Bonjour French Cleat

 With the bedroom finally painted we decided to mount the headboard we made here to the wall instead of to the bed frame.  Andy did some research and decided that a French cleat was the best option so he planned one using a 2x4.

We measured to fit it between the existing supports.

Mounted part to the wall

And checked for level.

Since we are mounting the headboard to the wall it doesn't need legs anymore.

From the front it really doesn't look any different

But from the side it is mounted flush with the wall and is a huge improvement over the original design.

Rolling On

Andy and I both took some extra time off around New Year's to focus on getting the bedroom and hall painted in preparation for new carpet.

We want to add some color to the rooms (no more contractor cream or builder beige) and we have big plans for some bold color (coming soon) but in the bedroom we decided to keep it simple.  We decided on Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige. 

The current painting projects include EVERYTHING -- ceiling, walls, and trim (oh, how I hate painting ceilings!), so it's a multi-day process for us.

The first day we removed all of the old carpet in the hall to make painting the new trim easier. First this happened.

 And then this happened because Kodak is somewhat terrified of hardwood floor and wouldn't come upstairs. What you can't see is that I even had to put a non-slip mat under the rugs to get him to come up.

The real prepwork started early the following day. We moved the furniture and tested some paint on the area where the border used to be.  Andy had to use vinegar and some sanding to remove the residual glue. We painted the ceiling and trim the same day.

And the next day were were finally able to paint the walls and reclaim our bedroom.

Where are the Chickens?

Andy wants to own chickens someday, but I promise that our recent purchase of chicken wire had nothing to do with actual chickens.  This post is late since Christmas is over and it's almost January, but these are too fun not to share.  

In an effort to find a way to decorate our red maple tree by the driveway we thought it would be fun to try to hang lighted Christmas balls in the tree.  I searched for weeks for large grapevine balls to wrap lights around but found none at local stores and the ones online were extremely expensive.  After some additional web searching I found this tutorial to make lighted Christmas balls out of chicken wire.  

The process is relatively simple but it took a little bit of practice to figure out how to get a somewhat round ball (hence no pictures of the actual construction).  We managed to make eight balls, each with 200 lights.  Some of the pictures are a little blurry, but you get the idea.  We are pleased with them and hope to make more to add to the collection next year.

Oh, Holey Night

In the hallway between our front door and the kitchen we have these lovely wall warts.  

This one says "Transistor Intercom AM/FM Radio" and although it is connected to a whole-house intercom/speaker system it barely works.  We kept all of the speakers when we moved in (we have at least one in each room) but the wiring isn't usable for a new system and it would be very expensive to replace.  In prepping the hall to be painted we decided it was time for the speaker and intercom system to go.

And this lovely thing above the intercom system is our doorbell. We plan to replace the doorbell with a new one when we replace our front door (thanks mom and dad!) in the next few weeks, but we won't need such a large hole in the wall.

Andy started removing the panels and wiring

He had to add some 2x4s to frame out the holes so he could attach the new drywall.

With the drywall in place it was was already looking better.

The seams taped and spackled.

He has put several thin layers on since this picture and did a little bit of final sanding.  We won't know what to do with our new blank wall!

Uniformity

Since February when we installed the ceiling lighting in the family room we have been living with a mix of light bulbs.  We had some incandescent bulbs, some florescent and a few LEDs.  We knew we wanted to invest in LED bulbs for this room but they aren't cheap and we wanted to make sure we picked a bulb we liked.  Not all LEDs are created equal.  Even though we bought all of them in soft white some LEDs still create bluish light and some make a very faint buzzing noise that drove us crazy. 

We finally decided on a Phillips bulb and waited for them to go on sale.  Andy found them at a Home Depot so I stopped on my way to work and picked them up.  For those of you considering the purchase online and pick-up at the store options from Lowe's and Home Depot let me be the first to tell you Don't Bother!  We tried this twice on items that had limited stock.  Both times it would been faster and much less hassle if I had just gone and gotten them off the shelf myself.  The items either weren't pulled and ready for pickup or the order had been pulled but they couldn't find it.

Despite the time it took us to make a final decision and the hassle with picking up the bulbs, we are very happy with the new lights!

Put a Crown on It

One of the major trim projects was adding crown moulding to the family room between the original paneled walls and the new drywall ceiling.  

Along the short walls that run parallel to the ceiling joists Andy had to create these nailer blocks to attach the drywall.

Crown moulding is the trickiest trim we have worked on because of all of the angles.  You cut the boards upside down and backwards.  There was a lot of "measure twice, think three times, cut once".

We love how it looks and can't wait to paint the paneling!

Fall Yard Work

 Over the summer and into the fall we continued to work on planting the new flower beds out front.  We planted some variegated hydrangeas near the blue spruce.

And the painted ferns that we planted earlier in the summer started to rally and convince us that we didn't really kill them.

We transplanted what we think is a native rhododendron from out back that was overgrown and buried in the shade.  It survived the trim and move very well.

And it changes to a deep purpley color in the fall.

This a perennial geranium that we planted closer to the street and along what will become a walkway from the mailbox to the house.

While Andy finished up the leaf clean-up I mulched the new beds.  Slowly all of the little pieces are starting to come together and eventually all of these beds will be combined into one.  Yeah for less grass to mow!