Family Room Complete :)

     Finally the family room is complete. The room was not in the original project scope and has proved to be a major under taking but well worth it. Not having this room finished just would not have looked right. I think after looking at the change that it was a good decision.

Family Room Progress (New Carpet)

     New Carpet was not originally in the scope of work (got to love scope creep) but Kristin really hated the carpet that was in the family room. Happy Wife, Happy life!!  So we found this wonderful shag / freize carpet. It is the kind that when you step on it you feel like you are walking on a pillow. Very Thick!! You can lay on the floor and be super comfortable, no need for floor pillows.

Family Room Progress

      It has been awhile since our last update. The renovations are coming along more slowly now that it is mainly trim work. So nothing really major to report. The Family has been Mudded/ sanded and Painted. I finally got to break out my Paint Sprayer. Kristin was a little unhappy with me that it only took me 3 hours to paint the room. Thats Primer, ceiling paint and top coat all in 3 hours (with drying time). Go Go Gadget Paint Sprayer :) 

     The Family room was the last one that needed molding and that was also completed. No more Crown molding Miters. Inside Miters no problem (Coped Corners) Outside miter = lots of Puddy (no square walls)

     Also you will see in this picture my new early Birthday present (13 Drawer Tool Chest). We were both tired of tools all over the house and zero organization. 

New Dinning Room Floors

     The original plan for the dinning room floor was to install the same flooring as the kitchen. This would have tied the two rooms together nicely. After tearing up the old carpet flooring I realized that the dinning room was actual a raised concrete slab. You can't really nail 3/4 hardwood flooring to concrete. I guess we could have laid a couple of layers of Sub-floor ply down  but instead decided to go with an Engineered hardwood floating floor. At least now I will not have to finish the floor. The product we bought was pre-finished.

Family Room Update

     The Family Room originally had wood paneling on the walls. Wood Paneling is is about 1/4 inch thick. We put up new drywall. Drywall is about 1/2 inch thick. This meant that all the casings around the doors and windows no longer came out far enough to be attached to any case molding. GREAT :(

     The only solution was to build out all the window and door frames the other 1/4 inch. Easy enough right? Wrong, of course none of the gaps were a 1/4 inch. The varied from 3/8 to 1/8 around the same casing. So I had to put up 3/8 thick 3/4 inch strips and then sand them flush. This was not fun. Very Very Messy.

New Granite Counter Tops

I have one word of advice for anyone who has every thought of installing granite counter tops in their home. Don't buy from Lowe's or Home Depot. The prices that can be found at your local shops iare much better and the selection of Stones are infinite.

We used Angie's list to find our fabricator (Queen City Kitchen and Bath) . They are a family owned and operated business that is very knowledgeable and friendly. By using a fabricator you have the option of visiting the local Granite distribution warehouse. This place has hundreds of slabs of granite to choice from. You can't buy from them but the will let you know the range that you are looking at. Once you find a slab you like the will hold it and the fabricator can then buy the slab for your project. We visited Granite Depot, one of our local warehouses a number of times until we found the slab we liked.

Our Selected Slab

 Once the slab was purchased we made an appointment with the fabricator to template our kitchen for the counter tops. This took a full day as his computer was running a bit slow. That following Saturday Kristin and I went to Queen City to lay out the counter top. They have the lay out done up in plastic sheets that they can overlay on the stone so you can pick which parts of the slab you want in each part of the counter top. Very nice option.

One week later the counter tops were fab'd and the installation was on its way.

 The fit was a bit tight so they had to cut into the wall a bit to get the counter tops to fit. The back splash will hide all of that.

The Finished Product!!!!!!!!!!

Our Island

The Main Counter Space

 You will definitely not find any stones that look like that at your big box store.

Family Room Drywall

Now that the wood paneling is down and the wiring for the Internet and cable TV has been run it is time to button this room up. It my favorite part of the reno process Drywall!!!!!!. I really don't like hanging drywall. I don't like cutting it. I don't like Mudding it and I sure don't like sanding it.

Safety First

Ben Helping Tape (thanks Ben)

Dry wall Up and Tapped