september

summer is quickly coming to a close.  will be snow on the ground before we know it ...

spent august laying patio pavers in backyard & finished the first phase of backyard fencing (1/3 of yard fenced this year, will do the remainder of backyard next year & then side yard & eventually front as well).  patio pavers went down easily, but didn't settle as level as i would have liked, but fine enough.  eventually will remove them & reuse as pathway pavers when i add a deck to back.

exterior painting still in progress.  last weekend broke down & bought a paint sprayer to finish the job (will also can use inside as well).  will be able to finish exterior in no time now & curse myself for not buying earlier.

basement debris has all been cleared & removed.  had a dumpster delivered in mid-aug & everything was hauled away, including 16 80-lb bags of concrete that got wet in basement last may & were unusable for foundation repair (of 50 bags originally delivered).  also cleared out shed in backyard which was full of furring strips removed from exterior of house last year.

got a used washer/dryer set from relatives in michigan, mum & don delivered last weekend when they came for labor day weekend bbq.  spent rest of weekend hooking them up.

3-sept. bbq day.  weather cooperated until about 4pm, then storms came through.  had about 20 or so friends & family at the house.  was nice turnout.

4-sept.  waay hungover from bbq ... friend chip from GR stayed for weekend @ the house.  nice to catch up w/him after some 20 years.  hit the wildwood flea market, got a couple paint-by-number paintings to add to my collection.

9-sept.  heading to house after work.  hopefully doesn't rain all weekend & i can get sprayer out to paint the house.  may also stain/seal the fencing, though not sure yet on that.

summer update

bought used power washer from coworker, brought it out to house in may.  power washed the exterior of house in june to prep for the full repainting.  of course managed to damage some of the siding w/the washer, but was a lot of fun!

dad came to visit over 4th of july weekend on his return from x-country motorcycle trip to AZ.  i wouldn't get on the motorcycle so we were limited in our ability to venture anywhere, but dad did help with the remainder of the siding prep work (scraping the remaining loose paint).  i started repainting the siding after that, which still needs more done.

the following weekend mum, don & paul came to chicago on thurs to visit.  friday was spent downtown @ millennium park & then the museum of science & industry before we headed to the house.  don took the power washer home with him as gift from me.
16-july. ordered pavers & fencing for the backyard, delivered on sun the 17th.  spent sunday working on laying patio pavers in backyard (dry run).

installed watering system in front yard (4-sprinkler heads on a tube in front planting) along with soaker hoses on side & back, all on timer to keep plants watered during the week.

23-jul.  rich & tom were supposed to come to house for day to help w/painting.  rich had basement flooding due to rainstorms & had to postpone until aug.  tom still came out, but wasn't really up for painting so we instead ran some errands around town & hit the outlet mall.

having taken monday off, i spent monday working on the patio & fencing (went sun afternoon w/friend kevin from MC to menard's & purchased post support spikes).  also had 2 cubic yards of paver sand delivered to level the patio spot.  spent monday morning installing fencing along southern property line in backyard (adjacent to renters to the right).  mon afternoon was spent leveling the sand base & laying pavers in place.  added sand to joints & hosed down, will need to repeat the sand/joint process some until they're filled.

fencing along side is nearly complete, just one panel remains to be installed, but waiting to speak w/owner of rental unit next door to see if ok to fence across his property four feet to his garage (i currently maintain the area myself anyway & just want to keep fencing to a minimum by using the side of his garage as wall).

weekend of the 30th will be staying in chicago ... friend's wedding on the 30th in town to attend.

paint, paint & more paint

29-apr.  arrived at house at 19.15 in the evening.  spent the evening relaxing & was in bed by 22.00.

30-apr.  woke at 7.00, wasn't sure what time menard's would be arriving with insulation & cabinet delivery.  8.45 received call, delivery truck was 10 minutes away.  36 rolls of insulation (1,800 sq/ft) and a 21" wide base cabinet for the kitchen dropped off.  hauled the insulation up to the attic for storing, no need to rush & unroll it now until this fall.  cabinet placed next to stove.

spent rest of afternoon outside working on the lawn.  mowed the grass for the first time of year.  the lawn has been downsized a little with the new planting areas recently carved out in front & the compost pile in the back.  after mowing (an arduous 10 minute task), i moved on to planting the vines & flowers from brecks & spring hill nursery, and two honeysuckle vines found through a grower on ebay.  the honesuckle can get unruly so am using it in area between sidewalk & street (need something to fill that in).

1-may.  finished repainting the guest room (first coat last weekend).  next on agenda was finish the corners/edges in the living & dining rooms.  lastly, the trim in living & dining rooms needed repainting.  all walls & trim painted white.  the bedroom trim is still the original stain & i am leaving that as-is.  only repainting trim where it has already previously been painted.  also, back door received a coat of black paint.

finished the weekend by cleaning up the mess caused by all the painting.  still have to reorganise the attic, but most everything is back in order now.

next weekend plans - more planting (once final plant order arrives), paint kitchen base cabinets (existing ones need sanding first).  need to repair siding on back porch.

spring

it has been a few months since last update.  winter was a most unproductive period at the house.  i did mostly overnight trips to shovel the walks & check on things.  little progress was made on the house itself.

march came & went, now april too.

march & april did see some yard prep work for the upcoming gardening/landscaping.  the front strip between the sidewalk & street has been dug up, mulched & planted with vines.  the two straggly bushes in front of house have been removed, a three-foot deep bed dug up & mulched & flowering bushes & plants added (with still more to come!)

march saw the addition of cooking stove to kitchen!  now have a nearly fully functioning kitchen (minus the running water in sink).

23/24-april.  spent weekend outside finishing up install of eaves troughs on remainder of house (south & east sides).  realised a few pieces are missing needed to complete the downspouts, but the gutters are up & operating at least.  next step will be to power wash exterior & repaint.

inside work that weekend included retiling the kitchen & bath ... have added peel & stick tiles over existing flooring to update both rooms, until they both are fully rehabbed in the future.  also previously had finished adding tongue-and-groove siding around lower portion of walls & painted white to finish off for now.  still have pedestal sink to install, but that will wait for now.

also ordered unfaced roll insulation to add to attic space & possibly between first floor joists in basement ceiling.  ordered a base cabinet for the kitchen to place next to stove as well.  insulation & cabinet to arrive from menard's this saturday.

plans for this weekend include:  finish repainting guest room.  install kitchen base cabinet (and paint!), sand existing base cabinets & paint as well (dark blue same as house).  store insulation in attic, will wait to unroll/install before winter.  plant flowers & vines that arrived this week (2/3 of seasons plants have arrived now).  build countertop base for new kitchen cabinet & prep it for tiling.