Friday, August 29, 2008

Main Floor Reno's are DONE!

OMG, I can't believe that the reno's are completely done (on our main floor)!

The flooring guys came in last Saturday. They had originally advised that it would take about 3 days to do our floors, but when they removed the baseboards, the walls broke also, and instead of stopping when the first baseboard was removed (to tell us what had happened), they just continued... so all the bottom of the livingroom had to be re-drywalled and sanded and fixed which took an extra day and they charged us extra for it also!!!

SO, anyway, I painted the livingroom. What a pain in the you know what! I put plastic down, then taped the baseboards, then put newspaper attached to the tape, as the paint I bought it quite 'splattery', and didn't want to get in on the new floors or the new baseboards. :)

Anyway, the livingroom and extension are done! Now I just need to start putting stuff back in those rooms. Oh, and I need to assemble some new furniture we bought!

Here's some images...
BEFORE:
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AFTER:
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Monday, August 25, 2008

Almost Finished!

With everything.......

my Two Toe Up socks are almost done!
my floors are almost installed!
my stairs are almost refinished and restained

my life is completely upside down, and nothing is in it's place!

But, things are coming to completion... thank goodness!

and, the kids are back in school one week from tomorrow, so I'll have some space and time to get the house back in order!

Images? you ask!


hehehe...

ok.... enough torture...



socks first....
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and the floors...
used to look like this:
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uggggg.... (I've lived with them for over 10 years)



Photobucket the sunroom floor had to be ripped up again, as it was not level, nor was it level with the livingroom.
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the existing flooring had to be ripped up as the flooring underneath was squeeky, and we're also doing new baseboards!

again, it's not done.... but this is a preview....
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OMG, I'm so excited! I honestly cannot wait until everything is finished, and I can get in the livingroom and lounging room and decorate them!



EDITED to add:
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the floors are dusty, they've been swept, but since they are just being done, haven't yet been washed! OMG, I"m soooooooooooooooooooooooo happy so far! :)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Two Toe Up socks on One Circular Needle

so, as per my last post, I mentioned that I had started a new project.

Knitted socks!

yep! socks!

I found a tutorial, and am following it for my first attempt.... but not only am I attempting socks, I'm trying out the Magic Loop method as well....

I know.... I know.... I'm crazy, and sometimes I go overboard. But what can I say? That's the way I was taught to be! :)

So, here's the tutorial I'm following...
http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/2mlsocks_start.htm

And here's my progress thus far...
(remember, I started this project last night)

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the cast on using a 'figure 8' cast on method


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OMG, they look like toes!!! :)


and, at this point, I do admit that they look pretty funny... but here is where I'm at right now...
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hehehe!

Renovations

It's not like I don't have enough projects on the go right now...

Craftwise I'm working on a cardigan, a doily, and am in the process of writing out the instructions for the GAAA (I just received my pattern book in the mail), AND I ordered the Alan Dart Irrestible Gifts to Knit book so I could get a couple toy projects on the go!

Plus, we've been doing a MAJOR home renovations project this summer.

It actually started last summer with a bathroom renovation - we had the bathroom gutted to it's skeleton and redone.

This spring started with a reno in my son's bedroom - painted his room and refinished an old wooden bed frame for him, refinished an old white dresser, refinished an old shelf, and bought him a new expedit shelf and a drum kit!

Then I painted 3 floors of hallways! Three differnt colors - white baseboards, trim and ceilings, light earth tone above the chair-rail and dark earth tone below the chair-rail. The entranceway was actually the hardest because the ceiling is 20 foot ceiling and I only had a six foot ladder! hehehe. Also, the repairing of all the walls prior to the painting was a chore as well, to be honest.

Then we had a company come in and they did a bunch of stuff to the outside of the house: We had the roofs fixed, the chimney fixed, the shingles replaced, new eavestroughs, soffits & siding put in.

They were supposed to put plywood and then siding around 2 walls of the sunroom (on the outside west & east walls), but we realized the sunroom walls were water damaged, and it wouldn't be safe to attach anything with any weight to them. So, after much discussion, we had them gut our sunroom to it's skeleton and re-frame it.

We then had electricians come in and wire the sunroom and remove the old existing wiring from it.

Then the fun began! My husband and I did all the insulation, and then the BIL came over to help put in the plank flooring over the joists. He also helped put up the drywall on the ceiling and the walls. We then hired a friend of ours to tape and mud the drywall. (Two weeks of white drywall dust flying around the house was unbelievably brutal! No matter how much I cleaned, it was everywhere! Even though we had the sunroom doors closed when the sanding was going on.)

So, the room was coming together nicely. I primed the entire thing, then did 2 coats of paint on the ceiling, and two coats of paint on the walls!

Then the custom windows were installed (they are awning type, they swing outward from the bottom - solid glass, 3 panes, thermal!) So, the room is just waiting on the floor to be finished.... (I have a couple guys here right now measuring and working on an estimate!)

As hubby and I were doing all this stuff to make our home a better place to live, we decided to fix the kitchen as well (it's been in bad shape for a couple years now). We took the cupboard doors off and hubby sanded them down for me. I brought them outside onto the deck, and painted them. Black!

We then broke one of the walls down to the straping! (It had gotten a plaster fix a couple years ago, but looked all buckled and terrible!) We put a new piece of drywall in. I then taped & mudded & sanded it!!! Yep, I did it! I then primed the entire kitchen, and repainted it. I'm now priming the kitchen floor (over the old rust colored flowery laminate that is peeling and faded and gross), and am going to be painting that black as well! Oh, and I also had a new ceiling fan installed! Black!

Whew... suffice it to say, I'm tired. But I've starting a new project last night.....

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Sunroom windows!

The windows are in! The windows are in!
Can you tell that I'm very happy and excited that we finally have windows in our sunroom?

hehehe

And the electrical is done!!! They came in yesterday morning to finish setting up the plugs and they installed the ceiling fixture. I had to really be careful of the one I bought because the ceiling is quite low!

So, anyways..... yesterday I finished the 2nd coat of paint on the walls (it's called Medieval Manuscript, and is from the same family of the paint that I had used for my hallways). I will let that completely dry for 3-4 days before taping to fix up the ceiling (the painters tape pulled bits of paint off the ceiling that I had done perfectly, because I taped it too soon after painting (only waited 36 hours) ugg...

So, I still have to touch up the ceiling, and then there is one set in area that I still have to do in white as well (it's a window between rooms).

We still have to do the floors and the baseboards.

Then the sunroom is FINISHED!!!

I also purchased a couple of cute chairs, we'll set up my large expedit shelf, and a desk, and then it'll be a beautiful little lounging room, right off the livingroom!

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BTW, we used Beverley Hills Home Improvements for the custom windows & installation and they were absolutely fantastic, from start to finish! Kudos to BH!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

In pain....

My neck is killing me!!! All that craning while priming and then painting the ceiling is murder! But the sunroom is coming along!!!
and I went and bought the paint for the walls today, also!! So, will probably be doing that tomorrow.



and the kitchen has also been primed!
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Not quite sure what I've gotten myself into, what with all this painting, I'm so tired.....

I think I'm going to work on some knitting tonight, and have a Mike's Hard Lemonade!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

My Reno's

...are coming along nicely!

Today, I spent the day priming the sunroom... uggg! What a chore that is.... the drywall just sucks up paint like nothing.... I'd say it probably took me 3 hours to paint the ceiling, and the 4 walls.

But anyway....
ta da.........
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now, I just need to add a colored paint to the walls, and then we're doing carpeting and we're still waiting for our windows to be custom made and installed (hopefully sometime in the next 3 weeks!!!) then our sunroom will be complete......




Also, we decided to fix the kitchen wall... it was buckling, and I had done a patch on it about 3 years ago, but since we're in RENO mode, we decided to break the wall down and add drywall....
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and where we are now....
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Tomorrow, I'm going to put plastic around the fridge and cupboards and start sanding down the drywall mud.... it's going to make such a bloody mess.... but what can you do?

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Grapevine Cardigan.... again

Ok, I've been busy with other stuff.

I finished my egeblad, I just need to block it out. When I do that, I'll post an image....

I also finished a spiralen. Again, I need to block it out, and then I'll post a pic.


I've been very lazy regarding my grapevine, so I've picked it back up and have done a couple rows tonight.
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This is where I am on it so far.... I've got 5 more inches, then start the armhole shaping! :)