Hardwood floors refinished

Here are a couple pics of the floor, how it looked before and how it looks now. I have to say I love it! I didn't know how much of a difference I could expect, and I would have been happy with anything better than they were, but they turned out great!

More done in the living room...

I think the last major trace of pink is gone from the living room and I couldn't be happier! Yippee! The good news is that the living room is very close to being done and I'm loving how it looks. The bad news is that James and I both wasted a lot of time painting these shutters and then I didn't even end up using them.

The living room had these built in cabinets that ran along the wall with the fireplace. The top 3 shelves were closed up with shutters, and the bottom shelf had a wood door with a big ugly knob on it, which is unfortunately not visible in this picture.



So... I took off all the shutters and James spray painted them. I then took them and did a couple coats of regular paint, and in the end they looked presentable. I went to take off the bottom doors and realized that I'd never get them back on again. I asked James what he thought about leaving the bottom part open. He thought it was a good idea, and I started to think of things I could put down there so I didn't just have a big empty space near the floor.

As we started to attempt to put the shutter doors back on, and realized this wasn't going to be a fun task either, James suggested I just leave ALL the doors off, and have built in bookcases. Great idea! Sometimes it takes 2 brains to figure out the best way to do something. So, here's how it looks now, all painted and finshed and ready to go. I was going to buy a bookshelf anyway, so this saves me space and money!



I'm also just so glad that the sheetrock is all finished. I was so sick of looking at all this insulation, as seen below. I can't even believe that it's been 5 freakin' months since I had that done. Gawd I'm slow!!



On another note, my shower is almost done!! It's all tiled and waiting to be grouted. I can't wait to post some pics!

Living Room ceiling lights

I went back and forth between at least 3 different lighting options for the living room. One was too small for the space. Another got lost in the ceiling. I love the look of the ones we put up, my only complaint is that they are halogen bulbs. First a picture of what was up there when I bought the house, and then the new lights. Ignore that wire hanging down on the right side, that will be cut off when I decide for sure how far down I want the lights to hang.

Green walls finished

I've finally finished painting the 2 walls in the living room green. At first I was a little scared of the color, the first coat was very yellow and streaky, but after I finished a few coats it looked much better.



The next thing I'm working on is the entry way. I've already painted the ceiling, changed the light fixture, and painted the trim. I'll be painting the walls tomorrow but I'll have to wait on the new vinyl floor until after the hardwood in the adjoining room is refinished.

Living Room ceiling done!

Many thanks to my cheap labor and good friend James for his 40-some hours of work sanding, caulking, priming and painting my living room ceiling. I have been criticized by some people for not keeping the wood stained, but it wasn't that nice in the first place and that's so not my taste anyway. It looks so much better now, it really opens up the room. It looked a ski lodge before, and that's fine for some people, but it's not what I am going for here at all. Now I just need to get the new lights up to see if they work in the space, and I can get started on the rest of this room.

Painting

Let me start off by saying that I never knew what a huge pain in the ass painting is. The prep work really sucks. I have so much wood with built ins and trim and doors, etc.. that I don't know if I'll ever get it done! One step at a time. I do have a helper. One of the main issues was the living room and the vaulted ceiling. I had hired a painter and they guy flaked out on me, never showed up or called. So my friend James is helping me for free (well, maybe for some pizza and White Castles). You can see the way it started out, with the wood stained black(ish) and pink painted in between. I'm going to be boring and do all white for the ceiling. Originally I wanted to put the color the walls will be (light lime green) on the pink area between the white beams, but that would just be so much more work. Too much taping, too much detail, too much to drive me even further insane than I already am from this!! Sorry for the crappy quality of this pic, I forgot my camera and had to use my cell phone.

Another unexpected problem

OK, so my living room had some ugly wood paneling that I had just planned on painting. Here's what we started with.



So my friend James talks me into removing it. We take off the first panel and everything is looking good. We get to the third panel and find out the real reason this paneling was put up.



That's actually a little worse that it was, we had torn some of the plaster down ourselves at that point. The problem with this house is that it's had some moisture damage. The good news is that the source of the moisture has been fixed, but they just covered up the interior damage. So, we decided to go ahead and tear down all the plaster down to the lathe. I guess I shouldn't have used the flash when there was so much dust in the air.



Now we have to put up some drywall, hopefully this Thursday. From what I've been told it's fairly easy, so we'll see how this turns out. People at work have given me tutorials. We have decided to tear down the lathe and put in some insulation before we put the drywall up. We also have some caulking to do along the chimney on the outside, seeing as how once we tore down the plaster we could see light coming in where it met the house, so I guess after everything this was a good thing.

Up next: Tomorrow I am having another electrician out to put in another outlet in the bedroom and rewire the sconces in the living room so they are on a switch. Thursday I am having the ceiling and beams painted, and on Friday I am have having the tub re-tiled. Next week the hardwood floors are being re-finished. Then that's about it for the major stuff. All that's left are the things I can work on myself!!