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Family weekend

Not a lot of house progress this weekend but we had lots of family time so it was a great weekend. Friday night Ryan put up the rest of the door trim, although it’s only tacked in place with the nail gun, it still needs to be secured with a few more finish nails before I can caulk and prime it.

Saturday we went to Ryan’s sister’s house, spent the day and night with his family (his parents came too). We celebrated Ryan’s father’s birthday and spent the time playing with the nieces. It was a great weekend. Sunday we drove home and relaxed a bit, then I did some painting. I got the ceiling cut in and painted – which was a lot of work and unfortunately definitely needs a second coat, at least of cutting in (which was the hard part) 🙂

2011-03-14_08-38-12_502 — ceiling painted (again) 🙂

Not a lot left to do on this room. If I get a night or two to do some painting we’ll be just about done! My goal of finishing the room entirely by the end of March looks very realistic now! 2 years and 2 rooms completed, not a bad goal 🙂

Some painting

Ryan had to work late tonight so after I got home and had some dinner I decided to do some painting. First I sanded the crown molding and baseboards lightly. After cleaning that up I put the second (and final) coat on the crown molding and then the first coat on the baseboards.

Once i cleaned up the paint brush from that, I pulled out the bathroom paint and did a coat on the spots we had touched up. They probably need a second coat still, we’ll see how it looks once it dries.

Tomorrow night is stitch night! Twice in one month, definitely a record since I moved to NH 🙂

Gym Progress

This weekend we focused on the gym, Ryan only had Saturday off, having to work Sunday. Saturday we got started with the baseboards, making the main part out of the poplar we have. Then following it with a cap piece we bought at a millwork place in Brookline.

DSCN0964 — Baseboard installed all around

While Ryan finished up the baseboard I went around and primed all our touchups on the wall and ceiling and then caulked the baseboards. Finally Ryan installed the two side pieces of trim for the gym door, not having time to put the top piece and corners on yet before we broke for dinner and to relax.

Sunday while Ryan worked I did a few projects. First I sanded the baseboards and the window trim. Then I cleaned the room really well before starting to paint. I started with a coat of paint on the crown molding and window trim (final coat on the window trim). Then I primed the baseboards.

DSCN0971 — Baseboard primed and door trim started

After finishing up the painting I started on the door, I’m stripping it down to refinish. I got a good start on the first side before dinner time. Now we’re relaxing while watching Les Miserables 25th anniversary performance on WGBH – it’s awesome!

Quilt Time

My Aunt and I have a few quilt kits we bought together over the years and finally we’ve made one of them – it’s Japanese fabrics and I showed the blocks we did a few weeks ago. Wednesday night we finished the blocks and put them all together with sashing. All that’s left is a border and then quilting! It’s a small little quilt and I love the colors. I think this will have to hang in the tvroom when it’s finished (both it and the tv room finished) 🙂

square_in_square_quilt01 — Blocks all done!

The paper piecing really helped with the points not getting chopped off – but it took me 20 minutes to pull all the paper off the back when done 🙂

Today is kind of a busy day, between work, haircut at lunch time and a show tonight in Boston I’m all over the place. My friend’s mother couldn’t go to see Mary Poppins with her tonight so she offered me her now extra ticket – I couldn’t be more excited about this last minute surprise but I’m sorry her mom couldn’t make it and hopefully she’s feeling better.

Then the rest of the weekend I’ll be working on the gym! Saturday we’ll put up trim and baseboards and Sunday I’ll be painting while Ryan works! In 2 weeks my Dad might come out to help us finish up the floor, that should be the last thing no the list besides a coat of paint on the walls by then – can’t wait!

Last weekend

A little late in the week for a weekend post however I was a little distracted this week with work and a new programming class I’m taking.

So last weekend, specifically Friday night, after Ryan got home I finished sandng around the edge of the gym while he worked on starting the baseboards. He got a decent start which we’re hoping to quickly finish up this weekend. This wall was the hardest wall because there is no way for the baseboard to float under the floor and the floor bows. The other walls have room for the baseboard to float a bit to help make it level.

2011-03-02_08-18-17_305 — Baseboard started in the gym

Saturday we loaded up trim to bring back to NY where Ryan’s sister and dad are stripping trim for us (a HUGE help!). Then headed back. We spent Saturday visiting with family and Sunday we went to see Lion King at Proctors before a long drive home.

As I said this week has been mostly a blur but I did some quilting last night – I’ll post a picture tomorrow and we have big plans for working on the house this weekend!

Stitch Night

It’s been a while but I finally made it to stitch night with my friends last night and stitch I did! It’s coming along slowly but there’s a bit more progress on Autumn in my garden!

And tonight is a date night – a date to install baseboards – can’t wait! In the meanwhile I’m working from home while I hide from the snow. At some point I’ll go out and do some snow cleanup but for now it’s cozy warm in my office 🙂

Sunday progress

Another early start today with the dreaded door hanging to do. The first step was selecting a different door (or hinges) that had the right in-swing we needed. Once we found one (that wouldn’t be needed elsewhere), I stripped down the edges of the door so it wouldn’t be a problem to hang it. I also cleaned all the paint off the hardware for the door by boiling it.

DSCN0955 — Door stripped around the edges, this went much faster than expected because there was no varnish under the paint!

(Note: we didn’t end up using this door because it was too warped. Instead we used the attic door which didn’t need to be stripped before hanging.)

While I was doing this, Ryan was working on the door frame, getting it ready to hang the door.

DSCN0957 — Ryan working on the door frame (making room for the hinges)

Just in time to help install the door frame and hang the door, Ryan’s parents showed up! It took a few hours and a few doors but finally we got a door that was straight and fit and after some sanding down it hangs nice and even. After the door was up Ryan installed the plinth blocks while we got ready to head to dinner.

I started sanding around the edge of the floor while Ryan and his Dad hung the door. Tomorrow Ryan will work on the baseboards since he has the day off. I’m working from home so I can see the progress of the baseboards but I have a lot of work to do so I couldn’t afford to take the day off. We are installing the baseboards before refinishing the floor because there will be a quarter round in front of the baseboard which we will add last after the floors are re-finished. I am sanding around the edge of the floor before the baseboards go in so we won’t mark up the baseboards when re-finishing.

DSCN0959 — Edge of floor (new patched space) sanded

I’m so excited to see the gym coming together so quickly at the end like this. After baseboards we’ll just have to put up the door trim!

Saturday Progress

We made some good progress Saturday, Ryan was up very early and started working on removing the pipe for the gym radiator so he could patch the floor. So the first thing I got to do after waking up was to bag up the asbestos – fun 🙂

Once the pipe was removed he worked to patch the floor while I finished caulking the crown molding and spackling. We had some leftover oak flooring he used to patch the floor.

After lunch we made the door frame after picking out a door (we have since switched the door we picked but the same door frame we made still works.

Once the door frame was made I sanded and primed the crown molding before cleaning the house. We spent the evening over at Uncle Pete’s to celebrate Maia’s birthday with the girls.

So here are some pics and my updated gym project list…

DSCN0947 — Radiator pipe and floor removed

Updated list:

Patching the gym floor (where we remove the radiator pipe)
Patching the floor all around the edge (no need – baseboard will cover it)
Installing the door frame (and making one or stripping one down)
Installing the door trim
Installing the baseboards
Finishing the ceiling (spackle the corner, prime it, paint the final coat on the whole ceiling)
Sanding and caulking the crown molding
Priming and painting the crown molding
Sanding and caulking the window trim
Painting the window trim

Almost weekend time

It’s about halfway through Friday which means it’s almost time for the weekend and we have quite a weekend planned! Lots of family to see throughout the weekend and progress to make on the gym.

Current projects include:

Patching the gym floor (where we remove the radiator pipe)
Patching the floor all around the edge
Installing the door frame (and making one or stripping one down)
Installing the door trim
Installing the baseboards
Finishing the ceiling (spackle the corner, prime it, paint the final coat on the whole ceiling)
Sanding and caulking the crown molding
Priming and painting the crown molding
Sanding and caulking the window trim
Painting the window trim

I doubt we can get all of that done this weekend but Ryan has monday off so he may continue to work on projects after the weekend is over!

Some Quilting

I went over to my aunt’s house last night after work and we had the evening to ourselves so we decided to work on one of the many project kits we have purchased at quilt shows over the years together. This one is all Japanese fabrics and it’s a very simple, small and elegant quilt that we both loved. We pulled out the kit to discover it was actually paper piecing which was pretty new, at least for me. It took a while to figure out and get the first block done but after that we were on a roll and we got 3/4 of the blocks finished last night. Probably one more evening like that and we’ll have the top all put together.

2011-02-16_23-01-40_886 — 12 blocks paper pieced

And we’re finally past the halfway point this week – getting towards the weekend! Lots of house work planned and family to visit and come visit – can’t wait!