Remodel - Weeks 12 and 13

Let there be paint (week 12)...

and let there be light (week 13)

Week 12 was a week of paint - inside and out. As the glorious spring weather continued, Steve-the-husband was able to set up saw horses in the driveway to continue the painting of the HardiPlank wall shingles. Meanwhile, Jason was working on the north facade, putting up the trim and the shingles. As the scaffolding was still in place, friend hubby (who seems to have been a mountain-goat in a previous life) scampered up same to put on the 2nd coat of paint and touch up joints where shingles had been trimmed.

During Week 13, the south facade was shingled (see pix above). We were both thrilled to finally be able to see the new "Sealskin" color on the shakes. Alas, the gutters have yet to arrive so Jason could not remove the scaffolding as he had planned. As you can see in the pix, the "Saucer" magnolia has not been upset by all the construction and pruning - it is happily blooming its little heart out (and almost a month early at that).

Inside, Steve primed all the new walls and ceilings. Last weekend was devoted to applying the various top coats. We've evolved into quite the painting team - Steve plies the roller and I do all the trim. Years ago we used to tape everything, but we've learned that, with the correct brush (I use a 1 inch chiseled Purdy - this is one area where it does not pay to be cheap), a steady hand, and nowadays, a pair of reading glasses (sigh), a crisp line can be cut in without the "uh-oh-paint-bleeding" moment that would always occur whenever we would try to use tape and peel it off.

The upper hallway was repainted in the same color as before - Behr's Scotland Road. The color is sort of an Arts and Crafts green; it is also in our living room and dining room. We painted these areas using this color several years ago and still really like it - such a soothing shade of green (left pix).

Week 13 was enlightening for us because we FINALLY were able to get electricity to the light at the top of the stairs (left pix). We had been without a light in that spot for several weeks, making the stairs more challenging than usual to navigate. The original 1930's fixture in this spot was a single hanging candle (which we plan on rewiring and reusing in the little hallway by the 1/2 bath on the 1st floor). This single bulb did not cast any light down the stairs, which are treacherous - they twist and have several pie-shaped steps.

We really agonized over the replacement light fixture at the top of "staircase perilous" as we wanted something that was vintage in style. Alas, the converging roof lines of the staircase meant that there was not a flat ceiling that we could use for an additional fixture. Our 21st century solution was to use a track light, albeit one with vintage looking photographer spots (thank you Pottery Barn). We cast 2 spots down the stairs, one onto the niche and the final one down the old hallway. After almost 20 years in this house, one can finally ascend and descend the stairs without risk to life and limb.

The decision to put in a 2nd floor laundry was directly related to this staircase - the spousal unit has fallen down these steps numerous times whilst carrying down the laundry basket. Of course, the stairs are not entirely to blame as he could have made multiple trips with less in the basket, but he found it more efficient to stack the basket so full that he could not see in front of him. But I digress.

We continued the green scheme in the new hallway by going one shade lighter than "Scotland Road" - using "Southern Breeze" (another Behr paint). In the pix to the left you can see the transplanted vintage light fixture and the beautiful new archway to the old hallway/staircase.

For the new bedroom and bath, we used the same colors to make the rooms "en suite." We continued the lavender theme begun in our existing bedroom/master bath where we used 2 Martha Stewart colors - "Shantung" and "Black Pearl" - both so deep as to be almost gray. The new colors are Sherwin-Williams - "Ash Violet" for the walls and "Grape Mist" for the ceilings. We both like using a lighter shade of the wall color on the ceiling; we did this in the kitchen as well with another Martha color ("Citron"). You can see one of the pair of vintage wall sconces in the new bedroom in this pix (above) as well.

Next week will bring the gutters (hopefully), the tile guy and Jesse the hardwood expert. Such a flurry of activity! And Steve will continue his shingle painting (poor guy, he deserves an Academy Award for "Best Painting Performance by a Homeowner").

Remodel - Week 11

The Blogstress Returneth!

Well, dear reader, your remodeling blogstress is back, after a 2 week hiatus. I'm sure that you have been suffering from remodel-blog-withdrawal-pangs, but, never fear, your fix has arrived! While the events of Week 11 are fleeting, and memories of last week (12) are fading fast, what follows is the latest poopage on the project!

Week 11 - Winter Returns

Week 11 was all about drywall and flashing (flashing the roof valleys, of course, not what you're thinking - tsk, tsk). Wintery weather also made a return visit - we had a dusting of snow mid-week and the daytime highs in the upper 30's seemed positively arctic after our spring flirtation.

While Jason was only able to work outside one day due to the weather, we were fortunate to have Rudy the drywall guy with us this week. Rudy is quite the artist. During his time with us, he taped and mudded the wallboard joints leaving the smoothest walls and sharpest corners imaginable. Then he turned his wizardry to duplicating the Spanish plaster in the existing hallway. This is a lost art from days of yore, when plaster was applied over laths and then the texture was applied in various patterns.

At a party several years ago, we met this older gentleman who was a master plasterer in olden days. He told us a fascinating story about the plastering process back in his day. He said that the master plasterer would not let the apprentice touch the main walls of the house until he was satisfied that the newbie had the technique down pat. In fact, the apprentice would be relegated to a closet wall to practice until the master was satisfied that the kid knew what he was doing.

Amazingly, remnants of this practice survive in our home in a closet under the stairs that is now part of our first floor half-bath. When we first moved in, we were puzzled by the walls in this closet - why was there Spanish plaster only on parts of the wall? You can imagine how thrilled we were to learn this backstory - and at a party at that!

Meanwhile, back to the future. Rudy is quite the modern master of applying this old-time technique to today's wallboard. There was no need for him to practice in the closet - he was able to replicate our pattern on his first attempt. However, he is quite the perfectionist and when showing the results to Steve-the-husband, offered to scrape it off and start over if we didn't like it. Not to worry Rudy, we didn't just LIKE it, we LOVE it!!!

The following pix shows the Spanish plaster in the niche - the original plaster is on the right in green:

Here is a close-up of his work:

We had a painting marathon this past weekend and the new walls look fabulous in their new coats of paint...which you will see in all their glory in Week 12's blog (which I promise to complete soon).

One final note - the weekend that ended Week 11 was cold and gloomy. On Saturday, as I was standing at the kitchen sink looking out the window, wishing that spring hadn't left so soon, I noticed that the magnolia had a hammer hanging from one of its branches. Was the tree doubling as a tool rack? Was this Magnolia morphing into a new species - Magnolia-hammer-floria?

Intrigued, I braved the cold to investigate - the hammer was hanging by its claw, held in place by a flower bud. I rescued it and put it aside for Jason.

Later on, I asked Jason about it and he said he had no idea how the hammer got there - it had been hanging on a loop on his cover-alls. The only thing he could figure was that as he was taking down the scaffolding on the south side, the hammer must have dislodged from the loop, fallen and been snagged on the branch. Or maybe when he brushed against the tree, the claw of the hammer hooked onto the branch.

Regardless, I'm calling this pix:

The Hammer Tree...or Still LIfe with Hammer

Stay tuned for Week 12, coming soon to a blog near you.

Remodel - Week 10

Out of the Doldrums...

We are now at the point in the project where everything has accelerated, sort of like the speed of light in a vacuum. Week 10 began with the insulation going in. Steve opted to use the blow-in wet type (as opposed to bats or foam). This wet blow-in insulation was more economical plus it seals all the air leaks between the joists and the exterior plywood. This stuff is like papier-maché with starch added - the dampness allows it to adhere to/fill the voids and it stiffens as it dries. Its insulation value is R-15. They used dry blow-in for the ceilings, which has an R-50 insulation value. Additionally, Steve used Great Stuff foam-in-a-can on all of the outlets, switch-plates and ceiling fixture boxes.

Here is a pix of the insulation:

The insulation needed to dry for 3 days so, on Friday morning, Steve was up @ 500am to staple the vapor barrier in place prior to the arrival of the drywall guys @ 700a. At this point, we should probably apologize to our neighbors-to-the-north, Mo and Jeff. Apparently sound carries further in the wee hours and Steve's stapling woke them up a 1/2 hour before their alarm normally goes off - sorry guys!

Friday brought great excitement to the neighborhood when this huge truck rumbled in laden with drywall. As the contractor wanted to use 14 foot pieces of drywall, the best method of getting the sheets to the 2nd floor meant using a crane with a boom to thread them through the west window - after removing the upper and lower sashes of course.

Here is the mammoth truck positioned in the driveway:

What happened next was that the boom operator and another guy loaded the drywall sheets onto the boom, then carefully, carefully...

he began the delicate process of lifting the load up and over, past the magnolia tree...

and into position in front of the window...

then gently moving near the window opening where they put a little shute-like plastic thingie on the window-sill to protect it while pulling in one sheet at at time:

Neighbor-to-the south Marge told us later how much she enjoyed watching this entire process; said she stood at her 2nd floor window in awe of the skill being displayed. As ours is a quiet little neighborhood, Steve and I try to provide some entertainment from time to time.

After all the drywall was unloaded, the boom made its return journey back to the truck-bed safely and then the guys slowly backed out of the driveway and went on to their next delivery site.

Then the first wave of drywall workers set to work. These guys are called rockers and they cut, fit and hang the drywall. Not sure if the rockers play in a musical band or not, but they were in perfect harmony as they did their thing. They got to work about 830 and were completely finished by 230 - that's a lot of nooks and crannies to sheetrock in that short period of time - so we now have drywall in all the rooms!

Earlier in the week we had traced and cut templates for the arch leading into new hallway (using an archway on the first floor) so that Jason could translate the template into reality...

and an ogee arch in new bookcase niche, which matches an existing niche at foot of stairs. This new bookcase will be in old closet space that we hated to see go to waste. Here is original niche:

and the new niche and hallway:



the laundry closet...

the south-east corner of new bedroom...

and the linen closet and clothes closet in bedroom:

What a tremendous amount of progress for a single week! On Monday, the drywall guy (the mudder) will arrive to tape and plaster the seams and also match the Spanish plaster in the hallway. Jason says that the tile guy should be able to come the following Monday as well as the guy who will lay the hardwood floor.

Outside, Jason will finish the trimwork and begin installing the Hardi-Plank irregular shakes (in between rains).

As Winston Churchill famously said:

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. "

Remodel - Week 9

Week 9 - The Doldrums

dol-drums \'dōl-drəmz\ n pl

1. a spell of listlessness or despondency: BLUES;
2. a part of the ocean near the equator abounding in calms, squalls, and light shifting winds;
3. a state of inactivity, stagnation, or slump.

and, as everyone who has lived through a remodeling project knows:

4. a period in the remodeling project, usually about 1/2-way through, when the home-owners feel despair and remorse, and wonder "What on earth ever possessed us to do this project?"

That was week 9 for us. Even though there was a steady stream of sub-contractors and Jason was making progress on the exterior, we both felt that we were in the remodeling doldrums. After all, 9 weeks of having the entire house in disarray, drop cloths over the furniture and rosin paper on the floor can be a little wearying.

Not to mention having to have Molly the Cat's food dishes and litter pan in our bedroom 24/7 - she certainly couldn't wend her way to the basement during the day through the construction. After all, this is a cat who scurries under the bed at the slightest noise. And to move her stuff back-and-forth twice a day was not worth the effort. Nevertheless, in case anyone needs this data for research, we now can attest to the frequency that a cat eats, drinks and uses the litter pan during an average night. Indeed they are nocturnal beasties.

By midweek, Steve and I talked ourselves out of our remodeling angst, realizing that we'd had the exact same experience midway through the 1994 remodel project. By the end of the week, when we passed another inspection and were told that the project was ready for insulation and drywall, the gloom lifted and we forged onward.

The following pixs show the faux eave and the cat-slide roof wearing their new roof shingles, which are in the handsome "Weathered Wood" color:






Interestingly, this color must be all the rage across the US of A, because best-friend-Sandy and her hubby are currently building a home in northern Alabama and their builder has recommended this same multi-hued shingle for their project. Talk about being kindred spirits, this is sort of like us going shopping and buying the same pair of shoes (or not).

So, onward to Week 10...

PS - in the interest of full disclosure, this post was written at the end of week 10 - friend hubby and I spent the doldrums weekend vegging and watching 8 movies on DVD - nothing like a little quality couch time to raise the spirits. In between DVDs, when I mentioned that I needed to blog, Steve said "why don't you skip this week?" Never one to not act on a good suggestion, I did that very thing!