Making my own history.

The digging for answers has ended for the day, but I'm working on doing some things of my own in the house as it rains outside. It's 37 degrees.

In 2007/8, the bathroom was remodeled. Laura and I had done some temporary work in the fall of 2007. It turned out to be less of a fix than I had hoped for. So in 2008, I ripped nearly everything out and replaced the old tub with a new fiberglass unit and ceramic tile surround. This is the only room that has new doors thus far. I'll replace the rest in the future as funds are available. Winter is the best time to work inside.







Then the living room was redone in December of 2008. It was a three day job with all the paint scraping, sanding, new baseboards, new paint, and cleaning the floors.



In February of 2009, I finished the dining room. There was snow on the ground as I painted and sorted seeds for my first seed swap.



In August of 2009, I painted my bedroom. The paint was a mixture of several half gallons left over from other rooms. I think it turned out serene.





I've been working on the kitchen since October. It's been a much larger undertaking than I want to admit, but I do love the results so far. The countertop laminate has been laying on the dining room floor for months. Next week, I'll be receiving a gift card from Lowe's as a prize in a contest we won. That will be used to purchase the MDF countertop base I need to glue my laminate to. I can't wait to say goodbye to these waferboard counters. I've still got more painting to do this evening. I missed a few areas when I was caulking. The white primer really makes them stand out. I've got to wait until it's dry to caulk. Maybe I'll head to the grocery store in the meantime.

I really like the green now.







I still need to do one more coat on the other side of the kitchen. I'm hoping my last coat can be done in one day. Until then, the walls will have to live with a little masking tape. A hair dryer from Carla will make it easy to remove.

Next winter, the hallway. Some work has already been done. It's mostly caulk and paint that needs to be finished. I sure don't miss that hot pink bedroom.

Another foggy day

Day 3 of feeling like I'm living in Stephen King's "The Mist". Hopefully it will rain this afternoon. This humidity is really getting on my last nerve. Where's the sun?



Inside, where I'll stay until I leave for work, new roots are appearing in the cloner. Knockout Roses are being tested. A couple have developed decent calluses. Others have done nothing. I've tried straight cuts above a node, just below a node, with and without rooting hormone, and nicking the skin to expose the white underbelly. Those with rooting hormone just below a node are the ones forming calluses. If they root, I'll start thinking about taking more rose cuttings from my other plants this spring.



A little color can be found in the dining room. Extra ornaments and a piece of pottery I've owned since 2003 sit in the center of my tiny table. Rosemary cuttings fill the air with the fragrance of Christmas.



It's 50 degrees and foggy. It was 45 when I went to bed last night.

This is my house.

Yesterday, the larger bedroom was returned to me. I spent the evening painting the ceiling, including the 'painted molding'. It's a perfectly good way to get a straight line when painting against a ceiling that is unlevel or textured. That bedroom is already a bright spring yellow.





The smaller bedroom is my office. I have a desk and one chair in there. The rug on the floor is a wheat color. I like the crisp green during the day.





And then there is the dining room. Yes, I probably went a little overboard with the staging, but I wanted to present it in all it's tiny glory. The table is only temporary. The dishes are not.





We've come a long way. I still want new furniture for the living room and bedroom. And of course I need houseplants. But I can honestly say, I love my house. Time to get to work so I can pay for it.

Green and the Psychology of Colors

Notice anything different this morning? I've changed the background of the blog to a soft green color. Why green?

Currently the most popular decorating color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision. It is a calming, refreshing color. People waiting to appear on TV sit in "green rooms" to relax. Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients. Brides in the Middle Ages wore green to symbolize fertility. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth. However, seamstresses often refuse to use green thread on the eve of a fashion show for fear it will bring bad luck.

Color Psychology

Green is also the prominent color inside my house. One of the bedrooms is a light grass green.



The living room is a sage green that changes colors during the day based on the weather.



The dining room is a dark greenish brown.



The bathroom is a dark gray with green undertones.



Eventually, every room in the house will be painted with some version of green. I find the color and all its variations to be soothing. Now, if the trees would cooperate and give us some outside green, I'll be happier. Spring is coming.

43 degrees, light fog, with sunlight streaming through the trees out back. Thunderstorms and rain again last night.

The Dining Room

It's 32, sunny and breezy. The next couple of days will remind me that winter is not over regardless of how nice it was yesterday. It reached 63. I opened the windows for a while yesterday afternoon.

Today I'll be finishing the dining room. At Lowe's last weekend, I found a gallon of "oops" paint for $5 that I liked a lot more than the gray I had originally used. It's a dark greenish brown. It fits with the rest of the house bettern than the color I mixed from several partial cans.

I'll post pictures when it's done. I need to put one coat on all the trim and clean the floors. I hope it's still daylight when I'm done this time.

This light fixture was given to me by a friend. It was in the living room of his 1920s house. I painted it black, cleaned all the crystals, and replaced the bulbs. I found a dimmer switch in my toolbox (where did that come from?). I installed it yesterday.



I'll get started once I finish my coffee.

2:24pm - I'm almost done. I need to put one more coat of acrylic on the floor.

Let's review. The original dining room.



What I lived with for over a year.



The gray.



And finally, done.















The chandelier from my friend in VA.



I still need a vent cover for the floor register. And furniture. Next up, the hallway. It only needs paint at this point.

Groundhog Day

I spent the weekend in Virginia. I did a little yard work for a friend. We also worked on getting the last of the drywall up in his kitchen. I'll go back up soon to help finish the floors and reinstall the kitchen cabinets.

I'll take Sunday's photo this afternoon once it warms up a bit. It's clear and 28 degrees right now. The forecast calls for 61 and a passing rain shower this evening. The snow they were calling for on Tuesday has been canceled. I won't complain.

I've got a list of things I want to get done today. Most of them are things I have been putting off now for a few weeks. If any of it gets done, I'll talk about them later. But first, I want to finish my coffee and find some way to warm my hands and feet. That little rodent in Pennsylvania had better not see his shadow this morning. I am sick of this cold weather.

10:17am - Somebody shoot that groundhog. Six more weeks. 43 degrees and still sunny.

9:45pm - It's been raining since 8pm. 43 degrees with lows near freeing. I'm almost done with the dining room. I will finish tomorrow.

A taste

Slow but steady progress

It's sunny and 14 degrees. There's still a small amount of snow on the ground from yesterday. The forecast is calling for 40 degrees.

The dining room has progressed slower than I wanted it to. Waiting for plaster to dry so that it can be sanded is not how I intended to spend yesterday. But it is coming together. This morning, I will be sanding the rough edges. The walls in the dining room are in really bad shape. Normally, I would obsess about every little crack and bump in the plaster. I would need medication if I did that in this room. So instead, I'm going to sand the really rough parts, and hope I can live with it.

I'll post pictures when it's done. That should be this evening as I will be going to Winston-Salem to do some work for a friend on Thursday morning.

While I'm waiting for plaster to dry, again, here are some pictures of my wintersown sprouts that have endured nighttime temperatures in the single digits and about 4" of snow.

dianthus: maidens pink


cupid's dart


nicotiana sylvestres


hollyhocks


covered with snow

SNOW!

The weatherman was right for a change. Two inches of snow and it's still coming down. Our first snow of the year and the only snow I've ever experienced in this house. It's 25 degrees.











From the map, it looks like it will all be over in a couple more hours.



As for the dining room. I got the arch roughed in and the baseboards replaced. I need a 1x6x12 to finish the trim caps. Even though I had promised myself I would not spend any money on this room, I have no choice if I want to get it finished. I'll be heading out to Lowe's in a couple hours.

I also finished the window trim and replaced the molding around the door to the attic.





Today, I want to continue working on the arch. I'll use drywall tape and a soupy plaster mix to smooth it out. I need to sand the corner of the dining room where water damage had ruined the plaster. Then I'll caulk everything and start painting. I was a little more ambitious in my plans yesterday than I could manage. I quit around 10pm. With the weather, there's not much else I can do today.