Progress on the Kids' Rooms

I can't tell if I'm moving in slow-motion, or so fast my head is just spinning.  Two bedrooms down and our new way of life is starting to fall into a routine.  Hopefully the whole fam coming home at 10 p.m.--like last night--will not be part of that routine!

We worked on Kai's room last week...he likes to add a little graffiti each time he paints.

He found several design elements he liked on the much-loved houzz.com, but after much discussion, we decided a really cool horizontal stripe technique would be the best bet for longevity.  The green is left over from the color of his other bedroom.  It turns out quite dark when full on all walls, but was perfect for this accent.  I eyeballed where to place the stripes along the wall, then measured and marked all the way around.  Thankfully, I didn't get out the level as it might have drove me more crazy.  Bring on the frog tape!

Worked like a charm!  I don't think I pressed hard enough on the top tapes so had a tad bit of seepage on the brown stripe, but nothing that 40 minutes with an artist's brush and a steady hand didn't take care of.  The best advice I found, but didn't take, was to go over all the edges with the base color before doing the stripes...I think I wanted to test out the claims of the green tape!

We hung the now brown doors and replaced the outlet covers last night...he already has his tent set up, ready to camp, or more likely, do his reading in the new space.

So this week I've been working on Elena's bedroom.  It's a vision in lavender.  Even the ceiling.  Actually, it's a really cute theme with a stenciled border of carousel horses and two shades of light purple.  But that's not going to fly with my girl.  She has done her research...again on houzz...and has quite the plan.  But first...as she wrote in her English assignment yesterday..."I've learned it takes a looooonnnnngggg time to prep to paint!"

And even longer if Momma insists on learning to use new tools.  I'm ever-so proud of myself for figuring out how to use a paint sprayer in order to save me hours teetering on a ladder cutting in a vaulted ceiling.  Many props out to the paint guys at the Raymore Lowes for giving me a full-on demo when I showed up with my borrowed machine and asked for help!

This is the set up, and above you can see the handy-dandy extension wand that made my ceiling-painting a breeze.

Someone asked how I managed to not have paint all over me.....

 That's how.  Awesome.

And after seeing how easy it was to use the sprayer, I decided I should just spray all the trim too!  So yesterday I decided to rip all the carpet out of her room.  All you gym-goers...forget that...just rip up carpet.  It was quite the workout and I may have some nicely sculpted shoulders and arms after this project!  (Good timing since I'm no longer carrying around a toddler, which usually takes care of that.)   I was delighted to find that they did not staple the pad down...hoping that is true for the whole house.

Cutting in around the ceiling yesterday...it's a long way down.

Elena took care of the corners and around outlets...while Super Z-Man...well, that's how he usually looks.

Today I tackle the sprayer again to do the trim in Elena's room and perhaps the hallway.  Our special-order Cocoa-colored grout should be ready for pick up in the next few days and we can then grout the three rooms already tiled...maybe four as Eric is working on Elena's bathroom floor today.  Yeeeee!  Excited!

Meanwhile...the kids are liking doing school work down in the basement (just didn't want anyone to think they were off the hook LOL).  We're studying China for two weeks leading up to the big Chinese New Year celebration at the Nelson-Atkin's Art Museum.

And don't think Eric and I are JUST working...we're playing in the Ice Bowl disc golf tourney this weekend (my first tournament) and plan to go freeze our patooties off in the name of charity.   Brrr...the tag line is "No Wimps.  No Whiners."  What a perfect tournament for me.  Ha.

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The Work Has Begun    A Tour of the Bones

The Work has Begun!

Whattyaknow.  Between real life and working on the new house, finding the time to journal about our progress is rare.  So while the pasta boils, here's a peek at what we've started with one good work Saturday and snippets of time from day to day.

Eric is on floor duty, and this one is icky!  It's the powder room on the main floor hallway and had a tad bit of a toilet leak.  Thankfully, the subfloor does not need replaced so it's ready to prep for tile in this pic.

 

Meanwhile, I've started tackling the walls and trim, starting in the smallest bedroom.  The prepwork is fantastic.  I think perhaps the previous owners let their kiddos loose with pushpins and posters.  Anywhoo, spackle is my friend.

Bye, bye vinyl!!

Eric was going to learn a new skill and refinish the kitchen floors himself, but after talking to several people and doing more research, we've decided to leave it to the professionals.  As soon as we get a sample of the prefinished floor that we're installing in the living room, we'll have the refinishers match the stain as close as possible.

Mmmm....chocolate!  I'm pretty traditional, a lot eclectic and a tad bit trendy with my decorating, so for the interior doors I'm going with trend.  They are all getting a fresh coat (or two...or three) of deeply chocolate paint.  I LOVE them with the fresh white trim!  This is getting started on door #1 of....hmmm....I don't think I want to count.

Ooh, look!  Progress on that nasty powder room floor!  This was taken last night and now it's almost complete.  We choose a rich brown tile for all the bathrooms and laundry.  It's color variations remind me of a well-loved leather chair.  ♥

I always let my kids paint--at least a little bit--in their own room.  Here Zane takes to the roller with relish!

Last night's finishing touch was hanging the closet doors in Zane's now finished bedroom (except carpet).  Looks FANTASTIC! 

Now I'm onto the prep work in Kai's bedroom.  This window sill has some water damage so after sanding through several layers of paint, I gave up and spackled the whole thing to resurface it.  I spent this afternoon cutting in and hope to get over there tonight to finish cut #2.

So it's a start!  We ordered the prefinished wood floor today and decided on the carpet.  In other news, we had two showings on our Sandpiper house this weekend so traffic is picking up...and so am I...ya know, socks, laundry, legos, legos and did I mention legos?