The Grass is Always Greener - Day 213

Another super busy day at Project 713. It's May 28th, the 213th day of the renovation. A lot of stuff got completed, both that you can see and stuff that would be easy to miss. The landscapers got started early, with the sod being delivered before dawn and a load of topsoil being dumped around 8 a.m.

I shot the first picture on my way to the office, so the picture below is the results of a full day's work. It got rained out by a major thunderstorm around 3 p.m. The crew ran out of sod, so they'll have to finish it later.

 They got about 90% finished, so they have to fill in two open spots and then there are a couple areas along the neighbor's property line that have to be repaired because it's become damaged during construction.

If you look closely at the pictures of the house you'll also notice that the gutters and downspouts were installed and they look great. They're a perfect match to the color of the window trim and soffit braces.

You can also see the finished work in the mulch beds and boxwood shrubs planted along the front porch

And finally, the kitchen appliances were delivered and they're just sitting in the breakfast nook area until the crew can install them either tomorrow or this weekend.
Things are really starting to come together!
More pictures as I get them.
Later!

Floored - Day 212

It's now May 27th, Day 212 of Project 713. The operation has moved ahead on several fronts, both inside and out. We'll start with the hardwoods!

This is a shot of the entryway and the formal dining room. The floors have been stained and are waiting to be sealed.

The picture above is the front hall and entryway looking toward the rear of the house, so you can see one of the three sets of French doors on the back wall of the house. 

The shot above shows the kitchen area and the island in the center. Below is a wider shot, so you can also see the staircase. You'll also notice the empty spaces in the kitchen where the appliances will be installed... tomorrow!

Below you can see the upstairs landing and hallway. Our bedroom door is in the center of the background.

 The shot below is the staircase looking down from the second floor landing.

The next picture is Grace's bunk beds and stairs up to her loft after being painted and the railing fastened.

The picture below is our transition deck and steps from the back of the house to the patio.

The landscaping crew has been busy grading the back yard and putting grass seed and straw down. Nearly that entire area used to be an old concrete parking pad, so soon it will be nice and green!

In the front yard, the landscapers are preparing to put the sod in, but they started out by putting in some of the boxwood shrubs next to the house. They'll also be mulching those beds after the sod's installed.

The picture below may be a head-scratcher, but if you look closely, you'll notice that the power line is now connected to the house, which means that we actually have full-on electricity inside!

And that means we passed inspection and that things like the stairwell chandelier actually work now!Yippee!

This next picture isn't super exciting, but it's important because now all of our interior doors have hardware!

And finally- this next picture is NOT what it looks like. Grace was simply enjoying a seat while I finished taking my pictures around the house. Again, you'll notice the door hardware. LOL

Tomorrow will be another BIG day because the kitchen appliances are being delivered and the landscapers will be installing the Zoysia sod in the front yard. They'll be scrambling to beat the nasty thunderstorm that's scheduled to hit around lunchtime.
Pictures T.B.D.
Cheers!

Memorial Day Weekend - Day 209

It's May 24th, Day 209 of Project 713. The crews are 'On and Cracking' with various projects and as I speak, the hardwoods are being sanded and the yard is being prepped for landscaping. Pictures of those to come at a later date, but here's a peek at what's been going on the past several days.

Grace is, of course, standing in the middle of our formal dining room and that's the awesome new chandelier that certainly 'demands' attention. The new fireplace and mantel is about 80% finished and will be completed after the floors are sanded, stained and sealed. You can also see the two new doors on either side of the fireplace, which lead to our old sunroom.

In the picture above, you can see the outdoor ceiling fans for the front porch. You also get an idea of what the light fixtures attached to the house look like, as well as the chandelier in the center of the porch.

The picture above shows the full-sized mirror with beveled edges in the master bathroom. Bathrooms are tricky to photograph because they're 'relatively' small, but in this case, since I'm shooting a picture of a mirror, you get to see the reflection of the other side or the bathroom. Look closely and you'll notice the shower and the soaking tub in front of the picture windows.

The pictures above show the built-in bookshelves in the upstairs landing and hallway after they were painted. You can see in the first one that the shelves are in and will be put in on the other side. You also get a nice look at the chandelier that hangs over the stairwell opening and really helps fill the space.

The above picture is the staircase up to Grace's loft and the built-in bookshelves up in her loft after painting. The small white patches are where the painters found imperfections to fill in, sand and will paint back over.

The pictures above and below are in our walk-in closet in the master bedroom. We're having built-in shelves and garment hanging areas. We'll probably also end up with a short dresser, bench or seat in there too.

I'm not sure who will get which side, but I have a feeling the section seen above will be mine, although the right side looks more appropriate for shoes, so who knows.

The picture above isn't really that exciting, except for the fact that a doggie door is a relatively new concept for our dogs. The rental house we've been living in has a doggie door and Bella and Charlie seem to love the freedom of being able to go in and out at their convenience. Bella doesn't use it as much to go out- she loves to be 'let out' the door- but they both use the one in the rental house all the time to get back in. We'll see how they acclimate when we move back in.

I realized that I'd forgotten to take a picture of our new ceiling fan in the master bedroom. It's up in the tray ceiling and looks very cool- pardon the pun.

So that's the new power junction box on the side of the house. Since this picture was taken, there are actually a pair of air conditioner condensers in that area.
So until next time,
Cheers!

Fit & Trim - Day 199

We've reached May 14th - Day 199 of Project 713 and things have really ramped up. A second coat of exterior paint and the crew put the second floor windows back in with a fresh coat of the Iron Ore paint.

They also did the other trim work in the Ethereal White, which almost looks cream-colored when compared to the Extra White for the rest of the house.

They also were able to get to the first coat of paint on the French doors in the rear of the house.

Moving back inside, I can now show you some of the other cool fixtures like the chandelier in the upstairs hallway. You can see the painters were also busy patching up some of the nail/screw marks and blemishes on the walls with spackle, in order to sand them down and then put a second coat of paint on.

Here's a shot of the light fixture in Grace's bathroom. As you can see she has the 'Bling' look to match her sparkly wall in her shower.

The electricians also installed the cool pink light fixtures up above Grace's loft. The pink and green match Grace's sheets, comforter and pillows.

And finally, last but not least, the glass guys were in and put in the glass walls for the shower in the master bathroom. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my old bathroom which used to be directly below our new master, was only a bit bigger than that shower stall. I'm talking the ENTIRE bathroom. A shower, sink and toilet. It was like a phone booth. Nothing like a little more breathing room, eh?

They also put in the mirror over our double vanity, but I figure you know what a mirror looks like. Hard to believe, but there's still quite a bit of work left, and we still have to get the hardwood floors sanded, stained and sealed before we can get our appliances installed.
Onward!

Inside Information - Day 198

I told you that I'd finally go back inside and take some pictures of the progress there. I teased it last post with that picture of Grace in front of the new door to the sunroom where there used to be a random window.
So, for May 13th, Day 198, here's some of the other developments. Below is the hardware for our kitchen farmhouse style sink. Don't the counter tops look awesome?

The next picture is of the sink and hardware for the bar and butler pantry area. Since this area is in between our formal dining room and our kitchen, it will be interesting to see how much use this gets in the future.

The giant soaking tub for the master bathroom is finally installed. It fits perfectly in its space right next to the big picture windows. Lots of great light and of course the hand-held shower head works great as a microphone! Grace is belting out that old Sesame Street favorite, "Rubber Ducky, You're The One!"

Next stop- cleanliness! Grace is sitting down on the bench inside our 3-in-1 shower stall. It will eventually have glass sides and a door. It has a regular wall shower head, an overhead 'rainfall' head and then the hand-held on a slider for when you're just too tired to stand up and need to wash those hard to reach spots.

Fancy, huh? Mom and Dad now actually have their own sinks, complete with matching fixtures. We have TOTALLY grown up. Do we have to? :-)

Grace finally gets to see what her lovely vanity looks like in the correct bathroom! She won't know what to do with so much room to herself! You can see she's very excited...

And last but not least... The fixture is in for the laundry room/utility sink. There's gonna be a whole lotta' soakin' goin' on!

A couple more pictures from outside, including an update on the slate walkway, which the Masons filled in with mortar. It really looks nice and solid. The landscapers will be able to start working on filling in the yard pretty soon, I should think.

In the picture below, you can see that the electricians installed our dining room chandelier. Definitely a centerpiece for the room. Very elegant and it certainly gets your attention!

The painters also put on a second coat of the exterior paint and started to do some of the trim. If you look closely you can see that they were able to paint the 'Iron Ore' trim on the first floor windows and the soffitt braces all around the house.

You can see from the picture below that the painters had to remove all of the windows on the second floor so that they could paint all of the window frames and mullions. They're going to look very cool. 

Hard to believe, but there are still a ton of light fixtures and other stuff that has to be installed. All of those and much more in the next installment of Project 713... 

Cheers!

Serious Progress - Day 197

Tuesday May 11th, Day 197 is a flurry of activity at Project 713. There are three separate crews getting work done today. The Masons are hard at work filling the mortar in between the large slabs of slate for the walkway up to the porch from the driveway.

The electricians are inside installing lighting fixtures, chandeliers, the hot water heater and other electrical switches and outlets. I went back over later in the day after they were finished, to check out the work inside.

The painters are back to finish the primer for the western side and rear of the house. I also had a short discussion with the foreman to make sure we're on the same page about the trim color for the wooden soffitt braces and the window frames and mullions.

I'm pretty sure we got things squared away, but I guess we'll know when they start on those tomorrow. :-(

I also made it over to Grace's school to watch a few minutes of her field day during my lunch break.

Looked like they were having a blast, especially when they got to run through the sprinkler a few times.

It was a nice respite and then back to work. I went back a mere 6 hours later and THIS had happened! The front porch was painted and the electrician installed the porch lights and chandelier.

And then they were able to get to this as well. You can see they finished the backside since the first visit.

And I ended up taking so many pictures that I don't want to post them all on this page, so I'll save them for tomorrow. But here's a Preview!

Yup, that's right. Grace is standing in front of a new door where there used to be a window that leads into the sun room behind the fireplace. Sorry about the badly lit photography. As a former journalist, I should be better than that with the backlighting. Oh well. With progress like this, we may get back in there by early June after all. We'll see...
More cool pictures tomorrow. Cheers!