No more lock box.....

No more lock box....

May 25th  --  The finish carpenter arrived at 8:30 am and started attacking the items on the punch list.  Many of these are small items (e.g., installing door stops; adjusting sticking doors) and not worthy of photos.  By the end of the day only three items remained that require tools that were not on site.

The second upstairs bathroom is now completed and clean with another piece of trim installed as well as small glass shelf under the medicine cabinet.  With time, I will need to do some work on the oak vanity and cabinet with some sanding and refinishing.

Much of his time was spent on installing new door locks -- no small feat since the original doors of the house, like the front door below (and the door to the garage), are much thinner than most wooden doors today.  As a result, some of the doors had to be "built up" so that the locking mechanisms would work.  The build up will be painted during the exterior touch ups.

and the rear-entry door and door to the greenhouse.

  

The best thing about having all of these door locks installed is that I very happily returned the lock box to the contractor!!!

And the greenhouse shelving standards have been installed on the south wall (see the shelves below).  A masonry drill is needed to install the shelving system on the north wall of the greenhouse, which is the brick wall of the house.  That will wait for another day this coming week.

While the finish carpenter was going through the punch list, I continued to work on small projects.  First, was to create a small platform with pavers for the lawn mower.  Before the afternoon showers, I was able to start the lawn mower for the first time of the season with only two pulls!  I ran the mower over the remaining lawn in the front of the house after spending over an hour raking up miscellaneous bits of construction scraps (e.g., nails, screws, bits of concrete wood, roofing materials, etc) that I did not want to go airborne after being run over by the mower.  It was amazing to see what I collected.  Fortunately, I was able to mow the lawn with no schrapnel incidents.

 

The contractor and fabricator repeatedly told me to save all the left over tile and grout.  So, a second little project was to finally move all the boxes of left over tile stuff and other left over materials (e.g., hardwood floor planks) to the crawl space beneath the gathering room addition. Boxes of tile are not light.

When the old refrigerator was moved to the basement for the future micro brewing center, the doors were in the wrong orientation.  Fortunately, this model was made with reversible doors, which I got around to reversing for a third project.  The refrigerator needs to be cleaned, and the saga of the refrigerator debacle should be over by June 3rd -- look for a blog post on the resolution of this issue then.

By the end of the day, the friends who gave me their old couches dropped by to see how they looked and brought a lovely bunch of sun flowers.  Although all the vases are somewhere in the garage waiting to be unpacked, I did find a glass jar that did the trick as a temporary vase.

Although the finish carpenter was going to drop by today -- Memorial Day -- to finish up, he just called and had to do something for his employer.  He will try to come by tomorrow to finish up.

At this point, what remains is:  

• installing the shelving standards on the north wall of the greenhouse
• installing a piece of flashing near the threshold of the rear-entry door
• clearing the floor drain in the basement
• connecting the gas cooktop in the basement
• installing a shelf in the master bathroom
• the contractor will repair two small leaks in the greenhouse before I can put down the liner floor and pea gravel
• final interior and exterior paint touch ups
• June 3rd refrigerator resolution
• order and install carpet runner on the main staircase and order and install carpet treads on the staircase that leads to the basement. 

And, of course, the moving back in process....

Up and over

Up and over....

May 25th  -- The main goal for today was to move the bed from the master bedroom downstairs to the guest suite, pick up a new bed and move it into the master bedroom and pick up some couches given to me by dear friends who recently purchased new ones.

Because of the 90 degree-turn in the stair case, there are things that just can't be moved. 

There was a good reason why the chest of drawers in the master bedroom was built in that room by the finish carpenters!

The old bed and box spring and the new one had to be hoisted with straps from the back of the house, up and over the covered deck, and into the master bedroom as shown in this sequence of photos.

The old mattress went down the stairs, but the box spring had to be lowered over the covered porch.

Then the new mattress and box spring had to be hoisted from the back of the house up and over the covered porch.

First the mattress

then the box spring

By the end of the day, the new bed in the master bedroom was put together:

The bed from the master bedroom was put together in the guest suite

And, the donated couches looked pretty good in the living room on my carpet that was stored in the garage.

Just moving these big items before the predicted afternoon rain, hail and thunder storms was a huge accomplishment!.  

Things are beginning to look less like a construction zone and more like a house!

Tomorrow, Scott the finish carpenter returns to attack the punch list.

Little by little....

Little by little....

May 20th  -- The fabricator came by to install the back splash in the second upper-level bathroom last night, as shown here.  Hopefully, the painter will come by late this afternoon and will complete touch-ups and reinstall all the trim pieces and fixtures that were removed for painting.  If all goes according to plan, then all this bathroom will need is a good cleaning and it will be done.  

May 21st -- The plantation shutters were installed in the living room in 2002.  When they were removed when the windows were replaced, the contractor told me it would be my responsibility to have the shutters re-installed.  Fortunately, I had remembered the name of the company that installed them and they were still in business.  This morning they came out and were able to use the frames and re-installed the shutters.

May 23rd -- The crazy spring weather continues.  Tornado warnings, hail (which shredded the blue berry bushes a bit, but they will survive) and downpours like this -- maybe my raised beds are turning into rice paddies?

May 23 rd -- The last phase of "construction cleaning" is on the slate for today.  In an effort to remove all construction dust and general chaos, the walls, floors and basically all surfaces were vacuumed and cleaned.  The painter came to do some touch ups, and the house is really coming together.

The upper-level sitting room

The upper-level bedroom that typically serves as my home office and was the room that I lived in during the construction:

The main level living room (with a peek at the front door and foyer)

The main level guest suite (open door leading to the guest bath) with some window treatments.

The view, from the kitchen, looking into the dining room and into the living room.

The foyer, with an oak coat rack brought in from storage in the garage and the new mail slot next to the front door.

The plan for tomorrow is to move beds and pick up some couches.