Week 9 . . .

There is so much happening already this week I thought I would start updating now! I think I am going to switch it up a bit as well, instead of room by room, I am going day by day.

Sunday . . .
Lydia and I worked on staining the floor in the master bedroom, hallway and living room. By the time that was completed it was too dark to varnish the master bedroom so we went home. Lydia and I both forgot to bring the good camera so I took a few pictures of the living room with my phone.

This probably shows the true colors of the wall and floor best in the living room.

You see our pile of supplies in bottom right corner. We kept them all piled on a trash bag since the stain was so permanent, we didn't want any accidents. We also sat a lot waiting for stain to absorb. Roll a section, then wait 10 minutes and wipe off excess, again and again. This is what takes so long. We wiped up excess with t-shirt material that Levi at Home Depot gave us! What a guy! When we ran out later, I just tore up some of my own. After first wipe in master bedroom, we both dawned gloves from then on, it still looks like I've been rooting with the pigs around my fingernails!

This is just a picture of the completed living room before varnish.

Supplies we used on floors . . .

 

I applied stain with paint roller. I found that to be much easier than by hand and I believe it was a more uniform coverage. The roller was lamb's wool for smooth to semi-smooth surfaces. In the dining room I switched to roller for smooth surfaces and there was a lot less splatter. The splatter is pain if it is out of reach on the floor and you can't wipe it up. The polyurethane said it must dry for 6 hours before applying the second coat or you will have to sand the floor before the second coat if you wait beyond 8 hours. Well, I waited beyond 8 hours, it was actually 14 so we will see how it goes because I did not sand the 1st coat.

Kevin worked on the pen for Howdy and Maddie until dark. He started setting poles for the new privacy panels he is planning to put up on Thursday and Friday. He then laid padding down in David's room for the laminate wood flooring and was able to get about 1/2 the room completed with flooring before calling it quits.

Monday . . .

Kevin was able to finish setting the poles in Howdy and Maddie's pen. He moved on to finish David's flooring. By then it was time to get home to bed for work tomorrow. He gave David a job to lay all the padding down for Lydia's room. I think David was happy to have some responsibility because he went after that floor like white on rice!

The back posts are wood for the privacy fence.

The front poles are metal (I'm not sure why) for the picket fence. Kevin didn't want the dogs to be completely cut off from us with all privacy fencing.

David's room. This is looking from his doorway to opposite corner.

This is looking from corner towards his doorway.

David's job of putting down Lydia's padding.

Looking from other side of her room.

I started the evening by applying varnish to master bedroom and living room and finished with Lydia and I applying stain to dining room floor. David helped a little towards the end.

Floor after 1st coat of varnish. I noticed the spots on the picture again so I went and cleaned the lens and re-took the picture.

The spots were worse! I thought something was seriously wrong with Lydia's camera! I went home and researched on the web and found out that those are dust particles that are reflecting off the flash! My first thought is GROSS! My second thought is, my varnish!

The little hallway! Evidently there is no dust in the hall!

This picture shows the true color of the floor better but the flash was too bright. I love the color but still not too happy with the finished product. I wanted a streaked worn look like our bedroom but the wood did not want it. The streaks you see here are not intentional.

I just put this picture in so we could see there is more dust settling on the varnish!!!

This is the living room after 1st coat has dried. The next picture is a better representation of the color.

Looking from dining room towards northeast corner of living room.

Looking from front door towards dining room. The dining room has not had varnish applied yet in this picture.

Tuesday . . .

Kevin was not feeling well today. I think it is a combination of a lot of work with no break, horrible eating habits this last 2 weeks, and stress at work. He just went to the house, took a nap, ate something that would go easy on his stomach and watched some TV.

The kids started packing their rooms. David is almost done and Lydia has just got started. She has stacks of boxes in her room and it looks like she hasn't even begun. Like her mom, she'll learn to start letting things go because it is a hassle to keep packing and unpacking until you get settled somewhere.

Linda came over Monday and Tuesday to pack up most of our kitchen for me! She also took some bigger, bulkier items over to the house.

Some of Lydia's boxes. We had to have a discussion on how to pack boxes and get as much as you can in them. She is not the organizing type although she swears she is.

These are couple of boxes that she hadn't unpacked since we moved out of our old house 2 years ago.

More of Lydia's packed boxes, some from old house and some from now!

Lydia's closet! She has a lot of packing to do!

Lydia's bedroom, scary . . .

David's closet after packing. He is my organizing minimalist.

All his packed boxes from old house and current.

All the boxes Linda packed. There are some at end of bar that you can't see. This is so much weight off my back! She packed a lot of decorations as well.

I had the opportunity to meet the plumber today and pay him for the work done on the system for the washer. What a sweetie, he asked if Kevin had me at the house today doing laundry since it was ready to go . . . whatever! I put the 2nd coat of varnish on the living room and bedroom floor and 1st coat on the dining room. Then David and I began hanging the cool "not-so-cheap" custom blinds. By the way, David is so happy his room is no longer the workroom! Read on . . .

This is bedroom in daylight without flash. I am sure the dust is still there, out of sight out of mind!

Same room, different angle.

Looking from window so there is no glare on floor.

This is second coat of varnish in bedroom and it is still wet.

This is dining room before I applied the varnish, I see dust!

Looking from living room towards kitchen.

Still looking from living room towards hallway. This is corner my office hutch will be in.

This is dining room after 1st coat of varnish. The dining room took the stain and varnish a lot better than the living room. This hardwood staining has been a definite learning experience for me!

Just another angle. Wet varnish is cool to see the reflection of light.

This is the one blind we hung in David's room. Let me tell you of my silly mistake! I measured Lydia's windows and knowing both rooms had 3 windows together I ordered David's blinds the same size. Never, never do this, always measure each window! David's windows are taller and more narrow than Lydia's! His blinds aren't quiet long enough although they do cover the glass. I will have to have the outside blinds trimmed down 3 inches each. Common sense should have kicked in somewhere, especially when I read on several websites, ALWAYS  MEASURE EACH WINDOW, but sometimes I do lack in the area of common sense.

Wednesday . . .

Kevin finished the floors in David and Lydia's rooms. Below are pictures of Lydia's room. David's room is pictured above under Monday.

This is Lydia's room looking from south wall towards her doorway and closet.

Looking from her 3 windows on east wall towards opposite wall. Far right is where the hot water heater was located.

Looking from her inside her closet toward south windows.

David and I attempted to hang blinds again. The blinds for the master bedroom are about 1/2 inch too wide. I called Kevin and had him measure the double windows in our bedroom after he had the sheetrock put up. I'm trying my best not to point fingers BUT I did use the measurement he gave me. To get the measurement for the single window he just took 1/2 the measure of the double windows. You would think that would work but I guess if the double measure is wrong then dividing by 2 won't help much.

We were able to get two blinds hung in the kitchen and they are nice! I forgot to take a picture of the window above the sink!

This is smaller window by back door. The wood is so old in this house it takes a lot of effort to hang blinds! We actually ruined the little do-hicky that holds the phillips bit.

I was wanting a picture of the cleaned up kitchen and David didn't realize he was in the picture so he was acting goofy!

This is looking from backdoor. I think this is the cleanest the kitchen has been since we bought the house, especially since the cabinets were completed.



We were actually able to eat dinner together again. And again it was Chicken Express! We are so ready for next week to get here and the possibility of home cooked food!

Next Week's Update . . .

Beginning tomorrow we will be moving like crazy to get everything out of our rental by Sunday evening. The cleaning ladies will be showing up around 8am on Monday. My hopes are that we will be sleeping in new house on Sunday night. That being said, the rest of the excitement for this week may not be available until early next week instead of Monday morning. Sorry Aunt Jackie!

There is still a lot of work to be done and posted about!