No pictures, just ranting about yard work.

Okay, seriously. It seems like every weekend all I do is yard work. It never ends. This weekend we bought some more tools, an edger and few other things. Matt edged all along the sidewalks, walkways, driveway and street and it surprisingly was a huge improvement. We have been using that Scott's EZ seed in multiple spots where there is literally no grass. The stuff actually works. I was pretty impressed. We picked up a few more bags. At $15 a pop for the tiny little bags, I sure wish it came in larger sizes! But...it's working, so we'll continue on until we get all the spots patched up.

There is a strange looking plant surfacing from the front yard. The are bulbs of some sort, with thick stalks and seem to be growing quite tall. The top looks like there will be large bunches of some sort of flower. Right now there are these strange buds all clumped together and it's quite a mystery for me as I know nothing about plants or flowers.

I do know there is an Azalea on the side of the house and it only bloomed for a few days before dying off. That's not right. Gotta look into that.

Hardwood is finished in Living Room

And, boy did they come out really nice. I'm SO happy with the end result. The covers on the baseboard heaters have been painted white as well. Huge difference! Now, once we fix the shotty repairwork they did in the ceiling and then paint the ceiling white we can start setting up the living and dining room area.

Floor is going in today.

Late last night I got a sneak peak of what the floors might look like. Matt was playing around with the layout of the wood and sent over a quick snapshot via iphone. I LOVE the color. Not too dark, not too light. It's perfect.

Hopefully later today I'll get another photo that shows the real deal...atleast partially done! In any case, I'll see for myself tonight. We are headed back up there as soon as Bren gets home from school!

The original (sabotaged) wood floor

It's a sad day in house restoration history (okay, maybe it's just a sad day for me). Matt sent me a photo of the floors today after removing the sub floor from on top. I can't believe someone would neglect and ruin a beautiful hardwood floor this way. He says there are about 30 nail holes from each piece of plywood and on every plank. Add to that the glue, paint and god knows whatever else that's on there and there isn't much hope.

We are kind of past the point of no return on this. I did ask again if we could salvage it, but there is some decent sagging in some areas and with all the damage from the nails, we don't know how it would turn out if we had someone attempt to refinish it. Spending the $ to take the chance on *if* they'd even come out decent, not to mention the 20% restocking fee we'd lose on all the new hardwood we have piled up in the next room ready to go and it's just not feasible. But, really, someone should be ashamed for doing such a thing.

What I do wonder about is why the upstairs floors are a light pine and the downstairs floors are so dark? Strange.

New Paint on the Stairs (again)

Well, Mr. Patience of a Saint took the time to repaint the brutal staircase again. This is much more along the lines of what I was envisioning. Makes the woodwork around the stairs and hallway really pop. Once the upper portion of the walls are painted - it will look really nice.

Great job, Babe! I think I will keep you.

Hardwood Surprise

For some reason I guess I forgot to take pictures of this, but Matt ripped up the laminate floor in the living room this morning in preparation for our new Brazilian cherry floor installation. It was an easy job really, I think it was more tiresome to transport the laminate outside than it was to lift it up.

Though close to the end of this project Matt called me into the room to inspect something. My heart sank, I knew what he was calling me for. I kept thinking to myself "say it isn't so". Yep, in the corners of the room and around the fireplace you could see the ORIGINAL hardwood floors. Oh, how heartbreaking. Someone had screwed the new sub floor right OVER the old hardwoods. For a moment or two I contemplated trying to salvage it and then I realized that we'd have to fill in several screw holes on each plank and it would inevitably look terrible. How could someone do such a thing?

I have an affection for old houses and anything that can be salvaged I will save. Ah, that reminds me, our bedroom closet door is an old 5 panel door with an old brass doorknob. It had been painted about 3 different colors and the doorknob had paint on the knobs, but the old brass plate that fits onto the door itself had layers of paint caked over it. I managed to pry it off the door and after about 4 bouts with paint stripper and a toothbrush I got it all off. This will be going back on next weekend after we paint the closet doors white to match the window trim. I know to many it's just a doorknob, but to me it's a little piece of the past that belongs in this house.

I planted some geraniums in an empty pot that was left behind on the front porch and also put some hanging baskets on the porch this morning. I think they came out kind of cute. Those hooks on the porch were just begging for attention.

Imposter Mantle goes bye-bye

We thought the fireplace mantle was ugly and stone,but as it turns out it was ugly and wood! It seems that the previous owners distressed a piece of wood and then covered it with gray flecked spray paint to make it look like stone. Why? Oh why? The real kicker is that they sprayed it AFTER they had already attached it to the brick fireplace wall. So, there is overspray on all of the bricks and I have to remove it! Argh, paint removal is one of my chores. Darn.

Once we discovered that the stone mantle was in fact an imposter...she was a goner. Off you go for your Sunday (trash day)departure. R.I.P.

Mid-week update

Matt is at the house now during the week. I think I finally bugged him enough to see what the stove looks like in place, because he sent me this picture this morning with the subject line titled "Happy now?". Hmm, somebody is a little crabby!



P.S.
Yes, Dear! It looks great. And, when we get rid of that faux brick backsplash, we'll really be in business!

Uh oh, I hate the paint!

It took Matt several hours today to paint the bulk of the textured walls of the staircase. I've never painted textured walls before. Apparently, it's not a fun job.
So, when do you suppose is a good time for me to tell him that I hate the color? It's just not popping like I wanted it to. I think it needs to be darker. Oh boy, he's going to hate me for this one!



He was a busy little bee today, he also started replacing the old outlets and light switches with more modern ones. Just getting rid of those ugly wooden outlet covers and switch plates would have made me happy, but he wanted to replace the entire outlets. I gotta say, he was right, it really does make a big difference!

Let there be color!

Matt spent a whole day painting trim white around windows and doorways. The difference is amazing. I can't believe someone painted these beautiful bulls-eye moldings the same color as the walls. You could barely even notice them. It's criminal!

Someone must have loved this home at some point in time, and I feel like it's coming back to life again. Finally there seems to be some progress and it's feeling a little like "home" already.



A few things I notice from looking at this piture:

- Living room light fixture has got to go.
- I did a good job cleaning those fireplace bricks!

Bren and I spent a lot of time outside this weekend while Matt was painting. We moved the lawn, bagged up more leaves, learned the rules about "yard waste" from some nice neighbors and dug up lots of dandelions. Boo.

The stove, dishwasher and fridge were delivered this weekend as well. Though we are unsure if we will tear up the kitchen right away or wait a few months and get settled. So for now, they are sitting in the middle of the kitchen. I think I will ask Matt to at least hook up the stove and fridge so we can eat when we are up there on weekends.

We decided on a color for the living room. It's called "restful" - it's a sage like color and I really like it. (Surprising!)