Catching Up

It was too cold to head up to the 'Sack this weekend and I had a ton of work to catch up with and make the donuts to keep the renovation going. Here's what happened last weekend.
Ray, our taper, spent two days finishing the sheetrock for priming:

And the Anderson Window showed up on time and was being installed when I got there by David and his helper, Sparky.

I also asked them to remove all the curved pieces on the window moldings as they were falling apart, and every one who knows me, knows I'm all about straight lines and flat surfaces. I think once they're sanded and repainted high gloss white, they are going to perfect. I think they look better already!

They also put the washer and dryer down into the new basement.

Now we just have to build the door and stairs down to it! Here's where the door and stairs go. See the plywood on the floor under those boxes; that's where the stairs will go down with a smallish door in front of it. Door to be determined!

Some really big exciting things happened.
David put down the wood floor in my bedroom loft. That is going to look killer when it's painted white. David told me that Vaughn primed it but they're leaving the painting to me. Hopefully, I can lay a couple of coats of high gloss white next weekend.

Another super exciting thing is the fan got installed complete with it's wall switch. I was relieved that the long downrod worked perfectly and the finish and design of the fan was just what it looked like online. Let me just say, that there were no shortages of hideous ceiling fan designs before I found this one.

Do you know that you have to figure out where every switch and outlet goes, what fixtures they control and then pick out the kind, color, etc of each switch and outlet. That was a lot of decision making and I hope I got it right.
The bathtub is resting in what will be it's resting place. The tub is nothing fancy, it's the shower panel and shower doors that will make it really cool.

And the bathroom walls are all sheetrocked and taped in preparation for tiling. They will install a new subfloor with the radiant heat pad and then tile the floor. All the fixtures are being stowed under this staircase (which will eventually be a storage cubby for wood) and I just hope and pray that they don't get broken before they get installed! Under those tarps are a treasure trove of vanities, sinks, shower doors, shower panel, lighting, etc.

Finally, I have to announce that the woodstove you all have come to love with me, has seen better days and will, when I have the money (so don't worry, it ain't happening soon) have to be replaced. We used it this winter and did not abuse it but looky here:

So at first I'm thinking, wouldn't it be cool to have one of those woodstoves that is 360 rotation and mostly glass? Of course it would be cool... just have a look at this:

Or this totally mod freestanding woodstove:

But they're thousands of dollars and it's not in the budget. I will do what I can to reenforce the current tile one and when I can get a new woodstove (or even natural gas is a possibility), I'll retire the old girl out on to the deck where we can sit and warm our hands on her in the fall into winter. Because, frankly, I've grown oddly attached to it.
Here's my front yard. I know that a lot of people were horrified about the driveway, but that was an absolute necessity to be able to do the foundation work and get the heavy machinery up there. But when I look at this picture I think I somehow love how it just looks like we're having a party. Come springtime I have a LOT of landscaping to figure out.

Here's the view from my soon to be torn down and rebuilt deck.

And finally, the Hudson River:

Next week: the entire first floor gets a preliminary sanding and we see what we get. 

DecisionsMoneyDecisionsMoneyDecisionsMoneyDecisionsMoneyDecisionsMoneyDecisionsMoney

Things are happening and decisions need to be made very quickly. My American Express card statement this month is proof of that, as I've ordered all the appliances, bathroom fixtures, tile, flooring and half of the lighting. All the surfaces are being prepped for various installations.
Here's the bathroom with the moisture resistant sheetrock.

I had to go to Lowes and get a bathtub. David wants to get all the sheetrock up before Ray, the taper, comes next week. The tub wont fit through the narrow doorway so we have to keep this wall open until they bring the tub in. They picked it up on Monday so it should be in place when I get there on Saturday.
This wall is now framed to take the weight of the double sink vanity which arrived last week. And the electrical is all in place too.

The dining room looks great without the odd little window. I also primed the existing window so it's not  periwinkle blue anymore. And see the I-Beam above the front door? It's all rusted and distressed so, of course, I told David "Don't cover it up!! I love it just as it is!!"

Of course, when you remove a window, you have to deal with what happens on the OUTSIDE of the structure as well. For the moment, that doesn't look so great but we'll get to new siding there eventually.

Most of the sheetrock is up. All of the ceilings are done. Here's the living room.

And the kitchen.

All the recessed high hats are in. Now, I have to buy baffles. Baffling. Baffles are what goes up into the recessed lights to make them look finished. Um, after I paint the ceiling.
The wood got delivered for the bedroom loft flooring. It was cheap and David complained about it's quality but I intend to put high gloss porch paint down once we do a sanding so I wasn't too concerned about it's quality. Has anyone painted floors? If you have any personal wisdom culled from your experience, I would welcome the opportunity to hear about it.

Looking past the wood into the office loft, you can see that wall isn't sheet rocked yet. We're waiting for the Andersen window to come in. If all goes well it will show up on January 14 and it will be installed by the time the taper is done with everything else.
Whenever my cell phone rings at the office and David begins his conversation with "You got a minute?" I always wince. That's where this entry's title comes from... it's always a combination of both.
So I try to get out and relax. Deb and I went to Saugerties, a sweet little town south of Catskill.

We went to junk stores and antiques stores and had a great dinner at Szechuan King.
Here's my favorite photo from our treasure hunt:

I always like to end with a photo of the Hudson River and Sparky. Both of which did not disappoint.

Oh, and this is what it looked like early Saturday morning.

The New Year

My number one resolution is to get the Church to a place where I can live comfortably.
I took the train up on Thursday night and my 24 year old Bimmer started right up after sitting in the snow for over 10 days. I headed over to the church to see what had happened over the last couple of weeks. The most noticeable was the new door. It went from this:

To this:

And now you can see the large beam has gone up and all the walls come down.

I also saw that the dining room ceiling had been sheet rocked and they were starting to work on the living room ceiling. Here's the cool tool they use to sheet rock ceilings.

Now is the time that things are starting to move quickly in terms of making design decisions. You have to get all the electrical sorted out before you can sheet rock the walls. I also had to start ordering bathroom stuff as I'm really aching to get running hot water and a fully functional bathroom.

Here's the vanity:

This is the vanity space right now:

And here are the bathtub/shower doors:

This is the tub space right now:

I also made a change order. I should have done this in the first place at the suggestion of William, my architect but I felt, at the time, that the dining room seemed a little dark. But now with the new front door installed  and the walls down, there's much more light. Soooo... I am removing a odd duckling window in the dining room here:

See, the church has this beautiful symmetry and that window mucks it up. Here's a photo of the north side of the church with it's five large windows. The south side has the exact same five large windows and this strange and cheap addition. Even though it now requires getting more new siding, therefore more expense, I knew it was now or never.

See how much more light the new door and sidelights let in?

So David will remove it and I'll have a nice new wall space for some art.

I've also ordered the kitchen appliances. The kitchen cabinets and counter tops are ready to be delivered and I've got the kitchen sink and faucet on order as well. Finally, I have 20 boxes of white ceramic tile coming so we can start to tile the shower walls and bathroom floor. I am looking into some type of electric radiant heating pad or the bathroom floor that you can put on the subfloor and then tile over it (another change order!). It sounds cool but I just want to check on how much electric a thing like that needs. The church has 100 amps; not the most robust, but then again, it's just me mostly on the weekends so the electrician felt it would be fine to keep it as is for now.

I did get to celebrate New Years with the Parker-Thomassons. Here's Deb masquerading as Commander Santa marshaling the troops.

I also got a glimpse of the church from the east when I was down on the corner of New Street and Main Street looking up toward Ely Street. It looked so great, I can only imagine what it will look like when we finally get to redo the decking.

And here she is from Ely Street with her new front door.

It's exciting times at the church right now.

Finally, I cannot stop taking pictures of the beautiful Hudson River. Here's some Hudson River photos I took on my train ride to and from the church this New Year's weekend.

Happy New Year, everyone.