November/December update

Reading over the subtitle of this blog, I'm hoping that I don't have to edit it some day to say "(over) ambitious 30-somethings"... Oh, I'm just kidding (kinda). We're steadily charging along.

November was dedicated almost entirely to the addition - most importantly getting a roof on top of that bad boy. Mission accomplished. I had nothing, I repeat, nothing to contribute to this project as I'm incredibly bad with heights (embarrassingly so). Thankfully, Craig is definitely not. Not to worry, he was harnessed in the whole time and took the proper precautions. Or at least that's what he said. I couldn't bare to watch and instead kept myself busy with organizing (and reorganizing) our living space and scouring the grocery aisles for new microwavable dinner ideas. Our neighbor across the street, though, was nice enough to stop over and tell Craig he's a crazy *blank* for climbing up there and doing it by himself. Craig is earning us street cred throughout Ballard with projects like this, it's great.

As the end of the long Thanksgiving weekend approached, Craig laid the final shingle, at long last making our house fit nicely in to the complete definition of 'shelter.' Here's the final result:




(yeah, that's a sky light - very classy).


Here are some additional photos of the master bed/bath:


the spray paint outlines the bed.


this will be the bath. The red chair is the placeholder for the commode. The shower will be to the right and the double vanity to the left.

October update

Here are the latest photos of our work on the addition. Craig's dad came out a few weeks back and we worked him to the bone (evidence of that here). Needless to say, we really appreciated his help!

Our goal is to have the house to the point that we'll get at least one trick-or-treater this year. Last year we couldn't even give away candy. I can't say I blame the parents for not letting them take candy from a bowl on top of stacked recycling bins in the yard of a house with no steps, no siding and no grass...

It's about time that I updated everyone...

September has been all about our addition. As explained in past posts, when we bought the house, it was essentially a one bedroom one and a half bath (if you count a toilet in a closet a half bath). Actually, for any Kendzioras reading this, think about the old bathroom in the basement on Manhattan and make that about 2x smaller and more ghetto and that was the master bath in our house.

Anyway, there was nothing on the second floor over the kitchen, so we decided to build up and create a real master suite (albeit a small one). The permitting process took forever and was expensive, but now that's behind us and we're going full speed ahead.

The first step (after demoing the kitchen completely) was to reinforce the kitchen walls so that they can sustain the weight of a second story addition. That was a much more complicated process then I realized so I'm glad that Craig knows what he's doing.

What came next was a similar process to what I imagine a barn raising would be like. Here's a glimpse:



Now that was stressful. But definitely not as stressful as I can imagine it was for Craig to do what he had to do next. Let me preface this with saying that I was in San Francisco all last week. Not that I really do much of the work around here, but I like to be available to at least help hold things, hand 2x6s up to the roof, clean things etc. So, Craig was on his own for a week. Somehow, using some rig of pulleys and a 'shit ton' of elbow grease, Craig managed to get the huge beam that supports the rafters (correct term?) and forms the 'peak' of the roof in place by himself. I wish he would have set up the video camera because I have no idea how he did it.

From Addition Sept 08

for reference, that's a small 2x6 nailed underneath the big ol' beam. Yeah, that's a big beam.

For more photos that show the entire progress on the addition to date, go here.

July-August update

This month has been a busy one. In addition to keeping busy on the house, both Craig and I traveled a lot, mostly for our various friends' wedding related activities. This month included a specifically large undertaking. Since our permits finally came through to start on our second story addition, Craig tackled demoing the kitchen as well as the kitchen's roof. Luckily, the weather has been pretty good recently so there have only been a few days when we've needed to don our rain coats to go to the bathroom (which is through the kitchen). Props to Sally and Craig "#2" for actually coming out to Seattle from Toledo and staying at our place for a few days. You'll have to hear the truth from them directly since I'm sure they were sugarcoating their opinions for us!

Highlights:


More pics:

The Grand Entrance...

After the unrelenting joke about the front steps in the video, Craig decided it was time to make the big move so that we don't have to take such a big step to get in. Here's how it all came together...

TMP's 1st Anniversary

It's hard to believe, but Craig and I have been homeowners for over a year now. It's been quite a ride. Making this video last night, we really realized how far the place has come as well as how far we have to go. It's been a challenging, unique but most of all (and most importantly) an exciting and incredibly fun adventure for both of us. Thanks to everyone for the support (both physically and emotionally)! We're looking forward to making this place into our own lil' mansion one of these days!

Enjoy....

Non House related post

I couldn't resist posting some pics from Kate and Alex's wedding this past weekend. It was so incredibly fun and they are such an amazingly awesome duo. Not to mention the band "Mega 80s" was the best wedding band ever! If you're getting married in Ann Arbor anytime soon and I'm invited, please, please have this band at your reception!

Here are the highlights:

Naked House Pics

Our house is officially 'naked' - stripped down to the original siding (about 4 layers deep). The siding is a yellowish tan with pink trim - mucho curb appeal.



Yesterday was way too nice to work on the house so we took some friends out on Sweet Caroline instead. Nice weather doesn't come all that often in Seattle outside of July and August but when it does it's absolutely fantastic. This is Lake Washington where we spent most Saturday.

Trim and other new stuff

Here's how we (Craig really) spent April 2008. The exposed beams in the main room are now covered with primed trim, the front door and windows are in and trimmed and two interior doors (closet and 2nd bedroom) are installed and trimmed. This weekend we're going to buy a lawn mower and clean up the lawn a bit and then put our boat in the water for the season. Our boat that's slightly more livable then our house... :)

windows and curtains

Too enthralled in Kite Runner right now to write much, but the story about installing the windows is too precious not to tell. So, expect the full story in the next post. For now, here are the photos!




more to come soon!

March Update

This month has definitely been a turning point for the house because it's actually beginning to resemble a house! At least the main room. The walls are insulated, drywalled, mudded, sanded, and primed. Craig has been working around the clock. Today we also ripped out the wall for the kitchen pass-through. It really opens up the space and is going to look fantastic once it's finished.


Before/ After


Insulation/ Drywall/ Walls Primed and Pass-through Cut Out




http://picasaweb.google.com/raolczak/House33008758PM

End of an Era

Yesterday, on a whim, we decided to drive over to our old stomping grounds on Eastlake for breakfast at 14 Carrot. While we were over there, we walked by the beloved Sara Michelle, our former apartment building. We knew right around the time that we moved out that it had been bought and would be converted into condos. It worked out well for us actually since at the time we got our entire security deposit back since they were redoing the units anyway. At the time, though, we heard they were just renovating the inside. Looks like their plans changed. There's just a tad of water damage under there it looks like. Guess we got out at the right time!

The project this past weekend and continuing into this week is drywalling the ceiling on the main floor. First Craig tore out a channel in the old ceiling where the can lights will go. Then I installed some RC channel (resilient channel to the layman) in order to have enough room for the can lights to fit. Since that's about the extent of my technical knowledge on the subject, feel free to read more about installing RC and sound-proofing here.
Fascinating stuff really.

Today, after work, we finished installing the sheet rock. This involved Craig hoisting up large pieces of drywall while climbing up a ladder and then me helping to support it with a 'T' made out of 2x4s while he screwed it in. Very professional and scientific I assure you.

You can tell by the photos that my camera has begun to succumb to the dust like the rest of us...

After returning from a week in NYC for work, I came home to find our house seriously transformed. Craig was an absolute superstar while I was gone. The biggest highlight? I opened the front door and a rush of heat came over me - yes, heat! We now have heat in the entire house. On top of the we have the new front door (hardware and all) installed and outlets throughout the main floor. To top it all off, the house is actually clean, even the bathroom. I'm not sure if Craig skipped work a couple days or what but I couldn't be happier.

Forward Thinking

As a motivating effort, we've hung photos of finished rooms/facets of rooms throughout the house which are inspiring our renovations. This makes it easier for us to see an eventual end and for our friends to see that we do actually have an end goal in mind. Here are a couple highlights:

The staircase:


The inspiration shot came from O magazine I believe. These built-ins are going to be awesome and really show off those carpentry skills that Craig's been honing over the years. This one came from Better Homes & Gardens (thanks for the subscription Mom, it's really not filled with all old lady stuff).

The main room:


Craig is installing special backing and conduits to eventually hang a flat screen with all wires hidden behind the wall. I really like the silhouette pictures too. The wall color is probably darker then what we're going to go for but you get the overall idea.

The bathroom:



In our downstairs bathroom, the sink is set back further then the toilet. Similar to the magazine shot (BH&G again), we're toying with the idea of extending the recessed wall to make it even with the toilet wall and then cutting out the 'built-in' shelves on both sides of the sink.

The end is in sight! Even if we sill need a telescope to see it...