A partial living room renovation.

Some things have been changing around here. Little by little, when free time is had, between with Mr. T's new shift at work and general winter prep, this time is limited, but things are getting done. The current project is our living room. A roof leak, working around a giant fireplace, and ridiculous ceilings are just a few things on the agenda. So far Mr. T has flashed the chimney, something the previous owners thought was unimportant and has stopped our roof leak. Woohoo! Only took 2 years to fix, but I am SO not complaining. It is fixed and that is what matters. And since this was fixed, other, more fun, projects can be undertaken. Cue- The Living room Built-in Project 20011

Here is where we started on October 9th 2011

When we started the only project I thought was on the docket was to build book shelves and a cabinet but then this happened...

Which turned into this

 This needed to happen for three reasons. 1) it was VERY ugly. Seriously, I can deal with many things and label them charming, but this was not, it was just ugly. 2) many of the tiles were broken and/or chipping, and slate is SHARP. This was a daily hazard for our kids, DOT in particular who often was found with shards in his mouth, so this was the main factor in the change. and 3) there was this weird carpet peninsula thing that ended up under the wood supply so it was always dirty and it just didn't work.

And as a bonus 4) Mr. T started removing it without me even asking, we were on the same page about it, sweetness.

We saved many many of the whole undamaged tiles, waste not, and I have a project in mind for them in the laundry room. For that project, they will be charming and wonderful. Mr. T also started on one of the built-ins I was promised when we purchased the house.

Tile up, and 3/4 of a built-in all on October 9th. And it sat that way for all of the rest of October. I was starting to get concerned that another two years would go by before we had a floor and bookshelves. But as chance would have it, Mr. T had 6 days off in a row last week, and he wanted to go deer hunting. We made a bargain and a lot was accomplished.
First we purchased tile and tried to pick out a stain. The tile was fun, but kind of a pain. The one we like was out of stock and we needed to get this done in 6 days, no time to wait for shipping. We ended up going with a different tile, that WE love. It was more expensive than the one we wanted, still inexpensive compared to the majority of other options, but it is beautiful and all other options could not have worked better. So first Mr. T handled the tile instal and did a beautiful job. ( I would have helped, I did help with the cabinets, more on that later, but my tiling skills SUCK. I did not want to mess up something that had the potential to be so nice. I opted for camera handling rather than slinging mastic and grout)

From start to finish in about 27 hours, with a couple hours of deer hunting in there too. Tada!

Yeah, Watermelon was  HUGE help with this project too, as always.

So the tile was down and 3/4 of the left built-in was built, now the right side built-in could begin. This one doesn't have a cabinet on the bottom, it has tile under it for firewood storage. Yay! Me. T got it up in a flash.

And then after some fast learning and quick work, I stained it. *bows gracefully* Thank you, thank you, I try my best. I am very proud to have helped.

Then DOT woke up and I couldn't help any more because my job of baby wrangling has become all consuming. Have I mentioned to you all that DOT started walking? Yup, he did, just a few days before Halloween. And he now walks EVERYWHERE, quickly. It is marvelous, and I am thankful that he waited till he was almost 11 months old before doing so, unlike his 9 month walking brothers, but really a toddler makes remodeling difficult and far more dangerous than it already is. Mr. T took over the staining and did a fine job.

He also fabricated some doors for the left cabinet and added an additional shelf to the right one.

Waiting to be loaded with goodness.

All loaded with goodness and fun.

The cabinet on the left holds games and puzzles. My books are very happy in their new home. The bottom shelf on the right side will, eventually, house the satellite box and dvd player. I say eventually because this will only happen after we purchase a new wall mount tv and build another book shelf on that wall. And since a flat panel tv can cost quite a lot of money, it could be a while. However, black Friday deals have been known to pop up, and you never know. But for now, we are calling it done. Hole in the ceiling, unmudded drywall , tv and additional built-in aside it is done. I am very happy with the end result, in fact I might be in love with them. I put the room back together and here it is. As of November 9th 2011, 1 month from the start, we have a finished(-ish) living room.

Halloween 2011

Good times were had by all.