Saturday, January 24, 2009

Primer, Shrimer

To the casual observer, it may look like Michael is slacking off. He is, in fact, hard at work. I'm not sure who he's talking to in this picture, but I'm sure it is very important. Really.

***

In other news, painting the roof is taking alot longer than we had hoped. Who knew 1) it would take so much freakin' primer and 2) the weather would be so uncooperative. Let's total up the amount of primer purchased thus far:

2 gallons initially
5 additional gallons (after we realized it took 2 whole gallons on one side of the shed)
1 more gallon (just to be safe)

Guess what Michael said to me last night? I bet you can see this one coming... that's right! We need more primer!

The guys at the paint store already think I'm an idiot. I'm not going back there. I have my pride.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

And your bird can sing

Soon, like a pheonix that rises from the ashes, a new kitchen will emerge. Until then, we will continue to eat off paper plates, cook in the dining room, wash dishes in the bathroom, and store canned goods in the living room.

***
Behold- the most amazing technological advance to hit home improvement (according to my husband.) I'm not sure exactly why he's so captured by this new deadbolt. It is very cool that you can program multiple codes, set time limits for the codes (for example, if a repair man was coming, you could give him a code that was only valid for 24 hrs.), and never again be locked out of your own home. But... when it comes down to it, it's just a lock. On a door. It does light up, however. Much like the face of my beloved when he talks about his new deadbolt. So I guess, in that sense, it really is the coolest thing to come along in a while.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

True Colors

I've always known that picking a wall color is not the easiest thing. When we first moved in five years ago and I told Michael I wanted to paint the living room purple, he was unconvinced- and rightly so. It took me several attempts to find a color that wasn't too soft or too bold. I finally got it right and have loved this color ever since.


Picking a color for the tin roof should be easy, right? After all, it's not like I'm going to agonize over subtle shades of yellow, orange, blue, or even green. I knew I wanted red- it's a nice shade of red right now and it looks really good. How then did we end up with a color that looks less like "fire engine red" which is what I envisioned, but instead looks like it belongs on the head of a very scary clown?


I should have gotten one of the guys to go on the roof and get me a paint chip from the beginning so we could just match the color it currently is. Instead, I made the 40-minute drive to the paint store (the first of many such trips) and told the lovely Avi that I wanted to paint my tin roof red. At this point he probably should have given me some counsel and informed me that most people paint their roofs a color called Barn Red. (He held on to this information until my 4th trip.) Rather, he let me order $200 of paint that should not come in that color- why would exterior metal paint come in a color that is the preferred lipstick choice of prostitutes everywhere?


In my defense, it has always been difficult for me to imagine how the color on the 1 inch square color swatch will translate when painted on a wall. Or ceiling. Or roof. When I saw the new paint on the barn roof, I wasn't sure that it was the one I had picked out. It looked so bad.


The good news is that Avi is going to fix it for us. He's going to try to tint the awful paint to a color close to what we have right now. If he can't, he's going to take back the paint and start over. So, that's $200 not down the drain.


And finally, a picture of the tin ceiling- complete.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Tin is so IN

The tin ceiling is looking great. One advantage of having wood ceilings is that it's really straight forward when nailing up tin tiles. There's no need to install a wood grid system. We are probably going to paint the tin a gloss white, but it kind of looks cool unpainted, too. Thoughts?



One thing that isn't so cool about having an old house is that nothing seems to be square. Not only are the walls bowed, but an added complication is that the tin might not be the very best quality. It seems that the pattern isn't stamped quite as consistently as Michael would like. He's doing a great job, but it's a bit frustrating that the tin doesn't always line up well.



Eleven foot ceilings are awesome for many reasons, one of which is that it's so far away that you can't actually see minor imperfections. It looks great from the ground, doesn't it?

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Walking the Plank

My internet surfing has dramatically changed since we started working on the house. I find myself checking craigslist multiple times a day for the perfect sofa/loveseat to replace the ones we have. Or I check for a stackable washer and dryer since we cut the laundry room in half. My newest obsession is with wood floors. I really love the wide plank look. Look at this:


It's just beautiful... and about four times more expensive that I can justify. These particular floors are milled from old boards reclaimed from barns. They have nail holes, saw marks, and lots of other imperfections like insect scars that make the boards incredibly pricey (but so pretty!)

On another note- the tin ceiling and appliances were delivered this week. Mike is going to start on the cabinets this weekend so I should have some pictures soon. Exciting, huh?

Saturday, January 10, 2009

We're movin' right along

Wow- Michael has done so much in the past few days. The addition is completely insulated, there's a door knob with a fancy deadbolt (it has a number pad on it!) installed on the door, the kitchen is completely bare, a new window was installed in the kitchen, and all the electrical has been finished in the addition (complete with a three-way switch, which I hear is pretty hard to do.)


We're going to home depot tonight to buy a gas range and a dishwasher. I ordered the tin ceiling yesterday and it should be on its way soon. We're trying to figure out what to do with the cabinets and countertops, but I think we know where everything is going to go.



Here are some pictures:



The laundry room with the new "door"


I'm not sure who this is... Jim?






This used to be the back porch.

Mike did such a good job on the steps!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

So tired...

Look at that belly!



The addition has been insulated and all the electrical is done. So, all that's left is to run the ductwork for the heating/air, put up the drywall, hang some doors, and put down flooring. Since we're also going to be doing major renovations in the kitchen, we decided to use the addition as a workspace for Michael. It is much more comfortable now that the insulation is done.

So, that means that we're going to postpone work on the addition for the time being and Michael is going to start tearing up the kitchen tomorrow. Yikes! Linda and I spent all day today putting the dishes, pots and pans, and all the food from the shelves into boxes. The living rooms looks a bit rough since we moved most of the boxes next to the fireplace and put a folding table along a wall for her to use as her temporary kitchen. I also took all of the china out of the china cabinet, moved the china cabinet to another (safer) wall, and then put all the china back into the cabinet.

The big surprise of the day came when I returned home from an errand to find that Michael had cut a hole in the wall of the laundry room. A hole in the wall is a big "Point of No Return." He's getting ready to cut a hole in the dining room wall- I'll post pictures soon.



Saturday, January 3, 2009

Roof painting

We worked on the pottery shed roof today. Michael and Jim primed one side- we had no idea it would take so much primer! I bought two gallons of primer thinking that would be enough for the shed, the addition roof, and to spot-prime the rest of the roof. We used two gallons on one side of the shed. Whoops!

I'm really glad that we are thinking about staying here in Fuquay. I do love this place- the doors that are hard to close, the silly parkay floor that looks terrible, the weird little kitchen, the tiny bathroom. I love the tall ceilings and the wood walls. I love that I have a place outside to do my pottery. This is such a great house with a great yard. If we stay, I think I want to get some chickens.

Friday, January 2, 2009

A Work in Progress

We're trying to finish the addition. Right now, Michael is working on getting the electrical stuff done. They've mostly finished framing the walls and closets and have put insulation under the floor.




We decided to put a bigger deck off the back than what we were thinking of earlier; it's 12 ft. long. It will be big enough to put a couple of chairs and flower pots on. It'll be cute... I think.




And so it begins...

I decided to start a blog mostly as a way to communicate with friends and family. I'll be posting pictures as we renovate our house. I'll probably use it as a way to share what projects I'm working on as well.



For my first post, I'll leave you with a picture of one of my favorite things- my wood stove.