What we did the last few months of 2014

In September, we spent time planing the wood that we removed from the house.

Clay didn't mind spending his birthday and Labor Day and several more days planing the old douglas fir wood.

The columns on the front of the house got repaired and the brick was reset by our friend and neighbor Ric. 

  The new subfloor got laid where the bathroom was torn out and everywhere else.

Flooring repaired with new 2x12's

 New subfloor

Clay came up with a revised floor plan that let me reuse the old tub and gave me space for a pantry as well.

 This picture is the boys caring my tub back into the house, getting it off the driveway where it had been a boxelder bug prison all summer.

We decided to cut a hole for a new back door while we were at it!

Grandma and Grandpa Allen came and visited.  We removed some of the old wallpaper from the dining room and all the electrical fixtures got taken down.

The plumber, electrician, and HVAC all made it to the house and have been doing a great job.


In October, we got our new roof.

I installed our solar tubes and Clay installed the old mantle in the new fireplace framing.

During the second week, we installed our windows.  They look amazing and it is so nice to have the house quiet from outside noises. 

We installed the cedar planks on the porch ceiling, and Clay began building the small room around our furnace. We also got insulation installed in our newly framed out exterior walls.

Early November was spent getting the house ready inside and out for the cold.  We cleaned up the yard and prepared for the winter storms that would be coming as well as the soffit that needed to be installed on the eaves.

The back of house after clean-up and raking.

We also cleaned up the interior and got it ready for drywall.  Part of this preparation meant getting the permanant power turned on in the house, getting the new gas meter and service working, and getting the furnace turned on.

Our brother-in-law came and built us some new stairs off the new back door.  He did a fantastic job! By the end of the month we had begun painting.

We also had a beautiful weather day on the last Saturday of the month, which allowed Clay to get the sidewalk poured and replaced where we had the sewer line torn out a few months earlier.

Shelving was built in all the closets in earlier December and we began preping for paint.  After we got the living room, kitchen and main areas painted, I moved out of the way and let Clay come in and start getting the flooring installed.

Girls room closet.

Built-in shelves where a door and window used to be.

Clay enjoying the fruits of his labors.

 Paint.

Laundry room, yellow.

 Flooring installed. 

 Ric also came and filled in brick under the kitchen window.

We are very exhausted and looking forward to getting our projects finished up this month.  Even though we will be able to move in in February, we have many more projects to do once we live in the house.  

 

Flooring looks amazing, almost done!

It has obviously been a while since I've posted anything, but rather than drag you through the months of work I haven't updated, I will just give an overview of where we are at now.

So..  We are all framed, all the trades have been in and out, which means new electrical, new plumbing, and new HVAC.  We have a new furnace and we got it installed and working at just the right time. We are mostly painted, although there are many touch-ups to do and a few small areas that still need some TLC.  The wood that we took out of the house and spent much of the fall planing, is now installed back in the house, stained, and currently curing the final coat of polyurethane.  It looks amazing.  (Clay is Awesome!)

 During the staining process.

This is the floor before we applied any finish coats.  I will share some pictures of the finished floor as soon as I can get back on it again.

We were hoping to have enough flooring to finish all of our spaces, but ran out before we got the two small bedrooms done. I spent some time hunting down more wood and was able to find this beautiful 5" red oak at a decent price. Clay and I were able to get it laid in both rooms in just one day. 

Bedroom 1, See those built in shelves, that used to be the door to the bathroom.

Bedroom 2, that is the opening to the open closet.

Now... I've taken some heat on this next design choice, but here it is... I painted the new wood floors white and apparently laid the wood in the "wrong direction".  Everything I read said to lay the wood parallel to the longest wall, however, both of these rooms are so tiny that I wanted to make them feel wider and brighter.

I like the results, and when they are decorated they are going to be so cute!

 We layed the tile floor in the laundry room and the bathroom and I started tiling the tub.

 

 Love this tile by Stonepeak called Palazzo.  Perfect for this little laundry room.

A little hard to tell, but these are 1" hexagons.  This is what was in the original bathroom.

White subway tile and marble.  Love it!

(This is the original tub, it will get refinished when the plumbing is working again.)

When I talked to my cabinet shop at the begining of the month, they told me they couldn't install until the 28th, but I had a call from them on Friday, and they are going to be here this Tuesday, (so excited I took the day off).  I had a heck of a time finding my countertops.  I have had my heart set on soapstone.  I love it and think it is so beautiful and classic.  I have talked to several countertop installers and no one..NO ONE.. had soapstone.  However, I ran down to Salt Lake to pick up some of my tile and the show room had an indoor slab yard... and guess what.  They had a beautiful slab of soapstone that is now mine!  So, I can't wait.

Yeah... my soapstone!

This is a slab of beautiful honed Carara Marble.  This isn't my slab, but I'm getting a sister slab just like it for the island and the bathroom vanity.

Most of my lighting arrived this week.  I ordered quite of few of my fixtures online from Restoration Hardware and got them at a great price on sale.  I ordered the LED can light inserts from Costco, and they all arrived the same day.  I just need to pick up my ceiling fans and dining room light this week from a local lighting retailer.

Back in December, all of the soffit got finished and the porch looks so beautiful with the stained cedar planks on the ceiling.  So here are some photos of that project.

Porch finished with soffit wrap

Porch outside dining room

Love the contrast of white to wood.

Can't wait to share the kitchen as soon as the cabinets are installed.