The Apartment

Even though it's just a bedroom, sitting room, and bathroom, we call the new basement space Grace & Anthony's apartment.  The workers finished up around 2:00 pm on New Year's Eve, and the two lovebirds raced downstairs to begin cleaning since Anthony was spending the night.  (We have a "pig out" every New Year's Eve, cooking more food than we can eat in a week, and watching movies.  Grace didn't want to take Anthony home in the wee hours of New Year's day, so he stayed here.)

The picture below shows the sitting area on the right, with the bathroom door in the corner.  The TV is located in the left corner.  On the left side is part of the bedroom.

This is the built-in DVD rack in the sitting area.  Our contractor had the idea to take a free-standing rack and insert it in the wall.  The nice thing is that it's flush with the 2 x 4s on the outside, and sticks out only a couple of inches into the room.

Here are the front door and the closet.  The door opens into the sitting area.

This is the opposite end of the bedroom.

I still have to touch up the dark colored paint and paint the doors and moulding around them.  Grace has put up the towel bars and toilet paper holder in the bathroom, and some DVDs, videos, and knick knacks are in the DVD rack.  We purchased a new couch for Grace and Anthony since the one they were going to use, we discovered, was full of dust and falling apart.  Anthony's TV is already set up as well.  Some curtains are needed, which we will make as soon as we can get out and find fabric, but those can wait since Grace put up the blind in the bedroom, and a temporary valence in the bathroom.  I guess as soon as I finish the painting, Grace will move down there, giving her sister sole use of the bathroom upstairs.  (Which she's been looking forward to!)

While I'm glad the construction is finished, it means Grace and Anthony will be down there on the evenings they are at the house more than they are upstairs with us, and we will miss their companionship.  Or at least I will.

Two Quick Pics

I'm fighting a headache tonight, so I'll share two quick pictures.  The first is the flooring in the basement rooms:

This second one is her royal highness, Callie Caper, doing one of the things she does best.

I can't make the bed most days because she's snoozing away and I don't have the heart to kick her off!

Weekend Painting

It has been a long weekend.  Not just because Friday was Christmas, either! Here are some before pictures:

And here is what we accomplished this weekend - primer + two coats of paint.  The first two pictures are of the bathroom.  The color does not show up well because I took the picture in the dark - there are no lights in there yet.

The dark-colored corner is where the TV will be.  The door to the right is the bathroom door.

The closet wall.  To the left is the wall across from the TV area.

This is the bedroom area.  The wall which adjoins the dark wall to the right is where the bed will go.

There is touch up that must be done, as there is with any amateur paint job, but we thought we'd wait until the workmen leave, as they might cause minor damage that needs to be fixed.

I'm not in a hurry to do any more painting!  I could hardly move on Saturday night after working all day.  I keep saying it, but I can't wait until this project is done.  The plan is that the work will be done by New Year's, as the contractor has to start another job on January 4.  The floor has to be installed in the bedroom and TV areas; the electrical needs to connected to the breaker box, and all the outlets and switches installed; all the moulding (baseboard and door) must be cut and nailed in place; the DVD rack will be placed in the wall opening; the doorknobs inserted; and anything else I've forgotten.  Finish work seems to take lots of time.  I do not know how people endure big remodeling jobs without losing their sanity.

'Tis the Day After Christmas . . .

. . . and we'll be painting in the basement.  Our contractor has asked that we try to get everything painted - two coats plus primer - by Monday morning!  The doors will not be done, and I noticed that on the horizontal sides of the MDF that form the soffits, they had to use two pieces to cover the length of the area, and no spackling was put in the joins, so we'll leave those unpainted for now.  It took nearly four hours after everyone left on Christmas night  to vacuum the walls and ceiling of the bathroom, completely cover the shower with plastic, put paper on the floor (the vinyl has been laid, and we don't want to get any paint on it, then put up the painter's tape in the bathroom, as well as the rest of the apartment.  I am tired, and trying to unwind before going to bed.

I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up with my daily posts over the weekend, but I'll be back as soon as I can to tell you about our Christmas!

Windows

We have an escape window!

I don't have an outdoor view because by the time I got home tonight, it was dark.

The existing window in the bathroom has been framed with drywall.  It's a bit difficult to see how deep the sill is because of the angle I took the picture at, but it's at least as deep as the egress window. 

Construction, Day 9

It was wonderful to get out of the house this afternoon and go somewhere quiet to get my hair cut!  My hairdresser works out of her home, and it was so peaceful.  By contrast, all I heard at home today was the back door slamming continually, and hammers drumming. 

The hole outside the egress window was dug today.  I think it's finished, except for whatever structure they have to put in it to hold the dirt back.  Fortunately, it wasn't extremely cold or windy today, so I didn't have to feel too bad for the workman who was in the backyard all day.

 My husband requested that the hole be covered, lest our dog or some other critter fall in.  I quickly discovered that the lumber was too heavy for me to move!

The drain pipe trenches in the bathroom and from the bathroom to the composting unit were covered with cement.  That leaves the huge area behind that composter to be filled in.

More drywall work:

This is the beginning of the soffit that will cover the existing ductwork.

The plan, as I know it at this time, is that the men will work through midday on Thursday.  They hope to have the room to the point where we can paint.  Then they will come back after New Year's to finish up.  I'm not certain whether they will have the bathroom in working order, or the flooring done before Christmas.  I will speak to the contractor myself this afternoon.

I am so ready for this project to be done!

Construction, Day 8

What a long day it was for the plumber!  He arrived around 9:30, and didn't leave until 5:30!  We had a couple of snags, but nothing major.  It turns out the town requires a single-handle, anti-scald shower faucet, so Phil and Sarah made a quick trip to the hardware store to return the one we had purchased and get a new one.  The price was ridiculous, but what could we do?  The other problem was with the fittings needed to connect the new Pex water line tubing to the manifold unit.  A little ingenuity solved the problem.

Monday morning, the inspector will come to look at the plumbing, then the bathroom can be completed.  The contractors are working hard, but there appears to be too much work left for the job to be done before Christmas.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Construction, Day 7

If it weren't for our current construction project, I'd have a difficult time meeting my goal of posting every day during December.  I suppose I could write about how cold it is for this time of year, or how the snow plow has been here three times already, which is also unusual.  It looks like we'll be having a white Christmas this year; in fact, the weatherman is tentatively predicting an "unsettled wintery mix" for the middle of next week.  Yuck.  I think that answers the question of which day we will do our grocery shopping next week - Tuesday - before the storm!

More drywall went up today; in fact, I think it is all up except for the soffit which will go around the existing ductwork.  The macerating barrel went into the floor today, so no more worries about the cats checking out the hole!  And the plumber comes mid-morning, so I'm hopeful the bathroom will be finished up early next week.

Up until now, I haven't been at liberty to say why we're doing this work, but I finally can.  As my regular readers know, my daughter, Grace, is getting married at the end of May, 2010.  Grace has another year at the local community college, and works only part time, and Anthony is currently out of work.  There was no way they could afford their own apartment here; one bedrooms can't be had for less than about $700 per month, unless you're in a questionable part of town.  The solution was for us to build a basement bedroom/sitting area/bathroom for them.  It will be a challenge for all of us to live together, but it will be helpful to them, and to us, as having another man in the house to assist with the things Phil can't do because of his health.

Construction, Day 6

Jackhammers are great tools for breaking up concrete, but they sure are noisy!  Here's what they helped do on Wednesday.

Drywall also started going up! 

We are tired.  Of noise.  Of the mess.  Of not enough sleep. 

It was a C-O-L-D day on Wednesday!  So unusual for December.  I typed this in advance, but the temperature just before 11 pm was 7 degrees.  Fahrenheit.  Brrr.

Construction, Day 5

We passed our rough framing and electrical inspections on Wednesday!  Hooray!!  There were several things that also got done.

Insulation on the outside walls.

Heating vent.

The line that's furthest to the left is the bathroom fan vent. 

They will have to cut a hole through to the outside of the house to complete this.

On Thursday, these small holes will be connected and and a large hole dug out for the toilet composter.  Putting a bathroom in a basement isn't easy.

Thankfully, I slept through all the noise.  My fibromyalgia is acting up because of not getting enough sleep.  I am more exhausted than usual, in a lot of pain, and feel like I have the flu.  It'll be nice when this project is finished and our house is ours once again!