Punch List Revisited

Back in 2006 I made punch lists to go along with my anniversary posts. Now I am setting up the nifty project tracker bars on Houseblogs so I need to revisit those lists. Would you care to join me? Note: It ain't gonna be pretty.

Exterior:

• new roof -major leaks have been replaced
  install peak shingles
  touch up paint
  re-do north porch
  fill animal hole
  build stairs
  install trim work on porch bottoms -DONE, see post
  landscaping -started, see post, and post
  finish siding
  screen doors -two purchased and partially installed

Kitchen:

• refinish windows
  refinish doors
  clean up door hardware
  seal doors
  hang curtains -done

Pantry:

• refinish window
  install door hardware
  hang curtain -done

Dining Room:

• install trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  find swinging door hardware
  clean-up door hardware
  prime and paint
  refinish floor
  install light fixture
  hang curtains
  install outlets

Downstairs Bathroom:

• install trim -done
  fill nail holes
  refinish window -done
  refinish doors -they are refinished, but not hung
• clean up door hardware
  purchase and install light fixture
  install wall tile -just some touch-up work to do here
  install outlets

Foyer:

• prime and paint stairwell
  install trim -about 75% finished
  fill nail holes
  seal window/build storm -ended up buying a storm
  clean up door hardware
  wall paper
  order door chimes
  refinish exterior door

Living Room:

• install trim -done, see post
  fill nail holes
  seal windows/make storm -ended up buying a storm
  refinish exterior door
  clean-up door hardware
  wall paper -done, see post
  install light fixture

Master Bedroom:

• fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint

Master Bathroom:

• order curtain
  install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  refinish door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint
  attach shower plate

Laundry Room:

• install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish window
  refinish door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint

The Girl's Room:

• fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  refinish doors -all that is left is the closet door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint
  install light in closet
  install outlets

Guest Bathroom:

• install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish window
  refinish door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint
  fix shower head

Up-stairs Hallway:

• refinish windows
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  touch up paint
  install outlets
  install register

Guest Bedroom:

• refinish window
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  touch up paint
  install outlets

Hobby Room:

• refinish window
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  install light fixture
  touch-up paint
  install outlets

Back Stairwell:

• patch walls
  prime and paint
  install light fixtures
  install outlets
  install missing trim
  refinish stairs
  fill nail holes

Mudroom:

• refinish doors -all that's left is the exterior door
  clean-up door hardware
  install shelves
  install sink

Office:

• install threshold plate -it is purchased
  hang curtain -DONE
  clean-up door hardware

And of course the past couple of years have added more projects to these lists. However, if you look at the big picture, compare what we've done with what we have left, like I have when doing my project tracker it doesn't seem quite as bad.

Come Party With The Newtons

We had two parties this weekend. One Sunday night with some college friends and one Monday night with a bunch of Tim's relatives and family friends. Both parties we started by people inviting themselves over.

I have come to the realization that this is the only way that I will extend an invitation to others. Yes, you have to invite yourself. While it seems un-Emily Post it works for me because I have a slight perfectionist issue. I'm always telling myself I'll have a party as soon as I ______ (fill in blank). And as soon as the blank is filled another issue pops up that impedes partying. And while I was just a teeny bit stressed and unbearable on Saturday it was all worth it. We had a great weekend and afterwards commented that we should do this every weekend so the house stays clean and we are motivated to do house projects. So this is us inviting you to invite yourself over sometime, make sense :)

Tim was a saint this weekend* helping me clean out the disgusting back rooms that I haven't really set foot in since Molly was born. He even got some of the doors that were refinished back in March of 2006 up. Check these puppies out:

The door to the back stairwell in the mudroom

This door knob isn't original to the house. At the time we couldn't find the one that went here (if there was one- we are missing some). I must say I do like the black with the blue door so it might stay. It was from an old house Tim's aunt and uncle tore down last year.

The door to the back stairwell in the bead board room (notice how "off" it is at the top)
And last, but definitely not least the door from the hallway to Molly's room. Sorry for the bad picture, but I'm not taking any chances of waking a sleeping baby.

*but I don't know if it was enough to make up for the box of Volkswagen parts I found on the kitchen table when I got home this afternoon.

Three Year Anniversary - the Back Stairwell

March 2003

March 2004

March 2005

March 2006

Punch List:

• patch walls
• prime and paint
• install light fixtures
• install outlets
• install missing trim
• refinish stairs
• fill nail holes

Three Year Anniversary - the Mud Room

March 2003

March 2004

March 2005

March 2006

Punch List:

• refinish doors
• clean-up door hardware
• install shelves
• install sink

It's Just Like Christmas...

so maybe I should get those Christmas cards sent.

As I dig through piles and I discover all sorts of lovely things that I've forgotten we have. Like the above picture we got from Tim's mom awhile ago. It's now hanging in the hallway to his office. It's amazing how much one can come to appreciate a "finished" space.

While We Aren't Quite Ready to Host the Thanksgiving Feast...

We are getting closer thanks to Dale. I'm currently so smitten with him I'm thinking of calling him Wonder Dale. Well, maybe not actually to his face. I don't want him to think I'm making fun of him and leave.

Last week he finished up where I left off with the mudroom trim.

And made short work of the trim in the little hallway to the mudroom.

Em and family- note the base board. It's the stuff from your barn :)
Thanks again!

Laboring on the Trim

It was my weekend to work, but yesterday before leaving I got a little more woodwork put up in the mudroom. All the chairs in the photo I inherited from my step-father. The two cream ones I'm going to clean up and leave in the mudroom. I think the others are in pretty bad shape so I think I'll use them on the porch to hold plants or something like that.

I'm pretty much done with this room until we get the extra baseboard pieces made.
Tim got the first coat of paint on the trim feet that go in the kitchen.
He also got the first coat on all of the headers and the final coat on the side trim pieces. Where just days away from having the kitchen doorways and windows completely trimmed out.

And then of course it's on to the dreaded 500 million pieces of beadboard.

Trim Photo Up-date

Here's the window in the mudroom. It just needs nail holes filled and touch up paint.

Of course the rest of the room also needs its woodwork installed (see the door left of the window).

And I'm not expecting to get any more done this weekend since it's my weekend to work.
Here's the kitchen woodwork Tim has been painting. I think it still needs another coat.

The other night he made repairs to all of the kitchen headers so they are next on the painting assembly line.

Happy Birthday, to Me

There's a charged battery in the camera (thanks mom!) so check out my surprises from my lovely husband.
I just finished hanging these. I can now actually hang coats in the coat room.
And now Tim's hats have their own place so I don't have to find them in the bathtub anymore.
Here's a close up of the hooks. They are numbered 1 to 6 and each number has a different color. I got two sets for a total of 12 hooks, one set for each wall.
This is my other present. A vanity for the master bathroom to hold all of my treasures.

If a Picture is Worth 1,000 Words...

Then I've got a lot of typing to do.

My little sister broke her camera's battery charger so my mom took hers (the camera I use) to Germany for her to use. I had charged the battery just before she left (two weeks ago) and was able to use it up until yesterday when it finally died while taking pictures of the window trim I had installed in the mudroom.

The window trim was all I accomplished this weekend because I had to stop and take a sanity break. The trim in the mudroom was a cut up mess. One of the PO's told us there was a fire back there at one time so I wonder if that was part of the reason.

Last week we picked the beadboard pieces up from the stripper. Tim has started painting the kitchen woodwork, and it seems strange that the kitchen is so close to being finished.

Oliver had an Exciting Morning

Oliver spends a lot of time looking out windows, but for some reason he was particularly interested in the mudroom window this morning. And he keeps chattering away.
Look what the great orange hunter has cornered on the other side of the window, a wounded bird. He's trying so hard to get through the glass it's funny :)

Darkness Be Gone

It finally came! The new light for the mudroom arrived late this afternoon.

Remember we were unhappy with the light we originally picked out for the room.

Well, I think we made the right decision in sending it back (Love you and your wonderful customer service Rejuvination!).

You can't tell it in the photo, but the yellow strip on the shade is the perfect compliment to the yellow in the quilt pattern floor. If Martha was here she would sigh and say, "It's a good thing."

What's a Guy Gonna Do

So what does a guy do after he finishes putting up the trim in the closet.

Why he starts refinishing the trim for the mudroom of course.

If All of Your Friends Jumped Off a Cliff Would You?

YES!Since trim work seems to be the "in thing" right now Tim dusted off the saw horses and got to work on the trim for the bead board room.

And yes, I plan to do a write up on our woodworking techniques as asked by Aaron and Jeannie. I just want to get the up-dates out of the way first.

Mudroom Floor Completed

The final coats were put on the beadboard room and the last of the tiles were laid on our weather inducted vacation from the blog. Here's the finished product!
Next on the list is finding the rest of the trim pieces in the pile/pit and making the threshold for the kitchen (photo to left).

Mud Room Hallway Floor is Underway

Yesterday I finally put on my thinking cap and recreated a table runner my mom has in vinyl composite tile. As I type Tim is on the other side of the doorway drawing out the lines on the floor so he can begin to glue the pattern down. The star will sit right below the light fixture and make a kind of "preview" into what we have done in the mud room. The center of the star (which I still have to cut) will be the pale yellow. The rest of the room will be the pale yellow with (hopefully if we have enough left over tile) a dark yellow border. I'm getting tired of cutting out all of these patterns so I think in the coat room I will just have a checker board pattern.

No More Complaining, I Promise

Just before heading out to work (early for the stress thingy) I realized that I never did post the fact that actual work got done around here.

Last night Tim got the mudroom floor finished.

And the light up in the coatroom (along with more paint).

Inspired by his motivation this afternoon I got all of the baseboard for the up-stairs hallway hauled up-stairs, and put in proximity to where it needs to go. Creating a sort of maze that I'm sure I will fail to navigate when I get home tonight, thus skinning my one healthy knee. Sorry, I know I said no more complaining, but I had to throw that in.

Tile in the Center of the Mudroom- Check

Last night Tim got the lines for the tiles I had cut drawn on the floor of the mudroom.


This afternoon he got the glue down and the pieces laid.


We're off to my friend Em's parents house to pick up some salvage parts that they were storing in their barn. So we'll have to wait till another day to get the boarder and background pieces in. But the hard part is done. Finally some progress!

A little bit of marriage advise

A few weeks ago at work one of our temps was complaining that he wanted to go home early (and I don't?). Being a little frustrated I said to him, "Let me give you a little advise, never get home early."
"Why," he replied.
"Well," I answered. "You'll never walk into something that will surprise you."

I got home early last night. And boy was I surprised. Look what I caught my husband doing.



Yes, when he got home last night a box with half of our Rejuvenation order was on the porch. He was going to have these up by the time I got home from work to surprise me.


Our master bathroom. Now with this great lighting I have no excuse for looking hideous!


The mudroom. We don't really like this light. I'm trying to talk Tim into returning it, but we probably won't. It's just too exciting to have something installed you just can't seem to go backwards.


This light is in the hallway to the mudroom (you can see the blue color that I'm currently painting the beadboard). This is one of the first fixtures I ordered for the house. I found it over the internet and loved it so much I had it shipped from Germany. Yes, this light is more worldly than its owners. It is currently the thing I love the most in the house.

Well, I guess there's also that handsome electrician that installed it :)

Another sunny day here in Iowa

Today I got another wall painted in the beadboard room. Just 3 more and then I can put the second coat on. Wow does it suck!

I got my beautiful yellowish-orangish-red flowered hanging plant up on the kitchen porch today.
What do you think?

I forgot to pull out the tag saying what it was. I'll have to try to remember to do that next time I water it.

I also wanted to show off the cute little garden accessory my mother-in-law bought me. It's called a garden bell. It's made of terra cotta and you dip it into a bucket, put your finger over the opening on the top.
.
Then move it over your plant, lift your finger, and the water comes out the holes in the bottom.
.
It's a Victorian version of the garden hose I guess. I haven't actually used it yet, but to steal my future sister-in-laws saying "It's just the cutest thing ever." I can't seem to come up with a good name for him though. Any suggestions?