2013 Recap & 2014 To Do

As we were driving back from our holiday travels, we were talking about what big projects we got done this past year... and what we should start planning for next year.

It always makes me feel good to look back and see some progress being made (especially when we're in the middle of a big messy project!)

Here's the recap of our main 2013 projects!

Dining Room- Paneled molding & new light fixture

Related posts:
Installing the molding
Light fixture & medallion installation


Picking Garden created

Related posts:
Building the walls
Clearing out the weeds & rocks
Getting deer resistant plants
Garden signs


Kitchen- quick refresh

Related posts:
New paint & decor


New Driveway

Related posts:
Running drainage pipes
New driveway complete

  
Media Room (hoping to have this complete by end of January!)

Related posts:
Getting started
New attic windows
Updating electric
Radiator reinstalled
New insulation
Drywall

On the To Do List for next year, we're thinking about...

- Making a home gym area
- Refinishing all of the floors downstairs, plus both sets of stairs and the upstairs hallways

Snowy Days

Junior enjoying his first winter!

The field

The back of the house & well house

Trees in the front/side yard

Hallway Progress

The second floor hallway had been on hold while we waited for the media room to get further along, and we could do the second & third floor hallway spackling all at once.

So, this past weekend every free minute that wasn't spent at the kids' sporting events, we worked to make some progress!

First, we decided that the top section of wall near the bathroom door was cracked beyond repair.  So, we needed to rip down the old plaster...

And then Mike installed new sheetrock... and spackled the nail holes & seams.















 The little pieces above the door frames of bathroom and our master bedroom hallway needed to be replaced too...

We're also working on that cracked ceiling!


Meanwhile, up in the media room, there were little dots from the spray insulation covering the beams, which needed to be scraped clean before I can white wash them.  I used a wire brush and a sanding block.

 

The top is the "Before Scraping" the bottom is "After"- so much better!

The upstairs is incredibly dusty right now, but I'm feeling good about it. 

We're almost finished with the first coat of spackle (it's going to take three coats- ugh!)  Here's a sneak peak...

Dining Room Wall Decor

We've got this big blank wall above our buffet in the Dining Room.  

I've been debating what to do with it...

A perfect solution came when my parents gave us a collection of decorative plates that dad had once bought mom as an anniversary gift...

They show historical buildings/houses from the Colonial era, 

which is why my parents thought they'd go perfectly in our late 1700's house.

 

I first had to pick up plate hangers (Bed, Bath & Beyond)

Trying to map out where the ten plates should hang was a little daunting.
I started by cutting out paper templates and taping them to the wall:

 

Hard to see the pencil circle on here...

I also marked on the paper where the bracket would need the nail to be, so once I liked the placement of the circles, I could nail the picture hook directly through the paper...

After ripping away the paper, the only thing left was to hang the plates!

 

 I really like how the earth tones of the plates go with the walls, 

but still infuse a lot color on that side of the room.

I'll have to update with new wide shots of the room, 

but right now it's a mess with gift wrapping going on, so maybe after the holidays! :)

Attic Drywall

Once the insulation was done, we jumped right into sheetrock.

Last Friday morning, the crew showed up with a lift truck and hoisted the sheetrock in through the third floor window.  I wish I got a photo, but was busy getting the kids to school!

About three hours later, we had this...

They came back for taping & spackling on Saturday, Monday and this morning.

And now it really looks like a room up there!

Here are the before/afters for this phase...

Before

In Progress

Before

In Progress

Before (but after the insulation)

In Progress

Here's a shot of how they handled the peak of the room:

 

I think I'm most thrilled with the difference in the hallway... Raising that ceiling made all the difference in the world!

Before

In Progress

So, now we're ready for painting prep!

The flooring is on back order (grrr....) but hopefully it will come in soon!

Attic Insulation Complete

As I mentioned on Friday, the attic has been insulated!
They used the spray foam insulation- it's awesome!

Here are some photos...


In Progress

Spraying in the rafters

Spraying up higher

The attic hallway:

Before

After- with light re-installed

The space that will be the media room:

Before

After

Reverse shot of the media room:

Before

After

Details:

Looking up at the peak of the roof

Sealed all around the chimney

This is on the unfinished/storage side of the attic-
all sealed up!

It's hard to tell in the photos, but the foam has cured and is completely solid.
It is now toasty warm up there- and we don't even have that radiator turned on! (We left the radiator wrapped up in the plastic, since drywalling starts at the end of this week- yippee!)

Attic Insulation Today!

Here's a quick sneak peak... they are doing the spray foam insulation in the attic today!

Sorry for the cell phone pic- Mike took it as "in progress".  

I plan to take some "after" photos when I get home.

We also got another estimate for the drywall estimate today, so are closer to scheduling that.  

We bought the TV last weekend, and I ordered the couch!

(I need to get that check list made, just for the pleasure of crossing things off!)

Related Posts:

Before/Start of project

New Windows installed

Electric to do list and work done

Radiator re-installed

Ripping down attic hallway ceiling

Catching Up- November 2013

Here are more random items from the past month that I didn't get onto the blog!

The attic/media room project is moving along (currently getting more estimates for sheetrock, and trying to schedule the insulation guys!)

In the meantime, we've had other little things keeping us busy...

Our youngest's birthday party was last month- it was a Scooby Doo theme (see more here and here).

We lucked out with great weather and were able to have it entirely outside- a very good thing, considering the upstairs hallway is STILL in bad shape!

Just in case guests needed to use the bathroom, I hung these signs up...






Since then, we're working more on the hallway... There's still one wall with wallpaper to remove.  This got put on hold when I got two herniated discs in my neck from removing the majority of it!  I'm not looking forward to jumping back into that!

But the rest of the hallway has gotten a first round of sanding and spackling.  I took a break one day and came back to find this...

I was told it's "bear tracks in the house!"  At least we're still having fun around here!

We were given some house plants from my aunt & uncle!
One is a huge fica tree that's at least 20 years old!  Some of the branches were beat up from the move, so Mike trimmed it back, and braided it's trunk a little further (the bottom was already braided).
Here it is during the trimming process-->
(I'll have to update with a finished photo...)

We also got a pretty palm...

You can see the rocks we put in the planters.

These are serving two purposes:
1- keeping the plant standing up-right
2- keeping our cat out of the dirt!



There's also a HUGE peace lily plant that I need to get photos of... Mike was dividing and re-potting it.

Last bit of news is that we ordered the flooring for the attic!

The requirements was for it to be 3/4" hardwood (so that we can re-finish it if we ever need to).
Here's what we ended up with... it's a nice chocolate-y brown, and the boards are 4-3/4" width, so don't look too narrow as some of the other options did.

The best part is that it was on sale at Lumber Liquidator!

Now we wait for it to come in... should be around the second week of December.


I need to get a "To Do" list going on this project, it's just so satisfying to cross things off!  Maybe later this week!