Jonah's Closet Doors Painted (8/30/15)

We got closet doors for Jonah's bedroom awhile back and they just needed to be modified a little to fit in his closet opening.  Mike modified them today and painted them.

Railing Finished (8/28/15)

Mike put in the corner posts and top for the railing around the steps today so it is complete!  Love how it turned out!!

The kitchen is DONE!! (8/27/15)

Today Mike painted the corner posts for the railing and the trim around the kitchen window.  It dried pretty quick so we were able to carefully bring in the kitchen window trim and put it in.  We also finished up the back splash which completes the kitchen!!!  YAY!!  I think this is the first room that is actually done!!

Dad's painter helper!

Finishing up the back splash!

KITCHEN BEFORE & AFTER:

Posts & Window Trim Primed - Take 2 (8/26/15)

Tonight Mike primed the posts for the staircase and trim for the kitchen window for the 2nd time.  This paint sprayed so much better and they turned out good, so they will be ready for paint tomorrow.

Striping Posts & Window Trim (8/25/15)

Tonight Mike finished stripping all the primer that was bad off of the posts and window trim so they are ready to be primed again.

Can you see the excitement!?!?!?

Spindles Installed (8/21/15)

Today we put in the spindles around the staircase!  That means the snow-fence has left for good!!  YAY!!!

BYE-BYE!!!!

Drilling the holes to attach the spindles

Screws to attach to the spindles

The primer that we used for the posts and trim around the window ended up being bad.  Mike has to strip it all off the wood and then re-prime it with a new primer.  It's added so much more work and is so disappointing!!  

Spindles Painted (8/20/15)

Today Mike painted the spindles.  The primer was still wet in a few spots on the other stuff so he couldn't paint them yet.  

Spindle Paint Prep (8/19/15)

Mike sanded all the spindles today and we got them hung up in the garage so they are ready to paint.

Corner Railing Posts & Kitchen Window Trim Primed (8/18/15)

Today Mike primed the corner posts for the railing and the trim for the kitchen window.  It wasn't as easy as he thought it'd be.....but like anything he does he'll do his research and be a pro by the end of all our trim we need to paint :)

Stairs Handrail (8/16/15)

Today Mike put the handrail on going down the steps to downstairs. 

Spindle Prep & Jonah's Light (8/13/15)

Mike did a little prep on the spindles tonight to get them ready for paint.

He also put the light in Jonah's room.  We set it up to have a fan but then after getting one for Kate, because she insisted on having one, we realized our ceilings downstairs are just too low for fans.  We got the shortest one we could find for Kate but it still hangs pretty low in her room.  Of course once it went up she got attached to it and doesn't want us to take it out so hers will stay, but I'm not jumping at putting anymore in the other rooms.  So Jonah just got a plain light.  

Barn Door (8/12/15)

I love the look of a sliding barn door on a metal track mounted above the door.  Awhile back we were thinking about where we could put one in the house and we thought of the laundry room door at the bottom of the steps.  We already put a door in, but that's ok.  Mike figured out he could take out the door and put that door on the wall by the water heater so we have access to it.  I love old doors!  They are so unique, I really love the old 5 panel doors so the thought of being able to pick something out for this was super exciting to me!

Tonight we had to go back to BMO to grab a couple more spindles for the railing and Mike decided to start picking through the doors to see if there was anything we liked for our barn door.  We did find a 5 panel one but also came across one that was a lot more rustic with knotty wood.  I fell in love with the knotty wood, I'm going to stain it a darker color so it stands out from all our other doors.  Maybe at some point we'll find a use for the 5 panel door, but for now I love what we picked!

We do lots of crazy hauling in the Explorer, this one had to rest on Mike's head ;)

The white door to the right is the laundry room door that will come off

Corner Posts for Railing Finished (8/11/15)

Mike built the other 2 posts for the railing tonight.  These went a little faster since he had all the measurements and could make 2 at the same time.  .....hopefully these will be the last of the snow-fence that will be appearing in pictures!! :)

First Post Done for Stairs Railing (8/10/15)

Mike made the first post for the corners of the railing tonight.  It took quite a bit of figuring but it turned out beautiful!

A Start on the Posts for the Railing (8/8/15)

I came home from a morning of shopping to see the beloved snow-fence railing out in the driveway....I just about had a heart attack from pure excitement!  Mike took it down so he could put in the new corner posts for the railing.  He drilled holes in the floor to secure the posts and started doing some figuring for the wood that will wrap around the posts.  He got the very bottom section cut for one of the posts so far.  Totally reminds me of when we made the posts for the front porch!

Oh and the snow-fence had to go back up :(  Until we get the posts done and everything painted it will have to stay a little longer.

Kitchen Window Trim (8/6/15)

We decided when we paint the posts and spindles for the staircase railing we should paint the trim for the kitchen window at the same time.  Then we can finish the backsplash and the kitchen will be finished!!  Mike decided to conquer the trim for the window before the posts since the figuring and calculating was a little more straight forward....seriously you should see him when he is making things like this, the smoke just pours out of his ears ;)  

He made it as one unit and slid it right in the window sill, so when we are ready to paint it will come right out.  I LOVE the trim!!!  Makes me want more trim done.....but it will come in time :)

Staircase Railing (8/5/15)

It's finally time to ditch the old snow fence and get a railing for the steps!!!  Woo hoo!!  I couldn't be happier to get rid of that thing, I certainly didn't think it would hang around this long when Mike put it up!  We may have to have a burning celebration party when it comes down ;)

Mike's been searching for parts to make the railing.  He found the spindles at Lowe's but they were special order and would take 2 weeks.  We decided to check out BMO in Eagan to see what they have.  What a great deal, I'm so glad we did!  We found the spindles we wanted and also the top rail and hand rail.  The rails are already stained dark which is perfect and they were super cheap!  $1.50 a foot (so we got about $40 worth), Mike had looked at them at Lowe's for $145 each and we would have needed 2 of those!  We walked out of the store with all the spindles and rails for $147!  Yippee!

We didn't find the corner posts we wanted there so Mike is going to build them.  I can't even wait to have this done!!

Return Vents (7/28/15)

We are still battling our air conditioner to work right!  It keeps freezing up and won't cool down the upstairs less than 79*.  Mike and his Dad have been trying to figure out what is going on with it and figured maybe there is not enough air flow coming back in through the return vents.  We put in the return vents upstairs close to the floor.  They thought if we added vents closer to the ceiling, more hot air would go into the return.  Mike cut in a return vent close to the ceiling in our bedroom, the office, and the hallway just outside the bathroom; then he put a cover over the lower vents.  

He also found a spot in the line that was missing an O ring and was possibly leaking, so he fixed that and charged up the air again and it seems to be working better.  The house actually cooled down to 72* that we set the thermostat at!  He checked the pressure again and it seemed to have dropped a little so there still be another leak he needs to find and fix, but we are definitely going in the right direction!  

Mike is also going to add in a couple booster fans into the duct work to the dining room and possibly Evan's room/office upstairs so we can get better air flow.  Hopefully this solves our air issues and it works good!