...More stuff...a little bit of everything.

House Paint Done - Window/Trims, etc.

So with the exterior paint done, we're moving forward with a million other things. I think it came out ok, despite the walkway and the driveway need a little TLC, we've decided to hold back on that until later down the road. We did some crack repairs, but no re-doing those areas just yet - money can be spent elsewhere for the time being. Nevertheless, we want it looking presentable...so those are getting painted.

Tilers began to do their work and this is some fun stuff for the bathroom as it will be a huge different from how it started. Probably one of the most exciting rooms for us to see change, but clearly from pictures it will be hard to picture the final product. Still a ton of work needed in there and each day it starts transforming.


Here are some updates over the last week or two:

Heated Floor Installed

These are the cables from the Heated Floor that will attach to a Thermostat (much like your house heater/AC Thermostat)

Self Leveling Poured on the floor to cover heated floors and prep for tiles

Painted the Steps and Walkway - Used Exterior Deck/Patio Paint for Masonry with sealer.

Decided to paint ALL of the old looking concrete.

Steps Painted (wow, that looks way better than when we started)

Just before the front door entry.

Looking Down from the Front Door

Picked up 40+ boxes of tiles for the Bathroom Walls - each box contains 80 (2x8) tiles. This is a LOOOOOT of tiles. Initially loaded the truck with the tiles on the pallet - Fork Lift lowered the pallet and the truck sunk tot he floor. We had to remove it from the pallet and distribute the weight evenly. I guess thats why Contractor use Super Duty trucks...this one clearly isnt one.

Floor Tiles installed - so that vent is cool, it will have custom sized tiles to match the floors. Vent will be slightly more camouflage (cool vent when its done)

Closer look at the floor tile.

Added the remainder of our exterior lights to the house - now they just need to have the switches wired and they are done.

Installed new LED Light for the front - none existed here before.

Next up...with the delivery of the wall tiles, you can guess whats going to start today!!!

Exterior Prime, Paint and Cabinets

With the completion of the Interior Priming, we decided to go ahead and move forward with the Exterior Prime and Paint phase. Part of the decision was to ensure we get the house painted before the rainy season to seal all the new stucco we had done from the windows. Yes, priming would be fine - but with my Uncle Ed looking for some side work, we reached out and had hired him to complete not only the primer, but the painting of the exterior.

For primer on the exterior, we went with Zinsser 1-2-3 Plus. Seemed like an affordable recommended primer and it looked like it covered well. For our paint, we chose Benjamin Moore Regal Flat Exterior (Top Tier Paint from BM) for the body of the house and with Benjamin Moore Select Low Luster (Premium Tier from BM) for the trim. The choice in a grade lower on the trim was because it seemed to have better coverage when painting with a brush. This was also mentioned by some painters in the process of selecting the type of paint as well.

Paint colors is always a challenge - 1. It doesnt always look like the swatch/sample you have, 2. There are a ton of tones in one color, 3. After it dries, it looks different, 4. It changes colors depending on the light during the day as well as what colors the houses next to you are - sort of can play mind tricks throughout the day. Nevertheless, we settled on some colors and off we went.

My Uncle Ed set a plan to prime and paint and that he did...we are still in the process, but he has made a ton of progress in just 1 week. Nearly solo for 3 days and some help on the others. Not bad...not bad at all. Along with the painting came some light fixing work...sealing cracks from stucco, sealing nail hols from window trims, etc...stuff you take care of before painting.

Following the paint, I received a call from the brother in-law to set aside time to help his guys get our cabinets installed. This was a big deal, so I agreed without hesitation and we set a day to install the cabinets. No, Im not skilled at this, so by help what he meant was to unbox and remove drawers and doors. Fine with me, I put in enough work...oh, and yes by doing that, it saved our installers some time. Definitely something I would rather do than pay them to do. RonDZ and I were the helpers for the day...but seriously after unboxing, we just hung out until it was time to assemble the cabinets again.

Overall on this update - probably looks like one of the biggest changes. Inside takes some shape in the kitchen and the exterior actually looks like we did something. I was standing outside today and saw some usually neighbors walking up the hill....heard a quick "...that house is cute. they've been working on it and it looks great". Though it wasnt said directly to me, it was a compliment that Ill be glad to hear and take in any shape or form. Its been a looooong time and yes, by having something done to the exterior, it actually does look like we did something!

Last but not least, we test fit some exterior lights. We have quite a few we are putting up, but needed to wait for paint. Since the front face of the house had its second coat of paint, we decided to mount the two lights by the garage to see how they look....perfect fit and matches the home great. Cant wait to put the rest. Classic look - modern internals...LED fixtures, so sticking with the energy efficiency. You would not be able to tell....if we accidentally leave them on, oh well...it will be cheap(er).

Here are the updates over the last week...enjoy.

Rear primed first - tested primer here.

Uncle Ed moving forward with primer. We chose to roll the house to get maximum penetration for the stucco. Really it was for the new stucco areas, but decided to roll the entire house. No tricky lines, so it was fairly straight forward. 

Still climbing those ladders like a champ.

Our medallion got painted - still unsure what color to make it.

Front primed.

Entire front primed.

Paint started.

After first coat of paint - looking new!

Rear painted

Trim paint test. Matching the window color (Sierra White from Marvin)

Installed Garage Lights for Exterior

2 Coats of Paint on the front - lights ok'd for installation. 

Corner shot.

JB Turner boys getting to work - Kitchen Cabinet Install (Dura Supreme Cabinets)

RonDZ Unboxing

Yep, Stabila and Master Levels. Cabinets need to be PERFECT. 

Add caption

"Tada"

...now me..."TADA!!!"

Thank goodness for these integrated bins.

Slide Out Drawers on a few of these cabinets.

Shot from the rear door.

Interior Priming Completed...next.

We finally completed the priming of the interior...yes! We chose not to hire anyone for this because its simple work, slightly time consuming, but was a way to save some cash rather than paying someone. 

A tad bit slower, but whatever, I enjoyed it and primed a little heavy compared to what normal folks would do, but thats ok.

So some simultaneous work has been scheduled and has happened. Again, we've reached a point to where we are unable to do anything other than sit and wait for contractors to complete their work. Nothing from this point on I am able to do unless its side projects that I want done.

So, with that said...here are some other items that are in the pipeline:

- Ordering all finish work stuff (Window Trims, Baseboards, Crown Moldings, etc)

- Cabinets for Bathroom and Kitchen have been delivered. Pending installation.

- Tiler has approved the work we have done (Straightening the walls - he was surprised at how perfect it was). The work will move forward in the bathroom. Thank you very much...we are awesome.

- Decided to move forward with Exterior Priming and Painting, so Ive once again hired my Uncle Ed to complete that work. Jack of all Trades - welcome back.

- Decide on final house colors.

- Think about interior wall colors.

- Complete basement rock and mud. Still need that work to get completed.

A lot of work going on in the coming weeks. Here are some pics of progress throughout the past few days.

Some of our tools for this portion of the project.

More tools and prep stuff.

Priming started...

Primer of choice. 

Prep for Dining Room Priming. 

Dining room done. 

My sidekick.

Living Room done.

Hallway done.

Bathroom and Kitchen Cabinets...some. More out of view.

Pan for shower - pending inspection for this part.

They started putting this stuff up in the shower. No cluse what it is. HAHA.

One of the bedrooms done.

We learned our lessons painting the ceiling. Now we go for the Ninja look to keep it off the head, hair, etc.

Tested Primer in the rear of the house. Uncle Ed started his prep work already. 

Laundry Room freshly primed.

Thats all folks...more to come in the coming days/weeks.