Living area almost done.

Dave and I like old wood. The strong, sturdy stuff that was used a hundred years ago. There is a guy in town that is an excavator, and every now and then he would allow Dave to come into a house and tear out some wood before he tears it down. It's been a couple of years since he's done this, but we have saved it to use in our new home some day. This is one of three piles that we have.


These are the pantry doors. I showed these on the bee lady blog and explained that they were really a mistake, but because they were special ordered, we are using them anyway. They are new, and it's a prime example of what new stuff is like. They practically fell apart trying to put them up, and Dave was ready to sell it all! One of my blogger friends suggested painting the windows with flowers and such...which is not a bad idea! She always suggested putting material behind them, which we had already decided to do. But.....I do have some friends who know how to paint. I'm visualizing flowers, and bees, and birds and such....Great idea "Hookin' It with Mr. lick lick"

And these are the more-than-sturdy pantry shelves, made from old wood. Love them. Do you ever just run your hand along an old piece of wood, cloth, quilt, doorknob, (history) and wonder what stories they would tell if they could tell stories?

And this is what I walked into yesterday. Dave said he could use some help yesterday. He works out there every day after work, and lately has taken some time off of work to try to get some things done. I work out there whenever he needs my help. Yesterday was one of those days. We needed to clean this room up, and out.

So we both got to work.

Here is a picture of the closet. No doors yet.

Getting there. See that wall at the end of the room? He put that up on Saturday. Took all day. Made from old wood.

Winston doesn't understand why Dave's doing woman's work. I set them both straight right away!

Taa Daaaaa!

But then, we didn't wait long enough for it to completely dry because we had too much to do.

Still....it's looking good don't ya think?

I put polyurethane on the wood to seal it. Still needs another coat. This pic is before any of the wood was sealed. (I just accidentally deleted the pic showing you how it looks, so....next post!) This wall is where the stove/oven kitchen cabinets and sink will go. So, those marks in the wood will be somewhat hidden. I love it.

Cindy

Floor!

Check out this floor! I love it. We had it stained in the living area of our basement.

For those of you thinking about having a floor done like this, let me say a couple of things. First of all, it cannot be a sealed concrete floor. If your concrete has been sealed, it costs quite a bit to remove that sealant. Second, the fumes are horrible. If I were living in the house and had this done, I'd probably move out for a couple of days! VERY FUMEY. (is that a word?) The only maintenance is to wax it every now and then. He said a gallon of was will last us a lifetime. I hope it's a long lifetime! And the wax is a paste type wax.

We still have to grout it. We're going to do that on our own. And after grouting you can't walk on it for 72 hours! We could use a break anyway, so we'll grout it, then take a break. What do you think?

Cindy

Staining the floor

We hired someone to acid stain the floor in our living area. I know, chemicals. I've fought it and fought it, but it was either tiles or stained cement.


He stained three different samples on our floor in the closet, so we could choose what we like the best. It's hard to tell with these pics taken from my phone,

We thought this was a little light, too much floor showing through.

This was a little too dark and too many variegations.

But this....just right. He just called and said he was finished.

I can't wait to see it.

Cindy

Basement floor - Now

Monday, September 27, 2010. They poured the basement floor. This was an all day event. While waiting on the cement truck to show, they continued filling around the house in gravel.

And prepared the floor for the pour.

The contractor explained to me the plastic is a moisture barrier. It helps with dampness in the basement. The rebar is to reinforce the bearing walls.

Truck number one shows up.

I thought they got dangerously close to that cement coming down and believe me, it was coming down hard.

Truck number two.

These guys worked so hard yesterday spreading and smoothing that concrete.

Even the company owner worked hard. He's in the blue on the right side of the 2x4. Dad came out to watch with me and said, "what's he doing working that hard, he's the owner?"

Now this I couldn't believe! Dad and I were sitting on the swing chatting. The trucks were gone.

What's he doing?

We had to walk around and take a look. They gently threw those pieces of Styrofoam down, from standing up above....then they gently lowered themselves down on the Styrofoam pieces. Unbelievable! They smoothed the edge of the wall all the way around the house.

We were impressed.

Finishing touches

While the three guys put on the finishing touches to the floor, the others laid out the garage.

They started digging the footers for the garage. They poured the footers yesterday afternoon, I missed it. I don't even think they took a lunch hour. Today they will pour the garage walls. I was told the basement crew will be done this week and the framing crew will start this week.

I have to admit, this is all still very overwhelming to me.

Cindy