Waugh Woodshop: Quilt Rack

I'm sure you remember your Grandma having one of these back in the day.  Well, call me old fashioned (a lot would) but in getting some of the hand-me-down quilts, and a few newer ones ourselves, I thought I should find a rack to put them on display.  Could I find one I liked?  Nope.  So I made it  :)

Bookshelf Nightstand

Despite making those three bookshelves for the Music Room, GW thought he might like another bookshelf in place of a regular nightstand.  We enjoy reading sometimes before going to bed, but he can't see very well as he doesn't have a light on his side.  This was partly because he didn't have a lamp... but mostly because he didn't have something to put a lamp on.

You know what that means... time to build!

Happy 5 Years, Jumanji!

It was 5 years ago today that I moved into this house - taking a bit of a risk doing it on my own, but knowing that it was the right move for me.  I gladly accepted my friend, and her boyfriend, as roommates.  It was their first time living together, but worked out amazingly and now they're married and have gotten their first house, etc.  Once they were preparing to move out, I actually got a job I had been after for 3 years, AND found a new man who became my Hubby.  In an interesting coincidence, the permanent career he secured before we met is just down the road from our house.  Yay!  I guess it was the right house for me... and now us.

Here are a few quick before and after photos about how I've/we've made it our own since I/we settled in.

Happy 145th Birthday Canada!

That's right!  Everyone's favourite Lady, Canada, is 145 years old today.  This year the celebration is also focused on the anniversary of the War of 1812 (take that!)

First thing this morning, I was up to turn off the alarm system (still a bit afraid to set it off by accident), and then it was time to get moving upstairs again.  We got the mattress up there, and then after lunch we got most of the bedding put together too.  Glenn took the ol' hoover up there to get the last bits of carpet while I did some ironing of a wedding gift duvet set (finally!).  We then carried the antique couch upstairs, and I survived with only one skinned knee. 

A little bit more

I think that might be the new motto - a little bit more . . . each day, each week.

Going on yesterday's motivation of "I've had enough", we got a little bit more done today.  I have been saving up revealing the awesome parts of our new closet, but after what we did today, it feels like it's worth sharing now.

Not only is it gorgeous, but it's also huge and allows us to put in all the fun things we want to, or that I want to.  Glenn isn't as pumped (during the design process) as I am, but he at least is enthusiastic once they're details are actually in!

Pull up y'er boots!

That was today's stress after work... time to pull up our boots and get something done.  I've hit a wall in regards to my tolerating that we haven't gotten anywhere in weeks.  It's a good sign, and yet a frustrating one as the devil truly is in the details.

I've already done the one window's trim so far, but it was just a matter of making minor adjustments to get it back up where it had already been.  It's still not perfect, but I'm sure I'll fiddle with it as time goes on.

I'm most intimidated by having to put the baseboards back up.  It shouldn't be hard... it's not even detailed woodwork, but it keeps intimidating me.  I broke it down into little steps, and got at least one of them done today.  I substituted the second step I was supposed to do and instead put the handles on our panels and got them put up on the wall.  They need trim too, but it's more detailed.  Anyone super good at trim work?  Window, panels (x6), baseboards, trim around doorway, trim inside upper closet.  Argh. Once I get going it won't be so bad, right?

Ahhh... only trim left!

I don't know that we thought we'd ever get here.  Since everything upstairs has had at least two attempts at each thing, I was starting to feel like it was never going to get close to finished.  I've painted, and repainted.... we've had to go to two diff. hardware stores to get a light fixture piece that was missing from the box . . . b/c, you know - having metric in the box means that it won't be what's already in the ceiling.  It was just crazy.

On Friday the 25th, I was up there doing the final putty on the last panel of drywall so that it could get painted out.  In doing so, I noticed a bunch of other random places that needed touch up.  Trust me, I left about 95% of what I saw, but got a few pieces with another layer.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!

We had a busy weekend from start to finish.  On Friday night, Casey came over after work to have a wine & painting party.  A couple bottles, a couple coats of paint, an order of Wok Box (and me discussing with the guy that he's going to have to come in for a beer one weekend... I might have been enjoying my wine a bit :P) . . . painting is nearly done!  There's a couple spots which need a bit of touch up, but there were other parts that we didn't get done overall anyways.  Successful night!

Primer... done!

So, last night we took another step in the right direction.  After much sanding, mudding, sanding, mudding (repeat) . . . we were able to finish putting the primer on everything.  Wheee!  It took just under 2L of primer to complete the area you can see in the photo below.

Before getting all this sorted, we also went to Home Depot to get our carpet stuff sorted out.  There are SO many carpet options!  It's a bit chaotic if you ask me.  We know we can't get anything with a loop in it b/c Pokey's nails will tear it apart.  We also learned the difference between nylon (better) and polyester (cheaper) . . . and that 40oz is more fibres per square inch than 25oz.  We got two samples to bring home, little remnant pieces, and I think we have to figure out how expensive we're willing to go with this to ensure we get what we want.  The other clincher will be the timeline that they give us for installation - if we have to wait more than two weeks, we won't be moving up there by May 2-4 weekend (boo) but if they can get it done before that, our carpet options become a bit more limited o what they have in stock.  That being said, the two sample we have are from in stock choices.

My goodness, it's a room again!

Oh the joy, the rapture.

After a busy couple days, with adventures in health care (not GW & I, and everyone's doing okay) and another migraine for me, the light is visible at the end of the tunnel.

Here's a photo to show you the latest upstairs...

Ready for the last of the drywall!

Seriously, we are. We're ready for the last of the drywall :)

After putting up the wall last weekend, we had to figure out how to create access panels to allow us to get into the space behind the closet. We half wanted to just put up the drywall and call it a day, but I resisted the urge because I knew we'd regret it in the future. We have a great amount of space in the basement for storage, but it gets damp down there, so we needed somewhere to put things to stay dry.

Closet is done!

Yup, I've said it. The closet is done :) The actual closet that is . . . the wall, etc, still to go, but Jeremy finished the last little bit today and now it's back to us to get moving.

Yesterday, the Worden Reno Duo came down to help us get some more work done upstairs. Thank goodness they did too, for a couple reasons.

We had gone Saturday to Home Depot on a mission to get the wood to build a wall, and the sandpaper/primer to get the drywall closer to done. We got back after lunch and got to work. About 3-4hrs later, both of us tired as stink, we had got most of the sanding done on the 2/3 of the room left, and had done whatever patching was needed. After a great dinner with the Beynons, we conked out.

Closet's In! The puzzle continues...

... So, our amazing carpenter Jeremy was able to get our closet in today - WHEE!

It's def. different than I was picturing, but not in a detrimental way, so we're a-okay there! We have a couple things to be adjusted, and hopefully Jeremy can sort them before he heads off for vacation on the 23rd of this month (that's his pan anyways). We're also going to ad a backing where the shirts go, and a top across the whole thing so that we can use the top portion to store things (blankets, books, etc).

Lady-Do: March 24th

So, my Mum and I have the same sort of motivation and inclination attitude when it comes to certain projects.  Our men are for sure our muscle, but when we put our two minds into motion about a task, it gets done PDQ (pretty darn quick).  Example:  Dad goes to a car show for an afternoon, we haul out the paint while he's gone and change an area of the house.  We don't think about it, we don't plan it, we just do it.

Well, we've both written a list of chores or reno work that needs to be done but is not getting done by itself, or by ourselves on our own, and then we take alternate weekends every few weeks to get something done on the other's list.