Monday, April 30, 2007

I promised the retaining wall...and here it is..

They worked really hard today...and i htink it looks great!

Here is Marc and his landscaping crew shoveling dirt into the retaining wall they made...

Here is Shiloh shoveling dirt into the wall...

One of the important aspects of parenthood is training your children to do as much of your work as possible..Here MArc supervises Kyrie as she puts dirt in the retaining wall...

Now..I am tryng to decide what to plant...for this year, since I am so unprepared i am thinking about tomatoes...YUMMY!

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Well today I actually got the hall bathroom primed AND the first coat of venetain plaster on..The color is Roman Bath ...Behr is the manufacturer..MAybe I all ready said that? Sorry..Paint fumes..



Any way the first step was to sand down any loose wallpaper backing..remember it is stuck there because the PO's (and we KNOW what that stands for) did not prime the walls before applying the disgusting wall paper that was on it.....I had the oil based Kilz primed a weaker version of the venetian plaster I was using...so far so good...



The I had trouble deciding how thick to do the plaster...I mean what exactly is a thin coat? How much is *some* undercoat showing through? What exactly does *IS* mean? Where DO socks go when you put them in the dryer?



o.k..here is a close up but not a good example of the color.




So, we ill let the first coat sit overnight and plan on finishing tomorrow...so far I think I like it..and that is a good thing..




Also while i was doing this Marc and the kids were workign on a retaining wall on the west side of the house..I will gget some pictures tomorrow ..it is fabulous.




I really feel like we accomplished alot today. I know it seems like it is taking forever but eventually it will be done and the house will be so cool....




Thursday, April 26, 2007



I havent said much about hte OTHER bathroom...The hall bathroom. If you recall I stripped the wallpaper to find that the PO's (apt initials because it stands for either previous owner or pissed off..in this case both work) had not primed the wall before wallpapering and so in trying to get the backing off I inadvertantly took off hunks of wallboard. Sigh. So what to do?

Well I am going to begin priming it this weekend with Kilz oil based, which I have had tinted slightly lighter than my paint color. When that dries I am going to do a venetian plaster technique in a mottled light turquoise color...I think I have enough that I can do the ceiling as well...I got an awesme idea to stencil the ceiling with a faded look but we will see how I feel AFTER this weekend. I am going ot get moulding and use liquid nails to attach it as a frame to the large mirror..and then I am thinking about crackle painting hte baseboards but again, we will have to see how it goes...I will get some pictures as I go...here is what it looks like now.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007



O.k..so it is going slow but it IS going..the floor is in..the sink is in..the toilet is back down...and really it looks so much nicer than when the vanity was in...someday it will be done..really.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

you would think we hadnt done anything in two months..and you would only be partly wrong...
We have begun landscaping on the front...several bushes of some sort, and some antique cabbage roses...I can't wait until they bloom..Marc has the tile down and the sink and toilet in the office bathroom..just waiting on him to patch some holes so I can paint..
So , you see, we are dong somethng..we are moving ahead..albeit slowly. Think of a snail in slo-mo...