Undercabinet lights in the kitchen

This isn't recent but my mom had a question about our undercabinet lights in the kitchen, so I created a new gallery for it. I haven't done proper descriptions for each picture, but there is a description for the gallery and summaries for each picture.

Window reframing on hold

With the structural work done, we've been most currently working on reframing the windows. However, I discovered that Lowes has red cedar in the exact size we need for the outside casing. We needed 5/4x6" stock, which isn't common. The local lumber yard has it, but it's a bit expensive, especially for the red cedar, which is more rot resistant than pine. When I found it at Lowes for under $12 for a 5/4x6"x12' section, I was very interested. That's actually the same price Lowes has for the same size board in pine, and their selection of pine boards is horrible.

I bought one piece to bring it home and work with it, but even at the store I realized that the wood was quite wet. This is a problem, because not only won't paint stick to wet wood, but wet wood can warp as it dries. So, once I realized that this red cedar decking would work for our casings, I decided to pick up some more and try to get it dry and straight.

So today, I spent some time building a very rudimentary "drying rack" out of all the wood we have on hand. Take a look at the gallery to see how I did it. Let's hope I get the wood nice and dry and manage to keep it good and straight, too.

Since it will take a little while for the wood to dry out properly, though, the window project will have to be on hold for a week or two. No worries, though, there is plenty to still be working on. At this point, we're planning on working on the electrical phase of the project this upcoming weekend.

Gallery updated!

I've updated the gallery, with additions to the Structural, Window, and Overview galleries.

Summary of the project at this point

Quick update on where we are in the first floor project. We've been busy, and have been making great progress... at least as much as can be made when you only really work on something during the weekends!

• Demolition, been done for a while
  
• Insulation, mostly done.
  
• Structural reinforcement, mostly done, just some blocking remains.
  
• Electrical rewiring - partially started, still a bunch to do.
  
• Radiator work - drained the system, disconnected one radiator so we could finish the sistering of the joists.
  
• Reframing the windows - one window completed, the frames for the other three have been done.
  
• Redo staircase - still have to figure out exactly what we'll do
  
• Drywalling/painting/trim work... miscellaneous finishing stuff is so far off I can't even think about it quite yet. ;)
  

One good thing is that when I've been working on something that doesn't need Grace's help, she's been stripping paint from the front of the house, picking up where we left off last year. So, we're making progress on multiple fronts at once. We even managed to install under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen, and are hoping that our tile contractor gets back to us about installing the backsplash. We've got all the tile sitting in the mudroom awaiting him.

So we're busy, and making great progress, tons, TONS faster than we used to be, but the scale of what we're doing makes it all seem very slow.

No updates?

Sorry all, haven't been very good at updates lately, either here or in the gallery. Just haven't had or made the time to do it! I have pictures, just haven't uploaded them. Certainly have had a bunch to say, just haven't done that. Sorry for those of you who are interested in the progress!