The painting party!!

   HAPPY 87th BIRTHDAY TANTE MARGARET

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

LOVE YOU!

Disclaimer: all pictures taken of Rachel should not be looked at to closely as she is not wearing her best clothes and did not agree to any pictures being taken.  These pictures are for viewing only the house progress.  Please only focus on the building and paint and not at the people (other than Derek)or clothing.

Saturday, the day to get some colour on the walls. Rachel, Derek and the kids came out from Winnipeg to help me and Miranda. We started by finishing up the primer that didn't get finished on Friday.

The plan was made and the party started.

                                    
                                  We got Ty and Rory set up in Miranda's room with lego and snacks.

          We decided it is way more fun all painting one room before heading off into the next.
                                              Closets are   bit  squishy though. But very funny!

       Derek (who looks so fine) wasn't sure about being in a closet with 2 crazy sisters.

                               The basement rec room was primed on Friday and very ready for colour.
                                   Derek is giving the walls a quick sand to prepare them for paint.

 Clean up is definatly NOT my favorite part. But the primer needed to be washed out before we could get the paint started.

                                          

                            Miranda did all the inside cutting in of the corners. She did a great job!
            Painting is so much more fun when its a party and also when you don't have to worry about making a mess.

                                                                       Wow!
                                                     Paint is so much easier than primer.
                                 The drywall seemed to suck  the primer up with every roller full.
                                                               The paint went on like butter.

                            I really like this colour. It is a few shades lighter than the main floor.

Rachel is getting the paint into the corners in the hallway. Miranda's room is on the left. Colton's on the right. Bathroom in the middle.

                            Miranda, Rory and Ty kept theselves busy the whole time.

What are they doing up there? Hmm looks like Ty is playing in the taping mud.

                                                                      
                                                                             oh oh.....

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

We are at the stage of making decisions. Everyday there is one more to make and at this stage the decision is something that we will have to probably live with for a long time. Probably until we sell the house.

Some of most recent decisions have been-

1. What tone and colour of stain on the kitchen cupboards do we want?
     -We don't want to red.
     -We don't want to yellow.
     -We don't want to orange.
This took a long time with many trip to Winkler to get samples.

2. What kind of sinks do we want?
     -There are many kitchen sinks these days.
     -stainless steel, granite (brown, black white, beige)
     -shapes of sinks
          -round, oval,top mount,under counter mount, colours

3. What handles do we want on the cupboards?
     -stainless steel, brass, brushed nickel, titanium (?)

4. What flooring do we want?
    -hardwood, linoleum, tile, rug?
    -what tone of stain on the hardwood?
    -what wood do we want?
        -oak,birch,walnut, maple?
    -what colour of rug?
        -shag, berber,low pile,long pile?
    -Where do we want each flooring?
    - What colour rug, tile, linoleum?

5. What colour paint? (thanks to our friend Ang L. this has been easy)
    -in what room do we want each colour?
    -what do we do with the ceilings?
          -White,colour?
    -What brand of paint?
   -Satin or pearl?
    -oil or latex?

6. What style of doors do we want?
    - 6 panel, 2 panel, flat?
    -do we want glass in the pantry door? What style?
    -paint or stain and what colour?
    -Do we stain or paint ourselves or get Blue sky to do it?

7. WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT OUR GARAGE DOORS????
     - they are at a paint shop taken apart, ready to paint and the paint shop is in receivership??

8. What kind of door handles do we get?
    -lever, regular, egg shaped
    - pewter, stainless, brass, brushed nickel

9. What kind of shower do we get?
    - white, pre formed basin?
    -tile floor?
  
10. Tub?
    -5 foot?
    -6 foot?
    -deep soaker or regular or jets?

11. Don't get me started on toilets???
    -round or oblong?
    -chair height or standard?
    -low flush or dual flush?
  REALLY?? 


12. basement ceilings
    -tile or drywall?
    -white or colour?

13. lighting....
    -colour
    -style?
    -how big?
    -cost?

Last night when Dean came home we decided to paint the basement walls
 Benjamin Moore AF145.
There, 1 less decision that has to be made. Now maybe I can go back to sleep.
5:30 is too early to think about the above things. Now I have my list made.

 Once the stores open, I will head over to get 5 gallons of wall paint and start the party.

My sister Rachel fell for the "we're having a party, wanna come" thing and Derek are coming to help paint today.


 We will have a blast!!

taping and priming

The taping has begun and is almost done. Dean started on the main floor last week and we hired someone to get the basement done while he got the main floor started.

 He spend all day taping the entertainment center (Thanks Dean). He used almost a whole box of mud and 15 peices of corner bead.

               I really like the little corner shelf to the right. I can see a really nice tall ceramic pot sitting there
                            May have to go on a trip to find something nice for that spot!!

 We are still waiting for the front door. It is sitting in an autobody shop in town waiting to be painted. Aparently they are having some finacial problems and have been having trouble getting it finished.

The taping in the basement was done yesterday. The walls were finished sanding by 11am and Dean and I started painting them right away. We put on 7 gallons of primer. Each gallon is supposed to cover 400 sq. feet. Thats a lot of paint. I was thinking I wouldn't be able to lift my arms this morning, but |I acually feel fine....so off I go to finish priming the basement. Dean is out of town for the day, so it will go a bit slower today.

Anyway

Loved this....

Mother Teresa’s Anyway Poem

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, and attributed to her. However, an article in the New York Times has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of this poem was written by Kent M. Keith.]

A smaller garage

 Dean and his dad worked on getting the ceiling in the garage finished enough so that we can get the mud room started. Which means we will soon not have to climb a ladder in order to get into the house.
The stairs will come down in the front where the ladder is standing.

The room in behind the mud room is Dean's camping/hunting/fishing and all around guy room.

With both of these rooms framed it takes out a big chunk of the garage. Less room for basketball.

So what happens when you leave things for too long?

                                                       You end up doing it in the rain....

The guys doing the exterior of the house had to finish up some of their work today.....in the pouring rain.
                                                                     Oh well..

                                                                Looks a bit cold...

We also have a big chunk of the taping done. The basement is half done and the main floor is started.

Painting party this weekend??

The drywall is DONE!!

First of all I need to welcome Uncle Jack and Auntie Helen to our world!! Love you guys!

 We are done all the darywall in the house. Every corner is white. This is a new ting in my life. We had never finished all the rooms in our other house and here they are done already!

                    Our living room on the main floor.Dean built us this very amazing entertainment center.

 This is looking into the kitchen area from the living room. The front door has not arrived as of yet.

                                           The view from the dining room into the kitchen.

                                           This room is getting closer and closer to completion.
                                                                 Just add mud, paint and water.

                                   We also had time yesterday to blow in the insulation in the attic.

                             Walt and I had the fun job of stuffing fluffy white insulation into the blower.

                         It doesn't look like it should be a hard job, but my elbows are still sore after 50 bags.

Pine falls fishing

Dean has had some amazing fish this fall at Pine Falls. This picture was taken one late afternoon coming off the lake. It makes it more clear why he loves to be out on the water.

  A few weeks ago he took a couple of guys out. They had a great day on the river.

Today they went again and had their limits of walleye by 1pm. The river was getting to crazy from the wind and they decided they had already had an awesome day. So they were home by 4:30. Tomorrow we will eat fish.



The walleye today ranged from 3-6 pounds each.

YUMMY!!



sweet entertainment center

 We called Dean's brother Kyle to come help drywall.

 The start of the entertainment center.

Colton's room

                                                     Miranda's room

 We still have to finish the drywall on the front. But it is almost done.

   We had shale delivered today. Just in case it rains. We will be able to get on and off the yard. Ya, I know we should have started with rock, but we didn't.

for mom

This week my mom has been sick. So she hasn't been around for a few days. So here are a few more pictures mom. Feel better soon. I miss you when you don't stop by.

                                                My favorite window in the house.