Window Casing & More!

Why is it so difficult to come up with window & door casing??  I have searched and searched and searched some more looking for ideas for what we should do.  Today we put together a couple different options with window aprons...and I'm still not sold on any of them, ugh!  I have on more idea...hopefully we can try it out tomorrow.

This was our first option...just a basic baseboard flipped upside down with a piece of cove moulding pushed up against the bottom of the window sill.

Option number two...just another piece of the same thing we're using on the sides of the windows. (an MDF 1x3)

Option number three...the same as the first...only trimmed down about a quarter of an inch. (yes, I realize that isn't very much, lol, but sometimes just a little is all you need to take off!)

Option number four is no apron at all.  Just a piece of cove moulding under the sill.

At the moment I think this one is our favorite! (Didn't see that coming!!)

Then we went out in the sunroom to test some window apron options out there.

This is the plain mdf 1x4.  These windows don't actually have window sills...so it's going to look a little different out here.  We decided to go with something similar to the headers for the sill/apron area.  We're actually using the scraps from the boards we used on the window sills (they were about 1" x .25" x 8', so each board/window sill we made will do one window)

This is that upside down baseboard again.  We're going to give it a try tomorrow with a return and see how it looks that way.  I think it's everything being so "square" that's bothering me on each one of these trial window aprons that we made!

Oh...did I say that the weather is FINALLY nice here today?  So nice actually.  So we finally got to get the table saw and miter box out and get some stuff done!

First thing Kade did was cut the last board for the back of the mudroom.

Now it's my turn to figure out what we're hanging our coat hooks on and then I need to get it done!

See that blue piece of tape in there?  That's marking our only stud that actually runs where I'll be able to hit it...there's one at the very edge on the left too...but I probably won't be able to get a screw into that unless I use one that's really long!  Anyway....this room is SO close to being done now!

Kade got the fillers & side trim done in the dining room.  I'm so glad he's doing that because I sure don't have the patience to cut all those filler strips!!  Darn old walls!!

It's also done in the kitchen!  Now we can do the backsplash this week!  YEAH!  Then I think all we need are the window headers and appliances and the kitchen will also be done!

(oh wait...gotta install the faucet still too!)

Looks pretty darn good (besides the mess on the counter & island, lol)

More headers are up.  LOVE THEM!!!

And the filler strips are cut and installed in the front bedroom.  That means the sides can be cut tomorrow and then hopefully we can get some more headers built this week too!  YEAH!

It REALLY is coming together...slowly but surely!

Hopefully tomorrow will be another beautiful day and we can get lots of cutting done!

It's All In The Details

Jeremy was back today and worked on finishing the crown moulding (since we were short) and he installed one of the pocket doors.  First of all let me say...solid core pocket doors = HEAVY, lol.  Oh my gosh, I didn't even think about how heavy they would be!  Good thing they'll be open most of the time!

It almost looks funny now to close off the clutter room from the mudroom!  He worked on cutting the trim but didn't get it done before he had to go...so Kade and I will probably finish that this weekend.

When Kade got home he installed some of the door headers that I finished painting this morning.

I think they look great!  I can't believe how long it takes to do all of the detail work!

However, I think we'll be SOOO glad we did it when we're done! (and we're getting closer)

The weather is finally starting to look a little nicer, so we might get some really good days to work outside and finish cutting baseboard, start (and finish) trimming windows and building all the rest of the headers.  We've still got to build them for all of the windows too!

Here's a glimpse of what it's looking like with trim!

I can't wait to get the backsplash done and the windows & pocket door trimmed out...will this room be DONE then??  I think it will be with the exception of touching up the trim (oh, and installing all of the appliances!!!  I can't wait!

Look at all of those door headers that were installed tonight!

I LOVE IT!

Here's the little coat closet inside the front door.  It's so small and cute!

Jeremy got the crown moulding installed on the wood wall today too.

Now I just need to figure out how to trim out the edges of that wall - I think I've got an idea...just need to implement it!

Meanwhile back at the ranch....ok, not the ranch, but at our current house, lol...I realized that we had some baby groundhogs arrive this spring...and today I snapped some pretty cute pics of them.

Why does it seem like there's always an outcast in EVERY family?

 

I swear they were posing for these pics.  They're letting me get pretty close...however when I get TOO close they run back in their den and the Mom comes out!  YIKES!  I don't want to mess with her!  It's too bad that groudhogs are SOOO destructive!

I'm sooooo ready for the weekend!  The Harmans are playing so we'll get a little bit of a break!  Then it should be a weekend of beautiful weather!  Hopefully we'll stay motivated and really get some more stuff done!  I probably need to start thinking about the stair railing and finishing the actual stair treads before it gets super hot outside!  (and it will be 100 degrees before we know it!)  I'm so glad the basement isn't going to be as much detail work as the main floor!! (and the detail that we do have we shouldn't have to make a decision on since we've already done it all upstairs!!)

Traditional Door Headers

I spent this morning caulking and filling all of those headers that Kade made over the weekend.  He has been patiently waiting for me to get them done.  Hopefully tomorrow I can prime them, then I need to paint them so we can get them up!!  They're going to make such a huge difference in the overall look of our unfinished house ;)

Two of my favorite things...a tube of painters caulk and pink spackling

(the spackling dries white so you know when you can paint!)

This is our original design for the headers.  You can see the post here.

Made from an MDF 1x6, panel moulding (at the top) and a ripped piece of 2x4 on the bottom.

Not very expensive to build...just time consuming (no way...we're doing something that's time consuming??)

 

While I was working in the dining room I heard something shuffle out in the leaves in front of the house (yes...I need to clean up the front porch mess, I KNOW!)

Anyway...I looked out and there was a groundhog!!  Right there walking down the sidewalk!!  I quickly grabbed my iPhone and snapped this pic.  I swear...I don't know what I'd do without my iPhone!  I take pictures of EVERYTHING....ALL OF THE TIME!!

(you've been warned!)

I finally remembered to bring up one of the baskets that I bought to use in the laundry part of the clutter room.  I bought these from Longaberger probably 2 years ago...maybe longer.  They're actually a little small in the cabinet...which is fine because that will give me room to grab the handles, etc.  Only one problem...I only have 4 of them...I have an older one but it's a slightly different design and not the same color.  Guess Longaberger needs to have a sale on the MEDIUM WASH DAY BASKET again, lol!

Last summer I ordered some lilac bushes online (I had never ordered plants online before).  I think I got 6 for $12 or something like that...they weren't expensive.  Well...2 of them died before I ever got them transplanted into bigger containers (oops!).

But to my surprise, I looked over and the 4 that made it are all blooming!  I had never intended for them to be out of the ground for so long...so I am just amazed that they've made it this long!  They're still not very big, but that's fine...cause I still don't know where they're going to go, lol!  Boy oh boy, I can not wait to start planting some flowers and sprucing up the landscaping at the new house!!

SAVED!

Well...maybe saved isn't the right word...but EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK with these gosh darn cabinets!!  I lightly sanded them this morning and then gave them another coat of polyurethane.  They look great now (well....great enough, lol)  The crackle effect is gone!  WHEW!!

You can see on the cabinet door farthest away that it has a more "smooth" finish.

The closer door is the one that still had crackle before I sanded and sprayed it again.

Kade spent his time working on building door headers so that we can get some of this trim done.  Why do we always pick something that's not just cut and hang??  We're always gluing, nailing, modifying, lol.  We are so difficult :)

I think he got about 15 of them cut and put together.  AWESOME

(that means that I have 15 headers waiting for me to caulk, fill, prime and give a first coat of paint to before they can go up...where is my clone?? anyone??)

(think about how much he could get done if he didn't have to go to work every day!)

I guess tomorrow I'll repaint the crown moulding & baseboard in the clutter room and then get ready to spray the poly in there.  I can't wait to see this room finished...

I hope it's as good in real life as it is in my head!!

Trying Again!

Check out that fabulous under cabinet lighting!!  AWESOME!!  Unfortunately I threw away the first transformer that we bought (oops, thought it was an old power cable that was dead!) and then we realized that we bought the wrong color of lighting strips!

So FINALLY, we got the new transformer, got the correct color of lights, and they are in action!

It's amazing to me how bright they are.

Here's a close up...LED strips.  It'll be interesting to see how well they stay attached to the undersides of the cabinets.  It looks like one may be bubbling off already.

Here's another try on the door casing....

More of a craftsman/farmhouse type casing.  This one would take quite a bit longer to build.

We stuck it up on the closet door just to get a looksie...and

we both immediately said...YES....THAT IS IT!!

and then DANG IT!!  These are going to take forever to build!

:)

No different than anything else that we're doing though....so why should we be surprised!

Add these to the "to-do" list.  We may be done with this house in 2020!