Kids' Bathroom Pics

One more room done! YEAH!

(and there was great rejoicing throughout the home).

Here is our children's bathroom. It is a split bathroom; tub in one room, pocket door to join to the next room which holds the sink and WC. When they are older they can close the pocket door so that one can bathe whilst the other brushes teeth, uses WC whatever.

On all these pics, please admire the furniture. If it's IKEA, I assembled it. Feeling right proud of myself I am!

A Barn Restored

Behind our house rests a very old dairy barn. We used to run our pottery business out of it, but we got tired of being broke and went and got real jobs in which we work less and earn more.

Anyway, the barn roof had large holes and everything was wet and we needed to either bulldoze it or start taking care of it. Since we were only in the middle of two adoptions (China and Russia) and a 1200 sq foot addition and a laundry room project and restuccoing and repainting the house, we thought: Yes! Let's take on a new project! Fun! Fun!

October 2005 - Jamie and Greg (b.i.l.) and Dad rip off the old roof. That's Greg up there securing the safety harness. There is little that Greg cannot do.








November 2005 - bare naked barn






December 2005 - cute new roof thanks to Rainshield Roofing We were going to stop here, as the water-problem was solved. But Santa Greg brought us a nice suprise.

















July 2006 - Greg (awesome sweet generous b.i.l.) and Dad (Mr. UberHelpful) and Kayti (lovely niece) paint the barn.

Pics of Andy and Juliana's Room, at long last

Yes, I love IKEA. The beds and bedding are a gift from Grandma and Grandpa C. Jamie picked the wall colors. The really tall wall is perwinkle and the other walls are pale blue. This room gets lots and lots of daylight (south and west windows) so we did it in cool colors. The wardrobe is a modified IKEA wardrobe; I tossed the cheesy curtain that it came with and gave it a perky curtain. You can see the light from the sunset shining on it.

Parsley did a very thorough quality check and was apparently satisfied.

Whoops!

There I was, merely remove a light fixture from what used to be our bedroom wall and is now the family room, and what should come off the wall in addition to the fixture? Why just a huge strip of paint. Yes, paint. The paint peels off the wallpaper onto which is was painted easier than a bandaid peels off your arm. The green is what we painted over the grey-white that was here when we arrived. Apparently, before the white, was wallpaper. The back of the paint had streaks of glided burgandy on it, which I am glad to be rid of. I rather like the effect of the worn faded wallpaper, but that may be just that I really dislike the idea of striping it and repainting. We are rather weary of painting.

Yes, I'll peel the stuff off the top too. I just need to go find the step-ladder so that I can reach. So, another project. Just what we needed. Bro-in-law and lovely niece and Dad are painting the barn this weekend, Jamie is building the deck, and I am painting the trim in the upstairs bathroom and hall .

the addition

We said farewell (mutter mutter) to the contractor after the sheetrock/tape/texture stage. I personally (with someone to run the saw) installed every sq inch of the click laminate flooring; we hired our own subcontractors (quality craftspeople who take pride in their work -- what a novel idea) to install the tile and the trim work; and we have been painting the interior for months: primer, two coats of color, all the trim. Does it ever end? Apparently not.

Here are some of the beginning stages:

and the house

The picture on the left shows the laundry room that Jamie built. He is working on the landing and the deck for that door this very week so that we can get rid of the ramp that currently serves as access. (The little ramp is for kitties.) We did get signed for occupancy though, isn't that amazing? Okay, back to the pics. That same pic was taken from the top of the 1,150 sq foot addition that we are just now finishing up. The addition gets its own entry tomorrow.

Doesn't everyone need a red door?


As you look at these pics, do admire the crisp new stucco and paint. We did both last summer.

This handsome Akita is Holly: Empress of the Grassy Domain.

Our lovely new keep-the-kids-and-puppy-in-the-yard fence.

Our View

The obligatory old red truck, favorite perch of gargoyle kitties.

A thunderstorm on its way for a visit.

Mt. Baker. Did you know that Baker and Rainer used to be a couple? He took up with Shuksan and Rainer stormed off in a huff (who wouldn't?). She settled down in King County where she is far away, but can still keep an eye on her kids, the Twin Sisters. For more local mountain lore, you may enjoy reading The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainer by Bruce Barcott, from whom I gleaned this little tidbit.

Fazenda

Fazenda is a Portugese word for "place with things to be done" which makes it a perfect name for our home. This blog is devoted entirely to showing y'all where all our time and money goes.

I'll start loading pictures this week, ending with pictures of the addition and (drum roll) the kids' rooms.