House Update.... Whaaaat

THIS! is the first house update of 2016.

Our last update was about 9 months ago, when we painted our kitchen (post here).  Those that have been following this blog for awhile might remember renovating our home was the main reason for starting this blogging journey.  It has morphed into more than that but I am probably the most excited still to blog about house updates.


<Spoiler alert> This is not a major renovation, we just hung a few curtains.  (Sorry if that is a let down.)  BUT, it is progress and I like journaling all progress.

New windows were installed last fall if you remember. (post here)  I have had curtain decision issues since we moved in 5 years ago. (post on that here)  Settling on simple white linen was the decision.  Why was that so hard for me I am not sure.

Anyway, in my true blogging fashion I put the before and after. :)


When we moved in-

Progress, with 2 curtains.  Yeah, I see that third window.... and yeah, we will put a curtain on it too once I can get to the store again.

Simple linen curtains from Target.

I also think I need to hang larger picture or something with a more pronounced picture frame between those windows.

Table is never usually clean.  It is a high traffic table, used daily for this girl's art obsession.

And I know white decor and young kids is not the most practical combination.... but alas I am doing it anyway.

Onto the living room.

Living room 'TV wall' when we moved in-

 Progress, with curtains-

If you are wondering, that is a real 5 point deer antler from my parent's farm.  It was found a long, long time ago so local TN hunting friends don't think about sneaking in their woods.

Speaking of TN, we were there last week and went 'picking' in the local antique stores.  We found this 'model' tobacco basket.

This is a small version of the real thing, hence 'model'.  Tobacco baskets were used to transport and display tobacco leaves at market for selling (correct me, friends, if there is more).  Though my family did not grow tobacco when I was growing up we helped friends harvest and work their tobacco crops.  Cutting tobacco is one the hardest, most physical jobs I have ever done.  I would say even tougher than loading and stacking square bales of hay.  This was a major income to most families in our area and the biggest crop in our county for many years.  Not anymore though, that is another story.

Picture of tobacco in a Greene County warehouse waiting for auction.

Source here

All for now friends. :)

Painted Kitchen Pictures

A quick share to show the freshly painted kitchen.

Fun fact first.....
With the exception of both bathrooms I believe all walls and ceilings have now been freshly painted; and most all floors and windows have been replaced.  So pretty much most prominent surfaces are new, its a somewhat rewarding thought.


Before (sponge paint with ivy and hummingbirds)-

After (clean and neutral) -

We were very limited in our paint color choices because the kitchen connects with a hall (there is not a break so it has to be the same color).  The hall then joins to our living room.  It needed to blend nicely for all those areas.  The color pallet in the kitchen is all over the place since there are two different color tiles in the room. (Back splash tiles are off white and tiles around sink are a pink hue.  Sink area was an add on.)  The counter tops and the stain of the wood cabinets don't really compliment each other.  There is also a lot of natural wood, which we like, but just a lot of brown tones all over the place.  Not a big deal to me at the moment, freshening up the walls is progress.


Short and sweet today... because this little booger monster is always planning and getting into something (taking advantage of the pantry items moved to the dining room during painting; and mad because she was caught)-

On the Blog one year-ish ago:  Trees, Leaves and Kids

On the Blog two year-ishes ago:  Pig Lard vs. The World

Can I Get A Whoot! Whoot!

This is the first title that came into my head, so I went with it.

<Begin scene>
I walk into my living room and sit down.  I look up and am pleasantly startled.  "Am I in my house?", I think starring at the room.  Then I am reminded that I am, in fact, in my house when I get up and step on a razor sharp lego.  "Look at those windows", I say.  "They are quite nice.  Wow, our house is looking quite nice".  I proceed to another room gazing, focused on these new things causing happy chemicals to be released into my brain.  With mom like reflexes I catch stuffed mer-cat (thats part mermaid, part kitty cat) mid air on perfect trajectory towards my head.  I am still focused.  Time seems to be slowing down.  I stop to gaze at another room still entranced.  I smile.  I sit.  I am pocked in the bum by another lego that was in the chair.  Time and reality returns.... but the lovely windows are still there.
<End scene>

That pretty much sums it up.  I am very happy with the windows though they are not fully stained and painted yet.  Here are some early photos of the windows.

Old windows when we moved into the house-

After some progress in living room, back living room window-

Living room in beginning 'years'-

New windows! -

As I have said before the windows themselves will be left natural, only a coat of Polyurethane.  Frames will be white.  Similar to how they already look.

Closeup-

Inside grill is removable for window cleaning-

The upstair windows have a different style trimming.  This is a picture frame type trimming (compare with the previous window pics from the downstairs)-

Outside was sealed and framed in with white composite material.  This reduced the bulkiness of the previous vinyl framed windows.  It was affordable and quick to install as well.  Yes, that's a kid doing a photo bomb from inside-

Now I am struggling thinking about curtains again.  We need something on the front four windows but don't want too much because we like clean lines.  I will save this discussion for another post possibly.
More updates are still in the works, stay tuned...... ;)

Under Construction

Window installation is well underway.
Here is my ugliest before window picture for reference.... drippy foam insulation, old air conditioner and all-

Here we are as of today-

All the new windows are in.  They are working on framing now.  By tomorrow most of the exterior frames should be sealed off.

The exposed insulation shows how large the previous vinyl framing was.  We were hoping to decrease that and reduce the amount of white.  Without extensive new vinyl work we are not sure that is possible at the moment (our contractor doesn't seem to be well experienced in vinyl work though).  We are planning on keeping the frame style simple.

So far we are pleased with the windows and the installation quality.  Thankfully I have full time supervision on the contractors.... she gets paid in cheese and apple slices.

Count Down Till A House Update!!

The count down HAS STARTED my friends.  I am Jessie Spano excited and I am not even taking caffeine pills.  Listen to me, not one but TWO contractors will be here next week working on our house.  Two contractors doing two different projects; a general contractor and a professional painter.

The last completed house project was chronicled back in February, here.  This is much bigger than that.

Here is what is about to go down in Trexlertown (not the place in Pennsylvania).

1.  Almost every window in our house is being rebuilt.  For those that are interested in the details these are rebuilds, not replacement windows.  I took a picture of the worse one to promote suspense.  This one is in our living room and the air conditioner is secured to the frame because it was pulling the window literally out of the wall.  These windows I believe are 31 years old.

This is the window that will be replacing it.  Andersen Woodwright series.  Similar but different grid that's only on top-

2.  Trim facings are going to be put up.  This is something we have held off on completing for various reasons.  See picture above for visual reference.  I am excited to be able to hang curtains.

3.  Kitchen and stairwell are going to be painted.  These are the last two areas of the house that have not been painted.  Ceilings and all.  Painter is going to wash the walls and ceilings before he paints them.  Double excitement that someone is going to wash something besides me.

I took a picture of the cleaner half of the kitchen.

4.  Basement is going to be completed.  Excited for the extra space for playroom and storage-

Overall I am excited to cross items off the list..... and save money on heating with these new windows.

Kids are excited too.....

Zombie mouths

....that they will probably get to watch more TV than usual to stay out of contractors way.  (PBS puts baby girl out I guess, it did this day anyway).

Last exciting thing, we harvested some decent late summer items from the garden last week.  My neglect of the garden this year didn't stop everything.

I got a second wind and planted beets and brussel sprouts.  I learned from a seasoned gardener here to plant brussel sprouts (as transplants though) in the late summer.  They get sweeter after a frost.  No, not with frosting, frost.

http://i-heart-cupcakes.blogspot.com/2010/12/baking-with-brussels-sprouts.html

Though that's tempting I guess.

Another Project Done!!

I am one step closer to becoming Americas Top.... oops, let me switch to the reality part of my brain.....
I am one step closer to having the dining room complete.  Big deal my friends, BIG. DEAL.

The latest completion- walkthrough painted and I made a growth chart ruler!

I set myself to completing something since I needed a bit of a mood lift.  This was Monday-

We got about another 10".  Don't get me wrong, I like snow.  I like to play in the snow.  It just limits outdoor activities somewhat, we try to be creative though.

So completing something on my to do list always lifts my spirits.  The kids like the ruler too-

Notice in the, background baby girl unloading the colored pencils, the illusion of my clean home is ruined (not that I mind, otherwise I would not have pointed it out)-

Kids love marking and seeing their growth.  Also, another good thing about the ruler is we can take it with us if we ever move.

Here was the before; old woodwork is stained pine.

We learned that you have to paint a 'seal' over the knots otherwise this will happen (this is our living room cabinets)-

The Kilz we had on hand didn't do the job, we used B-I-N Shallac Base Primer and it seems to have worked.
You see here, the stain that wasn't fully sanded away is seeping through our primer coat (before we used B-I-N)-

Ugh, so much prep just to get something painted correctly.  Remember how much I hate painting, my last whine about it HERE.
Also note, that I slightly cringe at painting wood white.  I like the clean look of white but DO prefer the natural look of wood more, just not pine.  We are trying to keep as much natural wood as makes sense.

The natural wood ruler does add some nice texture here-.

Also, it was easy to make.

• Bought thin boards (I think red oak) for a low profile and easy to tack flush to the wall
• Applied a few layers of Satin Finish
• Marked lines with a black sharpie
• Pause for a motorcycle race

• Used Century font as a template to trace the number (or could stencil them), again used a sharpie

To end, here is a detail in the Dining Room I could use input.  We had to rip out all our old trim, if you remember.  Jonathan replaced it and now we are left with a gap and exposed raw edge at the top-

Cutting a piece of trim at an angle (to form a wedge to finish the end) will not work because of the angle of the trim.  The wedge piece would angle downward instead of perpendicular into the wall.  Too big for a filler like caulk..... 

Any ideas please!!!!

Basement electrical and lights should be installed (by hubby and a friend) next weekend so we can get back to work on the new playroom.  I am SUPER pumped about that.  We also budgeted out our other updates for the year.  I am very excited to share them with you as we get to them. :)