Making Progress

You might have to be the person doing the work to appreciate a bathroom shot but the floor is in and looking good and I've had some fixtures updated.

I've also started on painting the shutters and exterior doors,

as well as stripping the old paint off the bedroom doors.

As we make progress, I'll keep everyone posted here.

Time Passing and Work Getting Done

Well, it was a very busy week.  I found and installed a new dining room fixture but can't find my photo of the install so here's just a picture of the fixture.

We got the base for a section of kitchen counter, and installed it so it would be in when the new floor is laid.

I also met with the flooring company,  picked out ceramic tile and now the tile guys are started on laying new floors in the kitchen and the bathroom.

Meanwhile, in the back yard, a Wisteria started to bloom and it's absolutely lovely.

I've been shopping for a counter top for the kitchen base and tomorrow I'll meet with those folks and have a counter top made.  While I'm waiting for that I will stain and finish the base and finish painting the shutters.  Grout will go on the floor tomorrow and we'll get the bathroom fixtures re-installed.

Things are moving right along and I see completion in sight, it's been a fun house to work on.

Floors Done!

It took me the full week but it was so worth it, the floors are done and looking good...

This view is standing in the living room, looking into the dining room and down the hall.  Now onward and upward to finishing the kitchen, installing a dining room light fixture and cleaning/unmasking the bathroom.

We're enjoying some terrific blooming trees in the backyard.

I think this is a quince of some variety,

And an Oklahoma Redbud, framed with Forsythia in front.

I'm getting close to done, stay posted for what this week brings!

Closet Doors

Well, hmmph.  The door vendor I was talking about earlier doesn't do custom bi-fold doors, "too hard", so that will make getting closet doors that fit an interesting challenge.  I suspect that now I know why there weren't doors to start with.

That leaves three choices, 1) batwings, 2) sliding doors - still would have to be custom made, or 3) the accordion pleated doors.  None of those would have been my first choice but they're all better than a curtain.  It does make me wonder what was in place originally.  It appears that there were straightforward hinge mounts but with no doors in place it's hard to tell.

I completed the rough sanding and started the finish sanding today but the difference doesn't show in photos so no new pictures.  Tomorrow I'll finish the fine sanding and lay down the stain, finish should go on Thursday as our predicted temperatures should be very good for stain and finish to dry.

It's coming right along and looking good, it's going to be a great house when we're done.

Refinishing Hardwood Floors

The moment of truth has arrived, I've started stripping the floors down to bare wood.

You can see the heavy finish and staining in spots.  This is the room with the most damage to the floor and will be the most challenging to refinish.

As the time goes by, the work starts to accumulate and I get closer to bare floor.

This image is of the north bedroom, down to bare wood and ready for fine sanding.  Now, to get the living room and dining room stripped. The gloss is actually light from the window, not finish on the floor.  The tones and patina are gorgeous and are the reward for the hard work.

I continue to have staining on the south bedroom floor but tried bleaching it with hydrogen peroxide last night, we'll see what it looks like today.  One more day should see the heavy sanding done, then I'll switch to a pad sander and start the finish work.

We've had a minor setback in that the closet doors are going to have to be custom made but we have a great vendor that does that so it should just be a few days.  I'm looking forward to the finished product!

Finished Painting...

Finished with everything except the kitchen, because that's where all my tools and gear were stored while I painted the rest of the house.  I am scheduled to get the drum sander and start stripping the old finish off the floors tomorrow.  I'll know a lot more about about the floor condition after getting started, it's simply impossible to tell what will happen with these old floors until then.

This is a much better photo showing the finished paint job in the north bedroom...

And on a completely unrelated note, a picture of a Cedar Waxwing I saw when I was running errands yesterday...

They're just beautiful birds and not commonly seen around here.

Today I'm mostly doing maintenance at other locations, I'll update more on the stone house when I get an idea about the floor.

What a difference a day makes...

So after all the slow, patient work of masking, patching, getting ready for paint, the actual paint goes on in a relative hurry. I started on the walls yesterday morning, you can see the overlap from the fresh ceiling paint, I like to drop that down so I have a nice edge when finished.

By the afternoon, there were two coats on most of the interior, unfortunately by early evening the light was shot so the camera flash is distorting the finished look.  I'll try for a better image today.

So today, I'll finish the walls, pull down the masking, open the windows, do any needed touch ups and  I might even get the new light fixture back up in the bathroom! I don't know if I'll make April 1st but it will be close.