Cabin progress

 

Oh – we are making quite a bit of progress on the cabin.   Slowly but surely, little tiny bits of progress. It went up so quickly with the big parts, the walls, the roof, the floor going up in only ~ 2 months.  But now, things seem to be dragging and dragging and dragging.  It feels like every other weekend we are down at the cabin working and making small amounts of progress.  It actually feels like we are always working.  But, finally, finally, finally – we have some progress to show for it.

 

It is by no means anywhere close to done.  No.Where.  But, it’s getting closer and we are able to stay there now the weather is warmer, which is nice. 

 

The upstairs loft is getting the most attention lately.  It’s about 2/3 of a floor, so I can’t quite stand up in it.  But, that’s OK since we really should be outside at such a beautiful location. 

 

The upstairs have gotten a new coat of porch paint for the floors and most of the ceiling is done.  There are some tricky angles, as you can see.  But, Lance is diligently working away to get it all together and the insulation all hidden away from the kids level. 

 

The walls are up, and still need some caulking and some paint, but the hardest part of all the cutting and measuring is done. 

 

We have some twin beds for us and some smaller-than-twins for the kids.  We tested them out on Saturday night and it was very comfortable! 

 

 

The loft stairs have been installed and we can now get up and down very easily.  The downstairs, as you can see is still studs.  We are planning on leaving it like that for the summer to be able to have some fun and not just keep working, working, working on it.  We will paint the downstairs floor too to make it easier to keep clean.  Other than buying a very small fold-out couch and maybe a small table/chairs, we are done with the downstairs for the foreseeable future (or until Lance gets an itch to work on it again, which ever comes first).

 

 

The outside is looking really fabulous.  It looks almost done, until you realize that the yellow color is just primer.  Bummer!  Although, I really do like the light yellow color so we plan to paint it roughly that same buttery yellow color, so it is nice to see what it looks like before taking the big plunge and buying the paint. The shingles will stay the same color and we painted the door last Fall, but it came out all blotchy, probably because we were pushing it in terms of temperature when it was drying.  It will have to be re-painted. But, not anytime soon. 

 

 

 

Here’s where a long day will be spent this upcoming week or two – all that wood that is laying on the ground needs to be split and stacked in that nice shed/covered-area that Lance built.  There is a lot of wood, so Lance is planning on getting a log splitter.  It will be so nice to get this off the ground and stacked and ready for s’mores time!  We have a picnic table that is perfect for this site and just love sitting around the campfire. 

 

 

Here is Lance and Sara celebrating the end of a nice long (fun) work day at the cabin.  Whew!  It sure is a lot of work to build this thing, but we sure love it and have been having fun learning about all sorts of things and Lance enjoys doing something completely different from his day (desk/computer) job.  We enjoy seeing Grandma Judy a lot and the kids are really loving that so much!

 

We hope that now that we’ve got a nice area, we can have lots of people come down and enjoy it with us.  If you are interested in enjoying the beach, playing in the sand, playing on the boat (if the tides are right for putting in and taking out the boat), getting clams, oysters, even geo-duck – let us know. 

 

We would love to have you join us!

New kids bathroom!!!

 

 

 

 

First – the old bathroom.  Not horrible (no carpet or anything), but not great either.  There were daffodils on the blue tile, and the grout was failing.  The knobby thing that let the water drain (or hold it in for the bathtub) was broken, the sink had chips in it (sharp chips), and the toilet was not adequate, didn’t flush much…

 

 

 

 

 

So, one of the things on our goals this year was to re-do our kids bath/guest bath. 

 

We set a budget and set out getting estimates and plans.  It was fairly easy since I was just going to go with the same tile we had in our Master bath 3 years earlier. 

 

It’s so hard to pick what is my favorite…

 

The shower head with the hose, the new lighting, the new cabinet/granite/sink/faucet, the new tile flooring, the new toilet that flushes well, or the little touches that I gave it like the whale spout cover, the sticky whales/octopus in the tub, the art, the light blue walls, or the bright blue towels.  We still have to put up a couple of shelves, but we are mostly done! 

 

And it’s functional and beautiful.  And it was easy, just pull and replace. The contractors were great and we’re in the current century!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powder room remodel

 

It’s one of those “nesting” things – you know – where you get all this energy and drive to start and complete things around the house to “get ready for the baby”.  Well – this is a great example. 

What an ugly and I mean UGLY powder room.  We’ve only been living with it for 6 1/2 years…

Since it’s our only downstairs bathroom – it gets used a lot.  And it’s SO UGLY!  The powder blue sink is original to the house – circa 1984.  Same with the tile – who thought that was attractive?  The classic oak cabinets – not in bad shape, but oak.  Sometimes it feels like everything in the house is OAK.  Sometimes too much oak.  We have beautiful oak flooring, but it doesn’t go underneath the cabinet. 

It would be beautiful to put in a pedestal sink, but the flooring would be a problem.  We could install some more flooring, but it wouldn’t match and would be a lot of work to make it match.  Too much work for even a nesting pregnant lady. 

 

We’re in the process right now of giving this small space a major update.  We’re keeping an ode to the blue – but in a totally different way – you’ll just have to wait and see!!!

It’s going to be beautiful!

Garden remodel – follow up

This past fall we undertook quite a project…

We had 2 dump truck loads of gravel delivered along with 2 dump truck loads of compost & dirt.  It was a lot of work – well not so much for me – but for Lance.  See – I was newly pregnant at the time and so darn tired.  So, he did most of the heavy work, while I did some supervising (and picture taking!).

Take a look at the before here: 

http://torgesen.blogspot.com/2009/09/garden-project.html

 

And the after pictures here:

 You can see our new grass – so green and lush.  The new border bricks outlining all the gardens and the new (little for now) plants that will just love all the dirt and compost we put in the new gardens.   We also made the entry gardens larger – they just looked like a postage stamp on a big lawn.  We made them big enough to be bold and have some interesting plants all year round.  Can’t wait for them to grow up! Another view of the front yard showing the other entry garden with a japanese maple as the main plant in this garden. 

And the new flagstone pathways – 2 of them!  They are beautiful and I love them!  As you can see from the photo – Bella is supervising the supervisor from inside the front window.  Lance and his Dad laid them this summer/fall and I just am so excited to use them this summer.  They were natural pathways and now are real pathways.

AND – I had Lance “help” me move two small trees.  Now he will tell you they weren’t small – in fact they were the “biggest trees that had ever been seen!”.  But, as you can see – it’s really not that big.  They are two Dogwood trees with the lovely spring “flowers” that are really bracts/leaves.   See below.  They were tucked behind a BIG cedar tree not getting enough light or enough attention.  They were planted there by the previous owners and I’ve been wanting to move them to a more prominent spot for a long time.  What better time than when your 6-7 months pregnant?  I can’t wait to see what they do in these new locations up front with more water and more sunlight.  They will be BEAUTIFUL!

photo shamelessly stolen from web 

 

P.S.  We are getting our house painted this Spring/Summer – I can’t wait to see everything all together – the new landscape, the pathways, new gardens, flowers growing, and a newly painted house!  It will just be fabulous!  Stay tuned for an update on that!

Bookshelves!

My first thought when I found out I was pregnant, after getting over all the excitement and all that, was "We need more storage for toys!". So Lance and I hatched a plan over 2 years ago to add cabinets and bookshelves around our fireplace. It seems like such a blank wall, I'm surprised none of the previous homeowners did this. We worked all last summer with Steve and Lance learned a lot about woodworking and all the details exact measurements that go into making all this. This fall/winter we worked on choosing the right combonation of stains to get just the right color. It ended up being a wood dye and stain combonation that took 4 separate speps each piece (conditioner, 2 coats dye, 2 coats stain, clear coat). And now we have it installed!

And it seems like it was born there!

But first, Alex watched Daddy and Steve do lots of drilling and he got right in there and did some "drilling" too! Lance got him his own tools last year for Christmas and they sure have come in handy. A drill, hammer, screwdrivers, etc. His "drill" has a drillbit (which we took out) and it just has a light and turns a little bit when you push the trigger. Apparently he did lots of drilling - about 2 hours worth Saturday afternoon. What an attention span for a 2 year old!

Alex also helped by loaning out his ladder - not an easy thing to do when it's "mine!". He finally let Steve use his ladder to install some pieces, but after much "No, mine". What a generous boy!

Here's the before picture!

(the boxes on the ground are the cabinet pieces that we just didn't have any room for in our garage)

And the after picture!

We are absolutely thrilled with the results. We love the dark color of the wood. We love how it "fills" in the wall. Now, you'll have to do some imagining - as the mantle isn't quite finished yet. Neither are the shelves for the upper part. But - I'm sure you can picture a nice substantial mantle running right in between the two bookshelves and on top of the stone fireplace. And shelving and books, etc filling the top part.

I'm now on the hunt for some art to put above the mantle.... Fun!

New master bedroom

We've completed the painting of our master bedroom a rich chocolate-mocha color and we are very pleased with the results. We have a "new" headboard made from a door that I found at a salvage place. It is probably 80lbs and is solid wood with a scalloped detail. It was an off white and I repainted it a bright white semi-gloss. We hung it on the wall with a french cleat and I absolutely love it. It's nice having a headboard! It makes you feel like your sleeping on a real bed. I took some pictures from around the house, one of when Lance and I were first dating, one on our wedding day and one of Alex and framed them above the headboard. We have our Ikea night lights that work so well above our side tables and Voila!

New Stairs (aka "what we did Labor Day weekend")

The railings from our 1984 stairs were too far apart for our curious little man and they needed to go!

They were dangerous and we were just in time!

He had just learned to get through the railings going down the stairs about 3 weeks ago (he had learned to get up the stairs going through the railings months ago but for some reason that wasn't as dangerous). Although we are only partly done - it sure makes a difference! We still have to complete the top of the stairs and then finish the oak with a few coats of clear sealant.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results and wish we would've done this sooner.

The original bid we got for this was ~$15K!!!!!! Then, with us doing all the demo and finishing and painting - it was still ~$7K!!!!!!

So, we asked Steve (my Mom's boyfriend) to help us (meaning Lance) install new stairs (my job was to feed them well and take care of Alex). Not exciting and glamorous, like a new bathroom, but very necessary and it will really change the feeling of the entrance to our home. We noticed another neighbor up the street doing all sorts of remodeling - and guess what they were doing... Windows, stairs, master bathroom - just like us. We still need to compare what we've done and see if we can get any good tips or ideas.

We'll just have to pick out the carpet that will go up the stairs and in the hallway, get it installed and we'll be done.

Remodel - during

Our new doorway - the old one was removed and will become a storage area in the bathroom. This was one of those "unplanned" things that happen during a remodel. One of those things you don't totally see coming until the contractor can see what is behind all the sheetrock.

Our closet with the new walls - moved about 9" in. Can you tell? We can't. We decided on an IKEA storage closet system. It will look something like this below. Not exactly - since it's totally customizable. But, close. How cool is that! We won't have to use 3 dressers anymore!

The new storage closet area where Lance will build some simple shelving that will match our new vanity cabinet for some open storage. We will store linens, towels and use baskets for the rest.

AND.... the new shower - well, at least part of it - you can't fit this big of a shower in one photo! We had them move the shower plumbing fixtures up about 8" since we are so tall. No more ducking down to get your head in the water.

Things are moving along quite nicely - the mudding and taping are happening today and Tuesday with the new vanity cabinet going in on Thursday. Then on to tile....

Remodel (before)

We are getting ready to start the remodel of our Master Bath and we took some before pictures to remind of us of how far we will come. Take a look.

Our beautiful shower that is less than 3 ft x 3ft. It was so small and that ugly cultured marble with BLUE streaks in it - BLUE... Really? It's difficult to keep clean because it doesn't dry out well after showers. The frosted glass framed shower door is also a nightmare to keep clean.

Ahhh - the toilet. This is the only thing that is going to stay. It will have to be removed and reinstalled after all the floor is put in.

NOTE: Carpet from 1984 on the floor. Carpet is bad in a bathroom. Bad Bad Bad. Especially when it's 28 years old. Trust me on this one! We are having heated tile floors installed in a beautiful chocolate brown color. It's going to be so luxurious!

Powder blue sinks... Really - who made that decision? The tile, while beautiful if you look at it close up and in much smaller doses - is way too busy for me and doesn't even go with Powder blue. The strip lighting is pretty 80's and the vanity is pretty beat up and is past it's prime. We are having a maple vanity installed with an upper cabinet. Also, the height will be ~35 inches (around kitchen height) instead of the old standard of ~30 inches. We will have 2 smaller mirrors and new light fixtures. We will have more outlets and one on the inside of the upper cabinet. I'm so excited about this little detail. It will be so nice to plug in our toothbrushes and not have to look at it all the time.

Our (actually) very big walk in closet - with surprisingly little storage. Just one bar and one shelf. We put a dresser in the closet to help with storage. And since our shower is expanding - we will be losing about 9 inches of this closet. But, no matter - we will be getting a closet organizing system... it will be so much better than what we had. I'm thinking of painting our closet a bold saturated color. I'm not sure yet what color - but, will have to decide soon.

I'll post the after (or during) pictures - it will be an amazing tranformation.