No news lately because we are trying to get things finished up. I can’t bring myself to take pictures of half finished things. We are getting really close to being able to call for our inspections. Hopefully this weekend we can get the plumbing and electrical tied up. My shower is ready to be flood tested, after that it will be tiled and that will be out of the way. I think there are two outdoor faucets that need to be put on and the sink in the laundry room needs to be put in. I need to make a base for that, so that is my hold up there. I can’t decide! The dining room light fixture and the fixture over my sink need to go in, I think there is one or two outlets that need to be wired, a few switch plates to put on and the electric will be good. The building inspector just needs some front and back steps and a handrail for the stairs and he is good. So close. Then we can close. So I guess no news is good news in this case!
Wanna see my Kitchen?
Although my kitchen has a never-ending path of sawdust going through it and my cabinet doors aren’t on, I will show you a few things we have finished (or most of the way finished!). Here is my island. We picked it up at a resale store last year for $20. It was wrecked, the veneer was peeling (and missing) off the entire piece. I stripped all the veneer, fixed where the dog had chewed on the stretchers, sanded and painted it. We bought a butcher block to put on the top and got some wood shelf brackets to hold the overhang up. I’ll do a separate post sometime with pictures of it in progress. Here’s the end result:
I made some cute pendant lights out of old blue Ball canning jars and a pendant light kit. Worked out to under $20 apiece. Took maybe 3 minutes to construct them! I will get nicer light bulbs for them, I have a half billion CFL’s around at the moment. They look really cute when they are on.
Last but not least, my Hoosier cabinet. It fits perfect with the rest of my kitchen. The little jars hold all my spices, and the quart jars on the top have all my pastas. You can’t see the gallon jars behind those, but my rice and sugar is in those. I picked up the Hoosier downstate last Fall. It’s not a Hoosier brand, it’s a Seller’s cabinet made for Montgomery Ward’s in the early 1900’s (still had part of the shipping tag on the back!). It’s a larger model and it has tons of space. I still have more space to fill in it. The white table part pulls out for more counter space. Best part? I got a pretty antique at less than I would have spent for regular cabinets and countertops.
Here are the kid’s bathroom sinks. I’m not done with that bathroom yet, but the sinks and the mirrors are up. I got smaller sized pedestal sinks since it wasn’t an enormous bathroom, and left the medicine cabinets out to encourage them to go back to their rooms to get dressed. If they can’t store their stuff in there, it won’t get left out. We’ll see how that works out for me ha ha ha. I have a jelly cabinet in there for the towels and toilet paper storage. I’ll probably try to find some baskets to help control the clutter. This room is definitely still a work in progress. PS. The mirrors are straight, I apparently was standing at a weird angle.
Here is the dresser I got off Craigslist last year. I think I paid $20 for it. I *SO* wish I had taken a before picture of this. It looked nothing like what it does now. I thought it was destined for paint. I will only paint something that isn’t refinishable… so it was that bad in my book. In an hour, with some steel wool, lacquer thinner and Briwax, I got this result:
It would be so much more dramatic if you saw it before. Needless to say I am very happy with the results. It’s in our bedroom to put the TV on. Not sure why, we haven’t had TV in the bedroom for about a year now… but that’s what it’s there for!
Phil is working on getting the cement board up in the shower in the master bath. We only have a few things left before we can call for our final plumbing and electrical inspections. YAY! On that note, I’m off to get ready for work.
No news means busy people!
No news means I have been too busy to write. We are mostly moved into the new house, but still working on it. I can’t bring myself to take pictures because things are in that half done stage where you just want to wait until it’s finished to show it to people. For instance, my kitchen, I LOVE it, but I don’t have my cabinet doors on or countertops yet. I’m sure you’d love to see it… but you will have to wait!
We bought a pair of antique oak dressers from a friend for our bedroom. We couldn’t decide how to set the room up, what we had to work with wasn’t working the way we wanted. We had a pair of night stands that just wern’t working out. So we switched them out for the oak dressers. The dressers are not a matched pair, but are so close that they work together. There was nothing to put the TV on that would work with the dressers which have become the items I want to work off of. I knew I had an old dresser in the garage that I had picked up on Craigslist. It was solid, but in bad shape finish-wise. It was either slated to be painted and used as a cabinet for my sink in the laundry room or possibly refinished. I figured it might work for the TV, the period (1920′s) matched the rest of the furniture, but I thought it was too far gone. I went out with some laquer thinner and steel wool and took it to the top, the worst area. I got all the paint stains and most of the old laquer finish off, it was pretty bad looking though. I had nothing to lose, so I grabbed a can of dark brown Briwax and went to town. OMGoodness it turned out like new. I *so* wish I had taken before pictures to show how bad it looked. I never imagined it could be restored to this condition. I will take a picture in the daylight and post it, that I can reveal at this point 
. It was exactly what I needed for the space. I am having so much fun decorating. I’m really happy with how it’s all coming together.
I’m working on making a plan for a new bed. I found some antique European beds that I loved and looked fairly easy to put together. I think I created a plan tweaked to where it’s buildable. I am going to build it in pine first with the intention of painting it. If it works out, I’ll make another one in oak for our room. I’ll replace the girl’s bed with the pine “template” one. That’s up next on my docket. Yes, I am crazy over ambitious!
I’m getting a water line today.
Phil is digging my water line today. He is good at so many things, I’m very lucky to have him. There isn’t any frost in the ground. I figured as much, but now I know! Our clay is beautiful ::insert sarcasm here:: I can’t wait for it to turn to mud. BUT we will have water, and that makes me happy.
The appliances are being palletized and shipped so they might be here this week, but we are only waiting on the dishwasher and the stove. I got a convection oven, can’t wait to try it out.
The stairs are almost done, the spindles just have to go on the bottom stairs and we need a railing on the wall side. When I get the stairs cleaned off I will take a picture. They look fantastic. Phil and Landon did a really nice job. I grouted the kids bathroom yesterday and Phil got most of the hallway floor down, the upstairs is almost done!
Stairs
Phil and Landon have been working on the stairs this week. They took the temporary stairs apart and got them all leveled and to the right height (there was some issue with stair height on the top stair, I don’t understand what it was). When I went out a bit ago (because Colter’s pony got loose… again), they were putting the treads and the backs on.
I’ve been grounded to the first floor since they took the stairs off, so I got my cabinets primed. I should be able to paint them tomorrow. One less thing to do! The appliances are supposed to be here next week sometime, hopefully he can have the floor done in the living room and kitchen so we can put them in. I think Landon is slated to work on door casings when they finish the stairs while Phil works on the flooring. No pictures today, maybe tomorrow if they finish.
Wood Floors
Phil got the wood floors down in Colter’s bedroom and our bedroom this weekend. I love them. They are Elm Chambord Melissa II flooring. They are so wavy and pretty. I bought the floor last May because it was on sale for $2.81sq ft. delivered, so I have been waiting since then to see it down. It was worth the wait. I filled, sanded and painted trim. I got it all filled, and two rooms sanded and painted. They both need one more light coat and they will be done. They came out good. Here are some pictures. The light made it hard to take pictures of the floor, it was shining right in the window both times I tried to take pics.
Trim
Phil has been working on the trim for the windows, it’s coming out really nice. We used 1′”x4” for the sides and bottom, with a 1”x6” on the top, with a ripped piece sitting on the top and bottom of the 1”x6” that has a 3/4” reveal. We are painting the trim white. He had half the windows done last night, it went faster than he thought it would.
I got the master bath floor finished this weekend. I was waiting on a darker grout to come in. It’s not quite as dark as I would have liked, but it works. I’m happy with it. I just have to seal it, which I might be able to do today. The sealer came in yesterday. Ah the joys of living “somewhere out there.” We looked for grout and sealer everywhere around here, nobody had the right stuff so I had to order it online (or make an hour – fifteen minute trip to Petoskey).
I went to take pictures of our work, but someone stole the batteries out of my camera, so maybe today I will get to snap a few pictures.
Master Bath Tile
We got the master bath tile down this weekend. I’m happy with it. It’s not grouted or cleaned yet, but here are some pics of it “in the works.” Not perfect, but not bad for two complete tile novices! The color in the pictures is off, they are matte white and cobalt blue.
The Mudroom Floor Reveal!
I got the mudroom and laundry room floors finished, yay! It took me 2 mornings to grout it (with the help of a 2yr old mud-master). I got it cleaned up today and took some pictures. It’s not perfect, but it was our first tile job so be kind! My only complaint is I wish the grout was a bit darker. Maybe it will darken up a little when I seal it. The tile pattern and the color hides everything. I wasn’t too sure about it, but I’m happy with it (probably just because it’s done!). Overall we had a productive week so far. The drywallers are finished and moved out, and Mr. S came back today and finished my siding (YAY!). Now if I can get my master bath tile done this weekend I will be a very happy girl.
Mudroom, grouted!
Colter’s dentist appointment was cancelled today, so we went out to the house and grouted the laundry room floor. Came out pretty good for never having done it before. I’ll take pics after I finish the mudroom and clean it all off. I was worried about the color of the grout, but it ended up being exactly what I wanted. Phil got the downstairs cut out for paint last night, things are moving along! Hi-ho hi-ho, it’s off to work I go!
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