Excellent!
Closing on a condo for the kiddo to live in tomorrow! Mr. said, âDang, I want to live there!â It is in a great area and only a short walk from our Big Research U. 
Kid is excited⊠she already bought a TON of housewares for her new digs at the Cyber Monday sales.
Paging @notrichenough! How is the remodel progress?!
@BunsenBurner This phase is essentially done, just a couple of little punch-list things left like some grout cracked around the soaking tub after the first time it got used and insufficient water pressure in the master bath shower.
Havenât gotten the last bill yet from our builder, and itâs going to be a doozy, so not in a rush to get it. 
We are really pleased with how it came out, itâs fairly contemporary which is not what we were explicitly aiming for, but no regrets!
Had the family there for Thanksgiving, the kitchen functioned well and everyone had a great time.
The next phase will commence when the weather gets warmer/we recover a bit from this one, and will be a lot smaller:
- new garage doors
- gas inserts in the fireplaces
- finish re-siding and replacing the trim on the outside (we didnât do the two ends of the house)
- gutters
- driveway and landscaping
Phase 3 is a few years down the road, and will include replacing the decking with a synthetic product and replacing the deck railing with something that doesnât block the view.
Then thereâs the whole boat thingâŠ
For the immediate future, we have some work to do on our current house, to prep it for sale next spring. Not looking forward to spending the winter stripping wallpaper and painting and what-not.
Sounds great!! Yeah, bills are not fun to look at, but if you like what you are paying for, it lessens the pain.
Our painter finally finished the last of his punch list items this morning! All we have left in this phase is the plumber to come back to correct one of the bathroom fixtures, the closet folks to re-adjust some doors that arenât closing properly, and the floor guy who dribbled sealer across the side entry. Iâm very excited about how it all turned out.
Our Phase II will be in the spring as well - ripping out the old cracked concrete patio and installing a brick patio and walk way to the detached garage. We also need to add more landscaping. The entire backyard was all perennials so other than a couple of deciduous trees, itâs totally bare now. We need evergreens and shrubs! Depending on my DHâs bonus, we will also re-stucco and paint the exterior but that may be put off a year and added to Phase III.
Phase III is the basement - We want to put in a wine cellar, tasting room, and a small work out area. Iâd love to have another small living space down there as well to be able to have a sleeper sofa/futon for overflow guest since there is a half bath accessible. Iâm thinking that could be combined with the tasting room. Iâm also considering re-doing the old laundry area. The previous owners moved the W/D to a large second floor closet which is definitely more convenient to the bedrooms, but, I miss having a bigger area for ironing, folding, and drying clothes that donât go into the dryer. I would also like to have a utility sink where I could bathe the dog, plus more storage for his bathing/grooming items. Right now heâs being bathed in the guest bath tub which isnât great for either of us. The W/D that came with the house are already in the basement so I wouldnât have to buy a second pair as they are pretty new. It seems a bit crazy to have two laundry areas but it shouldnât be expensive as all the plumbing is still there.
Phase IV - miscellaneous projects - converting the wood burning fireplace to gas; redoing the sunporch so it can be used all year round (needs to be properly insulated, all new windows, and in floor heating under new flooring); and adding back the roof deck above the sunporch. There was one at some point because there are french doors leading to nowhere off our master bedroom. It would be nice to be able to go out there in the evening with a glass of wine, especially if we add more trees.
I would hope that we would be all done after that! So another 4 - 5 years ; )
Iâve been away from CC for several weeks, during which we replaced all of our kitchen appliances. The installers were terrible but the appliances themselves seem really nice! Between this and replacing nearly all of the flooring, I think weâre done for awhile.
We are winding down our major home improvement activities for the winter. So far, this is what we have done since we moved into House2 1.5 years ago:
Resided the house (hired help)
Replaced failed MB windows and French doors with Pella windows and custom slider (hired help)
Replaced 2 failed skywall type windows with regular windows- hired help.
Pained the MB with its 15 ft ceilings- yay me!!!
Painted the house - yay, us!!!
Washed and stained wood trim on deck and decking - yay, us!!!
Replaced ugly MB toilet - yay, Mr!
Replaced all kitchen appliances other than fridge - yay, Mr!
Installed over the island hood - yay, Mr!
Replaced kitchen countertops with beautiful quartz - hired help.
Refaced ugly painted cabinets with gorgeous cherry - hired help.
Replaced all internal doors with beautiful modern ones - hired help.
Replaced all canned lights with LED inserts- yay Mr.
Replaced a couple of bath mirrors - yay Mr.!
Took out W/D double decker and made a side by side W/D cabinet and installed the appliances- yay us!!
Fixed deck footings - hired help.
Added back the structural support taken out by perilous ownerâs idiot contractor- hired help.
Ripped out ugly garage cabinets and replaced them with metal ones from Costco- yay, us!!!
Fixed all leaky gutters - yay, Mr.
Got rid of the infamous âivy covered stumpâ and a couple of trees that were too close to the house - yay, us!
Removed several truckloads of blackberry bramble out of the ravine - yay, us!
Got rid of the fallen tree⊠ufff⊠yay us.
âperilous ownerâ, I like that.
Itâs great you were able to do so much yourselves.
Ahaha. That autocorrect was spot on! She was an idiot, that previous owner⊠the support post was in the way of her vision of a flat wall in the basement, so out it went with an oh so predictable result.
I like painting, and Mr. likes to mess with electric thingies. Forgot to add - we replaced all carpets upstairs (hired through Costco).
Went to the condo today⊠the owner left the place spotless. Wow. The only thing we need to do so far is to replace the water heater that is living on some borrowed time.
Just noticed that our kitchen cabinets have finally âripenedâ! The cherry doors darkened to match the veneers on the side of the cabinets. I do not regret refacing the kitchen one bit.
Does anyone have an opinion on oil versus water based polyurethane for refinishing oak floor? Our hot water heater leaked and warped the floor to the extent that boards need to be replaced and the room refinished.
In my experience water based is quicker to apply but wonât hold up to future spills. A dropped gallon of water immediately wiped up seeped into the seams, expanded the boards, and left gaps when it dried. I have never had this sort of trouble with spills on an oil based finish.
Someone up the thread mentioned floor finish called Streetshoe. It is used in commercial buildings and gyms. Apparently, it is the best.
IMO, oil polyurethane provides a better, more durable finish, but the drawbacks make it unusable in many cases - the odor from the finish is such that you will have to move out for a few days, and they can take a long time to fully cure.
If water from a spill seeps into the seams, I think that means the floorboards shrank after it was finished and broke the finish along the seams. I donât think an oil based finish will provide more protection on this scenario.
Thanks. I will ask the contractor about streetshoe and will see what they say.
Unplanned home improvement projects stink. Good luck with the repairs, @busyparent.
Iâm so excited to be able to share that our final punch list item was completed a short time ago. WHOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!
@momofsenior1 - Congrats!!!
This was only Phase 1, right?
Yes, only phase 1 but phase 2 is outdoors so it will be a while before we have folks inside again