Cold weather is a-comin'

...and we have a few drafts.  We were able to fix the back door draft last Winter.  Apparently at some point in the house's history, it has been broken into.  After that happened, the door jamb didn't get repaired properly, so it didn't latch properly, and it didn't keep the cold out in the Winter.  We have a similar problem with the front door.

This is where I would post a "before" pic of my door.  Unfortunately, all my pics got wiped off my computer when Handyman updated my OS.  He didn't back-up because he assumed I had (because he had reminded me a FEW times).  I didn't.  Oops!  I lost a lot more than I like to think about. :(  I also have a tendency to just tear into a project instead of taking pictures first. lol  So you'll just have to use your imagination on this one.

We took all the hardware off, took the door off the hinges, etc.  The project was only supposed to take a couple of days, but it's been 15 and it's still not done.  For a few days, we didn't have a door on the hinges at all, so thank goodness I had somewhere to hang plastic outside the door. lol  Once we got everything taken down, it was time to prep.  There ended up being 3 layers of weather-stripping, stapled, tacked, and painted to each other, so it all came out.  The windows in the door and side lites had caulk and paint on them, so we used a razor knife to clean up the edges and get the paint splatters off.  The hardware all had a layer of paint over-spray on them (or 2 layers, who knows), and the door had been closed before the paint cured, so the outside edges of the door were all yucky from the paint getting stuck to the weather-stripping after paint-jobs past.  At one point, I was scraping off painted over scotch-tape.  Okay, more than one point.

I googled and found a GREAT way to remove paint from hardware.  Of course, I didn't keep track of the link, but I'll share with you what I found.  Boil some water, add some baking soda, and throw in your hardware.  The site I found had much more detailed info on HOW MUCH water and soda, and HOW LONG to boil them all, but I didn't measure and I don't think it really matters.  I did probably 4-6 cups of water and 1/3-1/2 cup of baking soda and boiled for about 10 minutes.  I just boiled them until I started seeing the water turn nasty gray and the paint peeling off.  Yep.  The paint just peeled off.  For the pieces that couldn't be submerged, I put a hot soda/water soaked rag over the parts and let them sit for about 5 minutes and then the paint just rubbed right off.

Here they are, all shiny and clean!

Once all the hardware was clean, I spray painted it. :)  I love paint!  Bye-bye ugly, tarnished brass hardware, hello brushed nickel!

I even spray painted the screen door hardware.  The screen door ended up being its own job entirely, so I'll update that one in another post when it's done.  So for now, I get to live with this awkward white border around my brown/black door.

 

I still have some touch-up to do around the windows because there are no plugs for the screw holes.  I thought of just caulking them in, but really, when they're the same color as the door, they blend right in.  Plus, if I ever have to remove and replace a window (I DO have 6 boys, remember), I don't want to have to dig out a bunch of caulk globs.

Above the door, handyman hung my easy-peasy pallet shelf above the door, and I also just got a killer deal on a wool rug for the entry.  5' x 8' wool rug for $45 at NPS.  I actually got a few rugs, so I'll show those to you later, too. ;)  Now, to build my entry table and put a few things on that wall, and my entry will actually look INVITING, when people come to my house. lol


I'm getting so impatient!

I'm not quite sure why I thought I would have time in July for any projects. lol

Week 1: family reunion

Week 2: Extended family staying at our house (5 extra kiddos)

Week 3: Magician & Tornado at 2 different scout camps

Week 4: Goat & Handyman will be at scout camp all week

Week 5: We have a few small things to finish up outside, like those 2 half-finished chicken tractors, then another family reunion August 1-3.

 

BUT.......

We have been doing some serious planning and measuring for the projects that are soon coming. :)

The projects we'll be working on over the next 6-ish months are:

Basement hall/tech area

New sewing room for me

Basement bathroom 1 complete renovation

Basement bathroom 2 shower and floor

New shelves in toy/clothing/seasonal storage room

 

After that, we're moving into the basement kitchen so we can work on some upstairs projects.

Kitchen cabinets are getting a new paint-job

New kitchen countertops

New laminate flooring in the kitchen/dining/family room

Finishing up wainscoting and trim in most of the upstairs

Master bedroom

Yes, we're optimistic.  Probably not totally realistic, but hey....that's life, right? lol  We won't be doing any decorating, just the nitty gritty that is renovation and repair.

 

Are you getting excited?  I am!



I'm pretty impressed....and a little behind. ;)

I don't think I posted at all last month, and I still had 25 page views. :)  Are you guys itching for some more project and pics?  Even when I'm not posting, we still have gobs of projects in the works!

We've had some craziness the last few weeks/months, for sure.

In April, we finished out our school-year with some horrible teething for baby, lots of costume-sewing for me, Shakespeare for Goat, and some Knightly battles for Magician and Tornado.  May was mostly spent getting our garden in.

I went to a weekend of seminars Memorial weekend, while handyman took the boys to the zoo and did some work on his dad's boat.  The next week all the kiddos were sick, but we still worked on the boat.  The first week of June, we took that boat and spent 5 days on a houseboat on Lake Powell with 2 other families.  The boys had a BLAST!  Most of them.  Baby was super sick the whole time.  :(  2 days after we got home, we were in the hospital fighting an ear infection, pneumonia and mild dehydration.  He's been home justg over a week now, and though he caught another cold 2 days after he got home, he's doing better than ever.  We're thinking he's been sick for a while, because we brought a totally different child home from the hospital.  He's so HAPPY and FUN!

This week, we built a chicken tractor out of old hot tub pallets, and have been fixing a bunny hutch I got off Craigslist last Fall.  We're hoping to get both bunnies and chickens this weekend.  We plan on building about half a dozen more chicken tractors, and letting each boy be in charge of one tractor and its inhabitants.  Heaven knows we have the pallets, and plenty of land for the chickens to graze on.  We've been here 2 1/2 years now, and have yet to get chickens because our 1+ acre has no fencing.  We started pulling out sagebrush to prepare for a fence, but realized it's far beyond our skills and tools to do much in our back yard.  So, we're putting off permanent fencing and landscaping for another year or 2, till we can pay someone to do it.  It's going to take lots of heavy equipment to get the yard ready for fencing.  I'll post a pic of the "rocks" (aka boulders) that cover our property, and you'll have a pretty good picture of why it's out of our hands.  We're likely just going to get inexpensive temporary fencing for part of the yard.  Our poor doggy needs to be free to run, and I need the peace of mind that Baby - I guess Toddler, now - isn't going to get lost because we have no fence.

The best news by far, is that July is almost here!  July means the major yard stuff is done till harvest and we can work on house projects!  I have a room with only half of the wainscoting up, a few partially painted walls that haven't been touched since Christmas, a bathroom or 2 that are getting a complete overhaul, and the list goes ON!  Hopefully, I'll also remember to blog more frequently and post some more of my master list for the house.

So, sometimes we fall short of our goals....but I still have something fun to share.

I set a goal for the month of March to do a blog post a day.  Of course, as soon as I set a big goal like that for mysel, it opens up space for EVERY possible deterrent.

Since my last post:

1 broken hand

1 broken arm (different kiddo)

One damaged car in our driveway

One totalled car by way of hitting a dear (different car)

The death of a 91-year-old grandparent

The death of a dryer

***SIGH***

Life goes on, though, right?

We've also had:

Growth in our business

A mentor in town from the East Coast to help us with said business

Wainscoting up on one wall in the family room

"Extra" dryer installed in the unfinished laundry room

Damaged car was easily fixed

Totalled car is still driveable

Stroke of inspiration for getting my children to be more self-motivated

That last one is the fun thing I wanted to share today.

Part of making our house a home is streamlining the maintenance, which we've been working on for a few months.  As a homeschooling, DIYing, work-from-home Mom, I REALLY need my kiddos to take more initiative in the day-to-day stuff.  You know, the stuff that NEVER changes from one day to the next: get dressed, comb your hair, make your bed, etc.

After a conversation with Tornado about how we're less likely to be tempted to make trouble if we're engaged in something good and productive, we turned to the scriptures.  We turned to D&C 58:27, specifically.  We like to "liken the scriptures unto us" (2 Nephi 19:23), so we were changing some of the words to make it make more sense.  We were having a good bit of fun and it really made sense to him.  We read a few verses before and a few verses after and decided to re-word the whole scripture passage to apply to us.

Here's the passage, as it is in the D&C 58: 25-33:

 25 Wherefore, let them bring their families to this land, as they shall counsel between themselves and me.

 26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

 27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

 28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.

 29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.

 30 Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?

 31 Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?

 32 I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.

 33 Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above.

Here is the passage "Likened unto us":





This is now hanging on the wall next to our still-a-work-in-progress chore system, and future Home Organization Center.  The boys all got a kick out of it and it makes sense to them.  No denying it, when you read it like this!

With the bugs, and the spiders, and the......scary dark corners?

I was going to take you to the very next part of the upstairs, but I decided to traverse DOWN those dark, thin, winding stairs......to the BASEMEMNT!  Because of the work we'll be doing on the banister re-do, our project will extend to the bottom of the stairs and into the hallway. 

I soooo missed having a basement for all those years we lived in California.  "Too much seismic activity" was one reason we couldn't have one, the other reason was the construction costs for excavating and still passing earthquake code were too high for any of the builders to want to take on.  So we missed out on 9 years of basement perks.  No cold storage (actually, storage in general was lousy), no cool, dark room to escape the Summer heat.  Most of my growing up years, my bedroom was in the basement, and I loved it.  Then same goes for Handyman.  We'd both move to the basement in a heartbeat, if that's where our bedroom was. Ahhhh.......We do enjoy the cool TV room during the Summer.



This is what you see as soon as you get to the bottom of the stairs.

There are 3 doors on this wall on the left.  The first is right at the bottom of the stairs and goes into the TV/Rec Room.  The next one is Tornado's room, and the third is the currently un-finished bedroom for Goat and Magician.  We're going to be teaching them some home improvement basics and and working with them, but they'll be doing most of the work themselves.  Their wives will LOVE having a handyman around.

The doorway that you can see into, is the Laundry Room.  It's also on the docket for 2013, and I'm sooooo excited!  I currently do all the laundry for our family of 8, in a laundry closet outside the Master bedroom.  This baby right here is just over 100 square feet of future Domestic Heaven!

The hallway going to the right goes to Nater and Bob's room (Goat and Magician are in there until their bedroom is done), a bathroom that will get an entire start to finish re-do, and an awkward nook plumbed and wired for a vanity with sink.  The Laundry room isn't plumbed for a sink, so this is where my laundry sink will go.  I wish I had more pics.  I thought I was SO thorough in taking pics, but I'm finding that my picture tour is severely lacking.

On the right - where the buckets and old mattresses are - is kind of a nook that will have a long, narrow table that the squiddos can put the laptops, books, and papers for studying, or fill the whole thing with a lego village.  We're planning on making 2 large "windows" in that wall that will look into my craft/sewing room.  It took a while to decide what to do with that room because it's odd-shaped and has no window or closet.....but more on that in another post. ;)



Looking back toward the stairs and toward the other part of the hall.



If you look closely at the ceiling, you'll see a few different ceiling elevations.  As with any basement, there is wiring, ductwork, plumbing, etc. that reside in that ceiling space.  The ceiling changes height in multiple different places and has made my desire for crown moulding have to be put aside.  It just won't work.  I do have an idea that will hopefully camouflage the plethora of changes.  I won't spoil all the surprises right now, though.

You can also see the weird door set-up at the bottom of the stairs.  Both the door on the left AND the door that are open, open into the same hallway.  The TV/Rec room is the third door, directly across from the closed door.  Those 2 doorways are coming out, and so is part of the wall on the left part of the stairs.  It will be replaced by open railings like upstairs will have. 

Where the hall juts off to the left, is the door to the craft/sewing room, and a large cold storage under my front porch.

There's a little storage space under the stairs and we're thinking of turning either turning it into a play house, or putting a large, cushioned reading nook in that corner.

Where the shelves are on the left, we're going to build in a library.  The wall is about 12' long, and the hallway is 6' through this section, so it will be a nice place for a library.  On the other side of that wall is Handyman's office.  The door at the very back leads to stairs that go right up into the garage.  VERY convenient.  Where the pile of carpet squares is, is now a Tech area for Handyman.  The door on the right is the utility room with furnaces, water heaters, water softeners, etc.  Just beyond that is a narrow hallway that has another bathroom, a small storage room, and leads to the second kitchen and TV room.  You can see more of the mish mash of ceiling heights here, too.

This is that narrow hallway.  First door is a bathroom (one of our 2013 projects), second door is a storage room (Handyman is working on this one, as I write) that will be where I store all my homeschool supplies.  The door you see way back there is the cold storage under my back porch.  This will be where extra/out of season clothes, seasonal decorations, paint, and toys are stored.

It's quite the hallway, eh?

The list:

·         Basement Hallway TO DO:

o   Paint

o   Board and batten?

o   Library wall outside office

o   Flooring

§  Carpet from upstairs family room/dining room after laminate is installed

o   Crown, base, and door moulding

o   Lighting

o   Brag shelves for

§  Knights awards

§  Scout derby cars, boats, rockets, etc

§  Scouting awards

§  Pictures from Shakespeare performances, etc.

§  Knick Knacks and souvenirs from family trips

o   Reading nook at base of stairs

o   Playhouse under stairs?

o   Open up wall between hallway and I-haven’t-decided-what-to-use-it-for-yet room

·         Basement Hallway DONE:

o   None

It's very likely that the only things to happen this year will be the stairs, paint, and carpeting from upstairs moved downstairs.  It's not a high-priority area, but I'm anxious to at least have it in a "finished" state, rather than bare concrete and primed walls.

"There's a dark, thin, winding stairway without any banister...."

*Sigh* The stairs.....NOT my favorite part of this house.  Stairways are important to me.  They make the entrance, in my opinion.  The entry already needs a huge dose of TLC, and this stairway doesn't help at all.  The last 2 homes we've owned, we fell in love with because of the grandness of the stairs.  (I so wanted to share a pic, but they're not on this comp.  I'll have to locate some.)  In fact, when we first moved to Cali 11 years ago, we knew it was the right house as soon as we walked in the front door and saw the stairs.  I'm afraid that if I had actually SEEN the house before we moved in, I would have said "No way!" 

Yep....we love great stairs. 

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?  This is our front walk and view from our porch.  Kinda brown and dreary because these were taken in December, but it's what I've got to work with at the moment. lol

We really have a great yard.  I can't wait to share non-Winter pics with you!

Not sure why I don't have a pic looking AT the front porch and door, but here's the FIRST thing you see when you walk in the house.

Kind of anti-climactic, huh?  NOT in love with the stairs, unfortunately.  Not even my cute little "NOEL" on the ledge or the....ummm....oddly placed mirror, can liven up the brown and dreary stairway.  Brown tile, brown banisters, brown/gray paint....FLAT paint, at that!  Let's just say flat paint, children, and stair wall are not a good combination.  I actually already painted this wall yellow, but I don't like it.  It's going to get repainted.  And HOW did I not include the awesomely outdated brass and glass chandelier in this pic?!?!  It's in a class of its own.

I mentioned the other day that the railing is pretty much about to fall over.  See that white piece of fabric on the right?  It's laying over a board, that's leaned agains the rail, where 2 of the balusters are missing because they BROKE within about 2 weeks of moving in.  The fabric actually keeps the board from falling over and chipping away the bull-nose corner on the opposite wall.  Yah....that happened a few times. 

Anywho....we're going to replace those skinny newel posts with something beefy enough to withstand my 6 crazy active boys, and build an entirely new set-up.  In true Reduce, Reuse, Recycle/DIY-style, allllll those balusters and newel posts will be repurposed into something.  I already have big plans for those. This is actually the next big project on the list because we're putting in new laminate flooring late Spring or early Summer and this has to be done first.  I REALLY want hand-scraped wood, but the laminate will have to do for now.  (But that's another post, entirely.) 

On the stair wall, we're sputting up wainscoting.  I soooooo wanted to do the oh-so-popular, architecturally stunning board and batten, but after patching a couple of 9-year-old boot-sized holes in the hall walls, we decided that wainscoting will give the super high traffic areas some much-needed sturdiness.  Function before fashion....Priorities!  The main areas of the main floor, the hallway, and the stairway will all have wainscoting.  I have some B&B planned for other places in the house because I lurve it and HAVE to have it somewhere!

 Ahhhh.....I found the pic looking toward the front door. :)  You can see all the fingerprints on the wall on the left.  Those don't wash off of flat paint.  This pic is over a year old and it's just.gotten.worse.....Ick!  I didn't paint it, because that part of the wall will be covered in wainscoting.

Yep.....it really did look like this when we moved in.  It's like they were painting, realized they were defaulting on the house, and then just put everything away and left it the way it was.  That big white oval is a REALLY bad patch job......covered by a splotchy coat of white, high-gloss paint.  A lot of the time, there are no words, just head shaking.  This is one of them. lol

         Stairs TO DO:

o   Large newel posts

o   Square balusters

o   Larger top rail

o   Wainscoting

o   Handrail

o   Picture gallery

o   Knock out doors at bottom of stairs

o   Gradually widen stairway at bottom and knock out bottom right wall

o   New lighting

o   Paint and re-install handrail

·         Stairs DONE:

o   Repair and paint walls

o   Remove carpet from trim

The not-so-musical Music Room

Yesterday, you saw my piano in my front room.  That's where it's been since we moved here 2 years ago, but that's not where it's staying.  I've learned over the last few houses that it sometimes takes a good while to know how you REALLY want and need to use each space.  This room has been a play room, a storage room, and a bedroom to 4 different people in different combinations.  We finally settled on it being the Music Room.  Not everyone needs a Music Room, but we decided that it was a must for us.  Handyman and I have both been playing the piano since childhood, 3 of our boys are currently taking lessons, and the rest will follow suit.  Tornado REALLY wants to learn how to play cello, so he'll probably start lessons next Fall.  Goat and Magician haven't decided yet if they want to play a second instrument, and we all love to sing.  So a music room is a must. :-) 

Nater and Bob are the room's current residents, but that will change in the next few months as we finish one more bedroom in the basement and move Goat and Magician into their permanent abode.  Tornado just moved into his this week, and we got Scooter (the baby now has a nick-name) settled in the Nursery/Guest room today.  Whew!  2+ years, and a dozen or more moves from this room to that room and back again, but we ALMOST have everyone settled into a long-term room.  Now the fun part starts because we can actually start decorating with a theme!

Without further adieu.........The Music Room



Meh......not sure what was going on that day.  I just wanted to get pics of the whole house, before I started changing things.  When I actually start this room, I'll get more and better pics.



·         Music Room TO DO:

o   Widen doorway and hang sliding barn doors

o   Turn other doorway into a framed bookshelf

o   Remove shelves from walls

o   Patch and paint

o   New trim

§  Doors

§  Window seat

o   New carpet

·         Music Room DONE:

o   Nada

Needless to say, this room is not high on the priority list.  It will likely be a year or more before we get to it.