Still alive

Okay so I haven't really updated in a LONG time. I've been beyond busy and it often comes down to 20 minutes of working on the house or 20 minutes of blogging at the end of the night. I think you can tell which route I've been opting for. Rather than try and recall everything that I've done here's a snapshot of how things look right now with some quick explanations.

Bathroom Furniture

This is the vanity and mirror from the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is going to be a white ceiling with gray walls so the red on white should look very sharp. Very New England.

Bedroom set

Heres the bedroom set that Tara and my mom picked up from an estate sale for $100. The thing on the other side of the beam is another dresser of similar size. Considering it came with a twin bed set (box spring, frame, mattress) it was a steal.

Cabinetry

These are about two thirds of the cabinet doors. My mom sanded them down, primed, and stained them. This is after the first coat of polyurethane. They need steel wool then another coat of poly and they'll be set. They're coming out way better than I thought.

Dining Room

Though it's a bit of a mess right now, the dining room is just about done. The walls have been painted along with the ceiling. All it needs is for the door trim to be finished/painted then of course the floors.

Electric Panel

God damn that's some sexy wiring. At least I know if the whole pharmaceutical sciences thing doesn't work out I can always take up electric contracting.

Kitchen

Alright so I didn't clean it up before taking a picture like I said, so sue me. At least the appliances are moved in. I need to hook up the dishwasher which will probably take a solid day and the oven is already going. The kitchen is painted like the dining room and after the cabinets go up it's just about done.

Living Room

What a difference a coat of paint makes. Under the pile of crap in the middle of the room you can sort of make out the new couch. The old one got the boot. It still needs another coat.

Master Bedroom

Paint is up and though it looks pretty awful with the green trim that's left, things will really turn around after a bit more painting.

Upper Bath

This is where my main focus has been the past few days. The tub is refinished. The tub surround is up and caulked. The window frame is painted and drying. The walls are primed. The ceiling is painted. The furniture is painted. There's a box of new fixtures waiting to go up. I need to paint the walls, cut the new linoleum for the floors, add some rubber molding around the base of the walls, paint the trim, and reinstall everything. Though it sounds like a lot it's moving along great.

Oh no, it's in the walls

So it's been a while since I posted but I was pretty swamped for a while. First with my parents here and then work in the labs & on the house, I've been a busy boy. While my parents were up we made HUGE progress on the house. However, the moment my mom left the organization she had fell to shit. I need to clean up before I take some pictures to really do the progress justice. Hopefully within a day or two I'll have some good shots. As far as what we accomplished: the kitchen/dining rooms are primered (tinted primer so it's like they were painted), the cabinets were sanded down and the cabinet faces were stained, the master bedroom was primered, the trim stripped and paint, the stairwell ceiling cleaned up, a bunch of wall paper taken down, just tons of crap.

7/17 Thursday -- Erik came over today to help me out some. So we came in this morning and found a bird in the study. Someone had left the window above the AC open (and with no screen). Naturally we did what everyone would, shut the window and trap the bird in the house. It was flying around into walls and stuff, I touched it, it flew into some other rooms--all fun and games. That's when Erik said "oh no, it's in the walls." The bird flew up into one of the walls where I had the trim pulled and the thought of a dead bird rotting in my wall turned things serious real quick. We opened another window and were able to scare him outside. An interesting way to start the morning no doubt.

So anyway I had Erik come to help me pull some of the last wires I need for the electric. Fishing the wires through the walls goes MUCH faster when you don't have to keep going up and down out of the attic to check if your through the wall. I've been working on the electric a couple days and at almost $650 worth of electric supplies, I'm not sure what a contractor would have charged but I'm pegging it at no less than $1,500. Seeing as how I don't exactly have an extra grand or two it's been well worth the DIY route.

I put in 12 new receptacles in the bedrooms, removed the old bedroom outlets, dropped a dedicated 20 amp ground fault outlet into the bathroom (tying it into the lighting circuit is a no go with the code), put in smoke detectors on each floor and in each bedroom, a combo CO/smoke detector in the hall, a dedicated 20 amp microwave circuit, a dedicated dishwasher line, rerouted the kitchen lighting to it's own circuit (tying it into the small appliance circuit was again another violation), hooked up a circuit for the fridge, moved a couple circuits to the sub panel, and rewired in the 220 line for the stove. Not bad for an electric n00b. I must say that compared to the wiring in the main panel, the stuff I've done is a work of art. Before I left tonight I got a few circuits in the sub live. The rest just need outlets hooked up to the dropped wires. Another hour worth of work and I can *hopefully* not have to worry about electric for the rest of my time in the house. It's a good feeling.

Now that's a sexy sub panel