649 6th

spring has sprung

For the past few months we've been able to convince ourselves that we couldn't get any more work done in the house as there was no place left to make a mess. You know, too cold to work outside but since all of the rooms have a certain degree of finish we couldn't really stir up a lot of dust...are you buying it?

Until last week I don't think we had done a lick of work on the house since John and Aimee's birthday parties back in December. I guess we earned a bit of a break from the run up to the event, but I think the rest is over. I'm tired of having no bookshelves and no place to put away my clothes. It's time to get busy.

Before we could start anything new however there was one lingering project i sore need of attention; finish the floors. We had only put sanding sealer on the before the party and then never got around to do the finish coats. For a number of reason we went with polyurethane, not my first choice in terms of material but the durability own out in the end. Michael applied it in three thin coats over a two day period at the end of last week, giving the last coat 24 hours to dry sans cats and humans. It doesn't look all that plastic coated and finally it has a little protection.

oak flooring

The first piece of the oak boardwalk went in today. I can assuredly now say I have no fear (hind sight of course) about the oak and cedar bickering with each other. I think the tones and grains have enough similarities and differences that they work. Tomorrow they will do the cross walk in the dining room; over to the right in this photo.

They're also slated to lay down the kitchen pieces tomorrow, finally covering the last bit of green marble you can barely see peeking out here. That includes the large step up to the stairs. Very exciting times!

once I had a railroad

While we were out yesterday they began the installation of the boardwalk. I don't talk about the boardwalk that often because, for most, it's kinda hard to visualize.

We actually hired an outside person to do this work. In some ways it's the big "space defining show piece" on the first floor.

It was sort of treat to come home and find progress made in our absence.

It's just before 9:00 on Saturday morning. Today is the day we are to knock them back like dominoes. I've already finished cutting in the first floor finish paint and am waiting on my house guest to come around before busting out the sander.

The goal is by the end of the day every room (less the dining) will be totally painted or surfaced in it's final coat....go.

bathroom door

Confession: We've had no door on our bathroom for... Actually, I'm not sure how long it's been. Maybe someone can check the blog and let me know. So let's just say we haven't had a bathroom door for a long time. And that's about to change.

Constructed from three layers of 3/8" plywood with openings for frosted glass window and a matching mirror, which will be ready for installation next weekend. Hall-side face and sides will be cedar, bath-side will be white. We were planning on priming and sanding the face and then spraying it white, but today our friends Kirstin and AB suggested laminate. Gotta track down a source for that tomorrow.

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not much of one thing

Big weekend of lots of miscellany. We cleaned out the boiler and got some heat up in here. I fixed the refrigerator, and am enjoying a cold beer for the first time in months. But most important, we just about finished(!) the second floor (including the picture lights; more on that later).

The piece of eye candy below is (as you've probably noticed) the new way of keeping myself glued to the finish jobs. Let us know if we've played them out.

wheat and chaff

I gotta say the details and the materials were starting to get the better of me. It's Tuesday night and that means schedule check-in, but tonight I wanted to give it a kick. We did a cleaning reset on the last unfinished room (dining) and made it less of a materials storage area and the beginnings of another finished space.

On the plan we're doing ok at best. Last week I mentioned that it sometimes takes longer to set-up and strike a job than it takes to do it. This week I am finding the plus side of that equation is that there are limitless jobs to choose from. Nothing really has priority over another at this point; if you're tired of painting trim, miter and nail up some cedar for a while. Not working for you? How bout a bit of electrical fixture installation?

We've got a couple of big jobs queued up for each of the next three weekends (kitchen cabinets and trim, stairs installation, and sliding bathroom barn door respectively), if successful by December 1 you will see a blue sheet of perfection (at least I'm allowed to dream).

drywall taping

Tuesday night means two things; garbage and recycling, and updating the fall project plan. As I had predicted last night, by finishing the silicone caulk in the bathroom and priming and painting the stairs we got a few more task in the blue realm (blue means done in the excel sheet; yellow in progress, purple on deck).

I did the wet sand of the drywall in the entryway and attempted to roll on to priming, but was stop by quality assurance. A couple of the mud seams just weren't ready. They need at least one more layer and another round of sanding. On the plus side, the stairway to the second floor is ready for its finish coat. Meaning we were three for two on the evening for things that could have possibly gone blue.

When I updated the plan I was beginning to feel like our December 1 deadline was rapidly approaching and we were hardly making a dent. Then (and this is where the true geek nature comes out) I sorted by priority and realized that we had knocked all of the high priority items off of the list or they were at least in progress.

That made it a bit more palatable. If nothing else, at least the important things are getting done first.

huckleberry cedar

A day's worth of cedar closet lining in the hall. Slow and steady, baby, slow and steady.

bitter sweet

I had been thinking about this day several months back; I wondered, "what would be the last thing we needed to demo to finish the renovation?" Tonight (unless we one day get crazy and redo the basement) I think  I shot the last man down.

There's an odd peninsula that sticks out between the kitchen and the hall by the bathroom.  It has structural support so we couldn't remove it. We needed to strip it back to the frame so we could  apply the same thickness of finish layer as the other side has to make the "door frame" even.

It was really great to be knocking out the final bit, taking the extra care to get all of the nails out so prep for installation would be minimal. When I came back upstairs to write this post I realized I had forgotten something, I had missed six calls and a text message.

Doh! Michael! He was driving around in a car service somewhere near Canarsie trying to find the UPS depot. He was going to pick up the package with the ingredients for the beer we're brewing Sunday. Sadly I had become so engrossed in the "last soldier" I completely forgot that I was the map / phone number lifeline.

Hmmmm....

I'm guessing guilt alone will keep me pretty busy this weekend.

hung drywall

Ladies and gentlemen the final piece of m*%#@ f%#$% C%$@##!*" drywall has been hung. You saw the pixilated vision that was the ENTIRE weekend.

The electrical, the doorbell, the over head light, matching the soffit framing, installing the new door frame; again, futzing, futzing, futzing... hour after hour.

But at last! it is ALL behind us. Michael, being forced to take some banked-up days before they expire at the end of the year, fit the final pieces today.

Ring out a cheer: the most odious task has left the building!