We’ve actually been working on some miscellaneous house projects over the summer, and I thought it was about time to catch the blog up. (I’ve also been working on finishing the basement … and it’s really close … but not quite completely finished … but that’s the next update, promise?)
Inside the house – Main Floor
We bought a new LR chair, and finally hung the TV on the wall. (I still need to hide all the cords with a cord cover though.) This room is mostly finished … just need a new ottoman. The grey one just doesn’t match at all anymore, + it is way too small for our current sectional. (We can’t both have our feet up when sitting on opposite corners of the sectional – no good!)
Since moving all of the theater stuff down to the basement, there were various holes and repairs needed in the Den. I spackled and painted the repairs in there … along with the one wall that had never actually been painted (behind where the screen was hung before & now the new bookshelves). We also moved the polka dot chair in there; and bought & assembled some bookshelves.
We have an antique rocking chair, which has been in Patrick’s family for almost 100 years now … and it has been sitting in either our garage or basement for the past 5-7 years. We finally sanded, refinished, and sealed the wood; and hired a lady to re-upholster it. She did an amazing job. She is super talented! And we’re really happy with the chair.
Side note … I went to buy upholstery fabric, and I wanted something good. So I went a few places, and finally ended up at Calico – which I originally avoided because I thought it would be too expensive. Well, they were having a 40% off sale, and I was totally stoked. I found something like 10 fabrics that I loved. I mean, LOOOOVED. They were a perfect balance of modern and vintage, and would look so amazing on this antique chair. I flagged down a sales lady to inquire about how many samples I could take home to decide, and, well, while talking with her, she informed me that about 8 of the fabrics I had in my hand were not part of the sale. They were by a designer that just never takes part in any sale. …Now, mind you, up until now I hadn’t really looked at any of the prices because the first few I saw when I walked in the door were somewhere in the $50-$100 range, plus then 40% off, and I only needed 3.5 yards. …Well, I looked at the prices on these fabrics. I had just one that was on the *low end* of this designer’s cost, at $150/yard. The rest of them were well over $200/yard … and, again, not on sale. WAAAAAAA! I was SO disappointed. (Probably overly disappointed for chair fabric, but this fabric was so awesome.) oh well.
I did however luck out with the striped, velvet fabric, by finding a remnant piece that was just enough to cover the front of the chair, and a green, textured velvet for the backing. I love the contrast and dual fabric look. Plus, I have more than enough left to make a small pillow to match … and all of my fabric cost less than just 1 yard of the designer fabric. (Buuuut, I’m still holding out for the day when I can justify that designer fabric for something because it was just so gorgeous.)
We were also able to hang the final large canvas print on the main level, with the last one here in the Den. (We have a few other prints that I’m working on and will be hung in the square frames.) So, for right now, it mostly just a reading room/library/extra area with a fireplace. Eventually, we plan to turn this into a reading/game room … with a table and/or some comfy reading chairs, a sideboard, and some good music equipment and speakers … but that’s lower on the priority list for now.
For reference, this was before, while sitting in our basement … and then after sanding but before staining or finishing:
I finally installed a stair railing on the upper half of our stairwell. Hurrah us!
Inside the House – Basement & Garage
I finally cleaned out and put my workout space back together after being disrupted by the basement remodel earlier this year. Along with this, we organized the new laundry area, which was moved over to the North side of the house during the basement remodel. There is definitely still some minimizing we need to do in that back corner area and under the stairs. We estimate we can pitch about 65-80% of the crap down here, making it feel much more open and less cluttered … but in the meantime, it’s at least usable space again. Yay!
We had to replace the springs on our garage door. Once night, while watching TV, we heard a very loud snap or clank or something from the garage. I went outside to open the garage door from the remote, thinking if it was an animal, I DID NOT want it running straight into the house. Well, the door would not open. It would go up about 6” and then back down. Turns out, the “clank” was the large tension spring that moves the garage door snapping. So, 2 guys came out 2 days later and replaced both of those.
(This picture is so sweet; sorry for blowing your mind here …)
Outside the House & Yard
We hired our lawn guys to rip out the random flower beds in the middle of our side and back yards, and then plant grass. So, now we just have lawns there, which is so much better! (Especially since I did not tend to these beds, making them a hot mess of overgrown plants, weeds, and bug homes.) We did also trim back the oak tree that hangs over our deck – it was getting out of control. (We did not, however, trim back the rest of the yard yet; and it is also a big, hot mess of overgrown landscaping.)
A while ago (like, last summer) a squirrel or something fell on our deck light hanging over the dining table area. It pulled loose from the top of the junction box, and has been hanging there ever since. It wasn’t horrible, it just looked like it was pulled or leaning down. We finally got up there this summer to see if we could fix it ourselves, hoping we could just screw the plate back on to the junction box. The screw was stripped and our ladder was barely tall enough to see what was going on … so we called in electricians. (And, by called in, I mean we waited about 2-3 months and just kept pushing that task back on our calendars until just this week when we finally took care of business.) Anyway, they came out, replaced the junction box (to one that actually fits the fixture and is rated for outside), and securely hung our light. Yay!
We also had a yellow jacket nest removed. I had noticed some activity about a week ago, and then just kept an eye on it. At first it was just like 4-6 random yellow jackets, seeming like they were lost. They didn’t quite know where to go, and they did not seem organized or like they had any sort of agenda. Well, about 4 days later, they were definitely organized, and also joined by a bunch of their friends, and well, clearly heading in and out of the same hole. It’s right outside a guest bedroom window, where the siding meets the chimney brick. An exterminator came out to deal with them; and now we wait 5-10 days to see if there is any more activity. If not, the nest was killed … if yes, the exterminators come back out. But, then in a couple of weeks, I have hang out the window and caulk up that gap between the siding and the brick. Hopefully that goes okay!?
Next up … the basement … and I’m on a roll, riding that wave, so I’m planning to take care of these last few details over the next week … and hopefully I’ll be back with the actual finished details and basement soon!
Welcome to our home ... our second attempt at a fixer-upper. 