Laundry Room Construction Started

First up was ripping up the linoleum floor and 3/4" plywood subfloor. This will allow the new floor of 1/2" Hardieboard and 1/4" tile to line up with the grade of the floor in the kitchen.

Next up is framing the walls around the hot water heater. You can also see in this picture the space that will be shelves.

Around the washer and dryer there is framing to support the table top that will go over them. We are still using the old butcher block that Kristen cleaned up that is standing vertical in the picture.

And around the furnace. This is the trickiest one to maintain the correct space from the unit in spots but to also frame in access panels for two sides and the filter.

The light switch was moved from its current location beside the door to a new box on the corner. And the first bit of drywall is put up.

The chair rail was then installed on the new unit along with the first bead board wainscoting.

The front panel on the furnace wainscoting is removable. You can see in this picture installing the wainscoting on the removable panel.

Here it is after all of the wainscoting is installed around the furnace area. You can also see in this picture the location of the 4 bolts that hold on the front panel.

There will be a door for access to the filter panel. This door will also allow access to a large and deep storage area.

Most of the drywall is up and the trim around the shelves is in so time to put on some mud.

We'll wait for it to dry give it a sanding and put on another coat tomorrow.

Back to work on the house...laundry room design

 After a couple of long weekends for work in Germany and doing other things around the holiday we have started to tackle the back laundry room. This is one of the first rooms that we worked on in the house but we did not have much a vision when we did it so it was never complete. Here are the plan views of what we are planning on doing. Basically there will be a wall built around the furnace and hotwater heater that will include a number of removable panels for access and shelves for storage.

The first picture shows the plan view of the room. You can see the door sweep of the door coming from the kitchen (the back door is not drawn in). You can see the wall that is built around the furnace (two blocks with the circle next to it) and the hotwater heater (double circle) between these to units is a set of shelves. We will keep the table overtop of the washer and dryer which you can see poking out just a little from under the table.

 

 Here is an elevation view taken as you look to the left after coming through the kitchen door. You can see the washer and dryer under the table on the back wall. The new light switch location is shown as well as the door that will access storage and the air handler filter.

Here is another elevation view looking at the door that comes in from the kitchen. You can see the shelves that are located between the hotwater heater and the furnace. At this point in drawing up the plans I decided to add some wainscoting so that I could hide some of the access panels.

Thanksgiving Weekend

 There were just the three of us for Thanksgiving dinner this year but we still cooked up quite the feast. Turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie.

 Sam tried out some of the food and enjoyed trying to get it in his mouth. Then it was time to find a Christmas tree.

 We went to a farm and got to take a hay ride on the tractor. There were lots of trees to choose from.

 Sam says "Mom, I am not impressed - we need bigger!"

 We finally found the perfect tree. It was about 11 feet tall but when the spindly top and few bottom branches were trimmed it would be perfect for our living room.

 Tyler sawed it off then tidied up the base.

 Then it was time to drag it to the road and wait for our tractor ride back.

Then we drove it home and put it up to acclimate a day or two before decorating.

 We also got to see the Budweiser clydesdales on our trip to the country. They were huge!

 And lastly, we had to make a quick visit to see Santa.

Fireplace Surround Mantel

 I have been working on a fireplace surround as a secret for Kristen over the past couple of months. The bricks were put in place last week and final coats of paint were put on yesterday. Kristen and I moved it down to the house this morning from the shop. It will be nice to get the space back in the shop to work some more of the house projects. Here it is after just moving it in and setting in place in the living room.

 

Sam thinks it is a fun new thing in the house.

 

Right now there is no actual "fireplace", but it is sized for a gas fireplace to be installed at some later time. The firebox is just painted flat black for the time being.

Kristen took the opportunity to start getting out some of the Christmas decorations.

November So Far...

November has been a month filled with fun things to do with Sam. Here is a little recap of our adventures so far.

  

Sam turned six months old already! So we decided to see how much he had grown. Here he is in his outfit he wore home from the hospital six months later.

We went to a wedding and Sam got to see all of his April/May baby buddies.

 Then it was time for his first Thanksgiving at daycare. We went and ate lunch with him and he tried cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and green beans.

 We made our first trip to the children's museum where Sam loved the trains and watching the other kids play.

 

 Sam had fun playing with his dad and "Dusty" the Roomba.

Ryan's 1st Birthday Present

Our friends Theresa and Martin had a 1st birthday party for their son Ryan today so Tyler made him this little wooden elephant toy.

Rebuilding Front Steps

Our front steps had seen some better days, the weather was starting to take its toll. There were some boards that were starting to rot in places. So we took the opportunity to refresh things this weekend and replace the boards. We also made the steps a little narrower in the process so that they lined up with the walkway going up to the house. As originally built they did not line up with anything. Here is a picture of the steps before (with the first couple treads removed).

After all of the old treads were removed we snapped a line and cut to the new edge.

And here they are once they all had been cut.

The stringer that was on the far end was cleaned up to be reused.

Once the stringer was cleaned up it was put back into place on the new end of the steps.

 

Kristen was able to get some paint on the treads before they were cut.

Once they were cut to length and width they were painted again.

And here is the finished product with the little helper at the top of the stairs. They look almost the same as the originals except for two things. The new stairs are a little narrower and the treads have a 3/4 inch reveal around the front and sides.

Grass is growing

 The warm weather has paid off and all of the grass has started to come up. You can see in this picture a light dusting of green.

Here is a closeup of the grass. It is only about one inch tall at this point.

Finishing up the pavers

Most of the pavers were done but we still had some to wrap around the back side of the house. This is an area where we are thinking that our grill will go. In the first picture you can see that the sand has been leveled out onto the gravel base and I have started to lay the first couple courses.

 

A little bit further along. You can see the pieces that have been left our because they need to be cut to fit. You can also see in this view the pressure treated wood that was placed between the fence posts on the left and you can barely see the paver edger strip on the far end.

And a view from the other direction. The pavers that are standing on end are my way of keeping track of how many pavers I need to use to fill in. I did not want to get to the end and have holes to fill and no pavers to cut!

And after all of the blocks have been cut and filled in.

And lastly once the sand has been swept into the cracks. We will have to do this a couple more times when this stuff settles.

Other than some cleanup and some small other projects this really does it for the back yard area. Now that it is starting to cool off I will have to move back inside with the next projects.