Getting Up to Snuff on the the House

We dabbled and piddled around the house this weekend, and we got a lot done before we knew it!

The biggest task was to go over to the warehouse and get the motorhome.  We wanted it parked here in the yard before any of the freezing rain/sleet/snow that was forecast would hit Saturday night.  (it never did)   Saturday night was the Packer Game, so we had to get it over here before the game started, of course.

We had originally rented the heated warehouse for the entire winter, up to April 1, 2013.  It was a great place to keep the rig without winterizing it, and also refinish the cabinets and furniture and load up with purchases while we waited for the house closing.  But then, once we bought the house, we considered moving the motorhome to the yard, but we were still under a lease with the warehouse.  The landlord suddenly called one day and asked if he could meet me there to show the warehouse to a prospective renter who would like to rent it as soon as possible!  We could get out of our lease, and for both of us would be in a win-win situation.  (saved us about $1,600 and he got a guy signing a 2 year business lease)  

He said that we had to only pay till Jan 15.  Next weekend is grandtot Chelsea's birthday party, that meant it would be a better this weekend to get the rig winterized and moved down here to Chilton.

We drove about 30 miles up there to the warehouse in Appleton.  I took care of the inside stuff to get the rig road worthy, and Steve finished up the winterizing and last minute sweeping and disposal of my staining cardboards and dropcloths from the cabinet and furniture work. Soon the rig was on the road and I was following behind in the car.  It was going HOME!

This is the plowed out area in the backyard where we wanted to park it. It's up on boards in case the ground gets "squishy" under it.  Next spring we will extend the driveway that far back.  The little Tracker vehicle normally goes in the garage, but right now we still have brotherinlaw Pete's utility trailer parked in there.  We used the trailer for moving the snowblower and lawnmower, and then 4 loads of tree branches to the city garage to dispose of them.

Sure felt good to have the motorhome parked back there where we can see it, and pop into it to get things we decide we need in the house.  I still have some weaving and yarn supplies in the lower compartments that need to come into the house, along with swapping over some of the kitchen utensil supplies with the house.  I like having it nearby, rather than stored somewhere.  We are planning a 5-6 week vacation to Texas yet this winter, so it's nearby to load up for that too. We have security motion lights out there, plus the crime rate is pretty low in this tiny town. Don't worry, our rigs always sat out in the snow and cold and ice for the last 15 years at the other house too.

Some of the other projects we did this weekend were moving my looms into the house!  I had two of them set up at the warehouse to go over to weave rugs on in my spare time. Last Monday, we only hauled them here with all of the other furniture and just stuffed them in the garage.   So on Saturday, Steve and I carried in the parts of the Newcomb loom which I assembled that one during the first part of the Packer Game.  (Packers WON!)   Then on Sunday we hauled in the Union loom fully assembled --- removing only one beam and horsing it through the doorways.  ACK!   We should have just disassembled it completely and hauled it in pieces too.  It was pretty heavy.  Again, those "Sliders" came in handy to slide it across the diningroom, around through the doorway into the Loom Room.

Once the loom was slid into place, we removed the Sliders to save them for the next project! 

Now we only have to carry in the Tools of the Trade table loom from the motorhome.

(Duchess supervised the move) 

We have a set of french doors to install in this doorway to shut off the Loom Room from the diningroom, a future project to work on!

I never got any of the lace curtains up yet, because I need to get some other brackets to do it the way I want.  Then I will also hang up three of my overshot woven coverlets on rods on the wall in the Loom Room as decor.

Steve and I carried up 12 totes and 4 big garbage cans of weaving supplies upstairs to the little maids' room, which will now be my Fiber Storage Area.  Whew....

Steve also installed the remodeled ceiling fan into the Loom Room.  Originally, this fan was located in the dining room but we didn't need it there because of adding the chandelier (see 2 blogs back)  This fan was a very nice heavy and well-built fan, with a remote control, with three speeds, light dimmer and reverse all on the control unit.  But it was kinda dated looking in a brushed metal style and frosty swirly lamp shades on the light fixture portion.

(before)

I took it down to the basement and sprayed it from all angles with some Rustoleum Hammered Metal paint in brown. It sure looked great!   Then I did some polystain (colored polyurethane) on the blades too.  I broke one of the shades, but that was okay, because I am going to replace them all with something else after I get to Menards this week.    They have a great assortment of replacement shades and I will see what I like on my next visit.

(after)

I think it sure turned out nice.  Compared to spending over $100 for a new one in the stores, this was a great refurbish and saved us money.  I had also done the one up in the bedroom too with the same hammered brown paint.  Looks like new!  Next I might repaint the one for the front porch from glossy brass to a white color.  

Speaking of the front porch, here it is now with the wicker furniture and my fake palm plant that Erin keeps teasing me about.    The porch faces east so the sunshine comes directly in across all of the front windows during the morning hours, then about noon it comes from the side, and by afternoon it's all shaded.  Should be very pleasant this summer to sit out there.  Even on this sunny winter day it was comfortable, although the outside temps were in the 20's.  Solar Heat, baby, yah!  

 around noon....                                                   later afternoon......

The front porch will need a fresh coat of white paint this spring on the inside.  Also I will paint the terracotta colored panels of wainscoting into perhaps a navy blue to go with the cushions on our wicker furniture.  I will weave up some new rugs too....   I am looking forward to sipping coffee out on the porch in the mornings with Steve.

Oh, Santa brought Steveio a new jig saw... so he had to try it out and cut a slit in our front porch door for our new mail slot!

Previously, the mail carriers just brought the mail into the porch for the old couple who lived here.  They would set it on a seat of a chair just inside the front porch door.  We told them we can put up a mail slot if they would like.  Sure!  Just said to make sure it's big enough to fit mail through, and any packages they can open the door and put them inside the porch.  How nice is that? 

This morning as I typed this, I looked over at the doggies.. they are RAINBOW DOGS!   The light from the leaded glass window over the stairway shines down into the livingroom.... soo cool! 

On that note, it's time to put down the coffee cup, post this blog, and get cracking.  I got curtains to hang today, along with putting away some more things we hauled in from the motorhome.  Soon the kitchen will be emptied of excess junk, and perhaps my Mr. Zoom Zoom Steveio Man might want to start on installing my cabinets and reworking some of the wiring and plumbing to accomodate the new locations for the sink, garbage disposal, dishwasher, stove and fridge.  Once the cabinets are in place, we can also move in the island work center and stools.

After that, we will remodel the bathroom.... and install the gas log fireplace! 

(will we even have time to go on a vacation????)

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My Brawny Lumberjack Man

Ooooh when Steve wears his plaid flannel shirt, it just makes me all giddy inside.  Must be echoes of my past, growing up in the U.P. of Michigan... ya know, lumberjacks and all that stuff.  This is my favorite flannel shirt on him in this pic.  Don't he just make your heart go pitter pat?

He came home from work early yesterday because he had put in extra hours last Saturday doing some plowing.  The DNR doesn't like to pay overtime, so instead he just took off hours to make up for it on Friday.  He decided it was a good day to play "Brawny Lumberjack Man"

In our backyard are two big old gnarly trees.  They had been lopped off at the top over the years, and were half-rotted and hollow in parts.  Even the neighbors agreed that they should get cut down. I stood by with the camera, and the cell phone to dial 911 just in case.  Ewwwwwwwww

One large section already fell off 2 weeks before we bought the house and was laying on the ground.  It was right where we planned to park the motorhome this week, so we figured we better cut down the rest of the tree.  Once both trees are gone, we will plant some new ones in the spring.

So he fired up the chainsaw and went to work on them (carefully)  making a notch 

and then cutting the backside free to let each one tree topple right where they needed to land.

TIIMMMMBBBEEEERRRRRRR!!!!

Here goes the second smaller one

Here is the straight shot right up the driveway, past the garage and right up to the trees at my back as I snapped this pic.  This is where the motorhome will be parked later today.   The plaster guy, Byron, plowed this all out for us last weekend.  

 Of course, we had an audience watching us as Steve worked --- they had to supervise! 

Now we placed an ad on Craigslist for FREE FIREWOOD to anyone who wants to come and haul the pieces away.  He cut them all up into 18 inch sections.  Hope someone comes today, so we can pull in with the motorhome and not have anything in the way.  Otherwise it can sit back there till Spring and we can clean it up then and stack it for firewood to burn in a back yard firepit.

(EDIT:  a guy is out there right now with Steve, loading up his truck and trailer) 

Hard to believe we have only been in the house for ONE WEEK!!!!   I think today I might start hanging curtains in some of the rooms.  Yesterday I spray painted a gaudy bright gold ceiling fan with a hammered metal brown paint.  I polystained the blades to a darker reddish brown.  It sure came out NICE!   Who needs to blow money on the newer colored ceiling fans when you can just spray over a perfectly good older one that still works?  Steve put in a new dimmer switch for the chandelier, and I started placing picture frames around the diningroom plate rail to see where I want to place family photos.

Later today I will start to unpack my Treasure Trunk!  That is where my lace curtains are.  Remember when I packed this up at the old house to save for the day when we MIGHT get one more house?  I had no idea at that time it would only be 6 months later.  LOL   This is what I fit in that trunk:

We are up and at em this morning, sipping coffee and I whipped up a tray of cinnamon rolls.  The house smells so good and the sun is shining outside already.  It's only 16 degrees out, but going to get nicer as the day goes on.  Good day to go winterize the motorhome and bring it home?


P.S.  oops.. someone asked yesterday if I could repost the floor plan photos of the house to refresh their memory.  Here are the new updated ones with furniture kinda drawn in:

MAIN FLOOR 

(we changed the way the livingroom furniture is placed and the kitchen is showing where we WILL place the refinished cabinets, sink and appliances once we tackle that job)) 

UPPER FLOOR

Finally Sleeping in an REAL Bed!!

After five nights on an air mattress on the floor, it was heavenly to get to sleep in a REAL bed!  The air mattress itself was not too bad, but getting up off the floor was tough in the mornings.  All stiff and sore from painting and moving didn't help either.  We had to roll off onto our hands and knees on the floor and then stand up.  ARGGHHH   Also we were situated on the dogs "level" on the floor, so they were sprawled all over us each night too.

The furniture we bought from WG n R in Appleton was held in their warehouse until we were ready for it.  The two delivery guys were young, strong, and very courteous and careful when moving the items into the house.  They had to bring up a king sized bed headboard, footboard, rails, mattress and 2pc box spring around three turns of our staircase!  They did very well, and then brought the queen sized mattress and box spring into the guest room. The couch and Steve's mission recliner were quite easy, going directly into the livingroom.

Here are some pics after I got all the bedding onto the beds and made up.  It kinda fills up the north side of the master bedroom!  (Steve picked out this bed and the bedcoverings)

It's too high up for little Duke to jump on this bed----

and high for me too!  

I need a little step stool to get up into bed at night

Across from the bed is a stand with a TV on it, and a walk-in closet.  We don't have any dressers, nor any room for them. LOL   So all of our clothes are hanging in the closet, along with woven baskets lining the top shelves with our non-hanging clothing within reach.  That is how we had things in our last house too.  The loft bedroom walls were slanted, and dressers didn't fit the space.  So we are used to not having dressers.


For the guest room, here is the Mission bed we found in a furniture resale store.  It was a lighter wood color, but I coated it with the Polyshades colored polyurethane stain so it now matches the woodwork.  So we only bought the queen mattress and box spring from WGnR.  They carried them up and placed them into our waiting frame.  I found that funky lamp at TJMaxx Home Goods store on clearance because the shade was broke.  I fixed the shade and it goes along with the bedspread kinda well. It was a Valerie Bertinelli lamp and I always liked her as an actress on One Day at a Time. So I guess I like her lamp too!  I found the whole bedspread, pillows, shams and skirt at Goodwill on a real bargain.

Now down to the livingroom... here is the couch that I loved the moment I saw it.  Lucky it was on sale, because I think I would have scrimped and saved to buy it even at full price~!  The fabric is a thick woven paisley, similar to the fabric I re-covered the dining chairs with.  It's very comfortable too.

I don't think I am going to put any curtains on this window.  It looks out over the enclosed porch and lets in a lot of light in the mornings from the east.   We decided against a coffee table right now, and are using a leather ottoman that has a flip lid to double as a coffee table.  The livingroom is only 11x12 so we don't have a lot of room for extra things.

Here is Steve's choice of his chair for the room  He found this mission style recliner that is sooo comfortable.  He likes the wide wooden arms to set his little netbook computer on, his drink, and the tv remote.   It still has the tag on it from being delivered.  You can't see in the photo, but behind his chair, he found a really neat old antique tall standing lamp that still needs a shade.  He has been looking at thrift shops and antique stores for a shade, but has not found the "right" one yet.

(and you thought women were picky shoppers?) 

We found that if we keep the pocket doors shut to the foyer, the heat stays in the living and dining room areas where the thermostat is.  The furnace runs a lot less if we keep them closed and we are cozy in the livingroom in the evening while the rest of the house can remain cooler. Before we are ready for bed, we sneak up and turn on the electric mattress pad on the bed.  We like sleeping when it's cooler, and the rest of the house can stay cool if we are not using those rooms.   Heating a house will be more expensive than heating a motorhome, for sure.

(on edit: strange that this pic makes it look like the woodwork and doors on the house trim is reddish... really it's closer in match to the furniture than it looks.....)

In our livingroom along the north wall is a thick cement fake fireplace with tiles on it.  It was built right on site and into the wall.  Soon we will tear it out and put in a gas log one we bought.  We will try to save the tiles to put around the gas log one.  But that can wait a while until we get the kitchen done first.  In the meantime, we can pretend that this is a blazing fire on cold winter nights.  LOL We found the leaded glass screen on Craigslist and I think that is the first thing we bought for the house when we started shopping.

Now, this isn't something we bought... but I thought I would share a pic of this.  Each morning as I come down the stairs, this is what I get to see through the leaded glass window on the stairway.  Ahhhhh what a way to start the day???

I am finishing up the second coat of paint today on the plastered ceiling in my Loom Room.  It is located on the main floor in the den room next to the dining area.   I will start moving in the unassembled Newcomb Studio Rug loom that is in pieces in the garage.  Later when Steve gets home, he will help me move in the assembled Union Rug Loom.  That is awkward and will take two people.  In the meantime I can spend the day arranging my tools, supplies, books and yarns into the dining hutch we moved into that room from the diningroom.

I also have a Fiber Storage Room up on the second floor that was a maid/housekeeper room at the top of the back stairs.  I can keep supplies in there, and just added shelves last night to store inventory and shipping supplies.

 My Tools of the Trade table loom is still over at the warehouse in the motorhome along with my spinning wheel.  I will snap pics when my Loom Room is done and post them in the next blog.

Bit by bit, we will make this home Our Own.


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Shedding some Light on the New Year

After painting 2 coats on our newly plastered ceilings, and getting most of our stuff moved in to the new house on New Year's Eve, we decided to start out New Year's Day with an "illuminating project".   Right after breakfast, we tackled the assembly of a crystal chandelier!  

Ever wonder how a delicate chandelier with draping chains of crystal beads and droplets and delicate arched glass tubes gets shipped?  

Let me tell you.... it is shipped in a box IN PIECES!   Tiny bubble wrapped packages, all labeled and tagged.  To Be Assembled.    Oh boy.....   We started with A and went on to B...C....D....E.....  till we got it together enough to be suspended between the rungs of a stepladder.   Even then, it was quite difficult.

Each little strand of crystals is attached on each end by tiny split rings (like key rings) that have to be delicately opened, slid around a tiny metal loop into place, and returned to it's original shape without distorting the ring.

It took us THREE hours to get it done!!!  I am not kidding.  What a project... but it was well worth it once it was done.   I hoisted it up from below while Steve made all the connections up top, and voila.... it was UP!

We took a lunch break, and then decided it was time to get the dining room furniture moved into the room to get a complete picture.  It had all been stuffed into the living room the day before so we could get the second coat of paint on the dining room ceiling.  We took out the "Moving Men" slider devices to put the buffet and hutch into place.  

It was so exciting to see each piece set down, exactly where it belonged.  I had previously envisioned the placement on graph paper with measurements, but now it was all taking shape right before my eyes! 

The flowers are left from Steve's mom's funeral 2 weeks ago and still holding their own.  They seemed to complete the room when I placed them on the buffet. 

I have some lace curtains I am going to put on each side of the bay window, but they are still packed away till I have a little more time to put on the final touches.  The missing section of plate rail over the buffet is from where we removed the original hutch that had been in the room.  Instead of replacing it with a re-created piece of wood, I think we are going to shop for an antique mirror or interesting print to put up there to fill that space.

I have various framed prints of the kids and grandtots to put along the plate rail all around the room, instead of plates!  They are all packed away yet in some box piled up in the kitchen.  But I did find the box of my Flow Blue dishes and blue vases to put in the hutch.

It was so much fun to see it all come together.  From finding the right furniture (bought used on Craigslist) and then recovering the seats with a fabric I bought with a gift card from a daughter on my birthday.  The candlesticks were found in a cute resale shop, and the dishes and vases in a thrift shop.  The chandelier was a special treat to ourselves.  I have always wanted a dining room like this----  and I keep pinching myself each time I walk through it, hardly believing that it is ours! 

(That was done on Tuesday----  Now it's Thursday and we got the rest of our furniture delivered yesterday.  That means we slept in a REAL bed last night!   Will write more about that tomorrow)

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Getting Plastered For New Years

It's not what you think....

We called a local plaster company to come over on the weekend for a quick skip trowel of plaster on our ceilings.  You can see in the pic below the long ridge lines of the plaster and lathe that is 100 years old on our ceilings.  It's all intact and firm, but Steve was thinking some texture over the surface would hide the ridges.   Byron Hickman and his partner Dave came over and did some good work for us.   Reasonable and polite and easy to work with.  

Byrons Quality Painting and Drywall

10313 Spring Lake Rd

Valders, WI 54245

Phone: 920-773-3939  

They spread the new plaster in a random fashion with their trowels (knifes) and did a great job!

And once they were done, Steve inquired about the handy-dandy plow on the front of Bryon's truck.  Seems for a $20 tip, he gladly pushed back the snow piles in our yard at the end of the driveway so we would have room to put the motorhome in the back yard, and also room to maneuver a moving truck and extra parking now that the ground has frozen.  ZOOM ZOOM it was done!

It would have taken Steve a long time to do all of that with the snowblower, for sure.

We geared up on New Year's Eve day morning to get our moving truck from Uhaul.  Picking up a 24 foot truck was kinda funny with the agent giving us all kinds of driving instructions.  Finally we told him we drive a 40 ft diesel pusher that is even longer and taller than the truck, he let us off the "training lecture".  HAHA

We had only planned on hauling the large items, and had Steve's brother Pete coming to help us.  Lo and behold, as we were picking up the truck, the phone rang and it was our daughter Erin and her husband Mark.  They said they were almost to Appleton and because we were "OLD" they were coming to help us!  We didn't want to impose on our grown kids, as most of them are working on New Years Eve day.  But Erin and Mark were both off work for the day, and the two grandtots were in the daycare for the day.  So along they came.

Well, once they took hold of things, it was load load load until EVERYTHING was packed!   I was going to haul small loads of items in the car or Tracker during the week, and had not planned to take all of that stuff in one load.   In it all went, with barely a smidge to spare...

We convoyed down to the new house in Chilton, where Steve skillfully backed in the truck up our driveway.  (note, he had previously cut down branches on our big pine tree for added clearance)

Within a very short time, they had everything unloaded!  Most of the items went into the garage, as they are my refinished cabinets, countertop, center island, gas log fireplace, a couple looms etc.  Things that don't need to go in the house right away.   Here are the guys hauling 1/3 of the cabinets... carefully!

They brought inside all of the dining room furniture and that was quite a job for sure!  The hutch and buffet were quite heavy.  I am amazed at how fast they got all the pieces in the house.  Plus all the boxes, bags, and baskets.  Of course, they are all stacked up in the kitchen, waiting to be sorted through and put away yet.

(The kids were heard to mumble something about me being nuts, but I am not sure what they meant?)

Once they were all done, we treated them to a lunch over at The Seven Angels restaurant in Chilton. It was very good and we tried to show our appreciation for all they did for us.  They all sluffed it off as no big deal, but it really really was to us!   What wonderful help and effort and saved us a lot of steps.

They all headed home to rest, and we returned the Uhaul truck and took a nap ourselves!

Note--- we are sleeping on an air mattress on the floor for five days until the store delivers the other furniture we purchased on Wednesday, the 2nd.  But I will write about that in the next post.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

MAY 2013 BE A WONDERFUL YEAR 

FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!