Over the weekend, I only worked at the house on Sunday. Here's the weekend recap:
Friday & Saturday - After work, I headed home with the intention of doing a little bit of work before packing and leaving for Lincoln, NH (more on this later). When I arrived home, there were seven men working in my house. It was craziness. There was an electrician upstairs, with two helpers, Crazy Jeff Doors, Al Medina and two helpers. If I went anywhere other than outside, I would have been in some one's way.
The good news about all of the workers being there is that things were finished up. There is not only light on the second floor, but crazy creature comforts like ceiling fans and working outlets. The electrician finished up on the second floor, so that's great.
Al Medina added a banister to the second floor, added some trim in the kitchen, and finished up his obligations. Also great.
Crazy Jeff Doors showed up and actually did work. Also great.
Amanda got out of work, took a shower and we headed to the car to drive to NH. Here are the proceedings from the trip, followed by a 1st grade report card inspired rating:
Friday:
Drove to Lincoln (Satisfactory)
In 4 and a half hours (Unsatisfactory)
Checked into the resort (Satisfactory)
Found a Murphy Bed in the condo (Excellent)
Found a broken fireplace (Needs Improvement)
Went to Dinner (Satisfactory)
Enjoyed a hot tub (Excellent)
Hot tub closed after 10 minutes (Unsatisfactory)
Slept (Excellent)
Saturday:
Woke Up (Unsatisfactory)
Ate breakfast (Excellent)
Enjoyed a hot tub (Excellent)
Checked out (Satisfactory)
Met with a salesman (Needs Improvement)
Listened to sales pitch for 2+ hours (TERRIBLE)
Received free plane tickets (Satisfactory)
Left (Excellent)
That's right. Amanda and I went to a resort in Lincoln, NH to stay for free, listen to a salesman try to sell us a timeshare and get free airline tickets. The traffic, the bed and the salesman were just terrible. Thus, as of right now, it wasn't worth it. Once we go on two free trips to Venice or something? It might be worth it.
After that experience, we got some lunch with Judy and headed to Ikea. We bought a bunch of stuff and drove home.
Sunday - Amanda and I worked a lot. I added some trim upstairs, added some wainscoting in the first floor bathroom, built some furniture, assembled a closet organization system in the master bedroom closet, etc.
Monday - I put a bead of caulk around everything in the kitchen and started the baseboards in the second floor second bedroom. I only started them, not finished them, because I am an idiot and forgot to charge my circular saw battery. It died, and so did my hopes of finishing the trim.
Amanda threw some wood putty around, sanded, and painted some trim. Hooray.
As for the title of this post, and it's final noun, I am starting to get a little tired. I've been working until 11 every night and getting to work at 7:15 for the last week and a half or so. It might not seem like much, but I feel like I'm 75 years old. I am not. My back hurts, my hands are constantly sore, my knees are generally in pain, etc.
(Needs Improvement)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday.
Yesterday, a lot got done. Crazy Jeff Doors hung a few more doors upstairs, Amanda and I bought some light fixtures for the second floor, we bought exterior paint for the new front steps, I finished the second floor bathroom floor, Amanda primed the new front steps, we hung the cabinet doors in the kitchen and Michael Jackson died. Busy.
Jeff will be finishing up his work, hopefully today. The electrician should be finishing up the work upstairs, and we will be heading to NH for a night. Weird.
Here are the before, after and after after pictures of the front steps:
Here are the before and after shots of the bathroom floor:
Here is the sweet set up I worked in the past two nights (no electricity upstairs = dark. It is actually much darker than it looks. My camera sucks up more light than my eyes do):
And finally, here are the freshly painted and hung cabinet doors in the kitchen:
Jeff will be finishing up his work, hopefully today. The electrician should be finishing up the work upstairs, and we will be heading to NH for a night. Weird.
Here are the before, after and after after pictures of the front steps:
Here are the before and after shots of the bathroom floor:
Here is the sweet set up I worked in the past two nights (no electricity upstairs = dark. It is actually much darker than it looks. My camera sucks up more light than my eyes do):
And finally, here are the freshly painted and hung cabinet doors in the kitchen:
Back to work on Sunday.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Evening Work.
When I got home from work yesterday, it was busy. It was nice to see. Crazy Jeff Doors was cleaning up after another day of door hanging/trimming and Al Medina was building me some front steps. To say that the front steps were 'spongy' before yesterday is apt. They were pretty dangerous and rotted. Now they're rebuilt. Great.
After dinner, Amanda finished up painting the cabinet doors (which is fantastic) and I cleaned up/repaired the second floor bathroom floor. Once the holes were filled in and the floors were relatively dust free, I got to work laying vinyl tiles. It's a pretty easy process, but was made a little harder because the second floor has no lights. I had to use a flashlight for lighting. Great.
After three hours, a tube and a half of liquid nails, many tile cuts and lots of sweat, I ran out of tile. Since I'm an idiot and didn't buy the requisite "extra X percent of tile to account for cuts", I ran out. I probably have another half an hour to go in there before the floor is finished.
Hopefully, tonight I will prime the new stairs and finish up the tile in the bathroom. Since today is sunny (read: the cloud cover isn't quite as thick as usual. There's no actual sun shining on us, but it's as close as it's been to breaking through in seemingly weeks), I should be able to get the stairs done, and possibly a coat of color, without fear of losing it to a rain shower.
Amanda will hopefully hang the cabinet doors in the kitchen. That will look sterling.
I'll have some before/after pictures of the stairs and bathroom floor for you hopefully tomorrow.
After dinner, Amanda finished up painting the cabinet doors (which is fantastic) and I cleaned up/repaired the second floor bathroom floor. Once the holes were filled in and the floors were relatively dust free, I got to work laying vinyl tiles. It's a pretty easy process, but was made a little harder because the second floor has no lights. I had to use a flashlight for lighting. Great.
After three hours, a tube and a half of liquid nails, many tile cuts and lots of sweat, I ran out of tile. Since I'm an idiot and didn't buy the requisite "extra X percent of tile to account for cuts", I ran out. I probably have another half an hour to go in there before the floor is finished.
Hopefully, tonight I will prime the new stairs and finish up the tile in the bathroom. Since today is sunny (read: the cloud cover isn't quite as thick as usual. There's no actual sun shining on us, but it's as close as it's been to breaking through in seemingly weeks), I should be able to get the stairs done, and possibly a coat of color, without fear of losing it to a rain shower.
Amanda will hopefully hang the cabinet doors in the kitchen. That will look sterling.
I'll have some before/after pictures of the stairs and bathroom floor for you hopefully tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday.
Finished up painting upstairs. Primer, ceilings, two coats of paint. Done. It only took 47 hours and roughly 37 gallons of sweat. It's hot up there.
In other news, General Contractor Al Medina is working at the house today to fix the front steps, install a banister to the second floor, and fix the bathroom and second floor bedroom floors (so I can order carpet and/or tile). That should wrap up his obligations at the house, which is kind of awesome.
Also, crazy Jeff Doors (I don't know his actual last name) is hanging some more doors upstairs today.
On Friday, the electrician should finish up his work on the second floor and I'll finally be able to get a quote from him on the first floor stuff (thanks Ron). We've managed to live pretty comfortably with a single outlet in the kitchen, surprisingly, but more than one would be nice...
I plan on laying some tile in the second floor bathroom (provided that the floor is fixed) tonight and generally continuing the trend of not sleeping enough and working/sweating/ingesting latex paint too much.
In other news, General Contractor Al Medina is working at the house today to fix the front steps, install a banister to the second floor, and fix the bathroom and second floor bedroom floors (so I can order carpet and/or tile). That should wrap up his obligations at the house, which is kind of awesome.
Also, crazy Jeff Doors (I don't know his actual last name) is hanging some more doors upstairs today.
On Friday, the electrician should finish up his work on the second floor and I'll finally be able to get a quote from him on the first floor stuff (thanks Ron). We've managed to live pretty comfortably with a single outlet in the kitchen, surprisingly, but more than one would be nice...
I plan on laying some tile in the second floor bathroom (provided that the floor is fixed) tonight and generally continuing the trend of not sleeping enough and working/sweating/ingesting latex paint too much.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Weekend In Pictures
As promised, here are some pictures of the work done over the weekend.
Since taking these, I've pretty much finished up the painting (second coats, cut the corners, etc).
Here's the Master Bedroom:
And the second bedroom upstairs:
And the hung TV (if you look closely, you can see what the house will look like when it's done. The corner with the windows and curtains looks great):
What I looked like after spraying the primer upstairs. Notice the paint on my tear ducts:
(I can't wait until my hair is actually that color)
And what I looked like after cleaning the paint sprayer:
One of the problems with constantly working (at home, and at my day job), is the fact that my grooming has suffered. I shave maybe once every two weeks. I don't like it, as it's itchy and I look like an R tard, but that's the way it's gone so far.
Crazy Jeff is hanging some doors this week and the electrician started upstairs yesterday. Things are starting to come together.
Since taking these, I've pretty much finished up the painting (second coats, cut the corners, etc).
Here's the Master Bedroom:
And the second bedroom upstairs:
And the hung TV (if you look closely, you can see what the house will look like when it's done. The corner with the windows and curtains looks great):
What I looked like after spraying the primer upstairs. Notice the paint on my tear ducts:
(I can't wait until my hair is actually that color)
And what I looked like after cleaning the paint sprayer:
One of the problems with constantly working (at home, and at my day job), is the fact that my grooming has suffered. I shave maybe once every two weeks. I don't like it, as it's itchy and I look like an R tard, but that's the way it's gone so far.
Crazy Jeff is hanging some doors this week and the electrician started upstairs yesterday. Things are starting to come together.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Paint.
I worked very hard over the weekend. It stunk.
On Friday, I went home after work and helped hang my TV up over my fireplace. It took some effort, but it's up, and it looks great. I also hung a few curtain rods before going to test out some bikes with Amanda. Amanda bought a bike and that was that.
Once we finished up dinner, we headed to Home Depot to buy all kinds of lumber. 6 doors, hinges for them, handles for them, and trim for the doorways upstairs. I had to buy, and I'm not exaggerating, 140 feet of door trim. 140 feet! Terrible.
Saturday brought the real work. After a quick and delicious greasy breakfast from down the street, we headed to a grocer. Not our usual grocer, but one I was initially a bit skeptical of. What a glorious decision.
This new grocer was very very bad overall. Poor selection, ugly interior, minimal brand names, etc. It was closer and we heard less expensive, so we tried it out. Towards the end of our overall disappointing trip through the store, I noticed a bunch of boxes of Count Chocula. Whenever I see Count Chocula, I immediately look for its less celebrated, but easily superior step brother, Boo Berry. Sadly, it never materializes. Usually, surrounding Count Chocula is only more of the same, blandly chocolate tasting garbage. Even throughout the years, my eyes light up in hopes of finding the elusive, blueberry flavored, marshmallow infused breakfast, only to be disappointed.
Saturday, however, to my surprise I saw a few boxes of it. Elated, I danced over to the boxes, grabbed two, and happily tossed them into the cart.
I can't tell you how excited I was. It is easily my favorite cereal of all time. It was almost never in any store I entered growing up and generally, the only place I could get it was at my friend Josh's house. His mom knew where to get it. Since going off to college, and thus not visiting Josh and his miracle working mother, I have not eaten it once. It was nowhere to be found in Philadelphia (where I resided for seven years) and until Saturday, was in parts unknown here in the Providence area. What an unbelievable turn of luck. Even though that grocery store is terrible and has almost nothing that I would like to eat, I will go there at least once a week.
What a fantastic start to the day.
Yum.
After we got home, I immediately began taping off the second floor windows to prep them for my new in the box paint sprayer. After a few hours of meticulous taping and covering, I was excited to start. I put on latex gloves, pants, a long sleeved shirt, a respirator and my earbuds and got to business. What an incredible invention. I had the entire second floor primed in less than four hours. Even if I used my handy Wagner Power Roller, it would have taken me at least six or seven hours (there are very tall ceilings in each room, and huge walls everywhere). Paint sprayers are great. Messy, but great.
When I finished up the painting and cleaning of all my painting stuff, I called it a day (night?).
On Sunday, I got to work early. I filled up the sprayer with some flat ceiling paint, got all my gear back on, and sprayed away. An hour or so later and the ceilings were done (again, this would have taken at least 4 hours to do without the sprayer). Awesome.
One thing I haven't mentioned yet is how suffocating the process is. Since there is no electricity yet upstairs, it's pretty dark. The windows are taped off, letting no light, or air in. It's basically a dark, foggy (from the paint particles floating around), super hot working environment. I probably sweat out 5 pounds per day this weekend. Paint sprayers aren't without their downsides...
Once the ceilings were done and given a little bit of time to dry, I started to paint the walls, the semi-old fashioned way (aforementioned Power Roller). This took forever and I finished up around 5:30 or so. The second floor is now painted, but not yet trimmed out.
Also, Amanda worked on priming the cabinet doors and getting some wood putty up in the hallway. Killer.
An electrician is coming this week (hooray) and I plan on finishing the painting, getting the second floor bathroom floor done, starting to get the trim up and finally finishing the stupid first floor bathroom.
I should have some pictures of our hard work from the weekend up tomorrow. Be excited.
On Friday, I went home after work and helped hang my TV up over my fireplace. It took some effort, but it's up, and it looks great. I also hung a few curtain rods before going to test out some bikes with Amanda. Amanda bought a bike and that was that.
Once we finished up dinner, we headed to Home Depot to buy all kinds of lumber. 6 doors, hinges for them, handles for them, and trim for the doorways upstairs. I had to buy, and I'm not exaggerating, 140 feet of door trim. 140 feet! Terrible.
Saturday brought the real work. After a quick and delicious greasy breakfast from down the street, we headed to a grocer. Not our usual grocer, but one I was initially a bit skeptical of. What a glorious decision.
This new grocer was very very bad overall. Poor selection, ugly interior, minimal brand names, etc. It was closer and we heard less expensive, so we tried it out. Towards the end of our overall disappointing trip through the store, I noticed a bunch of boxes of Count Chocula. Whenever I see Count Chocula, I immediately look for its less celebrated, but easily superior step brother, Boo Berry. Sadly, it never materializes. Usually, surrounding Count Chocula is only more of the same, blandly chocolate tasting garbage. Even throughout the years, my eyes light up in hopes of finding the elusive, blueberry flavored, marshmallow infused breakfast, only to be disappointed.
Saturday, however, to my surprise I saw a few boxes of it. Elated, I danced over to the boxes, grabbed two, and happily tossed them into the cart.
I can't tell you how excited I was. It is easily my favorite cereal of all time. It was almost never in any store I entered growing up and generally, the only place I could get it was at my friend Josh's house. His mom knew where to get it. Since going off to college, and thus not visiting Josh and his miracle working mother, I have not eaten it once. It was nowhere to be found in Philadelphia (where I resided for seven years) and until Saturday, was in parts unknown here in the Providence area. What an unbelievable turn of luck. Even though that grocery store is terrible and has almost nothing that I would like to eat, I will go there at least once a week.
What a fantastic start to the day.
Yum.
After we got home, I immediately began taping off the second floor windows to prep them for my new in the box paint sprayer. After a few hours of meticulous taping and covering, I was excited to start. I put on latex gloves, pants, a long sleeved shirt, a respirator and my earbuds and got to business. What an incredible invention. I had the entire second floor primed in less than four hours. Even if I used my handy Wagner Power Roller, it would have taken me at least six or seven hours (there are very tall ceilings in each room, and huge walls everywhere). Paint sprayers are great. Messy, but great.
When I finished up the painting and cleaning of all my painting stuff, I called it a day (night?).
On Sunday, I got to work early. I filled up the sprayer with some flat ceiling paint, got all my gear back on, and sprayed away. An hour or so later and the ceilings were done (again, this would have taken at least 4 hours to do without the sprayer). Awesome.
One thing I haven't mentioned yet is how suffocating the process is. Since there is no electricity yet upstairs, it's pretty dark. The windows are taped off, letting no light, or air in. It's basically a dark, foggy (from the paint particles floating around), super hot working environment. I probably sweat out 5 pounds per day this weekend. Paint sprayers aren't without their downsides...
Once the ceilings were done and given a little bit of time to dry, I started to paint the walls, the semi-old fashioned way (aforementioned Power Roller). This took forever and I finished up around 5:30 or so. The second floor is now painted, but not yet trimmed out.
Also, Amanda worked on priming the cabinet doors and getting some wood putty up in the hallway. Killer.
An electrician is coming this week (hooray) and I plan on finishing the painting, getting the second floor bathroom floor done, starting to get the trim up and finally finishing the stupid first floor bathroom.
I should have some pictures of our hard work from the weekend up tomorrow. Be excited.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Big Weekend Upcoming. I Hope.
Over the last week, a handyman and sometimes his dad and friend have been working on getting the second floor prepped for paint. Basically, creating mountains of joint compound dust and making everything smooth.
Once they finish up (today), the second floor will be ready to paint. I'm going to fill my paint sprayer with drywall sealer, point, and spray in all directions. It's probably going to be hilarious. Once sealed, it's time for ceiling paint. After that, it's wall paint. Once that's done, we can actually start moving stuff upstairs. Once stuff is upstairs, we will have at least one empty room to finish. Once that room is finished, we move stuff from another room into that one, and repeat. Holy moly.
It's a grand plan. It may not actually happen, but that's the plan this weekend.
I haven't yet finished the stupid wainscoting yet. I stink. That will be done this weekend as well.
Once they finish up (today), the second floor will be ready to paint. I'm going to fill my paint sprayer with drywall sealer, point, and spray in all directions. It's probably going to be hilarious. Once sealed, it's time for ceiling paint. After that, it's wall paint. Once that's done, we can actually start moving stuff upstairs. Once stuff is upstairs, we will have at least one empty room to finish. Once that room is finished, we move stuff from another room into that one, and repeat. Holy moly.
It's a grand plan. It may not actually happen, but that's the plan this weekend.
I haven't yet finished the stupid wainscoting yet. I stink. That will be done this weekend as well.
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