Kitchen almost done

I just need to finish up a little bit of trim and fill in a hole over the sink where I fished a wire through and then it's done. Finally.









Here are a few pictures from along the way.

Laid!

All the floor tile has been laid on the first floor. I have someone who is going to grout it all for me this weekend. After that, fix up a few windows and then install cabinets.

Looking into the half bath:


Standing at the back door looking down the back hall:


Standing in the dining room looking into the kitchen:

Durock You Like A Hurricane

I've begun laying durock through the first floor. I've forgotten how often one nail every 8 inches in each direction is. I'm using the same tile in the kitchen, pantry, back hallway, laundry room, and half bath. Since they are all sort of open to each other, working out the pattern will be a giant pain in the ass. If things go well, I'll finish this up this week and start tiling next week. I was able to get 7 of the 28 sheets down last night.

More Drywall Photos

Updates

Per request, here is a back yard update. The grass has come in pretty evenly but I'll probably seed it one more time to fill in some thin spots. The couple inches of topsoil was great to even it all out but you can still see some of the trenches and holes that were filled in.

Here is the before picture:



Here is the current picture:



Here are some updated drywall shots. I couldn't get into the other side of the first floor, he had some scaffolding set up to reach the ceiling and I didn't feel like moving it. He only has a couple more sheets to hang in the bathroom and then he'll have everything taped. The goal is still to be done through primer by next Wednesday.

The kitchen:





Looking through the pantry and into the laundry room:

Drywall going up!

I haven't been posting much because I've been too busy working on the house. After working all day at work and then coming home and working on the house for a few hours, I don't feel like sitting at the computer. To write a blog, at least. So I've finished all the electrical and plumbing work and the drywaller started hanging yesterday. He expects to take a week and a half to get through finishing and priming everything. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying my life a bit and doing little projects out of his way. Like cleaning up the basement and cleaning/sorting my tools that are strewn about the house. So for the next couple weeks, I'll just post drywall update pictures. Unless something else really cool happens during that time. But I doubt it.

The kitchen:




The other areas are too small of rooms to get a good shot that captures the size and feel of the room but here are a few of the back hallway/half bath/laundry area.

If You're Having Porch Problems, I Feel Bad For You, Son.

I've got 99 problems but a porch ain't one. I finally had some time to finish painting the front porch today. I'll do some landscaping around the front yard with plants from a friend's yard and then the curb appeal part of the renovation is complete. Here are the before, during and afters: