Nov 25, 2015

PROJECT DARKSTONE: Day 295

Here is a Whole Bunch O' Pictures for your viewing pleasure.

This is the porch.  They only work on it when they aren't busy with something else, so it is going pretty slow.


Here is a picture of the downstairs hall.


Here is the ceiling.  Hypnotic, I know.




Fun story about the doors:  2 of them aren't the right size.  That is why they are still stacked up in the old living room.  

For almost a year now the front room, with the fireplace in it, has been stuffed to the gills with furniture.


 But that time had come to an end.  We had to get the stuff out, whether we had somewhere to put it or not.  So we rented ANOTHER container, parked it across the street, and moved everything into it. 

Actually we rented 2 more containers.  They didn't have a 20 foot container, so they gave me two 10 foot for the same price.  


Here is our existing front yard container, in case you forgot what it looked like.  We wouldn't want that.


 So now the front room is all cleaned out and ready for anything!


This is the Kitchen/Dining Room.


Below is a picture from inside Richard's office.


You may be thinking at this point that looking at pictures of drywall is SUPER BORING.  That feeling is perfectly normal.  

So what I forgot to say is that the drywallers are totally done.  But I guess we aren't quite ready for paint just yet.  Exhibit A:



The builder decided he would rather patch the plaster than tear it off and replace it with drywall.  But he has had a heck of a time finding the Structo-Lite for patching it. He finally tracked some down after much searching and I think he will get it next week.





The following is the upstairs hallway, looking toward the master bedroom.


And here is another bedroom.  The one we affectionately refer to as 3rd bedroom. 


It is the one with the loft in it.


And, finally, the master bedroom.


Whew!  What a thrill!

Here is how the fascia looks right now.


The idea is to imitate the original soffit and fascia, like you see in the following picture, and I think it looks great.


Yeah.  The details are impossible to see, but someday in the near future we will get that painted and it is going to look amazing.

Any questions?

Nov 19, 2015

PROJECT DARKSTONE: Day 289

Here's the scuttlebutt!


That is my new nickname for Colin.  It suits him. 

There were a whole bunch of guys at our house today, running around, putting tape and mud on stuff. Like this:



I guess the pros don't use drywall mud straight out of a bucket like the rest of us.  They mix it with water first in an orange bucket using a silver doohickey.  Neat!

I can only guess what they were thinking of me, as I walked through the house every couple of hours, grinning at everyone, and taking pictures of them.  But how could I resist?  One of them was on stilts!  I was so excited.


They will probably be done with the the drywall and mudding by Thanksgiving. (including texturing the walls.  Which is the drywallers job, not the painters job, FYI.)

Some other workers spent the day outside working on the soffit and fascia.  


Things are coming together!

Nov 17, 2015

PROJECT DARKSTONE: Day 287

Here is what is up at my house:


That is my kitchen, all covered in drywall, in case you couldn't tell.  

And as if that wasn't exciting enough, we also have these:


Those are my 3 new front/side doors.  Pretty exciting stuff!

Now I would love to sit here and shoot the breeze with you all night long, but I have a pile of laundry on my bed so huge it is about to gain consciousness.  And I suspect My husband has now fallen asleep on top of it.  So I gotta go.  Over and Out.

Nov 12, 2015

PROJECT DARKSTONE : Day 282

That's right!  DRYWALL!


So pretty, right?


Richard and I spent ALL DAY at our house today finishing up last minute things.  I had to leave at 2:00 but Richard just kept on working.  He kept thinking of things that still needed to be done.  5 minutes ago we thought of one more thing we need to do (we still need to actually attach the bathtub to the walls) but pretty soon if there is anything we have forgotten, it is going to be too late to fix them.  I realized this evening in the shower that I put one row of lights in the kitchen on the wrong side of the ceiling joist.  Which just means they are about 5 inches further to the south than I want them to be.  Not a huge deal unless you are anal.  

Which I guess I am.  The knowledge is clawing away at my insides.

When Richard finally got home I told him I was going to go over and move all those lights first thing in the morning and he said, "Um, I think that will be too late.  The drywallers showed up at 3:00 and just about finished the kitchen ceiling before I left."

So I guess that is 5 inches south I am just going to have to live with.  Because, in case you missed it, 

THEY STARTED TO PUT UP DRYWALL!  

Of all the steps, drywall is by far the most exciting.  It takes so long to get to that point, the waiting is agonizing, but just a short amount of time has such a huge impact.  If I wasn't so stressed out I would be jumping up and down right now.  But I just want to take a nap.  

Anyone have space for 4 couches, 2 dressers and a refrigerator?  The builder just told us we will have clear those out of the house because they are now in the way.  Hooray.  I mean, HOORAY!  But also, hooray, ya know?

Nov 8, 2015

PROJECT DARKSTONE : Day 277

This happened:




I took a bunch more pictures than this, but it turns out insulation is not quite as fascinating to look at as you might expect.

Since I'm sure you are curious I will explain that No, there won't be any insulation in the interior walls.  We could have had them insulate all the interior walls too, but it costs more.  Go Figure.   

Insulation is now totally done.  Do you know what comes next?