Day 237 -- Safety First...Or Last, Whatever

This is the last photo I could find where we actually had some sort of railing -- about 5 months ago. With the amount of kids and family members that have come to see the house, it is a miracle that no one was killed or badly maimed by falling off this thing.

Now we have a real railing that is not made of three 2X4s nailed together. It is really the last major issue that we were facing before we could move upstairs. Of course, we will do some painting before making the move, but the family could move upstairs safely if we really wanted to.

The railing is exactly what I wanted. It will be perfect when it is painted and stained.

Day 236 -- A Post About Posts

The newel post upstairs was installed today along with the half newel on the wall. Also, the kids closets were fixed today. When they were installed, they didn't extend the one side of the shelves down far enough to accommodate two separate hanging rods. We wanted to be able to remove the one later to allow for longer hanging.

One comedic moment of the day: A little bit after Badger left Joel (his right hand man) here today, Joel called him in a panic. "We have a BIG problem....I can't find Beatrice. I have looked all around the neighborhood and I can't find her." James' response: "Oh yeah, she was jumping all over me so I put her in the master closet. Check there." Sure enough, Bea was waiting patiently, not making a peep, to be let out to play again. She was probably thinking "Hey, this isn't bad...maybe I'll make this my room."

Day 233 -- Merry Christmas To Me

I love the floors!!! They are gorgeous! I cannot wait to get some paint and furniture up there. Maybe it is my imagination, but there seem to be a lot more knots in this flooring compared to the downstairs. I think it looks great. There is really a lot of variety and character in the wood. It was a good Christmas. I'm a lucky girl. Here are a couple shots of the master bedroom/closet.

And here are the bedrooms and hallway.

Day 230 -- Finally, Finished Flooring

This was the best I could do while holding my camera as far as I could above my head to take the picture since they had it all taped off. In the next couple days, I'll have some better shots.

Day 228 -- Home For The Holidays...Maybe Not

I think we're ready to have the floors finished. Here's a panorama of the master bedroom now that the baseboards, casings and cleanup are all done. We were hoping to be moved into our new bedrooms before Christmas, but I've come to accept that that won't happen. That's okay. We're close. Maybe by New Years? Probably not, but it's always good to have a stretch goal.


Today the closet systems in the kids rooms were installed and the newel posts also were delivered. We got the right door for our bedroom too. As soon as the floors are done, we'll start painting.

Day 227 -- Finish Carpentry Day 3

Baseboards and more door casing. Didn't quite get finished today, so we'll have to push the floors out until Tuesday. The mudroom and our master are pretty much finished aside from paint and finishing the flooring.......That kinda feels weird to say. Brian might just decide he wants to sleep in the mudroom he likes it so much. ;) I must agree that it is an amazing improvement from the 3X3 landing we had before.



Here's a shot of our master bedroom door and entrance to the closet as well as the hall with the baseboards.

Tomorrow, closet hanging/shelving will be put in the kids rooms.

Day 226 -- Finish Carpentry Day 2

We decided to do something different with the bathroom door. This door, some of you will remember, was originally in the middle of our hallway on the main floor. My mom suggested that we use it for the bathroom and sandblast the window so it's frosted. I think it will be pretty cool and different. The square window will be in keeping with the square motif of the molding on the wall too. The door's kind of beat up, so it might need some sanding and TLC, but I'm hoping the final result will be worth it.

The remaining doors were installed today too (baby's closet and the bathroom pocket door). Almost all of the door casing has been put on. Only the closet in Izzypop's room and the inside of the kids bathroom is left. Tomorrow will be baseboards.

Day 225 -- Finish Carpentry Day 1

5 of 8 doors are in: the three bedroom doors (the wierd master bedroom door that looks totally different and has two doorknob holes will be replaced with the actual door when it comes in), the closet doors in Izzypop's room and the pocket door for the master closet. The baby's room closet doors, the bathroom door and the master bath pocket door still need to be installed.

Baseboards were also started today. The kids' rooms are half way done and the master closet is totally done.

Look! Another orb! Call TAPS!


Door casings were also started and finished on the master closet pocket door. I love finish carpentry. I especially love the "finish" part. "Finish" is a beautiful word don't you think?



This is an all-weekend project. Hopefully by Monday we'll be ready for the first coat on the floors and the final paint.

Day 224 -- Door Delivery

I got home to a nice little present on our back porch. Shortly thereafter the guys that are installing them showed up to move the doors, baseboards and door casing upstairs. They'll be back tomorrow to start installing it all.

Day 222 -- A Light At The End Of The Stairway?

If all goes according to plan, tomorrow will be the end of the stair saga. It has been 7 weeks since the day they were supposed to start on the stairs. We have had supply delays, lots of mistakes and a lot of rework. But tomorrow, should be the final sanding of the filler and the stairs will be ready to paint/finish. We will probably finish them later since we've got Christmas coming up and I can't really afford not to be in my house for 3 days right now. But the end is in sight and I am relieved. I have to also give DAYT kudos today. They know we have been discouraged and frustrated and the amount of issues we have had with these things. Today they called and said they would like to make it up to us by offering to paint the stairs, stairskirts and railing for free. When I asked if they could get me an estimate as to how much it would be to paint the "wow" wall in addition, they said that they would just take care of that too. Impressive customer service, guys. Way to restore my faith in you. The cashew brittle you left on my counter for Christmas didn't hurt either. Thank you.

Day 220 -- Stair Trim

This weekend they put on the trim for the stairs. They still need to fix a couple treads, fix the stairs going down to the landing and fix the stair skirts. This trim will be painted white like the rest of the risers.

Day 218 -- More Hardwood

The rest of the hardwood was laid today in the baby's room, the master bedroom and the closet. It all looks great! Still can't wait to see it finished.

Day 217 -- Well, You Can't Say We're Tree Huggers

The walnut flooring is going in upstairs. I'm going to love having hardwood "throughout". Well, almost throughout. The downstairs won't be hardwood. Anyway, they finished laying the hardwood in the hallway and at the top of the stairs. We're leaving a bull nose finish all along the wall in the stairway -- we'll put a piece of trim under it to finish it off.


They also finished laying it in Izzypop's room, a third of the baby's room, and part of the master bedroom. Sounds like tomorrow they will finish laying the rest of it. Can't wait to see it sanded and finished!

Day 208 -- Beadboard, Benches and Beams, Oh My!

Brian and I decided that the bench alone in the entryway was just a little bit plain. So we had them throw up some beadboard and trim. We'll put some coat hooks and a floating shelf up above it. They also put trim around the window above the bench.



Another bit of good news: they delivered the flooring for upstairs today. They will start installing it on Thursday Dec 10 after it acclimates. Could it be that we are getting that close to having the bedrooms finished up here?









The benches upstairs got their hinges today. I can just see Lizzy getting inside one of these things to hide and not being able to lift the lid back up...I'll have to watch out for that.


They also finished facing the beam today. It looks so much better already. I am almost glad it is there....almost. I might just be happy with it when it is stained.