Reno - office flooring

 We started putting down the laminate yesterday morning and by noon we had 1/3 done so we thought we were good to go to be done by suppertime.  Fortunately, we realized we had made a mistake in the math so had to cut the first row we put in so we just pulled the whole thing away from the wall and removed the row, trimmed it and put it back into place!  We had not anticipated the gapping that would happen with this process so we spent a lot of time rearranging the rows that were already done to keep it tight.  The instruction require blocking to keep the rows tight as you go along unfortunately because of the way the studding was

 put in we do not have what we need to secure the floor so it is taking longer because we have to go back and tighten up gaps.  So it is less about the flooring and more about the lack of proper structure that it is taking so long.
We had a little break in the afternoon when Katherine called to see if we wanted to Skype!  Yes, we do!!  Mathieu had a great party and Katherine did a wonderful job of decorating, party favours and the cake!!  It was great to see Mathieu open his present and talk about his day.
We finished the floor about 10pm.  We were tired!!  It looks great!

We slept in this morning and checked MLS.  Found a few interesting ones - a nice large one in Olds for a good price that needs remodeling.  We have quite a few good options in Red Deer. We have decided that we need to be more focused so we will pass on the gym this week and next and see if we can get this house ready to sell.

So nose to the grindestone and get an appraiser in for IRP by the end of the week.

MOM

Rec room is painted!

 The rec room and hallway are finished being primed and the space is looking much more like living space!

Here is the rec room and hallway painted!!  I love the colour!!  It going to be a wonderful space once we are done!!

MOM

Tables

 Here is my little table painted white!!  It used to be a very dark blue.  I sanded it by hand, primed it and gave it a coat of trim paint.  Really happy with it.  Perfect for the toilet paper rolls in the ensuite.  I will have to buy a small box of tissues for the top.  I paid $2 for it off of Kijiji sometime last year.

 Here is the table I painted for the main bath.  Susan, Sylvia and I went to a town wide garage sale in Colburne summer before last looking for tables to add to the house for staging.  The bottom picture is after it was all sanded with the orbital sander and then all the details done with a hand scraper. It had been varnished.  It had been left outside at some point because the screws and nail feet were rusty.  Dad helped me take the legs off and we used construction adhesive to glue them back on and it is so much better.  I primed it and gave it a coat of trim paint.  Works in the bathroom so much better in this colour.  Great for toilet paper in that room.

We had purchased the little baskets at Michales last year - three fit across the shelf perfectly though they were not inexpensive I got the table for free at the end of our day at the garage sale - lots of stuff was just left on the curb for people to just pick up!!

I am very happy with the way they worked out!!

We are painting the office today. I have a class to teach at lunch time and some of our "stuff" has been offered on Freecycle and is walking away!!

MOM

couch and chair

We bought this couch and chair set at Value Village over a week ago and I managed to give them a cleaning on Thursday.  The couch is very much love seat size and great for snuggling and watching TV.  We watched our shows yesterday and it was great!!
The wood piece on the chair is broken but we expect that we will be getting them refinished as some point so we will see what can be done in the mean time with the wood.  It will help to stage the house when that time comes!  It is closer than we think - there is still such a long list of things to do but the break yesterday was wonderful we were back at it today.  We painted the ceiling in the hallway and rec room today.  will be putting paint on tomorrow - hopefully both coats so it will be done.  Then we will transfer all the "stuff" to the rec room and paint in the office.
I hope you all had a good family day!!

MOM

Rec room and hall priming

 We primed the hallway and rec room on Saturday!!
Here is what it looked like before we got started.  I almost forgot to take photos.
Below is what is looked like once we were done!!
It is starting to look like a finished basement.

We took yesterday off and did Valentines.  Skipped church, looked at houses in our housecoats, had brunch at 10am, I went to Linda's SU party and Dad did a few things at home, we picked up Chinese food for supper and watched some British show on DVD from the library - "Lewis" - an inspector in Oxford, England.  The other one we took out is DNA - a forensic team.
I have managed to finish up my little table for upstairs in the ensuite.  I sanded the other one for the main bath on Saturday and we repaired it today so I can paint it tomorrow.

MOM

Snow Day!! My Fitness pal

 We are having a snow day today!!  She shoveled the drive way this morning so Dad could get the car out to go and get some 2x4's and we have at least another three inches out there again.  Probably a few more before we get out there just before supper to shovel it again.  May need to do it again before bed and after the snow plow goes by.  It will be our exercise for today.  Have opted to go to the gym tomorrow instead of today and renewed our books on line and will head to the library tomorrow as well.  We had one book that did not renew but the library is closed this afternoon because of the snow so

we will pay our fine tomorrow and be happy we did not have to go anywhere today!!

Potato pancakes for supper tonight!!

I have been tracking my food and exercise with an online service called My Fitness Pal .
www.myfitnesspal.com
It is great!!!  I have lost a couple of pounds in the last few weeks and the pants fit better.  Really makes you realize how quickly a few handfuls of peanuts can add a 1000 calories in a day.  Easier to make the choice not to eat them when see them add up like that!!  It is a good tool for maintaining or gaining as well.  It is free!!!!

MOM

Valances

 I worked on valances last week and managed to get them all finished.

Here is the one for the main bath  upstairs.  It is black with a greenish organza ribbon trim.  White was just to stark.

 Here are the three I made for the master bedroom.  I used the same greenish organza for the trim  Will go just great with the matching comforter and bed skirt I bought to stage the house.  There is one exactly the same in the ensuite.

Here is a better shot of the colour of the master bedroom valances.  I used the fabric from the valances that were in the kitchen when we moved here.   Did not have to buy any fabric to make any of these!!

Here are the ones on the landing.  They were there before but I added some pleats and the trim.

So they are all done!!!

We put them up on Friday night!!!


I had a hearts card class on Wednesday night at the MFRC for the Jgroup women and a papermaking class at Alberta College on Thursday at noon.  All went well and I finished up the paper last night and sorted through my papermaking stuff this morning and everything is back where it belongs.  Another 5-6 bags of paper ready for recycling next week!

MOM

Panel

It is a thing of beauty!!  All the wires neatly lined up and secured.  I made a new legend for both sides after I confirmed that the information on there was accurate.  Needless to say that some had been written over several times.
Dad added a telephone and cable panel as well and I created legends for those as well from Dad's detailed drawings when we was installing all of those wires!!

MOM

Oak posts

Dad is working on getting the two oak posts to line up!!  As you can see he has clad the telepost with oak!  Yep!  It looks great!!!

Here you can see how he did it! A special bit for the routere that cuts a joint which just needs to be glued!!  The glue set up a bit faster than he expected so the four corners are not as tight as he wanted them but for a first try with these joints - very acceptable!!!  He is working on getting the next layer of oak on the bottom to mirror the detail on the prefab post that is at the top of the landing in the first photo.  He used the same bit to make the joints on the shorter pieces and did two joints at a time instead of all four which worked much better - too bad he did not think of that the first time but that is what you call experience and it only comes with having done it at least once!!  There is a railing that will go in between the posts with spindles.

MOM

Closet with shelves

Here is a shot of the under stairs closet with its shelves in and in use!!  You can see all the way into the rec room past the sump pump but as we speak Dad is installing the oak posts and will be drywalling that area and it will be closed off.

MOM

Reno - bathroom with paint

 We painted last weekend - love the colour of the paint and it looks great with the counter!!

Here the vanity has been installed.  The vanity was a grayed oak instead of a bleached oak so Dad redid it with the bleach oak stain and it will do nicely.
In a hurry to finish up on Friday afternoon Dad cut the counter too short - even with the vanity instead of leaving some overhang.  He was very upset with himself for making a mistake.  We went on Monday morning to see if we could find a new one - no luck so we will have to make do with this one.  Not sure which option he will choose  - add an inch on the right where it will not show too much or just put the finishing strip on the end and be done.
The floor is finished and heating!!  It will be a wonderful feature but it takes hours to warm up for cold so to have a warm floor for your morning shower you will have to use the programmable thermostat!!  The fan, light and the heating vent are also now finished along with the framing in the window cavity.

MOM