Friday, February 25, 2011

A week of projects


This week, I'm on February break, which means we have a full week up here to "relax" by way of working like crazy.  A week of home improvements really does feel like a break--that's a good thing.  Plus, if you saw the last post, you'll see that we are taking sledding breaks.

I'm taking on a new room this week and Justin is working like crazy to get the major part of the plumbing complete and ready for the new shower which we think might be our project over spring break.






We have been using the Prius as a pickup truck.  8 foot posts will hold up the basement floor.

Dangerous?  Perhaps.

Justin's Yummy Stew kept us warm!

MMMMMMMM.
At night this house gets COLD, upstairs especially, and so we tend to spend most of our time in one of the downstairs rooms in the evenings.  We have an old TV that was left here and I bought a cheap DVD player and converter box (the TV wasn't prepared to connect to the new-fangled DVD player!).  The room in on the front of the house, opposite the formal "parlor."  Up until two days ago it had a lovely pink and green flower print (newer wallpaper) on the walls.  After this week, we hope it will be a cleaner, more modern, more livable space.
Stripped wallpaper.  Yikes!
Add caption
No wallpaper
Primed. Coming later...light warm gray on the top with a slightly darker shade of gray below the chair rail.
We decided that this would be a non-TV "sitting" or reading room.  It gets awesome light, especially in the morning.



After doing a bit of plumbing and room sanding/painting we took a moment to pull up the carpet and explore what was underneath.  What you see is pumpkin pine floors.  Someday we'll either finish themselves or have someone come and finish them.  But we think they have potential to look pretty great! 

(Click here to see what they might look like when finished.)

Fun with plumbing!

Justin moved the components of the filter systems to the other side of the basement to make room for a second well pump in the future.



This pipe might not seem like much but Justin has worked tirelessly to put in new drain lines for the kitchen sink.

At home in the basement at his very own tool bench.

Copper pipes have been Justin's best friends this week.  He re-ran the entire cold water piping for the house to improve the water flow.

The kitchen drain line had this nice feature (with an open top like that!) in the basement.  No longer!

Side project!  Justin changed the handle onto the other side of the fridge while I made dinner.  I don't know where he gets the energy to do all of this!

Justin emerged from the basement to do some Sitra work.  It's my vacation week, not his!

Our new neighbors

Jeni and Steve started eying this beautiful building from the day we started looking at the farm.  Over time, they've gotten more serious about buying it.  And now, they're buying it!  It's official!  Wanna see inside?  Click here!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Winter Shots




Beautiful snow...







Sliding Snow and Your Room Awaits!

Lookout pigeon.
This weekend was another solo weekend for me--Justin was in Finland again, although I'm pretty sure he would have preferred to spend the weekend at the farm!  Datewise, winter is about half over.  Hopefully we've gotten almost all of the snow we're going to get.  I don't know if the roof can take much more!  The small space between the house and the upper barn is getting more and more and more full of snow as the snow slides off...




The exciting event on Saturday was the delivery of three mattress sets.  With the queen set we already had, that means that we have a bed for every room!  The only question is...which room would you like to stay in when you visit?



One queen here...and a view of the Grange!  Hmmm. Who wants this room!?!

Another queen bed on the front side of the house...

Cute little twin...
And our room makes 4!

Friday, February 11, 2011

First February Weekend


No snow yet. (November)


A little snow. (December)
One thing that we will appreciate for sure is spring!  This weekend has been about snow removal!  Justin spent much of Saturday and I spent most of Sunday scraping snow off of the roof of the two barns, the chicken coop and the house.  Sore arms!
Snow.
Snowing.

Justin works to avoid roof collapse!  There was over a foot of snow on the roof.




The fabulous Grange across the street in snow....  Hm....who could our new neighbors be!?
Before (the wall straight ahead).
Justin's plumbing project--putting in new pipe to improve the water pressure--is well underway.  We tore out the plaster off of the end entryway wall on Sunday.  It was so cracked that it has to be replaced.  It also helped us get to the plumbing.  And by "us" getting to the plumbing, I mean Justin.

After.


Justin's plumbing leftovers.
Holes for the new hot/cold water for the bathroom.
I took off the boards on the ceiling to reveal the pipes.  Underneath was plaster with a beautiful blue paint.  I think it inspired us to go back to a plaster ceiling and take down all of the boards.
Most of the wood paneling came off this weekend, but not all since we didn't feel up to removing the toilet.  The plastic mirror over the half paneled wall is a nice touch I think!

Nice shower, eh?
A new shower will make a big difference!  We're working on how it will fit into that back corner without blocking the windows.
Sorry Sears shower, you're going to be replaced.