More projects

This is just basically a list of projects I did on the house... I don't really have the time-frame of when they were completed.

The fish tank:

Basically, we were tired of having this huge fish tank in the living room.  The novelty wore off and we were looking to sell it... that is until Theresa had a great idea... put it in the basement!

Before:

This is it... big, not so pretty and, after getting rid of the bathtub in the guest bathroom, a pain to clean (I filled up 5 gallon buckets in the tub).  Theresa's idea of putting it in the basement was PERFECT because there's a utility sink down there and it's much easier to clean...

After:

It is still sitting on the same cabinet... but it is also resting on the studs in that wall.  I'm really pleased with how this project turned out... it was actually pretty easy.  Just had to cut a hole in the wall!

Garage Storage:

Windows:

Hide-a-bed:

This has always been on my bucket list.  Thankfully there was still this beautiful cherry wood back at the farm.  My father cut a bunch of wood one year and had it processed at a mill... we used a lot of it, but it dawned on me that there might still be some there and luckily it was the best (the cherry)!

The kit was relatively inexpensive... the worst part was the fact that I never had much time to dedicate to it, so it took forever.  The main reason we did it was so that we could actually use the guest bedroom (otherwise the bed took up most of the room).

 

The Guest Bathroom

You'll have to go back a couple of posts for the back story on this bathroom, but the thing that held up the completion of this project (other than distractions) was the Master Bathroom... I wanted to complete all the plumbing up there before closing up the Guest Bathroom since it was basically the only access.

While we went away to New Orleans I had a friend of ours come and finish the taping and mudding and now it is finally complete!  It was probably a year (or more?) in its unfinished state.

The list of things that we did in this bathroom:

• removed the tub (we didn't see the point of having a bathtub on a floor with no bedrooms)
• removed the sink (both the sink and the tub went up to the Star Wars bathroom)
• added a new toilet
• added a bathroom fan
• added a nice vanity
• upgraded the floor
• upgraded the door

I hope the pictures can show the rest!

(Click on the image for the album):

Distractions

I think I may have mentioned how we have been trying to weatherize the house (by adding new windows, for example). Another thing I wanted to try was better insulation. We were convinced knew that the walls were not insulated very well, so we decided to see just how bad it was and then re-insulate.

 First of all, the walls are all 2x4, so there's not a lot of room for insulation. Second of all, they didn't do a very good job! At one point they ran out of insulation and used "sound proofing" instead... and there was that one place in the kitchen where Theresa and I knew there was little-to-nothing insulating that part... it turned out there was nothing... the plumber came and fixed the plumbing, but he forgot to put the insulation back.

 This post is called Distractions because I have so many projects going at the same time that this is what the new projects become: distractions from the projects I've already begun! This insulation project turned out pretty well... the walls that were insulated are much warmer, but it didn't seem to make much difference because we didn't do ALL the walls and so, it only helps in that area where the work was done (but obviously it still helps).

 If I could, I'd finish the whole house with this spray foam insulation, but there's not enough time, energy, resources for all of that! Here is the album of photos (click on the image):