Remote Blower is installed

Installing the remote blower for our oven hood.

Inside corner drywall finishing... grrr...

Grrrr.... I am NOT happy with how my inside corner mudding is going... Grrrrr....

Rich continues to install drywall on the 2nd floor. Working on closets right now. I'm following behind with mudding...

I picked out the knobs/Pulls for the cabinets!

I found these cute knobs and drawer pulls at overstock.com. The price is right!!! I decided to order 1 of each to see if the color matches OK. I love them!!!

Knobs

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Decorite-Floral-Oil-rubbed-Bronze-Cabinet-Knob/3288684/product.html

Pulls

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Oil-Rubbed-Bronze-Cup-Cabinet-Pull/3288699/product.html

Boy's bathroom... wallboard done!

I'm so happy to report that the wallboard is all up in the boy's bathroom!

I worked on mudding today, mostly in the guest bathroom.

Mudding Tip:

I came to a realization while sanding today... "Less is more..." This is my first time ever doing mudding... I'm learning to apply it sparingly... and smoothly...

Our kitchen appliances arrive!

What an exciting day!

Our appliances arrived this afternoon... and I can't wait to have my kitchen finished!!!!

I'm so excited to cook on our BlueStar double oven range!!!

Finished putting up drywall in laundry room!

Met with the cabinet maker today to go over his drawings. We spent a couple hours together going over everything.

Here's what he's making for us:

-kitchen cabinets

-cabinets in the desk area within the kitchen

-pantry cabinets

-laundry room cabinets

-master bath vanities (his/hers) and make-up area

-boy's bath vanity

I was amazed when he said that he could have it all done in 2 1/2 to 3 weeks! Wow!

We finished putting up the drywall in the laundry room and I put a first coat of mud on all the nail holes... still need to do seaming and corners.

Put up 2 pieces of ceiling board in the boy's bathroom.

Just cut into my roll of Ditra!

OK... just cut into one of my big rolls of Ditra. I was surprised by how easy it was to cut.

I've been putting this job off because it's my very first tiling job. Felt good to cut that first piece.

Now onto mixing the unmodified thin set!!

I am propelled forward by the promise of a flushing toilet!

Laundry room has a ceiling

We worked in the laundry room yesterday. Got the ceiling board up!

Today... walls...

I also did some work on the guest bath walls... some sanding. It's coming out great!

My appliances are coming! They should be here mid-week! No, the kitchen isn't ready to recieve them yet... and the soapstone is still in storage... but NOT for long!

Met with the cabinet guy. So many decisions to make! Good thing that I have a good imagination!

Thursday... mudding day

I'm looking forward to heading up the house into the air conditioning to do some mudding. I'll focus on the guest suite today.

Yes, tiling is weighing heavily on my mind... because as soon as I get that done... Rich can install the toilet!

Mudding... the beginning

My younger son Aaron, age 11 and I went to work... mudding!

Neither of us had ever done sheetrock mudding so... we started off mudding the screw holes.

It's Friday... which means we get to spend the whole day working on the house... yeah!

Back to mudding over screw indents!

Rich and Matthew will be putting up more sheetrock today.

Sheetrock Continues 6/17/09

Toni the tiler..

We've switched gears a bit... yes, I'm still going to get the tiling going... but need to do a Billings run to get supplies. Did purchase the v-notched trowel that I need to put down the thinset between the hardibacker and Ditra.

(photo: this is the tub/shower that we installed in the Guest Bath last week.)

Sheetrock... Guest bedroom/bathroom

Rich and I put up 1 piece of sheetrock in the guest bedroom. One more piece to hang in there.

Put up 1 piece of ceiling board in the guest bathroom. That was exciting... thank goodness for the sheetrock lift.... wow... what a great gadget! If you're going to do sheetrock... you need a sheetrock lift!

Watching the Ditra Installation movie... AGAIN..

Welcome Faye! Thanks for following my blog!

You know when it's the first time you've ever done something... how hard it is to get started... or is that.... just ME?

I'm going to watch that Ditra installation movie again... I posted it on the side bar for reference... because I knew that I'd be needing to see it again.

1st floor bathroom

We worked on the first floor bathroom today... sorry didn't get any pictures yet...

Installed the shower and put down some of the hardibacker boards for tiling.

I found out that the Mapei Ultraflex 2 thin set mortar that I bought from Lowes a while back for my tiling job... won't work with the Ditra. The Schluter Rep said to use un-modified thin set only...on the substrate and to set the tiles...

So... can't start my tiling job until I get my supplies.. which includes returning 24, 50 pound bags of Mapei Ultraflex 2.

I'm looking for a 1/4"x3/16" V-notched Trowel...

It's not easy...

I'm getting ready to put down some Ditra in the guest bathroom! But as I watched the Ditra installation video... I found that I need a 1/4" x 3/16" V-notched trowel...

Awesome... just called Home Depot in Billings, MT (90 miles away... one way) and they have one!

I'm just a few days work away from a flushing toilet! Yeah!

Update....

I decided to call the Ditra tech reps to make sure that the thin set mortar that I bought a while back is OK. The instructions say that I need "un-modified" thin set.

Well.. .this is my first adventure into tiling... and to be honest... I don't know modified... from "un-modified!"

WHAT I HAVE IS THE WRONG KIND...

The GOOD NEWS...

What I need is way cheaper than what I bought!!! Return... return... return...

Another trip to Lowes is in order...

Boy's bathroom

The Boy's bathroom is in the process of having a bathtub/shower installed!

We're just back from a Lowes trip...

Got some drywall tools... so ready to get started on mudding.

Got some tile supplies...

Picked up a book on Drywall & Tiling...

Utility Sink in the basement

Running water inside...

We now have a utility sink with running water in the basement!

Introducing... a shower.. in the Guest Bathroom!

Breakfast room window as viewed from outside... under the window!



Rich working on running PEX water lines. And now... a shower in the guest bathroom!

Cable guys...

Did I ask for a cable box?

Today, unscheduled... the cable/phone/internet company came to install the outside box for our future cable/phone/internet service.

Hmm... they must think that we've moved in already... Must be my beautiful garden out front that's confusing them...???

Guest shower/tub installed!

We installed the shower/tub this past weekend! And put down some of the cement backer board!

Tiling soon!

Water line connections

Connected some more PEX water lines that run thru the kitchen ceiling tonight. Progress!!! It all counts!

No toilet yet... but I'm loving having water to my spigots!!!