Remodel Stress

We all manage stress differently. 

I get outwardly stressed. Sure, call it bitchy if you want.

Josh? He is calm. He knows everything will be fine and reassures me. His back just hurts. 

And when he tries to heat up a hot pack in our crappy microwave and the buttons don’t work decides to slash the button control panel with a knife.

Then I release my stress by laughing uncontrollably for several minutes and even while writing this.

Still laughing.

 

Additional Resources:

Ewave Microwaves are junk

Crazy Quiet House

 

This morning I snuck out of the house at 5:50 am and jumped in my friend Karyn’s car. Normally we walk to Jamie Atlas’ ski conditioning class (just 10 blocks away) but today even the snow had frost on it. Brrrrr.

An hour later I return to find that the kids (niece and nephew) were still asleep.

The taxi to the airport arrived at 8:30 am and the last of our 9 family visitors departed.

Now only the lonely sounds of the washer and dryer keep me company, at least for now. The inspector for our new electrical work and the carpenter will be over before the end of the day. 

We enjoyed the time we spend with family and friends this holiday season and are VERY thankful for all their work and company! This was a really fantastic holiday season!

 

 

Dec 24, 2008 Josh and our friend Mike take down the scaffolding in the evening!

Dec 25, 2008 Men's Sewing Circle (stringing cable railing) and mom cleaning a mop

 

Grauer Family Christmas Eve 2008

Cooking Christmas Eve Meal at the Grauer House

Mom and Josh making gravy

Pop cutting while brother, Jochen, samples the lamb he cooked

Mom and Henry... even the cats had bows on them

 

Dec 27, 2008 We put Hadley and Guntra (Josh's brother and sister-in-law) right to work

 

Harry (Josh's brother-in-law) and Josh hang the bathroom doors on barn railings.

Dec 31, 2008 Watching the Monster Production: Guntra, Libby, Gene, Dan

The Monster Production

Writers, producers, and voices for the Monster Production: Hilda and Charlie

Chef Charlie of Charlie's Diner

Gene and Josh work on the railing while Hadley takes a snack break.

Libby and Guntra (Gene in the background)

Mimi (Josh's sister) and Hadley (Josh's brother) unpack old wine

 

Hilda and her Uncle Dan

 

Guntra, Libby and Jen (inside the bathroom) remove blue tape from the bathroom doors

 

Josh is exhausted!

 

Jen and Josh enjoying their new upstairs space with Gene (Josh's dad) and Libby (Gene's wife).

Libby and Gene (aka Grandmamama and Gumpy)

Happy Holidays 2008

 

Hope your holiday season continues to be fabulous!

For the Solstice and Hanukkah weekend we escaped the house remodel and went to Santa Monica, California for Josh’s cousin’s wedding. The weather was fantastic and I also got to see my cousins and a friend, Mary, whom I went to school with in Alaska. 

Josh and I are STILL trying to get phase one of our remodel completed.

The evening of Dec 24th Josh and I spent at my parents and my brother… who actually came down from the mountains despite all the nice new snow. If he hadn’t agreed to bring the lamb for dinner we might not have seen him. Ha! 

Dec 25th and 26th my parents (and our friend Mike) came over and helped us with the house. In a matter of days we went from construction zone to clean and livable (although not complete). There is no way we would have been ready for visitors without their help.

Last night, Dec 28, I finally put up a few decorations with the help of Libby and Guntra (Josh’s family). Josh, his brother Hadley, and our friend mike, worked on stringing cable in the railing frames. Today the remaining five family members show up, including a 10 and 7 year old so we really hope to have railing installed before they arrive.

Today a whole bunch of contractors show up ( tile guy, glass guy, carpenters, plumbers) to entertain our ten house guests with a show called “A Taste of What Life Has Been Like at the Raleigh House The Last 6 Months But Without All the Plastic, Dirt and Dust.” 

Have a fun New Years Eve!

Custom Made Cherry Bathroom Vanity

Yesterday the carpenters brought over our custom made cherry bathroom table/vanity so the painters can put a finish coat on it! 

It’s HUGE!

I had sketched out the basic design, decided on a few measurements and our carpenters, Joe and Collin, made it happen. 

It’s GORGEOUS!

One of two bathroom sinks on the vanity.

Vanity without the necessary plumbing holes, yet.

 

Post-Modern Remodel Construction Zone Video

Taking our Sloan’s Lake (NW  Denver) home from “1990s Oak Express” to Post-Modern:

1. New exterior  (See pictures before and after pictures.)

2. New open steel stairs with 3.5″ cherry treads

3. New bathroom with stainless steel accent tiles 

4. Rounded corners replaced with 90 degree angles

5. Knock-down texture replaced with a hybrid of hand trowel and smooth

6. 3.5″ squared baseboard and trim all painted the color of the walls

5. Can/ recessed lights

6. Divided glass doors and windows replaced with glass doors and non-divided windows

Expected date of completion for phase I? December 24, 2008

Denver Modern Remodel Gets Drywall

Before and after remodeling pictures and drywall advice and tips…

The first picture is the Raleigh House in Denver Highlands before we began remodeling the upstairs. It is rare to find a vaulted ceiling in the Sloan’s Lake / NW Denver area. About five years ago this home was “exploded” from it’s original 1949 brick ranch… a “fix and flip” by a guy who still lives in the neighborhood.

I do not recommend buying a fix and flip. Before buying a “recently remodeled” house, find out how long the remodeler lived there. A quality remodel is more likely if the home was owned for at least two years by the owner who had the work completed.

When we purchased the house the stairs inside only led to a small carpeted loft “sitting room”. Wooden doors on either side led to unfinished rooms…plywood floors, exposed framing, no windows and limited electricity. 

Terry Bickford before he tears out the wall

 

The additional bathroom was to be built in the large unfinished room but decided against it as having the bathroom door right next to the TV was pretty unappealing. The bathroom was redesigned and moved to the loft area. 

Wall down, door framed (far back wall), bathroom framed (right)

 

Below, the drywall has been put in place. It is finally starting to look like a house again! 

Drywall in & Josh mudding the bathroom seams.

Drywall advice:

1. Hire someone!

2. Write out a list of everything you need completed, including protective coverings and clean up. 

3. Get at least three bids (ours ranged from $2600-$7500 for the same job)
     -Ask for a recommendation from friends and family
     -Check Angie’s List for A+ contractors (that’s how we found Torress Drywall 303.358.9248)

4. After at least three companies/contractors walk through the house with you, add to/revise your list (it is amazing what you learn from these contractors by the questions they ask)

5. Make sure that you give this list to the drywall boss to make sure expectations are set before work begins

6. Mark outlets and electrical fixture hook-ups that you don’t want drywalled over. Do it and talk to the head guy about talking to his guys about it.

7. Make sure to get an inspection on the drywall before tape and mud are applied. The inspector wants to see that enough screws were put in and in the right places. (Do you have a permit to do the work? You should.) 

8. Make a payment AFTER all work is complete and satisfactory.

 

Additional Notes:

* 5/8 inch drywall thickness is for the ceiling
* 1/2 inch for the walls 
* A carpenter or the drywall guys (ask first and put it in writing) will need to make sure the walls have the proper supports for drywall to be attached 
* 12″ between studs on bathroom ceilings with cement board and tile 

Other remodeling related posts of our home:

Bang, Bang, Bang 
Two Reasons to Pay Construction Contractors  
Skylight Drama   
Hallelujah    
Wrong House Color    
Hard Work Fun   
Bye-bye Bad Band   
Game: Find five things that are different    
The Cave

Recommended Denver Area Remodeling/New Construction Contractors:

Stucco
Denver Custom Plastering
Robert Davey 303.627.0066

Drywall
Torres Drywall
Marcello Torres 303.358.9248

Electrical
Cell Electric
Joe Boyd 720.989.7465

Click here to receive email updates every Thursday on remodeling advice and tips.

Car Napping

Have you ever fallen asleep in your car?

Getting a couple shut-eyes at a stop light is the best! Every few seconds opening one eye to see if the light has turned green to avoid getting honked at by the guy behind you. 

Camping in the car is easier than pitching a tent, safe from fire ants, but a real drag when the KOA attendent wakes you up by knocking on your window, insisting you to move out of the RV drive through lane, then proceeds to hunt you down in the bathroom to make sure you aren’t using their showers. 

Reclining in the car is perfect for road trips, especially when the sun starts rising after an all nighter, you are only a few miles from your cousin’s house, but just cannot keep your eyes open any longer.

A fat nap in the car is a welcome relief just 40 minutes from college campus, after finals, and on the way home for the holidays. The extended “detour” causes you to be home later than your mom expects so when you walk in the door you get the standard lecture about how she was just about to call out the national guard to find you. Oh, those crazy days before cell phones. Remember those?

Getting a little shut-eye at a rest stop 20 minutes out of town, then 15 minutes later at a convenience store, then 10 minutes later at a deserted exit next to a railroad crossing, and finally forcing yourself to driving while fighting off hallucinations. After a long day of work that 60 minute drive to visit your parents is tough! 

Resting in the parking lot of your neighborhood park 2 block from your house–the house where music is blaring, the carpenters are sawing, the painter is chatting it up with your boyfriend, the drywallers will be arriving shortly and the post afternoon-cake-eating-comma has set in.

Ok, the last one about sleeping in the park was just a fantasy, a very lovey fantasy that I regret not acting on.

That seat tilt back lever inventor is my hero!

(comments welcome)

Two Reasons To Pay Construction Contractors

Josh and I have hired most of the work done on our remodel.

After viewing the bank statement with all the checks I’ve written to sub-contractors, Josh declares that he needs to come home and work on the house like everyone else does when they are remodeling their house. 

Josh works on supporting the upstairs floor that has a few soft spots and I work on painting the new french doors. 

 

 

It was too cold to remove the hardware from the door so I painted around it.

Ya, that is a big nail coming from the second floor through the ceiling of our first floor office.

Overnight Guests

We don’t have a table to eat at anywhere in our house but you are welcome to stay over. You’ll get your own room and bathroom in your own private wing of our house. In the excitement of having guests over we sometimes forget to explain that it is the “construction wing” with only a couple of working lights and no heat.

Our first guests, Angela and Arun, got to sleep on the blow-up bed but out in the open “family room” on top of the saw dust. Angela said the accommodations were fine but she worried that she would wake up to a deflated bed, which had happened to her once. The comforter kept her warm, except for her head. Her recommendation is to bring a hat and warm pajamas.

By the time our second guest came, Steve, we had the bed set up in the official–for now–guest room with the plants and cement board. Steve recommends not drinking too much water before bed. It’s a long, cold and potentially dangerous walk down the stairs, around lumber, tools and stereo equipment to the bathroom.

Our third guest, Will, couldn’t access his email at DIA to retrieve our new address after a very long flight from Eastern Europe. He slept in his rental car in front of our old house, just a block away. Guess it made for a quick and quiet departure when he headed back to the airport at 4 am. He didn’t wake us up at all. Will recommends writing down our address the old fashion way… with pen and paper.

Shelly was going to be our next guest but the thought of sleeping on a bed with sheets, pillow and comforter was too luxurious. She demanded we let her sleep on the mini leather couch with a midnight transfer to the hardwood floor, like she always does at our house, or she was going elsewhere. Sadly, we didn’t get to see her. Shelly recommends a good night on a mini couch, where your arms and legs hang off the ends, or the solid wood floor to help you remember why you paid so much for your mattress.

Elisabeth is coming in a couple of weeks to stay overnight and it may have possibly slipped my mind to tell her that she signed up for the “camping package”. I’m pretty sure she likes camping though, so it will be a fun surprise.

Skylight Drama

The basic situation went like this:

Day one the Skylight Magic team of Sol and Phil make two holes in our ceiling and roof, then frame them for drywall.

Day two the two holes are reframed because the need to be more open, then drywalled and four additional holes are made and framed

That night Josh looks at them and really wants the holes in the ceiling bigger. I’m 4′10″ so I can see out of the skylights just fine while walking down the 2nd floor hall but apparently Josh was eye level with drywall.

Day three Phil shows up and I talk him into making the holes in the ceiling larger, which means more cutting and reframing. Meanwhile, Josh has talked to Sol and Sol convinced him to leave them as is. I talk to Josh and then tell Phil to just leave them as is. Then I talk to Josh again and after I tell him that Phil would want them more open if it were his house, Josh calls Sol to see about making the holes larger. Josh tells me that I should tell Phil to call Sol. Phil needs a cigarette and I need to find a new career.

By half hour past noon on day four everything is finished up and we love, love, love our new skylights. It exactly what we wanted! Josh and I dust off a couple of chairs and enjoy lunch under the new light. Ah, sometimes the drama is worth it!

Living Room Before

 

Living Room Before Wall Knock Down

 

Terry knocks first hole into future family room

 

Wall is down, unfinished room exposed

 

 

Before skylights

 

 

Before skylight drama

 

After skylight drama... more open!

 

 

 

After skylight drama

 

 

Fabulous skylights

 

 

Yes, we are leaving the trusses exposed! Love it!

 

 

Now we need drywall guys to come in!

 

 

Two skylights in the family room also!