Before the lumber arrived

We have a bit of catching up to do here.  We just posted about the shop, but before the big delivery arrived this is what we were up to.

We have discovered that for every seemingly simple project, there are usually 5 or 6 others that need to get done first.  Actually, we already knew about this phenomenon, but it has really come to the forefront lately.  That's what happened when we were trying to prepare for our final inspection so our contractors could get their final paycheck and we could move in.  Concurrently we were trying to make space for the lumber, prepare for the arrival of appliances and get ready to move in.  It can start to be maddening.

For example, in order to prepare for the arriving lumber and table saw, we determined that we needed to paint or else we might get stuck with a brown shop for the next ten years.  Before we could paint we needed to patch the holes in the walls.  Of course, the holes in the wall were big enough that they required drywall patches so we couldn't just spackle, we had to cut the drywall.  But before we could cut the drywall we needed to make the holes bigger so that we had studs or joists to tie into.  We did a good chunk of that during the week before the big lumber and saw delivery.  Thankfully we had a lot of help from my mom who came down on Thursday with (no joke) a suitcase full of rags.

We didn't manage to get it all painted, but we did get two coats of primer on two of the walls - what a difference that made.

Mom convinced us that we should get the laundry room painted at the same time so it would be done before the washer and dryer arrived.  Again, we didn't get all of it done, but made some serious progress (I think the second photo was taken before we got a second coat on).

Earlier that same week, I sanded down our countertops so that we could refinish them before we moved in.  Most of the sanding went well and I even saved the smallest section for last.  Then I started on that last little section.  See the little counter tucked in the corner?  That was the culprit.

I started in on it and promptly went through about 8 discs of sandpaper.  At first we thought that it was a different type of finish.  Then we thought that maybe they had used some type of wood-penetrating finish that they had done a really bad job of applying (it didn't seem too far out there given the state of other things in the house).  Then Tom looked at the counter-top, the range hood and backsplash and put it together - they did a ton of deep frying.  The worst spot was on the corner right next to the stove.  The oil had just soaked into it (you can see the really nicely oiled spot in the photo too).  At that point I decided that I'd had enough of the sanding - so we flipped the counter top.

Tom started finishing them with Danish Oil that weekend.  They look so much better.  We still don't want wooden countertops, but they aren't completely disgusting anymore.

Before:

After:

`In preparation for our final inspection, Tom closed up the hole in the doorway between the kitchen and shop.  As it turned out, our FHA consultant wouldn't have cared if it was open but, for now, it is nice to have closed up while we are running around doing other things.  At some point we'll get to rebuilding that whole doorway and hanging doors so we aren't going to bother spackling.

Mom cleaning up around the open doorway.  What you can't see is that the entire panel on the kitchen side has been removed.

This came out of that door frame.

Newly enclosed.

So there was that picture of Mom cleaning up around the doorway.  Well, she went to town on the kitchen.  She scrubbed cabinets and floors and pretty much every other surface in the place.  It all looks so much better.  She also worked a miracle on the first floor toilet.  Our plumber had his doubts that it would clean up and even Mom did, but we can hold off on replacing it for a while longer - yay!

Here's a before shot:

I don't have an after, but I'm pretty sure you all know what a clean toilet looks like.

I can't really remember what else we did that week, but we got a lot done.  When we weren't at the house, we were back at our apartment packing and loading up the car.  Tom figured out that he could hop the curb with his car and park right outside our patio door - pretty sweet!  We got some strange looks from the neighbors - oh well.

More to come soon...