Remodeling 1070 is back from hiatus!

Hello readers,

I know it's been a few weeks since we've posted any news on Remodeling 1070. The past three weeks have been a little crazy with getting me moved to Seattle. But, with that settled, Remodeling 1070 is back on track, and we're happy to report that things are progressing.

Team 1 showed up today to do some concrete work in the master bathroom in preparation for the tile guy, who will be starting his tile and glass block work later this week.

Team 2 showed up today to start demolition in the kitchen. This past weekend was spent emptying out all the kitchen cabinets, cupboards and drawers in preparation for all the old cabinet work to get torn out. As you'll see in the photos below, a good deal of the cabinet work is gone. There is probably less than half of the original cabinetry remaining.

Tomorrow promises more of the same - more prep for the tile guy and more demo in the kitchen. Believe it or not, even with emptying out another room, there is still storage space in the POD in the driveway. We haven't had to have a garage sale, yet.

Enjoy the photos, and look for more posts at the week goes on! Thanks for sticking with us.

The cabinets are gone over the sink and dishwasher. The furr-downs will be removed eventually as well. The furr-down is that 18-inch dropped area of wasted space just beneath the crown molding. The new cabinets will go all the way up to the ceiling.

A view of the cabinets and hood missing over the stove area. The furr-down will also be removed over the stove to make room for a microwave to go above the new stove.
The left of the photo is what used to be the small pantry. It will be replaced by a walk-in pantry later in the renovation process. The rest of that wall is being torn out and will be counter space with cabinets underneath, with the wall space open so you can look into the den.
More of kitchen wall that will be torn out to open in to the den.
A fuller view of the sink side of the kitchen.
The remaining cabinets picture here will also be removed to open into the den.

DAY 50 - Baseboards and Cabinets and Crown Molding

Welcome back, readers! I know it's been quite a while since the last post on Remodeling 1070, but rest assured, the renovations progress.

I am thrilled to report that the master suite is really starting to come together beautifully. The past two weeks have been spent installing the pocket doors, adding the door casements, putting up the crown molding and baseboards and framing out the cabinets for the master bathroom. This is all captured, in various states, in the photos below. The baseboards and crown molding should be completed today.

We will spend this weekend packing up the kitchen, as next week the demolition team will start tearing out all the kitchen cabinets and counters. While that team is working in the kitchen, another team will start the tile and glass work in the master bathroom. It should be interesting having several things going at one time, though it will be a challenge to live with both ends of the house under construction. The only good thing is that we've finally learned to embrace the fact that the dust is always going to win. There's a certain peace and serenity in accepting defeat.

Enjoy the photos below. And don't worry. I may be moving to Seattle soon, but I will continue to keep the blog alive!

Pocket door with wood casement and baseboards

Right side of the master bath cabinets. The left wall of the bathroom will essentially be a huge, H-shaped set of cabinets and drawers with a mirror that fills in the entire space between the two column cabinets. There will be granite counter tops and double sinks.
The center of the H-shaped master bath cabinets
The left column of the "H"
Crown molding, casement - this will all eventually be painted.
Another view of baseboards
No debris this time, so I thought I would post a gratuitous shot of some big equipment.

DAY 40 - Sliding Doors

Happy Easter!

I know it's been more than a week since I've updated Remodeling 1070. Work was being done, but most of it was difficult to photograph. I wanted to wait to add another post until I had some photos to share.

At the end of Week 8 - has it really been 2 months already? - the master suite has walls double coated with primer, the paint has been chosen, and the sliding pocket doors have been installed (see the photos below). It's looking more and more like a real group of rooms with each passing day.

Week 9 will be pretty exciting, as the bathroom tile and cabinet work will begin. And since the tile installation team is the same team that does the glass block, we should have the glass block in the second closet and master bath soon as well. We are very excited at the thought of actually having windows in place again!

Enjoy the photos below, and most of all, have a terrific Easter weekend.

Second master closet (left) and master bath (right).

Main master closet.
Possibly the pretties and most organized debris photo yet.

DAY 32 - Shades of Gray

Happy Hump Day, loyal friends,

Yesterday was fun. Matt stopped by with small sample cans of the three shades of gray we are considering for the master suite. We painted a swatch of each color, let that initial coat dry, then I painted a second coat a few hours later to get the true effect of how the colors would look on the walls.

The painted swatches are shown below. On the far left is Polar Star. In the middle is Gravity. On the right is Moondance.

We are going with Polar Star (left) for the master suite. It is actually less flat than it photographs, but it's just the right amount of gray to compliment the rest of the design of the master suite.

Surprisingly, we decided we liked Moondance (right) as the color for the primary walls in the rest of the house. We were really struggling with what to do for the main rooms, and had recently decided that we didn't want any more beige or yellow tones. Seeing Moondance on the wall and noticing just the right amount of silver and blue tones, we though it would be perfect for the rest of the house, especially since we're doing stainless steel appliances in the kitchen (catching those silver tones in the paint) and slate blue accent walls in the main rooms (picking up the blue shades).

I love it when we kill two birds with one stone.

The center color, Gravity, looked a little too much like primer. A whole room of that color could be kind of depressing.

Erik is back today working on the bathroom floor to get it ready for the tile guy. Matt said the pocket doors are on order, so they may be put up this week a well. It's all good news!

Polar Star (master suite) on left. Moondance (rest of house) on right.

Same colors, different angle.

DAY 31 - Texturizing the Master Suite Walls

Happy Monday, readers,

It's sunny, it's 70, and to kick of Week 7 of Remodeling 1070, it's all about TEXTURE.

Day 31 started with a quick visit from the sheet rock team to do some touch up and sanding before the next team arrived to spray the textured coat on the walls and ceilings. You can see some photos of the texture - and the requisite pile of debris - below.

Matt also stopped by this morning to lay out the next steps. The tile guy will be next up to bat to grade the shower floor and start setting the tile for the shower floor, walls and shower bench. He also does the glass block, so that will get done in conjunction with the shower, which should be very soon.

Matt also took our paint chips with him so he can get samples of the three colors we are considering for the master suite. He wants to paint some swatches on the actual walls to give us an idea of what the various shades will look like so we can make our final choice.

We are inching ever closer to moving back into the master suite!!

DAY 29 - The Master Suite Has Walls

Hello readers,

It's Day 30 of Remodeling 1070, and all is quiet as the first coat dries on the new hung sheet rock in the master suite. Yes, you read that correctly: the master suite has walls!! Day 29 was a real visual treat watching two separate teams hang, float and tape the drywall. I still smile from ear to ear thinking about how quickly and efficiently the teams worked, and how much of a visual difference having these rough, unfinished walls makes after 6 weeks of looking at an essentially gutted space. The transformation is a beauty to behold.

But let me get back to the work teams. The team hanging the drywall arrived around 8:00 a.m. yesterday, and we did a very brief walk-through with Matt, the general contractor. By 8:10 a.m., the team was standing on overturned buckets and using construction stilts to hang drywall. By 9:05 a.m., they had their truck packed and the team was gone. AMAZING. I was able to peek in the rooms and watch, and it was like a Cirque du Soleil construction act. You had one guy in the center measuring and cutting drywall, which he then handed to two men who would deliver the drywall to different parts of the room, where other men would hold the drywall in place while still other men on construction stilts would screw the sheets into place. I couldn't help but imagine how much more productive the entire world would be if we all had such a well-oiled system in place.

After about an hour to let the dust settle - I Swiffered twice yesterday - the next team showed up to float and tape, and they did so with the same spot-on efficiency of the first team. They had the first round done in just under 90 minutes. Coat one is still drying, so I am sitting here waiting for them to return a bit later today to apply coat #2, which will then have the weekend to set before the sanding and smoothing gets done on Monday.

Exciting stuff, readers. Now we can really see the shape and contour of the new master suite. The space is terrific, and we are more anxious than ever to get this set of rooms completed so we can move back into that space and start enjoying it. I think each of the master closets is as big as the original master bathroom used to be!

Enjoy the photos below. I tried to put them in an order that shows the progression of yesterday's work.

The drywall hanging ninjas. And no, I did not try on the stilts. I trip in flip flops.

I can almost imagine the team leader instruction: "Okay, you, get on the bucket. You cut. You measure. Bob, stilts. Let's MOVE IT!"
Drywalled second master closet (left) and master bath (right).
Drywalled master bedroom and first master closet.
Ceilings, with drywall. I need a moment . . .
This may seem like an odd photo, but it's actually significant in that this is now a wall where the original entrance into the master bedroom used to be. That will actually be the wall between the new master suite and the renovated second bathroom.
Part of the master bathroom, floated and taped.
Master bedroom and first master closet, floated and taped.
Master bedroom wall between den and master bedroom, and yes, floated and taped.,
You know I can't resist the obligatory debris photo.

DAY 28 - INSULATION . . .

. . . or as I like to call it, Day 28: One Step Closer to Walls . . .

Today's wake up call was the sight and sound of a truck full of insulation being delivered and installed. I left this morning at 9:00 a.m. for an interview. When I returned at 11:00 a.m. - from a great interview, I might add - I came home to the fully insulated master bedroom suite you see pictured below:

The newly insulated master bedroom wall. This wall backs up against the den/family room.

You have no idea how exciting it is to see insulated ceilings. These cool nights have produced quite a chilly draft in the back half of the house.
The insulated master bathroom, complete with framing for the glass blocks.