Boundless DIY - Mid September Update

There's not much outside of our DIY for me to blog about these days. It's pretty much all our household does outside of work hours. We do spend some time eating and occasionally (crap! F's only got one pair of undies left!) some laundry. Otherwise it's either house fixing or procuring supplies to complete another stage of house fixing.

The bathroom is done. It's been done for a few weeks now. It's still got some blue tape on the walls marking spots where the painter needs to do some touch-up, but we've moved back in and it's fully functional. And wonderful. So wonderful! I can't wait for it to get cold enough to turn on the heated floor.  Pictures of completion soon, but here's a narrow angle shot with an annoying reflection of my arms and phone.

Remember a couple weekends ago (facebook/instagram followers) when I posted popcorn removal in the hall and dining room? Those two spaces are finally repaired, textured and painted. Travis spent last weekend cutting holes for new wiring and new lighting. Sunday we took the day off to go to football (GO BRONCOS!) but he's back at it late tonight and will wrap it up tomorrow.

The family room isn't un-popcorned yet and it's a really easy place to see the makeover. We're noticing our house get lighter and brighter the more popcorn disappears.

This is a pretty typical scene around here these days. Rooms with no lights, holes in the ceiling, wires dangling everywhere, furniture smashed up as far away from the mess as possible.

We still have entire rooms encased in plastic, awaiting their next step.... No lights in this room right now, either, or on the landing which is where I'm standing to take this picture.

 There used to be a light there in this ceiling and now it's just a foil covered hole. FFM totally freaked out yesterday - I had a window open upstairs and the gusting air pressure changes between upstairs and the attic were making the tin foil covering the hole "breathe." He was 100% convinced there was some terrible thing living in the attic.

The giant hole is the attic fan and the tiny hole was an ancient hard wired smoke alarm. The two little holes are going to get patched up and a single smaller hole for a new light will go in. This ceiling is still popcorned, but it is on the schedule for removal this weekend. The stairs are still an intentional catastrophe and are slowly coming apart even more since Travis cut down their supports. It was necessary to do this demo early so we have time make drywall repairs (next week) and adjust the stair treads prior to the new stair railing getting installed (by us, hopefully early October).

The hardest part about all this isn't the mess in the house, although that is hard. The hard part is that we have to empty furniture out of so many rooms at once. Our poor basement has been overflowing with upstairs furniture and items since May. As soon as the bathroom finished we cleared out a little basement space which promptly got filled with guest room furniture, FFM's non-essential furniture, and more! Once we move out of a room we don't move much back in because any carpeted room will need to be empty when the new carpet comes in about three weeks.

Our bedroom, which has been mostly empty since May, is the transitional dumping ground for anything that doesn't go to the basement. Right now it's full of art from the rooms currently undergoing ceiling work, which isn't so bad. Last week F had to be totally out of his room while scraping, repair, texture, and many many many coats of ceiling paint went up so he moved in with us (the guest room is torn up, so he couldn't move in there). In this space below were all the items you see here plus his trundle bed, a few special stuffed animals that aren't in a box in the basement, two laundry baskets of his stuff, lamps, a handful of books (again, those not boxed in the basement) and his giant GIANT GIANT  dresser. No pictures because I could hardly walk without stepping on stuff or our child, but trust me, it was cozy. I was tempted to send Travis to get the camper and park it on the street so we could all have a little more elbow room.

 Ie you noticed, that is a pile of tools, hardware, and plastic in our bedroom (plastic everywhere, we have plastic everywhere!) over in the corner. The garage is pretty crowded and it's handy to have quick and easy access to your tools anytime! You know, for those middle of the night electrical or drywall emergencies.

We've started to joke that we live in one of those sliding puzzles...

We keep shuffling pieces/furniture around so we've got an empty slot or two to work in. The dining room table is in the kitchen. The kitchen table is in the garage. All the bedroom furniture is mostly in the basement...you get the picture. The last couple weeks F has had to go through an obstacle course to get to his piano and this past week we were blocked out of the kitchen, office, and basement for most of the week. It feels like we've hit the tipping point, though. We're slowly, day by day, getting out of the chaos and into the phase where rooms can get put back together. We won't move back in to most rooms until after carpet is done, but this week enough progress was made that once the carpet does arrive we'll be ready to wrap up this renovation adventure and put stuff back where it belongs.

Bathroom and Whole House Update - August

The bathroom paused for about a month after our contractor (and we) fired our tile guy. This time of year it takes about a month to get on the schedule for anyone new, so next weekend we should have 100% photos.

View from the window ledge.

I love my new bathtub!

View from the new doorway. More tile going up on the wall with the light on it. The 2nd light will get installed, the medicine cabinets will go up, and the shower enclosure will go in.

New look in bedroom, clean ceiling, white doors, and a bed on floor b/c we're waiting for carpet and so aren't moving all our furniture back in yet.

Why is the carpet taking so long you ask? Why, because we added more to our little construction project. This phase is DIY so will take longer since it'll get done on weekends. See that stair railing? Very early 80's. Slightly better after I painted it a few years ago. It's bolted to the drywall and notches were cut out of each stair tread to allow for the post to be flush to the wall going up the stairs.

All those cut notches in the treads make it look pretty crummy from the side. With brand new carpet on the horizon we decided we didn't want it to look like this anymore.

 Yesterday FFM and I made ourselves scarce so Travis could work without distractions. He was BUSY! He cut back the carpet a few days ago, and yesterday started by taking out the pickets which were bolted, nailed, AND glued to the wall.

Then he worked on the 'balcony' area and took out as much as he could while still leaving a handrail.

Our new railing plan calls for the treads to be flush with the wall, so then Travis started on cutting off the protruding bits of stair tread. Hard to see, but the 3rd stair up in this picture has the excess cut off.

 That all wrapped up on Saturday afternoon, leaving Sunday to start a new project. Popcorn ceilings called...so we started in on our dining room ceiling. After watching the pros do it in our bathroom and bedroom we thought we'd tackle a room ourselves to see how it turned out. We've heard horror stories about the challenges, so weren't sure how things would turn out.

Right off the bat I'll admit it's pretty awesome to be married to a tall man! I sprayed water and he followed me with the scraper. We have an old paint power roller/sprayer that we used to spray with water - stuck the hose in a 5 gallon bucket of water and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.

 After about 30 minutes of prep, and hour of spraying and scraping, and 30 minutes of clean up we had this! Next weekend we'll attempt to mud it, then perhaps on to more rooms.

I would like to take a moment here to tell readers that nearly all of the ads on this little bathroom job have been from my darling husband. The stair rail is kind of my fault (I pointed out the nice new carpet would still look icky going up the stairs) but everything else was his idea. We're happier now that most of the trades are out of our house (still have tile and finish trim to go next week) and the railing parts take a month to come so we're not under too much of a time crunch with our DIY add ons.  Projects done and cleaned up before dinner are way easier than those that are still going strong at 11pm!

End of Summer Round Up

It's back to school and back to work season for FFM and me. We started mid-August and spent the last few weeks of summer vacation relaxing and fitting in a few last adventures and field trips.

We went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Twice. In one week. We'd probably have gone a few more times if school hadn't gotten in the way.

 Cousin Katie came to visit and kindly brought her lovely parents along with her. FFM is so in love with Katie that he almost can't stand it. As she grows up she just gets to be more and more fun. These two kiddos have an abundance of personality on their own, you can imagine what it's like when they team up.

 We spent a few days up in the mountains and got to see the super moon rise over the peaks.

 I refinished a crummy old dresser that's been sitting in a closet for years with my newly acquired decoupage skills. You can fall asleep dreaming of Beaver Creek and Vail trails you'll ski the next morning.

 Granny Annie drove us up to the top of Mt. Evans (highest paved road in North America you guys!) with our pals the Rushers. The weather was perfect and I stood at 14,265 feet and there wasn't a lick of wind. You could see a hundred miles in each direction, it was a postcard perfect day.

 Travis mentioned we'd been in our house for nearly 5 years and I realized that the rug under the dining table that I bought at a consignment shop as a stop gap measure had been on the floor for nearly 5 years. I never liked the rug very much, so set forth to find a replacement. My mom recently put carpet squares in her basement and we liked the idea of being able to replace a square when it gets dirty/stained/worn out. Travis flexed his design muscles and came up with a layout we really like. Putting it down was trickier than we expected, one of the color/pile choices we made wasn't the best for beginners.

 The first day of school came and went. I'm back in my role in the office and FFM started 2nd grade. He's got a great teacher with a teaching style that suits him very well. Two weeks in and it's already a totally different year than last year. He requested a giant laundry list of activities but after lots of family and parent discussion we're sticking with piano and swimming for the most part. We agreed he could add in 4-6 week classes periodically, and right now he's taking a hip hop dance class that makes him so happy his smile looks like it's going to swallow his head.

 We did some camping this summer and realized our tent wasn't going to fit all three of us for much longer. We have a pretty good sized tent and Travis just fits lengthwise. Our strategy was to pile all our gear below F's feet since there wasn't really any room by my feet or T's feet. Not only is F's gear getting bigger, but the space below his feet is getting smaller! We looked briefly at giant 6+ man tents and then spent an afternoon looking at campers. We were unimpressed until we found our perfect camping solution. The size, beds, and floor plan sang to all of us and the next thing we knew we were the proud owners of a brand new pop up camper.

 Turns out we all still like to feel like we're in a tent, the hard side campers didn't hold any appeal for us. It's awfully nice to be able to stand up to get dressed and to have amenities like cubbies for clothes instead of giant piles at F's feet. We took it up to a campground about an hour away and did a test run. FFM is so enamored that he'll rope you in and tell you all about the finer points of our camper just like a mini salesperson. Our neighbors all deserve medals for their gallantry while listening to his running narrative.

It's finally FOOTBALL SEASON! We kept all our preseason tickets this year and took FFM to the games. He's turned into a rabid fan and has a good grasp of basic rules and the flow of the game. He hollered more than anyone in our section and is campaigning to go to some regular season games, too.

Go Broncos!

 Our neighbor's peach tree survived the last frosts this spring and is producing some of the best peaches ever. Travis has been eating them and canning them as fast as he can. He remarked that they are so big this year he's getting about 1 peach per jar.

 After a successful and better than expected GI procedure I was cleared for activity just in time for Labor Day weekend. We joined my Mom and Eric at Dinosaur National Monument. My Mom and I were the only ones that had been before long, long ago. After sleeping most of two days I was feeling good and we did lots of hiking. Normally this time of year we'd expect high 90-100F days. Our temps hovered in the low to mid 70s. Such luck!

Hiking to petroglyphs.

 Hiking the box canyons.

 Sunset from our campsite.

 Travis asked about scenic trips nearby and we spent half a day at Fantasy Canyon. Strange and bizarre rock weathering so far off the beaten path you can still walk right up and touch them.

It's back to work and school for all of us tomorrow. Tuesday is hip hop dance class day!

Almost Weekly Science and Crafts

Before the holiday weekend the kiddos opted to do some crafts and activities instead of a new science project. First up, Sharpie Tie Dye.

We used several patriotic colors and the kiddos drew "fireworks" on the front of their shirts. We stuck a piece of cardboard inside so the colors wouldn't run through. We quickly learned that lots of small dots work better than large colors splotches. I sprayed/dropped rubbing alcohol on them to make them bleed, and then ironed over with a cloth to help set the colors. F had so much blue on his that it did bleed a little, but not enough to blur the designs. I washed them once in warm water with vinegar to make sure they wouldn't bleed too much and the kids wore them almost immediately.

One of the things I loved as a kid was building forts out of blankets, sheets, and couch cushions. My mother frowned upon this practice, I think because we tore apart beds and couches to make the forts. FFM hasn't really gotten into the whole fort thing yet, so to spur his creative juices T and I put together a fort kit and gave it to him for his birthday. I made a medium sized drawstring fabric bag and put: 2 full + sheets, small clamps, clothespins, rope, stretchy rope, flashlights, and a string of LED lights. It took about 7.2 seconds for the kids to figure out what I was doing before they took over and I was relegated to reaching things too high for them.

View from outside, the light blue thing on the lower right is tunnel fort access.

 FFM hauled floor pillows from his bedroom and they read by flashlight and twinkly star light.

Summer "Science" #3

Last week's science day was interrupted by a dentist appointment so we kept it short and simple.

It all started when FFM got a new bike accessory...

and while it's heaps 'o fun it takes A LOT of chalk. And of course it takes it's own special size of chalk. We looked up some homemade chalk recipes online and started saving paper tubes for molds. On project day the weather was a bit blustery so we took our project to the laundry room in case it got messy.

 First we lined the tubes with squares of wax paper. This is supposed to make it easier to get the finished chalk sticks out.

 Then we mixed plaster of paris with tempera paints and some water until it was smooth and easy to pour.

 Finally, the only part that got a little tricky, we poured into our molds that we'd set up on a cookie sheet lined with foil for easy clean up. Since we mixed in an old bowl that didn't have a lip it was challenging pouring into the tops of the tubes.

We're still waiting for it to dry, the plaster/chalk set very quickly but we can tell that it isn't all the way cured because some of the paper tubes are damp at the bottom. I'd guess another day or two and they'll be all set to strap into the Chalktrail and color up the streets around our house.

Summer Science #2

At the end of last summer both F and I felt like we'd frittered our summer away. We did lots of fun camps, but somehow never got around to doing all the fun excursions, experiments, and exciting things we thought we'd get squeezed in to our short three month break. This year I MADE A PLAN (who's laughing at the freaky planner?). We've got a summer bucket list and F and pal Emma both asked if we could do some experiments. I browsed the web and some of my old camp/school planning workbooks. I knew I'd get hung up trying to get all over town for supplies, so I took my list of projects and spent half an hour on amazon gathering all the supplies we'd need.

Last week we did the mentos/diet coke experiment. Kiddos learned that the CO2 in the soda interacts with the "dimples, like on a golf ball" that are found on mentos, causing the "explosion." We compared A&W root beer and Diet Coke and determined they're both fun to blow up.

This week we're learning about fluorescence and the light spectrum. We talked about infrared light and ultraviolet light and the light we can see and the light we can't see. We didn't get much deeper than that, but we sure had a good time with glow water.

We grew some water beads, a control group in plain water and our test group in glow water.

For the glow water recipe, and a whole list of other fun recipes, click here

First we made a sign with a yellow highlighter and a yellow marker. We talked about how the highlighter glows or, fluoresces, in the black light but the marker just looks black because it's not reflecting the yellow we normally see in the visible spectrum. our beads, using regular water in the while bowls and glow water in the blue bowls. Then we made our glow beads using regular water and plain water. The kids wrote their hypothesis on which ones might glow under the glow light.

 It took a couple hours for our beads to soak up all the water, and then we headed to the basement!

 They had a great time trying to figure out what color the beads were in regular vs. black light. We turned on the lights to check it out. Same handful of beads, both times.

 I have a feeling there might be drips of glow water all over the basement now. The kids splashed around for a while, I'm thinking we should save the water and make some glowing Ooblek next.