The Urban Farmhouse - Main Floor Progress

Yesterday was the first full day that Brielle spent out at The Urban Farmhouse building site with us, so really it was our first full day in the house together as a family. It went quite well and she kept fairly busy and occupied. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that she asked to leave and go back to the rental house, but we had a couple of visitors which helped. She played with the few toys we allowed her to bring (including some of her play tools), gave her some wood to draw on with a carpenters pencil, had a picnic for lunch, watched shows on Moms tablet and even helped with cleaning duties.

Rhonda has been working like a mad woman to get all of the tongue and groove completed on the main floor. Her parents have been a great help! This weekend they were back to help out and together, they managed to get it all done; ceiling and walls are completed in kitchen, pantry, entry, boot room, living room and office.

I started with the painting job. The first step is done with a brush to get into all of the seams/grooves/corners. The second step is to use a thick roller for the first and second full coverage coats of paint. We are not filling in all of the imperfections and wood knots. They are just the character we are looking for!  We also want some of the wood grain to show through so we're not using paint, but instead, a solid stain. Also with having an indoor pool, stain will hold up much better than paint, with all of the moisture.

While I painted, Rhonda worked on framing and trim around the pantry door. We chose the style we liked and it will continue throughout the rest of the house.

In the pantry there will be cabinets (that will match the kitchen cabinets) along the wall on the right side of the room and the end wall where the window is. There will also be a sink below the window. Along the left side of the room will be narrow open shelving for canned and boxed goods.

Rhonda also worked on custom corner trim. She's using a router to create a rounded edge for all of the corners, hoping to avoid all of those sharp edge accidents that can easily happen with little ones.

During all of the work, we looked over at Brielle who was watching shows on the tablet like this! What a kid. She made us laugh. Guess you can never be too safe while in the construction zone!!

Up until the weekend, the pool room was plasticed off from the rest of the living space. But now it's completely insulated so we could open it up to be heated, along with the rest of the house. Our goal now is to dry out the dirt floor so that it's good and ready for when it's time to put in the pool. Right now it's MUD.

This photo also shows how large the opening is to the pool room from the kitchen. There will be sliding doors that we can open and close as we please. When the sliding doors are closed, there will be a regular opening door (you can see in the picture) to go from the kitchen to the pool room easily.

Next up on Rhonda's list of to-do's, while I continue with the painting job, is to board up the stairwell from the main floor to the upstairs balcony. She'll start way at the top ceiling and work her way down. Her goal is to have that done by the weekend.

Above: A peek at the upstairs.

Once the stairwell is boarded, the sub-floor is put in on the main floor and the kitchen is painted, we can work on getting the cabinets in. They arrived from IKEA this past week and are patiently waiting their turn.

Our goal is to be living on the completed main floor of the house by the end of next month. Crossing our fingers that things keep going as well as they have.