Well, here we are, five days after the start of the real work on our new master bedroom. Each day's end we have marveled at what we have accomplished and today is no exception!
On day 4 (Thursday) we bought, primed, painted (and then some trim was stained) trim for the ceiling, wainscoting, and baseboards. We also bought the ceiling fan/light that we wanted to put in the room. That day also found us sanding, remuding, sanding again, and then priming the new drywall before then applying a coat of satin finish polyurethane to all of the wainscoting. It was a very long day - and in fact longer still when Dean still had trim to put finish coats on last evening. I couldn't let him work alone, so I put the first coat of color on the upper walls. I've been looking forward to this step! Clearly, it would need two coats - but it's great to get that first one on to get things exciting!
Today, day 5 (Friday), we hit the room by 8:30am. While Maj and Dean continued painting trim, I got moving and put the second coat of color on the walls. Giving that a little time to dry, we took breaks and planned our "trim attack"! First up - white ceiling trim. We've done this same style before, when we did the the sunroom renovation project. Dean took charge of the cutting station while we measured and handed the boards to him through the window. Dean is so precise in his mirror lab work, and that carries over into cutting trim. He did a great job! Maj and I did the measuring and nailing in place, and it seemed like we had the ceiling trim (two separate pieces to create a bit of a step in the profile) done in no time. Next up: wainscot trim. The inspiration for that part of the trim came from a house I was in, in Cape Cod, one time. We used three separate boards to create the wall cap, a shelf support, and then a narrow (3.75") shelf that goes around the room. The most difficult part of that was making sure that all was level and even. We love the look of the completed trim though! Granted, we will need to do finish coats of paint on the ceiling trim pieces, touch up the cut ends of wood with stain, polyurethane the wall cap and shelf, fill in little gaps here and there, about a days worth of little chores like that. The biggest part of the job is done though!
After finishing with the trim, and getting the cleanup done, and tools put away (thanks Maj!), we opened the box with the new ceiling fan/light! Neither of us had ever installed a fan before, and we don't have a flat ceiling in this room (or any where in the house, for that matter!)....so don't tell us, we know that the fan is on an angle! The fan went up very easily, however, and we are happy with the result! We have guests coming this weekend, so that means that we need to have an extra bed ready. Dean and I moved the mattress and boxsprings to the extra bed into the new room tonight. He and I will sleep in there on Saturday night, for the first time! The bedding that you see in the picture is the bedding that will remain in this room (I think). I had bought it for this room a couple of years ago, and I think it will still work nicely in there. We will be moving the bed out of the room on Sunday evening, in
preparation of working on the little finish up jobs (mentioned before) on Monday. We have been discussing the floor and have made some good decisions about that - but that will have to wait for the next trip. Since we have been working non-stop this week, it will be nice to have a couple of days off to enjoy visiting with David and Joan when they arrive tomorrow!
Due to using a wide angle lens to take the picture of the mostly finished bedroom, the size of the room appears distorted, in reality it is very roomy! It occured to me that not everyone would like to have a somewhat 'rustic' looking bedroom. Most of the wood in the wainscoting is old, beat up, stained in areas, and even have a few paint drips (80 year old paint drips) on it! One of the things that I felt strongly about, when moving into this house and planning renovations was that we stay true to the house. Some improvements would have to be made obviously, but to use as much of the old/original wood as possible keeping it true to what it was like
when it was built (only stronger and better now). It's amazing the 'jewels' that can be found! The wood in this bedroom was hidden behind very cheap and flimsy paneling that had been put up well over 25 years ago. The side that the paneling had been glued to was ruined by the adhesive, however, when the boards were pulled out my sister noticed that the back side of the boards were in decent enough shape to be reused. Not only did it save us some money (reusing what we already had), but it kept a little bit more of the original cottage alive! No one who owns an old house does so because it's easier or cheaper. Old houses are constantly in need of protecting and pampering, but the pay off is living in a piece of local history!
On day 4 (Thursday) we bought, primed, painted (and then some trim was stained) trim for the ceiling, wainscoting, and baseboards. We also bought the ceiling fan/light that we wanted to put in the room. That day also found us sanding, remuding, sanding again, and then priming the new drywall before then applying a coat of satin finish polyurethane to all of the wainscoting. It was a very long day - and in fact longer still when Dean still had trim to put finish coats on last evening. I couldn't let him work alone, so I put the first coat of color on the upper walls. I've been looking forward to this step! Clearly, it would need two coats - but it's great to get that first one on to get things exciting!
Today, day 5 (Friday), we hit the room by 8:30am. While Maj and Dean continued painting trim, I got moving and put the second coat of color on the walls. Giving that a little time to dry, we took breaks and planned our "trim attack"! First up - white ceiling trim. We've done this same style before, when we did the the sunroom renovation project. Dean took charge of the cutting station while we measured and handed the boards to him through the window. Dean is so precise in his mirror lab work, and that carries over into cutting trim. He did a great job! Maj and I did the measuring and nailing in place, and it seemed like we had the ceiling trim (two separate pieces to create a bit of a step in the profile) done in no time. Next up: wainscot trim. The inspiration for that part of the trim came from a house I was in, in Cape Cod, one time. We used three separate boards to create the wall cap, a shelf support, and then a narrow (3.75") shelf that goes around the room. The most difficult part of that was making sure that all was level and even. We love the look of the completed trim though! Granted, we will need to do finish coats of paint on the ceiling trim pieces, touch up the cut ends of wood with stain, polyurethane the wall cap and shelf, fill in little gaps here and there, about a days worth of little chores like that. The biggest part of the job is done though! 
After finishing with the trim, and getting the cleanup done, and tools put away (thanks Maj!), we opened the box with the new ceiling fan/light! Neither of us had ever installed a fan before, and we don't have a flat ceiling in this room (or any where in the house, for that matter!)....so don't tell us, we know that the fan is on an angle! The fan went up very easily, however, and we are happy with the result! We have guests coming this weekend, so that means that we need to have an extra bed ready. Dean and I moved the mattress and boxsprings to the extra bed into the new room tonight. He and I will sleep in there on Saturday night, for the first time! The bedding that you see in the picture is the bedding that will remain in this room (I think). I had bought it for this room a couple of years ago, and I think it will still work nicely in there. We will be moving the bed out of the room on Sunday evening, in 
preparation of working on the little finish up jobs (mentioned before) on Monday. We have been discussing the floor and have made some good decisions about that - but that will have to wait for the next trip. Since we have been working non-stop this week, it will be nice to have a couple of days off to enjoy visiting with David and Joan when they arrive tomorrow! Due to using a wide angle lens to take the picture of the mostly finished bedroom, the size of the room appears distorted, in reality it is very roomy! It occured to me that not everyone would like to have a somewhat 'rustic' looking bedroom. Most of the wood in the wainscoting is old, beat up, stained in areas, and even have a few paint drips (80 year old paint drips) on it! One of the things that I felt strongly about, when moving into this house and planning renovations was that we stay true to the house. Some improvements would have to be made obviously, but to use as much of the old/original wood as possible keeping it true to what it was like 
when it was built (only stronger and better now). It's amazing the 'jewels' that can be found! The wood in this bedroom was hidden behind very cheap and flimsy paneling that had been put up well over 25 years ago. The side that the paneling had been glued to was ruined by the adhesive, however, when the boards were pulled out my sister noticed that the back side of the boards were in decent enough shape to be reused. Not only did it save us some money (reusing what we already had), but it kept a little bit more of the original cottage alive! No one who owns an old house does so because it's easier or cheaper. Old houses are constantly in need of protecting and pampering, but the pay off is living in a piece of local history!
Fantastic work ladies, ok guess i need to tackle some jobs 'round here too. you've inspired me. those nail guns are scary though, don't think i could wield one as gracefully as maj, need a license for that monster i'll bet.
ReplyDeleteLOL I just noticed the sock monkey, very cute. looks just exactly like the one in Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium (a movie i highly recommend) now all you need is a Congreve Cube! too funny, waaaayyy too funny. nice work
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice words! Actually, pneumatic nailers are great fun to use - no license required! Maj and I are, both, very well 'versed' in using them. The sock monkey was a gift from Maj for Christmas a couple of years ago....love my little monkey buddies!
ReplyDelete