Move over Ty…Big Daddy’s the sexiest blue color baby around!Well, well. 5.5 weeks and counting and the pressure is on.
Not only is there all the “stuff” to do that one does before a baby (the list would not fit on the blog) but we had plans this year to knock down a wall in our bedroom that connected to a darling but NEVER enjoyed sitting room. The only time we could find on the calendar was Oct/November – a little close for comfort with a December darling due but we thought we could pull it off.
We are the 4th owners of this house in the last 150 years – the original owners being two spinster sisters. By the time they were elderly nursing care was required and my lovely, never used dressing room was supposidly were the full time nurse stayed while one of the sisters lived in the connecting room.
While I had it decorated with all my fun girly things, I rarley used this room. Instead of feeling like an escape room I felt cut of from the rest of the house and never really enjoyed reading or powdering my nose in there the way I thought I would. With this expanding family and our cozy morning snuggle time we have been really wanting a king size bed and the only way to make one fit was to create a master suite. Alas, crow bar in hand and a Darth Vadar-like dust mask on Joel set in to give me my “Chamre de Marie Antoinette” as I have been calling it.
The poor guy, my hero, has been working on this every spare moment he has, crawling around in the attic, messing with new “juice”, tearing paneling off the walls, stripping 70 year old wallpaper found underneath, smashing plaster and removing lathe piece by piece. The upstairs looks like that scene from E.T, with all the plastic walls, every vent is plasticed over and we have not even turned the heat on yet this year -the windows were a lead paint, chipping disaster and they all had to be sanded and stripped – thus the barricaded set up we have – we are trying to avoid lead dust flying through the house. To further avoid the dust issue he hauled all 17 bags of plaster and lathe out the window and down a ladder so he would not trapse through the house – did I mention he is my hero???
Enjoy the photos and pray for us – we have GOT to get this project wrapped up!!! For real before photos of how we were using these two rooms before the demo visit “THE Parisienne Farmhouse” over on my sidebar…
Stage One – Empty closets and all furniture into surrounding guest bedrooms (boy are we blessed to have THOSE!) Remove paneling that we Venetian Plastered over as a quick fix fours years ago when we moved in…
This reads: “Papered, Joe Walsh June 7th 1933”
Stage three – three thousand…Pull two by fours down, firm up support in the attic (When he pulled the last stud down the dang ceiling sank!) repair water damage, re-drywall water damage, pull out two by fours in the floor (the bottom support of the wall) redirect juice (hanging in the background in the very top photo) back up to the attic for now, remove wallpaper and glue, repairs all ceiling cracks (hundreds), prime windows and walls, cover vent holes in the floor for now, wash entire room so Ang can actually enter…shoot me now, etc, shoot me now, etc, etc.
Oh my….certainly a fantasy coming to be in real life…
I know the charm and romance that will ooze from everything from the bed linens to the artwork…..
What soothing surroundings to coddle a new baby in.
Joel: I’m speechless..what tenacity
oh and I was pleased to be the caretaker while A. and A. moved out…love gram
What a job! We’ve been through this on a smaller scale. Not fun, but the end result is worth it.
Dang, Girl! Check it out!! You have been busy!! I can so easily picture the way it used to be, you guys have done sooo much work! It’s going to be great when it’s done, I can’t wait to see the finished product.
And by the way, I hate Dave Ramsey too :o)
Way to go, Joel!! You the Man!
Wow! Have I been there! Our first house was condemned by the town, and our second had been a rental for many years. They both needed major renovations. Never again, the next one we will build.
My, you have been a busy girl!! This is going to be a fantastic room – so much space! I hope you manage to get it all done before baby arrives!
Can’t wait to see it done. I can’t imagine having the nesting instinct kicking in with all that is going on around you. How much longer before all is said and done?
WOW! i just love that old wallpaper in the powder room!
Can’t wait to see how this all ends and I know it will be great, anything you touch seems to turn to gold…
xoxo
Happy Thanksgiving, we have so much to be thankful for don’t we!
this explains why we haven’t heard from you in weeks!! WOW to Joel on this work. I’m speechless at the determination it takes for a huge project like that and I’m not even close to pregnant! Say hey to J for me would you? He is doing an incredible job on those rooms. Love you all, V.
so much to say, so little time… I bet I know what your hubby is up to right now! Can’t wait to see the finished project. I do love that old wall paper though… to bad it could not be saved…
Your home looks so cool, i love old homes and the history that goes with them, like the signature on the wall… you should leave this open somehow, nail a picture frame around it and shellac the signature and then paint up to the frame or something… these things are pricless when you find them.
Happy Thanksgiving, not long now and you will be snuggling that babe! Can’t wait to meet him/her… I think its a girl…
xoxox
duh…. i see i commented already… still have pregnancy brain i guess