Our Monona Mess

We love you Ralph--you will be missed!  

  Pocket Door Project Why does everything take longer than you think it will? We had a 3 day weekend to get so much done, but you never really realize how long some projects take. Lauryn and I finished the rest of the tile backsplash today and did one row in the bathroom as a sturdy base.  It took about 5 hours from set up, calculation, mixing thinset, laying tile, cutting tile, laying more tile, and cleaning up. Where does the time go? While we worked on the bathroom, Dave had a project of his own. Before we can have electricity in the hall bathroom, we need to have power run to it from the other bathroom. Before we can have power in master bath, we need drywall in there and before we can hang the drywall, we needed the pocket door installed between the master bedroom and bathroom. And that leads us to Dave's pocket door project. He had to retro fit it into an existing plaster wall without ruining the wall. It worked pretty well--just a few screw holes to patch. 

  Lauryn's Moral Support We got a late start today.  Tyler and Amanda were here for a stop in on the way to Georgia and we slept in, mowed the lawn and visited with the neighbor and then we started prepping to tile. First I sealed the shower with a waterproofing agent. Lauryn helped me by holding up the bucket while I painted it on the walls.  I have never tiled before, just supported Dave, but with all the tile in this house,  I want to be able to do tiling alone (or with Lauryn's help) this summer so today I learned...on the tightest space ever...under the cabinet.  I turned out okay and really no one will ever see it, so it was a good place to practice, but it was tough to get all the tile on the wall, straight, level, and spaced correctly all while lying on my stomach in a 1 foot high space.  Dave sat by and coached me and handed me things and Lauryn sat by in the hall offering moral support and learning so that she can help later. Then Dave and I worke...

  Sand, Texture, Prime While I ran to Home Depot #2 to pick up more tile and buy a new tile saw, Dave sanded the walls and ceiling in the bathroom.  It turned him a little grey! After another HD run, Dave sprayed the texture on the walls and ceiling  and then he and I primed the walls and ceilings.  Then I mixed up a batch of thinset to seal rest of the seams of the shower.  In the evening, the bathroom was all ready of tile--and then we decided that we need to really know how the cabinet fits before laying the tile around it so we installed it.  It was a multistep process. First we needed to cut a space for the sink in the divider between the drawers and the cabinet. Then we needed to drill the holes for the pipes in the back. We lifted to the temporary ledge and it fit perfectly...but we did not like where it was and decided to move it over 2 inches...oops.  It fit perfectly the 2nd time too and Dave attached it really well to the wall since it is ve...

  Primed Ceilings The ceilings in the bedrooms and hall that we painted a few months ago are starting to discolor, so we have decided to use Kilz primer on future ceilings before we paint them.  On Thursday night, I primed the ceilings in the kitchen and entryway.  By Friday night, Dave had the bathroom pretty much ready for tile. It is looking like a real room.  While I went to 1 of 2 Home Depots that have orders waiting for us, Dave hung the drywall on the outside of the laundry room. It made such a difference when we walked in the door and there was a wall right there. 

  More Mud Dave continues to work on getting the bathroom ready for tiling this weekend. It seems like a never ending task and I know Dave's arms are exhausted from working over head.  On Monday thru Wednesday I had evening meetings, so I did not really work on the house, except for shopping. I actually made some progress on the driveway though. I contacted the city and after being transferred from person to person, I finally talked to a very helpful man named Bill who shattered all my driveway plans. We found out that we need a Street Terrace Permit to work between the sidewalk and the road--wait, we don't have a sidewalk. Our street terrace is the last 12 feet of our driveway--which is city land. In case you forgot what the last 12 feet of the driveway looks like, check out the picture at the top of this post.   In addition to needing the permit, we need to have the work done by a city approved contractor--neither one of the contractors that have given us bids are ...

  A Little Growth So each season brings some new surprises to the yard. The peonies on the south side of the house are blooming. One is dark pink and one is light pink.  The grass is growing where we seeded, especially the front yard. And the irises on the east side of the house are in bloom.

  Doggie Dam (Damn Dog) Today I took a day off to socialize, but Dave kept working on the shower. He installed the niche in the back of the shower  and then finished installing the backerboard around bathtub. Then he started to tape and mud the joints.  The seam between the new drywall and the old plaster was particularly a mess, so Dave mudded it well and then took the grinder to make it a smooth seam. It worked really well.  Ralph has been using the stairs to get up on the tables that are acting as our kitchen and "clean up" and today he got caught.  Dave put in a new barricade to block him from climbing over.  I really can't wait to have a real kitchen. 

  Slow but Steady Dave continued to make progress on the hall bathroom on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but it is moving pretty slow.  He finished adding the backer board for the strip behind the vanity. Then he hung the rest of the backerboard in the bathtub and finished the drywall on the wall.  He and I spent a big chunk of time on Saturday getting the ceiling level because half of it is old plaster and the other half is old drywall. It took a different number of shims in different places to get it level.  Dave had to work on Saturday so I moved mulch all afternoon.  With a little help from Teagan, I got it around the bushes in front. It was pretty satisfying to see the pile disappear--now the grass just needs to come back.  In the evening, I started ripping up the tile in the entryway.  It comes up easily, but leaves half the tar paper attached to the floor, except in the closet. Not sure what to do next with that mess!

  Drywall-Day 2 Dave shifted his focus to the hall bathroom tonight, so maybe we can have one bathroom soon. First he put boards inside each side of the wall to reinforce the places where we will install the floating countertops and towel bars.  Then he installed some of the drywall  While he worked on that I ran to HD to get backerboard (what a decision making process that was! Whew!), which he began installing when I got home. The photo at the top shows the beginning of the backerboard for the strip of tile behind the floating cabinet.  The cement guy came tonight too--we are ready to go except we need the city to figure out where our driveway begins/ends at the road. 

  Bathroom Division The drywall was delivered this morning. And by coincidence, Dave found a drywall screw gun on Marketplace for a very low price A BLOCK AWAY!  He ran to buy it after work and started using it to put up drywall right away.  Now our 2 bathrooms have a wall between them. While he worked on the wall, I spent another exciting evening at HD getting supplies and ordering doors. I cannot wait to install the new front and back doors on the house. 

  Huge Maple in the BackYard Level Landscape After work tonight, Dave and I (read that as Dave with a little bit of help from me) finished moving the pile of dirt to the low spots in the yard. Then Dave mowed the lawn and said that he was finally not bumped off the seat by holes. He also continued to move some of the mulch and then decided to see how hard the ground was where we wanted to put the Little Library and it was soft enough, so he put it in between the peonies on the side of the house. 

  Breezeway Beauty Today was really all about the breezeway again. We are waiting for drywall to be delivered for the rest of the house and it was a beautiful day to work out there. While Dave fertilized the lawn, I went to buy shiplap for the ceiling and then we worked together to get it up.  We also started to get the walls in place.  We tried to get Teagan to help us move the pile of mulch--but it didn't last long and he opted for helping with the dishes and laundry instead of moving the huge pile of mulch.