Topic: Dining Room Upgrade

[Jim]

Sarah, do you have any Habitat For Humanity stores in your area?  Around here they are really good places to find building materials and hardware.

[landofoz]

Jim, gosh, thanks so much!  There is one in Wichita.  We have to go to Wichita to rent the sander anyway, so maybe we'll pick up a door while we're at it. 

[landofoz]

I'd post a pic, but really it's just a hole with mud on it and I'm sure we've all seen one of those.  Adam didn't get much done yesterday.  We were planned to have the painting finished, have the beadboard up, and be deciding on a plan of attack for the floor but instead, he hasn't even finished mudding.  He also doesn't understand the mudding process, and instead just adds more and more and more and it is slowly taking up the whole entire wall.  Every time I offer up a suggestion or to help, he gets very defensive and starts shouting.  Which is exactly why it's been 7 years.  I hate doing projects with him 'cause he is ALWAYS right.  Doesn't matter what the experts say, or the label on the product, he knows what he's doing but just can't figure out why it isn't working right. 

It also doesn't help that we were up until 2 last night.  Why you may ask?  Well, we put in a movie at 11 'cause I was told, once the mud dried I could put up some primer and be ready for painting this morning.  But, oh no, once the movie is over, I had to spray paint a project that he was supposed to have done May 19th 'cause the project is in his way.  Whatever.  Word of advice: don't spray paint in a tiny house with just the a/c for ventilation.  He's like a kid, don't expect anything that requires a long attention span to be completed, don't expect it done right, and certainly don't expect a good attitude once the fun and newness wears off.  The rest of the projects I'm doing myself. 

[Tina]

Oh, Sarah. I can feel for you. John and I did not work well together at all. I don't have the restrictions of working with or around him any more but I don't recommend the solution that freed up my going on my way.
I do understand your problem though. I have a bunch of unfinished projects to finish or have finished or change.

[Penny]

I like the color you chose Sarah, but i dont know about a room that size though.

I'm lucky that i work well with Brad, and there isnt much that he cant do(electrical, plumbing, building, painting, framing, wiring...you name it), my problem is that everyone knows that he can do it, so he gets pulled off a job to help someone else...which is why when he starts our roof in a few days.....he's been WARNED!!!!!

[landofoz]

Well, we got primer up yesterday and even got the horrible brown faux wood on the trim covered with a hide-all primer.  Thank god for that stuff.  I love the flat gray color.  Once we get a new house, it will be my bedroom color.  I really like gray as a wall color.  Or maybe it's just that I like how much better the walls look with some sort of color on them.    This is where we are at as of this morning:



Adam doesn't think we need to replace the back door and I didn't think the window needed to be replaced, it just needs some caulking.  So we gave up both of those projects.  (I still think we need a new door but Adam says we probably won't recoup our expense on it.)  Taking out the window was more extensive and boring than Adam had anticipated.  

Penny, I'd work great with Adam if he knew what he was doing or if he was willing to listen and learn from others.  


**edit**  What kind of curtains would you put up?  We have black-out roller shades everywhere else, so I'm going to use one of those in white but I'll need a valance or a curtain.  All my curtains are tab tops, so I was thinking of just a simple tab-top white curtain??  Is that too plain/simple?  I don't want anything that will be hard to wash, as it is just off my kitchen.

[bestofour]

is your whole house 600 sq feet?

[landofoz]

Yup.  It is.


Upon closer inspection all of the mud around the tape has cracked.  My Dad happened to call when I noticed and I explained it to him.  He said that we needed to use a finishing coat of powdered drywall compound, mix it up, and put it on nice a thin.  He said the premade stuff doesn't work well with paper tape, that takes too long to dry.  Hopefully we can lightly sand (emphasis on lightly 'cause I just finished dusting today!) and put on this stuff.  Adam is off buying it now.  If it dries fast enough, we're still hoping to paint this evening.  With the a/c out, I'm sure it will!!

[landofoz]

Paint ceiling (apparently it's yellowy).
Replace light (it's also colors everything yellow and dirty).
Sand, stain, and poly kitchen and dining room.
Paint walls Martha Stewart Blue Ticking.
Apply beadboard, with new bottom trim.  Paint white.
Remove window on North wall (to the right of the door).
Insulate stinking north wall (I can't believe it's not insulated!!!)

Well, this is what the new list looks like with the stuff we've done struck out.  Will get some pics tomorrow when the paint is dry.   

[landofoz]

Here are the pics.  I loved the color in the can but hated the first bits on the wall.  Once we got everything painted, though, I really like it.  The camera makes it a bit bluer than it really is.  I think it gives the room a spacious feeling - like being surrounded by a big blue sky.

[Tina]

It does look like blue sky and roomy, Sarah. Good job.

[Triss]

Very pretty!

[bestofour]

you've gotten a lot accomplished in a short amount of time.

I looked at the outside of your house with the garage and it looks bigger than 600 sq ft.

Have you already found another one to buy?

[bestofour]

I think you're right in going with a simple window treatment.  You want the rooms to look as open and bright as possible.

My daughter's entire house is painted gray.  It looks great.

[Dianna]

The blue looks lighter on the wall than what I expected. It is very pretty. Can't wait to see it all finished!

[landofoz]

I should specify that it's 600 sq ft of livable space.  The garage is a little more than half the size of our house.  We haven't found another house but we're looking.  We're 26 and Adam wants to find the house he's going to die in.  I think it's ridiculous!  So we're looking for "the perfect house" while we make this one nicer and more ready for sale.

Depending on the light, the color can range from blue to purpley.  I find it annoying.  I hope that with the white wainscotting it will help with that.

We didn't do anything tonight; Adam needs to go to bed before midnight or 1am at least one night this week!!

[bestofour]

I know people who have lived in the same house forever.  If a job doesn't move you Adam may actually be in the next house forever so make it a good one.

[landofoz]

Adam doesn't have any plans of leaving his job, unless one of equal value showed up in N. Carolina--he'd be on the next plane out!! 

[bestofour]

NC is good.

[landofoz]

Adam sure thinks NC is good!

Last night we went to Lowe's and picked out our trims (2 for the bottom and one for the top), it took us over an hour!!  Since we weren't home until after 9pm, we decided on a short project -- putting another coat of paint on the ceiling.  It is now officially white no more eeewwwy yellow!!

Today I think Adam plans on buying fireworks and installing all of the white switches, etc and the new light.

[landofoz]

On the 4th, Adam (with a tiny bit of help from me) installed the white light switches, covers, and the new light.  He also drove out to Wichita and picked up a sander for the floor.  What a bear!  It was extremely heavy thus difficult to get inside and once we got it in here, we discovered that the tar-based adhesive used to glue down the floor, just smeared into a thick gum onto the floor.  So we researched it on the internet and used mineral spirits in a spot to dissolve the glue.  It was after working this way for almost 2 hours that we made a chance discovery: a 1 inch paint scraper works much quicker at removing the glue without the use of mineral spirits.  Unfortunately, this requires lots of re-sharpening of the blades, and going over each board 20-30 times.  We were up until 4am scraping the floor and got about half way done.  Then up at 9 and scraped until around noon.  We spend almost 6 hours sanding everything down -- apparently prior to being glued, someone viciously took a sander to the floor.  I held the power cord out of the way while Adam sanded and sanded and sanded.  We need to take the sander back tonight and then we're going to see my sister who is  treating us to dinner.     I'm famished.  I'll post up some pics tomorrow or later tonight.  I need to wake up Adam, so we can head out.

[bestofour]

Jeepers Adam works fast.  Nice of your sister.

[UNCLEG]

Used building materials....do you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore.  Sometimes they have good used building materials for a fraction of cost.

[Jim]

Sarah, do you have any Habitat For Humanity stores in your area?  Around here they are really good places to find building materials and hardware.

Guess you missed this post huh Uncle G?

[landofoz]

I forgot to mention that we did discover that a) the floor in the kitchen is so unlevel that someone covered a good deal of the floor in grout to level it B) that there is severe water damage to the kitchen floor and c) that they a large (like 18 x ??) section of the kitchen floor with particle board sub-flooring.  The kitchen will not be salvagable.  So we'll have to go the laminate route.  And after so many hours of scraping the small dining room, we're not too upset.  On to the pics, hopefully you can see the glue that was on the floor in the first one.  The second is the beautiful floor all sanded and glorious.