it's official - zach's floor is done

First things first, we did finish the dining room to match our living room.  Here's Zach working & the final product.  Now all we need is a dining room set.  Until then, Grandma's formica will do!

Zach worked on his floor in his office last week too.  This is so exciting because the floor makes such a difference to the room.  The original floor was cork tile, all brown and laid in a random pattern.  

We stuck with a random pattern to be true to the house.  Then chose composite vinyl tile made by Congoleum to keep with the feel.  To liven things up a little though, we chose a contrasting color scheme to match our slate tiled entry.

Here's my dad replacing the floor boards once they'd been sanded & patched with matching wood filler. There  was carpet installed when we moved in & a glue residue had remained.

And here it is all complete!  This was midnight project for Zach.  Greta & I awoke to a gorgeous new floor :)  Again, she offered her paw of approval.

a living room all our own

Nothing makes you feel more at home than a living room set up like it's actually YOUR living room.  I was really excited to get this room done, since this is where we do the majority of our, you know, living.

Here it is all prepped for some color:

Zach's mom came to help and we got a huge amount of work done while she was here.  Also, my mom & dad put some time in too!

Here's Zach relaxing at night with our newspaper "curtains" since we took down the old ones.  Not sure what we'll do until I make the new ones...

And here is our first really ugly color.  I tried for one shade lighter in the living room than what we'd be using in the dining room.  Most of the time, this tactic works beautifully, this time not so much.  It sort of looked like mint tums or a hospital ward.  Not exactly the feel I was hoping for.

Thankfully, that was the first coat and because the other color was only one shade darker on the same paint strip, we were able to coat the room with only the already anticipated second coat.  Porter Scarborough was the ultimate shade.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that on the season finale of "Mad Men" that Trudy & Campbell have the same color in their Manhattan 60's living room.  Snazzy!

guest bedroom, more than meets the eye

Well, we kicked it back into high gear in October & got a ton of stuff done!  After removing the wallpaper early in the month, we were ready for painting. My dad volunteered his help to get things done before Zach's mom was scheduled to visit.  

In order to paint these rooms, it really took a lot of prep work so each room really took quite a bit longer than you might think. However, in this household, we do things right the first time. (This may be of particular interest to any future buyers - if this blog still exists at that time in the distant future.)

Anywho, after the wall paper peeling, wall washing, woodwork fixing, wall patching, & priming, we were ready to paint.  We've found a particularly good sequence of painting when doing these rooms: trim, walls, walls, trim.  

And when all was said & done, we had a cozy little guest suite for Mom-in-Law.  Note how Greta took to it right away.  We chose another porter paint color, Tempered Steel.

Long Time Coming

This post is waay overdue. And just when I'm starting to gather some readers.  Well, after we spent most of September removing more & more overgrown bushes & itty bitty trees we have finally moved inside.  First, a look at all removed in the month of September.  You can now see our house!

Our cars were nearly trapped in our garage:

Then we had a storm & helped our neighbors by adding the wreckage to our pile for pickup.  Enormous tree limbs were all over their driveway.  Luckily, they park in the garage!

Zach got some extra use out of the chainsaw that day.  We had to chop up the branches to be able to move them off the driveway.

Our efforts inside this fall have gone more smoothly.  And, it's much better for the renovator's spirit to be able to start a project and see it finished within a reasonable amount of time.  Our goal for the landscaping & curb appeal of our house is fall of next year, 2009.  Our goal for the main floor inside is much sooner - spring!

So we begin with another bedroom.  More wallpaper to be removed & it actually came off quite smoothly. Here's me working the steamer.

Then Zach:

We also decided to remove the top layer of wallpaper from our small bath to let the original show for the time being. Way far out - I'll be imitating something similar with paint when we get to the refurb here. Unfortunately, the paper isn't in good enough condition to leave it up long term.

And finally, I updated my snazzy little desk, donated to us by the former owners with some pretty turquoise fabric.  Very easy & makes me smile.  Again, a project sort of complete.  It feels good, no just for some newer pulls & it will be quite a desk to see!