Almost finished

The first thing I noticed as I started to load these photos was that my camera lens is dirty!  So please ignore the little floating orbs.  They aren't ghosts, but are dust on the lens.

I took the week of Thanksgiving off from work and, as usual for me, spent the week working at home.  Kev is almost finished with the basement project.  I think I will lose our bet...but not by much.  His "complete" date was December 4, 2012 and we're close to that, but he has a wee bit of trim left and he'll be done.  

Which means that sometime, I will have to book a Guided Elk hunting trip for him.  Which means I have to save the money for that trip.  But it also means that I get to go along to watch!  It's a win-win situation!

So, one of my chores last week was to paint the basement, touch up areas, getting the main floor and the basement cleaned up.  I finished painting in the basement, and decided the original brown was just not working for me.  So, at 3 in the afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving, Miss Kat and I ran to town and bought a gallon of red paint.  Dragon's blood red.  I painted only this one wall red.

 I was still painting the first coat when Kev got home from work.  His first words?  "Wow!"

But, as it dried, he told me he really liked it, and we all agree that it warms up the basement.

We then went out to the shop and Kev brought in his Great-Grandad Chapman's saws and we hung them on the wall along with our Bear picture.  (Please forgive the blankets and such on the couch and the coffee table...Miss Kat decided to sleep on the couch where she could watch TV.)

Upstairs, we got our new carpet laid on Black Friday!  It photographs nicely, but it does have a dark nap to it that didn't show up well in the photos.

Kevin and I are famous for picking out carpet, and then discovering that the carpet we picked out was much lighter than we wanted.  (That's what happens when you pick out carpet looking at a 3 x 3 inch sample.)  When we picked out carpet this time, we purposely picked out something dark enough to hide dirt, cow poop and whatever else might get tracked in.  I think we succeeded.  It's a Stain-master carpet and we splurged on the Stain-master pad to boot.  It's nice and soft to walk and lay on.  It also makes the rest of the carpet in the house look awful, but we couldn't afford to re-carpet the entire house at this time...maybe next year...

 I had some paint touch up to do upstairs, but as I was painting, I discovered the paint, which should be the exact same color as what was already on the walls, was a wee bit darker, so I had to paint the entire room again.  (If I ever get my hands on the guy who mixed my paint in the first place, I think I might strangle him.)
  As we've traveled this saga, you might remember that I had brown furniture in my living room and this blue stuff was in the basement.  The brown couches did not go with the new carpet, so Kev hauled them downstairs and brought up the blue, which does look nicer.  He's all happy because he thought the brown couches were too soft.  He even brought up the recliner...which fits, but I don't think it balances the room, but I will let him keep it upstairs because it makes him happy.

Behind Miss Kat is where there used to be a door.  I need to find a new place to hang the sampler that's floating way above her head.  I'm thinking about moving it above the window and finding a new picture to hang where she's standing.  (See the recliner? Yeah...not balanced. Maybe a new, narrower end table would  help.)

So, our stair saga is almost complete. Kevin told me he wasn't doing another thing to this house for at least a year.  And then he looked at the fireplace, and said, "Except maybe for that fireplace."

Stay tuned...

Basement ceiling pictures

This is a pretty good shot of the beams that Kevin has installed along the ceiling in the basement.  

 Here, he and Andy are nailing in one of the panels between the beams.

 One section finished!

 Close-up of the pattern in the paneling.

And this is why I haven't been able to park in my garage for almost a year now...

Stair project update

Since I last posted pictures, not much has changed in the basement.  Kev has a month to finish, but it's iffy if he can simply because of our schedules.

We've been crazy busy since school started.  He's worked several weekends, we've had endless Volleyball tournaments to go to and we've been helping a friend who unexpectedly found herself divorcing.  She's got to move in the next two weeks, and we'll help, which takes even more time from our project.  (And we wouldn't think of NOT helping her, regardless of our own projects.)  Added to this are family commitments which we know we need to do, but it all takes time away from the Stair Saga.

Things NOT finished yet are:

• the basement ceiling
• painting
• upstairs carpet
• siding

We're working on them all.  We both hated the suspended ceiling that was in the basement, but weren't sure what we could replace it with, because we also dislike sheet rocked ceilings.  So, what we came up with was a wood ceiling.  Kev has built a "tray" around the outside of the room out of pine boards.  He's also built pine "rafters" or beams across in three places.  Now we are putting up wood panels between the beams to fill it in.  We also replaced the big florescent lights with spotlights (Canned lights?  whatever.)  Kev had to do some rewiring and some patching of sheet rocked walls and he's finally textured the wall where the stairs were and the wall upstairs where we took out an outside door.

I'm the painter, so as soon as I have a chance, I will paint the living room upstairs and the family room downstairs.  I'm thinking about using a different color downstairs, but will keep upstairs the same color.  

Carpet needs to be chosen and laid upstairs.  For a while, we thought about doing two types of flooring upstairs, making the living room and dining room individual instead of the same thing throughout.  But, someday I want to remodel the kitchen and do new flooring in there, so for continuity, and so I don't have three types of flooring upstairs, we're keeping the same carpet in the living room and dining rooms.  I finally got a hold of a carpet company who bring samples to the home and will figure the cost right there in our home.  I've heard good things about this company (based in Woodward, OK), so I'm eager to hear and see what they have.  We meet with then next Tuesday.

Siding...oh my has siding been a drama.  Since our house is a modular, the company which built the house had their own siding installed.  It's NOT a standard size.  It's lap, cedar siding, but it's made of 9 inch boards, not the standard 10, or even 8.  So I finally told Kevin to wait till summer when we can get James Hardy boards and do the entire house rather than siding the front now and the rest of the house later.  So, he's off the hook on siding.

I hope that we'll have it all finished before Christmas.  The terms of the bet will be discussed since Kev says it's not all his fault that it probably won't be done by the 4th of December.  (Besides, I'm in charge of the paint and the carpet...if I don't get it done, it will be MY fault!)

I'll try to get pictures posted of the remaining aspects of the project!

Now that the end is in sight, I wonder what his next project will be...

Basement pictures

 Here's a shot of the basement looking south.  The white strip above the TV is where a coat rack hung.  I have always hated it there, and just took it down after we'd finished laying the floor.  Once Kev puts mop boards back up, I'll paint, but until then...it makes a nice detail above the TV (ha!)  We used to also have a big cedar cabinet sitting where the TV now sits, but with the remodel, we had to change our furniture layout. 

 Here's the opposite view, looking to the North.  (Notice the ceiling is still tore up.)  Please ignore the vacuum and the ladder and the sack of cat food, and the junk on the couch.  The big cedar cabinet now sits in the NW corner, under the stairs.  I think it looks nice there with the furnace duct hanging down behind it...

 See the Window and the big wooden post?  Kev enclosed the metal support pole with pine boards to make the post.  I like the look, but he needs to smooth down the edges on all four corners.  They are sharp, and I can't drag my hand around the post without fear of splinters!  Maybe, if I offered to do a pole dance around the post, he'd smooth those edges out!

The bars in the window is our way of making the landing safer.  We wanted to do something to the window, just in case someone ever fell down the stairs (or tripped while performing a pole dance).  Kev rigged up this barred window just for that.  It's not finished yet, but this is what he has in mind.  He still has to close in the one side of the landing.  He's hoping to make it a hidden door and then we could use the space under the landing for storage.

The finished tile work with the pellet stove. Kev's not happy with the placement of the pellet stove.  Since we removed the platform, our pipe didn't quite line up.  So, we bought an additional elbow, but it was too long, so we had to put the pellet stove closer to the edge of the tile.  Instead of seeing if he can just buy a shorter piece of stove pipe, he's got this new scheme to build a new pedestal out of metal that would just sit under the stove base and raise the stove back up so our original pipe will work. 

I think he's nuts, but that's nothing unusual and usually, he manages to make it work and look nice.  But I still think it would be easier to just look for new stove pipe.

Now, paint.  Since I found almost a gallon of the same color of paint as is already on the walls, I wasn't going to change the color of the walls.  BUT...I'm wondering if we have too much brown in the basement.  So, if anyone has suggestions on a new wall color, let me know.  My first thought was a nice yellow, but we have yellow upstairs.  Then I thought about a nice blue color, but I want the basement to look and feel warm.  So, I'm at a loss on what to do about the wall color.

Next aspect will be Kev finishing the window do-hickey, putting down transition strips between the tile and laminate, dusting again, and decide what we are going to do with the ceiling.

floors

No pictures yet, but we've finished the floors!  We grouted the tile (which killed my back).  We laid the laminate floor (which killed my back, knees, and hands).  And, we put the furniture "back". 

Still need mop boards put back up and we need transition strips between the tile and the laminate and we need a ceiling.

Upstairs, we need a door removed, new carpet, walls textured and painted etc.  I found a gallon of the paint I used initially in the basement, so think I'll just touch up what needs to be repainted down there until I can figure out a color I really like.

Kev took a little time off to go fishing and we got some early veggies planted in the garden.

I've spent some time with my folks.  My Dad had a cornea transplant, so I've done some spousal murder intervention and saved Dad's life and Mom's sanity.

I've visited with Uncle Dale and Aunt Jo, picking up some family stories.

I've ordered my Mother a much needed new computer.

It's been a good month!

Still standing

The house didn't fall down.

But taking down the stairs wasn't necessarily something that anyone living in our house wants to repeat anytime soon.  Kev jerry-rigged a rope and pulley system and had Andy hold the stairs up while he and I slid the bottom stairs out.  Then he and Andy lowered the thing down to the floor.  It was quite an engineering feat.

Kev was a wee bit annoyed to discover that the stairs had been placed against the wall before the walls were textured.  So, he'll have to try to match the texture on the wall before we repaint.

Carting the darn things outside was a feat in itself.  They were heavy, heavy, heavy.  We got a small dolly to put Andy's end on so he could navigate the corner to get them outside.  They're still sitting outside...right in front of the door.  Okay...slightly off set from the door, but they are right outside waiting for Kev to decide what to do with them. 

He took yesterday off from work (Wednesday, March 7) to work on the house.  (Actually, he's maxed out on his vacation and HAD to take some days off.)  When I got home last night, he'd laid new tile where the pellet stove sits.  We had originally put it up on a platform, but decided at this point to go ahead and put it on the floor.  The tile we picked out perfectly matches the stone on the wall.  I was so pleased to see how nice it looks!  I also think we'll like the stove without the platform.  It will make sweeping and cleaning much easier.

 Here's a close up.  We weren't going to do the border initially, but finally decided that we needed some color and something a little fancier, so we picked up the 6" tiles last weekend in Wichita.

 I know this is an awkward photo, but we also wanted to tile in front of the front door (the brown door) and decided to extend the tile clear past the garage door (the white door). The size of this area was really what convinced us to use the border tiles. 

 Kev really out-did himself on the corners of the pellet stove area and this area of the front entryway.  I love how he cut the tile with the angles.  It's just so totally professional looking!  Now all we have to do is grout.  That's on tonight's agenda.  As the official family grout-er, I hope my grouting job doesn't ruin Kev's hard work.

 While we were in Wichita, we looked at lights.  The light above the original stairs was just a hall light.  It was on the living room ceiling, but only lit up the stairs.  Upon the removal of the stairs, we knew we needed better light in the Living Room.  We just happened to stumble on this track light that we both liked.  It's contemporary, but not too modern looking and the sconces are tinted off white and brown, so they really tie in with our furnishings.  Kev put them up last Sunday afternoon.  It's bright enough now that I can probably stitch while sitting on the couch.  (I want to replace the ceiling fan, but Kev informed me that the ceiling fan wasn't part of the bet.)

We're moving along quickly now, but don't worry...Turkey season is right around the corner to be followed by fishing weather to be followed by garden weather and outside work.  Inside work will slow down and I will still be able to win the bet.

And then the house fell down

Kev had a dream last night. He dreamed that he removed the "old" stairs, and then the house fell down.

Makes one have confidence, doesn't it!

Actually, he knows they weren't structural, we knew that before we started this project, but still the dream illustrates how this project is constantly on his mind.

His goal this past weekend was to get the staircase down and fill in the floor joists.

I helped him take down the banister and pull the wiring that we were going to reroute back to the wall.  It took longer than we anticipated, with a few obstacles that we were able to solve without much problem.  Then Kev moved on to the joists.

 The staircase is still attached, and it was a handy "ladder" to stand on.  He got all the joists attached and last night...

 We moved the couch back.

 Temporary carpet until we decide what we want, and when we have the cash in hand.  Kev re-routed two outlets into the wall, so we didn't lose any of our electricity in the living room.  I'll move one of the end tables beside the couch tonight. Kev thinks we now have room for a coffee table and he's planning on building one...after we finish this project.  (And he mentioned remodeling the fireplace mantle and...) sigh...

We did have one unforeseen complication...

The dogs refused to use the new stairs.  Yep, they were scared to death.  We finally coaxed Midnight down them, and then he was fine.  Fletch however is a dog of a different mettle...we coaxed, and bribed, and pleaded, and carried, but he just would not go down those stairs!  Finally, after 24 hours, he went down them on his own.  The winning motivation was his supper.  He couldn't eat unless he went downstairs, so he finally gave it a try and now I know he's saying to himself, "Now why on earth did I think I couldn't do that!"

This last shot is of our new banister.  The brown behind it is the love seat, but here's our rail.  We still need to put the top cap on, and when it is, the banister will be done.  Kev built it all from the same lumber as the steps.  Well, not exactly.  The wide rails are from wood he bought.  But the supports and the top and bottom rails he cut, sanded, stained, and put together himself.

It's coming together, but we still have a ways to go!

I can't say that I like the new stairs--their location anyway.

This morning, I went to set something on the banister...there wasn't a banister where I expected it to be.  When we start out the door in the morning, we automatically turn to go down the stairs, only to realize that they are no longer there!  We can't peek downstairs and see if Kat's light is on in the morning.  We can't hear her move around.  We have a lot of adapting to do...us and the dogs!

Next step, to get the old staircase down.  I'll be sure to let  you know if the house falls down.

Stairs

 Those look like Stairs!

We're getting closer to actually being able to USE the new stairs.  Kev and I ran to Wichita last weekend and bought some lumber for the trim and the landing.  We literally stumbled on some Pine Car Siding (what it has to do with cars, I do not know.) We liked it enough that we decided to put it on the landing. We also picked up some tile to put by the front door and under the pellet stove and got some stain for the pine.  We stained it all a light walnut using stain in a Danish oil, which we hope will be sufficient as the finish.  We really don't want to put Poly on stairs.

 On Sunday Morning, as he put up the first stringer, Kev said "Darlin', we'll have stairs by the end of the day."  I didn't believe him, because nothing ever goes according to plan...  But, he proved me wrong.

We had stairs by the end of the day and even walked up and down them a couple of times.  The treads aren't attached yet, as we have a little trimming and fitting to do to make them set well against the stringers.  Then Kev will screw them to the stringers and we'll start using them.

 This is the birds eye view of the landing with it's "Car Siding".

 Closer view.  It is tongue and groove.  Right now, I like the small cracks where they fit together.  We'll see how I like it when those grooves are full of dirt, dust, and dog hair!

Most people, when picking pine boards, avoid knots and "imperfections".  Us?  That's what we choose!

The house is still a mess, but we're getting there!

Stairs...progress

On Saturday afternoon, Kev drove 50 miles to Kinsley to pick up the lumber for our stairs.

A "tree man" lives there and happens to have a sawmill he uses for fun.  He sometimes cuts up trees that he takes down and sells the wood.  Remember, this is Kansas.  A sawmill is not something typically found out here.  We literally stumbled on this guy when we put in the pellet stove three years ago.

 This is what Kev brought home.  Yes, I am aware that one "board" is really a stump. A Six foot long stump, but it's a stump.

Don't ask.

This pickup load of lumber only set us back $250.  A steal.

 These boards are 3 inches thick and Kev has to cut them into stair lengths of 40 inches.

 But first, he wanted to trim the edge off.  He thought about just making all of his cuts with the chainsaw, but decided to use the circular saw instead.

 He had Andy help lift them up.  They measured and cut.

Andy then carried them out and laid them outside.  They aren't quiet dry, so Kev and Andy put some spacers between the steps and he thinks they will dry out quite a bit this week in our atypical warm weather.  (Which I am enjoying!)  So, now that we have the steps, and the stringers are cut, I anticipate that we'll see the stairs going up soon. 

But before they can be assembled...we have to sand them, decide if we're staining them, and then they can be assembled. 

Kev had enough wood left over that he's thinking of other ways to incorporate it into the finished project.  As a newel post, or somehow in the banisters or something....

We're still on track for me to win the bet. But, we're making progress!

The stair project--January update

I thought I'd best give an update on the stair project. 

No pictures because:  1.  There's nothing to show, and 2.  The batteries in the camera were dead and I couldn't find the cord (because it wasn't where it belongs...dang kids.)

But, there's really nothing to show.

Kev did make the hole bigger.  Longer.  He had to to make his math work for the stringers.  He then spent time re-wiring some outlets and moving others.  He also had to cap a water line because the bigger hole meant that the water line couldn't be re-routed.

He had talked to the guy who is supposed to cut our steps.  He was supposed to have them cut Saturday.  He didn't have them cut. 

So, we're at a stand still until we have our wood.

While Kev was working on his project, I rendered lard.

Why?  Cuz I could.  I just wanted to try it.  I grew up reading the "Little House" books by Laura I. Wilder.  I bought the cook book where the author attempted to re-create the cooking described in the "Little House" books.  One of the things she did was to render lard.

I was curious about how hard it really was and what cracklings were.

So, when we butchered pigs last weekend, I asked the guys to get me the fat from around the organs (if they would take the time to do so) and to give me some of the fat trimmings so I could play.  Kev brought home about 2 gallons of fat.  I rendered it yesterday.

I'd read that it's easier to render it in the oven, so I got out my Grandma's big double burner lard rendering cast iron pot.  While a little rusty, I thought this might be a great way to re-season it and get it back into working shape.

Unfortunately, it was too big for my oven.  Instead, I got out 2 of my cast iron bean pots and used them.  I didn't cut the fat up much (and if I was a serious lard render-er, I would do this next time.) I turned the oven on to 300 degrees initially and then when the fat started to melt, turned it down to 200.  By the end of the day, I had lots of melted fat and cracklins.

Kev thougth the cracklins smelled like pork rinds.  They taste like greasy pork rinds, but weren't as light. 

I wound up with 3 quarts of lard.  I went ahead and canned it.  It's not as creamy white as I thought it would be...maybe I let it get too hot.  It smells ok, but who knows.  I'll hang on to it for a while.  Maybe use some when I make pies, maybe not.  If nothing else, I'll feed it to the chickens and wild birds.  Who knows if it's a skill I'll ever need, but it did satisfy my curiosity and it kept me busy while Kev was puttering with the stair project.

Stair project, the continuting saga

Christmas is 3 weeks away. 

I'm hosting the family Christmas dinner. 

And THIS is what my house looks like..

.

Yep, I have a hole in my floor. 

A hole that also has a water line, furnace duct work, electrical wiring and cable wiring that all goes to mystery locations.  All need to come out and be re-routed before the stair framework can be put in.  Which has to be completed before the staircase can be put up. Which has to be put in before the old stairs get removed which will require more wiring to be moved... and so on and so on.

And, Kev thinks he can have it all looking nice before Christmas...

Right.

Christmas is in 20 days...

And we still don't have any stair treads.

And I've expressed my doubts about any real progress being made before Christmas.  Which  Kev shrugs off...

sigh...

We've made a bet.  I bet Kev that he won't have this project completed in a year.  Completely finished in a year.  If he loses, I get a weekend trip planned by him.  If I lose, he gets the satisfaction that he's right, "as usual."  (That's what he picked folks!)

I just want it somewhat put together by Christmas.  USEABLE by Christmas.  Safe for little ones to maneuver by Christmas. 

Stay tuned...

The living room...before...

The stair project is presently stalled.

Boy, do I know how things work at my house, don't I! 

Kev found someone local who owns a sawmill.  This person also thinks they have enough pine around to cut treads for us.  However, it's been 2 weeks, and we haven't heard from him, and we won't for another week.  He'll get back to us after next week...  Which is fine. 

I suppose.

Kev and I did run to Hutch last weekend to visit our closest Lowe's store (a two hour drive.)  We went to buy a curtain rod for the bay window.  We also window shopped for "stair items" and kitchen ideas and tile...remember, Hardware/Home Improvement stores are one of my favorite places to shop!

We got some ideas, but...like normal...this project is started, but not progressing...

And...I thought that maybe I should post some photos of the "before." Or should that be photos of the "during?"

 This is the current stair layout.  The wall they follow is the center of the house.  (Our house is a modular, so this wall is a supporting wall.)  So, in essence, Kev wants to remove that half wall which would move the couch back to the supporting wall.

 Just a view of the fireplace.  Note how nice and clean everything is...Oh, but we've also discussed replacing the fireplace surround and rock this entire angled wall of the fireplace.  Our house is just chock full of angled walls, like this one.  (And, doesn't everyone take pictures of what is on TV?)  But, you can see that there's not much space between the couch and the outside wall (that's the wall with the DVD player and the corner of the bay window.)  It measures approximately 5' 6" across there.  So, it's tight.  And that's the space that Kev wants to open up with this project.  He wants to be able to lay on the floor, in front of the fireplace and stretch out.  That is what  started this entire process.

 I took this view while sitting on the window seat of the bay windows.  Just to show how close everything is...and how dirty my couch is!  sigh...

Now this is the corner where the new stairs will be.  This is the main angled wall--the outside wall.  The door will be gone.  We'll have to take it out.  Which is fine, we never use it.   But, that means new sheetrock, and painting and flooring and...well, you know.  The stairs will be where this couch is.  Which also happens to be my favorite spot to sit and stitch...  (Can you tell which couch is used the most?  Yeah...me too.)

So, this is what my living room--upstairs looks like now...stay tuned for the next episode of...The Stair saga...

The Stair Saga

 Let me preface this post by stating loudly and clearly...

I love my husband.

I really do.  But once in a while he gets these wild hairs...and these wild hair ideas...schemes...whatever they are...drive me up the wall.

And this particular wild hair, he's had since we moved into this house. 

He wants to move our staircase.

And he's "started". 

Without a plan, without an idea of the final look of the plan.  And without my support.

This is what my basement looks like...it's all tore up with a partial project "in the works."  This is the wall that Kev wants to put the stairs on.  It slants.  Our house has a...peak? in the center of it.  Both walls angle from that peak.  Kinda like the point of a pencil.  And Kev wants to move the stairs to this wall.  See the stick sticking up in the middle of the picture?  Yeah...that's where the stairs will go...and that wooden monstrosity...that's the landing and then the stairs will turn and be a U shape, with 3 stairs coming to the floor.

 Here's a different picture of the "landing".  It takes up a HUGE amount of floorspace and I'm not convinced that it will ever look nice...

And another view. 

Now, Kev has been observant enough to pick up on my reservations.  he knows I'm not real supportive or understanding about this project...Cause, he'll take at least 7 years to finish it...and it will mean more work...like cutting another hole in the main level floor...and it will mean covering up the old hole and putting in floor joists and re-doing the basement ceiling and the flooring and some electric work and new carpet or something upstairs and relocate lights and...get my drift?  And I know from experience that "little" "easy" projects somehow never quite get finished.

However, I will give him some credit.  He's changed his mind on some of  his plans.  He's not going to have a closed staircase.  Instead, we're going to have open treads.  Chunky pine treads.  Because we like the rustic look, and I absolutely hate sweeping stairs with carpet and stairs with risers which seem to collect dirt and dog hair.  Open stairs will be much easier to clean.  And we've compromised on the balusters and the hand rail and even the monstrosity sitting in the basement right now that Kev calls the "landing."

So, we're compromising.  He's giving me some say in how I want this...thing to look.  And I'm letting him build this...thing.

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of "The Stair Project."