Welcome to the Treehouse

Here are pictures - FINALLY - of the mother-in-law apartment we put above the new garage this spring. We're not done yet. We still have to do the baseboards, door and window trim, put on the toe-kicks for the kitchen cabinets, glue down the counter top, etc, etc, etc.....

I didn't intentionally set out to decorate it with all trees but I bought the comforter and then the shower curtain and it all just went from there.

It's a wonderful space to have and I'm very proud of it. Now all of you out there need to come and visit us!

IKEA's new satellite showroom

A few weeks ago we took advantage of the 4th of July sale at IKEA to buy all the kitchen cabinets and furniture for the mother-in-law apartment. We drove over there with both Link's pickup truck and my SUV. As you can see from the pictures, by the end of the day we had loaded both vehicles up with everything including the kitchen sink.

Now we're in the process of putting all that stuff together and therefore our living room has turned into an IKEA showroom. A very messy IKEA showroom full of cardboard boxes. We've been having to assemble everything in the house because we still don't have electricity out in the apartment and we've been working on this in the evenings. What you don't see in this picture are the other six kitchen cabinet frames that I had assembled and Lincoln had already moved up to the apartment.

So far I've put together seven cabinet frames, one entertainment center (with Link's help), two kitchen chairs, a kitchen table, a bookcase, a coffee table, and two laptop tables. Soon I'm going to hire myself out as a professional IKEA assembler.

Exhausted

For the past four days (and into the foreseeable future) Lincoln and I have been plugging away in the garage. The walls are all sanded and painted, the floor is down in the bathroom and kitchen, and we're starting to put the kitchen cabinets and furniture together.

The first thing we do in the morning is go out and work on the garage and the last thing we do at night is assemble stuff in our living room since there still isn't any electricity out in the garage. It's madness but I absolutely love watching it all come together. I promise to post pictures when we're finally finished.

Major progress

Today Lincoln and I sanded and painted the kitchen, bedroom, and living room walls in the apartment. We also laid the linoleum floor in the breezeway and hung up pictures in our living room in the house. It has been a VERY busy and very manual labor intensive day.

Below are pictures of the painted breezeway (which I did before work yesterday morning) and the new floor. We still need to put in baseboards and trim around the doors but we're getting there. The bench in the picture is one I found in a secondhand store yesterday for $20. I've been looking for a bench for the breezeway and have been amazed at how ridiculously expensive benches are. They're only a few pieces of wood but start at about $75 a piece! What a rip off.

I'm very proud of my $20 bench.

Working hard

I'm learning all sorts of new things in this process....including how to use an electric sander.

Hard working man

This morning Jake helped me paint the breezeway at the house. I will only be posting the pics of him from the waist up since he was in his underwear at the time and I don't need to get arrested for kiddie porn.

Garage Update

It has been awhile since I posted the status of our garage construction. The deck is completely done. The electrical has passed rough inspection. The plumbing is ready for our rough inspection and we're almost ready to start putting in the insulation and closing up the walls. This weekend we had to go out and buy the bathtub since that has to be in before they close up the walls. Jake was kind enough to model it for us.


And yes, I helped Lincoln carry the tub up the stairs. All 17 deck stairs.

Continuing progress

Last night we received our official approval from the town to make the space above our garage a mother-in-law apartment. Today we passed our rough electrical inspection. The deck is done and the plumber is starting on Monday. We're making great progress!

Unexpected Extension and a Finished Deck

My "off duty" weekend turned into a longer one that I expected. Yesterday I came down with a nasty stomach bug and spent the day curled up in my bed. But I'm back now with a bunch of stuff to post including pictures of the completed deck. It still needs to be stained (which I informed Dad I'm more than willing to let him do when he's out here next) and I want to paint the white boards between the stairs a burgundy color to match the shutters on the house but it looks great. It's so nice to have it done.

Day 4 - Cruising right along

The deck is looking great and I think they'll finish it by the end of the week as long as it doesn't rain tomorrow. I am so excited!

Deck - Day 3 (from above)

Link emailed me this photo this morning of the deck yesterday afternoon. He's the only one of us willing to climb on the rocks to take the picture. It definitely gives a better view of the deck though.

Deck - Day 3

The deck boards are down, the railing is going up, and the footings are prepped for the cement to be poured. This deck is moving right along. Too bad the one around the pool that Lincoln and I are building isn't moving as quickly.

This just feels wrong somehow

Now that we finally have a garage - and can park in it - it just seems incredibly weird to park in a dark, enclosed space when it's so sunny out.

Don't worry, I'm sure I'll get used to it!

Already planning our next project

As much as I love our new garage and breezeway, I'm very excited at the thought of eventually putting on the planned wrap-around porch on the front of the house curving around to the breezeway. Right now the breezeway looks like an itty bitty house sandwiched between two skyscrapers.

The big D's

More progress has been made on the back deck and we have doors on the garage! The electrical still isn't connected but Lincoln was able to make a temporary connection by plugging one of the garage door openers into the house's electrical outlet. Tonight is the first time ever that we've parked in our new garage!