Though there is still a bit more demolition to be done, rebuilding and redoing has begun, which makes things a bit more joyful around here.
Bill and Joe (nephew) put up new recessed and dimmable lights in the kitchen. There are more lights now than we had originally, and they are better, more energy efficient as well. The best part – for me – is that our kitchen can now be REALLY REALLY BRIGHT, which I find energizing and invigorating when I’m working in there. The best part – for Bill – is that the lights are on a dimmer switch (most of the lights), so when I am not puttering away in there (or when I leave the room for half a second), he can lower the brightness level and gaze about in a more relaxed manner. Then I will come back in and brighten the room up again, and the tiny battle will continue for eternity….
We liked these lights so much we decided to put them in the basement, too, along with (of course) more dimmer switches for Bill. For me, Bill installed an additional light in my work area. It tilts – the bulb does inside the frame – just like the one we put above the sink in the kitchen – so I can direct the light wherever I need it.
While putting in the lights, Bill discovered yet another instance of the lazy, crappy, job the people who prettied up this house for sale did. Exposed live wires! Just sitting there in the basement ceiling! So that’s all been fixed now and we can rest a bit easier now. Of course, we rested easy before, but that was in ignorance. Now we can rest in knowledge. It’s more comfortable. And there are more pillows.
Anyway, we’ve continued more with the basement at this point. The plan is to get the basement finished first, so we can move everything back to where it belongs down there and the house will feel less upside-down.
So – painting! The walls were all (everywhere in the house) white, or off-white. Nice and bright at first, but we’ve gradually been adding color – bedrooms first, and then the bar area of the basement (brown…to give it that dark, pub-like feel I suppose). Did we want to paint the remaining walls down here in color or do white again? Bill gave me the decision, and I thought it would be cool to divide this part of the basement into two sections. It already was, kind of, with one section being my work area and the other being the tv area. I wanted to keep the work area white – bright and invigorating for me – but a splash of color would be nice in the other section. I stared and thought and pored over online paint chips. Both kids suggested blue, but…nah. I didn’t want that. I realized I wanted something light, warm, and neutral. I headed to Lowe’s and looked at paint chips up close and personal, and decided on their Valspar New Peach. You can see a bit of it in the picture above. I was a bit…not nervous, but…well, I wondered if it might seem too girly. I didn’t think it was girly – I thought it was, well, light, warm and neutral. I brought home a quart and started painting.
And I went through the quart awfully fast and realized I should have bought a gallon. So, in order to get two walls done before anyone got home that day, I zipped back to the store and got my gallon.
It’s not easy to take a good picture of this color – depending on the light available, sometimes it comes out more orangey, other times it’s yellower. This one was the best of them. That little white blotch above the light switches is where Bill decided to fill in a dent in the wall. He liked the color, by the way. Everyone did. Peace and Harmony prevail.
A day or two later, Bill and Julia picked out a new switchplate:
We will find plates similar to this one for the electrical sockets as well. But just in the New Peach area.
Here’s another look at the painting in progress:
The beam across the ceiling is the room divider. The near side of it will be peach as well.
But we aren’t painting in the peach area at the moment.
BECAUSE…
Bill had another project he decided to tackle, since we were tearing down and putting up anyway…
The ceiling above the stairs that lead down to the basement has been ugly and annoying for a while. When we first moved in, it was, of course, fine. Smooth and white. Just…there. Over time, however, cracks have appeared. Cracks that formed squares. Squares the same size as the ceiling in the little closet in the basement where we store holiday decorations, extra placemats and tablecloths and stuff, and where Julia used to pretend it was her fort. 12” square acoustic tiles. That the people prettying up the house had covered up and filled in the holes and painted over to make it look flat like sheetrock.
So, earlier this week, Bill pulled the offensive ceiling down.
And then we put up a new one.
That’s where we are as of today. There’s another round of sanding to be done, where the holes were filled in, and then we need to clean the dust off the walls, and then we can prime and paint again.
Progress!
Today I am home from work, hanging out with Alex, who isn’t feeling well. I’m sitting on the couch with him, and my laptop, and some crochet projects, and hot tea, and my phone. While I was sitting here I looked up at the window and took this picture:
The little walls around the window in the New Peach section are white. I had painted the little walls around the window in the white section with New Peach, but Bill didn’t like it and I wasn’t in love with it once it was done, either, so that’s been painted over. I do, however, like this window as it was this morning.
And I mentioned “some crochet projects,” didn’t I. I’ve got the two afghans I was working on for Alex and Julia, and just for fun I thought I’d learn to crochet Granny Stripes because I saw a really pretty Granny Stripe afghan and wanted to try it out. I grabbed some yarn that wasn’t already in use and found a great tutorial online (not that it’s very difficult, but I am still a novice and need all the guidance I can find). Coincidentally I picked the same color used in the tutorial.
Anyway, here’s a little group shot of the two afghans and my little learning project from this morning.
Much as I really like that stitch, I need to put it away for now and work on one of the other afghans. I am really trying to work on FINISHING things that I’ve started.
It’s not always easy.
I’m easily distracted.
By the Granny Stripes.
Oh, and there was this other pattern I saw as well….
Isn't it amazing the lengths people will go to when they think they're being clever? Seems like a lot more work to fill in acoustic tiles than to just install a proper ceiling!
I love the peach color and I love your description of the added light in your kitchen and basement!
We are getting ready to embark on our own home improvements which begins with a new fireplace and surround. Excited but anxious at the same time. You have proven the process is survivable! ;)
Posted by: RoseAnn | March 19, 2015 at 12:52 PM