Back room Downstairs – nicole.groudasfamily.com

Stitching and Quilting

Now that my office/craft room is finished and more importantly, now that the playroom is finished so the toys are out of my craft room area – I have space to unpack my stitching and a huge beautiful craft table to quilt on!

New couch and new sewing table ryan built!

I wasted no time in picking up some projects and the timing was great that my stitching group came out from MA for a 2 day stitching weekend and that got me motivated to start a few new pieces and start stitching again.

This is just an update on the stitching but the first project I did was to finish piecing my nephew’s baby quilt (just as his first birthday rolls around – hah) – and it’s now mostly quilted too. I did the basic straight quilting in the seams and just have the free hand/free motion quilting to do to make it more decorative.

While my stitching friends were here I focused on this Spider Banner that I had going already (possibly started it last year?). It was so nice to stitch for large blocks of time and I made lots of progress on it. It didn’t feel like it was the right season for it however so after the weekend ended I decided to start a new piece that would have me more motivated and I’ll pick old spider up again maybe in the fall.

Ok so the new piece may also be a bit on the Halloween side my friends all love these pixie witches (there are a bunch of them) and decided we would each stitch our favorite at the same time. I have 2 patterns but decided on this green one first (the other one is more of a jack-o-lantern/orange theme – too fall like).

I’ve been working on this witchy piece just a bit over one week and she’s going so fast!

There are a lot of beads in this piece which will be those blank swirls in the skirt – I can’t wait, it’s such a fun piece to stitch!

I also started another piece yesterday that I designed myself using elements of a pattern I liked. It’s a piece for my brother and sister-in-law that celebrates their house and marriage. I’m hoping I can get this done around their anniversary? Because I designed this one it’s hard to see what the finished piece will look like but I included a part of the design in this picture.

Just a bit of stitching on this one so far

I’m excited to get some craft time when I’m not working or playing with the kids. My new space is perfect for it!

Office completed

I’m calling it (mostly because we’re already moving stuff into the room and using it – it even has a rug ) 🙂

This last month we finished up the office which was mostly painting left. We had Brad come and paint the trim mostly while we were on vacation and I painted the walls. This past weekend I painted the sliding doors which were the last bits of trim paint until we put in the shoe molding (we’ll buy that in the spring and paint outside then just install it). Ryan made some shelves for the built ins with leftover plywood but we didn’t have enough to finish them so he’ll finish that up another weekend. We’ll also paint those outside when it’s warm enough.

A view of the built-ins when the final coat was drying 🙂

The other side of the room (this was before the sliders themselves were painted

The room is already packed with my office and sewing stuff plus about 1/2 of the kids toys from the playroom. We have to empty the playroom out completely as that’s the next room to finish up. That room needs crown molding installed, floors finished and painting.

For my birthday Ryan is going to build me a craft table for my sewing area. More storage! He loves it 🙂

Trim and Walls done

Both the office trim project (just installing – still have to paint) and the retaining walls project are done. Lots of good progress pics to show!

The office trim finished up installation on Sunday with the doorway caps and crown going up. The chair rail finished up Saturday. The trim looks amazing and now “just” needs all the paint prep, prime, painting. A little each night hopefully with a lot this coming weekend!

Crown around the built-ins really finish those off!

Chair rail is really show cases on the long wall!

Last week I finished painting the closet for the washer/dryer and we got that moved in Thursday night after all the electrical was done! I love having the washer/dryer in here and at a great height too!

And outside Mark finished up the caps on the retaining walls and installed our mailbox. It’s on a pivot so if a snow plow hits it it will just push out of the way instead of breaking/falling over.

Driveway entrance… Along with solar lights in the wall itself

We seem to always have a big rush before xmas (last year it was the kitchen) – this year it’s the office. Hopefully we can stay motivated and get that room finished so I can move into it!!

Vacation Projects

Ryan took his annual work on the house stay-cation. I couldn’t coordinate taking it with him fully because Evie has been home up until 2 weeks ago and with her just starting daycare I was finally able to start working more fully (more focused) just a week ago. I did take 2 days off (and gave up taking 2 days next week for thanksgiving as I had planned) and helped a little bit.

One of the main projects that has been going on is a new wood shed that Ryan and Mark have built. It’s not completely done but close (I think a little siding still to go on and waiting on roof materials). It looks awesome but I didn’t get a pic yet so I’ll do a post on that later. Today the guys are out cutting firewood to restock for the year.

The retaining wall project continues. Mark finished up the second wall. I think it’s pretty close to still in this state although we now have the blocks for the caps but he started a new project with the leftover block (plus some more purchased) and started retaining walls at the end of the driveway which are just about done with caps and all. Still some work to finish up the mail box installation but the walls look amazing!

This is from a wh ile ago but it’s the walls basically done except for caps. The end blocks have to be chiseled and installed still . This will be awesome next year when we put in the new door!

Here is one of the new walls (it was cold so I apologize for the inside the car pics 🙂 Mark said he has to snip the cap blocks still to finish but the main wall is done.

Here is the other wall – it was hard to get a picture of the whole thing (again lazy and cold) but I’ll get nice pics when they are fully done. Check out those cute solar lights Mark got too.

Moving inside…

Monday I got the washer dryer closet caulked and nails holes filled then I got a coat of wall paint on the ceiling/walls. Finally I finished up by priming the trim. I bought good Killz paint but it is oil based so it was very fumy (ugg) which I didn’t realize. I’m not sure I will use this in the rest of the room but maybe look for another good cover all primer (we have some bleed through in the upstairs trim I’m trying to avoid). I think Ryan mostly is using poplar now which shouldn’t bleed as much but still I’d rather not re-paint but use good primer.

Tuesday I got the second coat on the walls/ceilings so now I can finish up the electrical and then paint the trim.

Washer/Dryer closet – can’t wait to move them in here!!!!

Now for the main event… my built-ins and office trim work! Ryan has built the most beautiful built ins!!! I poly’d the counter tops he made and then Wednesday he built and installed the bookcase tops then started the chair rail and baseboards in the rest of the room!

A view of the baseboard (which is done in the whole room) as well as 1 built-in … teaser 🙂

The other built-in … I love that we planned the electrical better this time (rather than in my master where I had to put extender boxes in for electrical)

A close up of those finished counter tops – matches the floor perfectly (since it is flooring)

Just picture how many shelves I can fit in those bottom cabinets and the book cases! Ryan won’t make the shelves or doors until the trim is all up in the room. Once the chair rail is finished it’s on to crown. This room is going to be the best looking room in the house I think and it’s all mine!!! I can’t wait to fill it up 🙂

Built-Ins Started

Some great progress on the house this weekend. Ryan has been working on the built-ins in my office/sewing room (I’m so excited!). The base cabinet pieces are now done.

And the right one – just needs baseboard.

Note the wires – we had to move the outlet that would have been down below/behind the cabinet. Luckily the wires are long enough that they can just be re-located up in the bookcases that will be on top – we can’t put the boxes in because they will go directly into the bookcase backs so for now – loose wires. (Electricity is off to this room of course).

And while ryan did that his dad worked on our back yard/lake front area with his tractor! It looks amazing. It’s even better today after 2 more days doing cleanup and raking it out.

And separately Mark has also been starting the excavation that will allow us to put an entry to the basement on the side of the house. We planned on getting a back hoe but so far this has been working pretty well 🙂

Washer/Dryer closet

A little more progress this past weekend. Ryan picked up the doors we had ordered from home depot (finally they are in). This includes the basement and bathroom doors as well as slab doors for the washer/dryer closet and pantry closet (Ryan will build the door jambs for those double door closets).

I emptied out the closet that will hold the washer/dryer (it had been holding the kids crafts) – and he got the base built (minus the top). Then he installed the basement door. Progress progress!

Stand for washer/dryer – there will be a drain in case of leaks.

Trim and update

It’s been a few months since I really updated (partly because it’s been that long since we did much house work other than slowly chipping away on trim). This weekend Ryan got a bunch of the doors and arches trimmed out (he had been working on them slowly but got a bunch done this weekend) so I have pics to show.

Also last week we had our well drilled an extra 200 ft as we were having issues during the drought running out of water.

Here’s some pictures! Don’t mind the house mess it’s pretty crazy here on weekends. Note all the tops will get caps but he will do those all in one go once we’ve finished all of them (waiting on a few doors to arrive and install before they can be finished).

Kitchen to diningroom beam. This will get more trim at the top and then crown molding so no cap on this one.

Other side. Again in the diningroom we’re actually doing a coffered ceiling – so there will be fake beams running down the middle then trim around the inside of those and crown so the top of the beam will be hidden by all of that.

Archway to my office. The door to the basement there is one we are waiting on from home depot.

There are a few more but they got a bit tedious since they look the same. I’m sure there will be more pics after this weekend!

Floors!!!

First off Ryan got a lot more trim done in the ‘playroom’ – all except the crown molding is done – but we immediately filled the playroom with everything from the ‘office’ which is twice the size of it so I never got a picture and now you can’t see the wainscoting at all. I’ll do pics once we empty that room again to paint/finish it. The reason we were rushing was that the main goal was to use the playroom as office/playroom while the floors got finished in the real office during the end of Ryan’s paternity leave (now over).

Ryan with the help of his dad got the new floors installed in the office, front hallway and diningroom – that’s it for our flooring. The kitchen and livingroom will be tiled. We had planned to have enough wood for the kitchen too but it didn’t work out that way and tile will be easy enough (no long delays and needing to leave the house like we did for the wood floors).

This is all Cherry just like upstairs and we did a clear satin finish. The finish was tough because we had to get the kids (and ourselves) out of the house for a week so on Monday I moved the girls over to my parent’s house for the week. Ryan sanded the floors with some help from my dad on the drum sander. He had finished by about 4:30 pm so we decided to test out Evie taking a bottle for the first time and he took the girls to gymnastics and then to mom and dad’s for the night. I stayed and vacuumed and put down the first coat of poly. Evie took the bottle splendidly.

Tuesday night we swapped and Ryan did the sanding/vacuum/poly.

Wednesday Ryan was back to work so we decided to tackle the rooms together late at night using babysitters for the kids. Luckily we have awesome grandparents on both sides that helped out with piano lessons and the baby duties. Ryan and I got the floors sanded, vacuumed (twice) and poly’d and back by just after 9pm (basically 3 hour job). Evie did great with her bottles again (and no issues going back to nursing – yay!).

We moved back in kind of on Friday but then we were away for 1/2 of the weekend so we really moved back in late Saturday night. We’re keeping the floors empty for now although we are using them, just no furniture – giving it until next Saturday when our new diningroom table arrives before anything heavy goes on. The office will stay pretty empty so Ryan can work on trim in there and we can hopefully completely finish that room! Once that’s done we’ll empty the playroom again and finish that room (including poly the floor in there which is still waiting). We shouldnt’ have to move out for that at least as we can close that room off and open windows to air it out quickly.

Lots of house progress and now it’s getting toward summer and yard work. Ryan got a new mower and has started the process of seeding the lawn to make it look nice this year. I’m going to clean up the gardens next to the house and use them as a veggie garden this year (just a little bit – nothing major) – maybe next year we’ll actually put in our real gardens but for now it will be good to have a little something as our kids LOVE fresh veggies.

Ready for Kitchen Reno

We’ve had a busy month getting prepped for our kitchen renovation and hopefully it goes smoothly. This week Ryan took the week off and he and his dad are go-go-going with all the prep work. First a recap of progress.

Dad came out and taped/spackled my office -the large room. In the mean time Ryan spackled the playroom. Last week we got the office sanded and Ryan and his dad primed it on Saturday so when I got home sunday I could clean it and set it up as my office, craft room, music room, temporary diningroom and kids craft area. It’s a large room luckily because it is packed to the max! The table isn’t even moved in yet but will be.

Already packed but the office is primed!

Also over the weekend they got the old flooring up in the hallway and diningroom and new plywood down in both of those rooms.

Hallway floor – when the hallway is empty it’s so large!

Yesterday was a big day – we did a little re-wiring in the basement and Ryan and Mark put in some new supports (2x10s) under where one of the kitchen posts would rest to firm it up. Then they built and installed the beam in the diningroom which will be our replacement for the current wall that is there – we’ll have a nice open wall hopefully by the end of today!

This morning the guys brought all the cabinets in and stored them safely in the playroom. They’ve been inspected and luckily all of them are in good shape! No delay on the kitchen reno due to waiting for replacements or missing cabinets!

Cabinets! The blue ones are the island ones, the Dove white are around the rest of the kitchen

So prep work is all done – the last thing to do is finish emptying the kitchen. We’re moving the kitchen out to the hallway for now (a long galley style) and i’m packing up any non-essentials. The hardest thing will be having no sink or dishwasher – we have the bathroom sink right there but it’s quite small. We’ll be able to use the stove and fridge/freezer just fine and even have cabinet/counter room as we’re moving that out to the hallway.

I think the plan is between today and tomorrow to demo the kitchen and the floor and get the new plywood down. Thursday they’ll be starting to build it back up – put in the vent for the range hood, run electrical in both kitchen and diningroom. On friday i’m taking the day off to finish any electrical and they’ll be building the knee wall and doing any sheet rock prep thursday and friday.

The hope (optimistic maybe) is to be sheetrocking this weekend! Once sheetrock is up there’s the process of taping/spackling/sanding/priming before we can install cabinets so the sooner we can start that the better.

The other delay will be after cabinets are in, waiting for counters. At this point we’re ahead of our ‘worst case’ schedule to get counters in before xmas so i”m hopeful we’re going to be able to get our kitchen finished and used (minus flooring which is going to be a later on project) before xmas! Crossing fingers.

Sheetrock

Work continues, we’ve had a few good weekends. Dad came over one weekend and helped Ryan hang all the sheetrock in the office. That room is cleaned up and empty now. The playroom is also cleaned up , ramboard put down and Ryan has been taping a little each night – getting all the seams and corners – i think he has 2 upper corners left to tape so that will probably be done tonight, then time for next coats 🙂

In other news we’ve officially ordered all our appliances now too for the kitchen – going with GE Cafe series and they have a rebate right now if you buy 3 appliances you get a free dishwasher – so that’s a great deal!!! Ryan has his vacation week picked out to do the bulk start of the kitchen renovation.

On my plate is to start cleaning out/emptying the kitchen a bit of things we don’t use often – get them packed up for the next 2 months.