Getting Ready For Winter (yuck)!

We have been busy here getting ready for cold weather. The siding on the house is only two years old but needed a new coat of sealer. It sure didn't take long to get the job done. You can see here how badly it needed it. The sun and wind get brutal out here. Plus the stuff soaks into the Cedar.

We did the house in sections. Seems like when we first did the siding it took forever. We put a sealer on the boards before we put them up. One coat on each side. I am not sure how many gallons of the sealer we went through but it was several....maybe 5 or 6. This time it only took about 2 and a half gallons maybe a bit more. It looks better this time than it did when we first did the house.

That is my kitchen window. I think we need to do the ceiling on the porches as well but that will have to wait till Spring or maybe even next Fall. I am sure glad that we decided to do the sealer this year. I still have to get my porches back in order. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler and then finally on Monday we will be in the 60's and I will be trying to stay warm. I don't do cold well. Seems as though the temperature gets below 73* and I start getting chilly. How about you? Do you like the colder weather or no?

On The Porch Today

This afternoon I am out on the porch enjoying the warm air after cold this last weekend. I don't do cold well so I will soak up all the warmth while I can.

I have been busy doing some projects that have been waiting for me for a year now.

Last Fall I bought these two chairs and they were in bad shape. Sorry I should have taken a photo of them when I got them. After we got them hubz stripped them down and took the old paint and the rust off of them and put new seats in them. I wanted to paint them but ran out of good weather. So I finally got them done.

The table is one that I worked on last year and got painted. It was an ugly gold color. Someone gave us this table made out of re bar. The top is marble but it is cracked across the top. I have them on my front porch. And yes we need to replace the floor of the porch but just have not gotten to it yet. There have been too many other things going on.

We just had to get two new garage doors.......yikes.......talk about spending money! But at least they will be better than the ones that are in there now. I am not sure who the idiot 

was that wanted to put a garage under the house but that is one big dumb idea! We got some new doors with an R-18.5 rating so we should see some difference. They won't be in till about the 20th of October and I can't wait. Just in time for winter. Both of the ones we have now are broken. Not to the point that they don't work but they are separating and letting cold air in. They are just cheap ones anyway and I am surprised that they have lasted this long.

Also we finally got the handles on the new sink cabinet in the bathroom. Still looking for a paper holder and towel holder.

I got these at Hobby Lobby. Love that store! and my new bathroom.

Also sanded down this old stool that I got someplace. Looks like it was made for some kids to use when trying to wash hands at the sink. I didn't try and get all the paint off from it but I worked on it for a couple of days. I just put some teak oil on it for a finish. I wanted to use it in the kitchen to help me reach the top shelf in the cupboards. I used it today and it is just right. 

So now a couple more projects and then I can start sewing again. I hope. Hope you have all been well. I have not had time for anything other than try and get some things done. I wanted to go out and take photos of a few things and have not even had a chance to do that yet. Going to be too late by the time I get there. 

OK till next time.

Second Bathroom....Done!

Well almost! For the most part it is done. I have a few plans yet for a shelf but that is going to have to wait for a bit yet. But here are some photos of the finished product.

Oops this was taken before the mop board got put up. Sorry about that..

The door frame is the same as the other bathroom and we plan on doing all the door frames in the house. Wow that paint sure looks light in this photo..

We weren't going to put the bead board up in here but thought we would for one reason it adds a lot to the room and another reason is because the kitchen is on the other side of this wall. We thought it would make more confined if you know what I mean. 

I have had this mirror forever. I had painted it white at one time but thought I would strip it and leave it in here. And the shelf is one I picked up a few month ago and stripped it as well. I thought they might look nice together. I had to hang the shelf lower than I wanted to because I wanted the mirror hung this way and the self was a bit too wide to hang higher up but it is a nice height to keep things off the sink.

I forgot to show the new sink vanity. We got that and the new toilet put in then put the wood up. I had intended on posting this earlier but never got there. 

And the ceiling before we got the other boards up on the sides. Sorry about that. I didn't realize that I didn't have "all done" photos till now. I will have to re post those other two later on. It is a much quieter bathroom now with all the wood up. I still have to get my towel holder up and a paper holder but have not gotten around to that yet. I have a couple of ideas but we shall see what I can come up with.. I also want to make one of those canning jar soap containers but that will be later. I have seen them on Pinterest and just love them.

Now I am working hard to get more boards done for the other ceilings.....its going to take a while......I need to get as many of them done as I can before the weather turns cold. I can only do the polyurethane out in the barn. The smell is just too much to do in the house. I also need to think about getting some more paint to paint the master bedroom the same as the master bathroom. Good thing we only have a 2 bedroom house!

Caulk Remover!

I finally got all the caulk off the tub. Wow! What a job that was. I spent two days or a little more doing that. I don't know why that clear caulk was so hard to get off but it was not like the white caulk that you get but yet they sell it. I picked up some caulk yesterday and saw the clear stuff.

I finally got some caulk remover.......

The one on the left is to soften the caulk.....well easier said than done with this stuff. But it did help..Then to get the caulk off the tub part (see my other post to see how bad it was) I used the stuff on the left. Said it starts working in 2 to 3 minutes however.......it took some of it an hour and then had to re spray some of it again. I have taken caulk off before but this stuff was really really awful......as I have said before.

I wish I would have taken that caulk off right away when my daughter put it on but I didn't. Probably would not have made any difference. Well anyway, the sheetrock got torn up in some spots so now after I let that air good I will have to patch it all the way around. 

This is about the same spot as in the photo in my last post. You can see how bad the caulk was put on. Believe me some spots are worse than this. At any rate I have a ton of work to do in there yet before I can paint.

In the meantime I had the windows open for a while this morning because of a cool front. Very odd for this time of year here but it was nice while it lasted and I got windows washed. Yay! I can see through them again. 

Alrighie then back to work...........

Other Bathroom

The other bathroom remodel has begun. The sink came out this afternoon. That was on Wednesday.

I started the necessary patching. We had gotten a new sink awhile ago and made it work because we knew we would be doing this. 

You can see the "ugly" green stick down tile. I have hated it since we bought it but the bathroom was mainly used by my daughter and it is what she wanted. Ugh! 

So far I have gotten the patching done around where the sink was and I have torn up some of the tiles. Not a hard job at all they are coming up easier than we hoped.

Right now I am trying to remove the caulk around the tub. Again, my daughter did it one day. She used a clear caulk that turned yellow and had no idea of what she was doing. It's all over the place and very difficult to remove.

As you can see by this bad photo. I have spent about 2 hours just trying to remove about 12 inches of the caulking. It is going to take me forever to remove it all. Both sides of the tub plus across the top of it. I got some of that caulk remover but the caulk has even challenged that stuff. Although it does work better with the remover than it does without it but not too much.

I can't wait to get rid of that stuff.............so I guess I better get back at it. 

All Done

Well here it is............the new bathroom. Finally done. I have a few minor things to work on in there but nothing too much and now we can use it and get things back to normal again and start the other bathroom.

I even found a couple of grey towels for the new bathroom and hubby found grey light switches. I didn't know they made grey ones..

This is the small wall that would be behind the door when it's open. And there is a little bit of a linen closet there as well..

This is the door frame that hubby made. 

And here is my cabinet that I painted and changed out the hardware on it. Hubby had to put wood o the side of it because it was just like pressed board with like wallpaper on it and didn't want to hold the toilet paper holder too well so he just continued the wood there.

I got this mirror in an antique store for just $10. It's oak and quiet heavy but it looks so much better than that huge mirror that was in there. I already showed the window, ceiling and the floor in another post. 

Now to start the other bathroom. I am not sure if I am doing the bead board yet or not. It is sort of a small bathroom so I am thinking not. Hubby already changed my mind on the sink cupboard that I wanted so we will see what happens with all of that. 

Since this bathroom is connected to the master bathroom I need to get more of this paint to paint the bedroom with. Also in this last photo the grey is very light in color. It is darker in real life. More like the photo of behind the door.

Now to get it all cleaned up and get some organizing done. I have to put all my things back into the linen closet and do something about reducing the clutter on the sink and under the sink. 

Thanks for looking at all our hard work.

Almost Done!

We have been working for weeks and we are almost done! YAY!

The boards I have been working on are in place except for the last few and a bit of trim.....

Out in the barn...most of the time in the heat. 3 coats on the front side and one on the back and ends to seal everything up. Here you see some of the small pieces I had to do. I am working on the last of them now and tomorrow I will put the third coat on them. So it won't be long. Then we are going to get the other bathroom fixed up. 

It needs a new coat of paint, a new toilet and a new sink cupboard. It will have the same floor and ceiling as the other bathroom. I can hardly wait to get going on that. Never thought I would say that after taking so long to get this one done but it is so much nicer now. 

I will be back I hope the end of the week with some photos of the finished project. What home remodel projects are you working on?  

See ya soon. 

New Floor!!

YES! Finally we got a new floor in the bathroom. I can hardly believe it!

Hubby laid the floor this afternoon. This is not a great photo and it looks a bit darker when your standing there but it sure is pretty. After all those years of wanting and waiting to get rid of that ugly carpet in there it seems so good to have it done. Well worth the wait!!

I made some progress on the cupboard doors. I think I mentioned in the last post that I was putting the primer on as thin as I could get it. Well I did the same with the paint.

Here is a photo of the backs of the doors. I thought I would do those first and then let them sit for a few days before I did the fronts. I ended up putting 5 coats on them. I can't remember if in this photo there are 4 or 5 coats. But they turned out rather well and I am happy with the job so far.

The lighting was poor because I was in the garage painting them. Now I need to finish these doors and drawers and then on to the bead board..............

There is a small linen closet in there or rather a small space behind the door where the tub is. Well there was no way to get to the plumbing so hubby has to fix that up because he is putting a door there so we can get to the tub plumbing. Then I can get the linens out of the living room and back into the closet and that will help some of the clutter. We are not going to run the bead board all the way in the closet. We need to go and look at some sprayers to paint the bead board. 

Ahh the joys of fixing it all up..

Busy Monday

Well I did some painting today on the bathroom cabinet. I must say that it all went well. Finally I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.. I will post some photos a bit later in the week.

Meanwhile....there is nothing in this house to eat so off to the grocery store I go tomorrow. yuck!

Enjoy your day and here is another photo because I hate to post without a photo.

Ugly Door

OK this is the door to the sink cabinet. Ugliest wood I have ever seen. It didn't look much better after I stripped it the second time....yes a second time.

 After I stripped it the first time.. Then I put primer and a coat of paint on it and had to start all over again. All those things I read about foam rollers.....no good! I couldn't get the paint to look smooth. It was all bumpy. So I stripped them again. Remember I said I grew up stripping furniture not painting it......Good grief what a lot of work this is.

However, I found this tutorial http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2009/03/how-to-paint-wooden-furniture/  Best one I have seen yet. She says she sprays the primer on. I had a different primer so I put mine on with a brush as thin as I could get it. But I did buy the paint she used so we shall see.

Here is the door with 1 coat of primer on it..

I ended up putting 2 coats of primer on it and here is what that looks like..

I thought I would let it sit till Monday since it was late last night when I was done with the priming. Not sure if I will sand them or not. I may go over them lightly depending on how it feels when I run my had across the pieces. If it feels smooth I think I will leave them alone. I am anxious to get this done and move on to the bead board and get that painted. We are thinking about using a sprayer for that. They have some nice sprayers out now and a sprayer may be the best way to go. The pieces are rather large and to paint them with a brush may prove to be more than what I can handle..

And after all these years of wanting to get rid of the carpet in the bathroom....Who in their right mind puts wall to wall carpet in a bathroom anyway?? Way too hard to keep clean. And why do they not clean up the sub floors before they put carpet down??? I know I sound grumpy about it all. Sorry!

This was before we got the staples cleaned up. Also that is the sink cabinet there. It didn't turn out as bad as the doors did so I am probably going to leave that the way it is. I may be sorry I did that but it is just getting to be too much having stuff all over the place. After the paint color fiasco and now this deal with cabinet doors I am getting sick of the whole thing. It's taking way too long to get done. I am hoping to get at least 2 coats of paint on the doors tomorrow.

Have a restful Sunday............

Ummm...yeah right!

The bathroom is still in the works. That business of painting a cupboard...what a headache!!! I am going to try again tomorrow. I have not gotten too far on it. Did it once, one coat of primer and it peeled off with my thumb nail. So I stripped the whole thing. Ok then start over. Not good results so now I am going to try again. I hope I get it right this time. 3rd time is a charm they say!

Meanwhile here is a photo I took ......

Bathroom Re Do

 We have been busy with a bit of a re do here. I am sure most of you remember back a couple of summers ago when we re did the outside of the house. Or should I say hubby, Amy and Joey did. I was not here. New windows and siding and a new porch on the south side of the house. OK then ...... we changed the window in the master bathroom and that left an un done mess on the inside.

We have wanted to re do this bathroom since we moved in....carpet...ick! Anyway we are finally getting around to it. But I had to paint the bathroom first to cover up the spot where we changed the window. The old window was a square one.

Why on earth is it so hard to get a good color of paint? I had a really nice blue in there..dark but really nice..I loved that blue. Well a long time ago my hubby went to work for a company that makes sinks and got a free one....grey...love it! So I wanted a lighter blue because he wanted to lighten the bathroom up a bit. OK problem there. I got a nice medium light blue a with a bit of grey in it....turned purple....so back we go to a bit darker blue with a touch of grey in it.....turned purple...I said ick I can't stand that!!!
So in chatting with Amy she says "grey" (I have not been thinking clearly for months, well these last few months especially LOL!) So finally I said oh yeah duh! the sink is grey! Geeze, takes me a while sometimes! So I went to Benjamin Moore, where I should have gone in the first place instead of the "box" store I went to...ick! Got a beautiful grey and painted the walls........ahhhhh what a nice color and it looks terrific or even better!

In this photo the grey looks a bit lighter than it really is. The sink color is also a bit lighter than it is when I look at it. The blue is the first blue I put on there. Here it looks blue but a bit lighter than it really was but with a purple tint to it. There is one small spot there where you can see a bit of the other blue that I had gotten. I only painted half of the walls because we are going to do some bead board as well but I have not gotten that far yet. 

Then I had to do the boards for the ceiling. 

One coat on the back and 3 on the faces of them. Then my hubs put them up. Here is what that looks like.......Also the nice window and the frame that he made for it..

This photo shows the color to be more true. I am working on the moulding right now and the sink cabinet..talk about ugly! They are stained and were like that when we moved in. I have never painted furniture before not like this anyway so I am not really sure what I am doing here.  I grew up stripping paint off rather than putting it on. I got one coat of primer on that today and I hope it comes out great. I am using a bonding primer, no sanding required.  It will be white like the bead board (if I ever get to paint it that is). 

This is the sink cabinet from the main bathroom. The one in the master bath is larger. Again it is lighter in the photo than it is in real life. This one is going to get replaced. I found a nice one (white) that I want. It has 3 drawers on the side of it and one door. This is a really small bathroom with no place to put much of anything so we will change it out. I have a new white sink (free from work) in here as well. This ugly green floor is going to get replaced too but that is all for another time. After I get the cabinet done then it is time for me to do the bead board and for him to do the floor (we got Cork) and get rid of that nasty nasty carpet that is there.

So whew! What a project and it is taking forever, or so it seems. I think I am going to really like it when it is all done. I have had lots of time to think about this. Not sure what I will do if the sink cabinet doesn't turn out like I want it too but I think it will be alright I hope. New ones are pricey but I may have to go that way after all. Time will tell.

OK I am off to catch up on laundry. I haven't done any sewing lately but I am starting to get the urge to sew again so I hope we can get this done soon.