Week 5 . . .

Not much happened this week on my part. My house workdays are Tuesday and Wednesday; Tuesday Lydia and I had to make a trip to Wal Mart for groceries and while driving home it was discovered that my headlight/taillights were out. So, working on Wednesday evening was out because by the time Kevin was able to determine what was wrong and repair the problem, it was too late to go. Also, this was a bad week for me at work, lots of long hours, so it would not have been a good idea to try working at the house anyway. This month we will be paying rent and house payments as well as utilities for both so I may not work during the week anyway because we eat out those nights and that adds up to home improvement money flying out the window.

Kevin was able to accomplish a lot, read on for details . . .

Master Bedroom . . .
Kevin got our roomed wired for electricity as well as the wall opposite our room in the living room. After that feat, he began hanging the sheetrock pictured below. I knew our room would be much smaller than what we are accustomed to, but wow! hanging the sheetrock sure made it look super small. I am so glad we measured our bed and nightstands to make sure they would fit. Kevin called a friend of ours, Kevin Moore to come look and let us know how much it will cost to do the tape and bedding. If it is more than we can pay then Kevin and Troy will be doing the tough, tedious work that all will notice if you make a mistake. (Well, maybe not all, but I will.) We will know the result by the next post!

This is my closet with sheetrock. It got smaller.

Kevin's closet. It got bigger! (Not really ... but I'm rubbing it in.)

Window seat area in our bedroom.

Inside my closet.

Closer look at Kevin's huge closet.

This is west wall in our bedroom. Living room is opposite.

Above is pictures of the ceiling in the master bedroom. It is beadboard from the 20's but it is in really rough shape. The plan is to place sheetrock over it. I do wish it was salvageable.

Lydia's Bedroom . . .
Lydia now has a hole in her floor where Kevin is getting ready to install our new tankless water heater. He found out that one of our neighbors is a plumber and has enlisted him to do the finishing touches on the connections. I forgot to take picture of the hole!

Kitchen . . .
I have added a second coat of the yellow paint and had David move the refrigerator so the walls could be painted behind it. David went through and painted all the grooves in the paneling and put one coat of paint of the fridge walls. It was way too humid to apply a second coat on Saturday so I will do that later. I got busy applying bright white paint to some of the molding. I'm going to have to buckle and get some kilz or get white paint with primer added. I knew I would probably have to do this but I had crossed my fingers and hoped I wouldn't.
I think I am going to go against the advice of some of my wiser advisers and paint my kitchen cabinets. The prep is a lot harder than the actual painting but I will be happier in the end. If I do the prep properly, the paint should be durable and have a long life span. Now to decide whether to go with bright white which will match the trim or have another try at mint green matching my fiesta. If I choose the later, I think I will just pick a standard mint green instead of getting a custom color prepared. I am also thinking about white cabinets and painting the doors and drawer facings green. I hate these kind of decisions!

This is where the refrigerator was. I have to put a second coat on, then the fridge will return. 

Just seeing some of the wall without blue tape and the molding painted white.

Ditto from above picture. Look, there is the fridge! It is sitting in front of pantry right now waiting for its little area to get finished.

This is the hallway. I will have to put a second coat of white on the molding.

That is quarter round being used for molding next to the ceiling. I am having to invest in a smaller angled brush for it! It is a pain in the rear to paint, I am so tempted to leave it yellow!

This is molding going into the bathroom. While I was painting the molding I noticed the door facing was more Formica! I couldn't believe it. But wait, the oddities continue, look at the facing on the next picture, its not Formica . . .

. . . it is the gray paneling! The whole bathroom is Formica and they decided to use a little paneling here . . . go figure. The molding is wood though so I went ahead and painted it. I believe I will leave the paneling gray so it will match the Formica on the opposite side.

I'm throwing this picture in because I have thoroughly cleaned the bathroom with Lydia's help and my aunt Jackie wanted to see more pics of the bathroom with a ceiling fan!

Ideas for the kitchen . . . I would like to replace the gray Formica wall in the kitchen with metal tiles but that is also what I would like to replace the styrofoam ceiling with.

Here are the pulls & hinges I would like to put on the cabinets. I love stars!

I kept wondering why there was trim along the bottom of the upper cabinets above and to the side of the stove. Well, I peeked underneath the cabinets. LOOK!! More Formica!!! This will be removed. I am pretty sure it was placed there for the convenience of wiping down the underneath of the cabinets from grease and food splatter.

New hallway and David's Bedroom . . .
Some of the work from the master bedroom flowed into the new hallway and David's room. This was really the only work done outside the master bedroom this week. Kevin did rewire the light switch for David's room otherwise it would have been in the hall closet.

This is the hall closet looking from our bedroom. Obviously the back wall isn't up yet because you can see straight through David's closet to the utility closet in the other hallway.

This is David's new light switch, and it works!

This is David's closet and the utility closet is to the left and the hall closet is to the right. I believe Kevin wasn't finished framing those out in the last blog post.

What's ahead . . .
I think Kevin is feeling a little burn-out. He has been working almost everyday for the last 4 weeks and move in time is quickly approaching. He even suggested today that we move in without staining the floors with the original hardwood. Of course, I said, "I don't think so." He has done great work and I know the work he has done is saving us so much money.
Kevin is going to finish hanging sheetrock and whether it is Kevin Moore or my Kevin and Troy, the tape, bedding and texture will soon be completed.
After that, Kevin will move on to completing his part of the tankless hot water heater installation so the plumber can finish it up. That will be followed by the backyard fence or the flooring in the kid's rooms. The fence may need to come first so no one will have to babysit Howdy and Maddie after we move.
I am still painting in the kitchen and ssshhhh, don't tell my mom, but I am leaning more and more towards painting the cabinets.
After Kevin is finished using the living room and dining room to store materials and tools in, I will be prepping those for staining followed by the actual staining. Then on to the same for our bedroom.
Somewhere in all that we will buying our new high efficiency, stackable washer and dryer. Whoot! Whoot! I can hardly wait!