All Moved In

We've got the blinds back up and the furniture in the new old sitting room/Katie's bedroom.

I'm really happy with how well everything goes together in the room.

I may put a bookshelf in there too since the sewing room has been run over with books and there's just no more room in there to accommodate them.

Katie has even hauled all her luggage downstairs into the room.


and of course Wilbur and Charlotte have to get in on the action too.

It's almost a room!!

The former sitting room turned sewing room turned sitting room/Katie's bedroom renovation is, dare i say it, almost done!

This room has the most gorgeous view of the flower gardens when they are in bloom. The river birches afford lots of privacy too in the summertime and the sunshine comes in all morning and day.

The ceiling where the leak was is repaired and spackled and painted, trim is almost finished, walls are painted in Wild Asparagus, floor is waiting on its 2nd coat of Green Banana and then the furniture will be added....oh, and a rug too...and curtains. But, I already have the bed, linens and comforter and the settee and hopefully they will all go in the room by Sunday, cross your fingers!!

Oh yes, and the kitty inspector aka Spunky was on the job too. He has been quite annoyed that the sheet (to help cut down on spackle dust and paint fumes throughout the entire house) used to cut off his access into the room. What is it about cats and closed doors or sheets that totally makes them go nuts?? Oh and yes, we have to buy a door too.....

Quick Update

Just a quick update to let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth (as of yet anyway). This last week was spent working Vacation Bible School at Grace Baptist. I totally forgot how a class full of 2, 3 & 4 year olds (up to +20 of them) can wear a body out!! It was fun even if it was exhausting and I slept wonderfully all week!

In addition to that we have been working on the ex-sewing room to convert it to a bedroom for Katie for her stay here this summer. The drywall and spackling (my first time spackling over my head mind you) are finished. The walls, trim and floor have been primed. We decided to pull up the carpet in there too after the tar from the roof repair hit the carpet (we won't discuss the kitty stains). Today I will get the ceiling primed and finish priming the window trim. Hopefully if all goes well (and we know the probability of that one) I'll be able to get the ceiling and trim coated with at least the first coat of paint.

Family Room Floor

After years of kids and dogs and cat messes, spills and accidents, we finally ripped out the beige carpet in the family room.

Thankfully the boys and Doug were the handlers of the rug uninstallation and general grunt work.




We then proceeded to vinegar the floor to neutralize the animal stains and odors. It was followed by 2 coats of BIN Primer and then 2 coats of floor paint in brown and 4 coats of floor wax.














I'm still in the process of putting the knick knacks and such in the room. Hopefully in the future when we knock out the wall between this room and the front sitting room to make a larger family room we will redo the floor in either wood or ceramic but the paint will do for now.

Deconstruction of the Sitting Room

This is how Doug spent the better part of his Saturday. This has certainly turned into a major project instead of a little repaint the room. This bumpout window has settled and I really think that has everything to do with the leaking that has occurred. The drywall had started to buckle and this seemed like the perfect time (when I'm already stripping off the spitballs) to tend to the problem. I will add that I was quite impressed with the drywaller who worked on the ceilings...he did an excellent mudding job (of course you can't see that for the knicking I did with the removal of the spit).

Another Messy Project Started

Today was the first day working in the old sewing room/new sitting room. I was taking down the spitball ceiling and what a chore that was. 6 hours later (good thing I don't hire out or I'd starve) I was finished with only a few nicks and gouges (in the ceiling that is). The garden sprayer made this job go by oodles faster than the hand squirt bottle I used in the new sewing room and I did a much better job this time too.

I tried to get a shot of the dogs but took too long loading up the camera so they came to see what I was up to...Charlotte was covered in ceiling dust.

I did however manage to get a pic of the construction/sewing inspector checking out the mess I was making.

As If A Rainy Day Weren't Enough

As if a rainy day weren't enough, Doug woke me yesterday morning at 6AM to tell me about this:


















What is it? you ask...it just looks like a pile of stuff in the bottom of your closet, you say....Well dearies, this is where it used to be:













And yes, his just telling me about it gave me a headache, the rain compounded the headache...the rain is gone today, the headache is not.

The upside (yes there absolutely is an upside) is that I will get new storage for my closet...another project...*sigh*

And how was YOUR day???

New Sewing Room Update

Believe it or not, progress IS being made...or at least this is what I keep telling myself. It's closer to done but I'm beginning to wonder if it will EVER be finished. Other than using the computer I haven't been able to do anything in here and I'm beginning to get whiny about it.

There is still stuff to take out of here completely that will go downstairs so I'm starting to make piles and line the hallway so they can be relocated. Maybe that will make me feel better...

the inspector hard at work

already filled shelves...the dresser if filled with yarn....

the sewing table and box of fabric for donation kid quilts.

the desk area...

and here is some of the stuff still waiting to get into the new sewing room....*sigh*

As of noon today this is what all I had accomplished in the new sewing room (formerly know as the yellow room). Douglas helped carrying the really heavy stuff upstairs for me (he's a good kid).

Most of the already organized containers are now on the 2 bigger shelving units. **Note to self: rearranging shelves is a pain and should be avoided whenever possible.**














This shelf was going to only hold the altered art stuff but it will probably have to include some fabric too. I'm planning to put all yarn in the dresser (before only the drawers held yarn and the door section had shelves full of flannel) and use the shelves for overflow. I've found 2 more 3-drawer containers that had office stuff and my seasonal collectibles in them that I will use for the flannel material that was in the dresser.


















Books have been removed and taken downstairs to make room for my quilting and art books.


















Wilbur is keeping an eye on the progress...he makes a great supervisor...he'll even look the other way if you are goofing off and it will only cost you a cookie... :>

What's left to move in the old sewing room...this also includes some of the stuff that has been brought down to stay in here.

WOO HOO!!

Woo Hoo the painting is thru!!! I finished up the Country White wall color and white trim painting today.

Doug and Douglas moved the bookshelves back against the wall where they previously were. They shuffled the wire shelves back and forth across the room. They schlepped the heavy dresser and the awkward desk upstairs. And Doug even hooked up my computer, printer and tv for me!! What a way to spend his day off...I do believe he's looking forward to going to work tomorrow...lol

All that's left for me to do is go through the pile o crap in the center of the room and drag everything that used to be downstairs upstairs...should be a piece of cake....

update on the sewing room

Yes I know I haven't been blogging lately but I've been inundated with this brilliant idea to move my sewing room which turned into a bit of a nightmare (as many good ideas have the tendancy to do..*sigh*).

I actually had gotten as far as the first coat of Country White when I thought to myself (yes I do talk to myself also), why don't I take down these two sloped side sections of ceiling and add them to the wall space???

You see, whoever built this house had the mahvelous (lie, lie, lie) idea of spraying the ceilings in every room with what can only be compared to as a torrent of spitballs covered in paint aka popcorn.

As you can probably tell, I am NOT a fan of spitball covered ceilings to start with, and after spending a day spraying and scraping the ceilings, I can quite honestly tell you that I hate spitball ceilings!!

Today I finally painted the second coat of primer on the two sections and will have to wait until tomorrow to add the color. Hopefully by the end of the day I will have the two coats of color on the walls and can move onto the fun part of trim painting.

Not only have I added extra work with the ceiling/wall I will now have to do the far wall which I was going to leave yellow since I have gotten primer on it, which means moving the bookshelves and all the stuff on them out of the way.....*argh***