Floors, Doors, and Trim

We had so much to do this weekend! We were planning on finishing flooring (easy!), hanging doors (which I had never done before and was kind of freaked out about) and putting up trim (which I have very little experience in and was kind of freaked out about). Needless to say, I was extremely anxious about how everything would turn out, and I was extremely anxious to get it all over with! It was a long week...

I arrived in Cokeville on Wednesday afternoon. We spend that afternoon and evening laying the flooring in the kitchen and dining areas. It was easy enough, but we ended up not having enough flooring left to even start the laundry room or mud room in the back porch area, so those had to be left undone, which kind of sucked. We were seven boxes short!? The good news is, that even though we had originally special ordered our laminate flooring (which took weeks to come in), Lowe's actually had some in stock when we called and enquired about ordering more...hallelujah!  So, we will be able to finish the flooring completely this next weekend...phew!!

On Thursday, Thanksgiving day, we hung doors, from 9am to 4:45pm. Lucky for us, my cousin Tami's handy husband, Casey, was kind enough to spend his entire Thanksgiving afternoon helping us. My mom and I would hang the door with the help of the quick door hanger hardware, and then Casey would come after us to shim and screw the door into the jam. He was a lifesaver and I will love him forever for helping us out as much as he did! :)

Nearly every door in that house had to be cut down to size, which meant we had to unhinge the door, cut down the jam, cut off the door, separate the cut-off  paneling from the bottom piece of the door, and then glue the bottom piece of the door back inside the shortened door, clamp it in place, wait for it to dry, then re-hinge it and hang it in the jam. It was quite the process?! And while not too terribly difficult, it was a bit tedious and time consuming. But the doors are hung, and they open and close like a dream, and they look amazing!! I love them!

Since we felt so accomplished with hanging 10 doors on Thanksgiving day, we took Thanksgiving evening off. We closed up shop at 4:45pm, just in time to make ourselves presentable for dinner at the Teichert's at 5:15pm. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, and even though I wasn't spending it with my husband or little boy (they stayed back in Logan since I would be working non-stop anyway), I was still with family and it still felt like home. 

On Friday we started on the trim downstairs. We were able to trim out everything except one window (which was covered in peices of sheetrock and boards that needed to be hauled away), and the back porch laundry room and mud room (since we hadn't layed flooring back there, we couldn't put in the floor board trim). We also sent my dad to Montpelier (the nearest civilization 30 miles away) not once, but TWICE...once for some finish nails, and again for a new saw blade. He was not very impressed with our lack of foresight, but he helped us out nonetheless. When cutting miter cuts, the saw was SO hard to use. Once we got the new blade it cut our miters like butter! There is nothing like a new, sharp blade...it truly makes all the difference!

On Saturday we started in on trimming out the upstairs and worked a 12 hour day, from 7am to 7pm. We got every entry doorway trimmed out, and nearly all the floor boards down, but we ended up running out of 3.5 inch boards, which meant none of our eight windows could be finished, nor could three of our closet doorways. Then we ran out of finishing nails (again!?), and then we ran out of the 6 inch boards, and then we just plain ran out of time. So pretty much, we ran out of everything this weekend...flooring, nails, trim, and time. We did everything we could to get as far as we could and use what we could, but it isn't all finished yet. However, next weekend we will be able to finish things in no time flat.

So, next weekend the plan is to finish the flooring in the back porch. Finish all the trim. Hang shelves in the closets and kitchen pantry. Caulk and putty all the trim. Tape for painting. And if we're really lucky, maybe we can start priming. It'll definitely be another busy weekend.

So, I'm sure you're dying to see some pictures...behold, we have doors and trim! I am loving how things are turning out in this place...

 (Below...beadboard and trim in the bathroom)

And because it's Thanksgiving week, here are just a few things I've been really thankful for the past three months during this renovation adventure.

• I am thankful for my amazing husband Eric, who has never complained once about me being gone every, single, weekend, and having to be the sole childcare provider for our little boy while I'm away. Being a single parent three days out of the week can't be fun or easy, but Eric has never complained and has never been anything but supportive.
• I am thankful for my mom, and that she knows how to do everything and isn't afraid to learn how to do something new. I'm also thankful that she owns every single power tool known to mankind. They have all come in very handy and one point or another!
• I am thankful for my dad, and that he is our un-official garbage man. The dump is gross, especially in the cold, wet wintertime, but he happily hauls our garbage away, week after week. I am also thankful that he is our un-official chef. He always has something hot and ready to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, whenever we walk in the door. He is too good to be true sometimes!
• I am thankful for this journey. While at this point in time no amount of time or money could convince me to do another renovation of this magnitude, I have learned SO much. I have learned new skills, new things about houses, new ways of doing things. I feel pretty much invincible about renovating houses at this point. I figure if we can fix up this 100-year-old dump of a house, I'm pretty sure we could fix up anything worth salvaging. And that's a nice feeling. While I am constantly reminded of why I happily paid someone else good money to build my house last year, it's good to know that if I ever need to draw upon my reno' skills someday, I certainly can.
• I am thankful for my wonderful life. Being away from home each weekend is hard, and I don't like it...at all. But being away makes me realize how much I love and adore my little family, and my house, and my friends, and this little city of Logan, and my amazing life. The drive home every Saturday night has never been more exciting...I can never get home fast enough! I have it so good!