We haven’t gotten to do much yet but the day after my birthday we drove down to Ikea to pick up our birthday/christmas present to us. We knew whatever we got each other as gifts we could get ourselves or hope that someone else might get it for us making them happier. We saw the table in the catalog first, I liked how it could expand to fit according to it 15 people around it. Gregg liked the black color of the table & the idea that it could be expanded for occasions but still shrink down enough to be a normal table.

We had to get it then because we have a mock thanksgiving this Sunday instead of the actual day. So during the week one night we started putting the table together. Then the following weekend I went out of town but Gregg & his brother were able to move some things around so it could fit better in the space.

Hopefully with a few straight days off around actual thanksgiving we might get to some real jobs on the house like some new electricity in the dining room & some insulation in the basement.

Old Table Put Away

New Table with some mess on it already

The piece that used to be at the end of the table

Other piece that used to be in the corner with the old table

Legs

Under Belly

*Sorry about some of these pics we couldn’t find our camera so we had to use Gregg’s phone & my old camera to get these shots for you.

Sadly again we didn’t get a lot done on the house. We got an oil change & a check up for 2 of our cars plus we tried to fix a problem with my car. We were too busy this weekend to try working on the house because we were trying to get ready to attend the Ren Faire in PA. Hopefully once we stop working our second job then we should get back to work. Especially since the house’s anniversity is coming up at the end of November.

Now after having done the laundry room both Gregg & I have been thinking about how to arrange & fix the 2nd story to have more space & better flow. So we both came up with some good ideas which will probably not happen or be a compromise of what will finally happen maybe. Hey we even talked about maybe putting in a 3rd full story (right now we have a attic space that you can stand in the middle but not the sides).

Orginial idea for the guest room

Gregg’s Ideas for changes to the upstairs of the house

2nd

2nd - 3rd

My Ideas for changes to the upstairs of the house

2nd

2nd - 3rd

Our first free weekend in a month, so sadly we didn’t do alot. But since we found out there was a leak in the guest room we decided to climb the roof on Sunday to fix it. And while we were up there we started to clean the back of the house & take down the bee nests that were up there. We also mowed the grass & washed the cars. Even cleaned out the cars & steamed cleaned them.

Couple of weeks ago we stopped at Ikea & picked up a couple more cabinets for our kitchen. We put the corner cabinet up so then we had to realign all the other cabinets to match it up. So that meant losening everything up to slide the cabinets over on the rail.

Naked

Clothed

We didn’t work on one thing or in one room, we touched the laundry room, living Room, & outside. Gregg & Jeff finally trimmed out the other window in the laundry room. But first I had to run out to Lowe’s to pick up some more trim plus a few other things. Since we got that bush moved I needed to pick up some mulch but while I was picking that up, I saw some curtains that might look great in our living room.

Living Room Window #1

Living Room Window #2

Digging up a bush & moving it into the front yard, one flag. Going to the Trolley Stop & getting some ice cream, 6 Flags. So today we decided to try & move a bush we had in back to the front.

Where it used to be

Now on display

I wanted to take out all of the grass in the front on the little hill we have but got talked into just craving out a bit. The real purpose is to hide the sewer pipe plus we don’t have to worry about trying to mow around it. So one day we will put in a few flowers in the same area & it make actually look pretty good.

Now that the laundry room is mostly done, I’m itching to start working on the kitchen. With no washer & dryer our minds are free to really imagine what we could put into reality. Because frankly we have thought a couple of different plans for how to arrange the kitchen to best suit us & the space.

No Washer

No Dryer

Gregg had really wanted to open what was at one point a fireplace in the kitchen, I suppose they actually used to cook in. So a weekend ago we took all the stuff we were storaging in there out & then took off the doors.

Since it’s summer & we have an extra person living with us, we finally had a reason to mount the ac unit in the window of the guest room.

The last few days up to D-day were like running a marathron. Racing to get everything done by 2pm on the 4th. We finished up painting the walls then started on getting the closet together & some trim to really give it that finished look. Of course we finally got to take the pink paper off the floor.

Paint along the wall we decided to keep orginial

More paint around the room

Closet door

Shelf & closet rod

The trim may look a little big and that’s because our house has big trim everywhere else so we decided it should match as close as possible even if it was going to cost us a little more in the end.

Trim around door

Trim around the room

We put everything together that we could on the 3rd like the nickel satin outlet covers & the nickel satin trim for the lights. We were even able to put up the shelf for my hello kitty TV. Then we put in the laundry sink & right before we tossed in the towel at 1am we put in the dryer.

Everything but the sink

Moved the Dryer, oh come on that wasn’t hard

To make matters worst I brought home a free find that I saw near work. Thought we could use the top cabinet above the washer & dryer then wasn’t sure about the bottom but instead of Gregg having to build a bench seat for in front of the window by the freezer. He cut a hole in the side that was big enough for the cats to get in & out then we can open the door to clean their litter. And the drawers help with a little storage. But this was another project that we were trying to get done in time as well. And both pieces needed more work then I thought went I first saw them. We had to replace the top on the upper cabinet plus the doors were falling apart. The bottom unit didn’t have it’s original top so we needed to replace that plus Gregg thought it too tall to sit in front of the window, so we cut down the legs & put support beams in so we could actually sit on it.

Free to a good home

Storage & kitty litter station

We see the finish line but will we make it. One way or the other we made sure we were ready. We had planned to wake up at 8am to start cleaning the house to get ready for the family then go back to the laundry room to hopefully put the washer in. Well we got up at 10am instead & we only had until 2pm before we had to call it quits. Well we cleaned up until 1pm then we went to put in the washer.

Washer among friends

Even put up our ikea painting up

We didn’t get to finish everything that we wanted but we came closer then we thought possible at moments. And we were happy with how far we did get done. Since then we have trimmed one of the windows that we didn’t before & put up a few more things on the walls to help complete the look of the room.

And if your curious you can check out the Slideshow to see our project from beginning to end.

After doing the floor last week we continued to to get as far as we could to finish before the 4th. We moved on to priming the ceiling & walls so that we could paint after work again. Everyday we went to work then came home to work on the laundry room.

Primed the ceiling first
Now on the walls

What a difference a little paint can do!

Next we painted the ceiling then tried to get some of the Valspar “tidal basin” paint on the walls so the next day we could start the trim & get the new cover plates up. And we still had to uncover the floor move the applicanes back to where they were plus we hadn’t even gotten the washer or dryer out there to see if they would really work when hooked up or the laundry sink.

Well it should only take me one more post to fully catch everyone up on how much we finished & didn’t finish before & on the 4th of July.