We're In!

Well, we've finally moved in to our new bedroom. After over a year, we finished up the last of the work around two weeks ago. The trim is painted, the ceiling light wired and hung, and even (albeit makeshift) curtains are up! It's a truly wonderful feeling to have taken a room from bare studs and plaster dust to what it is now.

Last January, here is what the room looked like:



Now, it looks like this:



Even six months ago, when the room was still mostly barren and unfinished, it felt like things would never be complete. More than once I thought about calling it quits and hiring a pro to finish the work in a matter of days. But instead, we trudged on. I have to give Amy a lot of credit; she's really pushed us along these last few months to get the work done. If it weren't for her drive and energy, I don't think this would have ever been done. But now that it is, it's one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

It's been a long journey, one filled with setbacks, headaches, muscle-aches, all-over-general-aches, and arguments. But it's also been filled with joy, laughter, companionship, and camaraderie. I can definitely say it has brought Amy and I closer, as we've learned even more about each other and grown together through the process. It's taught us patience, perseverance, and the value of small steps and teamwork.

The Continuing Saga Of Windows

After a few more days of hard work, we finally have both new windows installed in the back bedroom! Both have been secured, insulated, caulked, and partially trimmed. All that remains is to install interior trim for both sides. It was a long and arduous task, but ultimately, the rooms looks much nicer. And I swear that it stays cooler with the A/C on, though I'm sure scientifically that doesn't make sense.

We started by shoving insulation into the cavity where the old balance weights were. Should you ever wish to attempt this, I highly recommend long sleeves; that fiberglass insulation made me itch something fierce (and this was the "low-itch" stuff!). I just used a spare piece of trim to push it up as far as I could. At the end, the cavity was completely filled.

Next we framed out the window opening, since the windows we bought we slightly smaller than the original openings (such is the price we pay for not spending huge amounts of money on custom windows). Here's Amy screwing a 2x4 with a 1x4 on the bottom into the top of the original opening. Note the shims; as with any old house, the openings were anything but level.

By the way, have I ever mentioned how drop-dead sexy my wife is when she's using power-tools? That bulky respirator and the snazzy safety-glasses only add to the whole "Tool-Time Girl" appeal she's got. Honey, Amy-Wynn whatever-her-name-is ain't got nothing on you! :)

After all the prep work it was actually pretty easy to install the window itself. All we did was lay it into the space previously occupied by the sashes, and secure it with screws to the sides of the frame. We caulked around the inside and outside of the window to help seal it in place and prevent drafts (no point in buying a brand new window if there's gaps the size of a canyon around it).

The trim around the outside was actually so rotted that we ended up replacing it as well. We used 2x3 posts that were primed and cut to length, secured with screws. Before putting these up we used a good half-can of "Great Stuff" expanding foam in the space between the bricks and the inner frame. Hopefully that will help eliminate and air pockets. That stuff is great, by the way, albeit a pain to use after the initial run. The little delivery tube always clogs and is impossible to clear, and the stuff is impossible to get off anything it touches. Still not as bad as that blasted fiberglass stuff.

The second window actually was far easier to get in. Probably a mix of experience (from the first one) and pure luck that no unexpected twists came along, other than Amy's drill (Christmas present from our first year together) finally bit the dust. Hmmm... that brings our total "Tools Killed" count to three. No matter, it was quickly replaced by a brand new DeWalt heavy duty model. That thing could drill a hole through a tank.

Now all that's left is to paint the walls, put in the laminate flooring, hook up the electrical power, and we'll actually have completed our first big home project! It only took, well, let's see... errr... I'll get back to you on that one.

It's Beginning To Look Like A House!

Well, after a weekend of hard work, I can say with all honesty that our first floor is done! With the exception of hanging a few pictures, we're just about where we wanted to be. Shelves are all hung, walls are painted, and we even had time to string up some lights in the front part of the floor. It feels really good to see one part of our vision of the house coming together.

We also spent a good part of the time working on our soon-to-be bedroom on the second floor. This was one of those projects that went from simple to ugly fairly quickly. To give you an idea of the history, the room originally looked like this:

Originally we were just going to re-paint the room, but then we discovered that a) the walls were all some kind of hardened masonite board, and b) the wiring was all sorts of crazy. In the end, we decided to tear out the plaster and start from scratch. For anyone who attempts this route, my two words of advice would be to 1) use a good mask, or else your lungs will punish you; and 2) realize that the demolition is probably the worst part of the process. We may well hire that part out in the future, if only to avoid carrying bags of debris up and down flights of stairs. Although, it is a lot of fun to carry out sanctioned destruction via a sawzall!

Several weeks, three garbage cans worth of plaster debris (and let me tell you, that stuff is HEAVY), one roll of Romex 12/2 wiring, and 12 sheets of drywall later, we are now taping and sanding the room in preparation for painting it. Once that's done, all that will be left is putting in a laminate wood floor, and we will have completed our first full out renovation!

Oh, and if anyone out there has some tips for putting in laminate floors, feel free to leave them here on the blog, as we've never tackled that before. Come to think of it, we've never really tackled any of this before!