Cheers!

A toast to painting the LAST ceiling today! YAY!!!!!!

This is the library floor before paint....as you can see, I'm just putting on the first stroke of Dark Walnut Behr floor paint.

You may notice I was tiring of the paparazzi by the end of this series!  Enough Scott- go find something useful to do!!!
The floor color looks great, and Scott's Christmas gift (leather chair) is going to be placed in his library tomorrow!
Big excitement!

This is the guest room...(or will be), this room proved to be one of the largest "plaster/painting" challenges for me.  I had to wash the entire ceiling with a sponge & water/vinegar mix, the entire ceiling was the white, chalky plaster I have mentioned before....  Finally, I got a coat of plaster on the walls & entire ceiling, as shown here.

The color is "Chinchilla" by MS, it's a gray with a bit of lavender (Dad, its NOT purple!) in the right light, really nice, and looks great with the white woodwork, a good calm color for our guests!
(Lesley, your room is ALMOST ready for you!) :)

Guest Room- August 2010


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Scott was busy most of the day hanging art, our medicine cabinet & our cool coat rack that we made months back!  Hanging art is likely one of the last things a homeowner does, unless you're the artist of most of the work! :) I think we also have been SO, SO anxious to make the place feel "done" these details help!

I am SO close to done painting- it's amazing!  Touch ups & 2 closets left- hallelujah!

I finished the last 2 ceilings & half the dining ceiling yesterday & today- DONE! 
The house looks cool, especially with our "stuff" showing up more & more...feels like ours a bit more everyday!

A "home" it may just be!

I just want to tell you all (whom you are many!) that you keep me writing & keep me motivated to keep this blog up!  At first I just started this to tell everyone who is far away what we were up to, but this blog has kind of taken on a life of its own, I have quite a few readers (although only 6 show as "followers").  When I have had days of wanting to stick my head under the couch cushion I have found a way to be productive & find a postive spin on the progress of the house...so I could "blog about it" and days like today when SO much is accomplished, it is a blast to be able to share it with everyone who has been following along...thanks for being out there & finding this all somewhat entertaining! :)

Short story, I was at Hannaford, as Scott's mom calls it, "Can't-afford" which is true in Wells.. lol!!! this gent behind me in line made a comment that I should put my basket down "because it looks heavy"...(2 2L bottles of seltzer, laundry detergent & 1/2G of milk...could I have found anything heavier-ha!)... "although I can see you can handle hard work, looking at the paint on you" (DAD- these were even my NEWEST work pants!) (my paint pants have started to be a conversation piece w/strange men in stores & parking lots)...the gentleman went on to tell me he had been replacing 6 ceilings over the winter in a 180yr old Georgian Mansion, also all his old electric wiring....he then says, "It'll all be worth it, if I live to see it!"  This all made me think of how happy I am to have this blog & my followers to vent to...this man was obviously hard up to tell someone how dang hard he'd been working-it was really cute, pathetic & understandable! LOL!



what are these two looking for?

Get set.....Ready? ......Sure? .....Here it Comes.......TA DA!

Lets refresh, just in case you "miss it":

July 2010

Upstairs progress continued, Scott's library (exluding floor painting) is complete! 2 days ago this had not even been touched- quite an accomplishment if I do say so myself!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Enough Said.





Happy, Happy, Happy!

So a wonderful sign that hope & prayer work this morning....the plumbers were on site when we arrived...a day or two early- HALLELUJAH!

My mood lifted immediately as you can imagine! 

The second delightful thing was that the library walls appeared to be much less chalky after the 2 sprayings of water/vinegar yesterday...(all my research may be paying off!) secondly, we used a old technique of trying to strike a match on the plaster to see if it what looked like it was "wet" was actually "wet" ... the match lit! It was GO TIME- PRIMER ON!

So as you can see in this pic the wall on the left is an example of what most of the walls look like in the 2 upstairs rooms & 2 ceiling areas downstairs.  The light color (which appears to be the "dry" part is actually soft & chalky, the dark part which appears to be "wet" is actually hard as a rock & what I now believe to be "set")

So I primed the library walls, and they did not act funny at all- & at this time I can actually tell when its going to peel later...today in the library we got 1 coat primer on all walls, 1 coat color, & 1 coat of trim paint done in this room! yay!  It all looks awesome- the color is great!  Scott is ready to move in his leather chair (his Christmas gift), put up his feet & read a book...um, not quite- I still have a job or two for you! :)-

We had a few surprise visitors all at once today, just as Scott had arrived home with a pizza- perfect timing! An impromptu picnic!  This time we have furniture! 



Stevie & Paige & Erin (& Scott)




Pete finished our counter install today by screwing down the pantry counter tops.  Just one final coat of finish to go on the pantry counter tops after the dust settles (literally)!



The siding is coming along nicely.  Jeff worked by himself today & got a lot done, it's awesome to see the siding on the front of the house, makes it come alive...the material we are working with is a bit challenging as he explained to me, it is Certain Teed fiber cement siding, a recycled material that has little to no flex or give, so you must be exact with your cutting, if its a 32nd of an inch off...its not going to fit....unlike wood.

Last but HARDLY least!  We got a new pic of our Frannie!  Still not sure which pretty lady is her, but one of these beauties!

we particularly like the one in the back right, sitting & behaving...but we'll take any of them! ahhhh-so dang cute!!
3 weeks to go & she can terrorize a new house!

Learning patience

Here I am....it's been a while it seems. The house is in a strange place, no I don't mean it moved to a strange neighborhood....it's at this stage where there is little for us to do.  We're all basically waiting on the contractors, who are waiting on the plumbers, & waiting on the electrician, who is waiting on the plumbers... It seems they have been fully invested in a plumbing job at a restaurant..which they must have done by today, 2/22 or a $1000. a day fine will incur till job is complete.  I am counting on seeing them tomorrow.  We are hoping to begin really "moving in" this Sunday.  But toilet, sink, occupancy permit & thorough cleaning cannot begin until they have made the beautiful water run!

The other waiting game we have been playing is waiting for plaster to dry....in the last 2 months I have learned more about plaster than I ever thought I'd know!  Our plasterer left a lot to be desired, lets just say he will not be invited to the "crew luncheon" at the end of the job!  Anyways, we have dark spots & light spots all over the walls...dark spots seem wet, but after 8 weeks are they really? (setting up time is 30days)....light spots are chalky & soft...& have caused paint to peel off them in previous attempts to cover. 
On these soft chalky spots I've learned to wash GENTLY ('cause the plaster will come right off on the sponge), with water/vinegar mix to neutralize and repainting has worked.
I am not convinced the dark is actually wet, as it appears in areas that have had just as much heat & time as other areas right beside them...it's a mystery (one I didn't want!)
So...with more googling, I found this (from Popular Mechanics 1959) which is likely when plaster was "the thing", talks about "dry-outs" which I think is what these are....then I found this.... "When plaster dries out before it sets it is soft and chalky. you can sometimes add some water back to that soft plaster and replace what dried out and it will finish setting." so yesterday we sprayed w/ spray bottle (water & vinegar) all the spots upstairs (in 2 rooms we have not been able to complete), the chalky white spots.  We let dry for a few hrs, seemed less chalky but still a little, so we sprayed them all once more (some of these are the ENTIRE wall). a garden sprayer would have been great in hindsight!  We'll see what this a.m. brings-I'm hoping to be able to prime!

Progress however...Pete Spadone did install our counter tops....they are gorgeous!  These were as previously mentioned made from reclaimed yellow pine.  Originally a beam from a mill in Biddeford, Maine.  We couldn't be more happy with them....very anxious to use them!

Scott, this is the ONLY time being on the counter is okay!! :)



our beautiful 12 foot long counter top which we are SO excited to use!



These 2 cutting surfaces you see...have been the extent of our "counter top" area at Grandma's house for the last 2 winters....are we going to appreciate 12+ feet of counter space?  LIKE NO ONE ELSE COULD!!! :)



One more parting shot....

Our bedroom actually has a bed in it in hopes we may sleep at this house in the near future.  This bed is a family heirloom of mine, and over the years has gotten beat up quite a bit.  The foot board has slats that fit into it, and both sides were broken etc....Pete & Scott fixed it up at Pete's workshop- & its good as new! yay!  Thank you Pete!

The wall at the top of the stairs was painted, and revealed Scott's library color, appropriately called, Falcon!  It's a great color & we love it as much out of the can as in!  The library is one of the "trouble plaster" rooms, so it was nice to finally get one wall painted in this room, maybe more today!

Oh!  & we stopped by the bodyshop & indeed the box of missing legs was in my car!  So both chairs have legs now!  Thank goodness, this really was a mystery where they had gone off to!

The thing is I'd put them in my car for "safe keeping"....however nothing about my car involves "safe keeping" lately!

I'm King of The Hill!!

So the gents from Up-Country have been taking advantage of the warm weather & have been siding away...the neighbors & ourselves could not be more pleased!  They made it to the front of the house today- a delight I squeeled about!  & documented with pictures....(they were pleased as you can imagine when I went back inside to paint!)

Did you ever play "King of The Hill" when you were young?....something about Jeff's stance makes me immediately think of this!  (I think Jeff is still playing...)



Sorry Jeff, couldn't help myself!



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Before- July 2010 (before demo etc...)





Mid process....something missing?



Feb 2011...after demo & rebuild & now siding!! (can't wait till spring to get those barn doors painted!)






The original posts are able to go back on!  (just when I was thinking painting projects were getting wrapped up!)
I am psyched the guys are onto the front of the house!!  The siding goes SO much slower than I ever expected....so I have grown to appreciate each and every one of the pieces of siding that goes on!



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Believe it or not this is "our" living room....indeed looking a lot like a living room!!  The Up-Country guys brought me (in exchange for lunch) my couch & a few other pieces of furniture!  well worth the trade I think! 
Ignore the couch- the slipcovers are in the wash!



Does anyone know where the legs are to this chair?  lol!  They at some point became seperated from the chair (they're new)....and we are hoping & praying as a last resort that they are in my Volvo...(which for 31 days & counting) has been at the body shop in Biddeford....(no it's not that damaged- just waiting for a part from SWEDEN!  & apparently even though "you or I" could fly there in a day & a half...a part for the Volvo takes 3 weeks! (good news- it did actually arrive at the body shop today!- hallelujah!) 



I have begun working a bit more upstairs, as the downstairs truly is well under way!  The library ceiling got primed & 1 coat of paint applied....we moved our bed into our bedroom & washed more windows...the place is starting to look like a home- I'm really excited....& really tired! Time to go back to real "work" for the week now!