Remodeling the exterior and the kitchen, a.k.a. Chaos

(Remember to scroll down to the bottom of the post and read up)
The living room with the vent hood liner for the kitchen in front of the window!

The contents of the kitchen cabinets are now in the dining room

The contents of the desk in the kitchen are now on the kitchen table.

The demolition has begun! Today the desk and upper cabinet, the pantry and the cabinet and counter next to the refrigerator were removed along with all of the upper cabinets.

Progress!

The roof gables are all being trimmed in white also.

The windows and doors are all being trimmed in white, and we bought a new garage service door which will have to wait to be painted until spring!

The exterior remodel is moving along, but they are still not even half way there. One side of the house is complete, and they are working on the back. The front and the side facing East are still only covered with the Hardie wrap.

I forgot to take any "before" pictures before the new windows were put in, but otherwise nothing has changed.

The kitchen demolition started today so I thought I'd post some before pictures.

They're here!

Just as I posted the pictures to the blog the siders drove up and I think they are going to do some work! Yahoo! By the way, the kitchen demolition starts on Friday, so I will put up some pictures of that when it happens.

The Remodel Continues...

The last bit of blue left on the house are the downspouts for the gutters. They are either going to be replaced or painted to match the siding color, but it will be awhile until they get to that.

Here is the siding that would be being put on the house if the siders were here working, but they aren't! Next to it is the beautiful blue dumpster which needs to be emptied, but maybe the dumpster people don't work in the rain either.

This is where the siders would be standing and cutting siding if they were here today, but they aren't. It rained early this morning, and I guess they don't work in the rain. It's not raining now.

They also did this yesterday. Don't worry about the white areas on the siding - it's cement dust from when they cut the siding pieces, and it will wash off.

Yesterday the basement windows were trimmed and the siding was started. They spent 9 hours working on it yesterday with the exception of a lunch break, so I think it is going to take awhile to get the entire house sided!

In case you were wondering... this is what it says ALL OVER THE HOUSE. They should pay us an advertising fee!

Here the cabinets are down, and the window casing is on. The windows are primed, but the painter has to come and enamel them and the casings - he isn't scheduled to show up until next week.

The window was put in over the sink in the kitchen, but the cabinets around it had to come down in order to put the casing on.

The siding and the brick are all off the house now, and all of the windows have been replaced. The octagonal window is gone and framed in and sheathed over, and the rails are down on the porch.

Exterior remodel

Day 3 - the sheathing required some repair so that was done, and then the octagonal window to the right of the front door was removed. It was then reframed and sheathed . The brick under the first floor front window was also removed and the sheathing was covered in plastic. On Monday the front windows will be removed and replaced and they will continue to remove the siding from the rest of the house.

Day 2 - the brick was removed from the sides of the garage, and the siding was removed from the garage stalls and the second floor of the front of the house, and then the house wrap was put on. They covered over Rachel's window because they knew she was away at school.

Day One - the dumpster wasn't ordered on time so it didn't arrive until late afternoon, and not much work was done because of it. The exterior lights on the garage and next to the front door were removed.

Before the remodeling (taken this summer)

Farewell to the Blue Bomber

Goodbye, old faithful!

After almost 16 years of faithful service we decided it was time to say goodbye to the Blue Bomber, which we bought when Rachel was 3 1/2 years old! We donated it to the Vietnam veterans, and the guy who came to pick it up said it was in really good condition and should make some money at auction for the vets! Lindsay used the car the most in recent years, so I took some pictures of her saying goodbye! We realized when we were feeling sentimental about donating the car that we were making the right decision staying in this house and remodeling. The remodel of the exterior of the house and the kitchen should start the first week of November so stay tuned. I will be posting before, during and after pictures if you are interested.

Get-together at Mom's - September 27, 2009

Taylor and her favorite uncles!

Lisa, Mom, Lesley, Taylor

Tim, Mark, Phil, Scott and Kyle
(I believe everyone was doing their best Phil imitation!)

Mark and Mom

Taylor Nicole (the birthday girl)

Rachel Goes to College! (and the quilt was finished in time!)

Rachel's dorm

By the time we left we had even gotten some posters and the memory board Aunt Lisa made for her hung up (I forgot to take a picture of the memory board, but I will next time!). Tim and I bought a shelving unit and some containers to put under the bed, and we will take them to Rachel on Monday when all of the Welcome Week activities are over. They have the kids busy from morning until night until then!
Lindsay made Rachel a University of Minnesota fleece blanket, and she decided to snuggle up with it while we tried to get the room arranged.
We reoriented the desk, and Tim set to work connecting all of the electronics.
The quilt on the bed, which is so high you almost have to pole vault to get on it!
The room has a bed, a built-in wardrobe, and a desk - it also has two windows which look out onto a courtyard.
Here's the other half!
Rachel's single dorm room - it's supposed to be 122 sq. ft., but I'm not so sure! Here you can only see half of it.
...until it all fits! (There is more in the storage compartments under the feet of the second row passengers!)
...which Tim artfully arranges...

And the van...
And the living room...
Things to go with Rachel to school in the foyer...

The quilt is finished, and I made a pillow to go with it.