Week 19

Okay, okay, I know it has been forever since I've posted anything, we got busy with Thanksgiving and moving. So I am going to post a few weeks and try to do some catching up.

The electrician came by and put up the 4 ceiling fans (2 in the morning room, 1 in the family room and 1 in the master bedroom) and as you can see - the cabinet maker was back with the doors, drawers, and molding. We only put glass into the upper cabinets in the butler's pantry...I didn't want to be responsible for keeping ALL of the cabinets neat and pretty all of the time!

No real reason for this picture except I like that you can see Greg's shadow as he takes the picture.

I think these may be one of Greg's favorite things about the house. I'll confess, it took us longer to find the master bathroom light fixtures than anything else. We made numerous trips to the two big lighting stores, Lowe's and Home Depot, bathroom fixtures dealer and even online searches. But I agree with Greg - the hard work was worth the result.

Most of the cabinetry is completed. This gives a nice view from the family room into the kitchen. It amazes me that the kitchen is nearly the same size as originally built (it is a tiny bit longer) but it appears to be much more spacious.

Note the LOVELY cabinet and drawer pulls - the ones we ordered are not in yet. Just in case you wondered, we paid extra for all the lovely dust you see coating everything! You can also clearly see the pendant lights hanging over the peninsula. Oddly enough they show up a yellow tone but are actually red. Guess you'll need to see them in person...come on down!!

Week 18

We took a break and traveled to Memphis for a Drake family Thanksgiving. No house pictures to share, but here are a few family shots.

Jason and Beth (brother and sister) - aren't they cute together in their mother's kitchen?

Dennis traveled all the way from Houston
to be part of the celebration!

Obviously Jason is listening very carefully to the matriarchal head of the Drake family. Grandmother Drake rules!

Hannah snuggles up with her uncle Bill while I try hard to take myself out of the picture.

Week 17

Bill swooped in late last week and decided he wasn't at all happy with the appearance of the ceilings. So they were reworked and are now awaiting repainting.

Sometimes it is the little things I notice...doors on the closet and laundry.

I am continually amazed at what the workers find. I have no idea where this was hiding all this time, but check out the happy family on the cover of the game. Funny how it brings back memories. I remember the family game nights we had every week in Michigan. I wonder why they didn't continue when we moved to Kentucky?

The cabinets have arrived!!! These are the cabinets that cover one wall in the morning room - what we are affectionately calling the 'butler's pantry'. Now all I need is a butler to go with them, any takers? Also note the flooring...the bamboo floors have been installed but right now it is really hard to see much as they are leaving the protective paper and pads down while work continues in the rooms.

Next are the master bath cabinets. Note the basket weave center base cabinet. That is our laundry basket. In addition to 3 drawers, Greg and I will each have a slim upright cabinet which will ultimately set on a piece of marble to help protect the wood against water.

Finally, the shower walls (plus the bench) were installed. At least now the odd paint job doesn't make a difference. I haven't yet decided on the glass to enclose it, but after looking at the design of the bench, I believe I'll need to go with sliding doors or I'll never be able to clean around the outside base of the bench.

Erik arrived early Saturday morning (11/14) to help us move over the incredibly fragile items, electronics, lamps and pictures (which I chose not to box as the movers require) and other miscellaneous items the moving company isn't real keen about trucking across town. We borrowed Russ's truck from Aunt Joan (a lifesaver!!!) and made several trips with both the truck and the SUV. Erik was such an incredible help - again, a big thank you sent out through cyberspace to Erik (and his family for lending him to us for the day). Most of what we brought over went into the living and dining rooms or the shed.

It's Monday, November 16th, aka known as moving day! Let the fun begin.

The movers finally finished around 10:30pm. Greg stayed with them as they unloaded the final small load and I returned to Hunters Green Way to collect what was still in the old house - mainly Mollie. She was so very glad to get out of her crate and join us...so much to explore. She is a great detective, it's amazing the number of screws and such she has found lying on the floor. But I digress. The majority of our belongings were stacked in the living and dining room. The final items brought in were our dressers so a path was left down the center of the room to allow us to get our clothes. I know the world is so grateful that we will be adequately covered!

You know, everything fit fine in the old house. I don't think it was overcrowded or terribly cluttered, but when you look at these pictures...gee, it gives one pause for thought. The gold guest room (Barbara's old bedroom) has been used as our temporary 'kitchen' since we arrived, but is now filled with belongings, again stacked floor to ceiling. Makes me tired just looking at it - lots of work in our future!

Week 16

They have begun laying the tile in the kitchen. Since the kitchen is still the same width, our research showed that by laying the tiles in a running bond pattern it would draw the viewers eyes out and make the room seem a bit wider. You decide.

Travis and his crew have started painting (with color instead of primer) the new part of the house. Check out the kitchen (and family room) which we painted Devine Moss and the morning room which is Devine Georgette.

The old floors in the original part of the house were finished and I think they are looking pretty good. They are white oak and we decided that they looked fine as they were, especially considering they are 43 years old. We had them cleaned, sanded and sealed. Now I need to get some rugs to put down...no wait, I can't until Mollie decides that not everything needs to go in her mouth for chewing. Maybe a bit later.

Greg and I couldn't decide on the color for our master bath so we are going to use both. The long wall behind our double sinks and cabinets is sort of a dark raspberry and the remainder of the wall will show a much more neutral darkish beige. As most of the colors we painted in the house could be classified 'on the safe side', I guess this is where we both pulled down the 'cone of safety' and did something totally different.

The shower base has made it to its new home. It is amazing how people must work in concert...the plumber had to be here when the marble people were also here. I'm guessing that's why one hires a contractor...to work out all those pesky details. And I must say, Bill seems to make it seem effortless. Kudos to Bill!!

Week 15

We closed on our current (or should I say old) house on Monday, October 26th. Right now we are renting but the move date is moving up quickly on us...November 16th. Erik is coming to help us move some of the more fragile items the weekend before, so in reality, when the 14th comes...it begins our leaving. On one hand it is very sad but on the other...very exciting!

They say that pictures are worth a thousand words, so this week I will stay relatively silent.

We have gutters!
We even had some rain to break them in.

We have mudded walls!

We have cement boards for the tile!

We have primed walls!




Change comes quickly at this stage. From what they did this week I can only assume that painting and tile work comes next week. How exciting!

Week 14

We decided that since they were coming to spray foam the insulation in the new part of the house that we would increase the insulation in the remaining house. Kinda creepy - don't you think?

Greg and I decided to replace the tile in the two existing bathrooms. After removing the carpet we discovered that the tile didn't look nearly as good as the hardwood did. The picture on the left is the hallway bathroom. The center squares are brown flecked. The picture on the right is the guest suite bathroom and we are (hopefully) going for a bit of a retro look.

The old electrical panel has disappeared from view. Here you see the new panel...anyone know where I can get a big picture that would look good in an office? Barbara and Mike suggested that we mount the picture like you often see in the movies - but instead of a safe behind the swinging picture a burglar would find an electrical box. Just imagine his disappointment!


We have walls! Need I say more? Picture 'A' was taken from the back hallway looking through part of the kitchen into the family room and of course the morning room. Picture 'B' is from the far end of the family room looking into the kitchen area. Picture 'C' is from the rear of the morning room into the kitchen and then to the original dining room. Finally, picture 'D' is from the back end of the new master bedroom looking into the bathroom. The blue-green looking wall board is water resistant and there is some in the new bathroom, laundry area and the kitchen.

Heavy work has ceased in the back of the house - as shown by the seeding of the back yard. To my knowledge, just the paining of the skirting around the new addition and the gutters, of course. The access up the front yard has also been covered with straw. Gone is the mud puddles we have had to trudge through due to our prolifically rainy fall.

We now have two live electrical panels. I know the workers will be happy they can now plug in their equipment where they need it, rather than stringing extension cords to the few plugs that were kept hot.

Weeks 12 & 13

Another seemingly slow week at the house, but actually they have been very busy. The plumbing is finished and the electricians have been there everyday. What a nice bunch of men! We have been busy here at the old house with packing and finishing with some of the 'design' choices for the new house...notice 'design' is set apart - I am hardly a designer. Maybe we should have consulted with someone who works exclusively with bathrooms and kitchens - too late now. At least I will be able to claim the bad design all to myself!

The electricians were busy this week. Good for us, but not for our readers. Random wires don't make for the best pictures... boring! Here you see some seemingly random wires and several of the recessed canned lights.

They pulled all the old insulation from the attic - into the giant dumpster it went. We are having the foam sprayed in the rafters to help with the heating and cooling costs. This is looking up into the empty attic from the family room.

The house took on a whole new look as the exterior was painted. For those of you who may not remember, the house was white painted brick and wood with black shutters. We kept the white brick (cut down on the cost of painting), but painted the window trim a beige color and the shutters are painted Calvary blue. I was amazed at how much it totally changed the appearance of the house. Additionally, they painted the planking on the addition (the brick skirting has to wait a couple of weeks for the mortar to set). It looks pretty good if I do say so!








When the house was built in 1966, electrical code was much different than today. The electrical box was located in what used to be my sister Barbara's bedroom closet. That no longer is allowed and the house (even though we are working primarily on the other part of the house) would not have passed the electrical inspection. So it was decided to move it to the back of her old closet and face it out into what will now be the office (my brother Rick's old bedroom). We will just need to hunt for a REALLY big picture!

They have begun the foam insulation. It starts as a liquid and then blossoms into this rather dense foam...or at least that is how it has been explained to me. While doing the insulation, the installers wear full body protection suits and respirators so we aren't allowed in while they are working. In addition to the new part of the house, they will complete this process throughout the entire attic in the existing part of the house. Something about an envelope! Whatever...I just know it will save us a bunch on our heating and cooling costs. But first, we have to get them to clean up after themselves - what a messy process!

We are anxiously awaiting the new tile floors in the two existing full bath. Finally the little "dots" came in - this is the hall bath flooring. I don't think we have a picture of the guest suite bath, but if all happens according to plan, we'll take a picture of it on the floor for next week.