No, it’s no April Fool's joke; it’s an actual blog post. Yes, it’s been 3 months, and I pretty much immediately broke my resolution of making a post at least once a week, but I was waiting to be able to show some real progress. Yeah, that’s it…let’s go with that excuse.
Well, despite MY slacking Mark has been working hard on the rooms on the main floor, and it won’t be long until my studio/craft room, his study and the guest bathroom are completed or nearly complete. Too bad we won’t have any bedrooms or a kitchen so we can finally move in, but it will come in time… I think…I hope!
Anyway, on to the progress report.
All the love is gone in my studio…
…covered by fresh, clean drywall painted Worldly Gray. My fancy red Restoration Lights have been hung, as have Mark’s customized moldings. This wall is now ready for the built-in desk that Mark will design and build.
The niche in the east wall is completed too, and we just need to decide what piece of furniture is most suitable for that space, likely a book case.
The little closet still needs some work, but Mark has to figure out where to move the heating vent to before he does so. The easy thing would be to locate it under my desk, which would be heaven for me, but it would actually end up being right under the printer stand. Mark will figure it out. He’s pretty good at coming up with a solution to any problem he runs into!
It's crazy to think that this room looked like this just about a year ago!
The new hallway is mostly drywalled, and now lighted. The piece at the end of the hallway will eventually be cut into a doorway leading to the addition and our master suite.
This is just proof of what a perfectionist Mark is and how he constantly strives for symmetry - the door leading into the original hallway was obviously not planned very well because one side of the molding around it had to be cut skinny to fit. They probably didn’t take into consideration the thickness of the plaster when they originally cut the doorway. This, of course, was something that bothered Mark terribly and that he knew would bother him for the rest of his life, so he took on the task of moving the doorway over a few inches to line it up with the new hallway and allow for a full piece of molding to be installed around the doorway!
Immediately on your right as you walk into the hallway is a small closet that will either end up being a linen closet or a closet for the vacuum, broom, etc. for the main level.
It’s so teeny, it’s difficult to photograph, but the sink/vanity will go on this end, the window will be gone, and the toilet will be on the other end of the room. The plumber has already come and installed everything, so it’s good to go!
Mark devised a slick way to put the piece of green board up on the ceiling because there weren’t a lot of studs to drill into, so he had to use a combination of screws and liquid nails. He made three supports, and we rested one end of the green board on the top of one support, pushed the board up, and slid another support in, then put the middle support in after it was up on both ends. We left the supports up for a few days while the liquid nails set, and so far so good!
Now that my little studio is close to being done, Mark can focus on his study again. He’s begun working on the wall of bookcases on the south wall, and will install the lights in them as soon as he can get up there while it’s still light, likely this weekend.
The molding is up, and Mark will start working on the box beams in the ceiling next. This will involve a series of precise, intricate cuts and is something that he’ll have to be totally focused on. It’s definitely going to be a time when the kids and I aren’t around!
Mark is planning to match the arches in the living and dining rooms in his little printer/file cabinet niche, hence the white, plastic doo dad (sorry, I don’t know the technical name for it!).
It would be silly to think that Mark would only focus his attention on the inside. In fact, he’s been working outside every chance he gets, and has managed to fill our two green waste bins all through the winter. He took a week off last week, and we spent a day working on Bella’s playhouse that we laid the foundation for last fall. Here’s a sneak peek, but it’s all you’re gonna get until the big reveal at Bella's open house party! Let’s just say it’s going to be pretty deluxe!
You may think that we don’t have our priorities straight, and should be focused on getting the house done so we can move in, but the playhouse is something that Mark has wanted to build for Bella since we found out we were having her, maybe even before! Now that we finally have a big enough yard, and a house that we plan on being in for a long time, we thought we’d better finally get going on it. Plus, Bella’s not getting any younger AND our kids are always our first priorty!
Last week between the snow and rain showers, I decided to tackle a little more of the North 40, and we decided that we’d better get the grapes in control before it was too late. From what we read on the internet, they’re supposed to be pruned in late winter, so we were a little off, but not much.
We unwound the miles and miles of vine from the apple tree, and miraculously were able to trace the vines back to the main plants. We nervously cut them to about 12” based on what we’d read, and are really hoping we haven’t killed them!
I was quite pleased with the grape jelly I made from the grapes last fall, so I’m really hoping they come back. It’s possible that we won’t have any fruit this year after cutting them back so drastically, but that’s okay as long as they come back next year. Mark will build some trellises that they can grow on, and hopefully they’ll be much happier!
This area still has a lot of work to go before it will be a good garden space, and Mark has to figure out what we’re going to do with all the pavers and cement pads the previous owners felt inclined to put everywhere. He says the space isn’t nearly big enough for a garden as is, so the pads and pavers will likely have to go.
The apple tree will likely go to because it’s clearly dying from neglect, and even if we could resurrect it, it would shade the garden too much. Last fall, a huge limb broke off, and we’ll have to have some tree guys come and remove it.
While we were cleaning up the grape vines, Mark got up on the roof of the shed to try to get some of the vines that had wound their way up to the tops of the apple tree. He decided to kick a limb off that was clearly rotted and ready to fall of anyway. We noticed three large holes in the wood, and wondered if it was woodpeckers that had made them. We got our answer when Mark kicked the limb off and a whole pile of acorns and walnuts came rolling out. Apparently it was a squirrel’s winter stash, and we’d just destroyed his home!
Picture 1- the part of the tree that the limb broke from and some of the remaining acorns. Picture 2 - one of the three holes on the limb. Picture 3 - the inside of the limb and the tunnel running from one hole to the next.
Mark felt terrible about destroying a squirrel's home and vowed to build some squirrel houses in the future. The next day we were talking to the neighbor who lives behind us, and he told us it was likely Figaro’s, the resident squirrel’s stash.
This may or may not be Figaro; I’m pretty sure there’s more than one squirrel in the neighborhood. This guy was hanging around the telephone pole after the home destruction incident, and we wondered if he was the owner of said home. If so, I’m sure he wasn’t too happy when he returned to find his home destroyed and his stash all over the ground. We feel sooo bad!
Well, this has turned out to be quite the long post, but I guess that’s what happens when you only post every 3 months! Who knows when the next post will be, but it will be sure to have some interesting tidbits and signs of progress in it. It’s always an adventure at the Atkin house!
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