• day 28

Today was the day we were getting carpet in our master and guest bedrooms. The guys were getting to work at 6:00 am- we had to get up super early today! We were a little nervous in the beginning because the carpet installers had to put down some new tack strips. That means lots of hammering early in the morning. While the installers worked upstairs David and I moved the tools table outside and started vacuuming up the cement floor.

Soon the carpet was finished. Hooray! It looks fabulous!



After the cement floor was cleaned up we rolled out the pad that goes under the laminate wood floor. We used duct tape to tape the seams between the pads.



We started laying the floor in the left corner of the room. Our walls were not straight so laying the first two rows were super hard. We used the full boxes of wood to help hold things in place while we laid more floor.



After a few hours we were pretty far.



Instead of stopping work we called my mom to order us some pizza. After the pizza came we realized we didn't have any plates- including paper ones- so we used paper towels instead.

• day 27

Have you ever seen the underside of a dishwasher? Well, here you go! Snapped this photo before it was installed. Looks like one big mess.



Today our appliances were being delivered, which was amazing. Yesterday (yes, I said yesterday!) we went to the store and paid for them - we had put down $50- and they delivered today! How's that for speedy?! And, the installer called before 8:00 am- we were first on the list of deliveries! Sweet! I felt sorry for the guy who showed up- just one guy to unload, unwrap, bring in, and install all 4 pieces. It was sooo hot this morning! Meanwhile, upstairs I was finishing painting the master bedroom window sill for the blinds to be installed. Oh wait, what's missing?



Yes, that's right...the refrigerator! Apparently it was 3/4 of an inch too wide. So, the installer had to reload it back on his truck and take it back. This evening we went back to the store to pick out a different one. Long story short- instead of a 35ft fridge we have a 33 ft wide fridge coming tomorrow to be installed. Crappola!

While the installer worked on the other appliances, I left to get a haircut (must look good for the new school year!) and David and Ralph (David's dad) made a trip to Floor & Decor for some baseboards. Carpet is being installed in 2 of the 3 upstairs bedrooms on Thursday. Baseboards have to be installed first- it's easier for the carpet guys...

After the boys got back from the store they worked on installing the blinds in the upstairs windows. A while back we bought 2 in. white faux wood blinds with a valance for all the windows. I worked on rewiring new white oulets to replace all the old beige ones. With the exception of the bathrooms, laundry area, and upstairs hallway (since these have yet to be painted) all the outlets and switches have been changed out. I even checked each one with my meter to make sure they work!





We borrowed a miter saw from my mom to make the angled cuts for the baseboards. (Oh, and we bought a pancake compressor with 3 different guns- a finish nailer, brad nailer, and stapler- add more tools to the storage shed!) David and Ralph worked on the baseboards in the master first. In the afternoon Cyndie and my mom stopped over for a visit. I put Cyndie to work with me cleaning the linen closets upstairs. They were super gross with dirt.



So, what's left? Cyndie and David installed the kitchen window blinds this evening. The blinds for the living room windows were not cut correctly so plastic remains on those windows for now. Tomorrow David and I will cut and nail the baseboards in the second bedroom. If we didn't kill Ralph today with all the work he did, he will be coming over to paint our hallway upstairs. After the baseboards are nailed on we will have the caulk the seams and paint them white. Oh, and we have to get to installing the flooring downstairs. And, we need to install our kitchen and bathroom sinks. (Just watched a video on how to do it online- LOVE the internet!) Not too much on our to-do list (said with a hint of sarcasm!) It will all get done!

• day 26

Please bear with us as we show you tons of photos of our countertops. We are super excited!!

The two installers came over to the birdhouse with 4 pieces of quartz. Two of the pieces (over the island and between the fridge and stove area) were already cut exactly, shined, and had the bullnose edging ready to go. The other two pieces had to be fitted together with one seam and then polished. See if you can find the seam!









From my last post I told you about the holes in our flooring upstairs. Today while I was at a meeting David pulled up the broken pieces, put in 2x4 brace pieces, and then screwed down the new piece. Fit like a gem! During this process we ended up buying a circular saw (no one nearby had one to borrow) and returning to Lowe's in the early evening to get the right size plywood- we measured 1/2" the first time and then realized it was 5/8" thick instead.

Quick story- David went into Lowe's in the morning while I was at my meeting at school. One of the Lowe's employees recognized David and said, "Where's your other half?". Later David had to go to the office and I was at Lowe's picking up more outlets/plate covers and at the checkout stand the Lowe's employee said, "I've seen you in here before, just tell me the last 4 digits of your card number." Oh lord! Had I realized the number of trips to this store in the beginning of the remodel I would have bought stock in Lowe's!



It's starting to look like a real kitchen now! Tomorrow the appliances are all coming- holy cow! We still have quite a bit to do before moving in but we'll get it done!

• day 25

I must have been quite tired when I posted our last work day. I was rereading the post and sounded so whiny! Yikes! Today was definitely a progress day!

We got up this morning right at 8:00 am- we've been hitting the snooze button a few times the last few days. We were super excited. The other day we got a coupon for 2-for-1 massages at the massage therapy school that's right down the road from us. A 50-minute massage for $12.50 each. How can you beat that? Well, apparently everyone was thinking the same thing we were- get there in the morning before the rush. We got over there at 8:17- one hour wait. OK- we've got birdhouse work to do, so maybe next weekend!

First thing we did today was hang & wire the two other ceiling fans upstairs. Looked fantastic! We had to wait until my dad came over to help us with the wall wiring before we could actually see if they worked--it's a long story!!



We picked out our carpeting for our bedroom and the guest bedroom- yeah! David's mom, Cathy, went with us since she knows all about carpeting. In another lifetime she helped run Besst Floors, a family carpeting business. We brought our dimensions and a paint sample of our wall color and Cathy helped with the rest! We went with a smaller flooring place since they seem to have the best deals and no extra random charges. Carpeting will be installed on Thursday! (Right before move-in day!)

After our carpet encounter (and a quick trip to Costco) we headed back to the birdhouse. I was super tired the day before. Today must have been David's turn!



While I cleaned the downstairs windowsills David painted our downstairs registers with spray paint. Right before I finished painting the sills my dad came over (with my little brother Andy) for some wiring 101. We found out we had a "dummy" outlet in one of our walls where we were planning to put a t.v. The other electrical box was chock-full of wires and there was no way we were also going to be able to fit an outlet. So, dad to the rescue! He cut a small hole in the drywall, put in a drywall electrical box, drilled a hole in the stud, daisy-chained a new wire from the full box to the new box and connected it to the new outlet. You followed that, right?! Basically, we now have an outlet on the wall where we need one!



David and my dad finished wiring the fan downstairs, which has a fancy-schmancy remote, and wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am we have lights and fans in all the rooms! Hooray! Now all we have to do is the rest of our list!!

Tomorrow is a big day! Our kitchen countertops are being installed! I can't wait. Then our appliances will come another day and we'll have a working kitchen! Plus, we'll be able to lay down our laminate wood floor and the downstairs will look like a real home. It's so nice to finally see that all your hard work is starting to come together- especially when the end of the month move-out date is quickly approaching!

A little help from our friends

Here's some of the people who (did a great job and) have helped us along the remodel road.

Junk Removal
Name: Maurice, Weston, or Matt
Company: The Junk Guys
Phone number: 602-788-JUNK
Web address: http://www.thejunkguys.com/
Email: thejunkguys@aol.com

Window replacement
Name: Jeff Wright
Company: Wright Choice
Phone number: 480-329-8726
Web address: http://www.wright-choice.vpweb.com/
Email: wright-choice@cox.net

Custom Cabinets
Name: Tom Fink
Company: T & F Quality Woodworking
Phone number: 602-290-1725

Palm Tree Trimming
Name: John Forrester
Company: Forrester Land Management
Phone number: 602-909-4068
Email: forrester1530@gmail.com

Home Handyman
Name: George Martinez
Company: George's Home Handyman
Phone number: 602-290-0698

Tile
Name: Tom Steimer
Phone number: 602-488-4548

Plumbing
Name: Scott Booth
Company: Scott's Plumbing & Rooter
Phone Number: 480-707-1841

• day 24

I don't feel like we got as much accomplished today as yesterday. Maybe just because our to-do list is so long!

The plan for today was:

* paint sills
* start flooring

* screw down plywood in master

* paint registers & put them up downstairs

* clear away junk from back patio

* put up all ceiling fans

* paint 2nd coat in office

What we accomplished:

* screw down plywood in master

* clear away junk from back patio

* put up one ceiling fan- but we're waiting for my dad to come back over to help with this one

* paint 2nd coat in office

* fill in holes in our cement before flooring

There's probably more that we actually got done but today was a long day! One new thing to add to our list- pull up a few pieces of plywood in the upstairs hallway that are caving in and have small holes in them. We bought new plywood today to install in its place.

• day 23

It seems like every morning we're having to make a stop at some store to pick up more supplies for the day! This morning was no different. We started at Home Depot to pick up one more gallon of Light French Gray and then headed to Floor & Decor to pick up sealer for our travertine. While we were there we realized we also did not pick up spacers for the floor the day before.

BTW- thanks to the girls at work for your Home Depot gift cards for our wedding. They have helped us buy a ton of paint for the birdhouse!

I started out wiping down all the travertine (downstairs bathroom floor; upstairs bathroom floors; upstairs shower) and only did the downstairs floor and the shower. I spent a ton of time on the shower getting off the grout that had not been totally wiped off. As I worked on this I noticed a small wet spot on the floor under the new toilet. Turns out the tank might have a small leak- we'll deal with that later! So- we scratched sealing the travertine for now.

David worked on taking out the electrical boxes in two spots in the hallways so we could put in two more recessed lights. I worked on taking out more staples from the master bedroom floor. We both got to a stopping point and then went to Lowe's. We went for the two recessed lights and ended up also buying our 4 ceiling fans! Doesn't that always happen!?!



David had to go in to work for a bit so I worked on painting. First I edged then went around and rolled our bedroom. I hate putting on the second coat- you don't want to put on too much paint but then you look when it's wet and everything has streaks. David assured me when he got back that it would turn out fine. And guess what- it did!

The night before David and I had connected our bedroom wiring to the light and fan dimmers we bought. When I turned the breaker on to check it out the lights were on even though the switch was off. So, David pushed the switch to on (to turn them off) and *pow* the switch blew and tripped the breaker. So, apparently something went wrong! My dad came over today to help us out. Turns out there was a lot going on- not completely our fault!



Today we took home some work with us. The duct registers that we have are currently painted an ugly green or gray and they are filthy. So- instead of buying all new ones, we are cleaning them up with soap & water and will paint them white. We don't have any sinks installed at the birdhouse so we took the 5 downstairs registers home with us tonight. Tomorrow we will take all 5 upstairs registers with us and get those cleaned up.



We were going to start the floor today but held off because we already had a lot of projects going. So what did we get done today?


• scraped the master floor for staples


• installed two more recessed lights for our hallways- they do work!!


• painted (2nd coat) the master and guest bedrooms


• installed microwave outlet in the cabinet (thanks dad!)


• put in new breaker for the microwave outlet in the breaker box (thanks dad!)


• installed fan speed control dimmer & light dimmer in master bedroom (thanks dad!)


• cleaned all our downstairs registers

Tomorrow we'll finish painting the office, paint the window sills, spray paint our duct registers and hang them back up.

Update- the pesky pigeon family has now moved in to our neighbors overgrown palm tree! :)

• day 22

Started out our day at Floor & Decor picking up our 33 boxes of laminate flooring. We also had to special order the stair molding pieces because they don't carry them. No one informed us of this when we bought the flooring to begin with (and I suppose we forgot to ask about it) so it could take up to 2 weeks. The manager told us he would call the place in VA and ask them to expedite the order. We'll see! While at Floor & Decor I ran into a boy I went to grade school with at St. Thomas- what are the odds?!

Today we met Bill who is going to install the laminate on our stairs, upstairs hallway, and office. He showed us a couple photo albums of work he's done and he and David hit it off talking about real estate. So, he'll be back soon to work on our place. David brought in all the boxes and bundles of padding while I vacuumed the plywood upstairs in the bedrooms. We have lots of staples to remove in the master bedroom!

Our BIG job today was painting all three bedrooms upstairs. I just started painting the edge when the tree trimmer guys showed up. Hooray! They estimated that the palm tree hadn't been trimmed in about 6 years. The trimmer got right to work skinning the trunk of the tree. After about an hour (at least it seemed that way) he was close to the top.



Now our palm tree is breathing a sigh of relief, the pigeon family is relocating, and we have a very tall pineapple on our back patio!



The entire job took about three hours! We actually left to grab some lunch and when we came back they were just finishing up putting a tarp on top of their trailer. David found their ad on Craigslist and they were awesome! The company is called Forrester Land Management. I'll have to do a blog post with all of our fantastic people who have helped us. *Put that on the to-do list!*



The rest of the day we worked on painting the bedrooms. The master bedroom and guest bedroom are "light french gray"and the office is a super light blue color. I don't remember what the name of the blue is. Can you see the difference in our walls?



We finished them all with Cyndie's help (and extra light from our plug-in lightbulb)! David and Cyndie rolled while I did the edging. (My right thumb is totally numb!) Tomorrow we will paint a second coat and work on the flooring downstairs. We're seeing progress!!

• day 21

Today was the first day in a while that no one was coming over to work at the birdhouse besides us. We slept in an extra hour and then headed over to Home Depot to pick out paint for the upstairs. Not David's finest hour- he was so tired of looking at paint cards under the different lights- he finally said, "Pick whatever you want. Let's just be done." So we worked on paint colors for a few more minutes and picked something we both liked. Before we put in the other two new toilets (that we have not yet bought) we want to change out all the valves. One has a plastic fitting and of the two upstairs that are compression fittings one leaks.

Quick story-- While we were standing in the plumbing aisle an older (clueless) guy with a thick accent was asking an employee which fitting he needed for his copper pipe. (He was installing a water heater on his own- lord help us!) The employee asked him if he wanted compression or sweat fittings. The guy said, "No, I just need it to fit copper pipe". The employee tried to explain that both work with copper pipe. (As I said- he was clueless.) David and I left the aisle with what we needed and both of us realized we knew exactly what the employee was talking about. Ahhh- how far we've come in our 21 days of birdhouse work!

After Home Depot we went to Ikea to pay for our kitchen countertops, which are being installed Monday! Our palm tree on our patio is seriously overgrown and housing an extended family of pigoens. They've actually carved out a perch from the pieces of the tree. We've been trying to get someone over to trim the stupid tree but the last two people we've called and made appointments with have not shown up. What is with people?!?!



While David called a few new people about palm tree trimming and some other people about installing laminate flooring on our stairs, I worked on pulling the seemingly endless amount of staples from the steps. Then we headed upstairs to paint the edges of the ceilings in the bedrooms.



Left for a while to make our daily Lowe's visit- they must have missed us while we were gone! Wandered around for a while looking at lots of options- ceiling fans, shower doors, baffle & trim, dimmers, etc. Once we got back David replaced all the toilet valves and checked that they weren't leaking. The same leaky one from earlier was still being a pest until David worked off the compression fitting (it's not supposed to come off- hence the leak) and replaced it with our new one.

Our friend Kelli stopped by to see the progress and was thoroughly impressed by how far we've come! After Kelli left we brought our painting supplies into the master bedroom, installed the baffle & trim in the recessed lights, and wiped down the walls. Tomorrow is painting day- all the upstairs bedrooms will be done.

• day 20

We left the Valley Ho in the morning (our home away from home for 2 days) to get back to the birdhouse to resume work. That was a hard thing to do!! We can't wait to go back for another staycation.



We borrowed a paint sprayer from our tile guy to help us get the ceilings finished faster. Well, it worked- sort of! First room worked great; just getting the hang of it and unclogging it right away. Second room worked fine but still need to work on the edges. Third room worked not so fine. The sprayer decided it would spray "normal" for a bit and then it would decrease the amount of spray. We finished the third room, cleaned out the sprayer, and decided we would roll the second coat of white paint.



Our friend Tom Fink (T & F Quality Woodworking) stopped over to help us with our cabinet issue. Tom helped David build our photobooth for our wedding. If you've seen the booth you know Tom does stellar work!

Anyway- the countertop guy told us the cabinets weren't level. We talked to the original cabinet guy (who said they were level) and decided we'd rather have Tom Fink take a look and help us out. Turns out there were a few issues going on- many that were out of our control- cabinets weren't square, concrete floor sloping one way and the wall sloping another, etc.



While Tom Fink worked on making our cabinets perfect Tom the tile guy finished up the bathrooms. The tile is finished and looks fantastic! All that's left to do is seal it with an enhancer after 48 hours!

We've been waiting for the tile in the bathrooms to be finished before ripping out the carpeting upstairs. After everyone was finished and had gone home it was time for David and I to get to work. We hauled down both of the upstairs toilets first- super heavy. All the carpet & padding is out! The second floor of the birdhouse has plywood floors. Instead of using a ton of glue on the plywood the carpet people used staples- tons of them. I worked on pulling out the staples with our long scraper while David pulled out the tack strips on each of the stairs. We worked until it was fairly dark in the birdhouse- we have no lights wired upstairs yet.

Below is a sneak peek of our newly finished master bathroom. You won't see much more unless you come over and view it yourself! :)

• day 18 & 19

We are on a birdhouse break! After working (our hands to the bone) for 17 days straight we figured it was time to go on a staycation. David and I were supposed to go to San Diego for 2 weeks starting July 11, but obviously that didn't happen. We were very hopeful that we would get over there eventually for a break. However, we decided we'd rather stay in town and get more bang for our buck (so to speak) without having to drive over and back for half a day.

We started out our Sunday sleeping in. Then headed over to Sauce in Scottsdale. After eating we visited David's grandma Mary for a bit. Then we checked into Hotel Valley Ho. We got a stellar deal on Expedia and wanted to come back over here to enjoy the amenities. The last time we stayed here was for our wedding so we were a bit preoccupied with other things than enjoying the pool, etc.



We booked a King size studio room with the bathtub in the corner of the room. Super cute and right down the walkway from our Terrace Suite we had for our wedding night! Got our things situated and then headed down to the pool. It wasn't as crazy as a typical Saturday at the pool here at the hotel but still lots of action. (Most of which I can't write about here!)



Left the pool after a few hours to get ready for dinner at Trader Vics. I had never been there- pretty good! We started with an appetizer of crab rangoon and some fruity cocktails- yummy. I had the chicken breast dinner and David had pork tenderloin. Both dishes were delicious.

Walked back across the parking lot to the hotel and watched a bunch of t.v. Since the digital switch (and working on the birdhouse) we haven't watched any t.v. in a month or so! It was nice to chill in our room, not worry about our birdhouse to-do list, and catch up on random shows!

In the morning we ordered room service breakfast- a first for both of us! Then it was off to see Transformers 2 at Fashion Square Mall. Lunch at Oregano's and an afternoon at the hotel pool. Ahh, the life! Tomorrow it's time to get up early once more and head back to the birdhouse for work, work, work.

• day 17

George finished all of his work the day before. Tom has been getting to the birdhouse around 9:00 am. What does this matter? We got to sleep in a bit this morning!!

David and I first worked on caulking the ceiling in the bedrooms. Then we tore out the carpet in the office. The floor is very creaky upstairs so once the carpet and pad was out of the room we used wood screws to screw the flooring back down to the joists below.



Tom left for awhile to get us the paint sprayer he was going to let us borrow. Home Depot wanted $80 to rent the sprayer for the day. No thanks! We finished the office and took care of all the creaks. Next, the carpet and pad came out of the second bedroom and we started vacuuming up the mess.

Once Tom came back he got to work on the shower again. David and I worked downstairs switching out the outlets and switches in the living room area.



Tom put the rock border into the shower. He also finished the top with travertine. On Monday he'll finish the rest of the floor - he put down 3 tiles today - so we can put in the toilet. We're getting the room finished!

As David and I finished for the day we happened to look out the front door and took in the weather. Very dusty but no rain. Too bad!!

Tomorrow we are taking a 2 day break!! That means we won't be at the birdhouse working, which is a good thing since we seem to be getting a bit beat up!