During the Week Projects

We are trying to do the "BIG STUFF" on the weekends around the house.. but during the week I am tackling a lot of the "small stuff" I want done to our new home.

First off, Sunday evening, Steve had gotten up the drywall around the kitchen 3 walls that needed to be installed up to 5ft high.  He did the cutting and I did the adhesive and holding into place while he added drywall screws.  We only had a few seams to tape and mud up, and later tonight I should be painting that part to match.  I will take pics after that portion is done.  For now, you can feast your eyes on my Drywall Man and his first few pieces!

Then we will put a plate rail at the point of transition 5 ft up (the rest of the wall above is good and smooth already).  I got the painting done on the upper portions yesterday.  I decided against the pale yellow I had bought.  I went with all cream paint on the walls and the ceiling.

I am thinking that with the added grey flagstone patterned flooring, it might be too many colors in the room if I added yellow to the walls.  The faux mortar between the flagstones is kind of cream too.  Plus with all the reddish brown cabinets and woodwork, that is going to be enough colors without adding yellow to the mix.  I want cobalt blue as accents, such as my coffee carafe, some vases, a big crockery bowl, and salt and pepper shakers on the stove.  I have a slew of dishtowels too in cobalt.  Now to make up some hot pads!

On Monday, we stopped by an antique shop in Waupaca, Wi after lunch out with Steve's dad.  I spotted this oil painting that was nicely framed.  I had to have it for my Loom Room!  $25 later, it was safely wrapped in a blanket in the trunk of our car.  It's called "The Little Shepherd".

I googled the artist, Minnie E. Janda and found out she is a resident in a nursing home in Medford, WI.  I wrote to the director to ask if she would let Ms. Janda know her work was being enjoyed and purchased in an antique shop.  The director informed me that Minnie would be delighted to hear that news, and she also has some work on display in the nursing home, and also the director has one of her pieces of art in her own home!   

This was a nursing home newsletter writeup about the artist.  I am going to print this out and attach it to the back of the painting for provenance: 

(you can right click on this to enlarge it in a separate window) 

Next on my list of projects was a mirror that we bought from the sellers of our house.  At first we thought we wanted to put it over our buffet in the diningroom, but now we are thinking it would go even better over our fireplace in the livingroom.  It's very heavy and has a lovely Mission pattern.  We are going to reverse it around to hang it with the detailed edge to the top of the mirror.

  

 The wood was a bit more brownish and not red enough to match our woodwork... soooooooooo out came my can of Polyshades (a stain and polyurethane all in one that lets you cover already stained wood with another color)    Now.. it's the right color!

Next up on the list was another item from the sellers of our house.  Paula had this heavy white metal chair that had been on the front porch when the house was first listed.  We bartered a handwoven rug for it, and she so kindly brought it back to the house for me!

This morning, I touched up the heavy metal frame with Rustoleum spray paint... and then re-covered the cushion with some fabric that was leftover from covering the cushions on our wicker furniture.  There....

And here it is all dry and complete!  

(I have to iron out some of the folds in the fabric yet)

I put it right back in the corner of the front porch where it had been before.

I think I need a little side table now to set my coffee cup, huh?

Our front porch is going to be a nice place to hang out once it gets a little warmer.  It faces east, so the morning sun comes streaming in through all the windows.

Here is the wicker furniture we bought from Craigslist for the porch.  I think we need a wicker coffee table in front of the settee, and I will weave up some rugs to match.

Daughter Erin keeps making fun of my silk cane plant, because she thinks it's tacky or something.  Well, can't have any LIVE green plants on the porch in the winter, so this is the next best thing, right?  The little plant on the far right was in the kitchen of the house when we bought it.  That could go on a little metal stand in the corner too.  Guess I gotta hit a few more resale shops, antique places or St. Vinnies!   The far end windows are facing the north... and yes, it's snowing out there!

Here is the porch view taken from the other end, facing to the south.  

My newly re-done chair sure fits right back in where it belongs!

Oh, this is our front door... welcoming our visitors! 

The lace curtain was left in the house on another window.

The wreath is left-over from the holidays, but too pretty to put away.

The snowman sign is from Steve's brother Mark and his wife Shirley

and the tiny knit hat and scarf were on a bottle of whiskey from Erin and Mark....

 Soo come on over, 

give my silly doorbell a twist 

and perhaps sit down with a cup of coffee?

.

.

Tripping the Light Fantastic

Oh well, at least we have FANTASTIC lights!   We may not have tripped them, but I am dancing around now knowing they are done.

Our son-in-law Mark came to help Steve replace all the wiring in the attic.  Most of the attic wiring was still old "knob and tube" and needed updating.  Since Steve's knee surgeries, crawling around in the attic was gonna be a tough one.  So Mark, our wonderful son-in-law who is also an electrician was volunteered to help us.  LOL    Steve bought all the supplies ahead of time, and had it all ready to go once they got here.

Of course, inviting Mark and Erin for the weekend also meant the grandtots Chelsea and Clayton got to come and visit us too!   In they rolled, with their new suitcases loaded up with their clothes, toys and belongings. (I had a friend make up the patches for the suitcases I bought them for Christmas)

The dogs were so excited to have wee ones in the house again... and greeted them with touching noses and a few licky licks snuck in.

We had our very first Dinner Party in our dining room! 

I served homemade lasagna, tossed salads, garlic bread and wine.  

The grandtots were busy exploring the new house.  Who needs toys when you have things like funny springy door stops and old telephones to play with?

Erin set up the portable crib in the guest room for Clayton.  He was so surprised to see "his bed" in there, and crawled back out with a grin on his face. He had to crawl down the long hallway to the Grandtot room to see where his sister was going to sleep.  We only have an air mattress on the rug in there for now. Later we will look for a twin bed, or perhaps a trundle for Grandtot Sleepovers!

I got to read the bedtime stories.. and I made a promise to Chelsea that if she went to sleep really good, and in the morning she could come and hop in our bed to cuddle.  That made her smile and she drifted off with that as the last thought in her little girl mind.  

At 4 a.m., I heard little footied jammie feets come plodding down the hall--- right past her Mommy and Daddy's guest room door, and come to OUR door.  Like a puppy on a scented trail, she ended up right next to the bed, announcing in a very wide-awake voice:  "GRANDMA, I AM HERE NOW!"   So up she crawled into our bed to snuggle for a few more hours.  What a joy!  What a sweet way to start the day. 

The guys had a good breakfast and headed up to start their work.  They were going to add new service lines pulled up from the basement, and then rewire 9 ceiling lights, 7 switches, various outlets and remove all the old wiring.  Steve had to cut in all new boxes in the ceilings with hole saws and mount them all securely before fishing down all the wires.  Mark was up above in the chilly attic, on his knees, doing the connections, junctions, feeding the wires down and trying to figure out the spaghetti twists of the 3 way and 4 way configurations for 2 different series of the hallway lights.  Feeding wires, making cuts, stripping ends and running around was Steve's part of the job from below, besides drilling and cutting out spaces for the switch boxes and light fixture boxes.  They were busy busy busy.

At 9 a.m. we got a visit from a daughter of the previous owners, who brought us a mirror we were buying from them that would look nice in the house! (I will take pics later of it when it's up)  They also brought us a white metal rocking chair that had been in the front porch for years.  I swapped a handwoven rug with her for that.  So nice to have it on the porch where it once was, and I will later cover the cushion to match the navy blue ones on our wicker furniture.   I am going to enjoy sitting out here and rocking and knitting or spinning yarn on my wheel. 

Little Chelsea discovered our mechanical doorbell.  Give the outside key device a twist and it goes BRRRINNNNNGGGG BRRRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG  almost like a bell on an old fashioned bicycle.  Who can resist that? 

There had been one many years ago in that spot, but had been removed.  So I found a new replacement one.  Steve had to extend the square shaft that goes through the frame a bit, as the new ones were meant to go only through the thickness of a door.  28 years ago I rented the downstairs of a house that had one of those, and little Erin at the age of 2 would give it a twist every time we came in the house.  And every time the old lady upstairs would think it was someone coming to the door for her apartment.  No matter how many times I would scold little Erin, she just could NOT resist twisting that knob.  Too funny!  Now I will let my grandtots twist this one all they want, and enjoy the sounds.

Chelsea made another discovery.  If she took out the little ottoman from inside the big ottoman,

 and then flipped the lid to the hard sided tray--- she had a DESK to draw on! 

Clayton was busy discovering things of his own.  It was time to introduce him to the intricate workings of a loom!  He was sooo busy checking out the Loom Room and all of it's lovely treasures, machines and gears and levers.   Just look at those eyes, taking it all in and figuring it all out!

I have always let the grandtots explore my world of yarn, string, looms and creating handwoven things. They know about beaters and shuttles and warp and weft.  I wonder if any of them will grow up to be a weaver?  Or tell stories about they helped their Grandmuddah at the looms?

My Loom Room gets very sunny and warm during the days.  Little Clayton, almost au natural, was getting up close and personal with tubes of string (rug warp) and figuring out how it unwinds. 

Chelsea helped with some little repairs with her Granfaddah.  Notice the plastic pliersa in her hand as he repairs a wiggly socket on my antique lamp.  We won't mention who broke it, but it's fixed now.

The stairs held a fascination for little Clatyon, who wanted to be UP UP UP all the time.  I dreamt of having the wee ones on this staircase, peering between the rails, and here they were!

As the sunshine poured in, so did the rainbows through the leaded glass windows.  The kids were delighted in seeing the rainbows across their hands as they played on the stairs.  I stayed closed by so we didn't have any one tumble down.

Chelsea helped me make a big pot of chicken vegetable soup for lunch, and later we did up a nice stir fry for supper.  Had to feed these guys good for all the work they were doing.  Erin and I were kept busy wrangling the kids and kept them out of the way.  By 9 p.m. they were finally DONE!    I went up and vacced up the messes as the storm was raging outside.  We were having 50-60 mph winds and cold and snow starting.  I went out on the back shaker porch to shake out the comforters off the beds and almost went over the edge myself with the billowing blankets as a sail!   I was glad the kids were staying another night, because driving back to Oconto 70 miles in conditions like that were just treacherous.

Early Sunday morning, at 3 a.m. .. some little plodding feet found their way to our bed again!   And later Erin gave us Clayton to snuggle once his diaper was changed.  So he got in his fair share of cuddles too, even after his big sister went downstairs.  We sang songs, he explored the woodwork on the headboard, and played This Little Piggy till he fell back asleep... safe in the cuddling arms of his Granmuddah.

Oh the joy.... who needs a wild night life Tripping the Light Fantastic, when I can get my new lights at home, and fantastic grandtots to cuddle?

Demolition!

We have had fun with all the nicely nice nice furniture and painting and easy peasy stuff.

But now......

It's gonna get UGLY before it gets PURTY!

That is what Steve said.

Well, before we put my lovely refurbished cabinets into the big kitchen area, we had a little "prep" work to do.  (Paula, one of the sellers who reads my blog....  Paula, you might want to close your eyes!)

First step.. the kitchen has a tall builtin cabinet that is going to come out, and get refinished, and later brought back in and installed in the pantry area when we make it into a first floor laundry.

Here is the cabinet.....    

and here it is GOING ---- GOING----- GOING--- 

GONE!!!

Actually it had been built on site, so we had to take it down into 2 pieces to get it out the door to the garage.  Later I will strip it and make it lovely to match the other cabinets and install it back in the house into one complete piece again. 

Wonderfully we found hardwood flooring underneath!  Whee heeeee  with visions of refinishing the hardwood dancing in our heads, then reality struck.  There are three layers of flooring and one layer of subfloor between them.  Plus----- about every 2 inches is a screw, nail or staple!   That is about 36 pieces of metal in every square foot!   OH MY!  that hardwood is going to be perforated every few inches with HOLES!   So Steve is thinking of tearing down layer by layer and putting new vinyl flooring on the bottom base... and I am thinking of new vinyl over the top.   The final process is still being debated -==  (heatedly, I might add) 

We went out and bought the new vinyl last night, and we think that it will look pretty nice.

Now Steve is thinking he would like to just go down 2 layers and skim off all the staples, nails and screws with a grinding tool???  Oh well, we will decide that tomorrow.  Because....

We had another project to work on tonight!   

See.... the kitchen has this white wall board kind of paneling all around about 5 feet high....  all around ... between each doorway on each wall section, all about 5 foot high.  It is glued on to the walls.

We decided it needs to come off before we attach our wonderfully refinished cabinets. In the other areas of the walls that won't be covered with cabinets, it needs to come off and get some new sheetrock put in place.

As we tore it off, we discovered underneath the white wall board paneling was a kind of plaster that is pressed into the wall with a grid pattern to look like bricks.  That was almost 100 years ago.  Over the years, the stuff has started to crack, chip, peel and fall off.  The wall underneath it is firm and solid.  It's just a thin coat of this stuff on the surface that is crumbling off.   I am sure as it crumbled over the years, they decided enough was enough and had covered it with the white wall board paneling stuff.

Off it came, along with a LOT of loose pieces!  So we started scraping off all the loose stuff with putty knives after dinner this evening.   What a mess!

Told ya it would get UGLY! 

Got most of it off, and tomorrow will finish.  

Now it's time for a shower! 

Finally a post for my Fiber Friends - my Loom Room

As we get organized and arranged in the new-to-us-house... there has been a definite lack in my Fiber Fun posts!   Soooo today this post is for you!

My Loom Room is located on the main floor, and I also have a Fiber Storage Room up on the second story near the back servants staircase.  The Fiber Storage room has funky linoleum in it, probably from the 50's... so I decided to keep it because it is in very good shape!  

At first, the door to the Fiber Storage Room was just a folded accordion style wood slat door from the 1970's and I was quite disappointed.  But lo and behold, when exploring down in the basement, we found where two doors were stored away in a front corner of the old stone basement!

One was for the swinging door to the butler's pantry (presumably removed for more space for the fridge in there) and the other door was for my Fiber Storage Room!  Testament to having a dry basement, because they were both in great shape and not ruined by any dampness, mold or mildew. Whew!

 By the second or third day of living here, Steve hauled my door up and we popped it right back into place, with the hinges still intact on the frame.  Voila!

We had removed some basic shelving from the walls of the livingroom and master bedroom, which we re-installed up in my Fiber Storage Room.  It is working out great for folded rugs, hats and socks in my inventory. I put up some of my items just to see how it worked out, and it's wonderful!  

Then there is plenty of room on the floor for 10-12 totes, and four big trash cans of loopers for rugs.

So that is it for the upstairs Fiber Storage Room... 

now let's go back downstairs to the main floor for my 

Loom Room!   

I had assembled the parts of the 4 harness Newcomb Studio Rug Loom that we bought a few months ago from Hidden Valley Fiber Farm http://www.hiddenvalleyfarmwoolenmill.com/  It's the same as the ones I sold off last spring.  It went together without a hitch, and I just have to replace the cords with some sash cord (doesn't stretch like clothesline or macreme cord does)   and Steve is going to shorten up the reed a bit for me.   

The 2 harness Union Rug Loom was hauled over fully warped.  We took off the front beam, tilted the castle, and struggled to get it through the back door.  In hindsight, I should have just dismantled it.  It would have saved me the bruised/broken foot I am limping around on when Steve dropped it on my foot!   ACK!   Not sure if it's broken or just bruised, but ice bags and soaking in the hot bath have helped.  It is a pretty color of purple and green though......

We had moved the hutch from the dining room last week (so we could use the other buffet and hutch that match my dining table and chairs)  This one now gets to house my precious weaving tools, books, supplies and yarn skeins.  The big window faces south and lets in lots of sunshine.  Steve is thinking in the summer we might put a crank out awning on that window to keep the heat down.  I found the old wooden crate in the garage that has some warp  tubes in it next to the hutch.  On top are my quilting boxes and in the front and center is my Grandma Groops old Singer sewing machine.  I don't have a sewing table yet, but the center island in the kitchen will suffice.  (Once we get the kitchen done) 

The ceiling fan is the one I repainted with the hammered metal spray paint, and now I added new glass shades to the light bulbs.  The room has heavy plush carpeting and I found even in my last Loom Room that the looms don't "walk" much because of the thick carpeting and pad.  But I did put some rubber mats down under the looms, because in my last Loom Room, the beater portion made rusty marks on the carpeting.  So this time around, I will protect the carpeting in advance.

The three overshot woven coverlets were hung today.  I used fancy curtain rods and was careful to measure and use a level to make them all even.  The one on the left was an antique coverlet that I was given, and the middle one (Lee's Surrender) and the right one (Orange Peel) are ones that I wove myself.  Above these I will hang my Loom-A-Tic sign that is undergoing a transformation by the original artist, Juanita Hofstrom located at:  http://www.vavningstudio.com/   

This room is located just off the dining room with an open doorway.  We bought a set of french doors to be able to close it off later, if we want.  I have not yet stained the doors, nor did we buy the swinging hinges yet, so that is a future project.  Ooooh look at that sunshine streaming in! 

Since I took these photos, Steve helped me carry in my Tools of the Trade 8 Harness table loom, which is on a rolling bench. I think I am going to place that right in front of the window to look out as I weave up some more towels.  It's warped for about 30 of them and I have to get them woven before the next Jason Collingwood Class in May, 2013. 

Any of you weaver buddies, fiber fanatics or heck, ANY of you blog readers who find themselves up in my area of the country, drop me a line and come over to sit and create something in my new Loom Room!!!