Sidelights Obscured

Before Christmas I took down my sidelight curtains to wash them. The once solid curtain panels were now striped from the sun and looked sick. I really liked the extra light that the uncovered sidelights brought in, so I left them alone for a couple of months. Then I really looked at them again. Those glass blocks are definitely NOT my favorite thing in our home. So I picked up some fabric from JoAnn and went to work. I think it's a vast improvement! Now to work on a new rug for this area...

First Floor Before & After!

Are you ready for a photo heavy post?! This post has been almost five years in the making! I can't even believe that. A lot of the work was finished just months after we moved in, but it's taken a while to get some finishing touches done and I didn't want to post after pictures with all those unfinishes....

So here is the main half of our first floor. What a trip it has been looking back at these before pictures - eek! Makes me wonder why we picked this house!

Entrance before:

Entrance after: We knocked out a part of the wall to open it up a little more.

And one from the other angle!

Front room before:

Front room after:

Full view before: This is a really awful shot, but it's the only one I have!

Full view after: We knocked out the main wall (load bearing, so we had to put up the beam), replaced all the flooring, installed recessed lighting, and basically changed everything...!

Dining room before:

Dining room after:

Front room corner before:

Front room corner after:

Front room corner before:

Front room corner after:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after: We still have some things to do in the kitchen, but here it is so far.

And one more after just for good measure!

If you have any questions on specifics, let me know and I'll try to answer them...if I remember!

WIP 2.1 (Sounds like a computer program)

Such a busy week! We're trying to get some projects finished up before a dinner party tomorrow. It's nice to have a deadline to motivate sometimes. I'm sure Jason wouldn't agree with me, but really...it's the truth!

TIP: A few weeks ago I saw on a fellow Work in Progress blog post (sorry I can't remember who it is!) that the person had kept their projects in separate clear bins. While on one of our MANY Home Depot runs, I found some clear shoe boxes for $1.17 a piece. I picked up five and figure I shouldn't have more quilt projects than that at a time...we'll see! I love being able to pick up a bin and go - very handy! And please don't count the quilt projects in progress...

Completed Projects

•  none...

Projects in Progress

• Wee Woodland Flying Geese Quilt - finished blocks are up to 12! That means I actually made 6 blocks this week.

• Farmer's Wife Quilt Along (FW) - I've amassed quite a stash of fabric and can't wait to work on a few more blocks. None this week though.

• Queen's King Quilt - I've redesigned the quilt from my original thoughts, so I recut the strips accordingly. See the lovely clear bin?! Awesome.

• Hand Towel Apron - no progress
• 2012 Christmas Planner - no progress
• Basement Sewing Table - no progress
• Baby Quilt 1 - fabric and pattern picked out

• Baby Quilt 2 - fabric picked out

New Projects

• Bee Blocks for February arrived!

Stats

Completed: 0

New: 1

Total In Progress: 9

Home reno...baseboards, shoe moulding and the last stinkin' piece of door trim (which really isn't the last piece) are all stained and varnished. Both closet doors are stained and hung. Varnish to come soon. We're going to take them down and spray them all at the same time. Stairs, stained and one coat of poly. I'm wiping on the second coat right after this blog post. 

Here you can see both the closet doors and the stairs. Love blue tape. I think it should stay there. Don't you love the teeny shoe sitting in front of the closet door (love the littles). We're thinking of framing the closet in with trim as well. We'll see. Jason wants to change all of the door trim in the house now. I think I'll have to wait a little bit for that. I also bought a new rug for the front door as well as an area rug for the front room. This might be a good time to take some whole room shots...right before the party. We'll see!

And I'm happy to say that every piece of Christmas decor is down and put away. It took me WAAAAY too long this year! I've updated my curio with my regular goods. I just love all the little treasures it holds!

Linking up here...

WIP Wednesday 1/25

OK. I promise that I will not only blog about works in progress. But I still have to do this one. I do have another post I want to write, but it has a video and that just means it will take me forever to get it up here.

We've been very busy this week though! No time for blog posting!!


Completed Projects

•  none...

Projects in Progress

• Wee Woodland Flying Geese Quilt - made four more blocks and repieced (is that a word?) the two that I already made. I've been very good friends with my seam ripper lately, but I'm hoping that relationship is going to take a step back. I really like the way it is turning out. Can't wait to throw it across my sofa when it's all finished.

• Farmer's Wife Quilt Along (FW) - Still collecting fabric. Made the first block (for the third time) and also completed blocks 2 and 4. I think I might just skip 3 (Basket). I just don't like the basket block. And I guess I can do that....not make it. No one is forcing me, right? I can't wait to get more blocks done so I can really start to see the color wheel effect take shape.

• Queen's King Quilt - no progress
• Hand Towel Apron - no progress
• 2012 Christmas Planner - no progress
• Basement Sewing Table - no progress

New Projects

• Baby Quilts x2 (fabric arrived on Monday, woo hoo!!)

Stats

Completed: 0

New: 2

Total In Progress: 8

On the stairfront...More progress! The base is complete and we just purchased the rest of the moulding to form the top. I'm really excited about how they are turning out. We're going to turn Jason into a woodworker yet! I can't wait until I can put some stain on these puppies!

I've stained and varnished the rest of the quarter round, so we'll have completed baseboards soon! Woo hoo! And the second closet door is going to the finishing table today.

I did take a new picture of the stairs, but I didn't bother to clean up first! Don't they look wonderful serving their purpose...holding jackets?! The little angle things on the iron bars are not going to stay like that. There will be one at the bottom and one at the top. We won't screw them in until the stairs have all been stained and such. Jason will be making a cap for the top of the railing to get the right proportions. He's done such a great job on these!!

Linking up here...

WIP Wednesday 1/18

Another Work in Progress Wednesday...I'm loving these!

Completed Projects

•  Quilter's Dozen Bee Blocks

Projects in Progress

• Wee Woodland Flying Geese Quilt - made my first two blocks! The rest will be more colorful...I'm excited to see it come together.

• Farmer's Wife Quilt Along (FW) - Still collecting fabric. I made my first block. Twice. And will be ripping the seams out to make it a third time today.

• Queen's King Quilt - no progress
• Hand Towel Apron - no progress
• 2012 Christmas Planner - no progress
• Basement Sewing Table - no progress

Stats

Completed: 1

New: 0 (but the projects are just swimming in my head...eek!)

Total In Progress: 6

In home reno news...The stairs are coming along. I've also put the stain on the rest of the floor trim and quarter round. AND...I've stained one of the two closet doors that will be covering up that eyesore of a front closet! Hip, hip, hooray! I'll leave my stairs picture here since I don't have a new picture. I'll take a new one for next week, promise!

Linking up here...

WIP Wednesday

Another Work in Progress Wednesday...

Completed Projects

•  Fish Purse...completed last week, but now here's a picture!

Projects in Progress

• Wee Woodland Flying Geese Quilt - finished cutting all 320 rectangles and 640 squares!

• Farmer's Wife Quilt Along (FW) - colors chosen, blocks organized, collecting fabrics (still need more, but that's the fun part!)

• Queen's King Quilt - no progress
• Hand Towel Apron - no progress
• 2012 Christmas Planner - no progress
• Basement Sewing Table - no progress

Stats

Completed: 0

New: 0

Total In Progress: 6

In other news...our stairs look phenomenal! I love to see the transformation of home reno projects. Sometimes it stinks having to live with the mess, but the stairs have been really satisfying. We still have more to do of course...in progress...that's what this post is all about! Thank you Jason!!

Linking up here...