NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Renovation progress report – week 5

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We celebrated Labor Day weekend by laboring at our new house. Ryan and I both feel really good about the amount we completed during week 5.  So, this week will be a longer-than-usual post with a lot of photos. That’s good for us! (And, hopefully you will be able stick with us.)

Extra bedroom
We’ve gained a new (unpaid) employee – I guess that would make him a volunteer? 😉
My dad has been working on the extra bedroom. (How awesome is it that my dad is retired, a contractor and chooses to spend time at our house during the day helping us, even while we’re at work? We are super thankful.) He has cleaned up and dry-walled over the crazy cubby. (The space behind the cubby will be better used to expand our bedroom closet – yippee!)
He also made better use of the closet space in the extra bedroom, by adding a second 36-inch doorway. We’ll probably put standard doors in, but we’ll have to see. Regardless, it will be so nice to have two doorways. (And note the lovely fan that my dad also installed for us.)
Our bedroom
Also over the weekend, I painted the bedroom ceilings (white flat Behr Premium Plus Ultra). Then, I cleaned and painted walls (color-matched to Silver Sage in BPPU eggshell). 
Shockingly, both the ceiling and the walls only took one coat each. Score! While the price is higher than the Dutch Boy we used in our current house, this Behr paint is so much better and I didn’t have to prime first. With Dutch Boy, I primed with Kilz (necessary with the disgust on our walls) and put on two coats of paint. Talk about simpler! And, Home Depot had a $5 rebate over the weekend, so I was a happy girl.

Even my dad, the picky painter, was impressed. (He closely inspected the walls to make sure it didn’t need a second coat.) I am seriously obsessed with Behr paint with the primer built in. A-maz-ing.

And, I’m also happy with the color. It’s a bit lighter and more gray than our current bedroom, which I like. And, when I asked Ryan if he liked it, he said he loved it. That man makes me happy.

Handy tip: This is a tip from a woman who has painted an entire house (me) – write down every color and type of paint you buy in a handy place. I have a pocket Moleskine in my purse at all times that works perfectly. When I buy paint, I list it in the notebook – type of paint (eggshell/flat/semi), brand, exact color. This makes it a lot easier when I’m at the hardware store and cannot remember what color my baseboards are. Are they bright white or soft white? Is the bedroom paint satin or eggshell? If you take the time to do this, you’ll be happy you listed everything.
Plumbing
We were also lucky to have Ryan’s dad’s help this weekend to work on plumbing. And, between Ryan and his father, I get nervous. They like blowtorches and chainsaws on sticks. Makes my heart beat faster and my hands sweat.
Ryan’s probably smiling in this photo because I was making a fuss about that dang blowtorch. “Ry – don’t burn anything up.” “Ry – don’t burn yourself.” “Ry – don’t burn me.”
This guy makes me nervous, too. Love them both. But, I had to go upstairs.
Plumbing must make my dad nervous, too, because he only came down long enough to help with some pointing.
But, Ryan and his dad know what they are doing. They took out the old garbage. 
Then they re-plumbed with copper. Pretty.
They also invested in the entire plumbing section, apparently. A Boy Scout is always prepared.
The good news is that they got a lot done, and I now have working water on the outside of the house, which is handing for the work we did on the…

Exterior
Ryan and I took advantage of the beautiful sunny and 70s weather on Sunday by finishing some more landscaping. The side of the house was plain ugly, so Ryan tilled up the area.
Then, we transplanted some black-eyed susans, grass and coneflowers from our rain garden. I also had four small mums that were perfect for the space. It looks a lot better now, and will look even better when the flowers take to the their new home (they are a little sad right now). Just the moving blues.

We also mounted this really cool hose on this side, which is so handy.
We added a bit of landscaping to the back of the house. It took all that was in me not to plant more, but I know it will all fill in and then I’ll be happy I practiced restraint (for once). And, we did add tulips and daffodil bulbs throughout, which will be a lovely spring surprise.
Then, Ryan took to the front yard, where fence posts stood in concrete and railroad ties held up the slope. But, the ties were so old that it looked horrible when we bought the house.
So, Ryan tilled up the area and planted grass seed, mixed with hay to keep it from becoming a landslide.
He also dug up all that concrete by hand. It sounded like fun, but I was busy with other things.

It will look great when the grass comes in and we get the garbage out of there.

Oh, yeah. And, the fence is gone. We sold it for $100 and some sort of clamp on Craigslist. (Bartering at it’s finest. Ryan wanted the tool and the guy was willing to part with it.) The same guy who took the cabinets took the fence. So, now the yard looks huge.

And, my dad and brother loaded up all the brush and took it to a tree service to dump for free. Plus, they unloaded the entire garage and loaded a trailer of garbage removed from the house. It went to the dump on Saturday, which saved us dough by avoiding a dumpster.

And, in case you wonder if I ever do anything besides prance around and take photos, Ryan took one photo of me watering the plants. (But I promise I actually did more then this.) But, this will work for documentations sake. Of course, I was wearing a business suit and (fake) pearls because it was right after work. But, you get the idea. I’m just a classy gardener.

And, as an aside, the 5-year-old neighbor girl told me I looked “awesome.” I took it as a compliment, but now I’m thinking it’s probably because she normally sees me looking like a bum. 😉

The master house list has been updated and is now posted for all to see.

What do you think? Did you have a glorious and laborious Labor Day, too?

Comments

  1. I love that pictures of you watering in your suit!

    That is some great progress this week! I can’t wait to see those floors redone (someday) because I know they’ll look amazing.

    Keep up the hard work girlie!

  2. ya’ll are making such great progress! you’re also making the rest of us look really lazy 🙂

    I’m laughing about Ryan and his dad — I try to make myself scarce when Wes and his dad are using big tools! they frighten me.

  3. Wow what progress! You guys again have wowed me with how much you can get done in merely a week. We did new plumbing at our old house and I did the same thing….I need not need to witness it. Can’t wait to see what next week brings….especially with Ryan on his own for a couple of days!

  6. Oh my gosh–you all are rock stars! I am super impressed by what you all accomplished! I love the color for the bedroom and I love BPPU paint–I used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago and while I did use two coats (the room is dark and I missed spots), I had to use three when I painted it previously using Olympic.

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  9. Holy mackerel! I am so very impressed by your progress!! Can I borrow you for a couple of months? You and Ry rock! Plus, it sounds like you have a wonderful supportive family!

    I’d be concerned if my husband had a blowtorch too. I keep forbidding it. Of course, he really wants a “flamethrower helicopter” for his birthday. Yeah. Like that’s going to happen.

  10. Look at you guys go!!! It looks AMAZING!!! I cant wait to see what all you guys finish after I get home from our trip.

  11. Oh my gosh, doesn’t paint make all the difference?! I really need to see visible change to feel like progress is being made. And I also only ever by the paint+primary combo now.

    Oh, I must get that hose! I am always fighting with my hose, in fact I may have killed some plants because I was too frustrated with the hose to water them. I hope it comes in extra long length.

    Maybe I’d be a better gardener if I had better clothes. 🙂

  14. You mean you don’t wear suits and pearls to do all of your housework? 🙂 It all looks great– thanks again for sharing the progress!

  15. Wow, you got a lot done! Pretty awesome! On a side note, I once lived in a dorm that had copper plumbing which, and I am NOT kidding, gave my hair a green shimmer! But it sure looks pretty (the plumbing, not the green hair) 😀

  16. Watering plants in work clothes is perfectly acceptable! 😉 Love what you have done so far… you guys work fast!! I must admit that I share your enthusiastic love for Behr with primer. I love that stuff!! 🙂 Great progress this week… doesn’t look like it will take you too long to have this house whipped into shape!!

  17. nothing pleased me more than to see you watering in your power suit. haha. i just love it!

    the house is coming along amazingly! you should be so proud.

    and your family. they are amazing. and so helpful. wow. i know that that’s like because i would be lost without mine.

    i’m soo excited you are sharing your process! i look forward to seeing the transformation!

  18. WOW.

    Where DO you get your energy? Please tell me so I can drink whatever you’re drinking, eat whatever you’re eating, ‘take’ whatever you’re taking… 🙂

    I really do love seeing the fruition of hard work and in your case, it speaks loud and clear. My husband is back in school, so we have put many projects on the back burner, but you are inspiring me to step up to the plate and take action.

    +Thank you for the paint tip!

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  26. Great job so far! We totally do NOT have the time, funds, or motivation to take on a project like that but you make me WANT to!

    BTW – LOVE you in the suit & pearls watering the flowers!

  27. i will say this every time, apparently, but you guys are awesome!! you’re moving fast on that thing, and the results are already incredible! i’m also impressed by your craigslisting abilities!

    ps – that cubby is bizarre! any idea what it was originally there for? i’m reminded of those GIANT tv’s from the early 90s 🙂

  28. Wow you guys got soooo much done this week congrats! I can’t wait to see what you guys have done next week.

    Give Ryan a high five from me – the front yard will look awesome once the grass comes in.

  31. OMG I am dying laughing at “It sounded like fun, but I was busy with other things.” I’m always busy with other things when digging up concrete by hand is involved.

    You look hawt in your suit. I slum it at work in my jeans and jackets compared to you lady!