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.....