The haunting of the rooster room. Oh yeah, and your room is ready!

Do you remember the Rooster Room? It was our guest bedroom, kindly left for us, as is, by the generous Mrs. S. when we purchased the house. It's been named the Rooster Room because it is absolutely filled with rooster and chicken items. All of the pictures on the walls are roosters or chickens (approximately 10 of these!), the plates (2) are roosters or chickens, even the clock is a rooster cock. The witty Mrs. S. was not unaware of the possibly nicknames for that room (giggle.)Our first week here we slept in that room while we frantically tried to get the master bedroom ready for habitation (aka get the smoke smell out.) If you don't remember it, here it is.

First of all, we removed all the furniture and pictures, filled and sanded the imperfections in the walls, pulled out the carpet, and then primed. But a funny thing happened at that point. Well, not so funny maybe. We noticed, immediately after finishing priming, that the spare bedroom smelled like Kentucky Fried Chicken.

No joke.

So we closed the door. We left it for a couple of days. It really was not a nice smell. We were hoping it would go away. It didn't. I think it even got worse.

I took it as a sign from the roosters that they were done with that room and would not be returning. That's okay with me! Actually, I took it to mean that they were dead. So I painted the trim and Ian helped with the ceiling, and then I painted over the primed walls. I've become a painting-machine!

Luckily, the smell went away.

Next we pulled out the underpadding. We have been leaving it on while we've painted because it doesn't touch the trim (so we don't have to worry about trying to paint around it) and it protects the wood floors underneath from the occassional rogue paint drip (or light splattering that occurs every time we prime.) Unfortunately, as with our bedroom, we discovered a huge paint splotch (is that a word?) on the wood floors when we pulled the underpadding out. The master bedroom had a lot of paint on the wood floors, but luckily the rest of the house has been alright so far.

But I'm getting good at this house reno stuff. I tackled it with my chisel and 0000 steel wool. I tried a putty knife  and although it works well on the light small splatter spots, it wasn't really doing anything on this big splotch. After two days, this is the outcome.

I'm pretty happy with it actually. The floor will have to be re-varnished, but I'm okay with that.
I washed the curtains, and they shrunk. And they're double layers. And only the outer yellow fabric shrunk, not the white liner fabric behind it. So it looks dumb. We'll have to get new curtains. All the other bedding is still sitting downstairs in the laundry room, unwashed since we moved in. I don't plan on using it. I'll probably wash it and donate it, except for two possibly wool spare blankets that were on the beds. I think I'll wash and keep those. We bought new bedding just before New Years because we were having our first overnight guests!

So, it's done.

Well, almost...

We'll have to get a new curtain, I wouldn't mind getting a rug, the lamp shades need some attention, and we'd like to hang some artwork. Hanging artwork on our freshly patched and painted walls seems to be the hardest thing for us to grapple with. First off, picking out nice artwork that you can live with forever isn't easy. Ian's got lots of photographs we'd like to use, but how do you even decide? And then there's the part about putting holes in our lovely walls. We just filled all those holes! That's the worst part I think. We do have SOME pictures to hang on walls but so far haven't been able to bring ourselves to put a single one up. So we just stare at our bare walls. Good thing we like the paint colours.

So when are you coming to visit?

A visitor

Nearly every morning I wake up to a "tap... tap tap.. TAP.." on the back window (in the den/bedroom). The first few times I heard it, I thought it was someone throwing rocks at the window and I couldn't figure out who would do that, or why for that matter. Those thoughts lasted only seconds as I walked down the hall towards the den/bedroom to find out what was going on. This happens nearly every morning. THIS is the culprit. (Turn your sound up for the full effect.)

This video is one of the most clear I've taken, and you really get the idea that it doesn't happen just once or twice... He just keeps going! One of these days the poor, dumb little guy is really going to hurt himself (if he hasn't already given himself brain damage doing this!) However, it doesn't really capture the way he sometimes backs up into the branches, puffs himself up big, and litterly throws himself into the window! You'll just have to trust me, he does. And if we close the curtains, he still does it. Sometimes he'll sit outside the window and sing. I take it when he does that it means he wants food. But he'll throw himself into the window whether there's food outside for him or not. Maybe Mrs. S. used to feed him. Someone else wondered if she maybe let him inside. Apparently the woman across the street invites the squirrels into her home. Ian saw Hairband squirrel leaving the other day, darting out of her house, and she wished him (Hairband) a good day, and told him not to stay away too long. Interesting...

P.S. Hairband is a brown squirrel with a blonde tail, reminiscent of a bad hair-band blonde ponytail... He's the most identifiable of all our neighbourhood squirrels.

My Ruffle Apron

For several years I've been seeing these super cute ruffle aprons for sale. I always think "I could make that, it would be so easy!" and I'm always really surprised by the price people charge for these. (Although I saw some at Pier One last week that were only $15.00 and I really think that is reasonable!) Anyways, the sewing stars aligned: I found an online tutorial (here), have the space to do some sewing, dug my sewing machine out and oiled it, got some fabric on clearance, and finally decided to make my own! What do you think? I'm thinking if I can improve my technique a bit, get better at sewing (especially straight lines over ruffles), and get some more fabric on clearance, I might try to sell some of these. I have another pattern for a retro apron (no ruffles) that I'm going to try next.

PS I love my slow cooker! I use it all the time, especially in the winter! This, I think, was pulled pork, for pulled pork sandwiches. I found a recipe that used a pork loin roast, and a can of Root Beer, so I thought, "what the heck?! How simple!" and decided to try it. You shred the pork when it's cooked, then you drain out the Root Beer and add BBQ sauce. Serve on a nice hamburger bun with fresh cole slaw. It turned out sooo good! But I'm a sucker for pulled pork... Apologies to my non-pork eatting friends who would be gagging at the thought of eating a pig...

Alas, the kitchen.. though still a work in progress...

The kitchen, before:

This is the kitchen painted, notice the lovely carpet still in place:

Carpet out, trying to scrape the carpet glue off of the existing tiles (vinyl?):

Laying out the paper "floor plan" for the new lino:

Filling the gaps in the tile, and attempting to level what's left of the glue:

We put the new lino out on the living room floor for cutting, and realized instantally that it was two feet too short. It said it was 12x13 feet, but it was really 12x11. We called the store to complain and they said we could bring it back, or they could refund us the difference. We figured if we could make it work, we would just keep it - we really just want to get it done. We were able to make it work by taking out a piece that would be under the cupboards, and piecing it next to the back stairs. The unfortunate thing being that we would definitly have to install a toe-kick then (I was actually hoping we wouldn't have to, I really liked the legs our cupboards had before.) But that was getting a bit off track, here are the laying out and cutting pics:

 

Floor done, now for the unfortunate toe-kick. It was white, I painted it Gingerbread and then touched it up with some leftover brown from the bathroom and yellow from the kitchen to make it blend with the cupboards a bit nicer:

And here's the nearly finished kitchen:

I'd like to get some cupboards to hang above the little breakfast table and dishwasher for my extra pantry stuff. We actually removed the cupbard between the window and the door to go downstairs for painting purposes, and I don't think I want to put it back up - it's just nicer and more open there now, and the cupboard wasn't very big and useful anyways. So that's the next thing on my list. Also, I'm toying with the idea of actually painting the cupboards white in the summer, when I can take all the doors out to the garage to do it. I'm on the fence about the hardware, I haven't decided if I'll spray paint them and keep them, or get rid of them and get something else. Also the lights. I'm not sure how much I love them. I love the mid-century design, but thinking something a bit more modern might be nice. It may have something to do with having similar lights as a child or something, but these just feel old to me, even if they are completely authentic mid-century modern. So we'll see. Still a work in progress. 

A few things still on the go...

I have a few things I'm going to post about in the next couple of days, hopefully, but at this exact moment I have a pounding headache and am waiting for Ian to get home from work, then we'll eat dinner, then we have to go out.

It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn't match what you dreamed it would be. - Randy K. Milholland

These posts shouldn't be as depressing as my weekend was - I'll share the pictures of the kitchen, and the apron that I made. I may start on a few other projects. And then there's some Real Life things I have to deal with.

Almost there.

Well, I had hoped to be able to post pictures of our finished kitchen yesterday. But, in accordance with the rules of anything renovation related, we have been delayed. Again. So here's the deal:

Painting - I thought was done, but isn't really because now I have a toe-kick to paint, and trim to touch up.
Flooring - Done. Almost. We actually have to seal a seam still.
Toe-kick - Installed, only half painted.
1/4 round - Installed, paint needs to be touched up.
Appliances - Need to be moved back in, once painting of the toe-kick is complete, and trim is touched up.
Counter/breakfast table - Needs to be re-installed.
Stools - Re-covered, but I haven't actually wiped the legs down.
Shelf - Needs to be re-installed.
Cupboard beside back door - Needs to be re-installed.

So Ian and his dad spent all day Saturday installing the toe-kick and starting on the 1/4 round. Then when his dad made his exit, I got called in to help finish the 1/4 round. Which, actually, is a lot of fun to cut. So Ian nailed all those pieces in, except one piece in the kitchen that needed some modifications. He had to go over to his parents' house Sunday morning to borrow their table saw to remove a piece from the bottom of the 1/4 round so it would sit flush on this silly little piece of wood in this corner you won't really see anyways because it's behind the dishwasher... But I hate leaving things "unfinished" and to not put 1/4 round in this corner would be unfinished. And I would know it. So I filled the nail holes I could, and caulked the pieces that were in place Saturday night, and then we had to wait for Sunday to finish when Ian could do his handy-work on that piece. We also realized that our kitchen floor is not level, so their is a gap at the bottom of the toe-kick that we needed to cover up with some sort of trim or something. Also, I get really tired of filling holes 3 times and decided I need to find something more effective for these nail holes.

So Sunday morning we headed back to Home Depot. I'm beginning to hate that place. We needed: some sort of trim for the toe-kick, something better for filling nail holes, and paint for the toe-kick.

For filling the holes I found a tube of "painters putty" or something like that. It looks like a tube of toothpaste with a round, angled foam tip with a hole in the center. I think it worked pretty good actually, but we'll see for sure when it's all painted up. I also got a putty crayon type thing. It didn't work as well. It was pretty much like trying to fill a hole with a crayon.

For the trim, we wanted something narrow and flat, preferably already primed so we wouldn't have to waste time on yet another step. Not to mention we would have had to buy more primer. Anyways, the slot that should have held that type of trim at Home Depot was empty (go figure) so we debated over using 1/4 round or cove, and finally, after much "debating," settled on 1/4 round just because we had some scraps at home still, and it would sit next to the 1/4 round on the wall nicely. So, that needs to be painted with the toe-kick.

We decided on "gingerbread house" coloured paint for the toe-kick, and I'm actually pretty excited with my concoction for trying to blend it with the cupboards above. My sample worked wonderfully, however, when I tried applying it to the actual toe-kick last night I was having troubles seeing it in the bad lighting that is our kitchen at night. We have two single light bulbs dangling from the ceiling right now (we took out the regular fixtures while we were painting so we could do a more thorough job) and needless to say, they really don't provide enough light for performing paint miracles. So that delayed us until today. Monday. I was awake much of the night to the sound of the wind rattling our bedroom window, and then woke early to the sound of the phone ringing (which I did not answer. Sorry.) And now, I sit here typing this, after several cups of coffee. It's dark out. My kitchen is still dark. It's almost 10 in the morning. It should be bright and beautiful. It's not. The weather is conspiring against me. It doesn't want me to finish my kitchen today. But I'm going to try anyways.

I need my kitchen back.

I'm working on it

It's been a very busy week in our household. Our kitchen has been undergoing a dramatic transformation, with new paint, flooring, toe-kicks, and 1/4 round... Painting was finished two weeks ago I think. Ian and I did the flooring last weekend, with a little help from his dad. This weekend Ian and his dad are hard at work on the toe-kicks and 1/4 round. Pictures and another update will follow when we get the appliances moved back in. I absolutely can't wait! Hopefully tomorrow.

I've cleaned my sewing machine up, and made a cover for it. I began making an apron this morning, but am having some trouble with the settings on my sewing machine. I'm trying to zig zag the raw edges, but the size of the zig zag keeps changing.. it'll be just the way I want it, then all of a sudden it will start zagging smaller (zigging smaller?) and I end up with a smaller zig zag. So, I've been trying to find my sewing machine manual, but I haven't come across it. I wonder if I ever even had it. I know I've seen it, but the last place I can remember seeing it would be at my very old house in Kamloops, many many years ago. So I wonder if maybe my mom still has it. I've sent her an email asking her. I can bet her response will be she doesn't think so, but she'll let me know if she comes across it. But she'll never come across it. I'm willing to bet it's long gone. So, with that in mind, I've been searching online for it. I found one website which claims to have it, and I can have it emailed to me for $8. I may have to go that route if I don't figure this out. I have no idea what any of the settings on my sewing machine even mean. I can thread the bobbin. I can stitch a straight line. I used to be able to zig zag stitch efficiently. I'm not sure what's going on with it now. I need that manual I think. Also, I've tried oiling it myself, and probably missed a million spots. And probably oiled a few that didn't need oiling. So far, no oil marks on my fabric though, so I've done a better job than the last guy to do it.

I started running again. On the treadmill in our basement. For years I've said that a treadmill just isn't my thing. I love running. But I love running outside. I love feeling the sunshine and breeze on my skin, I love the changing scenery, I love setting my goals by how far I want to go, and I love being able to push myself further by thinking "well I'll just run to the next block.. well now, that wasn't too bad, I'll just go one more.." and so on. I have resisted using a treadmill because I was afraid I'd get bored. Now, I have to say, it's still pretty boring. I miss the sun on my skin. But it's too cold to run outside right now (for me. I know, I'm a big baby. I really like it between 10 and 20 degrees for running), and I was missing the exercise more. So I caved, and decided to take advantage of the treadmill that came with our house. It must be at least 20 years old, if not more. It's narrow. It's not very fast. I don't think Ian would be able to use it at all. Maybe not even to walk. The woman who left it for us (Mrs. S.) was about 100 pounds, and shorter than I am. It would have been perfect for her for walking. If she could get up and down the stairs to use it. She probably hadn't used it in 10 years. Anyways, back to the point. I used it. It's perfect for me. The first day I only ran for 10 minutes. The next day I was up to 25 minutes. The third day I did 43 minutes. Today I'm taking the day off. I've discovered a lot of benefits of running on a treadmill, things I'd never really thought of or considered before. First of all, I can stop to pop into the bathroom anytime I want. Very convenient! Also, I can get a drink whenever I want, withouth carrying bobbing or bulky waterbottles around my waist. I can use my chapstick, or a kleenex, without worrying about how I'm going to carry them. I don't have to worry about my sweaty hands soaking the kleenex that I'm carrying before I have to blow my nose. I can remember running in Vancovuer with a balled up kleenex in each hand, and on my way back to the appartment it would be a damp, shredded mess. I used to toss them out in the garbage cans at Granville Street (still five blocks from home), and by the time I got home I'd have to head straight for the kleenex box again. This way I can just bring a whole box with me! I don't, but I could! Also, I can listen to music without my ear buds falling out of my ears, or digging in and leaving them sore. I don't have to use the pathetic iPod arm band that Ian ordered me from China, that has fallen apart and practically has to be tied on. I really wanted an arm bad, but I hate that thing. Instead, I can hook my iPod up to my portable speakers and listen to music that way. Or, I can even bring down my laptop and watch a movie (which is what I did the third day, the 43 minute day. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the movie next time!) Finally, I can wear whatever I want to. I have these fantastic running pants. Fantastic, as in they feel great for running. However, they look terrible on me. I also have a white sports top I had bought for running that I got a great deal on at the Outlet mall last summer. But because I got it in a tent sale, I didn't try it on. What I didn't realize at the time is that it is almost completely see-through, and very tight. The tight part is fine, but not when coupled with the nearly see-through part. Not pretty. But, when I'm running on a treadmill in my basement, it doesn't matter, right? So I'm thinking I may have to enter another run. Maybe a 10km this time. It feels good to be running again, and I'd like to continue. Sometimes entering a run makes it not fun any more. That's what happened for me last time. I found I just wasn't enjoying it when I felt like I had to do it. But we'll see. I'll keep running and think about it.