day), the poly-coating began. 

Our reward for all of our hard work was removing the green tape that outlined all of the woodwork throughout the space. 

Just when I thought it couldn't look any better, the great room's wood work was enhanced by the poly-coating. 

I've said it before, and it's no exaggeration:  "gorgeous!"

Thanks for visiting, Sonya!  Come back soon :)

We hope you stay tuned to our adventures in 2013!

Happy New Year!