Back to School

Back to the routine!  Kids are now in 7th, 5th, and 1st grade!!

My Athletic Boys

Boy #1 is showing off his high-jumping 

skills with his Stomp Rocket:

Boy #2 is showing off his muscles 

complete with intimidating face:

The Barn Loft

I've been mulling over the idea of making a loft in the barn. 
A few things have led me to this idea:

• There's alot of wasted space up there
• It could be a cool play area for kids
• It will help with storage of that divorced lady's stuff that I've been storing for 2.5 years (free of charge).  I've moved her stuff perhaps a dozen times within my barn, and I'm getting rather tired of it all.

So, in the midst of my TV Room Remodel project, I started this new big project.

Perhaps the hardest part was simply clearing out the back 8 feet of the barn to have some work area.  I had to move that big metal storage rack over to the south wall.

I decided not to move my 10,000 pounds of firewood, too.  I simply climbed over it and on top of it to work those final few joists.

The floor height of the new loft is 8 feet above the cement floor.  It will get a little short the further you get away from the centerline, but hey, this is just storage.

The loft spans the entire width of my barn (36 feet) and is 8 feet wide.  I added a stairwell (not complete) for a couple of reasons.  It makes it real easy to get up and down, and because I've never cut a stair stringer before.  I had a friend at work (carpenter) help me with the math, and I now understand it's not as bad as I initially thought!

Yet to do: 
1.  Finish the other stair stringer, and add the steps
2.  Deck out the loft with plywood

Drywall Arch for DIY

Remodeling our TV room, I wanted to give it a little pizzazz.  I've always wanted to do a drywall arch, but never had the opportunity.  Here it is.

I formed my arch with plywood sandwich a 2x4.  The actual arch is simply small chunks of 2x4 cut up and glued in place.  

Each segment is perhaps 1.5 inches long.  I glued them across the entire archway on one plywood sheets with the arch already cut out with a jig saw.  

With that plywood and glued-arch assembly, I simply attached the mating half of plywood.

Arched corner bead is nice to work with.  I simply stapled it into my wood arch area.

No picture, but mudding the arch was simple, too.  I used the good bonding mud that dries pretty hard, and it's turning out real nice.  

All is Well

I went back to my home town this afternoon for a family friend's viewing.  It was good to see all my old friends again.  When I got home, I took a walk outside after kids got tucked away in their cozy beds.  I found a nice sunset illuminating the back yard.  It makes me think we're all right where we're supposed to be.

TV Room Remodel Progress

Well, progress on our TV room is slow, but I think it is positive. 

A couple of weeks ago, we rented a drywall sander, and sanded off all the popcorn ceiling.  I have learned that what we had was not the true "popcorn" but rather just drywall compound mudded onto the ceiling, and then dabbed with a sponge for texture.  It was rock hard, and it took many hours of sweat with that rental unit.  At the end of the day, we actually blew up the driveshaft going to the sanding head of the sander.  That is definitely some hard hard spackle.

We also ordered some cabinets from Home Depot.  We chose them because the depth is correct (12 inches), and they were slightly taller to match the shelves that we were used to in that room (42" inches tall), and they were the right width (2 cabinets of 30 inches wide for a total of a 60 inch cabinet).  I brought them into the room this afternoon, and they look like a good fit.

The plan now is to add a little bump-out wall on each side of the cabinets to make them look "built in".  That little bump out section will go all the way up to the ceiling, and then I'll add an eyebrow arch at the top to connect the two.  I'll add some nice lighting for ambiance of artwork. 

I have it all drawn out on AutoCad, but to see it starting in real life is just as neat.  I hope I can take off a week from work to really jump ahead on the progress.  We'll see...

Just a few Updates

Wow - it's been a long time since my last update.  

Life is pretty full these days.

#1 Kiddo had some art selected for an art show.  

She's also showing off her new braces here.

#2 Kiddo also had his artwork selected for the same show.

We're all pretty impressed with him.

#3 Kiddo is demonstrating what happens with a lack of humidification during the dry winter months at our house.  

The TV room remodel is going well, but I don't get to spend a bunch of time on it.  I still have yet to sand/scrape off the popcorn ceiling, and buy cabinets for near the fireplace.  It looks alot better already without all the paneling!