Tuesday, May 31, 2016

3 year anniversary

That’s right, it’s been 3 years since we purchased the scary cabin in the woods. Over the past three years it has become less scary and more comfortable but it’s still not finished.

Looking back at the original pictures, we’ve come a long way. We had a group of people hanging out in the finished downstairs and it works. It was comfortable. It is also satisfying to sit there and realize that yes, we made this what it is. We can actually now enjoy using the space.

When we started, we expected the remodel to take a year, maybe two, but certainly not three years or even longer. No one thing has contributed to the extended timeline, just a lot of underestimating how long various tasks take and just general poor planning. This past weekend provides a good example. Previously we picked up 6 1×12 redwood planks to use as exterior door and window trim and picked this weekend to do the install. Most of one day was spent ripping the boards down to trim size, cutting and nailing them up. It all went according to plan until we ran out boards. Three windows and a door remain still need to be done. With better planning, we would have had enough boards to finish and that task would be complete. Instead, another day of another weekend will be spent doing the exterior trim.

We continued working on the upstairs. Genny painted the balcony door (inside) so now all the doors upstairs are painted. More construction on the back bedroom kneewalls. We’re making progress on the dog bedrooms (or cubbies). Hope the dogs appreciate all this work going into making a nice comfortable space for them to sleep.

Here’s the updated todo list.

Back bedroom

  1. Dog cubby baseboard (one done, one to go)
  2. Dog cubby outside trim
  3. Figure out kneewall design
  4. Kneewall door trim
  5. Build/install bookcase
  6. Install hangers for clothes
  7. Install drawer carcasses
  8. Install drawer boxes
  9. Install drawer trim
  10. Install baseboard
  11. Trim wall to ceiling corners
  12. Install conduit for ceiling fan
  13. Build new ceiling fan mount
  14. Install new ceiling fan

Front bedroom

  1. Paint balcony door
  2. Frame kneewalls
  3. Trim knewalls
  4. Door for closet
  5. Drawers and doors for kneewalls
  6. Install baseboard
  7. Install wall to ceiling corner trim
  8. Install conduit for ceiling fan
  9. Build new ceiling fan mount
  10. Install new ceiling fan
  11. Install grill cover for vent fan
  12. Install window blind

Monday, May 16, 2016

A little technology, a lot of convenience.

Picked up where we left off last weekend working on the dog cubby walls. They needed another coat of mud at the seam to get them mostly flat, then some texture. The prep work masking off the ceiling, floor, and the rest of the room took almost as much time as spraying on the texture. For smaller areas, and this was about as large of a small area that’s practical, a hand pump texture spray gun works pretty good. Certainly, it’s a lot less messy than the big compressor powered hopper. The results are between acceptable and decent. After drying overnight, the walls were primed and painted.

We built some framing for the drawer units so that there’s a platform for them to sit on. Also worked on framing the front edge of the kneewalls so that the 5.5” baseboard trim will align flush. To get everything at the right height required 29 3.5” long 2×4 blocks. The vision is starting to take shape. I need more 2×4’s.

We picked up, what should be, the last of the window/door casing. One piece was needed to finish off the bedroom side of the pocket door. That’s done and it turned out really nice. The rest is needed for the doors and window in the utility room. So we’ll be storing that for a while. All the casing was painted so it’s ready to be cut and installed.

To be filed in the should’ve planned that a bit better file. When ever anyone walks into the upstairs bath, they reach to the right for the light switch, only to be disappointed when it’s not there. The switch is located on left, mostly hidden by the door as you open it. Why is it there? When running the wire for the light, it seemed like the best spot. For some reason, which I can no longer remember, we didn’t put it on the right. Some combination of thinking it would be hard to get power there and not sure how it would fit with vanity, backsplash, and mirror. But whatever, it’s not there now and I’m not ripping down the walls to add one. Enter Insteon to the rescue. Insteon makes a single switch remote and a wall mounting bracket that looks just like a normal decora light switch. It only require two screws to mount it to the wall. So that along with a micro module in the real switch and we have a working light switch on the right. The only downside, since it’s battery operated, it will need to be recharged every 6-8 months or so.

The final bit of electrical work was to add an Insteon dimmer switch in the back bedroom box. This box will have the light switch and fan controller. With an Insteon lamp dimmer attached to the one table lamp in the room, we can now enter the dark room, it the switch and have light. No more fumbling for the ceiling fan/light pull chain. Ain’t technology great!

Where are we now? Last year we had a goal to get most of the upstairs done before Christmas. Well, we got far enough that we can sleep upstairs, but done? Not even close. Seems like there’s always a few things that take much longer than anticipated (stairs anyone?). At this point, there’s light at the end of tunnel, but I’m trying not to underestimate the amount of work still needed. So maybe it’s time to start up a new ToDo list for the upstairs.

Back bedroom

  1. Dog cubby baseboard
  2. Dog cubby outside trim
  3. Figure out kneewall design
  4. Kneewall door trim
  5. Build/install bookcase
  6. Install hangers for clothes
  7. Install drawer carcasses
  8. Install drawer boxes
  9. Install drawer trim
  10. Install baseboard
  11. Trim wall to ceiling corners
  12. Install conduit for ceiling fan
  13. Build new ceiling fan mount
  14. Install new ceiling fan

Front bedroom

  1. Paint balcony door
  2. Frame kneewalls
  3. Trim knewalls
  4. Door for closet
  5. Drawers and doors for kneewalls
  6. Install baseboard
  7. Install wall to ceiling corner trim
  8. Install conduit for ceiling fan
  9. Build new ceiling fan mount
  10. Install new ceiling fan
  11. Install grill cover for vent fan
  12. Install window blind

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Bedrooms for dogs?

As the main living areas of the cabin enter the final stages, there aren’t the “BIG” projects happening to report on. Instead we’ve been doing a lot of smaller details.

The junk pile was getting large so we took half a day to load up the trailer and make a dump run. With Barbara and Larry’s help we managed to get almost all the junk (with the exception of the metal pile) gone. Since the trailer was hooked up we also filled it up with yard rakings. Larry dug out the remaining cement blocks that made up the ugly garden.

Inside, the door hardware was installed in the upstairs doors so we can now actually close the bathroom door. The bathroom got a towel bar and a shiny tile backsplash. More caulk was applied on various door trim and baseboards around the cabin. Seem like the cabin is being held together with caulk given how many tubes we’ve used so far.

Started work on trimming the pocket door in the down stairs bedroom, but ran out of door casing before it was completed. Since the utility room still needs to be gutted, no trim work on that side of the door can be installed yet.

Started on the kneewalls in the back bedroom upstairs. We did some of the internal framing and put some drywall up for the dog cubbies. Yes, the dogs get their own bedrooms upstairs. Each will be about 10 sq. ft. and finished to match the rest of the room. We may utilize some of the upper space for a drawer. We know Sandie likes enclosed areas, but Duke seems a little leary of them. Hopefully once they’re all set up with comfy beds he’ll want to make use of it.