We Have Primer and Second Thoughts

I’m having all sorts of second, third and forth thoughts about this project. I’m not a decorator and have made these decisions in vacuum due to COVID. I’ll have to live with it regardless, I just hope I like it.

Dry Wall is Up and Furniture

 Dry wall is actually up. At this rate he’ll be finished week after next. After 22 years, a kitchen I can actually like. I’m concerned the cabinets will be too dark, but it’s too late to stress about it now.

 

But the second part of the title, wow! We’ve lived with a mix of hand me dow, hand me over and DIY furniture for years. I’m sick and tired of it. Now is the perfect time to get new. We like mostly traditional furniture. You’d think it would be easy, wouldn’t you? If I’ve been to one store, I’ve been to a dozen. The same furniture over and over unless we really like it. Then it doesn’t come in king size. We’re going to pay for it, we may as well like it! Our room is a generous size, but:

   1, There are no walls without interruptions. Doors or windows on each wall. One wall has double folding closet doors and the door to our bathroom;

   2.  a. 55” television; and

   3.  a king sized bed.

Since the wall opposite the closet is the longest wall, I’d like to center the bed on the opposite wall. If we could find a bed with a low profile headboard, no problem. A high  profile bed is going to cover part of the window. Not ideal, but we’ll live with it. The tv will be mounted on the wall opposite the entrance to our room. Harold’s armoire goes on the wall across from the tv. Since the bed has storage, I’m going to try to get along without additional storage, but I would like to add a mirrored jewelry cabinet over a small vanity.  I’m taking it a piece at a time, so we’ll see how it goes. Here’s the rug:

See you tomorrow!

Day 3 and a Plan

 Electrical completed and plumbing has begun. One of the saving graces of having a small kitchen is that there aren’t a lot of options when it comes to remodeling. We’re taking down the wall, putting in an island, but moving that back about 15 inches. The sink is going into the island. Pics today aren’t spectacular, but here there are:

One there a couple more things that are happening as a result of this reno. Harold is moving his office upstairs to the old yarn cozy. Yes, the yarn had a room of its own. You work in a yarn shop, have easy access to Maryland Sheep and Wool, you have yarn. I bought a beautiful armoire and put it into the smallest bedroom. I tried to put it into the sewing room, but it just wouldn’t fit. The knitting machines, spinning wheels and some fiber were in there as well. His room needs some electrical work and paint.

With Harold upstairs, I’ll have the original sewing room, his old office and the foyer that connects the two.  There’ll be a bit of juggling but with the added space, the armoire will go into the sewing room, the pattern cabinet will move into the foyer. The fiber will go into the closet in the old office. I hope to add a new embroidery machine to the foyer and a long arm into the old office. The new equipment won’t happen all at once, but it’s in the nix.

Now for the plan. I started quilting in the 80s. This was the first full sized quilt I started. I hand pieced the “gardens” by carrying the hexagons around in baggies for years. Doctor’s offices, dance lessons, business trips, you name it. I’ve long since lost my notes, but I think I finished piecing it in 1987. Sometime in the 90s I began quilting it. I plan to work on this in the evenings. Tuesday night I took advantage of an empty house and photographed it. I also counted to see how close I was to being finished. If you’d asked me I’d have said at least half way. Not even close. Somewhere between 1/4 - 1/3 done. There are a total of 77 gardens plus their associated paths. I’ve fully completed 18. If I quilt 2 garden and their paths a week, I can hopefully have it finished by the end of the year. I’m known for having crafting adhd, so here’s hoping I can keep it up. 

Pics:

The back:

Have good one!

Bullet Dodged

 We dodged a major bullet today. Going into the Reno the great unknown was the condition of the floors under the carpet. After the bedroom and part of the living room carpets were removed, I was cautiously optimistic. My worse fears were that previous owners had tiled the floors or that the floors were so damaged we’d have to replace the entire floor. The floors are stained and have watermarks, but at this point seem as if they can be sanded and/or bleached out. Can you say relieved??? The couple we brought the house from, put down off white carpet in heavily trafficked areas. It was a nightmare keeping it clean and Harold did a fantastic job keeping it as clean as possible. The house is almost 50 years old, so the floors will most likely not be returned to “as new” condition, but I can live with it.

Today’s pics:

View from living room door:

Red ink stains in the living room:

Damage leading into dining room from family room:

Part of dining room floor:

Kitchen ceiling’s gone!

 

See you tomorrow!

And so it Begins!

 The contractor started work this morning. He completed a lot of the demo and I love what I see so far. We are cautiously optimistic about the floors. He removed the carpet in the master. With the exception of the staples that floor looks good. He was only able to remove a part of the carpet in the living room and dining room. They look great so far. I don’t understand why anyone would carpet such beautiful floors, though I may find out tomorrow. 

As promised pics:

Kitchen viewed from family room:

After: 

Before:

No more horrendous pink, laminate countertops.

The kitchen was papered with this truly horrible wallpaper. Removing it was my first project. It was as hard to take down as it was ugly:

The remaining 2x4 s will come down, but there will be an encased column at the far right. That particular stud is load bearing. 

This is the portion of the floor that has been uncovered:

All in all a good day.