NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Renovation progress report – week 23

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While things are really moving along at the house, nothing is really photo-worthy.

Add this to the fact that we work during the day and by the time I get to the house to take photos, it’s way past dark and the photos don’t show how wonderful it really looks. And when I try to take photos on weekends, we spend AN ENTIRE SUNDAY ATTEMPTING TO FIND A BATHTUB.

For goodness sakes, all I wanted was a deep tub with a smooth floor. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?

I guess it is. We ended up losing 5 hours, our sanity, a few hundred bucks and half of my requirements for a perfect tub (it’s not as deep as I wanted). But, it is made in America. (Believe it or not, Anonymous, you can actually find American-made items in home stores.)

I guess that’s worth something.


So, right now, Ryan is spending his time getting all the insulation holes filled on the walls and the walls finished up so I can paint. Because the walls are plaster, the texture is uneven in some places. So, he decided to skim coat the walls and ceilings in the living room, dining room and entry way. The skim coat essentially smoothes out the rough parts and allows Ryan to fix cracks, etc. He sands in between coats.

The entry is pretty much complete. And, I’m shocked at how smooth the walls are. (You can see it above in the entry.) Those of you with old houses understand. Plaster can be challenging, but it also has lots of character. With the skim coat, it will look awesome with a coat of paint. Can’t wait to show you all. I’m thinking I may even be painting the entry this weekend. Just need to figure out what color.

I want a pretty light greige. Any suggestions?


I know you cannot tell from this photo. But this is Bedford Grey from Martha’s HD line, which is what I was planning on using. But now I’m afraid it’s too silver.

We also decided to do some woodwork detailing on the ceiling of the living room. Almost like board and batten for the ceiling. I’ll paint it white and I hope it will connect all the other woodwork in the house – the dining room, the stairway, the built-ins…

Excited.

This week, I worked on matching the texture on the new sections of wall in the second bedroom.

Luckily, the texture is super easy to replicate and I actually like it.

I chose some sort of a mid-grey. (I finished the closet after taking this picture.) I feel lukewarm about it. I’m going to wait and see what it looks like in the daylight. And white trim will brighten it up.

Meh.

In other news, I’ve been making supper and bringing it over every night so we don’t have to eat out. Here’s an example. Pasta with a few pieces of garlic bread. Usually, it’s even warm by the time I get there. 😉 Eating at a very fancy card table. Very romantic.

Can I be entered in wifey of the year?

So, that’s week 23.

What do you think?

Comments

  1. YOU.ARE.AMAZING. Renovating AND cooking?! Mr. FC would swap me for you in a second…..did things just get weird in here.

    I am so glad you can appreciate the delicate inner workings that renovating entails. It is such a labor of love (though I don’t dare compare our project to yours–you are true experts). The next time we’re at HD or Lowe’s, agonizing over a toilet or contemplating clear caulk or white, it will warm my heart to know that you’re probably doing the same thing. For realsies.

  3. So what do you think? Is Anonymous the customer service guy who was a jackass or just some little wuss who can’t be honest about their opinion if everybody knows who they are? Interesting.

    I am super impressed that you recreated the texture on those walls! Matching texture can be incredible difficult.

    And I think you qualify for wifey of a lifetime.

    Where are the dogs while you guys work on the new house? I’ve been meaning to ask and keep forgetting…

  4. you guys are such troopers! impressive – you work, renovate, AND cook dinner?? superwoman.

    i can’t wait to see the finished house! (i’m sure you can’t, either!)

  6. i actually really like the bedford grey. someone else used that (if i can find/remember the blog i’ll send it to you) on a room and i thought it looked really nice. definitely not too silver. 🙂 ps. dinner looks amazing. but i’m also really, really hungry right now.

  7. I love that you bring dinner with you. You are on top of it! Our living room is a MS gray- dolphin mist I think. She has lots of good gray colors. I always find more paint colors I like, than places I have to paint.

  8. I completely hear you with respect to the tub! It was really difficult for us to find something we liked within our budget. My main goals were to find something deep (our has a soaking depth of 14″ and its perfect because its deep enough without taking forever to fill) and that has a smooth front (no wave patterns for me :). Ours has a bit of texture on the bottom, but its not very noticable.

    For a greige color, we painted our living room Aged Beige by Behr Ultra. We really like it!

  9. Gave you a blog award since you’re one of my very favorites!! Come check it out!

  10. Wife of the year goes to ….

    KIM!

    Yes, that is so sweet of you to make dinner and bring it over. Healthy, too. See ya’ll contribute in different ways. And toss a little candle on that card table. When you’re 50 you’ll be like “remember when we ate on a card table with plastic silverware and a candle?”

    check out holly matis’s post on her new desk. in the comments she tells you grey colors she used. i think they are perfect.

    from holly:
    the walls are Martha Stewart (her new paint line at Home depot) MS Sharkey Grey in the kitchen/desk area, Restoration Hardware’s GRAPHITE in the entry…and Behr all in one’s GRACEFUL GRAY in the dining room.

    look at this post from jones design company: http://jonesdesigncompany.com/blog/paint/

    and this one: http://houseofsmiths.blogspot.com/2010/10/master-bathroom-re-paint-party.html

    and this: http://briaroak.blogspot.com/2010/08/painting-officespare-room.html

    and from caitlin: http://caitlinwilsondesign.blogspot.com/2010/03/top-5-greys.html

    and from tracery:
    http://traceryinteriors.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/tracery-tips-best-basics/

  11. Everything is coming along!

    Those textured walls can get annoying… at least I think so anyways. We have that plastered texture all over our walls. I can’t imagine what it will be like if something happened and we had to replace a section of the sheetrock… than trying to recreate the same plastered texture that’s already there… oh boy. -Okay im getting ahead of myself.

    It’s looking great though, I enjoy reading [and looking] at all your updates 🙂

  12. I just found your blog via the DIY Newlyweds. I’m slightly obsessed with home improvements (watching, not doing, mind you) and now, I find your blog too?…Ack! Love it! Things may get out of hand with my blog reading.

    Anyway, the renovations look great and I love that you’re updating us!

  13. Oh my goodness, you guys are AMAZING!!! Skim coating walls, replicating plaster textures, adding board & batten-esque details to the ceiling . . . my heroes!! You guys are really outdoing yourselves, and I’m beyond impressed. And yes, you totally deserve wife of the year award. 🙂 (P.S. All my paint colors are in the tan family so I don’t really have any gray suggestions.)

  14. What do you guys do for your “real” jobs?? I want to know more about this whole creating-a-house-from-scratch stuff. Like, how does Ryan know how to do all of this stuff? What do you guys sacrifice in order to do this? How long does it take, start to finish? What will you do when it’s over? Am I being too nosy? =)

  17. Everything looks great! I really like the grey colors. Maybe it’s just the picture, but the Bedford Grey does not look silver to me at all – it actually looks kinda beige. I think grey is becoming the new tan, and I love that.

    PS- I made a flat iron case like you posted last week and I love it. Thanks so much for sharing the idea!

  18. Hey Kim! I have so enjoyed following along in this journey with you. How great that you are keeping a “journal” of this process in such detail. You will have so much fun looking back. I’m amazed at what you have accomplished so far.
    xoxo,
    Kim

  20. Well, you definitely have me beat for wifey of the year–I do not work and still ask my husband to fix dinner a couple of nights a week (in my defense, when I ask him to there is usually something really easy ready for him to make and most nights I’m fine with a bowl of cereal so this way he actually gets to eat a real dinner every night of the week).

    And what was up with anon?! Geez! Although I did get tickled at her use of “allot” instead of “a lot”–especially after her stating that those who commented on the post “was not very smart”. Ouch, anon, ouch!

  23. So I’m trying to picture the board and batten for the ceiling, but it’s not working because I have exceptionally bad picturing skills. So I can’t wait to see it. Totally intrigued. Yay progress!! And sorry about the bathtub. I hate how difficult it can be to find something you thought should be simple.

  24. Wow! You sound busy! I hope you are finding some time to relax and reflecting on the fact that once it’s all finished it will be MARVELOUS!
    P.S. I too would love a deep bathtub, being that we won’t own a home over the next 20ish years (my husband commissions into the Air Force in May) I’ll have to cope. Do me a favor and enjoy a nice warm bath for me.
    Biz
    http://busybizblogs.blogspot.com/

  25. kim – everything is looking great!!

    do you have a sherwin williams near you? i painted my gift shoppe a grey color and it gets RAVE reviews. everyone is always asking my what color it is. and to be honest it’s my favorite too. looks great with everything. and i have white trim as well.

    i also painted my kitchen a light/white/grey .. and my hall as well.

    i tired color but this house seems to do best with greys. so i’ll listen to it.

    as usual, im in the middle of cooking breakfast – breakfast quesadillas today – so i’ll email you the paint colors later.

    again everything is looking great! i’m so impressed at the work you both do. you have soooo much to be proud of!