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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The floors are finished! Countdown to Baby 2012..... B-22 days!



October 31, 2012

We had a friend in town for a few days so I was pleasantly distracted from posting (and Alok was happily distracted from working).  Here we stand now:

We had a delivery from Lowes!  Doors for the apartment bath, hall closet, and basement and part of the floor trim.  So, that was pretty exciting!

 

New doors:


Alok's office floor was also laid and I finally remembered to take pics. Here they are:



Alok's office got all cleaned up and now includes a white wash clock that lights up, circa 1982.  Hmmm....

 Proud clock owner


It lights up..... wow.

Danielle visiting from California, stunned by the clock

You can't really see it, but the trim in his office was also pointed so it is now white instead of off-yellow (always a good change)

The bathroom in Alok's office, post cleaning:


Here was my office, which became home to all of the junk that was in his office:

Here is my office after my mom cleaning it:

 

There is hope for the house!!

A lot of progress has been made on the outside of the house, with only the front part really being left (and a bit of touching up). Fingers crossed!! 




The front room was also cleaned up to make room for this pool table that we bought on the "For Sale in Quincy, IL" facebook group :-)  


Now the living room is storage..... 

My mom also attempted to use a boiling technique to strip painting hinges. Let's just say that didn't go well.  

The apartment floors from Bayview Building Supply are finally finished! Here they are:



  
Looking good!!

 Here are the workers, resting on the couch. There are no lights in the attic, hence the creepy pic:



That's all for now! Happy Halloween!

Jessica

Friday, October 26, 2012

Sanding it down...... Countdown to Baby 2012.... B- 27 days!



October 26, 2012 

I haven't been at the house in a bit, largely due to sanding, scraping, the use of chemicals, etc that I couldn't be around.  So, today was my first time going in a week.  

A lot has been done on the outside in a week. Let's hope for some more +35 degree weather so we can finish!  Also, notice the front door, which is now white!

Here it is (gotta love the numerous ladders):





 
The last major part that is left!

The apartment floors have been sanded and have 1 coat of poly on them.  Only about 5 more to go. I couldn't get any full pictures because it was still drying.  Here they are: 






We have completed items in the countdown!  Woo hoo! 


1) Lay the floor in the apartment--> DONE



2)  Lay a new floor in Alok's office area.  I can't believe that I didn't go upstairs to see this!  Pictures to come, it is complete!  ---> DONE! 

3)  Repair the drywall in Alok's office area. --> DONE!

Here are the items that remain in our countdown
9 items!!!!


1) Get as much done on the outside siding as possible--> It's all scraped and is being painted, see pictures above.


2) Make this safe


3) Make the other areas pet safe (e.g., covering hazards, cutting nails that are poking out, etc).
 
 Either fix or at least put up a door so the pets can't escape in this unfinished area under the stairs

The lack of pocket doors are a perfect place for dust/pets to hide
Attic stair top needs to be capped so that a pet doesn't get injured jumping on it
 
An escape hole for the cats into the wall
4) Fix the stairs. We will paint them right before we move in. 
 

5)  Hang the stained glass window here.  We have a quote for the glass/installation and can get it done soon.  Alok has to build some sort of crazy vented frame first. 
 
6) Hang doors in the dusty/unsafe area.  They are being stripped as we speak:
We aren't finishing the hallway bath either, but we are hanging a door.

Hang a door on our new furnace room

7) Hang closet bars in these two small closets. The rest will have to wait.

They are bought and should only take a few minutes to do. Unfortunately, I don't have the leveling ability to do it.  This will be our closets until we do our master closet later.

8) Make the attic stairs more solid, carpet them, and put up a railing. We will do the carpet right before we move in.  We have the carpet picked and are just waiting until things are a bit cleaner for install. 

9) New basement outside door/windows OR we may just put a lock on the door from the basement ;-)


That's all for now!

Jessica



Friday, October 19, 2012

A staycation... Countdown to Baby 2012, B-35 days



October 19, 2012

Alok has been taking a bit of a recovery week away from the house, but don't worry, we have magical powers that make things occur on the house even if we aren't there.

First, Alok used some of his time to put together some baby items. The pack and play was giving him so much trouble that he said working on the house is easily than its assembly.  He got it figured out though:




We also got the swing to work.  He put this outfit in there to demonstrate the various ways that it swings. For some reason, I couldn't wrap my head around it without a demonstration:
 

He also assembled the lovely rock and play, which is said to be a potential life saver :-)
 

In house news, the stained glass window has been uncovered and moved to the nursery so that Alok can build a frame for it. Once that is built, we have the installation set up (and it doesn't involve Alok!)

My office has now become a mess so that his office floor can be laid.  That is in progress as we speak:


The drywallers also finished in his office:


And a lot of progress has been made on the outside, as seen here:





I'm going to have to start referring to it as the "mainly blue, with a little tan" house, instead of the "half tan, half blue" house.

That's all for now!

Jessica