The Big Stuff

We made some major progress this weekend...it is beginning to look like a home again! Friday night we began the unpleasant task of grinding away the mortar from the old tile floor that wasn't removed during demo. This involved 6 hours of Greg shuffling around on his knees dragging a huge vacuum, using his body weight and a monstrous hand-held grinder to remove the mortar from the concrete slab. Unfortunately we did not begin until around 9pm on Friday....yeah, it was a late night. Fortunately, now we can lay tile on a smooth slab, which will dramatically increase our chances of a successful installation.

While Greg was grinding away, I measured, cut and installed hardybacker in the two upstairs bathrooms to prep them for tile, and started sanding down the hand rails for the stairs so we can repaint them a darker color to match the rest of the new wood in our house. Even though there was a vacuum attachment to the grinder, there was still mortar dust everywhere, and the noise was terrible. Sorry neighbors!! This is me with mask and earplugs, probably around midnight, when it all started seeming funny again instead of just horrible.

The granite slabs were dropped off Saturday so I could approve (and admire), and the cabinets were finished that day except for the pulls and a few doors in the kitchen. Greg put the final touch - texture - around the fireplace where he patched the drywall and it looks great! That spray on texture stuff is so weird...took a while to get the hang of the "knock down" style, but we got it all to blend eventually. It's beautiful and ready to paint; we'll tile around it eventually, but not until the floors are finished.

Most of the grantie was installed yesterday and we are absolutely thrilled with the result! The stone looks a little different than what we thought it might, but that's natural variation for you. The granite guys worked hard all day, enjoyed a grilled burger with us for lunch and were able to finish everything on the first floor yesterday - kitchen, laundry and powder room. They are finishing the two bathroom counters upstairs this morning.

It was wonderful this morning preparing breakfast on a countertop instead of an assortment of stools and miscellaneous lumber. We are getting a new front door installed today, and the cabinets should be finished by midweek. Our goal is to - at a minimum - tile the two bathrooms upstairs and plumb in all of the toilets and faucets before we leave for vacation this Friday! None of this has been easy, but there is a definite feeling of accomplishment after putting this much effort into the project. I can't help but think at times, "Look at me using this power tool... Wow!" More to come soon....