Bedroom Remodel: Floor Done at Last!

There were times when I thought we'd never get this project done. We got the carpet last March but the job never seemed to make it to the top of the priority list. Finally Dan had some time off work so we were able to finally knock this out! We did it ourselves (Dan mostly) with the help of library books and YouTube videos. Here it is in pictures.

Tackless strips were nailed around the perimeter of the room. I'm not sure 

why they're called tackless because they had tacks poking up through the

 bottom to secure the carpet.

The carpet pad was cut and pieced to fit inside the tackless strips. 

Those pieces were secured together with duct tape.

The padding was rolled back to apply double sided tape to the floor. I'm
glad we did this because it kept the padding from sliding  around when we
wrestled the carpet into the room. 

The carpeting was laid out.

This is one of the two tools we rented, a knee kicker. It's used to scooch the

carpet over the tacks on the tackless strip. The hammer was used to press

the carpet securely onto the tacks, i.e the tackless strip tacks. 

A carpet stretcher was the other rental. It, of course, stretches out the

wrinkles in the carpet when securing it on the opposite wall. 

The excess was trimmed off with a carpet knife and a stair tool was used

to tuck the edges of the carpet under. 

And there you have it!

Still to install are the thresholds and the bedroom door. Not sure when we'll get to that but then I can show you my before and after shots.

Bedroom Remodel: Floor Done at Last! © June 2014

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Bedroom Remodel: Floor on Hold

Our bedroom floor is actually a subfloor, or perhaps there is no subfloor.
What I mean is, it's the only thing between us and the crawl space.

Here is a long overdue update on our bedroom remodeling project. The next step is the floor, and from our 2012 income tax return we set aside some money for that. We hung on to it until the end of the year and hoped to tackle the bedroom floor around Christmas. But a family member had a need and so the money went to that because, in the end, people are more important than things. So, getting the floor finished is pending the acquisition of new funds! In the meantime, life goes on with a zillion other projects.

Bedroom Remodel: Floor on Hold © February 2014 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Master Bedroom: New Ceiling

We're in the homestretch with the bedroom/master suite remodel. The ceiling was the next to last project and it's almost done. Here's how it's coming along, starting with a before photo of the original pine tongue and groove ceiling.

Ceiling before, but after the closets were torn out.

And a close-up of one corner, where a stove pipe used to go. . . .

Where the old chimney pipe used to go

The house was originally heated with coal and there is evidence in each room of where a coal burning stove used to be. The problem with this corner is that when the stove pipe was installed, a hole was simply cut in the ceiling to accommodate the pipe, but with no structural support for the ceiling itself. Over time, the ceiling sagged in this corner. Being 90 year old tongue and groove boards, the sag is pretty much petrified into the boards now. We discussed what to do about it. Based on time and money, we'll just live with it.

Still, we want the room to look nice. For purely decorative effect, Dan wanted to add some pseudo beams made of stained 2x4s.

Dan stained 2x4s for a beam look. In the lower left you can see the
storage compartment Dan made when he began to rebuild the closet

Dan doesn't care for the tongue and groove, however, so we decided to cover the ceiling in between the beams. We like the styrofoam tiles we use in the hall bathroom, and went with that again. They look nice, are inexpensive, paintable, add a little insulation, and cover a multitude of ceiling flaws.

Styrofoam ceiling tiles

I bought the tiles from Antique Ceilings on Amazon. They have a good selection and are about half the price of elsewhere.

I alternated the pattern to prevent a striped or checkerboard look.

My problem was that they don't quite cover the space between the beams.

Cutting strips of foam tiles to fill the narrow gaps next to the beams

I cut strips to fill in the gaps. Not what the professionals would do, I know, but as my grandmother used to say, "No one will notice on a galloping horse."

My piecing doesn't really seem to show, does it?

The foam takes paint very well and with regular ceiling paint, the ceiling looks like painted tin or a molded plaster.

My apologies for the wonky picture! This is as far as I've
gotten for now. You can compare unpainted tiles in the
upper left corner. And you can still see where the ceiling sags.

Unfortunately, I have yet to finish that. It got too cold before I was done and I would rather paint when I can crack the window and put in a fan to vent the smell. I don't suppose the ceiling is going anywhere, so I'll have to wait till springtime to finish this project.

Master Bedroom: New Ceiling © January 2014

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Year In Review: 2013

January

Our rainwater catchment system

Our two big projects for January were the hallway bathroom and our first rainwater catchment system. The hall bath was actually on it's way to becoming a master suite bath: we insulated and paneled the walls, dropped the ceiling, and trimmed out my pretty stained glass bathroom window.

February

Laying a new tile bathroom floor

The hall bathroom remodel continued as we worked on the floor and began refurbishing the old clawfoot tub.

March

Newborn Alphie

In March my first Kikobian kid was born! Not a true breed, this little guy is the first of what I hope will be a line of Kiko/Nubian cross homestead goats. His birth was a difficult one but thankfully both he and his mom made it.  This was the month we let the goats on to our new pasture. Progress on the bathroom (the tub) was slow because of cold temperatures.

April

Ziggy, taking a breather from carrying around her yet-to-be-born quads.

April seemed a slow month while we waited for Ziggy to kid. Dan built a new shelter for the goats in the front pasture so we could prepare the buck pasture for planting field corn. In the bathroom, the clawfoot tub was finished at last and installed.

May

Lily and her 2 day old twins, Daisy and Rosie

In May, our goat population exploded. Lily gave birth to twin Kikobian doelings, and at long last, Ziggy had quadruplets. Sadly, only three survived, but what cuties they were. These were a Kiko/Nigerian cross, which proved to be very nice little goats. Also in May we bought Hooper, our second Kiko (future) stud.

June

Mama Buff and a few of her new brood.

In June, one of my Buff Orpington hens hatched 8 eggs and happily adopted 16 mail order chicks. We got our field corn planted (in between rain drops) and had our first experience killing and butchering a goat. In the bathroom remodel, Dan built a gorgeous sink cabinet and installed a vessel sink.

July

Our field corn was sock high by the 4th of July

July was a difficult month as our baby chicks began to disappear during the night. We eventually caught the killer, a rat. About the same time there was a coyote sighting in the area, the first in a long time. On a happier note, it was the month we got our guinea keets and finished the bathroom.

August

Katy and Sam.

After losing 6 chicks to that rat, we decided to expand our rodent control department. As part of our master suite remodel, we used found space to make a study for Dan. When the rain wouldn't let up, we also got to work on the new bedroom by replacing the old drafty windows with new energy efficient ones.

September

Progress on the exterior of the house. We're gradually replacing the vinyl
covered original siding with a barn board look panel and new color.

Our beautiful September weather was timely. Once the new bedroom windows were installed, we needed to get them trimmed on the outside of the house. We made progress with the siding, trim, and painting. We cut down one of our old (but mostly dead) shade oaks for firewood. It was sad to lose it but worse, was losing two more chickens to an unknown predator.

October

Our guineas

October was a harvest month: field corn, cushaw, muscadines, popcorn, and what turned out not to be pumpkins. I planted winter pasture. To keep things fun, our guinea fowl were a source of never ending entertainment. 

November

His & hers closets were made by tearing out a wall hiding closets for
the adjacent bedrooms. Tall ceilings enabled the storage space above.

November saw progress on the bedroom closets (phase 1 and phase 2). Other good news, my pullets began to lay.

December

Of course the big news in December was the publication of my book, 5 Acres & A Dream The Book: The Challenges of Establishing a Self-Sufficient Homestead. Sadly, it was the month we lost our guinea fowl. Being a mild month, we were able to make progress on fencing and a new chicken coop, as well as work on the bedroom. I'll have photos and details on all of those soon.

Year In Review: 2013 © December 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Bedroom Closets Phase 2

Last time, I showed you phase 1, which was the making of a storage compartment in our new bedroom closets. This time, I'll show you the rest.

We did a lot of discussing, measuring, and calculating in designing our closets.

We wanted lots of shelving. Before we decided to build them, we researched and priced every kind of system out there. Even the "cheap" pressboard types were outrageously expensive. Dan ended up buying plywood for these, plus used odds and ends he had.

My side is on the left. A clothing rod and another shelf over the top of that will complete it. 

Dan didn't need a lot of hanging space and will put upper and lower rods on his side.

There's a story behind that paint. Usually, I'm extremely fussy about color matching, but since this was going to be hidden behind closet doors, I remembered that I had some white trim paint somewhere. I thought I might use that so I didn't have to buy another gallon of paint.

I found not only the white, but also an almost full gallon that I didn't remember buying. It was a gallon of ColorPlace interior semi-gloss. ColorPlace is the old Walmart brand. I couldn't even remember the last time I bought paint at Walmart, at least three residences ago. Had we really toted this all over the country? It had been a custom color, but I wasn't even sure what color it was. The color spot on the top of the can had long since gotten dusty and dirty.

Of course I was curious so I opened the can. I was surprised that it hadn't dried out and that there was no film on the top. The colors had long since separated, but the paint still looked good. I started to stir. It appeared to be a pea green color that I know I never would have gotten. I kept stirring and eventually it became a very nice off-white. It was then I remembered when I'd purchased it; about 8 years ago for a bathroom when we lived in Florida. I couldn't believe we'd carried it around all these years. It covered very well!

Lastly, here's a sneak peek at one of the closet doors.

Dan is woodburning a scene which will span all four bypass doors. I love it.

Our countdown check list has been slowly whittled down to three more steps:

1. ceiling
2. floor
3. draperies

Is it possible we might be moved in by Christmas?????

Bedroom Closets Phase 2 © November 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Bedroom Remodel: Starting On The Closets

Progress continues to be made on our bedroom remodel. Our first frosty nights reminded us of how cold our present bedroom is during winter, and we're hoping to be finished with the new one before frigid weather sets in. Most recently, we've been working on the bedroom closets.

What you see above was originally two closets, one for each of our two adjacent bedrooms. You can see how we opened all that up in this post, "Rain + Rain + Rain = A Start on the Bedroom." The plan is to turn the space into his and hers closets.

Our ceilings are tall, 8'9", and all the upper space was wasted in the original closets. Since our closets don't need to be that tall, we thought we could divide the space and use the upper part for storage.

Before - open to the original ceiling.

With a full length shelf added for a new closet "ceiling"

Dan created the upper storage shelf from the old cabinet shelves and doors torn out during our kitchen remodel.

New storage space, freshly painted.

Another view.

And did you notice our new ceiling beams? Finishing the ceiling is next on the list. More on that soon.

The last step was to add doors. We discussed hinged versus bypass but had trouble finding the right size tracks for bypass. We finally found them as a kit at Complete Cabinet Hardware in the size we needed. They were reasonably priced too.

With sliding door tracks installed

Dan made the doors out of leftover plywood from our Victorian look paneled window wall.

Storage compartment done and progress made on painting the walls.
 Shelving, clothing rods, and bypass doors will compete the closets. 

We lost the linen closet when we made Dan's study, so this will give me a place to store things like extra blankets and bed linens or off season clothing. Even though I'll need a ladder to get to it, I think it's a better use of the space than leaving it open. At first, I thought I'd love to have a library ladder. Pricing them burst that bubble.

So, we have the closets and ceiling to finish, then the floor. It's exciting to think we're almost done.

Click here for Bedroom Closets Phase 2

Bedroom Remodel: Starting On The Closets © November 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Progress on the Bedroom: The Window Wall

Deciding to tear down the window wall in our soon-to-be bedroom was the easy part. We knew we were going to replace the old drafty windows with energy efficient ones. We also knew we were going to put in better insulation and a vapor barrier. The hard part was trying to decide what to put back.

Before photo of the window wall in the original bedroom

Dan tore down the planks & removed the loose insulation
at the same time. Being 90 years old, the planks were dry
and brittle. Most of them shattered during deconstruction.

New energy efficient windows installed.

New insulation and plastic vapor barrier.

We couldn't reuse the old tongue and groove planks, and didn't want to try and replicate it. I felt a failed attempted match wouldn't look as good as a totally contrasting look. We discussed drywall, but even though he did it in the kitchen for me, Dan really dislikes doing drywall. The next idea was a Victorian style wood panel look. That's what we did.

Dan used finished plywood panels and a stain that matched the
color of of wood that was beneath the painted tongue and groove. 

We bought and stained ready-made, off the rack trims from Lowes. 

Funny how the colors in the photos change depending on the time of day and light. Most of it will be hidden by draperies by the time it's done. Still to do is apply polyurethane. Then it's on to the ceiling.

Progress on the Bedroom: The Window Wall © October 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/