Still working

Well the stairs are still a work in progress. I've got the upstairs trim and walls painted and they turned out great. All the trim is a crisp clean white and the walls are a nice neutral tan. I'm actually thinking of skipping the carpet in the hall for a while and painting something on the wood. We'll carpet it later, but for now something fun is in order.

Now.... the stairs themselves... yikes. The more I strip them the more they squeak, its like all the years of crud is holding them together. I think I have a new plan though. I'm still stripping the treads but I'm going to get some good oak faced plywood and fit it to the existing risers. The stairs are nice and wide so taking up 3/4 of an inch is no big deal. It should take care of the squeaks and also make it easy to just stain and poly the whole staircase. When its done its going to be great, may take a while longer than expected but its going to be beautiful. I think I might even give up stripping and just start sanding away.

Oh and bonus today, I called a local painter after I saw his truck at the neighbors. He's only charging me 20$ an hour and I supply everything. Thats a bargain to me as there is no freaking way I can reach the vaulted areas on the staircase. So he said 3-4 hrs and he can do the walls of the stairs, and also all the ceilings. Works for me.

Upstairs - Downstairs

Dude, I only WISH these were mine. This is the goal.
(without the writing). I think we are doing white on the risers to match the rest of the trim in the house. The treads we'll do just a real light almost natural colored poly. Walls will be your basic light beige. Its going to be a great place to hang photos and things when its done... someday.







Ours were like this, shag rust colored carpet. Ick. I will say this, I don't know what kind of carpet this was, but it sure wore well. It was nice and thick and it was evident to us that the prior owners animals thought it was pretty nice because they sure stunk it up. No amount of cleaning was going to work so it had to go. We lucked out underneath and found beautiful wood stair treads and painted risers. They are coated with old finish and paint, but I'm digging in and stripping them down. Its going to take a while, but I'm hopefull they'll turn out well. I may be on a constant Zip Strip high for the next week or so working on these, but I think they are worth it.

Here's what they look like at the start. So far I've barely started on the stripping, I'll post more as I work my way up.

Starting at the bottom

Here is our plan, my plan. I'm starting at the bottom of the house and working my way up. here is what the "man room" looked like at the start. This is the prior owners furniture still in it, thank God.




The blue had to go, as did the border. Other than that it wasn't too bad down there. This is an old house so to have any kind of finished basement space is a huge plus. One of the prior owners had put in a drain tile system to keep it all dry so its very comfortable down there. The second I saw this room I knew I'd finally found the perfect place for Dave and all his sports memorabilia, as well as all his Army things he wants to display. All in all it needed to be his space. Its got a wet bar and through the door off the bar is the laundry where of course we moved the beer fridge. If there was a bathroom down there I don't think I'd ever see him.

The day I closed 3 of my best girlfriends and I joined forces to start "Operation Man Room." I had less than a month before Dave was due home from Afghanistan and didn't want him coming home to a mess. He'd earned this and I really wanted him to like it.

So next step was paint... , better but not done. I added the wine fridge behind the bar and then waited for Dave. When he got home we finished it up, bought a ton of new furniture and I surprised him with the TV and new surround system. He's a happy camper down there and it couldn't have turned out better.

Big thanks to Diana, Bec and Diana for helping BIG time. Couldn't have done it without them.

Here is how it looks now, beer fridge and all.

Stained the porch a while back

New stain for the porch! It was really, really dull and worn looking before. Now after a good cleaning and a coat of semi-transparent Cabot stain it looks 1000 times better. The railings are another project and will probably be replaced next spring.

And so it begins...

A little background, I bought our first home while my husband Dave was still on his extended tour to Afghanistan. Rather than wait for him to return we decided to go on as planned and start the house hunt. After a fairly long search alone I fell in love and later bought what will from here on out be known as "the pit."

Now don't get me wrong, I love this house dearly, but it needs some work. Not anything major as of yet, but its got some character traits that just aren't us. Keep in mind as well that Dave (now home and wondering if I lost my mind) is NOT a handy person. He doesn't enjoy working on things around the house, and if it was up to him we'd just pay people, snap our fingers and things would be perfect. We are aware that its just not possible to do that, so he is now learning to let me go and work on my own things and trust that I won't get in too far over my head. So far thats only included one call to an elecrician for 50$. Not bad in my book.

This blog is going to be all about my journey through home ownership. Its the first trip for both of us and I'm sure it will be interesting. Hopefully we'll stay married and still be able to put Matt (our little guy) through college.

A little background of the place before I start on the projects:

Built in 1940

1855 Square Feet, + half finished basement with wet bar

4 bedrooms

1.5 baths

Single garage with attached carport

FABULOUS neighborhood

Alright, here we go... wish me luck