Wood floors

Finished the wood floors today and am VERY glad I did!  I was getting tired of doing them.  To give you an idea I used 2500 cleat nails.  The only good thing about it was it was a great way to work off some of the holiday calories.

On the grid

Got hooked up to the internet today as well as Dish TV.  I almost feel like I could live here!  Now I won't miss any football games if I'm up here working.  Also put the bed frames together and had the mattresses delivered.  No more sleeping on the floor!  Carpet was also installed today.  Very productive day.  I'm working on the wood floors and will post some pictures of that progress soon.

Busy day with my daughter

My daughter Kelsey had the day off so she helped me run some errands and do a few things at the cabin today. Our first stop was Fairbank Iowa where we picked up the log style bed frames that I have had being built by a young Amish man.  It is always fun to drive through Amish communities and observe their lifestyles.

After loading up (4) bed frames on my trailer we hauled them to the cabin.  While there we did some final touch up painting in the bedrooms, bath and family room.  We wanted to get this done before the carpet is installed next week.  Then I spent a little time getting the first row of wood flooring down so that after Christmas when I arrive I will be ready to roll on the floor installation.  Getting the first row set and square to the walls is the most important step.  Getting that row "square" makes everything else go MUCH smoother.

After working at the cabin for a few hours we cleaned up and headed North into Wisconsin to a furniture store.  On the way we passed through a little town that we are looking forward to exploring when we have more time next year.

We found a sofa and love seat it looks like we will purchase.  Then back to Dubuque where we bought (4) sets of mattresses for the new bed frames then a well deserved dinner at Red Robin.

Finishing Touches

Spent the weekend doing a variety of things.  Awoke Saturday morning to 3 inches of snow which was a surprise.  It was the kind of snow that sticks to everything which made it really pretty.

Basically all the plumbing fixtures are now in and fully functioning as are the light fixtures.  Door hardware is installed.  Spent the majority of the weekend trimming out around windows and doors.  Picked up the wood flooring today and dropped in off.  It needs to set in the environment for a week or so before installing so I will be putting that in between Christmas and New Years.

Bathroom vanity light.  Ready for mirrors.

Wood flooring ready to be installed

Morning surprise

Casing around doors.  Will paint the exterior door in the spring.

Kitchen sink and Formica counters

Door hardware

Pocket door hardware

Lights over bar eating area

Casing around windows and sliding doors

Hall lights

Counters

Just got an e-mail from the person that installed the counters today (David Pins).  He sent me a before and after picture which was nice of him!  Below are the newly installed kitchen counters.

Big Ass Ladder

So one item I failed to account for in the design was how am I going to install a fan or light in the family room which has a 20 foot high ceiling!  The problem became apparent to me after we got things framed when I gazed up from the first floor.  Oh crap I thought.  Not wanting to spend several hundred dollars on a ladder I would probably use once I starting dreaming up several ideas.  The one thing I kept coming back to though was IF one of my contraptions didn't work that 20 feet is a long way to fall.  So the solution????

Buy a big ass ladder.  It didn't look that big when I ordered it on Amazon.com.  When delivered it almost didn't fit in our garage.  It's the biggest thing I've ever seen.  I can BARELY pick it up and move it by myself.  I needed help in standing it up....but it works great.  I felt very stable and safe at that altitude installing the fans this weekend.  Also finished grouting the ceramic floors.

Grouted bathroom

Grouted front entry and laundry area.

Big ass ladder

Installed ceiling fans

 

Step Back and Regroup

Last week I went to buy the flooring we had planned to use in basically the entire house except for the bedrooms.  It was a new flooring sold by Home Depot and looked like hand scraped wood but was waterproof and very durable.  It was a mechanically locked together flooring system.  What I liked was I thought I could do the whole house in a day and it would look decent.

When I went to buy it they didn't have enough boxes and while waiting to order more I noticed a bunch on a pallet that had been returned.  When I inquired I was told some people were experiencing problems with the seams not holding.  Red Flag!  So we decided to re-evaluate our plans.

The result was that we will no do a more conventional system.  Ceramic in the hall and bathroom and solid wood floors in the family room and kitchen.  It will add about a month to the project completion and will be a LOT more work to install but at least I will be comfortable in knowing how it will perform and last and I will not have any seams coming loose.

So I spent the last 2 days installing the ceramic.  I still need to grout but I got the tiles installed.  Two days on my knees and bending over tested my endurance.  Ah hour before finishing I started getting back spasms but it held up long enough to "get er done".

Doors are done

Finished hanging the interior bi-fold doors.  Set the basement vanity and installed a shower door.  Trimmed out the loft with base and casing around the window.

In the loft I framed in (2) openings where there was "dead space" that runs the length of the room on both sides.  I will make a couple of doors to cover it and then we can use it for storage, or a secret clubhouse for the grand kids!

Kitchen Cabinets

Cabinets all in.  Now the guy will come measure to make the counter top.  This weekend I plan to install the vanity and sink in the basement bath along with a shower door so I will have a fully functioning bath if all goes well!