Daffodils in November

Some daffodils are confused and coming up in November. We'll see if they come up again in March when they're supposed to.

Fourth Bedroom Door

Now that the floor is done it's time to install the doors and the trim. The doors come first. This is my third interior door installation. The walls are not plumb, but the door is! I had to trim the top and bottom of the door to accommodate the slightly out of level floor and header. You can't tell (at least, I can't).

Floor Complete

I'm done installing the floor. I first screwed down 5mm plywood underlayment (I did this to match the floor thickness of the existing floor in the livingroom). Then I laid down some 1/4" thick cork underlayment. I had just enough to finish the guest room. Then I cut and fit the bamboo floor planks, pulled them all apart, and then glued then together as I laid them down again.

Here is the floor cut and waiting to be glued.

Here is the glued floor.

Here is the cork underlayment in the guest room. I had virtually no usable leftover pieces when I was done. I had to screw down a few cork pieces because their curl was so unforgiving.

  Here is the finished floor.

Now I get to install the guest room door and start doing the trim.

Neighborly Fences

It's flattering when I hear neighbors talking about putting up a new fence on their property and I see them pointing to my fence as reference.

Daffodils

The construction of the summer apparently didn't kill the daffodils next to where the big fern used to be. It's nice to see a survival story.

Lights!

We have had some sconces for the hall bathroom for eight years. The light fixture in the hall bathroom broke so instead of replacing it I installed the sconces that we've had in storage. I'll have to take them off when I get around to finishing the bathroom walls.

I also installed the exterior light for the west side. It matches the style of the porch light. It's nice to have light!

Floor Install Progress

Installing the floor in the multipurpose room and the fourth (guest) bedroom has required a lot of moving stuff around. I've had to move the boxes of flooring twice and a stack of drywall (meant for the entryway) once.

The flooring boards come in six foot lengths, and I've been able to maintain a simple pattern that isn't offensive as I lay the floor down. I've run into a few boards that have flaws and haven't used them. I even found a board that is so blonde that it looks like it's from a completely different style of floor!

I've been cutting about fifty square feet of floor and then gluing it. This gives me the ability to step over the newly glued floor while it dries.

Finished Wall Paint

Here are photos of the walls in the multipurpose room and the guest bedroom.

Paint in Multipurpose Room

The 4th (guest) bedroom is painted. The multipurpose room is painted as well. I'm installing floor now.

Here's a photo of the accent wall with its first coat of paint in the the multipurpose room. The color is actually a very close match to the clay that is in the livingroom.

Plywood Plug Removed

I have finally removed the plywood plug that separated the main living area from the carport addition(s). It's really weird to see rooms through this doorway. I will be painting the walls and installing the floor as quickly as possible as we have guests arriving soon.

Third Bedroom Mostly Done

The 3rd bedroom is pretty much done. In fact, my spouse has already moved into it. Here are some photos of it all painted, trimmed, and basically empty. These picture were taken just before I put on the outlet and light switch covers.

East window.

South window.

And here is the whole room.

I still have to trim out the closet interior, install the closet bifold door, and install the baseboard trim by the door. I also need to paint the door and install the door handle. I recently installed the curtain rods for the windows as well. My spouse will be picking out curtains soon.

I'll probably be be moving on to the 4th bedroom and multi-purpose room now. Company is coming, and we need a place to stash them.

Third Bedroom Floor

It took me a little over a week, but I am finally done with the floor installation in the third bedroom. I started in the hallway so that I could make a seamless transition from the living room floor. I had to first cut out a few boards in the living room and then use longer leftover boards to reach into the hallway so that I could get all the boards to line up.

The new flooring is by a different manufacturer (Ming Dynasty from iFloor, it's also half the cost of the original Teragren), and it's a different size (it's still 1/2" thick, but it's 5.125" wide instead of 3.5" wide, plus the tongue and groove isn't compatible with the original Teragren floor). I decided to glue the floorboards together rather than nail them down this time. The new floor will be a floating floor. 

I first had to remove the old floor boards in the hallway and then install 5mm underlayment plywood layer to match what I did in the living room. Then I laid down 1/4" cork before I started installing the carbonized bamboo boards. I used blue tape to anchor/clamp the boards to one another while the glue dried. I also used paint cans and heavy buckets to weigh down the floorboards while they dried.

Here is the flooring in the hallway.

Here is the flooring being laid out in the third bedroom.

Here is the floor fully installed.

The new floor comes only is six foot boards. I got really good yield by just using the cut-off end from the end one row as the start of the next row. The pattern turned out just fine and wasn't at all displeasing. I might try manipulating the pattern a little more when I do the next rooms.

Porch Light

It's getting dark outside much earlier now so we installed the porch light. We still need to install the v-groove cedar boards for the porch ceiling, but that will happen later. At least we have light now!

Gutters and Rain Chains

We had gutters put on the parts of the house that needed gutters (the porch and the additions). We decided to use downspouts for the house and rain chains for the gutters on the porch.

Here are the rain chains that we chose to use.

Exterior Trim Paint

I'm just posting this so that I remember what paint I used on the exterior trim of the house.

Flooring

I picked up the first batch of flooring. It'll be installing this batch in the 3rd bedroom this weekend. I'll be laying down a layer of 1/4" cork and then laying the tongue and groove bamboo floor on top of that. I'm going to be gluing the planks together this time instead of nailing them down so that the floor is a floating floor. I'm hoping that this will speed up the install time. 

Exterior Paint Completed

The exterior paint is done. There are a couple of spots to fix, but it's all essentially done and ready for winter. Gutters get put on Monday.

Front Door

The exterior painting is done. That means that I can finally unwrap the front door! I had forgotten that the door had windows! We are really happy with the look of the house so far.

3rd Bedroom Paint

The third bedroom was all the walls painted. I have to do a little touch up, but after that I get to install the floor. Then I install the window trim, the door and closet door, and the base board trim. Then I have to paint the trim.

South wall with accent color (garden sage).

North wall (including closet).

 East wall.

 West wall.

Exterior Paint

The exterior paint is getting closer to being done. A couple of the painters have given us compliments on the color of blue we chose. It looks so much like a real house now!

Deck Trim

Our general contractor came back and trimmed the edge of the deck boards so that they are all even. This was the last thing on his punch list.

Ceiling Lights

There are so many choices when buying lights. We ended up choosing an inexpensive integrated LED dome light. We got one for each for the new rooms (three total). They are very low profile and give off a bright warm light.

Now that there is light, we can paint the walls!