CURRENT projects

DINING ROOM RENOVATION

The first steps in renovating our dining room are started.  We were able to find a buyer for the big Buck Stove.  It is now gone & the Laird has started some demolition of the hearth. (9/2015)

Beginning demolition- Lifting the slate tiles

Demolition Day!  We took down the stone hearth/ drywall 

View of the whole dining room, looking from the doorway to the kitchen.  Hardwoods delivered & acclimating to house temperature.

Hardwood Floor Installation (12/2015)

New Red Oak flooring (1/2016)

Stained & Sealed oak floors

Old Dry Wall (10/2016)

Dry wall & Insulation Removed

New Dry Wall (1/2017)

Priming the new dry wall

Primed pine panels & new dry wall

Board & Batten Installed & upper wall painted (2/2017)

CURRENT STATE OF FINISHED (2/2017)

PAINTING the BARN
We started with 1 gallon of red paint.  We bought it last year in order to paint the board that the gutter is attached to, so that the Laird could repair the gutter.  Lady genevieve helped paint the bottom.  We started this process with a couple brushes & a roller.  The second photo shows how far we got.  Even though this side wasn't completely painted, we were able to imagine how good it was going to look once fully painted!  So last week, I went and bought a 5 gallon bucket of this paint to continue the job.

This past weekend we continued our progress.  This time the Laird decided to figure out how to use the borrowed paint sprayer.  Though it took some time to figure out without the manual, it was well worth figuring out.  The paint sprayer made the job so much easier and quicker.  We were able to finish North side of the barn, as well as paint the whole East side in one afternoon.

East side/ Back of barn

The Laird painted & cut down encroaching branches.  I dug up and pulled weeds, raked and sowed grass seed in front of the North side of the barn, while monitoring lady genevieve & lord Alastair.  Lady genevieve played nicely and watched the work, occasionally digging with her shovel and being a big helper.  Lord Alastair slept, like a good baby!

Two more sides to paint.  The other sides of the barn are in need of repair, as the weather over the years has them in a little rougher shape.

North side

 The South & West sides of the barn.  Though we thought we were done painting for 2015, the weather jumped from the 40's to an amazing 70 degrees, for a whole week.  This is so unusual for Western NY!  But we are not complaining!  Our 5 gallon bucket of paint got us this far (see bottom photo), and we shall pick back up and finish the job next Spring.   We do plan to paint both doors, and all the window trim.  This old barn is looking good!

Painting the barn was on our endless list of projects to do, and we had intended to paint it this summer.  However, once lord Alastair arrived, we were feeling as though our initial goals were a bit ambitious.  Once we got settled in as a family of 4, the momentum of work picked back up.  And here we are with a 80% painted barn!  Painting the barn is such a huge task, that it can be quite intimidating on a "to do" list- always the thing that gets put off until you have "more time".  But the key to BIG tasks is to break them down and do as much as you can today.  Eventually it will get done!