January 6 – 8, 2023
I went to the Green House this weekend alone and got quite a bit done! Shortly after I left to return to Coralville, the decor started coming together in the dining room and, before you know it, the Green House will be our full-time home.
Friday, January 6
Throughout the day, when I had downtime from work, I loaded up the car with a recliner, the bulk of my tools, my CPAP and whatever else I could cram in. At 4:00, I headed out to Ottumwa, arriving at about 6:00 after a pit stop in Fairfield.
My first stop was at Menard’s to pick up the ceiling fan Brandy bought for the dining room. After that, I went to Hy-Vee for a couple of groceries to keep me fed throughout the weekend.
When I got to the house, I unloaded the car and dropped the vent covers in, trimming the vinyl flooring a bit where needed. The new ones I’d gotten during the week matched better than the ones Brandy had gotten- those had way too much of an orange tint. Perfect for the hardwood floors in the bedrooms, but not quite matching the vinyl flooring.
I tried to put down the transition strips I got at the same time as the vent covers but needed a 1/4″ drill bit. Guess which size was missing from the drill bit set that I took with me.
I decided to try using a size smaller bit and hogging the holes out a bit, but on the third hole I drilled out with that smaller bit, it snapped off into the hole.
So much for the transition strips for the night.
I then turned my attention to the bathroom faucet. Based on a suggestion from the plumber from last week, since there were no supply lines or drains connected, I cut the silicon caulk holding the sink to the wall and just lifted it off the vanity. It was much easier to replace the faucet while sitting on the toilet than laying on my back in the tiny, cramped bathroom, wrecking my back for the upcoming tasks. No, no, that comes later.
I got the faucet and drain swapped out with no issue, attached the new supply lines then lifted the sink back onto the vanity. I did crawl under and tried connecting the supply lines to the valves when I realized the lines I got were WAY too long. I could have gotten by with 9″ supply lines; instead, I have coils of 16″ lines under the sink now.
No worries, I got them connected and turned the valves on with crossed fingers.
Not a drip. Perfect!
I then turned my attention to the drain. The P trap was connected to the tailpiece with one of those flexi-tubes. I bent it into shape and connected it, turn the water on and the water came pouring out of that flexi-tube. Turns out there was a huge gash in it. It was getting late, I didn’t feel like going to Menard’s so I put a pin in that project. Instead, I set up the TV and recliner, poured myself a drink, called Dominoes and called it a night.
Saturday, January 7
I slept pretty restfully Friday night. Melatonin and alcohol will do that to ya.
I got up and the first thing I did was go to Menards for a 1/4″ drill bit and a new flexi tube for the bathroom sink drain. I got back, fixed up the bathroom sink and right around that time, Craig showed up to help me install the baseboard in the living room. He brought a miter saw over, we set it up on the deck and we got the room trimmed out fairly quicky.
We got three walls done before we ran out of trim. I guess I measured wrong- no surprise there. When we ran out of trim, Craig left, and I continued trying to put the transition strips down. The vinyl strips I got looked like crap, especially when climbing half an inch into each of the rooms that need a strip. Brandy and I decided to scrap that for the time being so I moved on to putting up the ceiling fan I’d picked up on my way into town.
It went up pretty easily, but it is VERY low. I guarantee I will hit my head on the light fixture several times throughout our time in the house.
Once I was done with that, I started on swapping out the last of the outlets in the kitchen. I got two of them changed with little problem but the last one… well, the last one was the culprit of the misery I endured throughout the remainder of the weekend. I was trying to strip one of the wires, the white neutral wire, and the insultation was not budging. I put all of my might into pulling on the wire strippers and it suddenly pulled off, jerking my back in the process. It hurt immediately but not nearly as bad as it would later on.
Just as I was finishing that outlet up, Hilary showed up with a huge torta for me for lunch. I was thankful for the break. She and I went into the dining room and sat, for the first time, at the dining room table to eat. The sandwich was very good, though Hilary was astounded that I didn’t think the onions were too hot. I had to remind her that I lived in New Mexico for over 15 years and whatever she thought “hot” was paled in comparison to my definition of hot.
After I got through about 2/3 of the torta, I wrapped the rest of it, thanked her and went back to work. I buttoned up the outlet I was working on when she showed up then focused on figuring out the three-way switches. I worked on the ones in the kitchen first, running to the basement to turn off the breaker, running back upstairs to swap wires, back down to the basement to turn the breaker back on, back upstairs to test it, it didn’t work, back down to the basement to turn the breaker back off, and so on, for about 8 trips to the basement. I finally got it figured out, both switches work the light in the kitchen independently. I then started doing the same thing in the hall but before too long, it got dark and my back started really hurting so I decided to take it easy for the rest of the night. I did a quick rearrange in the living room, kind of clearing things out, shuffling stuff around into a more appropriate layout, then sat and watched TV for the rest of the night. While I watched TV, I assembled a floor lamp and a plant stand that Brandy had ordered but was able to do that while sitting. Hilary heard about the pain I was in so she brought me a muscle relaxer that she thought would help. I took it before bed along with some melatonin and quickly fell asleep.
Sunday, January 8
Considering the help I had getting to sleep, I only slept for about 6 hours Saturday night. I woke up Sunday morning sore but not as bad as when I went to bed.
I showered, got dressed and had a quick breakfast before heading to Menard’s. I got there at about 7:30 and walked up to the door before realizing it was Sunday and they don’t open until 8:00 on Sundays. I sat in the car for half an hour then went in to get:
- A tape measure
- clamps
- more baseboard for the living room
- quarter round
- shiplap for the living room
They had 12-foot sections of the baseboard but I only need 6 feet so the shortest length of 8 feet would have been sufficient, as well as short enough to fit in the car.
As they were out of 8-foot sections, I moved on and picked up 10 pieces of quarter round, 12 pieces of shiplap and the couple of tools on my list.
I got back to the house and immediately got to work putting in the quarter round. I got the entire dining room and Brandy’s office done, as well as the entire length of the hall on one side and most of the way back on the other side. Mitering the quarter round takes a lot more thought than baseboard as it can be installed in one of two configurations. I found myself mitering in the wrong direction a couple of times.
In the middle of doing that, Craig showed back up and took a look at what I’d done. He was very complimentary of the work I’d done.
He left again, I finished up what I was working on, then started cleaning up.
Every time I walk into that house, I make it a mess. I made it a point to really clean up after myself- sweeping, vacuuming, wiping down the counters, the works. I took all the trash out, loaded up the car with the few things I was taking back to Coralville and, at 1:00, I hit the road.
Weekly Wrap-Up
In the couple of days I was at the Green House, I:
- Swapped out the bathroom faucet
- Installed vent covers
- Swapped out another ceiling fan
- Swapped out three more outlets
- Installed baseboard in MOST of the living room
- Installed quarter round in the dining room, Brandy’s office and MOST of the hall
- Figured out the three-way switches in the kitchen
It was a very productive weekend and we are creeping ever closer to official move-in day on January 27. I have a couple of pictures of the work I did, as well as a couple of pictures of the dining room with some decor placed over on the Photo Diary.
What’s Next
This weekend, I will be finishing out the baseboard in the living room and the quarter round in the hall before moving on to starting the shiplap in the living room. I will be starting above the windows to I can get the blinds hung up in that room. I also hope to finalize the three-way switch situation in the hallway this weekend. I think I know what needs to be done, it’s just a matter of getting to it.
To-Do List
Here is the remaining to-do list, updated from last week:
Prep for paintingFilling holesPriming three walls
PaintingMaster bedroomSpare bedroom- Bathroom
HallwayDining RoomBrandy’s OfficeKitchen
Install new showerhead- Take down shower doors
Finish hardwood floors- Install flooring
Hallway- Bathroom
Dining RoomBrandy’s OfficeKitchen
- Replace
fivesix ceiling fansMaster bedroomSpare bedroom- Bathroom
Kitchen- Living Room
Dining room (just added!)
Replace hallway light fixtureReplace front and back porch lightsReplace house numbers- Replace front doorknob
Replace front door?(for later)
Replace mailbox- Adjust entry door to garage
Carpeting Living Room and stairs to basement (hiring out)- Replacing all light switches, outlets and plates
- Put up shiplap in living room (just added!)
- Hang new blinds
I would like to point out that this is not a finite list of all the work we are going to be doing on this house. This is just what we are going to get done before the official move-in. The Green House Project will be a project in perpetuity. Just beyond the list above, we need to renovate the basement, work on the front and back decks, power wash and re-stain the decks, power wash the siding, move the back fence… there is always something that’s going to need to be worked on in the house beyond the day-to-day maintenance.
The work, truth be told, it exhausting and is taxing me to my limits. As Brandy reminds me on a regular basis, I signed up for it. I did indeed tell her that I could do most of the work that needed to be done in the house. I didn’t realize the toll it was going to take on my physical and mental health though.
I’m just thankful that the pressure to get it done quickly will ease come February. Sure, there will still be work to do, but it will be on my time, not trying to get moved in by a certain date.
More to come next week.
As always, I thank you for dropping by. I appreciate you.
-Phil