Scattered Thoughts . . .

Adam will be arriving for a relatively short visit from somewhere on the opposite side of our planet in the next few days so it has been a very busy couple of weeks around the house.  As the regular readers of this blog already know, we moved our master bedroom to Adam's old bedroom when he left for the Air Force. I tore that bedroom apart... aired it out for months... and rebuilt it completely to include a rebuilt closet, rebuilt shelving and desk, new flooring and a new wood plank ceiling. This bedroom has been exceptionally comfortable for Sheila and me! This heavy laminate wood flooring has a vapor barrier already adhered to the bottom of each plank so we were able to install this directly on top of the subflooring. The original, long term plan was to turn our old bedroom into a room for me to keep all my models... mostly trains... and to create a space which would be better suited for building and working on models rather than our kitchen table. This project, however

After overdoing it yesterday on home renovations, I only worked on the house a short while today. We have the grandkids here today so I'll spend the rest of the day playing with them. Yesterday, when I was digging the foundation for the little three window alcove, I realized that the septic tank is in the way by a few inches. So, last night, I came up with some new plans with new dimensions. Now I can cantilever this small alcove out beyond the two pilings holding up this alcove.  After digging the foundation deep enough, I dropped in some pre-made footings... then glued the concrete pilings on top of these footings once the depth and dimensions were correct.  I'll wait a day or two before backfilling.  This bedroom renovation project is coming along nicely but slowly. As long as I accomplish something almost every day, I should be okay.  

Today was a relatively productive day for a nice change!  I'm a little more optimistic that I can finish this fireplace project before the end of the weekend.  That will leave us a day or two to decorate for Christmas and wrap presents...  hmmm...  presents...  I might need to buy some of those soon... The new aspen and maple paneling in the living room is now stained and I have applied three coats of a satin polyurethane.  Ideally, it could really use another two or three coats of poly but the wood grain is filled in enough and sealed enough to make it through the next month or so. Besides, I just might add a coat or two while I am applying poly to the fireplace and shelving unit. That would finish the walls completely. In the meantime, it is looking great tonight! The house is a mess with construction materials all over the place but those new walls look nice! Tomorrow I plan to start cutting the latest batch of finish lumber for the fireplace, mantle and shelving unit.  In b

Although the wall is difficult to see behind all these Christmas presents, we are building a gel-fuel fireplace for this wall between the door and the window.  We will be covering this entire wall in library paneling matching the interior door at left. Today I started working on our newest home improvement project... Building a gel-fuel fireplace with an attached shelving unit for our entertainment components. This project also involves upgrading the entire wall with custom library-type paneling to match the fireplace. Today I started the project by clearing off the entire wall.  I also cleaned and primed the new front entry door.  This door is a steel, 15 lite door currently adorned (sarcasm) in its factory primer coat. Today's priming job is simply an undercoating for a grain-like appearance which will show through a brushed-on wood stain topcoat. In the end, this door should look like a beautiful wood door. I've used this same technique on a few other doors in the past

Who doesn't want a fireplace in their home?  A fireplace conjures up feelings of warmth... physical as well as emotional... beautiful architectural details... the faint smell of burning wood... the crackling of the fire... the playful dance of the flame... and a place to hang your stockings at Christmastime. Fitting even a small fireplace in a small home can be almost impossible though.  Fireplaces take up valuable real estate in any home.  Actually, fireplaces often become a major feature in any room and can even be monumental in size.  Even small fireplaces sometimes just can't fit into small homes... or can they?   Preliminary sketch... We have a small home.  Okay...  we have a really small home.  We have only three adults in the house but it is a tight fit.  It is such a tight fit that we are having difficulty renovating the house. Where do we put all the stuff that is in the room we want to renovate while we are renovating? It is like those little sliding tile gam