Stair project is complete

Here's a picture of our stairs after the balusters have been installed.

Mantel

I recently installed the mantel that we ordered.

It required a drill, three threaded steel rods, two drill bits (one slightly smaller than the threaded rod, one a bit larger), two large nuts (giggle), a tape measure, a carpenter square, and a hacksaw. I thought I'd need constructive adhesive, but it didn't end up being necessary. I also needed a wrench that is not pictured.

I started out by drilling three holes in the wall using the smaller bit, and three matching holes in the mantel using the larger one. I measured about 10 times to make sure I had it correctly. I used the carpenter square to make sure that I was drilling perpendicular to the surfaces. I drilled about 2/3 into the mantel.

Next, I cut the rods to length and screwed them into the wall using the two nuts to allow me to put some torque on it with a wrench.

Then I said a quick prayer, lifted the mantel and slid it onto the rods. It fit like a glove. Some artwork and a few decorations later, my project was complete. Now I just have to keep Jen and Ben from using nails when hanging stockings at Christmas.

Nursery

I've been quite deliquant on posting, and it's time to update the status of a few projects. Here's how we turned this room into Ben's nursery.



First, I prepped the room for paint, laying plastic tarps, and using masking tape to pull back the shag carpet for the future baseboard paint.


Next, we determined how high we wanted to put the chair rail, and marked it with a pencil line. I cut out the edging and rolled the two different colors onto the wall. Then I installed the crown moulding with a rope light, and the chair rail.


Once the painting was done, I pulled back the tarps, installed the valence, and we were ready for the furniture to arrive.



I should have done this while the tarps were still down, but we added some wall art... two shelves and a stenciled poem.


The final step was to add Ben.

Installing a rope light behind crown moulding

We decided that we wanted to put crown moulding in the nursery, and had the idea that we could install a rope light behind it to act as a nightlight. Here's how I pulled it off.

The first step was to purchase and collect the supplies. This project required flexible conduit (which comes with wires, but might not come with the ends that connect it to the box), rope lights measured to fit the perimeter of the room, a receptacle, an outlet cover, electrical tape, a receptacle box that be installed for existing installations, wire connectors, a wiring tester, dimmer switch, wiring pliers, drywall punch saw, a screwdriver, and cable tiedowns (not pictured).

Next, you need to find an existing outlet from which you'll run the new wiring. You can see the one I chose in this picture. I chose this one because it's the one that's controlled by a switch. I was also lucky that it points away from the door because I wanted to make sure that one couldn't see the new outlet when they walked in the room. Once you identify your outlet, you'll want to test it to make sure it's already wired properly. Then, disconnect the power and make sure your tester tells you it's off.

Next, you'll install the dimmer switch per the manufacturer's instructions. Test the lights after installing the dimmer.

Now it's time to cut out the new outlet. I already did this when wiring our flat panel TV, but here are a few new tricks I found. First draw out where it's going to go, and make sure it's going to fit. There could be conduit, pipes, wall studs, etc that will block the box installation. I did this by using a bent piece of wire that I put in a little hole I cut. First I figured out how big it would be from the center of the box. Then I put it in the hole and spun it around. If it hit something, I'd move the box down a bit. Once you find a suitable spot, cut out the rest of the hole. Don't put the new box in yet though.

Now it's time to snake the flexible conduit from the existing outlet up to the new one. This was the part that gave me fits with the TV wiring project, but it was a bit easier this time. First I punched out a new opening in the existing box. Then I fed my wire snake up through the hole I punched in the old box up to the hole for the new outlet box. In order to make sure I didn't lose the flexible conduit, I wanted to be able to secure it right away. So, I put the "nut" on the snake before feeding it up. It's a little tedious to find the destination, but just be patient. Once the snake is through the new hole, tape the flexible conduit to the snake. Make sure you have the ends on the conduit (without a "nut") before taping it. Next, use the snake to pull the conduit down to the old box, and secure the new conduit with the nut.

Now that the wire is pulled, you can connect the other end of the conduit to the new box, and secure it to the wall. Now it's just a simple step of wiring up the outlet, and the hard part of the electrical work is over.

Now comes the crown moulding. I decided to have the moulding consist of two pieces. One is a piece of colonial base, and the other a piece of standard crown. You can play with scraps at any home store to figure out what you want to do. The problem I faced was that crown is normally nailed to the wall and the ceiling, but I could nail it to the ceiling and still have the rope lights. So, I needed something else to which it would be secured. I also needed to make sure I installed everything at the same distance from the ceiling which is harder when the crown is only secured to the wall. I did this by firs installing the base piece (upside down) at a height that would allow me to still plug in the lights.

After determining the height, I cut two scrap pieces to match the distance between the base and the ceiling. Then, I went around the room installing the base. I was able to do this by myself (didn't want to strain the pregnant wife) by holding the base and one piece of scrap in place with one hand and nailing with the other. I then used the other piece of scrap to move further down the wall, nailing the base into premarked stud positions. Now that the base was in place, it was time to install the crown.

There are several videos and sites out there on how to install crown, but I think I did it the wrong way. Some sites say to position the crown upside down on your miter saw, with the saw's fence acting like the wall and the base of the saw acting like the ceiling. This works in theory, but I found that the crown would shift a little bit while cutting, throwing off the angles completely. I was able to fix this through the magic of caulk, but if it was a stained wood installation, it would have looked really badly. The better approach, one that I used later when making shelves out of scrap crown, is to lay the crown flat on the base of the saw, and set the angle of the cut and the tilt of the cut to the proper angles. There are charts out there on what the angle should be given the angle of the crown.

Anyway, back to how I secured the crown. I cut several 45 degree pieces of 2x4, one for each stud, and nailed them in place using another two pieces of scrap to help me align them. Be careful how close you put them to the corners of walls as you don't want them to block where the crown will go.

After that, I installed the crown, securing them to the pieces of 2x4. Then, I put the rope lights up behind the crown, securing them with cable tiedowns, and painted. Paint afterward, because there will be fingerprints.

There you go. It's a project that you could do yourself, and we'll probably do again for our dining room.

Projects for the weekend of 6/6

1. Install remaining register covers - Done
2. Mow the lawn. Please don't rain tomorrow! - Done
3. Paint the nursery. - Done
4. Install chair rail in nursery. - Done
5. Paint the shower area in the powder room. - Done
6. Touch up other paint jobs. - Done
7. Make more progress on baseboards. - Almost done
8. Patch holes in drywall.

OK. So I'm updating this on 6/30, but I'm almost done with the last two projects above. I have about 100 more lft of base shoe to put on, and I have to install a shelf in the nursery, then I'll be done with the loud projects. After that, the baby can arrive and sleep in peace. I should probably only need another 2 mornings before work to wrap up.

Projects update

I haven't been posting as much as I'd like, but we have been pretty busy. Since my last post, we've been to Michigan once, had two baby showers, and we've both been trying to get as much done at work before the baby arrives.

As far as home improvement goes, most of my time has been spent with summer projects. I've mowed the lawn 5-10 times now, and have been enjoying the weedwacker I got for Christmas. It's a Craftsman one that's convertable to other tools. So far, I've bought the additional weed blower attachment, which I use to blow grass off of the sidewalk and driveway. I've noticed the landscaping professionals around the neighborhood using the weedwacker upsidedown to trim along the sidwalks and around flowerbeds. I've been doing that for our sidewalk and back patio. I joke with Jen that it looks like the Disney landscape teams came through to do the work. One thing I should really leave to the pros is ant killing. I was at the hardware store the other day and was looking to buy some outdoor ant killer. They make this stuff that you sprinkle or spray outside to build a border that'll keep the ants out. I ended up buying this bottle of pellets. Supposedly, the ants love it, and when they find it they take it back to the nest to share with the rest of the colony. The good news is that this stuff is effective on carpenter ants, unlike the last ant baits. I've been relying on that crappy stuff to kill the ants, and have actually been avoiding killing the ants so they can share poison with their friends, but I've basically just been giving them free roam of the house. Hopefully the new stuff works better. I still have to do some painting outside to wrap up the trim work that was done to fix our leak and original ant problem. Eventually, we want to put bricks around our flower beds and trees, but that will probably have to wait until next year.

We still have a few projects from this year going on. Painting the nursery is currently number one on the list, and we only have about one month to get it done. We're pretty close to picking the paint colors, so I have a few days to wrap up a few other projects. The baseboards is number two on the list. What about the floors you ask? Well they're done!

I finished those about this time last week. It was quite a relief. As you can see from the picture, I'm currently in the process of doing the baseboards. I want to finish those before baby Aquino because it's not the quietest of jobs. I can work on quiet things when the baby is napping. That includes painting (baseboards and touchup), drywall mudding (filling holes left by the electrician), and electrical (wrapping up the bathroom, installing tamper proof outlets, etc.). So, I'm holding off on those projects for now. Stay tuned to see if I can finish the loud ones in time. Let's hope the baby is on time or late!

We are still waiting on the pros for a few projects. The powder room is close, but is missing some plumbing, lights, a sheet of wall paper, some paint, and a shade. The mantel is currently under construction. We're still working on the order for the stair spindles (as you can see in the picture).

Projects for the weekend of 5/9

1. Mow lawn - Done
2. Spray lawn for dandelions. - I bought the stuff but haven't sprayed yet. When I mowed on Friday, I cut all the dandelions, so they're hard to see. I'll give them a few more days to enjoy life, then I'm giving them a dirt nap... (puts on sunglasses) one they're not going to like (YEAAAAHHHH!).
3. Cycle GFCI outlets. - Done
4. Replace furnace air filters. - Done
5. Find out if we have a water softener, and add salt if we do. - Apparently we don't. I guess it's because we have city water that doesn't cause mineral buildup?
6. Meet with stair baluster guy to pick those out. - They weren't available.
7. Have electrician install electrical boxes for powder room sconces, install kitchen light, and finish wiring butlers pantry. - Done, but we need to find the light bulbs for the new one in the kitchen. They're apprently little candle bulbs.
8. Put finish coat(s) on register covers and wood panels for our beverage fridges (butler's pantry). - I didn't get to this project this weekend.
9. Install and paint baseboards behind kitchen fridge. - I didn't get to this project this weekend.
10. Install as much flooring as possible (we only have the dining room, the foyer, and living room remaining). - I made a lot of progress with the floors this weekend. I have only about 250 sqft left in the dining room, foyer, and living room. Jen's uncle Carl came by this Saturday to help and learn the ropes. My proudest moment in working on the floors was rejoining the floors in the dining room and the foyer. They were separated by a closed, and I was worried that they wouldn't match up very well. I was having nightmares about a big gap in the floors in our foyer, but they came together really well. Right now, I'm halfway through the part of the floor that goes by our stairwell. That's really the last hard part because there are some curved pieces. Once that's done, I'm in the homestretch. My goal is to have them done by the time my mom gets here for the baby shower. That's in 2 weekends, so I have to work on weekdays and probably all of next weekend. I think I'm going to make it!

Projects wrapping up

Our furniture arrives on Friday, and we can't be more excited. The contractors are also working on the first of two finish coats as I write this. If the electrician comes out this weekend, that'll mean that the stairs, the family room, the butler's pantry, and kitchen will all be finishing up this weekend. I'll post a few before, during, and after shots soon.

I am way overdue for a post

A lot has happened since my last post. We started the work on the powder room...

Here you see the before picture, the post-demo picture, and the post-tile picture. It's been like that for a few weeks because we have been finalizing the design of the new vanity.

We also started the project to refinish the stairs...

Here's a before picture (from before we moved in), and a during picture. The first coat of stain should be complete by now. We're going for an "ebonized" look so it goes well with our butler's pantry cabinets.

Should I mention now that I didn't do any of that? We always planned to contract out the powder room. I had thought about sanding down the stairs myself, but it would have taken me weeks to do in the time I have. We just thought it was more worthwhile to have the pros handle it. They got to that point in one day. I guess I helped by ripping out the runner first, because it would have taken them an extra 10 minutes to do that.

We also got a quote for having the baseboards done. It would have cost us $1500 (for about 300 lft), but I'm doing it myself for about $600 in material.

The first picture shows the end of our half-wall after I installed the moulding, caulked the left side, and filled nail holes. I only caulked the left side because I thought I was terrible at applying caulk. Turns out, it was a problem with my caulking gun. (Giggling yet?) I used to have the $3 spring loaded version, which always left an undesired discharge of caulk. (How bout now?) So, I watched a few videos to try to learn the tricks of the trade. The first video is worthless, but makes me giggle at the accidental innuendo. The second video's title really makes me laugh, but it was extremely helpful. The tip to use glazing compound to fill nail holes helped a lot. I had been using caulk, but could still see the dents of the nail holes. With the glazing compound, there's no such problem. His windex suggestion was really good as well, helping me avoid repainting of our walls where they meet the baseboards. Spraying the walls with windex before applying the caulk keeps the caulk off the walls (nobody wants that), and lets me focus my time on other projects. The biggest help, I splurged and picked up a professional caulking gun. Instead of being spring loaded, it ratchets so it doesn't keep pressure on the bottom of the caulk (OK, seriously? Whoever invented the term "caulk" must have had a sense of humor) Sure, it's $5 instead of $3, but I justify the high upgrade cost by the amount of caulk I haven't wasted since switching. I did the first 15-20 feet of caulking in about 1 hour before getting the new gun. The night I bought it, it took me about 45 minutes to do about 40-60 feet. I've been working on the baseboards every morning this week, because Jen doesn't like the noise from the nail guns. She's worried that it's going to hurt the baby's hearing, and I don't want to risk it either. Jen and I have been staying at her mom's (10 minutes away) because of the stair refinishing project. If sound is bad for a baby, the chemicals to strip and stain wood are much worse. My goal is to complete all of the "loud" projects so Jen and I can focus on quieter projects this weekend (i.e. painting baseboards and windows). If we finish everything, we're hoping that we can finally have our window blinds installed and our furniture delivered.

So, here's what we need to complete before Richifer (our fetus name) arrives:

1. Paint baseboards and windows in family room and kitchen.

2. Hardwood floors. All that remains is the dining room, foyer, living room, and the area in front of our powder room. That's about 40% of our lower level, but I think I can finish this in 2-3 solid weekends.

3. Baseboards. I can do this in the mornings before work.

4. Electrical in butler's pantry and in kitchen eating area (contractor is doing this).

5. Powder room. Mainly contractors.

6. Install a mantel. We'll have someone do this, but we still have to pick it out.

7. Install a chair rail and paint nursery.

8. Mow the lawn every weekend (I just bought a push mower).

I'll try to post more frequently, especially after Richifer arrives, I promise.

Status update

Here's a quick update of the projects so far. In this picture you can see the floors completed in the family room, and also see the fireplace face. We think it's pretty cool, but have to pick out a mantel still. We also have to have the baseboards done. I was planning on doing that myself, but am running out of time.
Here's a picture of the kitchen. It's almost done. The appliances are in. Dave (Jen's brother) came by this weekend to help with the floors. We got about half of the kitchen done on Saturday. I finished them up Sunday, Monday, and today. I am SORE. You'll also notice the backsplash. It's glass. You may or may not notice the dishwasher. I switched out the black front panel for the stainless one. That was pretty fun except for the cut I got on my knee while doing it. I ended up bleeding all over my shorts, but not on the floor, so that's nice. Oh, you might also notice there's only one panel on the back of the island. That's because the cabinet guys are coming out to install some corbels (to support the granite). They'll be here Monday. The electrician is coming out Saturday to install some lights over the island, and I'm installing some grey outlets and stainless covers to wrap it all up.
The cabinet guys were out here about a week ago to do the butler's pantry cabinets. The electrician needs to do a bit still here, and we're waiting for the handles to come in, but we think it looks great. We're thinking that we might stain the wooden panels in the refrigerators the same color as the cabinets. The backsplash is being installed tomorrow.

The biggest news is that we have the floors in the main living areas done, so we don't have to walk around in slippers anymore. It's so nice.