WEEK 7 of Remodel a Home and Don't Divorce or Die Doing it...

WEEK 7
4 July thru 10 July 2011

Happy Independence Day...Today is another day that rings home to you what our Troops and Families sacrifice for this country...God Bless you all and Thank You for what you do each and every day.  Please keep our Military and their Families in your prayers, not just on special days but every day.  Their sacrifice is what allows us to enjoy our Freedom in this glorious country...


Well it was up and at them as they say..Sale, Sale, Sale

Home Depot was our first stop. We are extending the kitchen and need more cabinets. Since we have to try and match up the stain color, we decided to go with the unfinished oak. They were 20% off and you can't beat that.
George and I went our separate ways as always in the store, each with our own mission.
I was in charge of the cabinets and George was picking up the Engineered beams we needed for the opening in the kitchen and den.  The staff in home Depot were fabulous.  I had four staff all with carts.  They asked what I wanted and they loaded all the carts and then took them to the register.  We also picked up our new front door and liquid level for the floors.
The lady at the paint department, Debi is absolutely fantastic. She walked me through the process of picking out the stain for the Fiber glass door and how to stain and finish it. I was going to get the stain for the kitchen cabinets also but since we were matching up the color to our existing cabinets, Debi suggested that it would be better to bring an existing door in to match the color before picking the stain.

George hired the truck again and then the staff helped load it up and the extra supplies we loaded on George's truck so we didn't have to make two trips.  Home Depot is on point for customer service.  Don't get me wrong they have a few employees who don't do the store justice, like the cashier who was checking us out.  The only thing she was concerned about after my husband showed her his ID, was that she wanted to make sure we did NOT get the 10% military discount on the already 20% off cabinets.  She asked a few employees if the computer/register would only take the 10% off everything except the cabinets. To make a long story short, we got the additional 10% just like you get in Lowe's even if something is already on sale..A few bad apples will not spoil my view of Home Depot..They Rock...






I got to drive George's truck..whoop..whoop. The last truck he bought was a stick shift and I can't drive one of them..Automatic is the only way to go..

My new front door...love it and it is not even stained or installed yet..

The Texas Star..you can only buy this design in Texas, go figure...I would love it even if I didn't live in Texas..

After we unloaded the truck we headed out to Ashley furniture, so I could show George the New dining room table and chairs I had picked out. I could not believe it was closed. Oh well, I guess that is not the set for me then. Luckily we have plenty time, since we will not be finished anytime soon and it is probably better I wait until all our household goods are delivered and see what will fit...yikes..

Dropped the truck off at Home Depot and headed to Walmart

thttp://www.walmart.com/ to pick up a few things.

We had some lunch at McDonald's

http://www.mcdonalds.com ..Sometimes you just need some Fatty food...I will pay later..


We were wiped out when we got home. Time for a nap..
We still had some hours in the day so when we woke up,George took down all the cable from outside and finished the sub floor in the living room.

I moved all the supplies from the area in the kitchen to the living room since the sub floor was now complete.

I was then able to position all the cabinets in the extra kitchen area.

Time to call it a day...

They are starting the siding today and boy it is hot outside..

 

George was still home since it was a four day weekend, so I headed out to have lunch with my friend Darlene at the Red Onion .  It's always great to catch up and have yummy food.  Thanks Darlene..

After lunch, with my kitchen door in hand I headed to Home Depot to see Debi about some stain for the kitchen cabinets. I am so glad I took her advice and brought a door with me.  I was convinced the color on the doors was red oak when in fact it was Cherry.

When  I got home the guys were still working on the siding..

When we had our cable connected we had problems from the get go.  Well last week Time Warner fixed the cable but said they would send a contractor out to bury the cable in the yard.

Well the contractor showed up today with a shovel in hand. 

What a bloody joke.  He was complaining the ground was too hard and tried to tell George that the tip of his finger was 6ins and that's the depths he had to bury the cable. Laughing at George was a big mistake. George was HOT..The guy pretty much just put some dirt over the cable and left.  George called Time Warner and complained.  They said the contractor is suppose to use a trench digger to bury the cable not a SHOVEL.  They would send someone else out.  

Just because it was my birthday did not mean a thing.  Got to get to work on doing something since George is back at work..  I decided to plant the two Chinese Wisteria vines I bought.

I am going to see how these do before I buy anymore.  My plan is to cover the ugly fence with the vines.  It should look pretty with their blue flowers when they bloom.

It gets hot quick outside so time to move indoors and start the staining of the kitchen cabinets.  It took a while to get all the doors and drawers off and prepare to stain.

I am using  a Cherry Minwax Stain and will seal with the clear Lacquer  http://www.minwax.com/

Other tools you will need

Now when I started the staining I was using latex gloves.  I was constantly having to change them out as they seemed to fall apart within a few hours but after I ran out, I picked up vinyl ones at Walmrt.  Wish I had went for the vinyl to start with...I am still using my first pair and  I bought a box of 100....I guess I will have this box for years to come.

latex versus vinyl

First coat of stain

The guys were working hard outside in the heat on the siding..I feel so bad

Late in the afternoon not that long after George got home , we got a few visitors from Home Depot.

I thought they were here to wish me Happy Birthday...NOT...

They brought the big guns from the store because they are trying to get the issue of the lead paint resolved...

I must admit Home Depot has been a joy to work with..I won't go into the details because it is long and drawn out but I will say a huge thank you to Jackie the Field Inspector and Glen for working the issue and getting it resolved and saving us paying nearly $700 for nothing...They did all wish me a Happy Birthday before they left..

After they left I lay down for a nap since we were going out to celebrate.  Well I never woke up until late and I couldn't be bothered doing anything at that point. 

While I was sleeping there had been a delivery..

Flowers from my friend Sabina...she is one in a million.  Thank you...

They are the most beautiful thing in the house and the most sweet smelling...I smell like an old corpse most of the time...

George made me pizza for dinner and another day comes to a close.

It's Thursday and the contractors thinks they will get the siding finished today.  All I can say is they were a great team and very hard workers.  I don't know if i could be working out in that heat...

They worked well into the night and it was dark and late when they got finished.  They cleaned every inch of the work site..wish Clarence done that with the concrete..

I had been working on staining all day.

Day two of staining.  Can I say this is sheer monotony...

All my siding is up and painted.  What a relief.

Nasty and Old

New and Clean

Old

New

In the process

finished

I am so glad that all the worn siding and peeling paint is gone and replaced with Hardie Cement Fiber Siding Board and Glidden Paint from Home Depot.  The main siding was painted in a Neutral Wheat and the Trim was painted Beachcomber.  Home Depot contract the jobs out to local Contractors that meet their standards and their work and the products are all guaranteed.  Thanks to Maldo's Remodeling Company for all their hard work.  They were professional and a great team of workers.

I spent Friday finishing the second coat of stain on the cabinets.  It is painstaking..

When George came home from work we got ready and went to the Soldier Show on Post...it was disappointing so we left and went to Applebee's.  Dinner and a Bahama Mamma and home....

I relaxed and watched TV and ended up, out like a light.  I think it was the Mucho Bahama Mamma that caused it...

George got to work finishing the Master Bedroom Sub floor and finished up the Framing...

Here comes the weekend and George is home.  I feel bad that he is back at work all week and his weekends are taken up working on the house.  Hopefully we will finish soon and get back to enjoying some down time.

I had to take the pot stands with wheels back to Walmart. They were useless.  They are suppose to hold 180lbs.  One broke and the other cracked..Rubbish  
I left George up in the attic moving insulation in preparation of us installing the Attic ladder...I hope he doesn't fall through the ceiling while I am gone.

After lunch George started removing the ceiling drywall.

Another hole...

Another Hole

This is the Attic ladder to be installed

Now you are wondering how in the hell is that ladder going up there if George is going to be in the Attic.  Needless to say it would be me carrying the weight on my shoulders....

Well my head actually.  I was not looking forward to doing this only because I had to balance on the two beams that were supported by the ladder.  It was not a long way down if I fell, it would have just killed me if the ladder came down with me..

George had it worse since it was 110 in the attic.  It was awkward to balance this on my head and listen to George asking if it was level with the existing ceiling, so he could nail it into place. It was not the plan to balance this on my head, it just happened to turn out that way. 

We did get it nailed in quickly to hold it in place until George made the final adjustments.  

I would not recommend installing it by balancing on your head but get another few pair of hands to help.

I helped with the finishing touches to secure the ladder in place. George measured the area and I helped cut the wood to fill in the sides..

I can say that this is the only hole that has been opened and closed up in the same day...

 I left the sweeping up to my hubby..

Check out his little head light...it has came in handy during this project..

Another Day and Another dollar to spend.  We were up early and out to Lowe's...had to pick up the electrical sockets..boy am I glad we went.  Struck Gold.

Another closet organizer on SALE.  Original cost $360, on sale for $36..REALLY.. I called George because he was at the other end of the store and they only had one left and I didn't want anyone else snatching it up...

George brought a trolley but still didn't believe that was the price..it sure was....

It has Shelves, 3 Drawers and three poles for hanging clothes.  It will be perfect for one of the Guest Bedroom Closet..

It was heavy so we got it home that we opened the box and unloaded it in pieces.  My idea...lol

My day of bargain shopping was not done.  I needed more plant pots for the plants I bought last week so I took George's truck and headed to the PX.

The ones I wanted were not marked and there were three of them wrapped together.  I took one set up to the guy at the register.  He told me they were individually priced and were not a set.  Good because I just needed the large one.  He gave me the price and told me , I would get 50% off...Yippee 

I went back in and got 5 more and brought an even larger one in a different design for him to check the price.  That also had 50% off but there were none out on the floor.  There was a pallet of them on the top shelf in the Outdoor section outside.  I told him I wanted four of that size also. I paid for my bargains and then went and got something to drink and a cig while I waited for the forklift driver to come take the pots down....Another great find...

George had been busy moving all the wood from the floor in the master bedroom.   It's now in a messy heap outside.  I guess I will be cleaning that up before Perry comes to get the trash.

It was blazing hot outside, so I decided to take a nap..let's say George is not twinkle toes. 

He was working on the electricity and trying to find the circuits with yet another new toy.

It beeps loudly especially when you are trying to sleep..

Forget it, I might as well be awake and do something productive.   I played catch up putting our receipts into the project worksheet..

I would fill the pots when the sun went down...

 

 I also moved some of the dirt from the mound out back although it does not look like it and started clearing out the wood pile using my lovely wheelbarrow...

I have also been clearing out the concrete chips that Clarence left in among my rocks...his pile will be waiting for him next week when he comes back to finish the driveway.

...

Another week comes to a close and we are a wee bit further forward and closer to the end of the project...

What I have learned this Week...

It is Hotter than Hell in Texas.

A Siesta should be mandatory like other countries..

When it is the hottest part of the day.  Stop, lie down and take a NAP...

When you don't agree with a decision from a contractor or store and you know in your heart you are right, take your concern to the next level.. BE NICE and it will eventually get fixed.

My head is stronger than I thought...

Shop around there are bargains to be found out there..

Every contractor has an employee who feels the need to take a dump in your only working bathroom before they start the day...can you not do that at home before coming to my house...lol

Most of all

Our Freedom is never Free

Thank a soldier and their families when you see them for all they do for our Nation...

Please feel free to share or post your comments...

Until next time...