Progress Report

So it's been two weeks since my last post and it feels good to say that there has been some progress around the house. We have internet and television, which affords me the functional home office, and the occasional vice of reality TV.

Quick note: If you have the option for Verizon FiOS in your area, it comes highly recommended. Working from home definitely makes you either appreciate great internet service or curse it at every slow upload and download, or in my case with a Voice Over IP work phone, every choppy or echoed business call.

The progress over the last 2 weeks has allowed me and Liz to make the house somewhat presentable for weekend house guests from Oregon. While it is starting to feel slightly more like a home than the construction zone it has been for the last month and a half, I need to stay focused and continue to get projects done, as I would say we are less than 10% of the way through my to-do list.


Progress Report Card

Painting: B-
Comments: There is color on the walls, but there needs to be more effort put towards the final detail and finish work. An up-close and personal view of nearly every post and beam in this house brings to light the fact that they definitely did not use the best quality materials for the construction of these houses, and understandably so since these homes were meant to be "affordable modern homes" for the time period. Still, I can't help but be frustrated with the amount of splintered and knotty wood that I can't help but want to smooth out and even up as I paint past them.
Details: Olympic Premium Zero VOC Interior Paint.
-"Winters Day" (light grey), eggshell, for the master bedroom and office.


-"Quaking Grass", (green) eggshell, for the kids room.

-"Dover Grey", (dark grey) semi-gloss, for the fireplace and living room accents.



Ceiling Fan Installation: C+
Comments: We definitely needed a way to move air in the master bedroom and this was not a horrible solution for under $150 and 45 minutes of work. Still, I wouldn't feel good about giving myself on higher grade on this project considering (1) I'm not a "fan" of ceiling fans (I don't even know if that could be considered a pun), and (2) I'm never happy having to run electrical on the outside of a wall or beam (you'll see more of this fanaticism further in this post).
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Electrical/Wiring for Audio/Video: B+
Comments: I'm not sure if this issue is exclusive to my particular home or floor plan, but the fireplace and entry wall had no electrical at all for lighting or wall plugs. While I know it's uber common and over played a bit, I really wanted the television over the fireplace. It took weeks alone just to settle on an approach to getting the necessary power supply, with video and audio cable, to the general area. I'd like to give myself an A+ for concept and creativity. The B+ is completely dependent upon me completing the finish work to an acceptable level through the entire project. Everything is functional at this point but I still have about 25 linear feet worth of spackling, sanding, and painting left.
Details: 1/2" x 1/2" square trim with 1/4" x 31/2" & 1/4" x 51/2" face panels.
I made a path for the cables by bordering the existing frame work and beams with the square trim to create a sort of "channel" for the cables to run through. The 1/4" facing completely covers the cables and trim to match the exact widths and thicknesses of the beams. After they are puttied, sanded, and painted, my hope is that they blend completely as part of the original structure.
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Temporary Kitchen Shelving: C-
Comments: IKEA to the rescue! Yes it's temporary, but I still felt that it needed to be graded. In order to make the place presentable for house guests we needed to unpack a few more boxes, the remaining boxes being mostly kitchen products. If only real cabinetry were this cheap,... the entire supply of Gorm shelving was less than $125 + some creative time to figure out what I wanted to accomplish.
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Final Thoughts: If the kitchen is the heart of the home, we are definitely still on life support. The good news is that we are finally stable and out of ICU, the superficial wounds are tended to and now it's just a matter of taking the proper time to heal. Over the next few weeks I'll be working on the finishing touches around the last few projects. I really believe that the quality is in the details and while I rushed to get everything to a point of functionality, I have no problem taking my time from this point on.

With nothing on the radar that's a necessity at this point, it's back to the mental re-modern until we get to the point of starting the kitchen. Be sure to check back as I'll be sharing a variety of my inspirational images and ideas as Liz and I make a final plan of attack on the kitchen.

Gary - - - -