what we've been up to: flooring, painting, and tile

So we've been so busy working on the house that I haven't had time to update the blog. Here's the lowdown: Brian finished installing the 2nd floor hardwood, and we sanded and stained it. He has also tiled the boy's bathroom, and is beginning the master shower, as well as starting the hardwood on the first floor. It seems like I have been painting FOREVER, but the walls are all done just in time for me to start prepping the trim. My dad and I have installed the kitchen and master bath cabinets. Countertops were installed this week, but sorry, no good pics of them yet.  We removed the old crumbling concrete sidewalks and installed a new one at the front door. The dumpster is FINALLY gone, so our new driveway should be installed any day.  Mom and Dad are rebuilding our front porch so that soon, the view from the street should be looking pretty good, that is, IF i can ever get my painter to show up!

These pics aren't quite up to date, but i hope they will tide you over until I have time to take more!

Master Bedroom

Master Bath / Ombre Wall

Isaac's Room

Jonah's Room

salvaged 2nd floor doors (i have some major sanding and painting ahead of me)

2nd floor hallway and our helper

stain samples

Kitchen (as of April)

Painting, painting, painting! 

Shout out to my Uncle Pete for letting me borrow his laser level. 

We used it to set the kitchen cabinets, and to establish paint lines too.

Boys' Bathroom

The hardwood pattern on the first floor is going to be sweet! Here's the sketch that got things going:

Brian, the jack of all trades, installing the staircase light fixture b/c the electrician was "too wussy".

Drywall, Drywall, and more Drywall

Apologies for the lapse in posts, but now that drywall is done (finished in March), 

so is the luxury of having the contractors do all the work!  

 We bought a paint sprayer to make priming easier. Bri looked like an old man when he was done, but he primed the whole house in 1 afternoon!

The mountains of boxes are our cabinets waiting to be installed! Yay!

Warm and Toasty: Insulation

 We started out the month of February by digging up the yard AGAIN. 

This time it was to bury the electric service. My Dad was disappointed that he didn't get to operate the Bobcat to back fill the trench. Don't worry, he will get plenty of opportunities to play in the dirt this spring when we regrade. 

With the electric, plumbing, and HVAC all roughed in, 

and our framing inspection passed, it was time to insulate!

First we foamed and caulked the windows.

Our foam + batt insulation system is often referred to as "Flash and Batt"

The first step is a layer of closed cell spray foam which in addition to providing superb thermal resistance (up to R6 per inch) is also an excellent air barrier, a class III vapor retarder, greatly lowers sound transmission, and even adds a level of structural rigidity.

Since spray foam is fairly expensive, and has a diminishing return the thicker it is installed, the flash and batt system takes advantage of the foam, but reduces cost by just applying a minimum of 1" foam and fills the remainder of the wall cavity with more traditional fiberglass batt insulation.

In other news, Dad has been channeling Norm Abram while bringing our front door back to life.

Our fireplaces are being rebuilt,

and drywall is being delivered!