Week 13 - uh oh, What happens when time is up and there is no sink!

Today starts week 13.  For those paying close attention, the whole project was suppose to take 12 weeks.  My buddy John tried really hard, I hope my R will take it easy on him.

Progress is being made:

We have tile in the bathrooms and laundry room. 

We have final stair treads as of yesterday.

We have bathroom vanities (although not hooked up).

And today the house smells a little bit.  I don't think the guys cooked anything strange in their microwave that they have brought to the house despite the fact that we have a microwave.  Maybe they only like black microwaves, black things are better, just look at me.  Anyway, I think it may be the floors being finished.  I thought about making paw prints, but that seems like too sticky to lick off.

I heard a rumor we can move upstairs next week!  But I also heard a rumor that my room doesn't exist.  Who's up for a letter campaign to right this injustice?  I am older than both my little people and while they are nice to me "I give Stephen two treats cause he is such a good boy?" is a favorite request of my buddy little a, but I still think I deserve a room before they do.  Heck I will even share.  I have been sleeping in the basement between the crib and a's little bed - I do like being part of the gang.  Maybe I will work a deal with a or k, I will continue to not eat them when they take 14 minutes to put my food in the bowl and I can share their rooms.

Pictures soon, but thought I would keep you up to date on the progress.

Porch continues to advance one board at a time as well.

Hey John, where is the window?  I am soooo tired of my R complaining about filling my bowl in the bathtub instead of the sink.  Last time she turned the handle too much and I got lukewarm water.  Help me out here, buddy.

Our house

This is a the house as of last week.  We now have gutters and more of the porch, but due to an an opposable thumb issue I have to wait for A or R to take an updated picture.  Me thinks A is getting a little overwhelmed as he hasn't taken a photo in weeks. 

See the smiling little person, that is my k.  I am not allowed to show anyone's face but my own on the internet.  I don't know why R and A are so secretive, the internet is great.  People from all over the world want to send me money, they keep emailing, but my A says they are just kidding and not to give them my bank account number.

Day 74 - I was just joking about the carpets

 

Ok people, I know I said carpets are a good place for "accidents" but I didn't mean I was going to have any.  The tarping the floor and covering the cabinets is a little extreme not to mention passive aggressive.  If you have an issu with the ODD comment or call me, no need to plastic over everything!

 

Tarps are not a good place for naps.

 

My R told everyone she would be ANGRY if "her" cabinets got messy.  I wonder if the new couch will have plastic on it.  I wonder if A has realized R is going to order a new couch.

More on How to Fix the 1st Floor Day 73

Did I ever tell you why we are doing this project?  I found out this little tidbit the other day and it is well, I'll just tell you.  We are putting on a second floor, dismantling the 1st floor, living in 500sq Ft and turning A into a wreck because my R hated the kitchen.  Yup you heard it here first.

Anyway, Mike brought his plasterers (wow, they smoke A LOT) back and added the final walls to separate the Living room/foyer and Dining room.  This was Nate the designer's biggest contribution to the whole plan - making a separate space for the dining room - way to go Nate.

That's me in the corner, man, I take a nice picture.

The also fixed the open wall in the living room, and you were worried, I told you to trust my R.  She has vision. 

Day 72 Hardwood gets patched

The first floor gets hardwood too  AND in a fancy design!  Ok, don't panic Meme (my Meme really knows how to make a house look perfect), it is gonna be finished.  I heard Rick the Hardwood guy say so.  Did I mention I am learning new languages as part of construction?  It should be a selling feature: Put on a second floor: end the drought and learn a new language all at once!

What do you do with the 1st floor when you add a 2nd floor - Day 70

Answer: apparently you have to change every corner.  Those closets that were rough texture plaster now get ripped out.  I have doubted R before, but she usually has a plan.  Now whether this plan comes together... I don't know yet.

My porch gets a ceiling!  Not only did I get a roof, but now I get a ceiling and see that hole?  that is a light - I get my own nightlights.  See my R thinks of everything.  She is so good to me.  PS, if you are reading this A didn't give me breakfast wink wink

 Flooring.  Here's my $0.02.  carpet is nice in the winter.  It is also the preferred spot for "accidents", but hardwood is bliss in the summer.  I wonder if R knows it will be winter soon, hopefully we will be done before winter.

Siding!!!

Day 65 or July 18th and no funny titles today

Purple room is not my room, it is little a's.

Little a's closet has a light!

See that switch in the ceiling? Why do they put a light switch so high? What if I want to use the attic light for a nightlight? Darkness is pretty scary people. My R is super excited about this switch. I think the dust has gone to her brain.

My A and R have claimed the Blue Bedroom. Psst, R already used this color year's ago on her "office" that they made into little a's room. Notice I have not mentioned Stephen's room anywhere....

Hardwood has to aclimatize! who knew?

Ok the funny title for this page could have been, "how to build a porch as slow as possible." Being that it is really two weeks later than these pictures I can tell you that porch building is baby steps "put up one railing." baby steps "wait four days..." you get the idea. That said, I really like the porch. Even if I don't get my own room, I will happily claim the porch. As such, any food remnants left on the porch are mine. And those "biodegradable" plates - more tasty than you would think. Taste a heck of a lot better than veggie burgers.

The laundry room also stole its color from k's old room, but it looks like "Quiet moments" to me.

This is the shower for A and R, look they get to have a place for shampoo bottles. I need a bath, but I don't like shampoo.

Little k gets to have Aura yellow room. It will match her sunny disposition.

Day 61 Saturday July 13th. Look more Rain and my cousin visits: Welcome Grete.

Monsoon season sure is lasting a long time.  My R asked Builder John about the AC and because Sharing is Caring, she said he could use the AC when he works on the house once it is in.  So we now have a compressor, but the electrician (not named Ernie) hasn't shown up to hook it in.  Silly electrician it is hot as Hades over here.

Walter came back and put a double door on A and R's room, still concerned why the doorway has to be so wide.

Oh and I got to have a sleepover with my cousin.

Little cousins are tiring.  But she is a nice friend and it was great to play with her.

July 12th, Day 60 - Wow 2 months in and Kitchen Cabinets are in!

Cabinets are finished, except for one handle, I think Joel was testing us to see if my R could find the one detail missing.  Silly guy, he should have made it much harder than that!

The plasterers finished the living room ceiling

Old kitchen cabinets are being stored in the laundry room - curious.

Hmm you hang drywall top down.  Good to know.

Look it's a plastic door.  I thought R was smarter than that.

July 11th It IS a Kitchen!

Thursday morning at 7am prompt (don't worry I had woken up R and A a half hour earlier) a big truck arrived and out came new cabinets.

The plasterer was finishing off the kitchen walls, right in time too.

Walter came by to take out my R and A's door and may a bigger opening.  Are they planning on gaining 500lbs? Why do they need such a big doorway?

 I think this is a temporary spot for cabinets, cause the foyer is well kind of a high traffic area for me and cabinets would be in the way.

I can't figure out where this is going to go!

How to work more and color your plants: Day 58, July 10th

Plasterers were working hard on Wednesday again trying to stay ahead of the painters.

Feather soft (looks like purple to me - who says dogs are color bling) for little a

This green room is for A

Riviera Azul for the girl's bathroom

Quiet moments for the laundry room.  Kinda silly name for paint in a room for machines that make a lot of noise.  My R was taking measurements and broke out the graph paper for this room, that should be interesting.

So the painters painted a's room and then Rey tried to tell my R that it was so much easier to come back after the plasterers were done and paint all at once.  But my R isn't really a procrastinator and she talked them into painting all the rooms that were ready.  Don't mess with R, don't worry painter guys, R only works from home one day a week.

And Tuesday night, the hardwood guy put in hardwoods in the kitchen half of the room formerly known as the kitchen/dining room:

Lots of goings on

July 8th Day 56; white, white, white

I am all for a clean look, no actually I like things messy, but it does look nice when I enter a room.

That said, I think the all-white look the plasterers are going for is all wrong.  I make messes, oh no! do you think they are making the upstairs all white because they aren't even going to allow me upstairs?  Oh this is sad.  I can't write anymore today.  Here's a picture of plaster, it's a boring look I tell you.

Day 51 - more mess or How to rebuild your 1st floor

I forgot to mention all the work my buddy Walter has been doing (and no, not Walter the fish from Golden Pond, this is 2013 and Walter is the framing guy.  He designed/built the porch without any plans!  He's good).  Walter likes to make messes which I can respect.  This week he tore out the old bay window in the dining room, which was good because it leaked.

He added that new door which I really like because I can look outside.

And he made big holes in the wall which my R was happy about so I guess he was supposed to.

Vacation means Progress - Week of July 1 (Day 49-55)

So I got to go on vacation.  What that means is I get to go to my A's parents house (which has central AC) while my A and R go to my R's parents house.  No central AC there. Also my grandparents that don't like dogs.  I try not to take it personally, do you think it is because I am black?  That I have 4 legs instead of 2?  I don't really know.  I know that at Grandma and Grandpa's (that's A's parents) they like to use my name a lot, they put out extra cushions on the couch for me and I have a fence collar so I don't explore.  Don't worry my family visits me, although they seemed more interested in the AC than me this time.

We all got home on Sunday afternoon after a birthday party for a niece.  I got to drive home with Grandpa - he is a great driver and never forgets to point out the wildlife flying over head.

This is what we pulled into.  looking pretty nice!

And this is the room that used to be a kitchen.  Now I don't want to complain or sound ungrateful, but I think removing the kitchen is a really bad idea.  The eating on the porch is fine, but I hang out on the porch in the winter and I don't think my family would like the temperatures out there.

 Oh and huge learning for me.  I don't get the whole upstairs, it wasn't for me.  Now I know my regular followers have heard this all before.  For those of you that are new, twice I have thought A and R were redoing a room for me and instead a creature that developed into people showed up instead.  But I thought it was my turn.  Maybe the downstairs will be mine now.

Anyway, the purple "feather soft" for Benji Moore lovers was my little a's pick.  She can be adamant sometimes.  Ever watch the Flintstones?  Know how when the whistle blows Fred jumps out of his dinosaur and runs home.  Do you think there was a whistle the day someone started to paint a's room?

 Plaster is the white stuff that covers the drywall.  Although my R was saying a coworker liked drywall so much she painted the plaster to be drywall color.  Don't know why she wouldn't just leave the drywall with no plaster.  my R has some interesting people she works with.

I also don't know why they plaster one wall and make dots on the other.  Maybe the plasterer brought kids to do one side.  My a can make dots.

Oops Mr Plasterer, meeting Barkington's Firefighters was pretty awesome, but I think it should be a once-a-project event, don't you?

So they had a week and managed to start plastering, rip out the kitchen which they did on a Sunday!  Here's the funny part, back when we had no roof and there was a forecast for rain on Monday, they didn't work on a Sunday.  This Sunday is was 92 in the basement and they ripped out the kitchen.  Hmmm strange workflow, maybe they should borrow my R's gantt chart.