Busy As Beavers

We're not beavers of course and we have other obligations, but we've been putting a lot of time into this house.  It's hard to believe we've been at it since February.  We've been able to complete some projects in a day while others take weeks.  Yippee, our list is getting shorter :-)

When I last updated the blog (more than a month ago...) I showed you the finished laundry room, finished family room and ugly carpets going bye, bye.  Since then the hallway flooring and the front room flooring is completed.  The baseboards in the hallway were repainted and are installed.  We cut new baseboards for the front room, painted them and they're also installed.  The ugly bathroom has been transformed with the addition of a granite counter top and a new oak cabinet facade.  The master bedroom is painted and new baseboards installed there too.  The master bath has been painted as well.  Most of the major painting is done.  We still have a couple of doors to paint.

Yes, it's still a construction zone and an OCD nightmare in here, but we're finally in the homestretch!  What remains to do inside the house is minimal.  The yards and the garage need some work but compared to the house, it'll be a cinch :-)

Here's some before and after shots for those wondering...

the hallway leading to the bedrooms

it's great that we Ron can do this work!!

Ta-Da, it looks gorgeous!!!

 

This is our front door and entrance way.  Not too long ago it had wallpaper, two coat racks, a large mirror, a shelf for keys and such and some wall art.  Now the walls are bare and painted the familiar color of Navajo White - it's kind of grown on me actually...  I can't recall how many times we've had to move the TV in order to paint a wall, rip out carpet or install flooring. 

This looks 100 times better!!  The nasty old hardwood is gone and replaced with laminate flooring.  The old flooring came up without any issues but the glue left behind was a nightmare for Ron.  It took over four hours of scrapping to come up.  Then I spent another three hours washing off the remover residue from the concrete.



Our front bathroom sink wasn't perfect when we moved into the house.  We didn't bother updating it while the kids lived here and we rarely use it now that they're gone.  But we knew it had to be dealt with prior to selling the house.  We hired someone to apply a new finish to the whole sink/counter top area.  When the day came for him to do the work he began as usual.  After about an hour he informed us that there was no way he could make the necessary repairs.  The cracks were too deep and there was a crack in the drainpipe that couldn't be fixed.  I could feel my heart sink as we realized we had another momentous task of replacing the vanity :-(   

another project we weren't anticipating

We checked out a granite place near our home.  We liked a piece they showed us.  We didn't like the price tag.  It would cost us $350 just for the granite.  It would then need to be cut, polished and installed by another contractor.  Our luck changed tremendously when we got a referral for the granite guy in our business complex.  We should have gone to visit Adrian in the first place.  He had a slab that he GAVE to us!  He charged us a mere $100 to cut, polish and install it!  And he wouldn't take a tip when the work was complete!!  OMG, I wish you all could see it in person.  It's simply drop dead amazing beautiful :-)

WOW!!

The granite, the finally finished oak facade, the new faucet and the concealed hinges really make this a beautiful bathroom.  Thank you Adrian and Ron :-)       

I have one more transformation to show you.  Our master bedroom.  Simple enough but not so easy to accomplish as we've had our huge platform bed and surrounding dresser/mirror in the same place for more years than I can remember.  It's VERY HEAVY too!!  In order to paint behind it we had to move it.  Not an easy task.  But we were successful.

The bed set takes up the entire wall.  But at the same time there's no need for a dresser since we each have seven drawers, a small under-bed cubbie and a large cabinet.  In order to move it away from the wall we put some 1/4" plastic down on the floor and Ron was able to lift it just enough for me to slip it underneath the monster.   With it away from the wall, we're getting to know how it will be in a trailer since we have less floor space at the foot of the bed now.

new paint, new baseboards and new curtains

 
The bed set still needs to go back against the wall.  Eventually.  Today's job is to make sure the front door gets back on prior to us having to go back to work tomorrow!

 


But in the meantime, I'll take a few quiet moments to myself to enjoy some pages of my latest book while milk boils in the IP prior to becoming yogurt.