Exterior Design

It's never Halloween season without the ceremonial carving of the pumpkin.
Here is my creation this year, with a special thanks to the handy dry-wall saw which totally trumps the usual kitchen knife (although the pairing knife was handy at the end). Thanks, dry-wall saw--- I never knew what I was missing. (and, no... I did NOT use a cheesy kit or stencil for my work of art... lol).


The pictures look way cooler without a flash, but to get the whole affect, you have to also see it with the flash, so you can see that it is attached to a stake with a pirate bandanna :)

Upteenth weekend-- lots done :)

As promised, we got a LOT done this weekend and we are finally starting to see a 'light at the end of the tunnel.' With the help of Don, Eric's Dad in town from Richland WA, we accomplished our goals for the weekend and put in upwards of 16-20 hours.

#1: Don installed the new french doors connecting the living room and third/front bedroom. This was quite a project, as the doors were not pre-hung. Don framed out the door, and hung the door 'from scratch'. They look great. Here are the steps:
a) frame out the door.

b) make all of the measurements and install the frames (a lot more work than I am describing here!)

c) make any last adjustments (ie: for the floor not being straight, etc).

d) - hang the doors! Don is a pro, so they hung right (about) the first time. Here is Eric, excited.

e) install drywall around the door opening:


#2 Get as much drywall prepped as possible (ie hang, mud, sand & repeat x3).
We finished most of the house, although there is still a bit to go. Here is Christina working away (while taking a break to pose for the camera, of course---- and yes, we do tend to wear the same work clothes each weekend... lol):


#3 Start to Texture/Spackle Walls!
Eric texturized the master bedroom and office, so now we are ready to paint and install trim in those two rooms! We are getting so close!!! The new air-compressor was at use --- and so was Eric:

Here is a (blurry) sample of the ceiling texture:

#4: Don fixed a small plumbing annoyance in the sink. Once again, Yay Don!!! (he fixed it so when you run the full disposal the waste doesn't sneak up into the left side of the sink...)


We also got to play a little this weekend.... we took Don to Uber (our favorite pub) and watched the Seahawks (loose) at Paul's tonight. Eric helped me cater a work event on Friday. And, despite our house being a complete mess... we ate like king's... as usual :) it's wonderful being married to a first-class chef :)

Start of a Big Weekend

Eric's Dad, Don, is in town from the tri-cities this weekend, so we are expecting to get A LOT done this weekend!

Our goal is to frame out the new french doors (and by 'our' I mean Don, Eric's Dad), to finish the drywall prep in the front bedroom and living room area, finish hanging and preping the drywall in the hallways that are still bear, and start texturizing!!!

We'll post how we did on Sunday night....
Cheers

An End in Sight? Goal is Nov. 15

The last couple of weeks we have been working on the walls: applying a layer of joint compound ('mud'), letting it dry, and then sanding it smooth. This application is done 2-3 times on each seam, so it is taking a while!
Below is Eric Sanding:

We have set a goal of finishing by November 15th!
We are having a party that day so hopefully everything WILL be done by then!

Video Tour

Please excuse the house mess. Oh, and I had just gotten up ;)

Things I've Learned

... That the term "flush" doesnt always mean what you do after going to the bathroom.
... That countersink is a drilling method, not a counter with a sink in it :)
... That when Eric says "fir" or "grounded" he is talking about something electrical
... That "mud is magical"

... That I have an amazing husband who has taught me a lot :)

Week 10? (time flies!)

Where did we leave off?

Life has been busy the last couple of weeks, but we have been making progress on the house. Currently, most of the drywall is up. We started mudding this week (basically adding a putty-like adhesive to all of the seams and screw holes in the walls). We have made great progress on the master, office and living room. Our goal is paint the master next week (fingers crossed!). Eric keeps telling me that "mud will fix it" and now I am starting to believe it!

Here is Eric getting ready to mud:

Here is what the walls look like right now. They are starting to look like walls again!

We were lucky to have some helping hands this weekend-- Thanh helped out on Saturday, and Heather (pictured below) came by on Sunday (thanks, friends!)

We got to 'play' a bit too this weekend!
Friday night we went to Carkeek beach and saw a beautiful sunset -- everytime I go to this park I am in awe that this beautiful place is less than a mile from our house!


Sunday we had family over for a sunny bbq and got to see Kelly and Chris (in town from Koln, Germany).
Here is Eric with Jamie & Bob's adorable dog:

Chris, Kelly & Dad:

I (Christina) even got out for a bike ride around Lake Washington today. What a beautiful September we are having!!!

Week 8: Drywall

Happy Labor Day!
As expected, I suppose, we spent our long weekend laboring on our house (as well as spending some good time with friends too).

We accomplished hanging 95% of the drywall up this weekend, and it is so nice to see the start of walls! We didn't quite get to taping and mudding as we hoped, but we will work on that this week.

Pictures:

One section of the kitchen ceiling was damaged, so we cut out that section to replace the drywall. It turned out nice having that section open for the electrical, too:
Here is Christina & our friend Amanda working on measuring and cutting drywall:



Pic's of the [start of] walls:
(office)
(bedroom)
We finished the drywall in the front bedroom, office, bedroom and most of the living room. We still need to finish the drywall in the kitchen and hallway.

... and... a glance at our garden:

and a huge spider we found in our yard :)

and last but not least... it is easy to get up and work when you get up to a breakfast like this:

Week 7: Lots and Lots of Rain

So we are now into week 7 of our remodel project and there are no major reports to make from last week.

On Friday Eric was driving home from work when his car overheated, so Eric spent Saturday fixing his radiator (he’s so handy!) and other small repairs that were on his to-do list for his car.

I worked until 1 pm on Saturday and was feeling exhausted and lazy, thus no house work got done Saturday.

We arose Sunday with grand ambitions of getting the majority of the drywall UP. We were up early and started working early… and then came the rain. Lots and lots of rain. Unfortunately, we only have a carport so we couldn't realistically keep working and keep the drywall dry. We tried to wait it out but the rain kept coming…. so we called it a day and went to Hale’s Brewery for an early dinner :)

Hopefully the rain will clear up a bit this week, so we can get all of the drywall up this week, as Eric's Dad is coming next weekend to help with finishing work. We'll have lots to report then!

Week #6: Drywall, etc! (tribute to Opa)

This week/weekend's accomplishments:

(1) We finished hanging the insulation in the bedrooms (we were waiting on the electrical, which also got done this week!)


(2) We started sanding the interior doors and found layers upon layers of multi-colored paint. The picture below gives you a sense of the "Neapolitan ice cream" look of the layers. The previous owners, like us I suppose, were not afraid of color! Christina's good friend Melba came over Saturday and helped with the sanding -- always in high fashion!-- thanks Melbs!


(3) And the BIG HOORAY of the weekend... the walls started to come up!!! We took a trip to [a very busy and chaotic] home improvement store early Saturday morning to buy 36 sheets of 4x8 sheetrock (1/2" thick). It is so weird/wonderful to see walls again!

Nick M. was a big help in hanging the walls with Eric (thanks Nick!). Here is Eric measuring cuts of the drywall.

The first sheet is UP!!!

It started off a little "rookie" but got more precise and 'professional' with each sheet.
They both seemed to know what they were doing ;)
We went to a bbq today to celebrate a friend's first triathlon (go Heather!) and Eric continues to work on hanging the drywall in the front bedroom as I type. We are working on getting the big pieces up first, and then going back to the smaller/custom areas.

We also appreciated Beth & Chad for stopping by on Saturday with flowers--- we were very sad to hear that Christina's Opa (grandpa) died Friday from Pancreatic cancer. Above is a picture of Christina asking him to dance at our wedding a year ago. Please keep us in your thoughts -- he was an amazing Opa and friend and we miss him already.