Bookshelves

I have a confession to make. We are book hoarders. Can't throw them out or give them away. Even textbooks. We sold most of our textbooks back but we both kept some. We have moved boxes and boxes of books multiple times but the bookshelves didn't make it.

This weekend we were a little tired of tripping over boxes of books so Brian decided to build some basic bookshelves to house our books until we build a more permanent home. We are thinking built-ins with a desk. 

   

In his makeshift workshop.

He made a really simple (easy) bookshelf. The cut list for one unit is: 5 pieces cut at 36". We went with pine since we would be painting them.  

We love love the Kreg Jig. We use it for almost every building project. By we, I mean Brian but I am very supportive. With the Kreg Jig we have no exposed screws so no need for wood putty. Makes the painting process go much smoother.

We needed tall shelves for all the textbooks, but you can 

add more shelves depending on your need. 

We have the basic frame built it just needs a backing (for support and aesthetics), a paint job, and the books! We are planning on bead-board as the backing and most likely a nice clean white paint job. So far the project was $25 for the wood and it took Brian an hour to make 2 unfinished bookshelves. We did have the wood precut at Lowes to fit in the trunk. 

I look forward to showing the finished project!

Wallpaper, Paint, & Trim: Oh My!

We are making progress. We have moved everything in and we are sloooowly getting work done. I really love doing work on the house but I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Brian works full time outside of the house and I can't get a lot of the painting done during the day (thank you toddlers). The progress feels slow and only happens a couple hours at night and on the weekends. I truly love the process but I am ready to start getting some major work finished. 

In the meantime I can share what we have done so far. We are starting with boring monotonous work but it can make such a difference. First up: wallpaper removal. 

See that tiny amount of trim up there. It took FOREVER. On and off an entire day of scrubbing. Brian spent the entire day peeling and removing this. This is old school non strip-able wallpaper and it was a nightmare. The best method for us was:

   -Score the wallpaper.

   -Spray with a mixture of stripping solution and water.

   -Let it sit for 15 minutes.

   -Spray with warm/hot water again.

   -Peel with a plastic paint scraper (metal will scratch wall).

   -Use a sponge dipped in hot water and scrub. 

Quite the process! Poor Brian. 

Next up: ceiling painting! Our ceilings clearly have not been touched since the house was built in 1970 and they are stained, splotchy, and dingy. We decided for the main living areas we would go with a nice bright flat white. We may be more creative with the bedrooms but we want to bring as much light into these spaces as possible. We ended up using the Ace Hardware brand and because we have textured ceilings we ran out very fast. But as you can see in the picture above it makes quite the difference. 

Another thing we have been working on is the trim. We have barely started and I can't wait until the trim is done. We have orange oak floors, trim, and doors. Way too much for me. The floors are in good shape and maybe eventually we will refinish them. For now we are going to paint the trim and put down some rugs. 

Pretty soon we can start posting some real progress pictures. Right now the timeline is feeling really short and the list is looking really long. Here is to getting started though! 

Happy Weekend! 

Our First Weekend and Sir List a Lot

Last weekend marks our first weekend spent in the new home. We are still in transition (for a few reasons) so our first weekend looked a little more like camping. Our furniture consists of camping chairs, blow-up mats, a pack n play, and a cooler for a baby gate. We hope to get everything moved in the next two weeks and I can't wait. Even with the camping feel it was so nice to be in our own home with (most of) our things. We actually felt like we were on vacation and I have not felt that relaxed since we moved to New England. We still have our rental and this turned out to be really helpful because our first weekend we also learned some things about the house. 

What our first weekend taught us:

-Our hot water doesn't work. At all...

-The water pressure is crazy low.

-An oil tank was put in after the washer and dryer so we have to remove door frames to get ours in.

-There are no blinds or curtains and LOTS of windows.

Those are pretty big things. There is a washer and dryer in there (from 1970ish) so that isn't a huge deal. The water pressure can also be adjusted but the hot water is an issue. We knew we needed to get our boiler services upon moving in but when we were disgusting and sweaty after a day of hard work a hot shower would've been nice. Instead we just washed hair in the sink in cold water and stuck it out. Not pretty. Luckily though we do have our rental so we were only stinky for so long and we should have hot water up and running soon. 

During our relaxing weekend we also had time to start making lists. My favorite! We have so much work to do that we are having to break our lists down to phases as to not get overwhelmed. 

First Things First: This list is the we must do now list and may not be all that fun or glamorous. But we can't live without hot water. 

-Service boiler.(possibly add reserve water tank or electric one)

-Replace roof.(this was negotiated into the price and expected)

-Find out water pressure issue and fix.

-Blinds/curtains for bathrooms and bedrooms at least.

-Rug for living space. (Goose slips on hardwood floors)

Now for the fun stuff.  We broke down (most of) the main living spaces and decided what our first phase of updates will be. Honestly I can see these list getting longer and longer because we are full of ideas. Love love love owning a home. 

Phase 1:

Living Room: 

-Paint trim/wall/fireplace mantel

-Furniture! Couch, chairs, ottoman, lamps, etc. We sold almost all of our living room furniture before moving. Sitting on the ground wont work for long.

-Curtains. I hope to try making some but I am far from a seamstress so we'll see how far I get with that. 

-New stair railing. 

Kitchen: 

-Paint cabinets. Probably going to go with simply white in Ben Moore advance line. Probably.

-Remove laminate back splash.

-Roman shades or bamboo blinds. 

-Paint walls/trim.

-Remove chair rail..maybe.

-Remove odd decorative wood above sink.

-Paint counter tops. Thinking about trying a faux granite paint until we move onto the next phase of ripping out the kitchen and starting over. 

-New floors? We haven't decided what to do with the floors but these are coming up on the edges so we may do a temporary fix until the final phase. 

Dining Space:

-Blinds for window.

-Open shelving.

-Paint walls/trim.

-Remove chair rail?

-New light fixture. I have my eye on a globe pendant from West Elm.

-Paint door to garage. (not seen in this picture)

Hallway/Stairway:

-Paint walls/trim/doors.

-New door knobs.(or possibly paint the old ones)

-Paint stair risers.

-Add stair runner. Brian has already slipped down the stairs multiple times from wintery wet shoes and steep stairs. 

-Baby gate!

-Hopefully a full art/gallery wall in the stairway. I have a vision of a floor to ceiling gallery wall. I have been working on sketches and art for just that purpose. 

Blue Bathroom:

-Blinds!

-Shower curtain.

-New shower head.

-Paint vanity/storage door/trim.

-This bathroom is an overhaul so we are not doing much now. While I sort of love our pink and blue bathrooms they are dated. We don't plan on keeping anything that is in here so we will save our pennies until then.

We have plans to paint, add blinds, and add lighting to the three bedrooms upstairs (including a nursery!) but I don't have pictures of those rooms yet. All these projects for phase 1 should keep us busy for a while. We don't have any phase 1 plans for the sun room or downstairs. We have 2 bedrooms a bathroom and an unfinished laundry room downstairs. 

I can't wait to get started! We hope to get all phase 1 done by the time baby #2 comes in July. Soooo basically we are already behind. 

Happy DIYing!