Building a kitchen

Despite having a little more work to do upstairs we have decided to begin working downstairs again.

April 23 - Allie cleaned up inside and sanded more of one wall in her room. David and Wyatt took turns mowing the grass. Then David and Wyatt helped Sara and I extend the hot wire further into the pasture.
April 27 - Put plywood on the ceiling of the front porch except for a few small pieces and put plywood on the ceiling on most of the back porch.
May 4 - Finished loft and balcony floor with pine tongue and groove boards and finished railing on balcony. Began scraping off contact paper from what will be the dining room wall.
May 10 - Installed Allie's floor, wired a light in the kitchen and dining room and connected electrical wiring for back porch fans. Scraped more of the contact paper from the wall.
May 17 - Checked electrical lines for washer and dryer, rerouted electrical line from laundry/mud room light to a new switch, rerouted a line for the refrigerator and dishwasher, ran a line for the kitchen backsplash outlets, installed wires for three lights over what will be the sink and put in a light switch. Began scraping paint off what will be the dining room wall.
May 18 - Put in insulation along kitchen wall, installed bead board plywood on kitchen wall and framed out and put bead board for the refrigerator cabinet. Drilled holes and put in pipes for sink drainage and water lines coming to sink, framed the kitchen cabinet. Put in plywood counter top and took measurements for stainless steel counter top. Scraped more paint off the dining room wall.
May 19 - Picked up and delivered more supplies and materials from Lowe's.
May 20 - Philip helped David put in a missing piece of plywood counter top, cut out the door spaces for the front of the cabinet, installed the front, reinforced the countertop, checked measurements for stainless steel countertop and measured and marked for sink cutout.
May 23 - David and I went to the house at 5:30 in the morning and connected the electrical lines for the AC units so that Troy can connect them and install thermostats. We will have AC to work in and just in time since summer time weather is here!!!

  

8 Months Into Our Remodeling....Let The Sanding Begin!!!!

Wow, we have been remodeling for 8 months and have gotten a tremendous amount of work done in spite of how busy our lives are at times. All of our major demo and building projects within the house are done. We still have lots of medium sized jobs and many small loose ends to tie up.......but for now the following is a run down of our accomplishments since mid March.

March 15 - Put up tongue and groove pine on Allie's angled back wall, ran additional wiring upstairs, and put up another sheet of plywood in the storage closet.
March 16 - Put up tongue and groove on front wall of living room and almost finished putting in plywood on the side wall in the loft.
March 17 - Today we worked on the tractor!!!!!
March 21 - Today we extended the hot wire fence toward the back of the pasture.
March 22 - Connected wiring for Sara's room, hall light switches, and loft. We ran remaining wires for the AC unit and put up insulation in the loft ceiling and in Sara's room.
March 29 - Took down scaffolding, put away tools and materials and cleaned up inside and outside at the house in Lebeau for the Easter Celebration!!
March 30 - Mowed the grass at the house, cleaned up, set up scaffolding and took out tools and materials.
April 5 - Finished putting tongue and groove on front wall in living room and on Sara's wall and ceiling. We also finished the two rows of tongue and groove on the flat ceiling in the living room that was started to put in the ceiling fans so that we could have a straight edge to measure from in order to begin putting in the pine on the angled wall/ceiling in the living room.
April 7 - Began putting in tongue and groove on the angled ceiling in the living room.
April 11 - Almost finished putting up tongue and groove on angled ceiling in living room.
April 12 - Finished angled ceiling and and almost finished flat ceiling in living room with tongue and groove.
April 13 - Took a much needed break this morning and relieved a little stress by shooting a couple of rounds with a 38, a 9 mm, a 380, and a 7 mm this morning for our concealed carry class. Finished putting up tongue and groove on the living room ceiling and almost finished with the north wall.
April 18 - Finished putting up tongue and groove on the north living room wall. Kids began sanding their bedroom walls.
April 19 - Finished putting tongue and groove on the small living room wall which is also the back wall of the pantry, kids did more sanding.
April 20 - Put in banister and railing on stairs and railing and some posts on balcony upstairs using cypress trees and limbs. More sanding!!!
April 22 - Cleaned up and burned scrap wood, cut some of the grass, cleaned up the rose bush, put in cypress tree as corner post for Wyatt's bed and worked on posts for railing upstairs.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We see the light!

We literally see the light because we have installed lights in several rooms. Yay!!!

Feb. 8 - Put up tongue and groove in Allie's room.
Feb. 10 - Finished third wall in Allie's room with tongue and groove and ran more wiring.
Feb. 15 - Began putting in temporary hot wire fence.
Feb. 16 and 17 - Put up more tongue and groove, put in plywood ceiling in Wyatt and Allie's room and connected wiring in Wyatt's room so that his outlets and light switch works.
Feb. 18 - Put up more tongue and groove, connected outlets and light switch in Allie's room, ran wiring in loft and then connected switch and installed lights. Also installed 3 drop down ceiling fan lights in the living room with 8 ft pipes. Had to use scaffolding and a ladder to install the ceiling fans and took about half a day.
Feb. 22 -  Built back wall in Wyatt's room.
Feb. 23 - Finished fence and moved horses to Lebeau. Built 2 walls in Sara's room.
Feb. 24 - Moved the bull and a few cows and calves to Lebeau. Built remaining outside wall upstairs on outside of storage room and bathroom and put up plywood on one wall of the storage room upstairs.
Mar. 1 - Put up remaining wall in Wyatt's room, began putting up tin on Wyatt's ceiling, finished Sara's third wall.
Mar. 3 - Plowed a plot in Lebeau so Sara and Wyatt could ride. Put up more plywood on 2nd wall in storage room, put in outlet boxes in upstairs bathroom.
Mar. 5 - Dropped off pallets in Lebeau and picked up wood from Lowe's.
Mar. 8 - Used pallets to create a temporary pen to hold the horses tonight for easier catching in the morning for the 1st rodeo of the new year with JDRC.
Mar. 10 - Spent about an hour finishing Allie's wall. Due to the lulling of the rain decided to stop for the day and take a nap before evening church service. Some things are just more important!

 

 

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel....although it is a tiny spark!

Starting on December 31st, we have been able to get much accomplished in the way of wiring, installing a new electrical box, finished decking upstairs, finished framing walls upstairs, getting the old AC and a new AC unit 90% installed, and installing about 300 pine tongue and groove boards on the wall.
Dec. 31 - Put 1x6 boards on staircase to fill in the gap between each step and cleaned up the mess created from the weekend work. Stopped working early today to get ready for the 1st Bayou Jacque Watch Night Service, which was a big success especially the testimonials given in reference to blessings during 2012.
Jan. 1 - It rained all day! Still managed to have a great New Year's lunch and visit with family at Grandma's.
Jan. 2 - Met with Troy to make plans for the AC installation. Spent about an hour unloading pine tongue and groove boards, plywood and insulation. Framed in the pantry.
Jan. 3 - Decked part of the upstairs, framed in the new wall for the laundry/mud room, tore out the old ceiling in the kitchen and dining room and cleaned the mess....long day!
Jan. 4 - Tour out the wall to open up master bedroom and worked on upstairs decking. Stafford and Henry came to help David install the new electrical panel and weather head.
Jan. 5 - Tour out ceiling from master bedroom and finished decking upstairs. Slade and I helped David build a wooden ladder that was able to reach to the ceiling in the living room about 18 ft up that we used to put in 7 more collar braces.
Jan. 6 - Tour out ceiling in the classroom/office and cleaned up the mess. Put in plywood and sheet rock base in attic for AC, and put in plywood and sheet rock base in guest bathroom closet for other AC.
Jan. 7 - Troy began installing AC today. It rained again today. Sara went to school with David so that she could compete at the area FFA contest with her prepared public speech. Found out that Sara won the speech contest and will be competing at the State FFA contest during state convention in June.
Jan. 8 -  Troy finished installing the AC (except the installation which needs to be done after new wiring and electrical work is done.) It rained again!!
Jan. 9 - Rain!!
Jan. 10 - Rain over the past few days forced school to be closed. Jan. 9 was David's last day to teach Ag at Midland High. Starting a new job Monday, January 14th. After about 10 inches of rain our old house in Crowley was 4 inches from flooding. Lebeau Church Rd was flooded.
Jan. 11 - Used David's truck to get to the house in Lebeau because water was as high as 3 ft in some places. David, Allie, and Wyatt tried to get out by 4 wheeler but to no avail. They did have an adventure and got wet. We did manage to put in two outlets in the living room, haul wood to the burn pile, unhooked and labeled wires to be reused and rerouted to the new electrical box. I.t rained again!
Jan. 12 - Todd and Heath ran new wiring to the remaining outlets in the living room, front porch lights, and living room lights. David and I worked on framing upstairs walls, then Heath and Todd helped David rebuild the wooden ladder which he used to screw in the remaining collar braces. Rain!
Jan. 13 - It rained again today. David and I finished framing in the upstairs walls. Began installing the pine tongue and groove boards on living room wall.
Jan. 14 - David began a welding job today! Rained.
Jan. 15 - Jan. 17 - Rained!!!!
Jan. 17 - Finally no rain and lots of sunshine!!!
Jan. 18 - David and I ran errands in Crowley. Another beautiful sunny day.
Jan. 19 - Installed more tongue and groove on living room wall, began wiring upstairs and framed in 2 more doors spaces.
Jan. 20 - Walled in the side of the stairs to make a storage closet and put molding around 2 of the living room windows.
Jan. 21 - After school we worked on built in bed in Wyatt's room and began installing tongue and groove on his wall.
Jan. 24 - After school worked on Wyatt's walls and had direct tv and internet installed!
Jan. 25 - David and I ran errands again today, visit EES, then had a surprise party for Sara's birthday...Bekah, Jeana, and Joni came.
Jan. 26 - David and Heath worked on wiring.
Jan. 27 - Worked on connecting original wiring to new box, put up tongue and groove on outside of pantry wall and outside of one part of laundry room wall.
Jan. 28 - Sara finally got a driver's license!!
Jan. 29 - After school David and I put up tongue and groove on the remaining laundry wall facing the kitchen.
Jan. 30 - Field trip to the District Livestock Show!
Feb. 1 - Began installing tongue and groove on outside of bedroom walls upstairs and framed the island to begin planning kitchen arrangement. Wyatt pulled nails out of the old ceiling joists in the kitchen.
Feb. 2 - Tore out old ceiling in master closet and cleaned mess, put in tongue and groove on another living room wall and back side of the pantry, walled up remaining old window hole and old door on back porch, moved things from off back porch into shed, put up white paper on back wall of house to get it ready for hardy plank.
Feb. 3 - Began installing hardy plank and wired the girls room and cleaned mess.
Feb. 4 - After school, David, Allie and Wyatt installed more hardy plank while Sara and I continued to work on Chemistry!!!