renovations – megan&andrew http://blog.solanis.net Wed, 30 May 2018 07:21:41 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6.14 Sushi, DIY, Carl, and Baby Jack http://blog.solanis.net/2018/01/sushi-diy-carl-and-baby-jack/ Mon, 22 Jan 2018 08:40:28 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/?p=5657 Read More]]> I flew to Sacramento for the weekend to visit Casey (and Nelson). I flew alone which meant watching my own movies/tv and knitting the whole flight. Then I stepped off the plane into sunny 70 degree weather in January.

Casey picked me up from the airport and we headed straight to lunch where we toasted the start of our weekend together and gorged ourselves on sushi.

 

I got to meet Carl and his baby, Jack. Both of whom I was very nervous to meet because what if they didn’t like me instantly and I was only there for a short time. Would Carl bark at me all weekend, and Jack cry every time I looked at him? Turns out, I didn’t even have to use the dog treats I brought on either of them. They were both immediately my BFFs. Carl did destroy the toy I brought him within 24 hours but I’ll take that as a compliment. Jack only got clothes but he still let me hang out with him.

I think maybe I’d been at the house about 2 hours and after getting the tour we decidedly we could definitely, absolutely paint their guest bath vanity before I left on Sunday. We also replaced the faucet and re-grouted the tile countertop. We did all this while Nelson golfed, we had a Saturday ladies’ night out, and we fit in a little shopping (beside our many Home Depot trips). It was a great little mini getaway weekend!

Hopefully Nelson didn’t mind the madness I may have instigated at their house 😛

]]> 2017 Christmas with the Karas’ http://blog.solanis.net/2017/12/2017-christmas-with-the-karas/ Sun, 24 Dec 2017 08:15:26 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/?p=5533 Read More]]> We headed to the airport for our Christmas trip to Indiana. There a lot of wrestling before boarding our flight, and I think Oliver won.

Aiden has his first ice skating experience and loved it. He used the little walker for a while but by the end he didn’t even want to hold our hands for help.

 


We visited the Holliday Park Nature Center. We saw a turtle, owl, frogs, snakes, squirrels and a Woody Wood Pecker.

     

We also went to the Plainfield Library for story time. After reading 999 Tadpoles, the boys got to make their own pond with 999 tadpoles using dobbers. Then upstairs they had a life-size candy land game.

 

Sarah was in town for the first half of our trip. We managed to escape the littles and do a little painting.

Aunt Sheryl and Malachi came over to spend the day with us.

   

We went to the Hernandez’s for New Year’s Eve and played with “baby AJ”. We brought her one our favorite toys as a gift, magna-tiles. Aiden and AJ built with magnets while this other little monster hovered happily around the food table.

The boys got to open one present and their Christmas stockings before Christmas.

We had our whole family Christmas on Christmas eve. Aiden was very patient pacing himself with Oliver’s gift opening speed.

Sharing snacks and playing together…

    

We snuck out with dad one evening to get drinks while MeMe and the little went to bed.

 

After Sarah headed back to Philadelphia, Andrew and I started on Mom and Dad’s Christmas present. Andrew’s getting ready to start cutting and double checking my measurements. We got super lucky that the tile did not need any horizontal cuts.

We got to the end and were short 2 little tiles and had to make a run to the store before we could finish up.

Here’s the finished project (it took us roughly 2 half days). We also added under-cabinet LEDs.

 

This is myself around Oliver’s age. I was comparing with pictures at my parents house. I’d say he has my looks and Andrew’s personality.

]]> Deck #2 Redo http://blog.solanis.net/2017/05/deck-2-redo/ http://blog.solanis.net/2017/05/deck-2-redo/#comments Mon, 08 May 2017 06:19:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2017/05/deck-2-redo/ We are getting to the last major house project on our list, the lower back deck. It’s off our bedroom and never gets used, so we haven’t been in a hurry to tackle it. However, we got our roof re-done and a pallet of roofing material fell off the roof, landing on the lower deck and cracking the supporting beam, so it was time to get to it. We did demo ourselves with the help of Tom and Andrew’s parents. For speed, we decided to hire someone to re-build it (we want to be able to use it this summer).
Aiden got dressed for deck demo. After “helping” Tom and Andrew for a few minutes he came back inside to build his own new deck.
After demo, I built a retaining wall for the pad that we’d need for the steps down (the original deck didn’t have stairs). That pad quickly evolved into a paver patio that took up the entire space under our upper deck. Previously because of shade, no growth, and water that fell from the upper deck this area was mostly a mud pit. We thought this would give us more usable space.
While our deck guys worked I spent my free time digging out the mud pit. It was very slow work.
We hung new swings for the boys (in hopes that we could accomplish some work while they played).
Once the hole was dug and the deck almost complete, we had a lot of rocks dumped in our driveway and started the underlayment for the paver patio.
After talking with our deck guys we decided to let them complete the paver patio as well. What would probably take us 2-3 weeks, they could get done in one extra day of work. Yes please!

The final bit of work is to paint the railing which we should do by end of summer.

]]> http://blog.solanis.net/2017/05/deck-2-redo/feed/ 1 New Year, New Fireplace http://blog.solanis.net/2017/02/new-year-new-fireplace/ Wed, 08 Feb 2017 06:21:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2017/02/new-year-new-fireplace/ We began ripping out our current fireplace right after the New Year. It took us roughly a month to complete.
It was wood burning and we never used it. We were planning to get a gas insert. But after doing all the demo work, we had the pros come measure for the insert. Once they were able to look into the walls, we learned that the fireplace wasn’t structural. We could remove the whole thing and get an entirely new fireplace. The perk to this is we could get a larger fireplace (for the same amount of money). I also pulled of part off the mantle that was running along the back wall, so I took this excuse to repaint the whole room (too ambitious? maybe).
We had gas run to the where the new fireplace would be and I built drawers for underneath the hearth. 
We added framing for the built-in entertainment unit that would replace the wood storage box.
The installer put in the new fireplace and hooked up the gas. Since they were doing framing for the fireplace, we also had them add the cement board for tiling (it’s one our least favorite things to do). 
I built drawer fronts. Andrew worked on wiring for the entertainment system.
We waited to decide on a hearth until after the fireplace was installed. We wanted to have perfectly accurate measurements and know exactly how much space we’d have under the silver framing. Conveniently Andrew and I both had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off, but daycare was open. We used that entire day to go from stone yard to stone yard hoping to find remnants that might work for our space. We saw very little we liked, even when we did find remnants long enough. However, the very last place we visited happened to have one full sheet of marble that they were selling at remnant price because it was the last of a lot. Plus they could install within 2 weeks, unlike most the other places.
I painted and installed the drawer fronts before the hearth was installed.
The hearth arrived! They struggled to get it in our front door and up the stairs, but eventually made it. One installer spent a lot of time measuring, going up and down, and shaking his head at the staircase before bringing the piece inside.
Next, we needed to decide on tile. I probably brought home 8 options, and we narrowed it down to each of our favorites. Andrew’s pick was the right option (horizontal) and I preferred the left. I agreed to pick the right option if we laid it vertically.
Andrew and I build in the box and shelves. The shelves can slide in and out, and there’s a 4 inch gap in the back for running wires. Andrew’s done a lot of behind the scenes work here to discreetly connect speakers, receiver, projector, internet, and all the gaming systems. 
Ana came over to take the boys out for the afternoon and we tiled in about 4 hours. 
I was able to grout the next day while everyone was at work/daycare.
The final piece was adding doors to the entertainment stuff.
Voila!
Here’s the before photo.
]]> A Hampton Visit http://blog.solanis.net/2016/05/a-hampton-visit/ Tue, 17 May 2016 00:31:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2016/05/a-hampton-visit/
Andrew’s parents came for a visit this past weekend. We had a wonderful time. Games were played, food was made and Aiden got to go play at the McDonald’s playland. Now he asks if he can go to “Old McDonald” all the time. 

We had a great afternoon at the park. 
We also got our new front door installed!
]]> Gingerbread Renovations http://blog.solanis.net/2015/12/gingerbread-renovations/ Tue, 22 Dec 2015 05:45:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2015/12/gingerbread-renovations/ We went to Rob and Des’ house Saturday afternoon for gingerbread house construction and decorating. It went really well! I worried Aiden’s attention span wouldn’t last. 

Then they ate their gingerbread house candy and the sugar kicked in…
Andrew and I spent last week getting the carpeted loft ready for wood flooring. Andrew did most of the carpet removal and I did a lot of staple and nail removal, plus getting the underlayment placed.

Here’s the quick before and after from my phone…
Starting the first few rows was the slowest part. We top nailed the first couple of rows and then used our manual floor nailer to get far enough out that we could put the wall bed frame back in place. 
Then we rented a pneumatic floor nailer and went to town on the rest in one day (one very long day). In that one day we also managed to put the baseboards and furniture back in place.  
While doing home renovations with a toddler, a mattress on the living room floor can provide great exercise and entertainment on a rainy day 😛
]]> The Last of the Carpet! (almost) http://blog.solanis.net/2015/10/the-last-of-carpet-almost/ http://blog.solanis.net/2015/10/the-last-of-carpet-almost/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2015 06:22:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2015/10/the-last-of-carpet-almost/ We replaced the carpet with wood floors on the main level about 3 years ago and added wood floors in our bedroom shortly after moving. So there was only carpet left in the 2nd bedroom and the loft. We ordered wood flooring for both a few weeks ago and this past week we’ve gotten the 2nd bedroom/hallway nearly done. That is our priority before baby #2 arrives and if we get the loft complete as well, then great (but we’ll just see).  
Here’s an idea of what the room was before.
We spent the weekend ripping up the old carpet and then shifting all the furniture to one end of the room. We started the new floor along the window wall of the room so that we would end inside the closet. This way if we ended up a little crooked it wouldn’t be noticeable. Typically it’s recommended you run your flooring the length of the room but we wanted to run the flooring the length of the hallway so this made more sense and also matched the direction we ran the flooring in our room. 
We have a manual floor nailer, but we rented a pneumatic nailer for a day to get a majority of it done. Once we were a little under halfway across the room we shifted the bed back onto the new flooring. 
When we reached the doorway Andrew made his way down the hall with the flooring. This took quite a bit of planning, measuring, and maneuvering. I left that to him, while I continued in the bedroom.  
 Aiden would wake up from his nap or come home from daycare to check on our progress. He knew exactly how to help. He would also get excited about how much was done and then point out how “it not finished yet?!” or “you get more stuck!”
Once we reached the closet, Andrew had to do more planning and measuring. We still have a little more to complete in the hallway but paused there to spend our time getting the bedroom complete so that Aiden could go back to sleeping in there as soon as possible. I think he ended up only needed to sleep in our room 3 nights. 
After all the flooring was laid in the bedroom, I was able to put all the door trim and baseboards back. As I did all this yesterday afternoon, I got to the very last piece of 3″ trim and I somehow managed to put a nail through my finger with the nail gun. I didn’t even realize I did it immediately. I felt nothing, just confusion as to why the baseboard wasn’t attached to the wall. Then I saw it. I called Andrew and kept him on the phone while I drove myself to the ER and he met me there. I was afraid that if I waited for him to come home panic would set in, I would pass out, the pain would kick in, etc. By the time I got to the ER the pain was definitely setting in but luckily for me no bleeding. Andrew was just a few minutes after me. They numbed my finger with a nerve block and after xrays pulled it out with pliers. Andrew watched, I couldn’t. I appreciated his comment “they pull that out just like you would if it was in a wall.” There was no bone fracture and I can still bend my top knuckle, so all and all, as far as putting a nail in your finger the outcome was the best it could be. Here’s the real finger pic if you want to see.

So I glued the last piece of trim to the wall today…
]]> http://blog.solanis.net/2015/10/the-last-of-carpet-almost/feed/ 2 The Deck (After) http://blog.solanis.net/2015/07/the-deck-after/ Thu, 02 Jul 2015 05:01:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2015/07/the-deck-after/ This project was so overdue (along with this post) and we probably talked about it for 2 years before finally getting to it. We were initially deterred by trying to get quotes and then the outrageous quotes when we did get them. Some places wanted $700 for just a deck plan!? It’s a rectangle. We already have a plan, we just weren’t sure taking on all the work ourselves (+ toddler) was going to be realistic.
We finally came across the perfect referral. A contractor who was willing to take on some side work and had no issue with us doing some of the work. I drew up the plans, had them approved by the HOA and work began.
 Once Jon finished the framing Andrew and I laid the decking. Andrew did most of the cutting and I did most of the laying. Tom and Emily with Kelly’s assistance were wonderful enough to take Aiden for 24 hours so that we could work nonstop and finish in a weekend. We were successful and sore afterwards. 
We used Trex which required leaving gaps between the boards for weather expansion. Those are our blue spacers laying all over the place.
After we finished the decking Jon came back to put the rails up.
It’s so amazing to have our outdoor space back and Aiden can safely go out there an play now!
]]> The Deck (Before) http://blog.solanis.net/2015/05/the-deck-before/ Sat, 02 May 2015 04:28:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2015/05/the-deck-before/ Our deck has been rotting out from under us since we bought our place. We refinished it when we moved it to maintain it a little longer. But it’s been unusable for about 2 years now. We started stepping through it, the grill started to sink into it, you couldn’t lean on the rail, and we just stopped going out there altogether. 
Here’s what we were working with… 

 The rails came down first. I came home one day and just found them missing, thanks to Andrew.
Then be pulled off all the decking section by section. before pulling all the joists down. After that we gave the beam/posts a nudge and the just fell over. 
 In general, it probably came apart easier than it should have. Hauling it all to the Uhaul and taking it to the dump was definitely the worst part. But it was so exciting to see it go!
]]> So Over That Futon http://blog.solanis.net/2015/01/so-over-that-futon/ http://blog.solanis.net/2015/01/so-over-that-futon/#comments Fri, 09 Jan 2015 07:31:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2015/01/so-over-that-futon/ I have been over this futon in our loft for a while now, but without a good solution for replacing it I haven’t done anything about it. I’d been tossing around all kind of options from rearranging the desk space making room for a permanent bed to expanding the loft into the extra 6 feet of attic space in the garage. Andrew was strongly against any desk relocation since his current setup is ideal for seeing the TV and expansion is a major renovation I’m not interested in right now. Instead I decided a murphy bed would be a better solution for the space the futon is currently in. We could use a real mattress, it would be hidden away from the cats when not in use (otherwise it just becomes their bed) and it would take up less space than the unused futon, so Friday after New Years I started making a plan. I based my plans on this wall bed plan sold online. I made some minor adjustments to accommodate our space limitations.  
We took apart the futon. Aiden thought the mattress made a fun trampoline in the living room for the week. I assembled the box on the first night.
The second night I cut, sanded and attached the shelves.
After looking at some different versions of completed plans, I saw one that stood out and had a much more finished look. So when I picked up the plywood I also got wainscoting panels for the front-facing side of the mattress platform. I glued the paneling to the plywood so when I cut my 2 platform pieces the edges would be perfectly aligned. Then I screwed the platform the the back of the shelves.
Once the bed and the box were done I added latches to hold the bed/shelves in place. It’s nearly done!
 I added replaceable notches in the mattress platform so that when the bed is down it can slide back into the box against the wall. This saved crucial inches in our narrow loft space. I made the cuts align with the grooves in the paneling to keep them as inconspicuous as possible.
 Then “we” painted the entire thing. Most of the lumber I bought was already primed so painting went quickly. I ended up doing 2 coats of the trim paint we’ve used throughout the house.
  The final product… We’re going to get a real mattress so for now the futon mattress is a placeholder. I love this so much more than the futon!
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