Can't Talk Now...

The party is tomorrow and we have a ton of stuff to do. But just a few quick pictures of the progress.

Yesterday's Progress

Yesterday evening Tim got the pass-thru doors stripped. He didn't use the typical stripper we use, Dads (we bought it at K-Mart). Instead he used a furniture refinisher. This is what he also used on the foyer stairway. It's much more liquidy than our normal stripper and Tim just sprays it on with a spray bottle. He seems to like working with it better. I can't say myself since I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Tim said it was really great on the dental moldings we have downstairs.

He also got the doors stained. He said they turned out nice. I can't wait to see them. I've got to get the bottom of the pass-thru cleaned out today so he can beef up the shelves. They really sag under the weight of all my good dishes.

Weekend Up-Date

Saturday we got the woodwork up in the dining room and the two bathroom doors operational. The door to the bathroom was on previously, but the knob wasn't in place yet. Of course we weren't able to locate all of the pieces. They are around here somewhere, it's just going to be keeping our eyes open for them. Like ask I was sorting the dining room woodwork I ran across the tiny pieces of door stop that were missing from the living room double doors.

Sunday I wiped everything down in the dining room while Tim painted on the kitchen porch. Then later that night he helped me move furniture in.

The table and chairs my mom bought maybe 20 years ago at an auction. It was in our kitchen on the farm. The cabinet is that one the neighbor had out in the yard. The picture on the wall Tim's mom bought me quite a few birthdays ago. The rug is way to small for the space, but it will have to do until we can find a rug we like/come up with the cash for it.

The only woodwork that didn't get put up (besides the few missing pieces) is the trim around the pantry pass-thru. The doors weren't refinished yet so Tim took those down and hopes to work on them the next few evenings so they are done in time for the party on Sunday.

No Dale = No Progress

Dale is on vacation. Tim is out of commission while the wound is healing. So not much went on around here this week.

However, before he left Dale did get the doors in the living room hung.

The pocket doors to the library.
The double doors between the foyer and living room.

Here's a question for you. Do double doors have to have lites (divided glass) in them to be called French doors?

Down Stairs Bathroom Woodwork is Up

Dale has the woodwork that is going back (we are making new baseboard out of tile for most of the room) in place and now we just have to bite the bullet and start the wall tileing job. We've done lots of tileing projects in our illustrious house careers.

It all started back in the little bungalow in Waverly (yes, I need to get pictures posted someday of that cute little house) with a marble tile insert in front of the fire place. We thought it was the greatest tile job in the world. In hind sight it was pretty crappy. The tiles were very un-level and we cheated here and there with a little black caulk. Now with our final project of the down stairs bathroom floor you couldn't tell it from a professional job if I do say so myself. Ask Tim, I'm VERY critical. It's level, no gaps, and no cheating with caulk. Yes, as much as Tim HATES tileing he's become pretty damn good at it.

Still, the thought of tileing on a vertical plane is kind of daunting.

Still Missing Those Cute Little Hangers

The other night Tim got the few pieces of baseboard that was missing from the baby's closet in place. He then installed the cheap closet system we had bought a few months ago. I did my first laundry load of baby cloths and now I just need to make it into town to buy some of those tiny little hangers.

The place we ordered our crib from called last week and said it was being shipped and we could expect it in this week. Exciting!

It's Hard to Believe...

that after starting this project with enough trim work to fill an entire two car garage this is what we are down to to finish. It's kind of sad in a way.

Sycamore Pocket Doors

This is the only set of pocket doors in the house. It is a set of double doors that separates the living room from the library.
They are interesting because they are half quarter sawn oak (the living room side) and half what we believe to be sycamore (it was written on the back of some of the library woodwork and it's definitely not oak).

Neither side is vaneered, the doors were cut in half and the two sides fastened to each other some how.

Back on Track

Thanks for the "Ctrl+F5" tip Greg! It was genius.
I believe last I left off the stairway was being stripped.

This shot was taken from the basement stairwell. There had previously been rows of 2x4s nailed up that covered the back of the stair panels.

Tim tore those out and numbered all of the panels that were able to come out so he could put them back in place again.

Also we lucked out. All but one of the panels that appeared to be missing had just fallen behind other panels. We had the missing panel reproduced. We got it to match pretty well, and we're not going to worry because the couch we have picked out will hide it anyway.

With the house open to the basement like this I had nightmares of the skunk that lives down there coming up the stairs and through one of the holes for a little visit. Ah, the joys of owning an old home.

Here's the stairway completely stripped...

and as it sits now.

The banister and panels are completely refinished. We are waiting to do the stair treads when we do the floor. We figure we'll want a stronger finished on those treads with the little one one the way.

A Request from Dale

Tim told me Dale requested a before and after photo of the woodwork. The pieces are door trim from the living room. They are quarter sawn oak from what we can tell.

The piece on the left is the "after" and the piece on the right is the "before". I know, it's kind of backwards, but Tim took the picture, not me.

But you just don't get the full effect of the difference until you touch the finish.

Here's Dale in his workshop/our living room working on the stairway panels.

Stairway Under Way

Tim started stripping the foyer stairway. He's trying out a "new to us" product, a furniture refinisher. He's been very happy with how it takes the old finish out of hard to clear areas like the carved details and dental molding with just a spray bottle.
Tim used the furniture refinisher for all of the posts too.
See doesn't it clean out that dental molding nicely?
This photo shows the stairs stripped as well. He used our old stand by Dad's paint stripper for these easier to strip flat surfaces.

You Can Actually Walk Through the Room

Since Dale has taken a few truck loads of woodwork home to his shop to work on our foyer has become less of a hazard.

Check out this posting from July to see the various stages of foyer walkablity.

Another Round of Woodwork

Tim and Dale split up the woodwork for the living room (actually, I'm willing to bet Dale has most of it), and Tim's been busily refinishing that.

We just have to get the woodwork that's still in place around the run of three windows and see if we can remove the pocket doors. If we can't we'll have to refinish them in place also. Then it's off to the local hardware store to rent a floor sander.

Tim thinks we'll be moving furniture into the room in a week. My bet is a month. Anyone want to start a pool?

The Pantry Has All the Doors and Drawers...

but not all the knobs.

Oh it's so exciting to have them up! And the light fixture is the first one we had purchased for this house. The three year wait so see it up and lit has been worth it.

I spent last week/weekend cramming lots of things into it. So once again we've had a significant reduction in the box pile. Yea!

Work continues in the kitchen and pantry this week. There is SO MUCH wood work to be primed, painted, and hung.

The pantry's doors and drawers are finished. They just need to be hung and handles put on.

We're basically sitting around waiting for paint to dry. Here's a view of the pantry looking through the dining room pass through. The interior yellow is so much brighter in person. I'm disappointed it doesn't come through better in the photo. It's going to take another coat of the cream to get good enough coverage.

Dale has all of the bead board up and painted in the kitchen. There's pieces of cap missing here and there, but then we've pretty much finished up with woodwork in there. Well, at least until we get a little warmer weather to do the exterior doors and windows.

Welcome Back, Looking Good

Isn't funny how when you put certain parts of the house back it's like welcoming back an old friend who has been gone for way too long?

Welcome back kitchen bead board!

Kitchen Trim...So Close

The trim is up around the openings in the kitchen. We both made the comment after seeing this that we were starting to think this day would never come.
Of course, we still have a ways to go. The windows themselves need painting. The door to the south porch needs trimmed out and a coat of paint.
And we have A LOT of bead board to deal with.

Ok. I officially depressed myself.

While We Aren't Quite Ready to Host the Thanksgiving Feast...

We are getting closer thanks to Dale. I'm currently so smitten with him I'm thinking of calling him Wonder Dale. Well, maybe not actually to his face. I don't want him to think I'm making fun of him and leave.

Last week he finished up where I left off with the mudroom trim.

And made short work of the trim in the little hallway to the mudroom.

Em and family- note the base board. It's the stuff from your barn :)
Thanks again!

Laboring on the Trim

It was my weekend to work, but yesterday before leaving I got a little more woodwork put up in the mudroom. All the chairs in the photo I inherited from my step-father. The two cream ones I'm going to clean up and leave in the mudroom. I think the others are in pretty bad shape so I think I'll use them on the porch to hold plants or something like that.

I'm pretty much done with this room until we get the extra baseboard pieces made.
Tim got the first coat of paint on the trim feet that go in the kitchen.
He also got the first coat on all of the headers and the final coat on the side trim pieces. Where just days away from having the kitchen doorways and windows completely trimmed out.

And then of course it's on to the dreaded 500 million pieces of beadboard.

Trim Photo Up-date

Here's the window in the mudroom. It just needs nail holes filled and touch up paint.

Of course the rest of the room also needs its woodwork installed (see the door left of the window).

And I'm not expecting to get any more done this weekend since it's my weekend to work.
Here's the kitchen woodwork Tim has been painting. I think it still needs another coat.

The other night he made repairs to all of the kitchen headers so they are next on the painting assembly line.