Done!!!!!

All that is left to do is a little touch up work and to get gutters put back up. Finally...

Almost done

Well not really. We have moved on to the last section of the siding. I am a little worried that we won't finish before winter, but as long as we get the insulation blown in and the house wrap up I'll be happy.

Oh yeah. I tiled our entry way with slate tiles that we found on sale at Lowe's

I can't wait...

We are almost done with the front side of our house. I think Dan will get done putting up siding this weekend and I'll finish with the painting next week. That is all.

Scallop Progress

I have been working away on the scallops that we have uncovered. They look really good, almost brand new. I have decided to paint the scallops a lighter shade of gray than the rest of the siding. I think it will look great when it is all done. We also got a great deal on a door lintel. I had found one I like online for about $110 plus shipping, but we decided to look at the preservation station on the off chance that they would have one for cheap. Which they did so we bought one for 10 bucks. It's OK a little beat up but we're going to make it work.

Insulation is done

Well it is done for the front side of the house. Lowes' blower is much messier than Menards but it is sooooo much easier to rent. Cheaper as well. So this last weekend we prepared the house to have it's insulation blown in. Sunday morning we were ready so we drove to Lowes to pick up stuff around 11. Therefore we didn't get started until after lunch. I had to go horseback riding at 2 so all we did was plug up the hoses before I left. I didn't get back until after dinner. We kinda sorta knew what we we doing and we got one wall done. Then on Monday we pushed to finish the rest before bed time. Lowes accidently only charged us 10% of the cost of the insulation instead of giving us the 10% discount. They also did not charge us for renting the machine. Therefore we were able to insulate the front side of the house for about $8 plus gas and electricity.

Awesome Original siding

So we have been slaving away...kinda. I have been spending a little less time working on siding but I have put everything else on the back burner for the last 2 months. My horse has finally recovered from cutting his leg, so I have been feeling bad about neglecting him for the entire beginning of the summer.


We have still made alot of progress. We have uncovered the front of the house and have discovered a gem. We are definitly keeping the top half original. This will also save us alot of time since installing siding on the second level is a slow process. Now I need to think of painting schemes for this new discovery. Unfortunaly the front stoop (sp?) will probably need to be removed. After investigating it, we don't believe that it is structurally sound. It also is not original to the house. I need to quickly decide what I'm going to do about it.

Back from Sweden

I have returned from my business trip to Germany and Sweden. I loved Sweden. It was gorgeous. Plus I look Swedish. I was even asked for directions in Stockholm by some Swedish guy. Anyway, Dan was busy while I was gone and finished another side. We had it ready for siding before I left. This was the first side that we blew in insulation. It was much easier than expected. This weekend we hope to start tearing off the old siding on the front of the house. Below are a few pictures of our progress. I am definitly falling behind on all the painting. I feel all scatter brained. I'm going to blame jet lag.

First Side Done

The first side is done. It has only taken us 6 weeks. I still need to caulk all the seams and paint a final coat on the siding and trim. I'll get that done next weekend.

I don't think we will be finishing the house this year but whatever we get done this year is less we have to do next year. I have alot of business trips this month so i don't think this will be a very productive month. I have a one week trip in Ohio and a two week trip in Germany and Sweden.

Oh well

Busy weekend

Unfortunately Dan had to work most of the weekend, so not very much got done. However I painted all the siding that we had up and I caulked all the seams. It took me awhile. Dan was able to finish up some trim work and remove 2 satellite dishes from the roof so we have all the preparation steps done so that we can start siding a large area.



I'm having second thoughts about the siding color. It kinda looks old peopleish to me. I'm going to stick with it though. Maybe it will grow on me.

Siding Progress!!!

We have been consistently been working on the siding the last few weekends. It has seemed to take forever. I hope we are able to finish the job this year. It's a little iffy though. We have worked on this south side for three weeks straight and it still isn't finished Not even close. This side already had insulation in the walls too. Oh well. I try to consul myself and say that whatever we get done this year is less that we have to do next year. But I really don't want to have a half complete siding job for the winter.





One of the problems that is holding us up is the rain and heat. It seems that if it isn't pouring down rain, it's super hot. This is the reason that I wanted to start around the end of March. Not the middle of May. If we would have started when I wanted to, we might be on to the next side of the house. The good news is that Dan and I both still have 2 weeks of vacation left this year. So I hope to use it sparingly until the begining of fall. Then it's desperation time.

Progress

I've taken a few pictures of the finished dining room trim and staircase. Well the staircase isn't finished yet...

First is the dining room

Before:

The wall of paneling and a really badly done chair rail...


and the really leaky windows


The trim doesn't look that bad but up close it was a mess. There was paint all over the edges and they had about a million little nail holes.

Finished

New windows and repaired trim. I don't think the picture came out very well though. The trim doesn't look as red in real life. (BTW our dining room is really the workout room)


And the doorway that will eventually have pocket doors reinstalled into them


These pictures in general are pretty crappy but I don't like showing my half completed work.


Now the staircase.

It seems like I never took before pictures which is too bad because it was hideous. They were encased in carpet that was nastier than any hotel carpet I have ever seen. 2 years ago we ripped the carpet up and I spent the summer carefully stripping each piece of wood. I know that people often will take the whole staircase apart and get each pieced dipped, but I was afraid that all the pieces would never go back together and we would forever be accessing the upstairs through use of a ladder. So I went the slow way. Anyway we have been living with a half done staircase for the last 2 years so I have decided that it is going to be finished this year. Maybe even this month.


It's hard to see the difference between the undone and the done parts in this picture.





The top landing...with every door trim freshly stained and polyurethaned.

Siding

No pictures today, but we tore off the aluminum and fake brick siding off of the south side of our house. At first everything was going smoothly and then on the second day we were working on it we found a huge area that did not have anything under the siding. So we quickly had to run to Menards to buy insulation and plywood to close up the hole. At this time it was about 3 pm. Well we got into the truck and it wouldn't start. The other truck was full off our garbage so we could not take that. Anyway after a half an hour of working on the truck we were on our way to Menards. We didn't get back home until about 5:30. So we ate dinner and then got started patching up the hole. We got the hole mostly closed up before bedtime. Dan is continuing to work on it right now.

The original siding is in pretty bad shape on this side. It looked like there has been a lot of work done to this area. I am contemplating tearing it all off and replacing this whole side with fiber cement. We can save the salvageable boards for use on the rest of the house. We are currently getting quotes on similar siding but I have a feeling that they will be very expensive.

Today I got to work a little on the stair case and the living room trim. Slowly I am getting this project complete.

Added siding pictures:

April has been a very busy month. I have been working super hard on the dining room trim and I can officially call it done. I had stripped, sanded and stained all of it. I have finished touching up the paint. I took a picture with my phone of the final product. I'll take more pictures later on.




My dining room is currently filled to the brim with living room furniture because I am currently working on the trim in there and I painted the ceiling this weekend.

Oh Dan and I stumbled across a awesome find last weekend. We had found the old parlor doors in the walls last year but only one of them still had the rollers. I had been looking around on the internet trying to find replacements or instructions on how to use modern hardware. I found one place to get replacements but they were 200-250 per pair and they weren't quite the same. Well last weekend we went to the preservation station and the first thing we saw were 2 sets of the pocket door rollers. They are not exactly like what we had found in our wall but they looked like they would work and they were only 20/pair.

Next weekend I plan to continue working on the staircase and living room trim. If the weather is nice I will stain the fence. I have been pushing off staining the fence because I really need to start building my tan for the summer so I have been waiting until it is warm enough to wear tank tops and shorts outside.

Since now I have officially started the home improvement again for the summer, plan to see updates weekly.

List Update

I haven't updated in awhile but...it's was winter. We didn't really do anything. I hope to get the dining room finished in the next few weeks. I also need to stain the fence outside as well. We have decided to replace all the carpets this year too. I am awaiting a good sale for me to order them. Once the dining room is finished I'll add photos.

Paint all doors
Repaint main bathroom, I dislike the color I originally painted it
Install tile floors in main bathroom
Install new toilet in bathroom
Finish rehabilitating the original molding of the living and dining room
Finish the staircase
Replace upstairs windows - 2 left
Refinish downstairs hardwood floors
Move cold air return so that the original pocket doors can be installed - Done
Replace downstairs windows - Done
Get new sliding patio door for the kitchen
Paint dining room - Done
Get new siding