Tag: home owner

Deliveries

We’ve had three people working in our cellar today. We are currently down to two… I think. It’s tough to tell sometimes. Progress is being made every day and I am getting really excited about the finished product.

Speaking of the finish product, we have plans for a living room space, an office space, and maybe something else. It’s not set in stone yet, but the living room space plans are pretty involved. We didn’t expect to have any pieces of it delivered until at least a week from now, but today something came early. Something that will set the mood for the entire space.

A huge, big ass bean bag chair.

Oh yeah. We’re going there, kids.

Ooh! We should order lava lamps too!

Tentative Cellar Schedule

Jen talked to the contractor today. He gave us a tentative schedule for the next couple of phases of the cellar reclamation project.

Monday will be one final day of drywall finish work. Tuesday will be a day off to let whatever happens on Monday finish drying and what have you. Painting will start on Wednesday and end on Friday. Once the painting is done the flooring will start immediate. Probably also on Friday.

No estimate on how long the flooring will take, or how long the finishing work that comes after it will take.

The hardest part for those of us who aren’t doing actual work is to just remain patient. It’s really difficult. Jen and I both want this done. We’re both tired of stressing out over everything. We’re both more than ready to start putting everything back together again.

Still… painting and flooring this week. Kick ass.

Future Project

Looking at the photo in the last post reminds me that while we are still in the middle of the second great cellar reclamation project, the second being 1000 times more complex than the first, we are still thinking of things to do in the future. By the future, of course, I mean the distant future because we’re getting pretty burned out on all of this.

The idea Jen had was to turn our ratty looking bulkhead into a new entryway. We’d have to put an awning over it to stop the rainwater from filling up the space. We’d probably need to put a light out back too, and all of that.

The plans for today are very simple compared to all the stuff we did the last two weekends. We have a fireplace insert that I want to put together. We also bought a new two-wheel dolly that needs assembly. After that we have to handle the one major downside of all of the work going on in the cellar… laundry. Our washer and dryer are not hooked up. Also, if you remember, our dryer is all broked. We have to take care of that too, but for now… laundromat.

Beyond that, well… Thor. The Avengers. Maybe Iron Man 3.

Noisy Delayed Gratification

It’s almost 7:00pm. Dinner is almost cooked. We will watch the new Marvel show (maybe?).

While we do that we will be wishing we could go down stairs to see the progress. We can’t though because the two wall board guys asked if they could keep working until 9/9:30 tonight. The hammering and drilling and sawing is really loud, and so is the music they are playing, but it’s okay, stay as long as you need.

Even though we both really want to go down there and check it all out.

Progress!

Oops

I wonder if our new friend the handyman will be interested in fixing the clothes dryer that I just broke.

I had to move the washer and dryer away from the wall for the wallboard guy. That required disconnecting stuff.

I was barely pulling on the dryer’s exhaust hose and it just ripped in two.

Oops.

Shit.

Today is Insane

I’m stressing out, bro.

There are so many people here. A three man electrician team, our regular contractor, his drywall subcontractor, and a landscaper team with at least four people. Talk about a perfect storm. We knew the electricians and our regular contractor would be here. Everyone else is a surprise.

The old cellar lights with the big fluorescent tubes are gone. The last of the drop ceiling framing is gone, the last of the un-insulated cellar walls have been insulated. The front and back yards have been cleaned, including the litter that the wind and the squirrels put into the edge of the woods. Most of it at least. They didn’t do the best job there, but they did a good job everywhere else.

As we speak, the new cellar lighting is being installed and wired up, and the wall board that is going to be installed starting tomorrow is being loaded into the cellar.

From a Covid safety standpoint, everyone is masked and everyone is entering the house through the cellar bulkhead. The cellar is a big open space so everyone can stay as distanced as they need, and no one has to walk through the main floor to get in and out.

Still… It’s stressful. It’s also loud. Lots of banging and hammering and crashing and cacophony and super loud leaf blowers and all of that stuff. It’s making it difficult to work.

Oh yeah, speaking of work. Insert frustrated screaming here. Nothing too terrible, but lots and lots of little things that are piling up and making me want to hide my head under the covers.

So yeah… stressful as hell kinda Tuesday. I’m ready for bed.

Hectic Weekends

Last weekend was a kitchen furniture building pre-fab marathon that left me sore and exhausted and with some sweet new looks in the kitchen and dining room.

Yesterday didn’t involve putting together pre-fab stuff but it did include moving a lot of really heavy stuff, some of which went outside for a junk pickup service to haul away. The living room doesn’t look terribly different, but the changes we made make it feel completely new. It’s weird that way.

Now what? Well… now comes the biggest job of all. The cellar. We have someone coming this week to replace the lights, then someone coming to take down what’s left of the panelling on the walls and replace it all with wall board, including a new paint job. After that we’re getting new flooring installed.

Then what? Furniture, mostly. Nothing is set in stone yet, but we’re thinking a mini-living room space and maybe a pull out couch or something that can act as a guest room. Like everything else we do, the more time we have before it happens the more complex the plans get. We’re thinking of maybe upgrading a few things in the living room (not the TV, our TV is gigantic and amazing and it’s staying right where it is) and moving the current things to the cellar.

Jen came up with this plan, and it’s a good one that I wish I thought of, to have a space in the cellar where I can go to ride out my post-surgical recovery period. I could stew in the living room all day, but she’d be working in the next room and I’d be afraid I was bothering her. If we have an alternate living room space in the cellar I could go there and moan and groan in my post-op agony without worrying about being heard on her conference calls. I imagine the first few days are going to be spent in the bed room, but as things (hopefully) lighten up for me I will probably go into the cellar and maybe binge watch all of the Marvel movies or something. Assuming we stay on schedule and everything is done by May 4th.

As for this moment in time… holy shit does my back hurt.