Week ending 1/29/10

On Saturday, I started in on yet another box from our move almost 4 years ago (May will be 4 years). I cannot believe we still have boxes, and more than a few! I also cannot believe how often I say to C "oh, I finished another box in the garage and nothing looks different.

Monday, I spent 1.5 hours sanding and am almost half done the first of 4 interior doors. It's small, but it is progress.

3 window shades also got delivered - the two for windows 2 of 3 and 3 of 3 in the living room and the kitchen window. The living room windows are close to ready for the shades - I need to finish putty-ing and buff them, which I hope to do next week. I'm very excited about this as it gives me a legitimate break from sanding and will make a rea, visible change in the house.

Wednesday, I spent another 1.5 hours sanding and got the first of 4 interior doors done. I'm making progress slowly, but I am making progress (said more for my benefit than anyone else's). On to the window in this room (the office) and hanging the living room window shades.

Thursday, I spent 30 minutes decluttering and got one more box done from the garage. There are so many boxes and I cannot believe we are still unpacking 4 years after our move.

The big news this week is that our mattress and foundation got delivered! I cannot wait! Our existing mattress is so horrible we both are in constant pain from it. C's back hurts all the time and my back and shoulders are in bad shape. I've been waking up every 1-2 hours with numb limbs or a shoulder wrenched out of place. I cannot wait to sleep on the new bed!

On Friday, I rearranged my day to go to Home Depot to pick up materials to make a platform for the bed. We were unable to find a bed quickly and so we're making a platform just to get it set up and off the floor. Sometimes I wonder what people who are not DIY'ers do in situations like this. I had planned to get the living room window shades up, but this takes priority and really, that's the way it goes with a fixer upper - time marches on and the projects roll.

fri - rearranged day to go to home depot to pick up materials. had a session planned on the windows, would have gotten shades up in lr but had to go to home depot instead. that's the thing with a fixer upper is that time just marches on and you keep doing things.

Total time on windows: 346.75

Week ending 1/22/10

On Monday, C was home for MLK day and I was able to get 1.5 hours done on the windows. I finished sanding the side door and need to do the final buff. It looks great. I started the kitchen window as well, and it looks a lot better with some blue tape removed.

On Wednesday, I spent another 1.5 hours on the windows and got the kitchen window sanded and one living room sanded although on this window it's only the trim I'm sanding. I was able to start the other living room window.

Fri - 2.25 hours. finished sanding 2 lr windows (w, m) and got 1st pass at putty done. The shades for these two living room windows are due to be delivered Monday, and before I install them I just need to finish putty and buff the trim. These two windows are probably the most prominent and the house and what you see upon entering so it will be very nice to get those done. I started sanding the first of 4 interior doors.

Hours on sanding this coat: 8.25. I'm keeping track of this more for my info for planning purposes than blog interest. I budgeted in 4 hours for sanding the entire coat, already at 6, and I probably need 6, probably 15-20 finish. What was I thinking? The 33 hours I thought I needed to finish is now more like 70! That's home improvement math.

Hours on woodwork to date: 343.75

Watching those hours tick up so slowly I can't believe it's so few. It feels like I've been working on the windows forever. I do see progress though. It's very slow, but I am making small milestones.

Week ending 1/15/10

On Monday I spent an hour on the windows and got shades ordered for windows 5, 6 and 7 (out of 12, windows 1-4 are already done). Once this order arrives and is installed all the windows visible from the street will have a shade which will make the front of the house look a lot better.

I also spent 1/2 hour decluttering and today's project was a section of the garage. I have it in my decluttering goals to do a bag, box or section of the garage every 10 days and yes, we're still unpacking 4 years later. I had run out of plastic bins for the box I'm working on and already ordered them but since they haven't arrived yet I did a section of the garage instead. I picked a top shelf for extra finish materials from the house (tiles, grout, trim, etc). It will get them out of the way until the loft is ready for them. There is a loft over the center of the garage that will be perfect for long term storage of these items but I can't get to it to clean properly yet. It felt really good to at least get this spot done.

Wednesday I spent 1 hour sanding the side door and it's still not done. I probably need 1-2 hours more to sand and then it has to be buffed. After that, the shade can go up! I will order this and the back door after the current order arrives. The shades are big, fragile and expensive and I don't want them sitting around so I've been ordering them close to when I'm ready for them. The long time I've spent sanding the door does not bode well for my estimate of total time left to finish the windows and doors. I gave myself 4 hours for sanding the whole last coat, and this door alone will use most of that. I'm probably closer to 50-80 hours than 33.

I also spent 1/2 hour on the garage and finished the section I started on Monday. It's the top of an 8' x 2' shelving unit that is now cleaned and dusted. The only stuff up there is leftover materials which can stay up there until we can get it in the loft. It already makes a difference, but still can't believe how many more hours I have to go in the garage. At least I've established one more spot for one more type of thing so now when I come across leftover material I have a place for it. It's a small step, but it makes a big difference in my state of mind and in my efficiency in continuing to sort the garage out.

On Thursday I spent another 1/2 hour sanding the side door and it's still not done. I've already spent 2+ hours on it so yeah, this does not bode well for finishing within my current estimate of 33 hours. Sanding is not fun. It's gruelling, unrewarding, tedious and takes forever.

Hours to date on woodwork so far: 338.5

Week ending 1/8/10

On Monday, I spent 3 hours finishing the current coat of shellac. I predict about 33 hours to go on the shellac, but I'm not confident in that estimate as it includes 4 hours to sand this coat. I started sanding it last week and in half an hour I got only one door about a quarter of the way done.

On Tuesday, I spent a half an hour going to my local hardware store to buy more shellac. I've been buying just one can at a time because I don't know how much more I'll need, but at this point I am guessing one more beyond what I bought today.

Total time on windows and doors: 336 hours

Week ending 1/1/10

Happy New Year! I've declared that this is the year of the floor! I will not let another year pass with no flooring in the house, and I'm really hoping that we are not living in squalor by the end of the year but like all construction projects that slipped and now we are beginning year 5 of the remodel.

This past week, I did manage to get at least a little work done. Sunday I spent half an hour sanding the side door, which has it's final coat of shellac on. I only got a small amount of it done, perhaps a quarter, but at least I'm half an hour closer to finishing both the door and the shellac. I find it's better for me mentally to do anything, even a little rather than nothing. If I'm consistent, those little bits add up over time. Once I get this door sanded and buffed, I can put a shade up and get rid of the newspaper and trash bags on the window.

Total hours on windows and doors to date: 332.5