sometimes, you like to throw mud on the walls

shawn got all the mudding done (the first coat that is) in the living room today. It looks good so far. The neat thing is that we have finally really gotten the mudding technique down. It's pretty awesome. The mudroom and front hall way are the first areas that we really seemed to get it down to the point that it looks really professional, as in no lumps or scratches or anything. It looks awesome, we're both impressed. This whole housebuilding experience has been pretty incredible. It really does give you the feeling that you can do pretty much anything, if you work slowly, patiently, well, and using your best knowledge - and if you don't try and get too ridiculous about things! (I mean, we couldn't build a castle with a mortar foundation and turrets all around it!) Anyway, it was a good day. Now it's time to build the fire and make some risotto for dinner! Thanks for reading!

here's the mudroom ceiling in. This is the coolest room in the house as it's on the north side, and it's much warmer with the ceiling in. no reason to heat the "attic" space in this room! We really like the way the wood ceiling looks against the white paint. Really pretty!

hi there! we couldn't get a great shot since the middle ceiling light is still a dangling temporary till we make it down to get an overhead light for the kitchen, but at least a nice one is over the sink. (Even though the sink itself isn't there yet!!!) The panelling of the ceiling is done in the kitchen! It came out beautifully, there are a few spots to sand just slightly, and a few of the nails we need to sink individually with a tiny hand sinker, but that's it. Amazingly, the panelling worked out to exactly the end of the kitchen, didn't even need to rip it down with the table saw we don't yet have! Great!
We also got most of the mudroom done, and it looks way better. Winter is loosening her grip here, truly! Yesterday on our walk we saw a big flock of robins in the trees, starting to scope out the still white fields. (It was near 40 yesterday). Last night was cold, around 5, and tonight will be eight, but it will be warm all next week, with a couple of days in the forties (the upper forties!!) and the lowest low of the week is 19 (which as I have mentioned, feels subtropical to us now!). The best news is this! We let the fire go out around midnight yesterday. It was 73 when we went to bed. This morning, the sun was shining (has been all day) and though it only reached about 19 (when we took our walk today it was 12! Good thing for hat and muffler, those things WORK!) we are only just starting a fire NOW, at 4:45 PM, and it's 68 degrees inside! We are really loving this insulation! It's amazing!

Penny helping. She watches transfixed!

We made it to around the ceiling fixtures last night before calling it quits for dinner! Shawn hung the lamp over where the sink will be someday. :-) I'm laughing as I write this because it's really funny how used we are to the bare essentials. Housebuilding is REALLY fun! I can't believe I'm writing this and truly feeling this after our depressing December when we first moved in and felt totally overwhelmed, but I love doing this! I was musing yesterday, it being Valentine's Day and all, that painting and hanging a ceiling with my sweetie was one of the best ways I've ever spent a V-Day! :-) And that's enough sap from me. Ugh, I can't stand it! :-) Seriously, though, the ceiling is looking beautiful! Finishing work is fun!

installing, hanging, laying, the ceiling...

Here we have started putting up the ceiling in the kitchen. It's really quite easy, and fun! Since the kitchen requires wider panels to go up, we do it together, shawn takes up one side of the panel, and I the other. Then we pass the pneumatic hammer between us. Penny generally watches us as closely as she can. Penny doesn't like to be on the floor while we are up on ladders, so what she does is use me as an intermediate launch pad for getting on top of the refrigerator. And from there, she watches, totally amazed!

It's looking really pretty and goes fast, we expect to finish it up this afternoon, and then work on the mudroom ceiling.

Next purchase is a table saw...the thing we didn't want to buy till absolutely necessary. We'll use it for the flooring too and much of our trim work. But in the meantime, another photo or two and then it's time to get to work!

kitchen painting is done...it looks a little weird in the picture but the color in real life is quite pretty, sort of springy. It will look gorgeous with the wood floors, when we build the cabinets and get them painted with a high gloss white cabinet paint, and the whole ceiling is in! More pics of THAT to come!

oh, the dust!

Here is Shawn, suited up and doing the final sanding in the mudroom. We both feel like we've really gotten the hand of the sanding and mudding by now. It's really neat! This room was a great one! It came out so smooth and beautifully, with nice crisp corners. Shawn finished the sanding a couple of days ago, then I primered it two days ago and yesterday got the paint on, it looks beautiful! We moved the washing machine out of the kitchen and put it back in its proper place, and despite the fact that the kitchen has no cabinetry built yet (except for the barest substructure on the floor), it's surprising how crowded it can feel if you stick a washing machine in the middle of it! More pics to come...

laying the tile backer board in the mudroom. Note the drywall mudding is done, and shawn's awesome work hair. He'll be glad I drew your attention to this! :-) The place where the piece of one by pine material is laying is where the bench and wood spot will be built in.
Have a super super tuesday! Ciao mein. goodnight!

Let me try this again...the last post got deleted by a gremlin.
We're really happy with the way the light fixtures look! The ceiling is just about done (the panels are cut, we just need to nail them up - shawn's loving his new pneumatic hammer, it is amazing for finishing work...next house we build we'll use a pneumatic framing hammer instead of hand spiking the whole thing, which even brought a look of amazement to the somewhat jaded face of one of the electricians! We're thinking the bathroom will look great with the spring green walls, white moldings (obviously in absentia currently) and the natural wood ceiling! And what a treat to have a real fixture up there in stead of the fluourescent bulb dangling from the wires on the temporary hanger!

painting the scene green!

It was a sloppy, sort of snowy morning, and seemed a good day to take off from work on the business and work on the bathroom instead! I got the painting in the bathroom done, and it looks great! I like the color, although at night with the compact fluorescents on, it doesn't look as nice to me as during the day. But we've banished incandescents so that's just the way it is! Besides, it's gorgeous during the day and I think the finishing moldings will make a big difference too! There was only one area of the drywall that was slightly lumpy, and that was a seam we were worried about as it was one of the first we hung and a lot butted up there. Fortunately, the lumpy spot is behind where the mirror for the vanity will be hanging, so if we had to make a strategic jointing error, that was really the right place to do it (sheer luck!! Love it when that happens!).

Wow, a nearly finished room! Awesome!

The kitchen is completely primered, now, as well, and we are using the same color in there. It's so nice to see some color and warmth in the dead of winter like this! The ceiling we'll finish hanging tomorrow and then we can get ready to finish up the plumbing hardware for the tub and get a shower going! We haven't had a ceiling to hang the rest of the hardware from, it's funny what a lot of steps you have to take before you can get to the finished product. What a great learning experience. Can you believe we want to do it again with all the we have now learned?! :-) We are reminded often of the chinese adage that so well describes how we feel about things..."When he runs out of work to do, man dies"

I'll post a few more pics of other things going on...

Shawn's just finishing screwing down the tile backer board for the mudroom floor. We'll tile it (he lays the tiles and mortars it in, and I grout it), and then build a bench out there for storing boots, and changing shoes, etc. Shawn's going to build in a small area to store wood so it's got a place to stay before being burned, besides all over the living room! What else? We'll soon also send photos of the painted kitchen. We got our siding estimate today so are on a savings rampage to try and get it saved for (we're one third of the way there) before leaving for our long anticipated vacation to the west coast to see all the things and people we are missing so much!! :-)

More soon...thanks for reading! Your comments and emails really keep us working hard!