Finally- warmer weather

What a productive weekend we had. First off, we got our babies, Tito and Roscoe, on Friday. They are the cutest things in the world. We pretty much fell in love with them right away. I'll post some larger pictures when I get some. They are the coolest dogs in the world.

On Saturday we finished sanding and painting the ceiling going up our stairwell. We had to put up new sheet rock tap and mud. It doesn't look as great as when we paid to have it taped, but it looks so much better than the tiled ceiling. We also too the living room paint up through the hallway. I'll post photos when we get the mirror hung at the top of the stairs.


After and before- sorry for the neck cramp

Since yesterday was so nice I finally got to begin some lawn work. Lanscaping can get pretty exhausting pretty quick. After an hour or so of shoveling I feel like quiting, but do I give up? No.
Baby steps right? Everything is starting to look better. I am starting on the back patio area. There is a large amount of extra dirt back there so I am sort of transferring it to different areas. I can't wait for our yard to be a little more pleasing to the eye. This week I should be getting back the drawings for the yard!






That fence needs to come down!

Thank god it's over

The sheet rock is complete! The ceilings are up and the house is beginning to look less and less like a construction zone. I will never sheet rock another ceiling again (well atleast not for a very long time).

My brother in-law, Jim, came over to help us begin the mudding process. Well, the ceiling is pretty uneven; it's going to be a big job. We decided that it's in our best interest to bid this out. To be honest, I'm done working on the ceiling. I had been contemplating suicide up until this was thrown out there (not seriously of course). So this is good news. "Wait a minute... How could spending more money be good news?", you ask. I have someone going out there tomorrow to begin mudding for $20/ hour. This typically costs between $30- $50/ hour. Not only is it CHEAP, he will have it complete by Saturday (out move-in date).

Ahh, the connections I have through work. Andy, the VP of operation of the company I work for, has helped me out left and right. He's got the hook ups and since we have some large contracts with these companies I reap the benefits. I don't know what I would do with out the help. I'd be poor. Guess who forgot their camera this weekend? I'll grab it and hopefully take some pictures tonight. Stay tuned!

Pictures of the ceilings sheet rocked, a scary game piece that is getting burned, and some Christmas cards that fell out of the ceiling.

Whew!

For our first project we decided to attack was the ceilings. The ceiling in the dining and living area were pretty fugly. The living room had ugly ceiling tile and the dining room had a bad popcorn texture sprayed on it (it was also sprayed on the crown molding). Another issue with the ceiling was the only light we had was in the dining room. The house got pretty dark at night.



We decided to take down the living room tiles first. We found a textured plaster ceiling that bowed pretty bad. After finding this beneath the tiles we decided to gut the ceilings. What a mess!!! I didn't take any pictures of the mess, but I'm pretty sure all of the dust knocked a few years off of my life. I'm so happy that part of the face lift is OVER!!!



Once we removed the ceiling we found the original wiring in the ceilings. We brought a contractor out to give us an estimate on how much it would cost to rerun all the wiring throughout the house. He said he would rewire everything for the low, low price of $12,000; and thats a deal, he works with my employer and hooked me up. Lucky for us, Quentin is a brilliant electrician and I am a great assistant. Ha ha. We've rewired most of it ourselves and everything works (believe it or not).



Another issue with the old ceiling was that there was only one light in the dining room and nothing in the living room. The house got pretty dark at night. We added recessed lighting to both rooms. It looks amazing! The lights are up and working!



Here are some photos of the old tile ceiling, the missing ceiling, a few randoms including a childs boot that came out of the ceiling near the fireplace. Last but not least, our recessed lights in the dining room. Living room lights to come!!!