Some progress to report on the Remodeling

Since the last time I posted on the remodel we have made some progress.  Mostly due to Wendy’s diligence.  We have installed a French door, some tile, and carpet in the family room.  We also carpeted the guest room in the same carpet.

 

Here are some before and after pictures.

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are some of it now:

 

Same tile as in the hallway.  We need to still get the trim up around the door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We weren’t expecting the fireplace to be wrapped in carpet again.  Now that it it we may keep it and put a wood border around it and the brick above the fireplace.

 

Close up of the carpet.  It really looks and feels good.

 

Norm and his son installed the carpet and did a great job if you are looking for someone, I would recommend him.

A little progress on the remodel

Since I decided to do the STP with my wife this year, any extra time has been spent  on training for this or recovering from the training.  The outcome of this has meant that almost nothing has gotten done on the remodel.  Over the last few weeks, the time needed to recover from the training has seemed to decrease.  I can now take  a long ride and after resting for a while, do something like mow the lawn or weed the garden, which I hadn’t been able to get to before.  

This freeing up of time combined with the long days of summer has meant getting a little bit done on the remodel.  The painting is now to a point where the cabinets could go in.  My son came home from college and we hired him to remove the old carpet and haul it off.   We also had a cabinet installer to come in and get the first part of the cabinets installed. 

More Learning

When in the OSR Masters program, I learned about Punctuated Equilibrium points.  These are points or milestones in a system where change becomes chaotic and it is no longer possible to predict what will emerge from a system.  At these points, small inputs can have enormous effects in the final outcomes. 

As a system passes through a punctuated equilibrium point,  the foundation of the system—the parts of the system that keep it stable and unchanging—are loosened.  In human systems, I believe this means that changes can be introduced that would normal seem impossible, but which can seemingly be accomplished with relative ease.

Think of people that have gone through near death experiences, some make whole scale changes in their lifestyles and never look back.  After having a Heart attack many people stop smoking after years and years of feeble attempts.  Other people don’t change at all.  They somehow have a belief that the way it was is the only way it can be and this belief informs their choices going forward.  Many people knowing that smoking will kill them, smoke through heart attacks and lung cancer up until the bitter end or until the explosive oxygen they are using to breath precludes them from smoking—else they blow themselves up.

It is almost like the normal laws of cause and effect don’t apply as we go through these punctuated points. 

Extension

After  being lulled by the security  of 20+ years at Boeing it is amazing how  much my expectations and fear levels have changed or maybe it just a change in my time horizons.  Today, I was informed that my 6 month position at UW has been extended to 10 months.

To me this is great news from a couple of perspectives.  The first is that I don’t have to focus on getting a new job until after the summer is over.  So I can continue to focus on the getting ready for the STP and I can get back to focusing on completing our remodel.  Over the last few months my increased focus on work and biking has translated into not making much progress on the remodel.

The second area for which this represents good news, is that they are recognizing my value for helping with what they are trying to accomplish.  I am enjoying what I am doing, and feel truly valued for what I am able to accomplish. 

I’m not sure that this will turn into a permanent position, but I think that the possibility is a step closer.    This is where I’m feeling my perspective is changing.  Getting a permanent position would be icing on the cake, but it isn’t as so all fired important as it was before.   Getting through the fall is enough for now.  Not having to look for a job is a great benefit.  Being able to do something that I’m enjoying and feel valued for is a great benefit.

I’m feeling better able to handle whatever happens.  I may need to go back on unemployment, be without work for a while, or go for work with a whole new company;  but I can handle it and it won’t be the end of the world.  In fact, I can thrive through this situation and come out better in end.  At Boeing, I fooled myself into thinking that I was in a secure situation when I wasn’t.  Being a little more secure would be nice, but  isn’t as important as I thought it was.

Remodel–Progress on the home front

I had gotten as far as I could.  The electrical, speaker, and internet wiring and the TV and HDMI Cabling were in the walls.  The ceiling lights had been installed.   The walls were caulked from the inside and new insulation install. 

For a more than a month we were in wait mode.  First hold up was the Holiday season.  Not wanting to have a big dusty mess while trying to get through the holidays.  Second hold up, the person that we had lined up for the job was at first busy on another job when we called and then fell down a flight of stairs and injured his elbow.  So we had to find another sheet rocker. 

Asking around we found a great crew.  While a little under the line of totally legit,  they could come in and whip it out in a week.  They did a great job and I was amazed at how fast they completed the work.  It was generally a crew of two and probably spent a total  of 3 1/2 days over a 5 day period.  This would have taken me months to do myself and in the end it would have looked like shit.

It looks great, a light texturing makes the taping invisible.  They could have done a little better job at protecting the new electrical plugs I put in, but this isn’t a big negative.  It looks so different than just a week ago, that it is surprising each time a wall into the basement.

See the latest pictures below:

Remodel–On to Sheet Rocking

Image via Wikipedia

The last update on the remodel was given on October 16 and name “slow going”, and slow going it has been.  Many reasons for this.  The first and foremost reason is that the job search is a never ending job and it is the first priority.  Following right behind this is housekeeping and getting meals on the table.  In order to get where I’m at I had to lower my priority for working out, since I had a foot injury during much of this time it was a natural trade off.  Also the house cleaning and food prep could have used a bit more attention over the last few months.

The majority of my time has been sunk into looking for a job.   And instead of this taking less time it seems like it is taking more and more time, as it goes on longer and I get more worried.

Well with all of that, I have managed to complete:

Remodel – Slow progress

It has taken a while to understand the best way to move forward on the electrical in the basement, but I think I finally have a handle on it and know how to proceed.  I was thinking that I would add a new circuit and pull a new line from the garage to the other end of the house in the family room.  Instead, I think I will be able to add on to the existing circuit that supplies our guest room.
I’ve also installed insulation in the laundry room, hallway, and in parts of the family room, though some of the installation in the family room will have to come out because in changes to how much new wiring we are doing.
Progress is coming in installing speaker wire for the surround sound system.  Here I want to mount all the speakers high on the walls with the majority of the wiring running in the walls.
The greatest progress has been made by my wife and her friend who put in a massive amount of hours last weekend to tile the laundry room and hallway.  It looks fantastic, well you can judge for yourself by looking at the pictures below.

Remodel - Great progress.

 

In my last blog I wrote about how unexpected things come up and change the plan.  I talked about my oldest brother coming to town as a care giver for a liver transplant patient.  The benefits of this on the remodeling was that he helped my with taking out the sheet rock in the basement, so great progress has been made in the basement this last week.

Here are some before pictures on the basement:

Remodel Update – Forward progress

Finally, getting tile installers lined up, now we have too many.  We signed up for one person to come in on Oct 4 to do the master bath shower and floor area.   And then I received another reference.   He was on vacation to start with, so when we were talking to the other contractors, we couldn’t with him. 
Finally made contact Saturday, received a bid in Sunday.  His price is about 30% higher, but they, (it is actually two partners), can start this week.  Even at 30% higher, it is 1/2 of some of our other bids.
We are still signed up for the other guy on Oct 4th; we may keep this date while I get the main bath prepared to be updated.  Though I’m very concerned that I won’t be able to make that date.  due to the overlap of this tile job, letting it all cure, and ordering and installing the shower door.  However long that all takes, would then be subtracted off the dates between now and Oct 4, since I can’t start in the Main bath until the Master is operational again.
In Order to get a good idea the tile design, we laid it out on the living room floor.  Alex was instrumental in coming up with the tile pattern.  It is great how the remodeling is pulling us closer as a family.  In my opinion, that alone is worth the money invested.
Here is the general idea:

This first picture is a little dark.  The stones represent the floor of shower.