Progress Report: Living Room CEILING COMPLETE

We finished the ceiling on Christmas eve around 7:30pm... I was still hammering up trim, hoping the neighbors would tell their kids that 'santa was still working in his workshop'! Then we spent all day Christmas cleaning - wiped down every surface and moved furniture back in. What a relief. We all but missed the family holidays... but some downtime meant we were ready for a new years celebration! and with that - the 100 Year celebration of our beauitful house! By Night: By Day:

Before and after -looking from the halllway from the dining room in the back of the house.

Before and After looking from the front door to the Bay Windows and what is now the second entrance to the kitchen.

Time for a party! Friends in our neighborhood, Betsy and Nico, had us over for a beautiful Xmas eve afternoon meal and we thought it would be fun to have a progressive dinner with other folks in the hood. Two days later, we had an evite and the party was ON! We started at our house with Crab Bisque that carol made, which was Phenomenal!! the party progressed, but all continued to comment on our happy 100 year old home. YAY for 2010 - it's going to be a great year!

Mmm much better!

patch and paste

Literally - all weekend... more more week to go! happy holidays to us!

I know this looks pretty scary - but you won't even be able to tell once it's all finished! Just couldn't resist posting this pix!!

fuel or reward

you decide! ugh - it was a LONG weekend, but come on... this does not look good! Well - i mean it's pretty against the back wall and all... and its all quite delicious... ah well - don't judge! some weeks are better than others! ;) again - it's a big project!!

the ceiling is falling

We knew from the beginning that the ceiling had been dropped in the 50's. Father Parr told us about it when he visited, and we could clearly see the seems of the new wallboard. When we cut a hole (see in the corner) to see what was up there - we found the oringial ceiling a couple feet up and in relatively good shape. Like reserecting a mummy! so - we stayed home for thanksgiving and took it all down!Thinking it through one more time (like that's going to help! ) ha!
Carol was on double duty! she took down room one in a matter of an hour AND cooked a beautiful dinner!
A safe rule of thumb is for ever hour you spend making a mess - you will spend at least double that amount of time CLEANING UP! the big trash guys picked up at least 15 carpernters bags of broken wallboard! first packed into small manageable plastics bags, loaded into large bags...

And once it was all down we were able to assess the scope of the project more accurately - yep, this is probably going to take more than a couple of days! HA!! typical! MASK=MANDATORY!!

But the nice big beams (which we will be able to refinish) and the new extended height is going to be worth it!

Add some trim to finished the 2x4s that were put up to support the dropped ceiling and we'll ahve a nice decorative boarder around both rooms. Stay tuned for the finished product!

FINALLY finishing the paint!

I cannot believe the last time i wrote about the beautiful hallway was Oct 08! Well - we finally got back to it over a year later! Add a nice window covering and a new coat of paint to the stairwell and Check it off the list!

grass arrives

By building a planter box and elevating the garden, we can better keep the cats out - AND we give outselves the backyard space back! SEE BEFORE:
AFTER with the planter box and Grass! Time for friends to come play! Yay babies in the yard!and even woodsy has a new little house to play in the backyard and stay warm as winter approaches!