Learning to love home

Vocab Words?

learningtolovehome — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:02:00 +0000

Just random things we are doing here.

attentiveness (noun) at.ten.tive.ness

alertness (noun) a.lert.ness

availability (noun) a.vail.a.bil.i.ity

boldness (noun) bold.ness

cautiousness (noun) cau.tious.ness

compassion (noun) com.pas.sion

contentment (noun) con.tent.ment

creativity (noun) cre.a.tivity

decisiveness (noun) de.ci.sive.ness

Present Day Kitchen

learningtolovehome — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:40:31 +0000

I have been extremely lazy about updating the blog lately. No excuses, I will do better. This is the current condition the kitchen sits in. We have a lot of other projects going on at the same time, so the kitchen has been put on hold once again. At least we have a working kitchen which is a huge blessing.

These cabinets are Ikea Adel in white. At first I was disappointed that the budget only allowed for these. We checked Home Depot, Lowes and a few other places but theirs were expensive for us right now. Home Depot use to sell European style cabinets but has since discontinued them. We wanted frameless cabinets because of the look and also the ease of cleaning them. Now that the Ikea cabinets have been installed, I must say, I really like them. The dirt comes right off. No scrubbing. With people cabinet height running around in a white kitchen, that is a huge plus.

View of kitchen from main hallway step

View from dining area

I must admit, it looks a bit plain. More modern than I really wanted but we are missing a few elements. Window and door trim, baseboard, window treatments, a larger fridge, under counter trim and lights, hood installed and tile. Right now we also have our living room in the dining area which is crowded and messy. One day it will be done but not this month.

Johannes 1,1-5

learningtolovehome — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:50:21 +0000

Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und das Wort war Gott. Im Amfang war es bei Gott. Alles ist durch das Wort geworden, und ohne das Wort wurde nichts, was geworden ist. In ihm war das Leben, und das Leben war das Licht der Menschen. Und das Licht leuchtet in der Finsternis, und die Finsternis hat es nicht erfasst.

Kitchen update 2

learningtolovehome — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 19:55:52 +0000

Messy view of starting point

Another messy view

New kitchen area

Here is the starting point from last weekend. The after pictures are from 2 days worth of work. No work this week or weekend. We are taking a much needed break.
After photos

View from new hallway

View from entry hallway

View from dining area

New kitchen

Kitchen update 1

learningtolovehome — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:02:41 +0000

We left the kitchen in a state of framing because of the garage must be done issue. So here are the update kitchen pictures finally. We still have a lot more to do but it at least looks like a kitchen.

View of dining area

Back kitchen wall

View of ceiling and wall

Back kitchen wall toward main hallway

Drywall in kitchen area

Another view of kitchen area

Ditra on the floor

Beginning tiling

The floor tiling had to be completed over two Saturdays because it was to much to do in one day. We were worried about it having a dip in the floor because of the older tile drying and sinking a bit but it turned out better than we thought. No dips in the floor between the older and the newer. Yah!

Garage

learningtolovehome — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:05:45 +0000

Months ago the city wanted us to start on the garage in order to finish the kitchen. There was a small area over the kitchen roof line which would change. We wanted it added on when we completed the garage but the city would not agree. So the unexpected expense hit us rather hard and all the extra work. They knew we wanted to wait until last for the garage but do they care? No, apparently not. Here is the progress pictures of our new garage.

Old garage

The old garage could not fit two cars in it. The workerman wanted room for his cabinets and tools plus the washer and dry are located out there. The new garage has 2′ add onto the side and 5′ added to the front of it.

Old wall between garage and kitchen

Notice the illegal waste, gas and water pipes running along the floor.

Side of garage

Only half of the garage had drywall and there was a fake ceiling in it. The fake ceiling was sloping because it was only held up by 2×4′s. It was only a matter of time before it collapsed.

Side of garage

The strange side door was explained to us by a neighbor. They rented out the drywall half of the garage. That explains the drywall, window, strange door, painted floor and fake ceiling. It is not heated or cooled out there, so it could not have been comfortable.

Old garage destroyed

The destroying part was easy. It was the inspection of the framing which drove us crazy. The city nit picked everything, would not admit when they were wrong, drawing changes for the structural engineer and a complete headache for us because it is still not finished. We have to correct two small things then the drywall can be signed off. The shear walls and plywood siding still needs paper which we will not get to for a couple of more weeks. The kitchen is our big concern since it has been unreasonably long since we had one.

New foundation & beginning framing

Shear wall between garage and kitchen

Outside framing almost finished

Framing for side of new roof gable

Interior of garage

Another shear wall inside the garage with plywood panels

Work in progress

Beginning drywall

Outside of new garage

The garage is filled up with plywood and wood for the next project, so it might be awhile before it is completely finish. We still have siding to put on and other rooms demo. We have to redo part of a finished bedroom because it needs shear walls which was not in the original plans last year.

Exhausted

learningtolovehome — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:01:27 +0000

Things have been exhausting around here lately. It is hard work letting God knit together another little person to run around the house. Eight more weeks to go. Praise God!!

Getting ready for the new little one is difficult. Organizing is not going well at this point. The kitchen should be ready by next week. At least the tile, baseboards, cabinets and stove. By the beginning a February almost everything should be in place. Then we will be working on a new hallway to the bedrooms, main hallway, shears walls and beams to support the roof and new living room. Still alot more work to do. We look forward to taking a break in the middle of March until the end of April.

Making curtains

learningtolovehome — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:07:00 +0000

I tried for the first time to make curtains. Let’s just say we cannot afford $1,000.00 for three sets of curtains. We need several sets for bedrooms, living rooms and the kitchen/dining area. I am not a good sewer at all. I found directions online and read them several times (still did it wrong) but here we have curtains. It looks good enough. Here is a sample of the curtains I made.

This is the start of the second set. For some strange reason my camera will not let me upload the first set I made. When the problem is corrected, the first set will be posted.

home made curtains

Entry hall old, bedroom and old living room

learningtolovehome — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:13:15 +0000

Since the kitchen is on hold once again we have moved onto the living room and old bedroom. The living room becomes a bedroom; the front door is moved to the area where the small window is located; the old bedroom changes into the principal bedroom and the wall connecting the two room moves about two feet into the old living room.

The pictures of the old rooms look nice. However, in reality it did not look nice. The windows are bad, there were gaps in the wood floor and they were badly scratched. The fireplace is huge and we had two dead spaces that we did not know what to do with. They drywall is actaully thin stucco and difficult to take down. Mold was hidden, frayed wires were exposed and supporting beams were cut. It may look pretty but how long would it have lasted?

View of front door

Living room front window

The plan calls for new walls, shear walls, anchor bolts, holdowns and ceiling joist. That very big fireplace must be removed also.

Fire place

Dead space next to front door leading to kitchen

View of living room and old bedroom

Kitchen progress

learningtolovehome — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:17:58 +0000

We are actually further along than the pictures indicate. This is the rough framing, electrical and plumbing are done. We are in fact actually done but I forgot to take pictures and the room is filled with stuff from the garage now. No pictures until that is cleaned up.

View from steps of kitchen area

Are we finally getting a kitchen? NO! We found out that the city wants us to put on the new framing for the garage and kitchen roof. The new kitchen framing goes on top of the old roof and covers only part of the kitchen. It does not matter to them that they can only see the new kitchen framing from the outside. So, that means we had to knock down the old garage and reframe the roof. Another game played by the city.

View of dinning room area

The garage involves pouring new footers, extending the side and front of the garage, pouring a new concrete floor, framing, shear walls, new roof with tiles, garage door and drywall. Any chance this can get done by Christimas? No! Can I get a washer and dryer in the half framed garage? That would be a great gift for Christmas.