South Fence

Completed the South property-line fence today.  A welcome change.

Post Posting Post

Spent this weekend starting on the fence along the South property line.

Took one full day, with energetic help from friend Bryan, to remove 80' of chainlink fence and posts.  Broke a heavy duty webbing strap and a nylon rope trying to pull the old posts.  A lot of grunting labor.

Today Lisa and I got the post holes finished, and set the new steel posts in concrete.

Put the old fence on Craigslist, and managed the swarm of sketchy metal scrappers who descended.

Tomorrow the wood infill begins.

Heavy Metal Bath

Working today on our experiment for the upstairs guest bathroom - a steel countertop.

It wraps up the wall and forms a backsplash and small shelf for the mirror to sit upon.
The cutout is for the undermount sink, and a hole for the faucet.

Now we just have to decide what to finish this with - we are considering a color in this location.

Behind it, you can see steel bars awaiting their turn to get cut and welded for the kitchen.

Steel Wall Surface in Kitchen

A steel surface beside the door in the kitchen; a place for magnets or chalk notes and doodles.

The wood is temporary bracing to hold it flat while the mastic dries.

Can't wait to replace the door with the glass and fir door. 
Oh yeah - I'll have to wait.

Mirror Moves

The first of the mirrors got installed today - downstairs bathroom.

And look - the glass shower door is now in place (3 days later from previous post)

Shower Door Standing By

Shower door arrived... but with the wrong hinge. 

Lets just lean it in this doorway for a few days.

Light Leafing

Adding a touch of gold leaf to the old light fixture we refurbished previously.

Kitchen Cabinets

This week, the kitchen cabinets were installed.   

After much experimentation, worry, anticipation, and a few setbacks, these cabinets have lived up to our hopes.  We are very, very pleased with the beautiful workmanship and finish.

Lots of pictures below.

Another Setback

Just discovered this today when I went to install the hardware:  all of our exterior doors have been drilled incorrectly.

Sinking into a Hole (reverse that)

This is the Duravit washbasin we chose for our downstairs bathroom.
We wanted the one that comes with a hole in it for the faucet.

Well, not so simple.

Kitchen Beginnings

Look what's taking shape this week...

Project Update

Big trim boards in this opening, with reveal.  Took a bit of fussing, and adding drywall edging to make the shadowline reveal.  Messy business, but I'm getting better at it.  Still needs painting.

This past week or so was rather un-photogenic, but decent progress was made.
Mostly working alone at the house this week, but this coming week promises big things.

This past week involved:
- Lots of base trim: about 1/2 done, including up the stairway.  Some base trim is on hold until carpet installation in bedrooms.
- Lots of door trim: about 2/3 done.
- Drywall reveal trim installation around two openings.
- Misc. painting
- Mirrors measured and ordered.
- Glass shower door measured and ordered.
- Countertops ordered (they measure and template later)
- Flooring underlayment cut and put down in Laundry Closet, for future sheet linoleum.
- Plumber dropped off the sinks.
- Cabinet guy put down toe-kicks in the kitchen.
- Taxes prepared & filed

The coming week promises:
- Installation of the long-awaited Kitchen Cabinets  (Yay!)
- Installation of most plumbing fixtures that don't involve countertops: toilets, shower trim, tub trim, hose bibs, utility sink (Yay!)

Stay tuned - a lot of changes in the next few days.

Base trim in the Hallway

Base Trim up the stairs.  The finished wood stair treads and risers will butt into this.

Wood sink wall, now with steel shelf on top.  Sink has arrived, awaiting installation.

Door trim examples - a swing door (left) and pocket door (right).  Pocket door still needs a bit of touch up sanding and paint.

Kitchen cabinet bases are down.  Cabinets pending!