Well...

Well hubs and I got a start, but ya know Thanksgiving is in 2 days! I got a turkey to brine, pies to make, and I still have to work...so does hubs!!!!! But here is what we accomplished on the walls.....
At least they have some color!

Dear did you forget something?

Well hubs was putting up the chair rail in DD's room, (or what we were using for chair rail), and had said he was all done. He then had a fire call he had to rush to. Remember we live in hicksville, he's on the first responders/fire dept. Anyway, I went up after work to look at the room. Here is one side.

And here is behind the door.

After he got home I asked if had enough chair rail. He said he did and he still had some left in the garage. I said, is there a reason that there is none behind the door?
Oops.

Damn

Ok tomorrow would be what..Saturday OH I don't have to work. Let's see hubs sleeps for 5 hours, he's soooo lazy! So I can either, go grocery shopping, nope the kids don't have to eat, or paint the stairway. I think I'm going to choose the stairway. It's gotta get done. Then we move on to the floor of the living room.
And oh I have made out my letter to Santa, if any of you know him.......I would like an elf to come strip the paint off of my windows, the inside. I'll do the trim, but man the windows? Those just suck. Big hairy donkey balls.

Moving On

Well we still haven't made a decision about the ceiling in the living room....
We're kinda putting it off, imagine that!
BUT we did manage to get the wallpaper paste off the stairway walls. Those huge walls. Here is the before pic.Here is after.
We found out what worked was a tall squeegee, ya know one of those car ones! I liberally sprayed, with a garden sprayer fabric softener diluted in hot water, onto the walls, (it helps if they're plaster), and let it sit just for a minute or two and then hubs went to work with the squeegee. Worked like a charm. Now just have to figure out to get the paint done very nicely by the ceiling. I still think that is going to involve me on a board that is in between the ladder and the top of the staircase.......

Beadboard Ceiling???

Ok, we have a crappy popcorn like texture ceiling. It's not the "true" popcorn ceiling, but more of a painted texture ceiling, probably done by the P.O. when they were trying to make this lovely house into the ranch style....you've seen the wallpaper samples from August 1985 right?
Anyway it's been bugging the crap out of me. (thank you speedy for the word of the year it seems) and there's no way I can scrap that stuff off. Hubs will NOT put up a new ceiling of drywall or re-plaster just because it bugs me...(hell he could have lived with the crappy wallpaper from 1985, me I love the color of the living room.) But I could possibly talk him into a beadboard ceiling. I don't think he realizes quite how labor intensive it would be and by then we would be already started and he likes the look of beadboard. I know I'm sneaky....but as in previous posts....I have a way of getting my way.
So whatcha think?
Beadboard ceiling in a brick craftsman bungalow??????

Well Hello BOB!

Been a long time dear! Where have you been?
Haunting the neighbors?
Bothering Diane?
Oh I see, scaring Candy's kids? Gotcha!
Now it's the fall, and time to come home? Oh if you must. But please try not to turn the kids lights on and off too much. You see the youngest is now 4, if you remember Bob, he was 2 when we moved in, yup in the crib too! And anyway he is in school now. He has to get up pretty early. He's also a bear to get up in the morning. So if you could, please, don't flick the lights on and off too much, or just do it in your old master bedroom, our room? Please? The little ones really need to get some sleep. I know you like to turn them on in a clockwise circle and then off in a counter clockwise circle, but please no. I really don't want to have to take the lightbulbs out of the light again. They're a pain to but back in again in the morning at 4:30am. Don't you remember how I broke that one last year?
Please Bob, please...

Clawfoot tub- REFINISHED!

Well it's done!
And it's beautiful!

In case you forgot what it looked like here it is the before:

We did the outside, with the help of Peel Away 1.

Hubs did the feet, aren't they gorgeous?????

And the Tub-n-Tile guy did the inside. We had him put a slightly rough surface on the bottom near the drain so the little ones hopefully won't fall as much.

I just love it!!!!!!

Two stripped!

Well I'm talking about windows, I don't know what you are thinking!
We've got two of the three windows that needed to be stripped done! Now they just need to be primed and painted. I would have done the third, but guess what? I found a HUGE wasp's nest. Of course I did. Of course. And of course I would be allergic to the damn things. SO while they must think Peel Away is the best thing in the world and 10-15 of them are buzzing my head, I had to finish the two windows I started. I didn't start the third. I'm leaving that for another day. If it gets too cold and that day is next spring....OH WELL.

Oh and tub re-finisher guy we picked NEVER called us back.
Of course not. I'm starting to feel a little like Stucco House.
So our third pick called us back. He was here today to do the tub.
Hmm.
Another post soon.....

Windows

Well, not counting the basement windows.....and for the record I'm NOT!.....we only have 4 windows left! Out of those 4 3 need to be stripped and 1 can be encapsulated. The 3 that have to be stripped are just too bad to be encapsulated. 2 are piano windows, so we never open them anyway, and we can't get the storms off of them if we tried, but we have to get the nasty lead paint OFF, and then the kitchen window. Then we have this lovely window.


This one can be encapsulated.
But it will be a pain to paint.
Soon, soon.

Pretty cool...

Well until recently I've kept this site and blog kinda quite from most of the people that know the "real" me. Just in case I need to vent about the neighbors, though I would NEVER do that, (even though their dog barks ALL day long, please give it a new home or bring it inside!!!! It doesn't belong in a garage!) Ahem! Anyway, friends of ours have this site I've got to brag about. I think most of you would find it pretty neat.
WoodTurning by Greg He does awesome work. Check it out~~~

Whew!

Last coat of the Encapsulating paint is on DS' exterior window! Now it just has to dry and we are as hubs says "golden." Then the decision comes if we will have enough $$ this summer to swing two new replacement windows in his room. If not, the storms need to get stripped with Peel Away 1 and re-painted. But for now I know we can open his windows without creating lead dust or having any lead chips come into his room.
Here's the can!

Say What?

Is it August already?
OMG the kids start the back to school program next week!
Holy CRAP!
Ok, so hubs and I had a conversation that was similar to that the other week. Then we decided to see if we could squeeze out of this summer:
Getting the backyard finished fenced in, it never was really fenced, just halfway.
Get the beadboard up at least on porch ceiling, (originally we wanted to do that along with a new floor, but yeah, that ain't happening before the snow flies.)

Get the clawfoot tub refinished and do the outside ourselves.


Get a new floor in the bathroom AND

Put the newly re-finished tub IN the bathroom and hopefully not through
the kitchen ceiling....(though that would mean a new kitchen for me.......)
OH and if we have any time and $$ left 2 new windows in DS' room.

Plus host another Beers-n-Ears party, since ya know we had the flood on
the night of the other one, we thought we'd try it again. What the heck!Ya know that phrase if it wasn't for bad luck? Yeah, that applies to us........

Ok now

So we have it narrowed down.....to about 5 companies. After a meeting of the minds, well hubs and myself we called a few places and decided to have the tub done at 5 of the places, now we have to just choose one of the 5..............Hmmmm.........
Decisions decisions.......

Clawfoot tub

So.
We found a tub last summer. It was coated with epoxy paint, a couple of layers. So we got some stripper actually got the paint off, and now have some rust stains on the tub. Some really bad ones around the drain. Then we have the outside. Of course we have to get the paint off the outside as well. Hubs will be working on that as well soon.
But the question is, what to do with the inside? What do we re-finish it with? A kit from the store?

So now what?

Ok the other sinkhole was a little tiny stump, a bunch of bricks and an air pocket.
Now hubs has a sore back, which of course I get to rub. ;-)

Now we are moving on to DS' windows. A project I dread.

And then the chimney sweep came out and finally cleaned out both chimneys. They of course need to be lined. And the one is so small we can't burn anything in without getting a liner because it is unsafe. It's so small, I can't find an insert for it. So what do we with it? Really what do we do with our fireplace?

Anyone?????

Sinkhole

Ok so there was this sinking spot in the lawn. We ignored it for awhile, because, hey, we don't live in Florida.
Well one day hubs decides to get the shovel out.
He moves the trampoline (wampowine says the 4yr old). The sinking spot was a decomposing tree stump. Something we should have thought of, considering we have 13 other trees in the darn back yard....which btw makes for fun mowing!
Now it looks like thisThen we have this one.

It just get worse.
We're dealing with this one soon.
Wish us luck.

And to end with some seasonal coneflower (echinacea) pictures. Enjoy!

Procrasination

It's a wonderful word. It describes us a lot.
But we have been working.
In our head.
On what to do with the sinkhole.
Yes a sinkhole. Maybe.
Maybe an old cistern caving in, we don't know. What I do know is the pool has got to be moved. Soon. Probably Wednesday. That sucker takes a good 3000 gallons to fill too, btw.

Fun fun fun.

Goodbye Dear Angel, Goodbye

I just found out a dear friend had passed away this morning, her name was Angel. She left behind a baby girl, a loving husband, her best friend and sister-in-law, a brother, loving parents and many friends who will miss her dearly. She left us far too soon. Jazzy will remember her momma through us Angel, your wicked sense of humor, your laugh that could spread like wild fire, she will remember you dear Angel.

Ride the wind fast to heaven and be her angel forever........

Ok I'm better.....I think

Well we encapsulated the wood with some nifty paint from HyTech it's called Encapsulgard. We placed our order and the paint came fairly quickly. Very nice. It goes on nice as well. Two coats gave us the desired thickness. It was quite funny to see me hanging out the window over the porch. With the help of the captain I was feeling quite limber. :-)

So now we just have my youngest sons room to do. That I am so not looking forward to. It's his lead levels that are rising. They are still in the normal range, but they are rising.

Lead paint sucks

Yes it does. My youngest lead levels are a bit raised. Not extremely high, but raised. We have lead paint that we were trying to abate on our exterior windows. Trying. Now we will be encapsulating it. What do you encapsulate exterior windows with? Especially when you are trying to be cost effective because you are on a budget?
.

Who knew?

We always thought the flood of August 2007 would be the one we would remember. No. Now we have the flood of June 2008.
Yes we once again have a wet basement. A floating basement.
Totes will float. Then the tip. They aren't waterproof, by the way, they leak.
Yup.
Leak.
Nice, huh?
We thought so.
I was feeling a tad guilty that we hadn't re-laid the flooring down "there", nope not so guilty anymore. Not at all.
Oh and the PO lied. He did have a wet basement.

And on another note, we replaced another fan/light combo, still going on and off all night.
It's getting to be that time, so that's all I'm writing about it now.

Things that irritate me

My friends will tell you that list is long. :-)

But hub's b-day is coming up soon and I thought maybe I could get myself my own mother's day present, being the chillen' are so young. So I go to Best Buy on my lunch hour. (Hey it's close and I was *just* browsing!)
Anyway, I can go in there on a day I'm not working, therefore dressed in jean and a t-shirt and NO ONE will help me! But today dressed in "work" clothes, and a nice dress coat, heels, etc I have not one, not two, but six salesclerks offer me assistance.
That's just wrong............on so many different levels.

Still standing

Well still at a standstill, but still here. Now that I'm back to work we're not near as productive, especially since hubs works such a weird schedule. 7 days on (third shift) 2 off, 7 days on 2 off, 6 on 1 off, 1 on 3 off, 7 on 4 off and repeat. ALL Year long. So we're still here. And talking about projects...just not doing any..................

Shhhhh it's a secret

I'll let you in on a secret. Between the 7 day stretches hubs works he really really really doesn't look forward to my honey-do list. On the top of his not really favorite? Well right now that would be the paint stripping. You really have to know my personality. Once I'm set on something, it's going to happen, even if I have to burn the house down with the heat gun. (Of course I'd save the ankle biters and the parrots. The mop of a dog, well...) So he's looking at my wanting the paint removed off the stairs as a snowball effect. Ok it's going to start with the stairs, then she's going to need the baseboard removed, or she's going to need a ride to the ER because she put the crowbar through her hand, again. Then that moves to the trim around the window by the stairs, which now doesn't match any of the other windows. At this point he sighs and goes out the garage to gage the amount of paint stripper we have and will it really kill the birds? He can only hope. (The amazon likes to scream like an amazon while hubs sleeps.)
So let's all hope that the damn snow in Hicksville, Wisconsin melts soon! I want to break out the heavy duty strippers and keep the parrots alive!

I give up

That's it, I'm throwing in the towel. The stupid paint refuses to come off the stupid trim! I've tried Citristrip, SoyGel, SoyClean, PeelAway, the heatgun, and when I sand the stuff gums up my sander. I GIVE UP!!!!!!!!! The only thing I haven't tried is Tiny Oak Park Bungalow's suggestion of Zip Strip because of the fumes. But seriously the paint won't come off! There's only two or three layers on the there! What gives?

Standstill

Well we kinda hit a standstill. Ya know that big brick wall that leads to nothing? Ya that one. Between running my youngest around and planning my oldest birthday party, that's a big deal at the age of 7 you know. Not much has been done at Our Little Bungalow. But it is amazing how one little tiny bungalow can drain so much money, isn't it? Most if not all of you know what I mean. I got last month's heat bill, and wow. I am more than ready for spring. I HATE WINTER. It really is official.

Pictures?

I'm just an average mom. I take pictures of the kids. Lots of them. Of course I want to save them. So I burn them onto CD myself. A year or two later I go to find a picture and lookie there. Blank disc. What???? I know I put pictures on there. Ok, I'll admit I'm not too big of a geek when it comes to this stuff, but I KNOW I put pictures on there. Ok, find the Isobuster program. Get the pictures off of the corrupt disc onto another one. (It really was my burner I know.) Anyway, my point?
Isobuster was the best $25 I every spent. Ever.

What was left

Some of you had great finds in the houses you own. We did not. The PO picked the house clean, except for one thing. The stove. That is in the basement. That thing is going to be a you-know-what to get out of there.
This is all that is left. Imagine all the lefse that was cooked on there.
Poor stove.

Sooo frustrated

Ok so in previous posts I had stated we choose to paint the cream trim white. Now I like my wood trim an actual wood color, silly of me I know. Yesterday while hubs was sleeping from working the night shift, a bug crawled up my butt and I grabbed some soy paint stripper, (which by the way SUCKS) and thought I'd try stripping something we knew we needed to stip when we would get to the stairs. (In the next 30 years or so.)
So I applied the stipper, wrapped in cling wrap like a good little girl. Let it sit until it was nice and bubbly. Well paint stripping sucks. Anyone who paints wood trim for the first time ought to be shot. It's going to take us years to strip everything in this house. So everything BUT the staircase stuff is going to painted white for now and stripping will be next winter's project.
So guys, what paint strippers do you recommend? Besides the Silent Paint Remover, which I can't afford right now..........

Wood floors

After talking to hubs, we will probably have to put new ones down. These ones, while gorgeous, just have too many gaps and just can't be saved. We (hubs) talked local floor guy here in hicksville and he agreed. I really wanted to keep these floors.
Oh well......just add another project to the list.

The right color choice

Is Old Cedar. It just matches the house. Even hubs who was afraid it was too dark agrees it really fits the house.

Here is a picture of the French Doors to the entrance way.

Nice. Now we just have the rest of the hallway that goes to the stairway and then finish stripping the wallpaper off the stairway......fun fun, NOT.

Foam rollers

Hold a LOT more paint. Hmmmmm. As someone who hasn't used one before it was a learning experience.

We choose a brown color for the entrance, hallway and stairway, we didn't want it to compete with our lovely gold in the living room.

Well hubs didn't want it too dark, so we went lighter than we normally would.
Mistake.

It looks pink.

Back to the store.

The results?

The next post.

Entranceway Light

We can cross that off the to do list.
I realized I'm really really bad at before pics.

Here's the new one. Now I know the finish doesn't match the new light in the living room or in the dining room, but guess what? I don't care. It's eclectic, it's me and I like them all.

Little thoughts and ramblings

While awake at 2am this morning I had a few thoughts. Would hubs make it back from work ok? We had an ice storm here and I worry. The other thought is, I wish my dad was able to remember things better. He suffers from Alzheimer's and even though it's in it's early stages he still has a hard time remembering things. He forgets at times that we moved into this hicksville to be closer to him and mom. We only live 5 blocks from them now. He forgets that we are fixing up the bungalow.
I think he would be so happy to see what we are doing to the house. My father has restored and renovated every house he has ever owned. He is an awesome woodworker. He was a plumber way back when and knew enough electric stuff so he could just about anything to a house. To look at the houses he remodeled and restored. I really wish he could see the bungalow and remember it. Oh well.

Ok people I have an issue

Ok the entrance and hallway wallpaper stripping has come to screeching halt. But I've got some trim painted white, does that count? No? Shucks.

What's my issue? What's my problem? Well. I'm 5' 3 1/3" the DMV makes me choose either 5'3" or 5'4" so I choose 5'4" to feel better, but that really stretching it. Now I have some *really* short friends, so I often forget I'm short as well. BUT I remembered it recently. Yup, the stupid hallway leads into the stairway, I have no idea how to get the wallpaper down from there. Hubs has an idea, but for the life of me all I can see is one trip to the ER for me.

Oh and BTW here is Don Helfrich's signature from August 1985.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Front hallway

So we are starting on the front hallway. Stripping the wallpaper off and and GLUE and such. ICK. Why oh why did they have to wallpaper every square inch of this house? Why Don Helfrich? He wrote his name on the walls on 8-20-85 quite a lot in this house. At least we can paint over it. I have chosen a nice beigey tan for the hallway. Then we have to PAINT over the wallpaper in the dining room. A big no-no I know, however....there is lead paint in the dining room walls, so the lead inspector said it would be best not to remove the wallpaper. Since we have children under the age of 6 in the house that's what we are doing right now. (We are planning on removing a wall from the kitchen to the dining room in the future, but that is the future's problem.)

Anyway just one more post about removing wallpaper. To anyone out there that doesn't know. It's a pain in the butt. A big one.

Freaking Cold

Ok it's cold. I'm talking -35 degrees below zero cold. This brick house just ain't cutting it. So hubs and I are talking blown in foam insulation before next winter. It's either that or tear out the lath and plaster, something I am not keen on doing. That and get the stupid fireplace functional. What I wouldn't give to be able to burn wood in that fireplace.

As far as I know that fireplace has NEVER been used. There is no way with me not working right now that we can afford to get an insert in that thing. Nor are there any chimney sweeps willing to come and unplug the chimney, (imagine that -35 degrees below zero and no one wants to climb on my roof, go figure.) Can you imagine the crap up there? I don't want to think about it. Ick.

Well since it has been cold and I have been home more I've been baking and cooking more.....I found this awesome site..recipezaar The people there are really friendly. You review a recipe, and they will Thank You for it.....neat. Of course I can never follow a recipe......I have a disease that makes me think, oh it would be neat if it had this or I did this instead, so most of my reviews are only 4 stars cause I have to play with the original. I'm so bad that way. I don't post many recipes because, well I have another disease that prohibits me from measuring. I kinda just eyeball it and call it good. Sad I know.

So if ya'll know anything about blown in foam insulation let me know!

Living Room- Complete!

Well, all but one sixteenth of a wall. That doesn't really count...right? Right!
When we were stripping the wallpaper on the OTHER side of the living room (have you seen the beam?) we had a wall that decided it wanted to chunk apart. Yes that is my technical term for it. Thank you very much. So hubs is fixing it. Did I mention he LOVES working with plaster and drywall.....it's better than sex to him, no really. So once that wall is done the living is painted, the carpeting is up, the light fixture is replaced....baby we are as good as we are going to get for a year or so.

For Julia Kiss This

This one is for you!
(Sorry to all the housebloggers out there, yes this one is OT)

I heard it through the grapevine
My new neighbor don't like my big red barn
A '47 Ford, bullet holes in the door
Broke down motor in the front yard
I got half a mind to paint a plywood sign
And nail it up on a notty pine tree
Saying I was here first
This is my piece of dirt
And your rambling don't rattle me

Some people care about what other people think
Worry about what they say
Let a little gossip
Coming from a loose lip ruin a perfect day
Say, blah, blah, blah, just a jacking their jaws
Got a letta roll off-a my back
I don't give a dern what other people think
What do ya think about that

I wear what I want to, overalls work boots
Crank my music up loud
Like to sling a little mud in my four wheel drive
Trek it all into town

Shoot a little eight ball down at the pool hall
Drink a beer with my friends
Now don't judge me and I won't judge you
Cause we all get judged in the end

Some people care about what other people think
Worry about what they say
Let a little gossip
Coming from a loose lip ruin a perfect day
Say, blah, blah, blah, just a jacking their jaws
Got a letta roll offa my back
I don't give a dern what other people think
What do ya think about that

Some people care about what other people think
Worry about what they say
Let a little gossip
Coming from a loose lip ruin a perfect day
Say, blah, blah, blah, just a jacking their jaws
Got a letta roll offa my back
I don't give a dern what other people think
What do ya think about that

Say, I don't give a damn what other people think
What do ya think about that
What do ya think about that

Some progress

Well well well. A new year and finally a new start on the living room.
The only before picture I could find of the living room was on the realtor site, sorry!


But the small half of the living room is done! Whew! Hubs was really impressed by the fabric softener taking off the wallpaper paste! :-) His wife does know a thing or two outside of the kitchen!

We have the new light fixture in the living room, thanks to hubs, knowing me, if I touched ANYTHING electric I'd be fried!


We decided to paint the trim white instead of tackling the job of stripping it all this year, and you know what? Hubs and I both really really like the white with the walls and the floor! So I think we might not be stripping the trim next year. I don't know. I still want to strip the staircase, but that will have to be done with stripper, not a infrared paint remover thingie. I really love how the start of the living room looks, all I need now is window treatments!!!!!!

Bob was only slightly mad at the change in the color of the walls, he only turned the light on in the bedroom last night twice. So that's not too bad. He didn't move anything and he didn't turn the kid's lights on.