On With The Show

      We moved into the house over Thanksgiving on top of having both of our families and some friends coming for the holiday.  Despite having a great time with everyone who came I wouldn't recommend this level of stress for any body.  The meal and the move went off with out really any real problems though,  despite some hardships getting the bed up the stairwell.  Christmas and Hanukkah were less stressful with a few friends coming to town to visit and stay with us.  The goal was to get back in action after the new year, but it was so nice to not working on the house we decided to blend back in a few of our old hobbies (mainly brewing beer and cooking) instead of getting back to major projects.  That is not to say we haven't done anything around the house for three months, it has just been at a much slower pace, and a calmer nature.  We have more or less just been putting out fires here and there that come from new construction on old houses and making the rough edges disappear. So any given week there will be more cupboards here, or a new table there, or door knobs on the bathrooms.  Other than finishing up the detail work (hopefully we will have everything "done" by mid summer) things are going pretty well for us right now.  Amber has a great job working for the Center for Michigan and recently graduated from GVSU with a masters in public administration, and I am going back to grad school this fall at MSU to pursue a masters in business administration and was recently awarded "young engineer of the year", by MSPE.  The next projects are more dictated by the weather than anything else, we don't particularly want to do a lot of varnishing or painting when we cant have all the windows open, so instead we are planning to rough frame in some bedroom closets and some pantry storage.

      

Amber working at the counter

House Warming Gift from Dennis and Lois

Kitchen Island in use 

Winter snow storm 

Snow Storm

Cabin Fever 

Looking out the side window

Looking out the back window

Our back lot

Chess muppeting around

Dining table and chairs 

Entry way

Bathroom Door handles 

Chess Holding Down the furniture

Checkers 

All Lit up

Festive Assortment 

Chess holding down a different piece of furniture

Light shining in

Frame for upstairs closet 

Frame for upstairs closet 

Entry way

Brewing beer

Young engineer of the year

#BoBVila

Intermission

Amber and I have decided to take the holidays off from working on the house. New posting and progress will come after the first of the year! Happy Holidays!

Cabinetry, Bathrooms, and Vanities

We are working long hours these days to get everything installed, sanded, and cleaned up before the 25th.  The deadline for installations is the 20th after that the gears shift and we are going to dust and clean until the holiday weekend.

The last week consisted of installing the half wall cabinet that will prevent people from falling over the stair ledge.  Which actually is quite a relief to have the errant electrical cord coming out of the wall properly installed and removing the possibility that someone will accidently step over a ledge in the near future.  With that out of the way the focus switched to getting the downstairs bathroom fixtures up and running to accommodate family and guests.  So in the up and coming week hopefully the remainder of the trim will be made and tacked up.
In other news I apparently was accepted as a blogger for Bob Vila Nation.  It looks like the site is still under a bit of construction so to speak..., if possible load it with Chrome that seems to give the best results.  If you are reading this on Bob Vila nation and would like to see all the various projects, progress, and failures.  Please feel free visit my website at http://hamiltonproject.blogspot.com/ or contact me dmdelind@gmail.com

Starting the Cabinet 

Electrified 

Building the Carcass 

Sides Installed 

Putting on the Top

Installing the Front Pieces

Front Pieces Installed

Trick Cuts

Carcass Completed 

Starting to Cover up Gaps and Cracks

Adding Trim Work

Down Stairs Vanity Lights

Downstairs Vanity 

Vanity Installed and Hooked up

Downstairs Toilet Installed 

#BobVila

Puzzle Pieces

The lion's share of the weekend was spent working on trimming around the stairs and building a hand rail.  Though it isn't quite done, having it in place entirely changes how the room looks and gives the space a sense of completion.  Interspersed with this Amber set nails and I finished up a kitchen island.  In the next few weeks here   I can hopefully get the rest of the trim in/made and we can get all the woodwork filled and sanded.  Most all the downstairs is filled (with the exception of my "workshop").  The plan is to have all the sanding done a few days out from Thanksgiving and calling in lots of friends and family to dust the place in its entirety...yet again.  In other news I apparently was accepted as a blogger for Bob Vila Nation.  It looks like the site is still under a bit of construction so to speak..., if possible load it with Chrome that seems to give the best results.  So the posts can be seen either at this address or at http://bobvila.tid.al/post/puzzle-pieces.  If you are reading this on Bob Vila nation and would like to see all the various projects, progress, and failures.  Please feel free visit my website at http://hamiltonproject.blogspot.com/ or contact me dmdelind@gmail.com

Stair Railing Countersunk and Lag Bolted

Figuring out the Puzzle Pieces 

Getting Angry at Said Puzzle Pieces 

Finally Deciding that The Base Board Up the Stairs Could Wait 

Kitchen Island 

Island Oiled and Polished

Another Picture of Trim Being Varnished

Small Prep Counter Installed

Installing the Balusters

Trimming the End for sanding

Safe At Last

#bobvila