Tuesday, September 2, 2008

O where, o where have the lovebirds been...?



I know the question that has been plagueing many of you...


WHAT have those 2 lovebirds been up to?

Last week, we partially finished our parlor! We put up our wallpaper (oo-la-la!) and our light fixtures! THEN we went thru' our books and put them on the shelves that we made! That was SO fun! So, you are wanting to see before and after pics, huh? ;)



The fireplace in the parlor/living room before Nathan started working on it in Mar. 08'.....Notice the walls *were* plain and don't have any woodwork, etc. to them.... This part of the house was built in the early 1800s and was originally one-story with an outside chimney (large) and a fireplace. In the mid-1800s they took off the roof and put on a second story, replacing the big chimney with the small flue shown here. Notice how they cut the original mantle in half in order to build the new chimney!








Nathan starts working on the fireplace in March 08' (while we were engaged)....








In the beginning of August 08' we started really working on our parlor!



Below is the mantle (hidden behind materials) and to the right of the pic, the beginning of our book cases!







The fireplace...incomplete...notice the big rock Nathan put over the fireplace (all by himself too!).








We have book cases on both sides of the fire place.


Here is another "before" picture of the process of making the book cases!
All of the woodwork and molding was either salvaged from other houses Nathan has torn down, or was made by him. The wide boards (some are as big as 20 inches) and some of the molding came from a house built in 1780 that we have been tearing down the last few months. Pics of that house to come....




Nathan starts to work on a beautiful topper above the 2 doors and front window!
All with homemade stuff of course.






We commenced our painting near the middle of August... Notice to the right of this picture the wainscoting and chair rail we put up. We had to tear out the old sheetrock and then the plaster to put it up. I tried locating pics, but couldn't find them.





Nathan's finished door top!




Then this past week, we wallpapered and put up our lights!





We still have the parlor floor to polyurethene and other odds and ends to move about, so a completed picture is yet to come.






Since we were 99% done with our parlor, we started a new adventure!....
Our back porch which will soon be our mud room, pantry and laundry room (as our plan stands for the moment... ;)



Close up of the pantry wall, before being ripped out, on our back porch...Nathan had the job of ripping all the old yucky stuff out. Why are we ripping it out you ask? The wooden floor of the pantry (which is connected to the porch area) was built at ground level and had termite damage (along with other problems). We are preparing to replace the pantry floor area and add additional footage in the front porch of our home with a concrete slab this week.







Nathan starts to do more demolition! :)







Nathan working in what use to be my pantry....





Nathan takes the siding off the front and tears down the front wall...woah!








Talk about yucky....Under the pantry before Nathan cleans it up....





Look below at what a great clean-up job Nathan did!

That's my man! ;) hehe






Sooo...what was I doing while Nathan demolished the pantry?

I was trying to find a place for all the stuff that use to be stored in the pantry (that sounds easy but it was a half day affair ;) , pulling nails from the boards Nathan was saving that were still good and cheering Nathan on! :)

While pulling nails, I reached for a board and touched this instead...



Well, that is all for now! It's almost 6pm and I have french loaves to create!!!

This concludes my post about "Adventures in Nathanland".... ;)



Much love,


Nathan's lil wifee'

2 comments:

SimpleFolk said...

Oh Jessica, it's LOVELY!I love the wallpaper! I can just imagine what a grand place it will be. :-)
What fun that you can work on your nest together. You came to mind today, so I thought I would stop by to say hello.

Amy

www.homesteadblogger.com/simplefolk/

Marci said...

Wow, y'all are doing a great job!!! I LOVE the wallpaper!!!