Articles with bedroom

Phase III Renovation

And so it begins. Actually, that is a bold face a lie – we are still quite a bit off from beginning of Phase III of VIB renovation, which is supposed to feature a full basement dig out. We did more or less sign off on the basement plans, and are now in the process of interviewing contractors for phase III. Once we settle on the candidate and price point, we will file permits (which require total budget number) and figure out how we will finance this massive undertaking.… Read the rest

Doors (the never ending saga)

As we play the waiting game – currently on order: front door, front door paint, hallway lights, paint for kitchen and bathroom – I decided that there was no better time to address an issue that I had planned to leave for later. Bedroom doors. Those three (not counting the closets) doors are the last hollow core, very ugly doors we have left to replace.

We purchased salvaged, solid wood replacements oh about three years ago.… Read the rest

Shiny and New (Old) Floor

The floors are done! We got back into town Wednesday night after spending New Years with Sergey’s parents in Connecticut. Pleasant surprise – the smell was not bad, actually non-existent pretty much. And of course the floors look shiny and new.

We had sourced three bids to re-do the floors. We went with the least expensive option, which still amounted to just over $2K for the living room, dining room, hallways, stairs and a small bedroom upstairs.… Read the rest

12 Days of Painting: Day 5

Finishing up and crossing items off the list. The staircase treads and baseboards are done. Two coats of fresh Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.Notice the newel post – I am making progress here too!

Here are some up close and personal on the damaged stairs – its not terrible but definitely not safe. Not sure what can be done to fix this situation besides the stair-runner.

And Sergey finished with a second coat of paint in the small bedroom.… Read the rest

12 Days of Painting (And Other Crap): Days 3-4

Can I just say that I am really, really tired of renovating? How do I know? Even new paint on the walls doesn’t bring me any happiness. But a plan is a plan, so we are sticking to it and powering through. We made a good dent in our to painting to do list this weekend. First up, the stairs. Before any painting and priming, there was a whole lot of prep work – removing the carpet, taking out the nails and staples (a total time consuming pain).… Read the rest

Construction Days 122-126: The End.

We.are.done. And by we, I mean our contractors. Sergey and I still have quite a few items to cross off the list (mainly painting and stripping – will it ever end?!). But back to the topic at hand — there was no dramatic build up, no sense that this was all going to end. Just an email on Wednesday night notifying that the following day was going to be final day.… Read the rest

Constructions Days 118-121: Bits and Bobs

We are inching along here. I had made a list of everything that needs to be caulked in the kitchen – its actually quite lengthy. I guess I would rather do that than have contractors do less or more. The other big items are baseboards and the last molding pieces to frame the door to the basement. Those should look much better with a coat or two of paint.

But the biggest item over the last week has been plaster.… Read the rest

Demolition Day 6

I think we have reached the point where demolition, renovation, and in general the house — isn’t so much fun anymore, and in fact, we would like nothing better but stop breaking things and stop camping out and get on with fine living. Oh and blogging about this is also getting tedious. But show must go on. whine or not.and blogging will too, so i can remind myself in the future what it takes to do house.… Read the rest

State of the VIB

While we wait for Construction Day 8 – D-day, otherwise known as door install day (promised tomorrow), I thought I would do another post on our living situation here. I already posted about our kitchen set up, which works just as well as day 1, though we are probably getting additional exercise going up and down stairs to the second floor bathroom any time we need water for cooking or washing produce/dishes.… Read the rest

Walls and floors and timing

We are getting a bit tight on timing, with structural builder coming in next Monday and actual kitchen work schedule to start June 1 (make it June 4, Monday actually). Plus we have been doing a bit of traveling on weekends for weddings and family/friends events, which makes weeknights the only possible time that we can squeeze in some more demo and prep work.

Obviously that wasn’t going to get our bricks walls clean and ready to go for June 4.… Read the rest