The Living Room Remodel is Done!

Last week Oceana and I both came down with Covid. We both survived, but I seemed to get it a bit worse than her. Days 1 and 2 were pretty rough. These were the days that I was sanding and finishing the new pine floors. It took nearly twice as long to finish sanding as it would normally, but I got it done. Once the sanding was done, Oceana gave me a hand getting the sealer coat applied to the floors. I rested while the finish set up over night. The next morning after a slow, lazy start to the day, I scuff sanded the sealer to remove any dust nibs or whiskers standing up in the wood. After the sand, Oceana gave me a hand getting the second coat of finish on. We rested through the afternoon until the second coat was dry enough to recoat. We got the third and final coat of finish on and then called it a day.

Making our own molding

Next up were the moldings – the door casings, window casings, and baseboards. But, I’ve got to make these first. The moldings for most current homes is available in the box stores or local lumber yards. Not this house. For this house, I had a knife made for my molding machine so that I can make my own casing to match what was in the house already. For the baseboards, I opted to make a knife as well since I’ll have more baseboards to make for the kitchen, master bedroom, and master bathroom. I ordered lumber from Bagwell for the moldings.

In the shop

Once we had the lumber in hand, I ripped a few pieces in half which would work for the casing. I then set up the big molder and ran all of the boards through. For the baseboard, I beveled out the back of the piece at the bottom to make fitting to the floor easier. I also cut a back relief notch in the board to help float over the wavy walls. Lastly, it makes all of the blanks the exact same size. I did the same process with the casing pieces (back relief and trued up the width). With that done, I set up the little molder and was able to run the casing and baseboards through. Done.

Pre-painting

With the casing and molding complete, we opted to pre-paint them. Oceana and I brushed on a coat of primer and then a coat of paint onto the moldings. We let the paint set up overnight. The next day we got started installing the moldings. Since the baseboards stop at the door casings, we did the door casings first. Only the new front bedroom door and the exterior door to the front porch needed casing. Once they were done, I started running the baseboard throughout the living room. Oceana followed right behind me with putty for the nail holes and a tube of caulk.

Installing the baseboards

After the living room was done, I ran the baseboards in the dining room. Last up was the dining room window. I built out the jamb extensions (the inside of the opening) and then added the window sill, casing above, and the apron below. Done and done. Oceana got all of the new moldings filled, caulked, and painted with the third and final coat of paint.

Furnishings

Once the moldings were painted, we didn’t waste any time. We cleared a path and moved our leather couch into the living room. This couch has been sitting on our front porch under a cover for nearly a year now. It’s so nice to be able to use it again. Once the sofa was arranged, we hooked the burban to the trailer and headed down to our storage unit. We retrieved a bit more of our furniture and we headed back to the house. We got it unloaded and staged the living room. Evidently we forgot to get the chairs for the dining table but oh well.

TV install

Last up was wiring for the TV. I had previously ran wires for the TV area, but I wasn’t sure exactly how the TV was going to sit on the wall so I opted to wait until I had the TV right there to lay everything out. With the TV in hand, I laid out for and cut out the drywall for two outlets – one at regular height down by the floor, and the second recessed outlet that would be hidden behind the TV. I got the outlets wired up and then hung the TV. Good to go and no visible wires. Time to relax. We’re now ready to watch the superbowl this weekend.

Oceana the painter

The next day Oceana got the remaining doors and jambs primed and painted. This includes the back bedroom door, the front bedroom door, and the front entry door. They look great. My Dad installed our new dining room light fixture. We’ve been waiting to install it until the table was in place as otherwise, you tend to run into them (don’t ask me how I know).

That’s all for this week. As always, thanks for following along.