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...

Craig's Very Own Laser Level

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Taken in the Home Depot parking lot. We weren't allowed to leave until Craig opened the box and played for 5 minutes. Have you ever seen someone so excited over a level? It's the little things that count in life...

House Update 1.26.08

Sorry for the slow posts lately. Despite that, Craig has been working pretty much every day, continuing to drywall. Hopefully, this video will give you an idea of where we stand. Excuse the bad lighting :)

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2008 to all you faithful TMPBallard readers out there!

This was quite an eventful holiday season this year in addition to just the house projects. I spent an early Christmas in Toledo as well as celebrated Ray's 61st by picking out and decorating the Christmas tree with the whole gang. The eventful weekend also included a trek to Bryan, Ohio that involved detours, heated seats (except for Lynsey's, he he) and using OnStar for the first time. Oh, and Mom and Peter sharing a bottle of wine while Lyns, Dad and I decorated the tree.


It was wonderful to see everybody and I had a really great time!

Over the Christmas holiday, Craig and I joined the Williams clan south of the border in Cancun.


It was a great week of laying in the sun, Chunky (or in Katie's case Funky) Monkeys all around, scuba diving, karaoke and lots of guacamole. Very relaxing and an all-around super getaway. Other highlights included the announcement of Baby Williams coming in July (for Chris and Katie, mind you) and Maria joining us all the way from Sardinia, Italy. Salute!



More pics

I think the Karaoke part is best shown rather then explained. If there's a stage, a mic, and beer involved, you can bet the house that two of the Williams boys will take advantage of all three. While Craig had the bar rocking to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," Nathan had at least one lady singing along (and swaying) to David Bowie's "Space Oddity." These videos are dark, but hopefully you can experience the thrill all the same :)





Now it's back to work as usual. More house updates coming soon. After all, that is what this blog is supposed to be about, right?