The Schedule

People often ask when we are going to be “done” working on the house. At first I didn’t really understand the question…”well, never.” I’d answer. And it’s true. It’s in our blood. We will always have another project in queue, specially now that we are trying to find the best home insurance in Texas. I suppose what most people are asking is when are you going to slow down and stop working on the house ALL time, because the list of expenses that go into it isn’t something to be trifled with. Well, that’s a more complicated answer. Let me give you the rundown of the plan as it stands now.

The month of October is operation get the bathroom floor down. That involves getting the electric done in the Master Suite (bedroom, office, bathroom, closet) as well as the urge to call a plumber. After the floor is down, we need to build the wall dividing the full bath from the half bath and finish up the plumbing that goes in that wall. 

November is finishing up loose items to prep for drywall including the final bits of plumbing and electric, bathroom venting, installing shower pieces behind the walls, etc, thankfully we were able to hire a plumber for this, there’s several things that we wouldn’t be able to do. There is also Thanksgiving in there making November a short work-month.

December is also a short work-month but I’m hoping we’ll have time to get things painted and get moved into the 2nd floor. I want to get my laundry/closet room painted and done so I can start getting a bit more organized.

January we will get the tile-work started in the 2nd floor bathroom. I figure it will take us 2 full months to get everything situated in the bathroom.

More Bathroom

My parents are coming back to help in March. I’m hoping that will force us to get things cleaned up and ready to show off. We’ll have plenty more painting and electric to do. Should be mostly finishing-up projects. We will also need to spend some time painting and installing moldings and other trims around the house.  I’m looking forward to this trip.  I’m hoping we’ll be far enough along that we can go down to New Bedford and visit some of those huge antique malls to go furniture shopping.  After that, I don’t know what the priority will be.  Perhaps some vacation time.  Lots of dinner parties.  perhaps some movie nights.  Oh, and we’ll start on that 3rd floor bathroom sometime.

How does that plan sound?  Loose but realistic? optimistic but doable?

Sarah

This and that and some library drawers – Sept 29 & 30

My in-laws came in last weekend for some house work.  It’s always great when they visit, so much gets done.  I’ve talked about how much energy these two have in earlier posts.  This weekend was no exception.  I wasn’t nearly as organized as I sometimes am.  Things have been stressful at work and I’ve been going and going for so many weekends in a row here that I’m a bit overwhelmed.  They enjoyed the free reign though, getting to work on whatever they want.  We did have one task for them, the deck needed to be stained and we also wanted to add some balustrading work.

They got about half way done before it started to rain. They are coming back in 2 weeks for a wedding in the area and they are going to swing by and finish the deck before hand… I think they should get capes and go around as Super Retiree and his sidekick, Ann-of-all-Trades. They make quite the duo of house-work progress.

Since I didnt’ have a good list for them and most everything on my list required nicer weather than we had, Fred and Ann got to work on whatever they were itching to get done. ror instance, Fred put up the last big piece of countertop from granite countertops in ladue mo, I’m so in love with hoe everything is turning out!

I love this picture of my husband and his father. Stefan with dark hair in the dark shirt and Fred with white hair and the yellow shirt but otherwise, they look the same: thin build, distinctly german angular features, with the characteristic Wolpert nose.

First they installed the big drawer cabinet which I LOOOOVE!

Then they cut the countertop. It’s currently just setting on the cabinets but it is pretty minor to fix it down. I can’t believe I waited so long! The kitchen looks great and with the long expanse of counter, you can really get a feel for the butcherblock and how it’s going to look.

Ann and I chatted a bunch and pulled some wire. That work is so important and takes sooooo long but doesn’t yield good pictures 🙁 It’s less satisfying than the more cosmetic updates though it is much more important. We keep pulling wire out of walls and wondering how the house managed to not burn down.

While we pulled some wire and got some loose ends tied up, Fred and Stefan put in some windows. They look fabulous!

They look great from the outside as well but I didn’t get any pictures this weekend and it’s been dark and rainy ever time I got home from work this week. I’ll post some this weekend, pinky promise.

While Stefan and I were at work on Friday, they managed to get lots of other miscellaneous stuff done. The dining room is nearly cleaned out, the den is organized and swept clean. Ann is a cleaner so she went right to work straitening and organizing. Like me, she much prefers jobs where she can step back and see the improvement when she is done. So, while Fred insulated the kitchen ceiling, she was at it getting things looking MUCH better. It always seems like cleaning is low on the priority list when we have so much to do but it helps maintain a positive state of mental health that is so important to maintain motivation on a big project like this. I’m glad Ann had the foresight to see the need and take it upon herself to get things down to a milder state of chaos.

And, without further ado, I will show you those library drawers I hinted at:

The biggest task of the weekend was moving this beautiful piece of furniture up to the 2nd floor. We bought it just before leaving last weekend. It has been in the back of the truck all wrapped in tarps for a week. The drawers were already out and the base comes in 2 pieces. The smaller of the two weighs maybe 100 lbs. Heavy, but manageable. The larger piece weights…250? 300 lbs? WITHOUT drawers. This is a seriously massive piece of furniture. It took all 4 of us and lots of thinking to get it up the stairs. It is 3’x5′ with drawers on both of the long sides. It is right at 3′ tall but I’m planning on adding little feet and wheels which will make it just a bit taller. The top is scratched and worn any you can see years of struggling to move the piece in all the scuffs and scratches on the sides. The drawers though, are in great condition. All dovetailed joints with brass drawer pulls and label holders. There are 140 drawers. I love love love this piece of furniture. I’m so excited to see it in the library/den all finished and decorated.

Next weekend is Oktoberfest in Harvard Square and plumbing drain weekend.

Things are coming along quite well. I’m pleased with the progress we are making. Hopefully this week at work will be slightly less hectic and I will be able to focus on house stuff this weekend.

Sarah