It’s been about 32½ weeks since construction began on our remodel, and we’re getting down to the finishing touches. We (and our subs) have been pretty busy, which explains the paucity of articles recently. Barb and I have taken a few pictures, but I haven’t had a chance to pull them off of the camera yet.
The drywall is finished except for a rough patch job in what will eventually be a closet. The texturing is done except for sanding in the old dining room.
Painting is complete in the entry, great room, kitchen, laundry/utility room and bathroom. Caitlin’s bedroom is painted except for the closet. Caira has two walls finished, one wall needs to have the edges cut in, while the fourth wall and closet still need their color coats. We can’t start painting the old dining room until the texturing has been sanded, and Barb ran out of paint while working on the bedroom hallway. Unfortunately this was *after* the paint store had closed for the weekend, so we’re stuck until the paint store re-opens and we have time to resume painting.
Our kitchen and utility room cabinets arrived last week. Our cabinet maker works up in Chico, so he delivered the cabinets and stayed in town overnight to do the installation. We got Shaker style cabinets in natural cherry, and they look fantastic, but unfortunately we can’t load up the lower cabinets because we’ll just have to empty them next week when the countertops are installed. 🙁
The third and final coat of stucco was applied on Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes! I don’t know whether it’s due to the finished texture or the colored stucco (or both), but the house exterior really looks finished now. (It’s not, of course. I still have to install exterior light fixtures, clean up all the construction debris, and begin the arduous task of post-construction landscape remediation. Groan…)
Once Barb has finished painting a room I’ve been coming along behind her to take care of the electrical finish work, (e.g. installing outlets, light switches and fixtures, etc.) But it’s a sad fact that she can paint faster than I can do all the wiring, especially when I drop what I’m doing to help her paint! :/ I’ve been putting most of my effort into getting the lights working, and I’m almost finished except for ceiling fans/lights–I’m waiting until our HVAC contractor installs the registers and air return grills because the ceiling fans will be in his way otherwise.
This coming week is going to be another busy one. Our tile setter will be back from vacation, and he’s supposed to start working on our project next Saturday, so the goal for this week is to have everything ready for him then. I have to return to my day job after being off this past week, so that’ll cut a huge chunk out of my remodeling time. Our plumber will be out mid-week to remove the drain and water supply from the old kitchen sink. Barb and I have to salvage about 150 square feet of the hardwood flooring from the entryway, then we have to put ~45 sheets of [hardiebacker][] in the entry, kitchen, nook, hallway, laundry/utility room, and bathroom. Oh, and I still need to do electrical finish work. No rest for the weary!
[hardiebacker]: http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/backerboard.shtml
