New Construction Update no. 6 Kitchen granite and sink installed

Hope everyone had a wonderful and fulfilling Thanksgiving.  The kitchen granite and sink is now installed.

I remember how upset I was when they didn't have the original piece of granite  I picked out at the beginning of construction.  I was forced to choose from 3 - 4 slabs of colors that were different from our original pick.

It actually turned out pretty nice.

The new color is slightly darker which makes a nice contrast with the white walls and cabinets.  It also matches nicely with the stained woodwork.

The faucet I chose was different than the normal single hole faucet that usually gets installed with granite. I like having the two levers for the hot and cold.  At least this way I have the option of installing a single lever faucet later if I changed my mind. The holes now are there now for either design faucet that I choose.

The sun and window glass is causing the colors in the picture.

So here is new kitchen completed. The cabinets were designed up to ceiling to keep from having to dust the tops because I'm lazy smart and looking to SIMPLIFY my life.  We picked black appliances instead of stainless because I think black is going to be the way to go. The black appliances always look nice.  I have black appliances in the my other kitchen.

This is open concept into the living room  ( I call it a parlor ) . The floors are still covered and protected as there are still more contractors coming and going doing some finish work.

This is part of the living room from standing in middle of kitchen.  It is much larger than the picture shows.

This is still my favorite room of the whole new construction project. I love the ship lap original wall and old window.

I will show you the window and how I distressed it out with just a little sanding and scraping of the multi layers of paint.

New Construction Update 4

Hello Everyone.  We are back from vacation which means back to work , school , and the new addition on our home for mom. The project has moved a long way since my last post. The green dumpster is finally gone. When they remove the dumpster, you know the project is near the end.

New Construction Update 3

Hello Everyone ! Although our new addition construction is past the half way mark,  I thought I would continue to show you the steps taken along the way.
I've been working, shopping, painting and moving things around here trying to live through this construction project. Contractors are coming and going. It can be hectic some days. Here's a sneak peak of the front porch. Yes, we did all the staining and painting ourselves. It's more sweat equity we put into this project to save money.

Wood Log Mounted Deer Antlers idea

While our tree guy Dan was trimming some trees for us to prep for the new addition construction site, I had him cut some slices off the logs for me approx. 3 inches thick so I could mount the deer antlers I bought last year.

Here's Dan our tree guy on a smaller tree we had to remove.  I planted 8-9 trees last year around our property to make up for the two we had to remove.

  I've been letting the log slices dry out for 3-4 months now.  They will split during the drying process if left untreated.  I used a stain mixed with polyurathane and applied several coats.

The log slice doesn't look like it's been treated because it just absorbs the stain/poly like a sponge as it dries out.  There is a product you can buy for this process, but it's expensive and I'm only doing this one slice. The other 2 slices did split as they were drying out.
 Traced the skull of the antlers onto the wood and remove the inside of the wood so the antlers sit flush.

 Cut pieces of rope and cover the skull. You can use a glue gun to attach the pieces.

 

                 I originally hung this without mounting it to the wood but it didn't look finished.

 I drilled the top of the skull at an angle and used a 3.5 inch wood screw to attach it to the wood.
I used two 2 inch screws for the bottom.

                                                                           
Drill a hole in the back of wood slice and hang on the wall. Since it's such a heavy piece, I decided to hang it on the pine wall in parlor  (livingroom)  instead of drywall in the den.

                                                                         
                               It's alot easier to do. A great place to hang my Stetson.

A Farmhouse Chair even you can make

I apologize for the long time in-between my posts.  I've been busy going to school and training.  As I was moving stuff around in the shed and putting away my summer yard tools and pots, I came across my sons crib mattress.
I thought I would make a farmhouse chair out of it like I made a bed for our dog with the other toddler  mattress and it came out pretty cool.

Painting and Staining Exterior of House , Doors and Windows

I started a major project 2 weeks ago. I never really liked the color of our garage door , windows and accent so I'm redoing all of it before the new addition construction begins. Late Fall of last year we started to stain the cedar siding , of course, it started to snow and got really cold so I am now finishing up where we left off. This is how it looks with the cedar siding finished and the white doors and windows will be painted in the new colors I picked.

Wood Baby / Dog Gate

Hello, I thought I would show you the wood baby / dog gate that I installed  going from the den to the kitchen. The gate was in another place , but I decided to move it when I found our dog on our sofa in the wee hours of the night.  He's not a small lap dog and rolls around in the yard.  So our sofa is no place for him to be.

Scrap Wood Phone Caddy

I haven't been doing too much lately since I've just wrapped up some big projects that I started working on during the Holidays. I have been targeting areas that just need a fresh look or different accents added. One of those areas is where the telephone is located. Since our house is a mix of old and new construction, the footprint here on the first floor just doesn't make sense and neither does the location of the phone. I'm not a phone type of person, therefore  I keep it located on the counter so I don't have to stay on the phone for hours talking to anybody. I like to keep calls short , sweet and to the point. I thought I would give it fresh look with some access to paper and pencils for the calls that need notes and numbers.

DIY Chalkboard

Hello Everyone, I thought I would show you how to make a chalkboard really simple. No paint required.
Our son has been learning to write his name in school this year. I thought  the chalkboard would be a great gift to his teachers to say  thank you  and sign his name for  Valentines' Day . I made three of them for his two teachers and one for myself.

Scrap wood Heart

The other day when I finished making chalkboard gifts for my son's teachers for Valentine's day ,  I had a small pile of scrap 1 by 2's leftover.  The way  they were piled on the floor kind of looked like a heart so I went with it.  I only had to make a few cuts since most of the pieces were already at 45 degree angles.

DIY SCRAP WOOD ' CHUNKY ' FRAMES

While I was staining and painting the house , it was hard not to notice some of my outside decorations weren't looking so good. I thought I would clean them up a bit and add to the frames.

Staining and Sealing the House with a new sealer

Since having a new roof put on over the summer the outside siding on the front wasn't looking so good.  The sun beats on the front of the house in the late afternoon.  The house definitely needs to be sealed and protected.

Since having a new roof put on over the summer the outside siding on the front wasn't looking so good.  The sun beats on the front of the house in the late afternoon.