The Hallway Projects

Just before Christmas Shaun complete another house project. Its so nice to have another one checked off the list, the list that never goes away when your house was built in 1912. Here are the before, during and afters:

Fall 2012, when we first looked at the house that God placed in our laps. Look at my little Aiden-guy!

one end of the hallway....

...the opposite end. So. Much. Wallpaper.

 Summer 2013

Fall 2015
Shaun does multiple, pain-staking coats of mud to get the walls smooth enough to paint. It is a process!

Winter 2015

I went back and forth with the carpet/no carpet decision. I like the warmth and quietness of carpet, but not how it wears or the questionable cleanliness of it. Ultimately, we did both. Shaun laid carpet on the stairs and laid engineered flooring in the hallway. He used padding underneath so there's a nice "give" to it, making it fairly quiet when the boys are tromping back and forth.

The color I chose for the walls, which is carried from the front entry way all the way to the third floor,  is a Sherwin Williams color (mixed at Home Depot) called "Sensible Hue" (because I am nothing if not sensible...I'm trying to take cues from Amanda and not be that way all the time :). Depending on the lighting it can look gray or green and I really like both.

There is still plenty more to do just around that corner where you can't see, but I'm thrilled with the progress so far. It just feels finished...nice.

Third floor stairs and hallway:

This photo is from Fall 2012, when we first looked at the house and immediately fell in love.

Summer 2013

Stinky animal carpet made a one-way trip to the dump. We stripped the wallpaper and scrapped the popcorn ceiling, blew in insulation, taped, sanded and painted.

Winter 2015

I hung canvases that I'd had kicking around for a while and spray-painted the base of a light fixture from gold to black to re-purpose it.

It may take a while for us to complete projects (we have a loooong history of that, though in our defense we've also done a ton of projects and had a lot of life going on) but the result is always worth the time, effort and wait. Shaun is THE man!

This house has been so much work and also such a gift. I can't wait to see how God continues to use it for his purposes.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. 

Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 

Psalm 127:1

House Project, Week 39

Well, the 18 days Shaun had set aside to work on our house got whittled away to much less, so I had to re-work my wishlist a bit.  Even though Shaun had lots of unforseen things come up, he was still able to get quite a bit done.

My kitchen flooring arrived earlier than expected, delivered right to our front porch.  

 

 The guys leveled some of the floor, mostly where we'd taken out a wall.

 

 

Two days before Christmas....

One day before Christmas...

There is still the finish work to be done, but we are closer than ever and I am over-the-moon about the floor!

We gave the kitchen a good run and found it to be very workable, even with many cooks and dishwashers.

And kids underfoot.  :)

I wasn't sure what to do with the skylight, but there are switched outlets up there, so I felt obligated to do something.  I have an exciting plan for next year!

 Light fixtures got put in...

 And the tool room got mostly cleared out, though we had to nix plans to complete this room before Christmas.

Seven basement windows got replaced, which will help seal up the house and help with heating costs.

 Also in an effort to seal up the house, Shaun insulated and sheetrocked this "nook".  After taping and many coats of mud plus a good sanding, Shaun painted the space.

I wanted to have fun colors in there for the kids and Avery requested orange and blue.

 

 Blue and orange it is!

The kids quickly set up shop with blankets and bean bags.  Shaun bought a $25 DVD player so they'll be able to watch movies in there.  I think its going to be a great community space where boys and girls can hang out together OUT of the bedrooms.

 The dining room worked well, once again seating 22 people all in the same space.  After dinner, we were able to tear down the folding tables and set up theater seating for our Christmas talent show.

Though we don't love car trouble, Shaun is thankful to have a dry garage to work in and he's been lighting up our old woodstove in there, making it warm when they're working.

 This was likely the last of the progress for a while, since Shaun starts tax season this week.  Its all good...we are living very comfortably now.  However, if there are updates to show, I will.