Jack the Sleeper...

Jack is what I would call a "busy" sleeper.
He rolls, moves around and stretches.

Found him in this position one night. Curled up into a ball, rear in the air...just like when he was a baby!

On another night, we found him half in and half out of his bed. Now do you understand why I dread Jack asking if he can sleep in our bed?

A House Tour...

It's been a LONG time since I have shared an update on the house. We are sitting about 2-3 weeks out from completion. This weekend, our contractor came over on Saturday to help clean the area out and clean I up. We really enjoyed hanging out in our new living room!

As you walk into the front door, you will see the fireplace in the new addition. My little video junkie is hard at work at the kitchen table! In this picture, it looks as if we have three different colors of brown on the walls. It's actually one color...a very warm brown!

A closer look at the fireplace area.

From here you can see our built in entertainment center. The door leads back to the master bedroom, closet and bathroom. Why isn't there a door there? We aren't sure. The boys put up some chairs so they could "hang out."

Here's a view showing you the existing kitchen and the stairway up to my studio (that's what the workers refer to it as!)  and down to the basement.

You can see the lofted hallway from this point, also.

The door upstairs leads to my new scrap place!!
Shall we go visit....

 

A view from the door.
I absolutely love this area and cannot wait to get in here!

There are two closets in the room.

The first closet actually has a desk built into it along with shelves. The plan is for Jason to use this area when he works from home. Then I started thinking...he has the ENTIRE basement!!

The other closet is ALL STORAGE! Can't wait to organize this baby! Both closets have lights above the doors instead of in the ceiling.  In doing so, the light is much brighter and you don't see the light bulb!

We placed these windows high so when we sell the house, the next owners can use this room as a bedroom or a second master suite.

 

Love my view and I get a lot of natural light!

This is the view of the entry way...you can see the balcony right outside of it. The door on the right is the bathroom. It has a cute little pocket door! Must remember not to hang anything on the wall to the right of the door...I will hammer the nail right into the pocket door!

Now to the basement.
The door straight ahead is a where the sump pump and HVAC items are located.

When you come down the stairs, to your right there is a door, that will be hung soon, that leads to the basement of the existing house. The other door, leads under the steps and will be used for storage.

If you look to your left, you will see a door to the bathroom, the entry to the theater (which will have doors) and then the entry to the "social" area.

I am standing in the theater area and looking back at the door that will eventually have doors. The half wall will have a counter and stool on the other side. The "bar" is visible in the back.

To the right of the theater door, is the component shelf. It will hold all the coronets for the theater...it's black so the components will "disappear."

A closer look at the bar. The large empty area will hold the fridge.

The area past the bar will be a card playing area and will eventually have a card table.

Now I am in standing in the "card" area and looking back at the theater area. The big "blank" area is planned to house a pool table. Now with all, this room don't you think that Jason could find a spot to work form home?

This is the entry to the bathroom.

A closer look...a light gray paint and gray plank tiles. The tiles look like gray wood...really awesome!

When I walked up from the basement, I saw Moose peeking around the corner. There has been a plastic zipper wall that she has not been able o go through during this entire process. She must have thought she still couldn't come over to the new part!

Here is the view of the two sliding doors that lead out to the three season porch. Why two sets of doors? We really liked the idea of having the area completely opened during the three days the weather permits!

Here's an outdoor view of the porch. (Where's Moose?) Jason and I have a bit more staining to complete! There will be screens all around the porch. Where Moose is standing, is where the door will be located.

 

 

Jason and I did all the staining of the porch. Love the ceilings! I won't point out the darker area in the lower left corner. I won't tell you how Jason thought he could even out some brush strokes, but has opened up an entire can of worms!!

Hope you enjoyed the tour and find our new place comfy and homey as Moose does!!

A New Old Bench...

Like my new bench?
Actually, it's not a new bench, but an OLD bench that I painted!
I KNOW!! I painted AGAIN!!

Jason shouldn't go out of town so much!
When my dad traveled, my mom painted all the lampshades black one week! I guess it's a hereditary thing!

This is the original bench. It was actually my Grandma Rold's and I have had it for years! I love the bench and have always wanted to use it,  but it isn't my taste. 

A close up of the little reindeer or cats with antlers. I am sure it was a beautiful bench to have in it's time, but it's time has past. It was time to get it out of my basement, paint it and USE it!!

As you can see, Moose is just thrilled with the next project!

I really liked the wood and wanted to save that, so I taped it off. 

A coat or two of spray paint and ta da..a very clean white bench.

I was too clean for me, so I started to paint black streaks in areas where the bench would be naturally worn.

Now I had a white bench with black streaks.

So here comes the sanding. My favorite part. I must be careful not to over sand!! As you can see, I took it to the wood where it would be naturally worn down. I can hear my dad as we speak, "I can't believe you did this to that bench!!" But dad, you must remember..better to be tucked in the basement never to be used OR change it up a bit and actually use it!!   

Another easy way to get the worn look, is to drag the item on the cement. The guys working on our house must have thought I was crazy, but it looks awesome!!

Moose, "Are we done yet?"
Almost. The bench seat was super shiny and just didn't match the rest of the bench. No problem!

Wanted to take a few pictures of the bench with a more scenic background. Moose posed for senior pictures!

The finished bench!

You can see how I sanded the seat to look worn. It looks MUCH better without the high gloss finish.

 

A better looks at the worn seat and legs.
 

Moose watching me sit on my new bench!
Where's it going? In my new space!

Grandma's Stool...

So my painting adventures continues.
On this day I decided to tackled a Grandma's old stool.

My Grandma Shane had this stool in her kitchen and would sit on it to do the dishes. It is the perfect size for you bum and perfect height. She passed away when Sam was two years old. (I still miss her SO much!)  I have had it for some time and FINALLY decided where I could put it to good use...in my new scrap space!

I cleaned it up, spray painted the legs white and the seat gray. Super easy.

It will look perfect with my "new" table!
Unfortunately, every time I would look at the stool, it just seemed too "perfect."

(sorry about the sideways look!)

Nothing that the sander couldn't fix!! Roughed up the top of the stool and the legs, added a few black "worn" streaks...perfect!

Can't wait to use it in a couple of weeks!!