Work in progress

The kitchen is still a work in progress, but tonight we really made some real headway! 

We started with this from last week:

The boys first framed, insulated and installed the recess lighting to the ceiling. Then, they started by putting up 2x6 boards across the ceiling and attaching them to the supporting rafters. The boards were placed (give or take a little) 16 inches apart, on center. 

Then, they filled in between the 2x6's with insulation and stapled it into place.

After this was finished, they installed the light canisters for the recessed lighting. 

They just followed the directions :P

Tahhhhh Dahhhhhh!!!! Let there be light!!!

So tonight, we drywalled over the top to create the actual ceiling!!! 

First, the boys cut the sheets of drywall to fit, and nailed them in place onto the 2x6's. These nail indents and the spaces between the sheets of drywall needed to be filled in, so we used the mud and puddy knives. 

After that, all the nails were mailed in far enough to create a small indent in the drywall. Then, we filled this indent with the mud - super easy! 

After the nails were filled, we started on the gaps between drywall sheets. For this, we stuffed a thick layer of mud into the crease, then covered the muddy gap with drywall tape and followed with another thin layer of mud to "glue" the tape down. You can't go over the tape too much after its on, because if you do, it will rip off of the wall and you have to start over. The most improtant part here is the angle that you hold the puddy knife against the wall. The smaller the angle (closer to the wall), the more mud you apply. The larger the angle, the more mud you PULL off of the wall. 

I used 2 puddy knives, one in each hand, and constantly switched a clump of mud back and forth between the two knives in order to have control and keep the knives clean. This process takes time to master, but this is essential! 

^^ the boys started ripping off the counter here... Another project 😮😬

Then the next step was to apply a corner molding to the top of the ceiling that meets up the the dining room. This creates a straight edge on the corner that is more durable and aesthetically pleasing. 

We nailed the corner beam into place, without making any indentations into the metal. After nailing it into place, we mudded over it with a veryyyy thick application to cover the line of demarcation. 

Done!!! Tomorrow it will just need another layer!!! 

As for the drywall on the wall of the kitchen around the window, we did the same thing. This time, Brad and I did it totally ourselves with Adam!!!! 

I actually mudded over it all by myself!!!

After that was done, it was 2am so we passed out! We will finish the rest tomorrow!!! :)

Finishing up the drywall with texture

After the drywall and mudding was done on the wall fill-in, the next step is spitting it with texture. 

To fill up the spitting gun, we used the same drywalling mud we have been using, but now mixed with water. Using a large mixing bowl and a spatula, I slowly added water in to create a paste similar to the consistency of cake batter. 

After we got the correct consistency, we emptied the mix into the top of the spitter and began splattering the wall using long, fluid motions and even pressure on the trigger.

We went over the entire wall with large splatter and protected the floor, ceiling, and other walls as best we could using a tarp and cardboard. 

After the large splatter was completed everywhere, we used lighter pressure on the trigger to create smaller splatter in the gaps.

Once everything looked uniform and matched the texture on the other walls, we moved into the bathroom and began to texture there until the bedroom dried.

Drying took about 10 minutes in the bedroom, at which point we gently flattened the mounds using a wide putty knife. 

Then, we repeated the same steps on the bathroom wall.

The next morning, we applied the paint! 

That was the end result! Can't even tell there was ever an opening in the wall! The new roommates seem to like it too:) 

Lighting is so important

We went to Home Depot today to pick out recess lighting for the new kitchen ceiling. 

I don't know if you've ever been down the lighting aisle at Home Depot, but it's a very scary place.... 

So many!!!!!!!!

Since there are SO many options when it comes to lighting, we simplified it to English by putting the lights into 3 categories. Basically, recessed lighting is separated by color, type of bulb, and the way the light projects outward. 

Color: 

There is a color spectrum that the light emits from the bulb, but in general, lighting color can be warm white, bright white, or daylight. 

Neither of us like the super bright fluorescent colored light because it seems too sterile. This type of lighting is labeled as "daylight," but I call it hospital light. So daylight is ruled out. 

Additionally, we don't like the dull, yellow lighting that seems to make everything look dirty. This light is the lower end of the "warm white" spectrum, so we want to avoid that.

Type of "bulbs":

So for us, there's LED lights and then there's everything else. There are a million types of bulbs out there (ie: halogen, BR, PAR, CFL, etc.) but none of them compare to LED. LED lights are more energy efficient, nontoxic, durable, and long lasting than other lighting options. Also, they are smaller and the fixtures are a more compact design, which will help Brad and my dad when they are installing them! 

Outward Projection:

What I mean by this is how much light is omitted and in what direction the light rays are projecting outward. There are 5 styles which include lensed, baffle, reflector, open, and eyeball. Basically, the eyeball moves; the baffle and lensed produce a concentrated, straight beam of light downwards; and the reflector and open lighting both produce a wide, soft beam. Because we want general room lighting, we are looking for more of a wide, soft look to distribute the light throughout the entire room. For this reason, we narrowed our search to a reflector or open style of light; the other types would be more for accent and wall lighting.

 

This ^^ is the light we went with because it fit all of our expectations AND it was inexpensive. Some of the other fixtures were $40+ whereas this one was only $22.88!! A steal! Also, ratings online proved the product even more because most people raved about how great this specific light is.

We got 4 of them because we want to put 2 on each side of the kitchen. Since we are also putting in rope lighting above our cabinets, we felt 4 would be more than enough to brighten the entire kitchen! 

 

Seems like they're popular too! This ^^ was on the end of the aisle - tons of the same one we picked! 

Brads parents got us a $250 gift card to Home Depot and $250 to Target, so we used that money to buy these lights, a light for the bathroom, and also other things to complete the kitchen ceiling!!! 

Thank you Tom and Jeri!!!! :) 

Bargain shopping!

Today, I went shopping to find some containers for all of the bulk items Brad and I are buying at the grocery store! We decided, buying in bulk at places like Winco and Costco/SAMs will be the best because we use less packaging, generate less waste, save money, and it's just more fun!!  

I started off at Goodwill because, let's face it, Goodwill is the best and cheapest place to find containers of allllllllll sizes and styles. I wanted something modern, stackable, and well sealable to hold dried goods such as pasta, flour, sugar, etc. I also was looking for a modern container to leave on the counter and act as a compost bin. A bin like this would need a lid, and be large enough to fit the compost from at least a day, until we can dump it into the large compost pile outside.

These are the items I brought home: 

On the left, the silver container will be our compost bin for the kitchen! The lid makes an air-tight seal with silicone around the top portion, which is great because it won't let any unwanted odor escape between dumping. This was $3.99.

On the right, the two black jars will hold our bulk pasta. The jars also have an air-tight seal, which will be perfect to keep the pasta fresh longer! The jars can also be stacked on top of one another to save space in the pantry. Each of these jars was $3.99.

The fruit holder in the back was not an item I originally was seeking, but we really needed one. The two tiers really caught my eye because I LOVE having lots of fruit to snack on in the house. The two tier is better than having just a large bowl because it will prevent bruising of the fruit on the bottom!! This holder was $5.99

 

$3.99 compost bin

$3.99 black jar

$3.99 black jar

$5.99 fruit holder 

__________

Total: $17.96

Can you believe it?!? 

Also, I have been looking for a clock for the kitchen ever since I went to breakfast at Early Toast with my Friend Allison for her birthday (they have amazing mimosas btw). They had this huge clock on the wall that was just darling and I was determined to find one like it! 

^^^Don't you love it?! 

So, while at Goodwill I saw one that looked so similar and it was only $12 so of course I took it home with me! :)

After leaving Goodwill, I ran over to Target to check out stuff for Christmas gifts. 

I found the SAME CLOCK that I had just bought at Goodwill for $39.99!!

I am so happy with my purchase! :) 

The walls are closing in: Drywall

The upstairs bathroom that the roommates will share is between two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is the master, and it is connected to the bathroom by an open doorway without a door. Can you see the problem? If the roommate in the other room wants to use the bathroom, they will be seeing into the master, and that just doesn't work. 

In order to make this bathroom a "shared" bathroom, we need to either add a door or close up the wall. 

Adding a door would be nice for the next owners of the house when we sell because then the bathroom will still be connected to the master. EXCEPT, who wants to share a master bathroom with their child? Not me. 

The other alternative is having the roommate share the downstairs bathroom with the downstairs room. Then, you make the upstairs bathroom accessible from only the master. The problem with this is you expect your child (or roommate in our case) to walk all the way downstairs to the other bathroom, which is strange.... So you can see our dilemma. 

We decided, the best and most logical thing to do is close up the wall between the master and the bathroom. This would make the downstairs room the "master" because it has its own bathroom linked to it and the two upstairs rooms can share the upstairs bathroom equally. 

To begin closing up the wall, we cut away the drywall and the carpet from  around the he opening in order to see where we would link the new boards to. 

Then, we scraped off the excess drywall using a large putty knife/scraper in order to create a flat surface for the new drywall mud. 

 

Each beam in the wall is a standard 12" apart, so Brad and my dad framed out the new wall to this standard. 

Next, they put drywall sheets over the top of this framing and nailed it into the studs they just framed out and they started applying drywall mud over the creases using a puddy knife. 

This ^ was the first layer of drywall mud and it is the thickest. This layer takes about a day to dry, and it creates the most stability in the new drywall. The next layers of mud over the top are used to smooth out the lines of demarcation between the old and new wall. 

This ^ is the finished product, after the drywall mud was applied. We covered all of the nails and creases between the new and old wall. 

Now we wait for it to dry and for my dad to bring his texture machine over to spit the wall with texture. This next step is the finishing touch before the paint, that way the walls match perfectly!