Thursday, August 24, 2006
Brooklyn Style Pizza
Ever since we first saw the commercial on TV for Domino's Brooklyn Style Pizza, Brooklyn really wanted to get one. She gets a kick out of her name being on TV all the time. So, a few weeks ago when Mom was off with some friends, we had a "Dad's night out with the kids". We went and got some Brooklyn Style Pizza and then rented a movie and watched it together. We ended the night with some Root Beer floats, the kids new favorite desert. It was good fun.
Projects, projects, projects
Here's some of the latest projects we've been working on at the home. We decided to put in a little connection sidewalk between the driveway and the front door. Now people can park in our driveway and not have to walk across the dirt. The ground sure was hard though. I had to use a pick to dig it down 4 inches so that they cement guys could form it up and pour it. As you can see, our driveway is quite a bit higher than the existing sidewalk. They had some left over cement and decided to pour a little patch between the main sidewalk and the street curb (through our park strip) so that people coming from the road wouldn't have to walk across the grass that is there (I mean will be there).
I thought that after I finished the bonus room that I'd be able to relax a little, but there's something inside of me that can't sit still when I know there are projects to complete. I started to finish a study in our basement. For those who have been to our home, in order to get to our theater room, you have to walk through a small section of unfinished basement. It's about a 13' x 15' room that is mostly framed except for a few walls. Never having framed before, I did some research online and looked at a few homes in the area under construction and then dove right in. Building out this one wall wasn't too bad and the kids loved watching me hammer nails (boy I wish I had a nail gun), and cut wood with the "loud" circular saw.
I have a neighbor that knows something about electricity and he came over and mapped out what I needed to do for rough electrical. I then did some more research and wired the whole room. Computers I understand. Electrical outlets I understand. But 3-way switches are foreign to me. Thank goodness for the Internet and some very helpful drawings. I wanted two switches to turn on the same light and after about 2 hours of messing with the connections and setting of the breaker a dozen or two times I finally got it working. I also successfully separated one circuit into two (before, one light switch turned on every light in the basement). I feel much more confident with electrical stuff now. And the outlets even work! I bought the insulation this week and the doors should arrive sometime in the next few days. Then it's onto the whole drywall, mud and tape routine, which I'm not looking forward too. The bonus room is still a little too fresh in my mind and muscles. Hopefully it will go quicker. Once we finish this room, we'll be done for a season. Mainly because we're quickly running out of money! I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy though.
I thought that after I finished the bonus room that I'd be able to relax a little, but there's something inside of me that can't sit still when I know there are projects to complete. I started to finish a study in our basement. For those who have been to our home, in order to get to our theater room, you have to walk through a small section of unfinished basement. It's about a 13' x 15' room that is mostly framed except for a few walls. Never having framed before, I did some research online and looked at a few homes in the area under construction and then dove right in. Building out this one wall wasn't too bad and the kids loved watching me hammer nails (boy I wish I had a nail gun), and cut wood with the "loud" circular saw.
I have a neighbor that knows something about electricity and he came over and mapped out what I needed to do for rough electrical. I then did some more research and wired the whole room. Computers I understand. Electrical outlets I understand. But 3-way switches are foreign to me. Thank goodness for the Internet and some very helpful drawings. I wanted two switches to turn on the same light and after about 2 hours of messing with the connections and setting of the breaker a dozen or two times I finally got it working. I also successfully separated one circuit into two (before, one light switch turned on every light in the basement). I feel much more confident with electrical stuff now. And the outlets even work! I bought the insulation this week and the doors should arrive sometime in the next few days. Then it's onto the whole drywall, mud and tape routine, which I'm not looking forward too. The bonus room is still a little too fresh in my mind and muscles. Hopefully it will go quicker. Once we finish this room, we'll be done for a season. Mainly because we're quickly running out of money! I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy though.
Monday, August 07, 2006
The Playroom
So I've been a little lazy on the blogs lately. Sorry. Anyway, when we bought our house we decided that we would save some money by finishing the bonus room ourselves. The bonus room sits right above our garage. We had the builders install electrical, air and insulation so that all I would have to do is drywall and finish the room myself. We even had the builders drop the drywall in the room while constructing the home so that we could use the big 4x12 foot drywall sheets. So, here's a little picture diary of the interesting experience of finishing a room. Now remember that I had only done a little drywall myself along with minimal taping, texture and finishing so we'll just say that I spent quite a bit of time standing in the aisles at Home Depot reading the "How To" books.
When my parents were up here visiting us on the 4th of July, I talked my dad into helping me hang all the drywall. Lifting a 4x12 foot sheet onto the slanted walls was a very interesting challenge. But we got it all done in about a day.
Then it was onto taping and mudding. After some long days and 3 coats of mud, I got the walls pretty smooth. Man . . how the pros can whip out an entire home in 3 days is beyond me. Dry sanding is also not a very fun job, but it's quicker than wet sanding. The mud doesn't look very straight in the picture but the walls sure were smooth!
After the sanding was complete it was time to texture. Normally texture is sprayed on the wall with what's called a hopper and an air compressor, but our home has what's called an "Old World" texture finish. It's a smoother finish and requires you to spread a very thin layer of mud over the entire wall. Boy was that tiring, but I believe I got the desired effect although it's a little rougher than the rest of the house. What can you expect? I'm not a professional.
Then it was onto installing baseboard and painting the primer coat on the walls. I will tell you that painting diagonal walls is a pain in the rear. Especially when they're so low to the ground. Painting vertical walls is much easier. You'll notice the circular pattern on the window screen. I used the box fan you see in the picture above to help suck the dusty air out of the room and blow it outside. It actually worked pretty well. I need to clean the screen still. Also this was the first time I've worked with MDF baseboard and trim. It sure is nice stuff. No sanding required and it comes pre-primed.
The final step was the the final coat of paint and then blinds and misc. stuff. You may ask why blue? Well, we're going for the outdoors look. Eventually we'll paint grass on the lower part of the walls and then we'll sponge some clouds on the ceiling and stick little glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling as well. So the blue is supposed to represent the color of the sky.
Throughout this whole process, the kids loved coming up and watching Dad work on the playroom "AGAIN!". Isaac enjoyed watching me put the mud on the walls and was glad that it was not the same as the "bubbling mud" that we saw while in Yellowstone last month. The kids were also very good about getting Dad water. Now that we have an automatic ice and water dispenser on our fridge, they are very proud of being able to get the water by themselves. Granted sometimes the glass would be completely full of ice with about an inch of water at the bottom, but they were good helpers and kept me going. And they sure are excited about the new playroom. It's been a long month and a lot of work, but rewarding. The carpet was the final touch and it's really not that much different than the rest of the carpet throughout the house as you can see on the landing here. Hopefully the kids will enjoy playing up there and Tami and I will enjoy not having to pick up toys all over the house, although something tells me we'll never get away from that.
When my parents were up here visiting us on the 4th of July, I talked my dad into helping me hang all the drywall. Lifting a 4x12 foot sheet onto the slanted walls was a very interesting challenge. But we got it all done in about a day.
Then it was onto taping and mudding. After some long days and 3 coats of mud, I got the walls pretty smooth. Man . . how the pros can whip out an entire home in 3 days is beyond me. Dry sanding is also not a very fun job, but it's quicker than wet sanding. The mud doesn't look very straight in the picture but the walls sure were smooth!
After the sanding was complete it was time to texture. Normally texture is sprayed on the wall with what's called a hopper and an air compressor, but our home has what's called an "Old World" texture finish. It's a smoother finish and requires you to spread a very thin layer of mud over the entire wall. Boy was that tiring, but I believe I got the desired effect although it's a little rougher than the rest of the house. What can you expect? I'm not a professional.
Then it was onto installing baseboard and painting the primer coat on the walls. I will tell you that painting diagonal walls is a pain in the rear. Especially when they're so low to the ground. Painting vertical walls is much easier. You'll notice the circular pattern on the window screen. I used the box fan you see in the picture above to help suck the dusty air out of the room and blow it outside. It actually worked pretty well. I need to clean the screen still. Also this was the first time I've worked with MDF baseboard and trim. It sure is nice stuff. No sanding required and it comes pre-primed.
The final step was the the final coat of paint and then blinds and misc. stuff. You may ask why blue? Well, we're going for the outdoors look. Eventually we'll paint grass on the lower part of the walls and then we'll sponge some clouds on the ceiling and stick little glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling as well. So the blue is supposed to represent the color of the sky.
Throughout this whole process, the kids loved coming up and watching Dad work on the playroom "AGAIN!". Isaac enjoyed watching me put the mud on the walls and was glad that it was not the same as the "bubbling mud" that we saw while in Yellowstone last month. The kids were also very good about getting Dad water. Now that we have an automatic ice and water dispenser on our fridge, they are very proud of being able to get the water by themselves. Granted sometimes the glass would be completely full of ice with about an inch of water at the bottom, but they were good helpers and kept me going. And they sure are excited about the new playroom. It's been a long month and a lot of work, but rewarding. The carpet was the final touch and it's really not that much different than the rest of the carpet throughout the house as you can see on the landing here. Hopefully the kids will enjoy playing up there and Tami and I will enjoy not having to pick up toys all over the house, although something tells me we'll never get away from that.
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