Chimney Reno's

 
 
 
So of course when our ceiling in our family room is complete and looking lovely, we decide to cut a hole in it. Hubby rigged up a tyvek surround to hopefully keep the sawdust in one area. It looked pretty strange but did seem to contain most of the dust. This was all done to accomodate a chimney for a wood stove we recently purchased. Today Hubby will have to climb on to the roof and cut the rest of the way through. Our daughter, Jennifer, didn't know how she was going to sit and knit at Christmas without a hot stove in front of her. Well, of course, we did not want to disappoint her so the job is getting done! We had wanted a stove or fireplace but just couldn't decide earlier on. I think we will be glad to have the stove when it grows colder. Since we are cabinet makers, we also have lots of scrap wood to burn. We especially like to burn oak as it gives off the most beautiful flame that dances in mid air at times. Today it may get as high as 13 degrees Cel. so it will be a good day for Hubby to be outside. No frost and no snow on the roof either. It has been a wonderful fall with our lake still wide open.

More pictures of New House

This is the family room upstairs.

More Pictures of our New House

So I have not blogged in ever so long, partly because we took a much deserved vacation this summer and since September have been swamped with work. The house is however moving along and we were excited to move into the upstairs this last week-end. Our bedroom, and family room are basically done except for trim, baseboards and some doors. I love the black and white flooring in the bathroom - wakes you up in the morning. We will install it in the downstairs bathroom and front foyer also. More inexpensive lights in our family room. The scones above (I have two) were 7.50. What a deal! Our bedroom has a very high ceiling and two big windows with pine trees outside. No curtains yet! Our closet is under the eaves so Hubby had to use his imagination to figure out how his wife could get all her clothes in there - well, he did a great job.

New Light

 

Mel hung our new light in the front foyer. The picture is not too good as the pine was causing some glare issues but I really like it and think it suites our Cape Cod home.

Hubby's Holiday

So recently I was on a holiday in Vancouver, British Columbia visiting my oldest daughter and her finance.

While I was gone, Hubby must never have slept as he cut an opening in between the dining room and living room. He took out the temporary floor above the living room. Finally he built a huge deck on the backside of our home. Apparently the weather was wonderful so he probably enjoyed the deck building the most.

Needless to say I was quite surprised. I am thinking I should go away again!

Now of course the weather has reverted back to wind and rain for the long week-end.

New Cupboards

So today Hubby worked on our own kitchen putting new handles and knobs in place. Also the drawer fronts had to be installed. What a difference it made! Love it a lot! Now we just have to take the gables down to router and lacquer them, work on the backsplash and put up some moldings. I am enjoying my kitchen a lot and find I am back into cooking and baking again. Still have to find a few more boxes of kitchen goodies in our storage container but have most of the stuff now.

More Craft Room

The smaller units I got at Michaels with gift certificates and their 40% off coupons so they were a good deal also.

Craft / Exercise / Bedroom

This room is now done except for the trim work around windows and baseboards - those will be in white. I have moved in my crafts for scrapbooking and cardmaking. I love the cupboards we salvaged from our local drugstore - they were renovating and throwing these in the garbage. How terrible! We got these plus about ten more free. I may eventually paint them white although they look pretty good in the light grey color. All of the drawers have full extension slides too and they are heavy duty so can take a big load. I can't wait to actually do some crafts in there.

Kitchen

I have finished making all my doors and some have been installed. I love the look of the ribbed glass. Now just have to find some knobs and handles in a matt black. Hubby still has to finish building some upper boxes and install all the drawer fronts. It took a whole day and then some to make all of the drawers for the kitchen, back entry and bathrooms - 30 in total. Think I should have enough storage!

Kitchen Cabinets

These two trolleys hold the cupboard doors and drawer fronts for our new house. They are just made of MDF because they will be lacquered white. The ones with the cut out inside will have ribbed glass in them. I finally got them all built and sanded so they are ready for the spray booth tomorrow. These also include doors for two bathrooms and a back entry. There will still be a laundry room with cupboards that has not been started. My kitchen will have 21 drawers on the bottom cabinets which I will just love - no bending, no lazy susans, just pull them out and you can see everything in them! Our shop gets extremely dusty when working with MDF so today I spent time vaccuming walls, floors counters and so on. Our next two kitchens for customers will be hickory so not quite so dusty.

Dilemna

So I have a dilemna regarding our new house. We put some drywall in so that I could paint the walls; in our previous home all the walls were natural pine and I craved some color. Already the drywall is cracking due to the ground shifting due to frost. That is a major problem in some areas of this resort and our land seems to be one of those areas. So I decided to put up more pine but was thinking of staining it or painting it in the bedrooms on the second floor. I had Hubby put the pine from floor to ceiling so it looks more like beadboard. Then I started to read online about this project and they talk about having to seal the wood first or the knots will bleed. So now it sounds like way more effort; much easier just to varathane all the boards and leave them natural. Color might have to be added with furnishings, rugs, and accessories. I did spray paint some pine white for the ceilings on the main floor and it seems to be okay so far and I did not seal any of it. What would you do? Need advice. Lots of folks like the wood look for a cottage and since this place is at the lake perhaps drywall is best left for the city!!!

New Floor

Mel has spent the last few days installing our Oak laminate floor into the dining room, back entry and now the kitchen. I was not sure about putting it in the kitchen but everyone else is putting it in their kitchens so it must be durable. I may regret the color; it is quite dark; it looks awesome but does show everything. Right now with the building process, it will not be easy to keep it nice looking. Hopefully when the house is done, it will be somewhat easier. It did go down really easy so it did not take Hubby long to install. Of course, Sparky had to stand on every board so dog assistance is not as asset.

Ceiling

We finished the ceiling in our craft, exercise and extra bedroom. Instead of running the pine crosswise, we put it end to end from the peak down. It gives the room a totally different feel. The walls will be pine also but painted white. Can't wait for it to be done as this is where the creative juices will flow!!!!

Light Fixture

I also have to tell you all about this light fixture and yes, I know there are no bulbs in it. My fault as I bought the wrong ones and not sure if our local lumber yard will have any. I will check tomorrow. This fixture came from Walmart and it was being cleared at $10.00. What a bargain as it is fabulous! It was a lot of work to put together though and definitely took two of us to figure it out. I am thinking I could also buy the little shades for each bulb and that would make it look even more wonderful. Hubby was good enough to put it up even though we could not try it out.

New Countertop

I can't say enough about the new countertop in the kitchen. Wow, it shows no dust, no crumbs, no water marks. It is fabulous and I am so glad that we decided to go with it. Can't wait for all of the counter top to be put in. A bribe is in place - I get all the counter top put in and someone may get homemade fruit cake baked, one of his favourites for Christmas!!!!

Pine Boards

So I am brushing varathane and thank goodness, it is water based, on pine boards. Each board is 6" x 12' and I am set up to do 16 at a time. I have only completed 32 in many days as I have to do three coats, sanding after the first coat. I think I will be here for a year!!!! These are for the upstairs ceiling. The pile on the floor does not look any smaller and my wrists are already aching. I don't like heights and so it is easier to do them now then after Hubby puts them up. He is anxious to get started but he won't get far if I don't pick up the speed! Think he has the easier job of the two as he even has a friend willing to help cut while he stays on the ladder. Where are my helpers???

Kitchen Lights

So I bought this two pendants for over the peninsula; the glass is ribbed which will go with my cupboard doors since they also will be ribbed. My problem now is where do I find two more fixtures for the ceiling that match these. Rona had these in stock but of course, there were no others. Hubby thinks my kitchen is way too big and needs way too many lights! Is he kidding? It will be a dream working in this kitchen.