We've Moved Back Home

Knowing that the homeowner would return and need his home back at any moment, we readied what we could of our house for our return. My office, and the little boy's bedroom is now our sleeping space, and the only fully enclosed, and therefore, able to be heated rooms.

We have a makeshift kitchen and eating area in the parlor. We brought the old drop leaf table in from the front porch, and cleared off some bookshelves for food storage. A workspace for coffee maker, microwave, and toaster was made from scrap wood secured over boxes and the now-unused fish tank stand.

The actual kitchen is coming along great. All wiring has been run, burnt-out wall repaired, and new insulation hung. The range and refrigerator are powered up and in use.  Now we just have to hang drywall, install cabinets and sink, paint walls and ceiling, and refinish the floor.

Oh, and in case you're curious, here's where I do dishes.

Stocking the Shelves

The boys helped put some of the books on our new shelves in the Parlor. We have tons of books, and it will be quite a job to organize and arrange them all.

The Grand Parlor Reveal

The Parlor is now finished and we are so pleased with how it turned out! To see all of our work from the very beginning, please click HERE to see past parlor posts.

 

Without further ado, here is THE PARLOR, beginning where we left off.

 

First of all, Handy Husband built my bookcases along one wall, just exactly as I'd always dreamed of having for all my books. They turned out so nicely!

 

 

Revealing part of the old chimney was an added bonus for me. I think it's become a beautiful focal point of the room and Handy Husband did a great job of trimming it.

The crown molding was pretty tricky at first, but after watching an instructional youtube video, I think we did a good job on it.

 

Here are the final pictures:

 

 

 

  



Trim in the Parlor

Oh, the moment has finally come! We began working on the Parlor trim this past weekend, and its a bit slower going than we were hoping. Nearly all of the door jambs have had to be adjusted, or resized due to the fact that we had removed the old sheetrock and paneling from the walls. We're not done with all the trim yet, and we have yet to tackle the crown molding, but its looking SO pretty! I'm so excited to see this room nearing completion!

Let There Be Light!

After going two years with no lights in our Parlor/front room, we now have light! And it is so bright and beautiful!

Lowe's had this fixture on clearance for a fraction of the original price, and I think its a great fit for the Parlor.

Good Distraction...

...from the fact that I still haven't gone into labor. We got a great deal on these French doors and used them as the perfect distraction from my overdue state of pregnancy. I have had so many false labor alarms and was getting so frustrated that none of them turned into real labor, so it was nice doing a house project that got my mind off of things.

 



Floor Love

I am SO in love with our Parlor floor. After moving everything but the piano out of the parlor yesterday, we put three coats of polyurethane on it. I absolutely LOVE how it looks!

 

 

Here it is "before". We had decided to leave it as-is. No sanding or stripping of any of the old finish. It was all so worn down and dull, but had a few areas where you could see a different shade of old stain.

 

We used Varathane Floor Finish in oil-based gloss.  

 

The whole process was so exciting to watch! I loved seeing all the rich colors show through.  

All the old blemishes and color-variances show up, just exactly like I wanted. This is an old farm-house, and has been lived in and loved for many many years. I didn't want to strip all that away. It is just one of the beautiful reasons why I love old houses... they have character. 

 

All together we put three coats on. In three days-time we'll be able to move the piano and do that area. I love seeing how this room is being transformed into something beautiful! Below is a shot without the camera flash.



Like Gold Beneath Our Feet

This past weekend, Handy Husband asked me what we should work on. I responded with, "Whatever you'd like to." He said, "Let's tear up this floor!"

So that's what we did.

Here's a Before shot. The linoleum was stained and discolored SO badly, that no amount of scrubbing would EVER result in a clean-looking floor. Plus, it was chipping where they had seamed it. It was just downright UGLY:



It was slow-going at first, till we got the hang of it. As with most of the demolition jobs we do around here, Handy Husband did most of the grunt work. My job was to constantly bag up and carry out the debris. Keeping up with the mess WHILE we're making it was a great idea!

It wasn't long before we could really see what we were uncovering. And we LOVED it!

Just for fun, I swept and wiped down an area with a damp rag, just to see what it would look like. We still can't figure out why they stained the outer edges a darker color. If it had been done in a straight line around the entire room, I would assume that it was an intentional border... but there were areas where the stain was kind of in a "here, there, wherever" pattern.

The "finished, unfinished" floor.
Even as is, we think this is SO much prettier than that nasty, chipping-off linoleum that we removed.



This floor actually extends over the ENTIRE original, ground floor of the house... all the way down the halls, the boys' bedroom, and we *believe* it's probably extending into the kitchen as well, though that will have to be uncovered at a later date. I cannot wait to refinish it! This is just one more reason why I absolutely adore old houses! The treasures waiting to be uncovered make all the hard work worth it!

Paint in the Parlor!

We worked LONG, exhausting hours on the parlor room this past weekend and finally got the ceiling and walls painted. We chose "Rose Dust" for the ceiling... which is basically white:

We were a bit nervous, as we started applying the first of many coats of "Apple-a-Day": 

Here's the finished look, after applying 3-4 coats:

As it turned out, our second gallon of paint (which were all mixed at the same time) was a slightly lighter color than the first, so we had to do more coats than we should have, to cover any of the first gallon's darker color. We did not expect that!

The finished ceiling looks so crisp and bright now:

Below photo was taken early in the morning as the sunrise was shining through our East-facing windows. I am absolutely in love with our parlor colors and CANNOT wait to get it all trimmed out and finished!