The Visitors are Among Us

If out of town guests were musical acts, this week would be the Superbowl Halftime Show! EVERYONE IS HERE, including your guest-blogger. The goal of Tuesday was to make the kitchen functional. Dutiful kinfolk put up temporary shelving and unpacked boxes while a team of professional painters put a fresh coat in the kitchen and living room. The evening culminated with a spaghetti dinner that surpassed our wildest dreams. Jet lag, a corporate workday, and home improvements sent everyone to bed early.

On Wednesday Stephanie perfected her yoga poses while adding a coat of paint to the front bedroom. She, Trevor and Matt prepared the front porch by scraping paint, caulking, and adding a primer coat. The only casualty of the day was a small section of the front window that now looks like the back cover of the Rolling Stones’ Through the Past Darkly album. In the afternoon, Nick and Kelli came home and joined the process of fine-tuning the kitchen. We lined the drawers and installed them with cabinet handles and soft-closes. (What?! You don’t now what soft-closes are???) Even the naysayers from HGTV would have to admit that the kitchen is updated!
Stephanie perfects the Painting Doodle Bug pose.

Trevor casts a backwards glance.
Porch Before...
Porch After...


Future site of a deck.
Still life with lumber samples and lawn furniture

In true superbowl halftime show fashion, Trevor shows off his drawers.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Matt and Trevor survey their handiwork on the porch window.

sort-of almost done

Last weekend we had to move out of our duplex, and so we piled all of our stuff into the basement and garage of the new house.  We are living at Matt & Dave's, it's cramped and less than ideal, but we are lucky to have such nice friends.  This weekend, we'll be able to really move in to the new house!  There are still bits and pieces to be finished, many of them little things we thought we would do on our own.  I think we'll slowly work on them, we will need some time to recoup from the last few weeks.  The good news is Steph and Matt get here next Tuesday so we can break the place in all together.  I can't wait!

the Finish Line, or Finishes are Fun!, or suggest your own title

So Kelli and I just returned from the beach in Florida (amazingly relaxing time!) and we are getting very close with the house project now. This is a good thing, considering we are moving in less than seven days. We will actually be sleeping in our house in less than a week, that is a novel idea...

Doors, trim, tile, grout, cabinets, paint.

Master Bath vanity - beautiful.

nice time in the neighborhood

T-rev to the rescue

Trevor is here and the house is reaping the benefits.  He is helping our subcontractor that we love, Alfreddo, do lots of things inside the house, and also cleaning up the front door and porch which we thought we wouldn't get around to for a while.  Next weekend, Trev and Nick will build the back deck - please wish us luck!

This week the floors were refinished, sanded and stained, siding was almost completed on the garage and addition, tile prep work took place in the bathrooms, we built the raised beds out front, our gas line was unlocked and turned back on by the city (since it passed the pressure test), and Nick and Trevor put together the 5 base cabinets for the kitchen that will be installed Monday so that countertops can be templated on Weds.  We charge forth with plans to move in the last weekend of this month!

Siding & Floors - lookin' good!