Winter is Coming - Lining Up Some Indoor House Projects

 Winter is coming!!!

These dogs are sure getting into hibernation mode already. They're slowing down and curling up and taking advantage of the shorter days. When I look at them, all I want to do is curl up in a warm quilt, wool socks, and sip a hot cup of cider. But that doesn't get things done does it?

Instead, we went out and raked up some leaves, threw some sticks in to the woods and admired the piles of wood that Steve cut up from the trees he took down.  

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We have an exciting day coming tomorrow... the insulation company is coming to remove the rest of that old attic insulation with a big vacuum suction thing into a dumpster, and then blow in all of the new insulation for R50 rating.  Wheeeee I will be sure to take some pics. 

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In my last blog, I left a little hint of how our projects get started. Steve and I work as a team, each contributing what we can to the planning, gathering, bargain shopping and execution of each step. 

Here was a little drawing with some measurements. What I do is I come up with some ideas, or Steve comes up with some ideas, and then we start talking. Once we start talking, we come up with more ideas! Then we do a little research into materials or prices. Then pretty soon we are jumping up and down and getting measurements and drawing things out on clipboards. And that's where we are right here:

The other night, we had been watching an HGTV program, and somebody had nice white beadboard for their backsplash in their kitchen. My eyes caught that and I thought it was really attractive! I then Google'd the words of "beadboard backsplash". I saw a whole bunch of great ideas!

So I mentioned it to Steve and he looked at a few ideas too. Last winter we did an indoor project where we had added panels of beadboard to the sides of our kitchen cabinetry to match the island. 

here are those blog posts:

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2020/02/beadboard-and-beetle-bug.html

and 

http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2020/02/beadboard-doors-hce-and-chandelier.html

We had a few scraps left over from that project in the garage. Steve dashed out and got one and brought it in to lay it in place, covering a part of our kitchen backsplash.

Oh I sure like that! 

I think that's what I want

 to do as a project.

Yes, I have a cool glass tile block backsplash that was put in by the previous owners. But, it really wasn't to my liking. The little rectangular horizontal style blocks were kind of a fad about 10 years ago. It really wasn't my taste then and it really isn't my taste now.

But, to top it off, being an old house, things are always crooked or skewed in a way that doesn't lend to good level horizontal construction. You can see where the seller  (he admitted to us it was his FIRST time ever laying tile)  had followed the top of the cabinetry and allowed the bottom line to slope down on an angle. The countertops were installed after the backsplash was mortared to the wall.  So there is no way to pull it off! 

See how it slopes???

This is always bugged me and I tried to cover it up with things on the counter, all the lines are crooked and it just does not appeal to me. I know from a distance the kitchen looks pretty but I really don't care for that pattern nor the horizontal blotchy blocks.  It is distracting from the marble veining on the countertops. Kind of like the same way that I didn't care for the blotchy blocks pattern of bathroom flooring that we changed out last week.  Too many patterns.  Ugh. 

So now that I have all my measurements, I think we are going to be changing this out. We can't remove the old glass block tile because it's in place before the countertop was laid. Instead, we are going to glue it over the top with heavy duty construction adhesive. I'm making my measurements and making my shopping list to get new beadboard pieces to fill it in. For under $20, we can make a big transformation! 

There is something else I would like to do, but it's a LOT more expensive, and I will have to wait patiently.  I know my birthday is coming up in 2 weeks.  Maybe then???   But in the meantime, I will be satisfied with a $20 upgrade. 

 (hint - SOMD .... Sink Of My Dreams?) 

So as I am figuring out the order for a beadboard curbside pickup, Steve brought up the idea that we had installed a beadboard wainscotting about 4 feet up all the way around in the bathroom in our last home in Chilton. He really liked that look. If we were going to order a curbside pickup of a little bit of beadboard for the kitchen, might we want to do the bathroom here at the same time?  It was a fun project and really changed the look of the bathroom.

Here is my blog post from that project:

https://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/2017/12/our-bathroom-facelift-almost-completed.html

So, we just might do that in the master bathroom here! That would be a good winter project. 

Nice creamy white beadboard to match all of the trim around the bathroom. So that's what the rest of the measurements are for. We will see what we end up with, we got a couple ideas in mind. We can buy the narrow beadboard in 3.5" wide strips or get the full panels.  Either way, I can paint them in the basement on sawhorses before putting them up into place. 

It's nice to look ahead to some fun things that we can do inside, over the winter, that will be pleasant and fun and not take a lot of money or a hit to our budget

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Last winter I bought this goofy plant on impulse at Aldi. It didn't grow so well by summertime and it was dropping leaves. So I decided to stick it outside in the flower bed and see if it would grow or die. It grew and flourished! So I brought it back into the house now before the frost came and put it in a flower pot. It's growing again. Let's hope my green thumb can keep it going through the winter??

One more winter project jumped up, or actually more of a spring project. Steve was looking on his Facebook Marketplace, always looking for a bargain. He happened to find this listing of two brand new windows! They were ordered incorrectly for a build job at a guy's cabin. Until the new windows could come, they were put into place for 6 weeks. So essentially they are brand new but not able to be returned because they were a custom order, and because they got used for 6 weeks. They are the same brand of the other windows we have already installed in the kitchen, laundry room and she shed.  They are 4 feet high and 6 feet wide. 

So the guy and his contractor came to terms on the mistake and now he decided to sell them. New they were over $600 each. By the time Steve was done negotiating he got them for $255 for the pair. That is $127.50 each.  

$1,200 worth of windows.  

Sold!   

Steve knew the measurements for one of these combination windows sets would fit perfectly into the south side of our kitchen. Then, after much of my insistence, he bought the other one to put in our bedroom! 

I have been begging and begging for an extra set of windows facing to the east from our bedroom. Our bedroom is very dark and dim with only one window to the side of the bed. Now that he removed that back entrance enclosure to the basement, we have been debating on adding a pair of windows to the bedroom.  Steve voted for one window, I voted for two.  He ended up buying a combo unit of THREE! LOL!!!

So you can see why we have not yet redone the siding on this part of the house. It's because we were determining what type of window (or windows) to put here. It will take a little more construction with adding a header and shoulder studs and king studs, but it will be worth it. It will brighten up the bedroom to put in this large window combination unit.  Like my finger scribble drawing from my phone? 

This is what the bedroom looks like right now and I would like the window to be at the foot of the bed shining in beautiful sunshine in the morning from the East....ahhhh  We had eastern morning light from two large windows in our bedroom in Chilton, and we really liked it.  We are also redoing the ceiling this winter in there, because those are the old closet walls that were removed to make a larger bedroom.

This is where I would imagine it could end up. I think it will be absolutely wonderful and exactly what I have been thinking....

So again, that's another project, for most likely next spring. Although Steve said we could probably work on the kitchen one yet this fall..... that one's the exact same size and doesn't take any reconstruction of the wall or studs to put it into place. 

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The Packer Game is on, and supper is in the oven.  Time to post this and get some salads made to go with our baked pork chops and potatoes.  

 Go Pack Go!