Floored!

 Day 92, and the rest of the kitchen flooring is down, as well as the middle room.  The only flooring touch ups left are the thresholds.

After talking with the contractor, I've decided to forego the crown molding on the cabinets.  Since the cabinet sections are small and broken up, the molding would look foolish.  Instead I'll leave them as is and I'm sure I'll find some dust collecting items to display on top of the cabinets.  

I've ordered two natural wood looking floating shelves to put between the cabinets above the sink.  I still haven't settled on a hood vent, and that space on the right-hand wall looks awfully bare right now.

Day 93 was the flooring in the media room, and I am so in love with this color that I almost wish I'd done the main house in it instead of the grey.

Without windows the media room will be darker than the rest of the house, so I wanted a flooring that would warm it up and brighten it.  Plus, all my existing furniture is dark wood or in the brown/beige family, so I needed a room where it wouldn't look out of place.  It will work great with this flooring choice...that is, if my furniture is even usable at this point.  Nearly three years in a storage unit that isn't exactly sealed means I'm probably going to have to throw out quite a few things.  The last time I was over there, I noticed some mouse droppings on some of the boxes.  I'm sure they've been having a field day inside my couch and mattresses.  We'll see how bad it is soon enough; I'm hoping next month will be the big clean out, and I'll finally have all of my stuff back.

Cabinet Briefing

 Day 90 - the cabinets are here!

It doesn't look like a lot of storage, but bear in mind this is a relatively small kitchen; 10 feet by 10 feet.  I didn't want a lot of wall cabinets, either.  I've opted instead for open shelving over the sink area.  

The contractor installed the flooring in the mudroom today, too.

It was a gloomy, overcast, wet, depressing day yesterday.  I was impressed with how bright it was in the new spaces despite the lack of sunshine. 

Luckily Saturday was a nice spring day and we were able to get some work done around the yards and gardens.  The daffodils I planted around the mulberry tree continue to poke through the ground, and the tulips I planted at the gate of the vegetable garden have made it through the winter.  I uncovered my strawberries and they're all looking great.  The creeping thyme I planted with them as a ground covering mulch is looking very healthy, as well.  My horseradish is starting to come up, and the peonies are emerging from their winter slumber.  I've been working on planning my crop rotation in the raised beds, and I started my jalapeno peppers in a little window sill sized greenhouse.  I'm trying really hard to follow a common sense plan to seed starting this year.  Usually I am overeager and start seeds much too early, and wind up with leggy plants that I have no room to house.  Someday I'll have a proper greenhouse and won't need to worry about space, but for now I need to rein it in a little.  Spring fever, it gets me every time.

An Unexpected Surprise

Flooring is the big push right now, and for days 88 and 89 that's all the contractor worked on.  Cabinets are coming Friday, and he doesn't want to put flooring down in the kitchen area until he sees the cabinets in all their glory.

Bizzy inspects the flooring.

Yes, from this angle it looks pretty good, human.

On day 88 a van showed up and the driver claimed he was there to install a garage door opener.  Now, I had been told that the garage ceiling was too low to accommodate such a luxury, so I was resigned to my manual door.  Surprise!  The contractor spoke with the garage door people and found that there was actually enough room for a small opener...and apparently there was room in the budget, as well.  

The back is open so we can put light bulbs in there...can you imagine?  Not only does this garage sorcery open and close the door, it also lights up the garage.  I've never had one of these gizmos before, so I'm feeling very much like a princess.  👸

On the land front, a week of super warm weather has melted much of the snow.

The ground is still fairly wet in places, so there are continued mud issues.  We're supposed to have rain and possibly snow in the next few days, then temps will cool down to more traditional spring levels for a while.  Mom's crocus and daffodils are pushing through all over the place, though, so spring is definitely gaining a foothold.  I planted a good amount of daffodils around the mulberry tree, and can't wait to see how many made it through the winter.  If most of them did, it should make for quite a pretty display.

Let There Be Light!

 The electricians were back on days 85 and 86 installing pot lights, outlets, and switches.  My kitchen/dining room area looks like a landing strip.

All of these lights are on dimmer switches.  They're nothing like the giant button style dimmers I'm used to; these are tiny nubs next to the switch.

The garage is well lit, too!  I'm so excited to be able to have a year round work space.

 

My bedroom ceiling fan and the center mount light for the media room were also installed, as well the outside porch lights.  They'll be back in a few weeks to finish up the rest of the lights/outlets.  

On day 87 the Heat Guy was back, and he hooked up the mini split.  They're running as I type, keeping the house warm for floor installation.  The contractor finished flooring the bathroom, hall, bedroom, and closets.  I can't wait to see the main living area all done...maybe by the end of the week?  Fingers crossed.

The Heat is On (almost) and Other Stories

 Day 80 saw the return of the Heat Guy, and he installed the mini-split head units throughout the house.  One in the bedroom, one in the media room, one in the living room, and one in the dining room.  I've done a lot of reading on these systems and they're supposed to be amazingly energy efficient, and only at -20F do they begin to struggle.  These are heating and cooling units, with the added bonus of acting as dehumidifiers, too.  You can get the heads in floor units or wall units; I have the wall units, and they're relatively small. 

 Days 81 through 84 were full of window framing and the start of the flooring.  I wanted very basic, Shaker style casings and trim throughout the house.  

I was a little worried about how this color and style would look on a grand scale, but I'm liking it.  

In non-house news, happy spring equinox!  Mom and I are doing a gardening symposium put on by the UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program.  

We've also been watching episodes of Gardener's World on Amazon Prime Video.  I do loves me some Monty Don!  If you are a garden design fanatic, I highly suggest his short lived series Big Dreams, Small Spaces.  It's very inspirational if you're just getting going on a garden, or if you like to watch home improvement type programs.  Ordinary people transform drab, unimpressive gardens or yards into the stuff dreams are made of through hard work and with a little guidance from Monty.  

I've been checking around the mulberry tree for any sign of the dozens of daffodil bulbs I planted last fall.  Nothing yet, but the ground hasn't quite warmed up; we still have nights in the 20s.   Mom's daffys are popping up around the house foundation, though.  Sooooooooooon.  I can't wait to get into the garden again!  I was going through some of my photos on my Ipernity site and man, I miss my landscapes.  I've created gardens at four different houses now.  I'm glad this is the last, and I'll be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor for years to come.  

And now, for something completely different...

 

My paper is here.

😁

Something Old, Something New

 Day 44 was boring electric work again. What's a girl to do for excitement while waiting?  Floor shopping!

Mom and I headed out to Marden's in Maine yesterday to see what they had for overstock vinyl flooring.  Soooo many options.  Mom was looking for flooring for the middle room and I was looking for something for the media room/den. I wanted to go with a more natural wood color in that room, but  something that looked like weathered grey wood for the rest of the house.  Mom found a grey wood for the middle room, and I liked it so much that I've decided to use the same throughout the upstairs and the mudroom.  For the media room I went with a slightly wider plank honey colored wood.

Marden's is a great resource for flooring, carpets, and furniture.  These options are LVP flooring and light commercial quality, 100% waterproof, and only $2.29/sq. foot.  Considering my flooring budget was $5/sq. foot, I'm glad I bought it...when I saw it...at Marrrrrrrden's!  (Locals who have seen their commercials will now have that jingle stuck in their heads for the rest of the day.  You're welcome.)

Then it was a trip to West Newfields, Maine today to look at some timbers.  My builder came up with a great idea for the half wall at the stairwell; he suggested an upright beam at the end of the half wall, a smaller one on the opposite side of the stairwell, and a matching piece of board to cap the wall.  I found an antique timber dealer close by and Mom and Neil headed over with me to choose my lumber.  I ended up with these beauties:

They are just gorgeous.  Every mark is a little piece of history.  The beams were pulled from an 1800's barn that was located in Cambridge, Maine.  It was dismantled in 1850 and moved to a different site in the same town.  The board, 15+ feet long and just over 11" wide, was from a 1774 cape located in Barnstead, New Hampshire.  I mean, how cool is that?  Right now they don't look all that great because they're wet from being outside. Once they dry, they'll be amazing.