all work and no play

the weekend started off with dinner at fuel and fuddle on friday night, then relaxing and watching tv. saturday morning we needed our energy for the day and decided on square cafe for brunch. yummy crepes with strawberries and bananas. ian spent the morning hanging drywall on the boxed in ductwork and patching in where the ceiling meets the wall.


my job was removing 3 radiators. doesn't seem fair, does it?! we've found an easier method to do it... using a sawzall to cut the radiator apart in sections. we loaded up the truck with 1180 pounds of radiator, and about 50 pounds of old piping and radiator covers in the basement. of course it starts to rain by the time we make it to the scrap yard. too bad i didn't get any photos of that. our hard work paid off with $101.66. woo hoo! we came back, cleaned up and treated ourselves to dinner and drinks.

sunday was spent tape finishing the ceilings.


it was awkward at first, but i got the hang of it after awhile. luckily, i have a massage scheduled for tomorrow to ease the tightness in my neck and shoulders from all the ceiling work. once the ceilings have dried, we'll have to do another coat before we start the skip trowel treatment.

after cleaning up, we ran out to the waterfront to grab some coffee and a snack then hit lowes to check out counter laminate and paint colors. this is what we've decided on so far:


now we just need to order the laminate so ian can build the counters, and track down a nice metal laminate for the backsplash and front edge of the counters. phew... long weekend!

"do we really need a drywall lift?"

words i will never utter again. that is one of the best inventions ever. this weekend was spent hanging drywall on the ceilings in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. a fairly extensive amount of work, but it looks great... the rooms seem alot more spacious.

ian spent most of saturday attaching furring strips to the ceilings and building boxes around the ductwork; since there was only 1 nail gun, i lended a hand measuring, doing some yardwork and finishing up a few freelance projects.
step 1:



we got an early start sunday by heading to home depot to rent the drywall lift. after getting that assembled and working with 18+ sheets of drywall... ahh, the fun begins.
step 2:


new kitchen ceiling:


now we just need to spend a few evenings finishing the drywall and painting the ceilings. then its time for the real makeover... cabinets, counters, backsplashes... oh my!

so little time

this is going to be another busy weekend, starting now. i have a few freelance meetings today, and a new project to start this weekend. it always happens when the weather is nice. plus, i'm going to miss my nephews birthday party this weekend. bad aimee. hopefully i can schedule the actual "work" early morning or in the evenings so i can enjoy bits of the weather and get a few house projects started too.

last night i removed the remaining dropped ceiling on the main floor... the living room. i have hated those ceilings since the moment i moved in. this is what i'm dealing with:

we'll need to box in around the new ductwork, which is luckily just in this room. once thats done... up goes the drywall. i'm counting the minutes until this part of the project is finished. i'm hoping that everything else will go smoothly and i will have more photos to post soon.

depending on time this weekend, we may also do a little landscaping work out front.

we need to build 2 small retaining walls where the white outlines are... the way its set up now, we've found a few leaks in the basement... so we'll be waterproofing the foundation, installing a french drain, and putting in retaining walls with lovely flower beds. and removing that hideous lattice work. then comes the house repainting ...

but in other good news... the shins are playing a free outdoor concert tonight! it will be a really fun time, especially with the weather being so nice :)

sunshine on my shoulder

i am loving this weather. absolutely loving it. even tho there is a LOT of work to do inside, i'm taking advantage of the nice weather and spending more time outdoors. i've gotten some quotes a new roof, which will hopefully happen in the next month. yesterday i spent most of the day in the back yard with sydney, developing plans for the deck/patio/landscaping and just enjoying the free time. i had to rake up all the dead branches that had fallen into the yard, trying to get ready for preparing the spot for my garden. i've started the vegetable seeds indoors and they're ready to go outside as soon as the last frost passes... which is hopefully soon. after a hard day of work, ian helped with getting more of the chain link fence installed. last fall, i installed a 6ft tall privacy fence on the south side of the yard. there was an existing chain link fence on the north side. we're connecting the two with the new chain link:


its not too hard to do, just a little time consuming. we have one more small section to do, where the fence connects to the house, then install the gates. sydney will be able to run free! in the photo, you'll notice behind the fence is a 30x20 ft section left un-fenced. that is where the vegetable garden is going. that leaves a 30x60 section of fenced in yard. that should work... and once the landscaping/patio is finished.... it will be well worth the effort.

considering this is what the back yard looked like when i first bought the house, its looking pretty good :)

busy busy busy

house update: wall between kitchen and dining room is finally gone!
BEFORE:

AFTER:


i've been spending the past few days getting that cleaned up. next step is putting up the ceiling in both rooms. electric has already been updated in both rooms including recessed lights, undercab lights, dimmer switches, and hookups for dishwasher, disposal and hot water dispenser! phew! its been a busy month. doing a *complete* renovation takes a L..O..N..G.. time. if i was only throwing up new cabinets and laying a new floor, i would've been done last year! but this is worth the time and patience. its going to be amazing when completed, and add lots of $$$ to the resale value. i'm excited for the next steps :)

more to come....

that first post didn't count :)

so i'm new to this blog thing, we'll see how it goes. a few months ago i made a website/gallery documenting my house renovation. so many people have been asking how its going, i figured it would be much easier to document here. i don't have the patience to update that gallery :) so hopefully in the next few days i'll be uploading some pics...

in other news... time for my massage. isn't that a *lovely* site? :)