a little change... and dining room pics!

The tidy cave blog has been neglected as of late. So sorry about that!

So I've decided to change the blog slightly. I'm not going to number the days anymore. I'm spending too much time trying to figure out the timeline. I want to focus more on the things we're doing around the cave. Also, I want to focus on more than just the day to day cleaning - like home improvement projects and cooking!



So you may be asking... what have you been doing around the cave, exactly?

Well. As promised - here are the dining room pics. The wood trim is called "ultra pure white" and the paint is called "campground", which is basically the color of spicy brown mustard. I like it a lot! We've been having dinner in there quite a bit, and I have to tell you, it's so nice having dinner in an actual dining room again!

Dennis really got the job done - he painted the walls mostly, and hung and wired the chandelier. After it was hung up, I was able to move things around and decorate. I went through the floor and cleaned up all the little places where paint splattered.

What's left in the dining room / kitchen area you ask? Well...

Duane is going to come over and frame in the hole around the breakfast bar with painted white trim. It's going to look great! He's also going to help us put up the baseboards and heater we took off while building the new half wall. We also removed the baseboard in one other place, and that will have to be put back on. No big deal.

My Mom is going to make curtains for us! We're doing a valance on the window over the kitchen sink, kitchen door, and the little bay window in the kitchen. We're doing longer drapes in the dining room with rod iron curtain rods. Also, the light over the sink has not worked for quite some time, so I'm getting a new one that matches the chandelier. Oh, bar stools would be nice too - but we can use the old ones for the time being.

Below...

The chandelier being assembled, then Tommy trying to help us with the wiring. He was not much help.

Days 51-57 dining room fun

Now that the kitchen is in working order, it was time to tackle the dining room.

Oh - and I'm sorry for being so "off the grid" these past few weeks. Life is beyond crazy and adding a house under construction has been making it waaaaay worse! Another busy week awaits... but first. Back to the fun stuff - the dining room!

I was able to finish the white paint on the doors in the bathroom and basement, replaced the hinges and door knobs, and hung them back up. It feels good to have a bathroom door again! (As you can imagine!)

Thursday night we had some crazy winds up here in NH, so due to power outages, school was canceled for me on Friday. I love a day off! I had already gotten up, showered, had breakfast, brewed my coffee, and dressed - I had one foot literally out the door when I found out. A bonus day off! I put on my sweats and enjoyed my coffee with my laptop chatting with my friend Kristin. After Dennis left for work I really got myself going.

I taped the edges of the windows, and baseboards and used oil based primer to prime them. Once again, oil based paint smells horrible. On Saturday and Sunday, Dennis and I worked to complete the room as much as possible. I'm not feeling so hot, so I have to admit, he did most of the work. As of Sunday night we had two coats of white paint on all of the wood trim, and two coats of a paint called "campground" (like a spicy mustard color) on the walls. The room is looking mighty good!

What's left? A few touch ups on the trim bordering the ceiling, hang the chandelier, replace the outlets and light switch with white, reattach the baseboards on two walls. In addition to these last few "construction" touches, we are going to be putting the table, hutch, etc. back to where it belongs - maybe get a few things to hang on the walls!

What's next on the agenda?

We're basically trying to get all the painting done in one swoop. We'll be moving on to the hallway/living room to do the wood trim. I plan on taping the edges this week and Friday night!

The Beginning - Day 1

And so it begins.

So nice to meet you. My name is Kate, and I'm unorganized. I want to be, and every year it's my resolution but I always fail. But... this year is going to be different. It's all about the blog, folks. It will keep me honest, and hopefully you can add some comments and/or ideas along the way.

You should be proud! I've spent a good part of my vacation reorganizing the house. The way I see it, I don't stand a chance being organized for a year if I start off with the house a complete disaster!

Let's go room by room, shall we?

The kitchen.

My favorite room in the house. You will notice clean countertops! The wallpaper has been stripped but needs to be prepped, primed and painted.

Look at those organized kitchen cabinets!

This used to be a wall. Now it's a big gaping hole with a lot of potential. My fantastic Father-in-law is helping us build a breakfast bar. We took the whole wall down and built this half wall. At this point we need the granite before we can move on to the next step.

The dining room.

It used to be impossible to keep warm because it was all by itself. This used to be a solid wall. We (along with Duane, my super Father-in-law) made a doorway. The difference in airflow and heat is HUGE!!!

The hutch. It was filled with scrapbooking crap - now it's organized!! Notice the very attractive bucket of joint compound in the corner...


The truth. The pile of tools and shit in the corner of my dining room. I want these to go away.

The living room.

The Christmas tree. (Awww...) This is my favorite place to read - my book is laid out. You will also notice Tommy and Quimby... the sweetest cats you'll ever meet. (Awww again!)

Slightly littered with Christmas stuff. Don't mind the box fan on the chair pointed at the pellet stove... another adventure in home ownership was our pellet stove blower thing making the most God-awful noise you can imagine. (Think fingernails on a blackboard...) so we were forced at 1:00 am (on a school night I might add) to rip the f**ker out. So to heat the house until the pellet man comes we are simply pointing a box fan at the stove and it's blowing hot air around. Classy, huh?


The sunroom.

This is Dennis' favorite place. We bought the house because of this room. All that needs to be done is to paint.


The downstairs bathroom.

On a particularly ambitious day last July, I stripped the wallpaper and took off the mirror. I thought... "Hey, this will be an improvement over the ugly wallpaper, and also easy! Yay me!" Not so much. Apparently we need to unbolt the toilet and sink in order to get at the wallpaper behind it. Ugh.


Another unexpected snag. Those cabinets don't go all the way to the wall. there's a wallpapered space between the cabinets and the wall. My body only fits in the small space if I twist myself at an unatural angle. If you think you can fit, I am willing to exchange a couple bottles of good wine for that wallpaper to disappear. Any takers? I got the vinyl part off and I'm thinking I will just prime/paint over the paper backing still stuck to the wall - does it really matter? It's behind the washer and dryer!

Look at those organized cabinets! Before this picture was taken they were filled with all kids of crap - from cat toys to Ann Taylor shopping bags... you name it. This is much better.

Upstairs is not done yet, I won't take a picture of the mess. :)

Thanks for taking the tour! If all goes according to plan, it should only get better from here!

Time to relax with a beer and book. Cheers, and Happy New Year!