I got the reclaimed flooring in the master bedroom and closet (more like a dressing room). Moving on to the main part of the house, so we now are officially living in the basement until it is all completed. Once I get all of the flooring laid, it will be nearly another week of finishing with 4 coats of Waterlox, plus cure time. Looks like we will be living like Hobbits until the end of the month or longer.

T_G- that room is beautiful!

Gorgeous, texas gem!

All I did was decide on the colour of stain for the cork in the kitchen (white) and approve island drawings so they can be sent its construction started (still not positive I love it, but must move forward. Trying to avoid the urge to email and ask her hold off so I can tweak it).

Contractor is back from 4 weeks of holidays so things seem to be back on track, but his assistant quit so he's a bit stressed and I like him a lot so I'm trying to cut him some slack. Although I did send him an email saying that if we weren't back in the house by Christmas, I was packing up my family and coming to spend the holidays at his house.

We have been in this condo for 9 months now. When we were first displaced after the fire and driving around with our remaining possessions in the back of the car, this place seemed like a palace (2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms for 4 people), and we thought it would be great for the 3 months they said we would be here. Well, my 11 year old lives in a tent in the corner of our master bedroom, the kitchen table has been turned into my office and we all get on each others nerves constantly, so it has pretty much lost its appeal and we are ready to go home. It is encouraging to see drywall starting to go in and it seems that returning to a normal life could actually happen.

mush creek, I totally sympathize. Basement living is the worst! Be sure to come up for sunshine and fresh air. I'm waffling about how to finish our new hardwoods and would be interested to hear about how the waterlox goes.

Full disclosure- Our basement isn't all that horrible. It is dry and fully insulated, and being a walk-out, there are two large casement windows, and a door at grade in the back. The worst part is giving up the kitchen, range, and D/W. It's back to hot plates and microwave for meals.

Sad story- DD wants to have a time out from her marriage... so I'm packing up my DH's office and she's moving in there for the time being. So nothing has been accomplished. Except more unused stuff is going going gone. Once again family takes precedence over comforts. As it should be. Though I hope to have a floor and countertops real soon... ya right!

Mushcreek my basement door at the back is on ground level too. It helps it to not feel like a cave especially in winter. I bought a portable DW for my reno and hooked it up to my basement laundry sink. Nothing like the satisfaction of having the dishes done without breaking my back. I wish I'd had the induction hob that I have now to cook on. I love that induction hob. It's on a timer... My world is almost complete. Now if only there were world peace and all were fed roofed and safe, including the animals and no global warming of course...I could call it complete.

yeonassky, sorry to hear that. Hope it resolves successfully. So nice to have a place for her to come back to though.

I did just what I said I wouldn't and sent an email to the designer changing the size of the island - now it will be another week before it gets started. One step forward, two steps back.

What did I get done last week? Hmmm...

Got the 3rd shelf up in the 2 cabinets that needed it. The cabinets are 36 inches tall and they only gave me 2 shelves for each, but they did give me shelves for the cabinets above the micro and fridge. I like to store large and/or tall items there that I don't use often, so I had my husband take one of the shelves and cut it down to make the extra shelves needed. We packed away winter and seldom used clothing before the more so I got a lot of them unpacked and put in the walkin closet. Mushcreek, our closet is huge also and we do use it as a dressing room too, I am loving that. We had ordered a large area rug for the greatroom and it was delivered , so we got that put down, but first had to put down a rug pad so that took some time.

AND I turned on the gas fireplace this morning for the first time! Yippee! Our first fireplace. It was 45 degrees here outside, inside the house was 69 degrees so I figured I needed to get the chill out:) We still have totes of clothes left to unpack and some boxes in the basement, but nothing really pressing.

Lavender_lass, beautiful dining room!

Hello Everyone!

We are starting the 3rd year of a kitchen/utility room/ geothermal heating system/tall crawl renovation in a 150 year old house. 1/2 of it DIY. I have been a long time lurker- I read everything and rarely contribute. That needs to change. I have learned so much from everyone, I should share our experiences. Just as with everyone here, some weeks I get more done than others ;^).

3 years ago, this is what I saw out the kitchen window. This week, I am painting trim. I hope by the end of the month, I'll have all window, door and beam trim painted. I'd like to have it all put away before the kids come home for Thanksgiving.

Floor trim will wait for next year! Heather

I read every week and find everyone so inspirational!!! Baby steps add up to huge leaps.

Nice job, Texas_Gem. Your dining room looks great!

GC was on vacation all this past week, so he & his crew were absent.

Handsome sub plumber (who, this time, was wearing a wedding band) came yesterday to install shower pan, so, progress, but assuming it'll still be shower-free for another week or so.

Oh, and range arrived on Friday, so, now, in my LR, I have a couch, coffee table, side table, chest, two microwaves (new & old,) dishwasher, range, refrigerator, backsplash tile, 14 boxes of flooring, two rolls of floor underlayment, toaster and a bunch of food & kitchen utensils and other kitchen stuff...

Tomorrow morning, cabinets arrive. So, progress is in the air...

Good afternoon! We're entering week 3 (4?) of a cabinet installation that was supposed to take two days (We knew better, but can a girl dream a little?). Entering week 57 of our kitchen being down (to varying degrees) due to a little ol' dishwasher leak in early August 2014. We're very patient people. :)

Enough of the cabinets were installed such that the granite was templated last Thursday. My fabricator told me we were very close to 'go' time. Months ago, we had 2 cm Black Pearl on hold, and fab was going to hone/brush in his shop for an upcharge. But he then found a beautiful pre-brushed 3 cm BP at a local yard, so we bumped up to that. Now I'm wondering if we've bumped ourselves close enough to a white quartzite not being that much more $$$. (I begged him to tell me quartzite would be thousands more, and that would make it an easy decision for me -- he said it might not necessarily be the case and is checking.) So, the agonizing begins (continues?).

DH and I love the BP, and it would go very well with what we have now (see the mockup below) -- brown/grey stained maple cabinets, porcelain tile (mostly very light brown with hints of grey and off white), white trim, SW Ivory Lace walls (which I can repaint):

The argument going on in my head right now: "Do we go stick with the BP, live with a darker kitchen, but know that everything goes beautifully together, or go with a white quartzite countertop that may not blend well (esp with the floor), but have a light kitchen (which is where we started 14 months ago, and had for 25 years prior)?" I'm driving myself (and others!) crazy with this back and forth already, and would like to open this up to any GWers who might want to chime in -- personal experiences and photos would be great! I was thinking about posting a new thread, but this is my 'progress this week' contribution.

Below are mockups of my cabs with quartzites (found on the internet) that might be in the running: 1, 2 and 4 are Macaubus (white/lt grey with grey veins), and 3 is Taj Mahal (very similar to my floor). The top two are very accurate portrayals of my floor and cabinet colors.

Does the light grey background of a Macaubus just not go well at all with my floor tile? Will all of these patterned stones look just too busy?

I'd like to find the lightest stone with as little movement as possible - don't know if that's out there, or whether my fabricator can locate one in the next week. Is my floor too busy to support either of these two quartzite families? I do wish to go with natural stone for my counters. I realize the only way to know for sure is to bring a sample home, but I'd just get some opinions for now.

Interestingly several posters went back and forth about this same topic last year, but it was a quartzite vs soapstone discussion -- close enough. :)

So, leave well enough alone and stick the brushed/honed BP? Or find a white quartzite that would play the most nicely w/ my floors? Chime away...thanks!

I have counters! Installed and sealed and everything. The sealing was a bit of a hassle because heat wave + fancy sealer that requires 3 coats and must be applied at temps between 70-85F = applying sealer at 1AM ;)

I seriously can't stop petting the counters...

Ooooh, fishcow -- what manner of counter might that be, exactly? Purrdy!

DIY concrete. They turned out really well. Not perfect, but pretty much the right amount of imperfect for the warm industrial look I'm going for ;)

Javiwa- I don't think any of the light ones work with your floors.

Your floors have a lot of movement. If it were me, I would stick with your original choice.

TY, Texas -- yes, a ton of movement, particularly in that spot where the tile setter didn't do the best job of randomizing the pattern. :)

Javiwa - Is changing out the floors in your long term plans? If not, and you want a light countertop, have you considered corian? They have some that are not too much movement and warmer colors than the quartzite, like sea salt, that might work well with your tile.

Fishcow, TY. We just had the tile installed last year, so no plans to change (it's actually a continuation of the pattern throughout the rest of the 1st floor). We considered all the non-natural stone countertops, and felt granite (black/dense/hardest) or whitest quartzite would best suit our needs/lifestyle. The major down side with Corian, quartz, etc., is that it'd take just one hot pan accidentally set down to leave a burn/melt/scorch mark. I know we can't insure against everything in life, but I think granite/quartzite gets us close. Plus, beautiful/natural. :)

Pushing through, trying to get done.

Here is a shot of the living room, trim is up, mantle and window sills have been painted. Makes a big difference!

Carrie

And a Partridge in a pear tree

Keep us informed on the cabinets.

TG, you are a woman on a mission. All are looking killer!

Fishcow

DIY concrete? Really? Wow!! It looks absolutely amazing. Great job, Kudos...

Officially broke in the counters by making brownies

Sooo nice to spill cocoa on the counter and just wipe it off without it all getting stuck in the grout lines :D

But it appears behind the sink needs another coat of sealer... sigh...

This week we canned salsa and spaghetti sauce; closed up my Mom's lake cabin for the winter, and watched college football. The canning will continue for the foreseeable future.

Everyone is making great progress! I've been away at a hockey tournament already, so not much got done. I did get the fake frosted window film stuff on my bathroom window, so that is good. It adds a ton of privacy and still lets in a fair amount of light. I swept the floors too, but they need it again obviously and a good vacuum/mop as well. The whole house needs cleaning. I work the next two days and then I'm at the mechanic all day Wednesday, so Thursday is the plan for a clean house.

Everybody's projects look great. I love what you're doing, Texas Gem, and it's going to look wonderful with a new dining room set. I can't wait to see what you pick out. Love the concrete counters, Fishcow. It looks like you did a heckuva good job with them. Oh, I know I'm missing people but I did like everything I saw. I don't feel qualified to help people choosing counters and flooring, javiwa, sorry. They all look good to me. But I think if you really like a lighter kitchen, you won't be satisfied until you find something that gives you that lightness.

Yeonassky, believe me, I get how that makes changes in your household. I hope things turn out well for your daughter. My daughter left a bad marriage and moved in with us. Some months later, her new boyfriend....who is great and so much better for her than the husband was...moved in as well. After a few months, they asked if his 5 year old daughter from a prior relationship could move in. Very sad story as the mom had a baby with a new boyfriend and no longer wants the daughter. She has been with us for almost three months and mom has not called one single time to ask how she is doing or to speak with her. She is darling and fairly well behaved even thought she clearly wasn't taught much in the way of proper behavior. So we work on the challenges and give her love and, well, she's part of the family now. In the process, we lost our guest room to her and our basement to the daughter and boyfriend as they have created a bit of an unofficial apartment down there.

We also host guests once in awhile via Couchsurfing so now they stay in my office that has a convertible couch-bed. Not as comfortable as the bed in the guest room but it works. We had a crazy weekend as we hosted a familiy of four from Spain, with kids ages 5 and 2. The kids had a great time playing with our 5 year old and vice-versa. It's amazing how kids can play without being able to speak the same language! :)

The influx of people in the house has made us spend more time on purging than on our kitchen project. Which is really quite a good thing. DH is a hoarder. It drives me crazy. We have had a few garage sales and donated a bunch of stuff to local organizations so that has cleared out quite a bit of the clutter. The other thing it's made us do is start going through all the old family stuff and organizing it better including making some hard decisions about what we really want to keep. I've been pricing items and organizing them to sell on either eBay or Etsy. Taking pictures so I can keep the memories before I sell things.

So our accomplishments this week were another car load of stuff to the Goodwill and a bunch of extra, mis-matched bedding to the homeless shelter. and sorting/organizing a few boxes of memorabilia and repacking so they all fit better in one box.

Thanks for the tea and sympathy Daisychain and Funkycamper. (I wish my migraines would let me have tea sympathy and brownies though. :( ) My DD is mostly struggling with her own feelings, so nothing is clear cut unfortunately.

Daisychain I'm sure you'll love your island. You know what works for you. Plus we must retain the prerogative to change our minds, so others can get away with it too. :)

FC, Glad your DD got out and has found someone good to be with. That is a lovely thing you're doing for that little girl. Manners can be taught. The love and caring she's getting...priceless! Yes, children are the best at language less communication. :) We could learn a thing or two from them...

Great that you're beating the clutter back. We seem to have no real hoarders here. One of my sisters suffers greatly from that malady along with bipolar though. It is frustrating but I love her despite her afflictions. She's kind, giving and loving. I did used to collect Christmas decorations, so have several boxes of that. We use them every year so accept the extra storage room it takes, guilt free. :)

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. The little girl, Charlie, has been good for all of us and we're seeing many great changes with her behavior and attitude in the time she has been here. Love conquers all, right? She has been really good for my daughter as well. She's a natural mother and has really been sad that she hadn't had her own children yet (she's 32). So, really, it's been a joy and a privilege. But I have to admit, I am also enjoying that she's in school almost 7 hours a day right now. I love her energy but I just can't keep up all day. This Grandma needs her rest! :)

i love these thread btw. Makes it a real community here.

Texas - love the floor and the whole room, very pretty.

For me, floor tiles picked and ordered! Electrical is done, drywall is going up right now! I also assembled 3 of the 20 cabinets yesterday (Barker) so far so good.

Need to pick hardware and of course the one I like (and the one that's a good price) only comes in one size. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

Wowowowow.

T_G, gorgeous. I love the color! And it compliments the floor, beautifully!

I got nuttin' done. My two fellows had other things to do, which of course they tell me at the last minute. So I looked around, wanted around in between crap, and thought about what I could be doing. Read: accomplishment: Thought about it.

December 3: 10 years since we had The Fire. 7 years since DH bailed on me. Life is different. Good. Challenging. Sometimes a bit lonely, but always safe and comfortable. The house is mine to do with what I will, or no. I might change my mind and like it better! The kitties and I hang out and look at what could be done. They don't care and don't judge much. :)

You guys are doing really well. It's nice to hear something practical is happening.

(Sold more lumber for $200!)

I hope my daughter bounces in a good direction too, like you CEFreeman_. :) At this point there's lots to think about. And there's worse things than lonely. So glad you're here to talk about The Fire. So scary! I have 3 smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Don't know if that's enough but was told by the experts that and the fire extinguishers go a long way to being enough. Congrats on the lumber sale. :)

I just wanted to chime in that I too love the floor Texas. It is so purdy. :)

yeonassky, our fire just melted all the detectors. They only work if someone's home, along with the fire extinguishers. Cats and dogs just don't have the opposing thumbs to dial. I've come to terms with the fact that there wasn't anything I could have done, given I was an hour away.

Your daughter will decide what she gets out of that relationship. She'll decide if it's also what she wants. We all get something out of every single relationship we're in or we're not in them. Bottom line. Good enough. Better than nothing? That's settling out of fear or habit and just makes a sad life.

I wish more for her.

Better than nothing? That's settling out of fear or habit and just makes a sad life. I wish more for her.

Well said and so true!

"I wish more for her." Thank you. :) Of course I do too!

Of course I wasn't criticizing you, just stating the minuscule things we've done. The prevailing theme being, "if someone's home, along with the fire extinguishers". Someone seems to be always here, except when they're not. :p). Total fire prevention is near impossible, and that is so scary. Fire has hurt too many people, animals, trees and plants.

http://www.readersdigest.ca/home-garden/cleaning/top-10-causes-house-fires/#mrmmZb6XOXbZGtmG.97

I'm guilty of some of the reader's digest stuff. Will clean up my extension cord habit now. I thought surge protectors were good though. I love my induction hob with timer... But that isn't the only way fire starts of course. If this is too sensitive a subject for you, I'm sorry for continuing it. Have always respected and enjoyed your input and don't want to hurt you.

Have i strayed to far off topic?

I hope you're not talking about me. I don't take online things personally, nor did I actually think of this conversation as critical. Not many of us do here. I find when someone's newly online, they don't realize people take things in the emotion they themselves are currently experiencing. Not necessarily as intended, but don't sweat it. I'm a 2-decade, online pro. :)

Re: fire. as much as I hate this expression, "It is what it is." But I'm compelled to add "it's what you do with 'it' that makes a difference."

Our fire started with the water softener shorting out, which burned down into the walls. Ironically, the subsequent electrical system I endured for 5 years were extension cords strung through the house, poked through the exterior wall into the garage, where they were juryrigged directly to the breakers. Yes, ex-DH, that was such a great idea. But one cord did run the 220v space heater that warmed my sorry butt for 6 years. Until I got my solar grants and put HVAC into the house. Go figure.

I'm sure this explains my done once done right philosophy.

We're straying, but that's what these threads are about.

T_G, what's the name of your paint color? LOVE it. I'm thinking my future sun porch might need to be that color.

Christine- are you referring to the blue in my dining room? I'll have to see if I still have the paint chip.

I chose the color then had them mix it in a different brand so my can doesn't say the name, just the formula.

That works! I do the same thing due to discounts I get elsewhere.

Here ya go. Hard to believe I actually bought it almost 2 years ago!! I'll have to go look through my pics and see when we actually got it painted.

You've been pinned! :) Thanks.