May 2014 – nicole.groudasfamily.com

Linen Closet

This past weekend (we were home on Monday only) marked some progress on the linen closet! Friday my neighbor Pete was over working so he sanded, primed and painted the closet (then did some other projects like empty out the master bathroom area).

Monday we went to home depot and got the closet system, then I painted the second coat on the walls and ceiling. Once the paint was dry I installed the closet light, then Ryan installed the rails for the closet system (we’ll wait on shelves which just pop in until trim is done). Then Ryan made and installed all the closet trim (baseboards and door trim) on the inside of the closet!

Door trim and light. Since it’s the inside of a tiny (narrow) closet we’re just doing flat trim, nothing fancy. Once the shelves are in you won’t even be able to see the trim.

All that is left is to sand, caulk the trim and then prime/paint the trim and doors! I’m so excited to have a closet soon upstairs! The only problem with working on it is that it’s RIGHT outside Alex’s room so I can’t do anything noisy when she’s trying to fall asleep, so we’ll see when I get some time to sand it (painting is quiet at least).

House progress is always fun, especially on a weekend when we also got to go back to NY and see all our family! The Pig Roast was this weekend and we had a great time – the weather was really nice even though rain was predicted!

Alex and Jason had a blast, they both love tractors so first thing we went out (in pajamas) and let them sit on Grandpa’s tractor

On Sunday Grandpa got his car out and the kids got to drive that too!

I don’t have my pics off my camera yet, just my phone ones plus I didn’t take any pictures at the actual pig roast, I was too busy talking to people! It was a great turn out (anything is better than last year when we got rain AND cold!).

Upstairs Hallway

We were home on Mother’s day weekend and got a little house work done! Then we also had my neighbor over the last 2 Fridays so a little more progress. All on the upstairs hallway.

Ryan got the back wall of the hallway demo’d so you can see the back staircase and attic staircase now. The plan is to put a new wall in that goes straight across and will have 3 doors (bedroom, stairsdown, attic stairs), all that swing in away from the laundry room which is at the end of the hallway in the nook behind the bathroom.

A view from the hallway by the bathroom door. There used to be a wall there 🙂

Another view, this is the wall of the attic stairs.

My neighbor got our linen closet spackling done, it’s ready for sanding/priming/painting and a closet system to be installed!!! Can’t wait!

My neighbor also finished the demo on the side wall so the whole back area is ready for electrical and a new wall. Ryan and I got most (1 left) of the recessed lights in the hallway installed and I got the switches and lights mostly wired. Next up is smoke detectors and outlets.

Recessed lights installed down the hallway. Linen closet at the end of the hallway.

I’m very excited, we’re starting demo on the very last few major projects (obviously we still have a lot to finish) but soon demo will be done and it will all be just putting back together instead of a mixture!

A House Break

Had a little break from working on the house because we had some family weekends planned. One weekend we went back to NY, then last weekend it was down to CT. Alex got to play with all her cousins at various times and had a blast with Jason and baby Maddy both weekends. This weekend we came home Saturday night so we had Sunday at home and I had a little project planned that I wanted to do. I had some loam delivered Sunday morning so after we went to breakfast I raked the yard. Then when Alex went down for a nap Ryan and I put some of the loam down in the low spots/uneven spots of the yard. Then seeded it and watered it. Now I just have to water it twice a day and hope grass actually grows and I haven’t ruined our lawn 🙂

This is what my backyard looks like …. patches of dirt.

I also have to keep Fitz off of it which means he’s going to need to actually be walked now and I can’t just put him out on the lead for the day. Going to be a long couple of weeks 🙂