Window Moldings

It's been a couple of weeks but here is a pic of the craftsman moldings being installed.

We decided to go with a knotty alder moldings and baseboard to match the cabinets in the kitchen.

With the wood blinds, the window molding and the baseboards it really finishes off the room.

All of the molding still needs to be clearcoated but at least it is installed and just in time for the appraisal which was this past monday. 
(the skunk ... well he lives here with us!)

Carpet installation, spreading gravel and reclaiming the garage

The carpet installers came this past week.

They worked quick and in no time had the carpet cut and in the bedrooms.

It's wonderful to finally have some plushy carpet to stand on when we get out of bed.

Kitten spent the entire time on the kitchen counter with this disgusted look on her face.

Dot hid behind the fridge.

I called the gravel guy on Wed, and sure enough, on friday he came to deliver 10 yards of gravel for the driveway.

Before he came we smoothed out some of the rough spots and my wonderful husband installed some 2x4's to keep the gravel in the driveway.

We were lucky that he knew how to spread gravel which made the "work" easier for us.

It only took a few hours on Sat morning to finish spreading the gravel.  It's so nice not to have to park or walk in the dirt on the driveway.

We picked up this buggy on Craigslist.  It's like nothing we have seen before but it's "cool factor" is huge.

OMH.. what happened here?

In an effort to reclaim the garage we built some 16"x8'x8' shelves in the garage.  The plan was to get the buggy in the garage so it doesn't get rained on.

It took all day and we still aren't finished but we made great strides.

I am amazed at how much crap we have...

At the end of the day, mission accomplished!

Moving back inside....

It rained last weekend so we made a "punch list" of things that needed to get done inside the house.  The goal is to be able to get the house appraised and refinanced by the end of the year or asap.  One thing on the list was moldings.  We have purchased knotty alder molding for the doorways and the baseboard.

Of course it has to be clearcoated but it matches the kitchen cabinets and compliments the hardwood flooring as well.

We got a really good deal on flooring installation which enabled us the luxury of not having to install the wood flooring ourselves... YEAH!!

The floor is absolutely beautiful.

The installer started at the fireplace and layed straight thru the kitchen all the way into the pantry.

Hardwood floors installed... check!

Something old made new...

We have been working on make a garden shed in the back corner of the property.  There was a reallysuperold shed roof and we figured it would be well served to house the gardening impliments (as it were)

We had alot of the utility grade 1x6 left over from building fences on Perry road, so, we made a little lap siding.  Part of the idea was to make the shed look like it's always been here.

We wanted knot holes and crooked boards. 

The roof was a little rotten so Steve cut back the yucky part and we added new plywood.

Still need to finish painting and put a metal roof on.  The door?  Well, we have some old single panel doors. We are going to put 3 of them together and make a sliding barn style door. 

this was the old shed

Staining the deck....and other things

Finally we got to stain the deck this weekend.

The final product with the stain and additional blocking on the roof looks great.

Just a few pics.  After you work so hard on something it's hard not to post a thousand pictures of your work.

Then while waiting for the stain to dry Steve and I took a stab at rebuilding the firepit in the front yard.

The previous firepit was very large (almost too big) so we used a smaller template.  (haha I knew the spare tire would come in handy one day)

The end result was good but I think we might try to build it up one more time.  As with all things in "remodel-land" they are subject to be reworked over and over again.  Well, there is always next weekend... right?

That was a big job!

Building the front porch was a big job.  I am sure that no one was happier to be done than my wonderful husband.  He not only worked on it last weekend but also every night thru the entire week and again this weekend to finish.  I do love that man!




More friggen pier blocks!

Deciding where to put the supports was no easy task.  I think the deck will last and it certainly isn't in danger of colapse.

Towards the end of last weekend we were about at this point.  Like I said, "a big job"... who knew?

A spur of the moment stroke of genius.  Install screen to keep the animals away!

It's a beautiful thing when you finally get to make a cut that gets rid of all the loose ends.
It really felt like we were getting somewhere at this point.
 

We routered the edges to knock off the sharp edges then sanded a little.
 

before and after

The crop circles in the front yard are there for placement of stepping stones, the firepit and the patio.  Still a work in progress.

Building the front porch... what can you do in a weekend?

It all began on friday night....
one post sprang up out of the ground,
like "jack and the bean stalk"... just kidding.

We decided to set the posts on friday night as we needed to make them level.

Using the lazer level we were able to determine the lowest pier and measured the rest of the posts from that, cutting off about 1/2 to 1 inch of each one.  It worked like a charm.

We woke up the next morning to a forest of posts.

Saturday was spent putting the 4x6 beams in place across the top of the posts.

Lots and lots of ladder time. (thanks for the loaner Riera)
Angled cuts and installing 6" SDS screws with an impact driver.

A 13 foot beam added above the front door to allow for roof pitch.

At the end of the day the canyon brown stain made it all work.

It always amazes me to look back and see what we made in just one weekend.  I think it looks great.  A deck and some roofing will be worth it when the rain comes.