Updates

So this week the HVAC sub-contractors have been at the house installing a 2nd AC unit, new furnace and duct work.  The duct work that was in the house when we bought it was routed inefficiently and so they've rearranged the duct work, heat registers and cold air returns to make the whole system more efficient.  Because of the size of the house, there is a furnace in the attic, which heats the attic and 2nd floor and then there is a furnace in the basement which heats the basement and first floor.   There are also 2 AC condensers for the upper and lower halves of the house.  Our first natural gas bill was $11.  I have a feeling it will start getting a bit higher than that real soon!  Below are some misc. pictures from the last week. 

Here's the new 1/2 bath in the back of the house.  Well, okay, it's the framed in walls for the new 1/2 bath! In order to save space, we'll have a pocket door for the bathroom instead of one that swings in or out.  The blue rectangle that you see on the floor is where the kitchen island will be. 

This is our first botanical project! Jessica and Tyler bought PJ a Japanese maple for his birthday and then we re-planted it in a bigger container and added some other plants.

I was conveniently at work when this claw foot tub had to be carried from the first floor to the 2nd floor.  (It used to be in the bathroom on the first floor that we removed/relocated to make the kitchen bigger) PJ, our cousin Colby, and friends Jon and Tyler carried it up the stairs.  Actually, PJ, Colby and Jon thought that it wouldn't fit up the stairs, so they were scheming to take out a 2nd floor window, load the tub onto the mechanical lift that we've been using to paint the house and bring it into the house that way.  Tyler (who's our contractor by day and friend by night) stopped by to help.  He said "let's just see how heavy it is" and then when all four of them picked it up, to scurries to the stairs and tricked them into carrying it up the stairs.  Apparently Colby got pinned against a wall and couldn't help anyway.  I'm really surprised they lived to tell this story, actually.  Anyways, the room it's in right now will be the master bathroom.  The door to the left goes into the closet and then on to the bedroom.  We're keeping the main door (not pictured, but to the right) because you have to walk through the master bath to get to the laundry room and we wanted to keep access to that and the sun porch without having to walk through the master bedroom. 

This is the sun porch off the back of the house on the 2nd floor.  It has some pretty gross carpet on the floor, which was glued down on the original fir floors.  This is PJ pulling the carpet up. 

I made PJ pose for a picture, he loves it when I make him pose for pictures.  He almost loves it as much as he loves painting the whole house!

Joint compound and liquid nails.  No further explanation needed. 

So we had to remove the lath and plaster that covered the underneath of the front staircase so that the stairs can be repaired.  The upper part is where we found the dead mouse.  Sick!  Notice the awesome wall paper?