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.