I Smell a Project

So there's lots and lots of things going on around the house on lists of things 

that need to get started around the house.  

I'm working on my upstairs hallway project, 

I'm working on prepping Ethan's room for new paint and furniture, 

I'm getting ready to redo the redo on the upstairs bathroom

 (turns out peach isn't a great color after all) 

and I'm Big E is finally getting the laundry room started.  

Back when we were waiting for settlement on the house,

 we saw a huge deal on laminate flooring during a Black Friday sale.  

We bought what we needed for the laundry room, 

and it's been sitting there ever since... for a couple of years.  

The room needs to have a small wall built to enclose the pipes and 

cover the old window opening into the bathroom (the laundry room was once a porch).  

And other than that, it just needs the floor (that can't happen until the wall) 

and some drywall on the ceiling to replace the drop ceiling. 

 Oh, and we need to work on the doorway because 

while helping friends salvage things 

out of the old historic firehouse and community center, 

I might have found a really great door for the laundry room 

that is a little bit wider than the door that's there.

So we need a little bit wider opening, 

and, you know, some minor electrical work 

to move light switches and what not.

No big deal.

But really, isn't this door worth it?

The pebbled glass let's light in, 

but hides whatever mess might be in the laundry room.

And it's a piece of town history.

Totally worth the effort

(says the person not doing the work).

So let the work commence!

We have about a month and half to get it all completed

(before we have our Christmas Open House).

You can read about how we helped salvage stuff here

Catching Up on Summer

I was a little shocked to learn I hadn't blogged here since April.

So I figured one big post of the summer

would get all 2 of my readers you caught up.

In May, we had our first camping trip with the new-to-us popup.

It was also the dog's first camping trip.

I'd say it was a success.

We had rain.

We had a lot of rain.

I think we had more rain than the Biblical flooding of Noah's time.

It was definitely more than 40 days and nights.

We salvaged some stuff from the parochial school at the Catholic church.

Yes, we cut out an entire double door entry way.

We had some baseball.

We starred in the town's annual cabaret show

(this year was based on the 60's)

We dug up more garden space and found bricks.

I really hate bricks.

We had another camping trip, this one being a week long vacation

on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

We saw wild ponies.

We burned stuff.

I started a project in the upstairs hallway.  

It's nearly done, 

and I'll post all the before and after photos when it is.

The garden hosted many monarchs.

I had so many caterpillars that they stripped all of the available milkweed.

I'll have to plant more next year.

(I had a lot- close to 20 large plants)

And there were shenanigans.

We also were going through some stressful times

concerning our family's place on the water.

You can read about that here.

So the summer is behind us,

and there are lots of projects ahead for the fall and winter.

(and more time to blog)

Irons in the Fire

This past weekend was pretty busy, 

and the week promises more of the same.

Big E is away for the week, 

so I've kicked my projects into high gear.

I figure this way he can't stop me from ripping something out

or painting something

won't have to worry about getting sucked into a job.

First up, we got us a 'coon trap.

So far, no raccoon, though he did eat the bait and trip the trap.

Current thought: he's a biggun and

I think we need a bigger boat, er, trap.

Or an elephant gun.

There is also a lot of stripping going on since Big E left.

Paint, I'm stripping paint.

I plan on stripping this old farm table and staining the top

and painting the legs.

It's going to be used under the windows in the dining room for photos and plants,

but also be available for more table space should I ever get anything finished enough

to have more than about 5 people over for dinner.

I'm also stripping the 100 years of paint off the transom window.

I really hate the design on the glass.

Big E really hates the design on the glass.

So, I'm going to measure the glass and start hunting up prices for stained glass.

I'm not even 100% sure this is the original glass.

And honestly, I'm not sure this is even the original transom shape.  

More on that when I get to the whole post about the stripping and painting of the transom window.

Also going on is the sanding, priming and painting of the hallway door, entryways and living room windows.

I will finally have that chore marked off the list.

So, when I get a moment to sit and breathe,

and maybe take some better photos,

I'll share more detailed info on what I've done,

and the products I've used,

and what works and what doesn't,

and what not to do.