3 - 2 - 1 - Project!

Today was a sunny, warm, delightful Saturday.  I was SO in the mood for a good spring day with hubby home and getting some things done.  I don't think he is quite as happy with my love of tasks and checking them off my list, but he's a good sport.  I guess all those days weeding the hard ground, raking leaves, etc. when I was a girl taught me a good lesson - work is GOOD!  It makes you feel good to see the results of your labors and nowhere is that more evident than in the yard or when there's a project in the house.  Since we have two houses, there are plenty of projects, so I decided to take some pictures of them.

But first, some pictures of changes in our new house.  We're not living there officially yet, but the more time that passes, the more things I take there or purchase (on sale, of course).

I am really proud of the deal I got on these beautiful stools.  A friend I work with at the high school has a husband who is a VP at Overstock.com, which is headquartered in SLC.  She told us about liquidation sales that they have many Saturday mornings, which I went to on occasion.  Once she invited me to a friends and family sale on a Wednesday night.  It was great!  The entire set of stools was $125!  They look beautiful in the house.

Here is the new office and all the new furniture.  I am still sick of all the white walls, but I'll be patient.  I'm actually not anxious to paint because the ceilings are about 10 feet high.  

This the a new sectional I ordered two months ago.  (If you look in the middle window you can see th Mt. Timpanogos LDS Temple.)  We'll add some easy chairs and some bright pillows to downplay all that brown.  The ottoman opens ups to store blankets and small children.

And now, the PROJECTS -

Project 1 

The is the laundry room in the new house.  I have turned it into a furniture refinishing shop!  You can see the newly stained drawers for the dressing table in the right corner.  The dressing table is in the middle of the room and laying on it's side, on the right wall is the chest of drawers.  All of this belonged to my Grandma.  They have been in various rooms in our house since she died.  They've gotten pretty beat up over the years and for a while I've been considering refinishing them.  With a new house that has dark stained cabinets, I decided to take on the task of stripping them and putting a darker stain on.  The drawers were relatively easy to strip - no grooves of any kind.  I thought the job would be a cinch.  But NOT.  Both the chest and the dressing table have lots of grooves and indentations, so this project is tedious and irritating.  I don't think I'll be refinishing anything else in the near future!  

Project 2 -

This is the cold storage room in the basement.  The basement in the house is completely unfinished and we have big plans.  But first we need to resurface this floor.  Hubby says that they must have poured the concrete when it was cold or something because it was crumbling.  So he got some concrete, mixed it in a wheelbarrow and filled in a big hole back in the corner by the drain.  While that dried, he swept -

Project 3

Note all the wires hanging in the middle.  We were told by an electrician that hubby sent over that this house is wired for just about everything.  Lots and lots and lots of wires!  Video, audio, CAT5 (for computers), intercom, phone, HDMI, etc.  

The wires in the family room.  They're like this all over the house.  Why did the electrician think he had to pull them all out?  I guess he just likes the look of wires.  I don't.

Project 2 continued

Here is hubby spreading the concrete resurfacer out.  Later on he mixed another batch for the area in the foreground.  He did a good job and next week we'll move the shelves in and start moving over the food storage.

Project 4

Son B bought this motorcycle a couple of months ago.  It wasn't running, but he was determined to get it going.  His good friend, who is a whiz with motors, came over this afternoon and they worked on it.

I am not too happy that he is going to be riding a motorcycle because I believe that 18 year olds and motorcyles often equal accidents, but I understand why he wants one.  I am praying harder now that he is protected.  As I write this, I can hear it running out front.  I am proud of B for his determination and effort.  When I see him working on an engine like this it reminds me of my dad.  He could fix just about anything and if he couldn't he figured out how to do it.  

Project 5 & 6

I don't have pictures, but hubby and I went home and worked outside.  He painted various locations outside that needed touching up and I cleaned out the backyard flower beds, re-set some concrete borders around the trees, weed-ate the area around fences.  We are both exhausted, but happy with what we accomplished today.  I'm glad tomorrow is officially a day of REST!

Now we are trying to enjoy watching the Jazz in the first round of the play-offs vs. the Nuggets in Denver.  I hope they have as successful a day as we have had!