SANDING AND TEXTURING NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Another week, another milestone.  Of course, some of these photos might seem redundant to last weeks update but it's another new major step forward.

Sanding and texturing the drywall!

They boarded up the entrance into the house from the garage just to kind of be able to seal things up inside the house.  You can see the walls, smoother from sanding the seams and then texturing all around.

This is the guest room, you can see the difference on the walls and ceiling.

Here is the ceiling of the living room.  They cover the a/c vents and return vents to keep the texturing from getting in the ductwork.

A little more of a closeup around the door frames and then above is the other attic space in the house, also closed up to keep texturing material out of the attic.

Here's a glimpse into the study/third bedroom.  It's funny how we both now can see a photo of even a little part of a room, and know exactly where it is in the house.  It's really ours, ha!

And lastly, here's a closeup to show the texture.  For those wondering around texturing and the "why" behind it, here's some interesting and good info we found:

Drywall is textured before painting primarily to improve aesthetics and hide imperfections. Here’s why:

1. Conceals Flaws: Drywall surfaces often have seams, screw holes, or minor damage from installation. Texturing helps mask these imperfections, creating a more uniform appearance that’s less noticeable after painting.
2. Enhances Visual Appeal: Texture adds depth and character to walls, making them more visually interesting than flat, smooth surfaces. Common textures like orange peel or knockdown can complement various interior styles.
3. Reduces Surface Prep: A smooth drywall finish requires meticulous sanding and priming to look flawless, as paint highlights every minor defect. Texturing is more forgiving, reducing the need for extensive surface preparation.
4. Improves Durability: Textured surfaces can better withstand minor scuffs or dings, as the texture helps disguise small damages that would be more apparent on a smooth wall.
5. Paint Adhesion: Textured surfaces provide a slightly rougher base, which can improve paint adhesion compared to a perfectly smooth drywall surface, ensuring a more durable finish.

So there you have it, our walls and ceilings are fully textured and ready for painting.  But next comes...CABINET INSTALLATION!

GETTING ORGANIZED FOR HOLIDAY STORAGE

You may remember this picture:

This is (kind of) what our garage attic space will look like.  It will be floored, and I will partially wall it after we move in, so we can use it for storage.  I figured if we had a ton of boxes up there, it would be hard to figure out what is what for different holidays even if they are labeled (a box gets turned around, etc).

So, I thought of putting things in color coded boxes to correspond to their contents.  What?  See below:

Here are a few of the ones we have already acquired (that I could get to).  There are a few already in use but this is just to give an example.

We have a couple of these already, though I am not sure they are the same style.  But they are orange with black lids.  That's screams Halloween decor.

I decided black with a red lid would be good for our Day of the Dead decor.  We have three of these since, as you know, we already have a lot of those decorations, ha! 

Of course, hello, bright red is Christmas.  We have four (five?) of these and that's where we keep the majority of our Christmas decorations.  But we MIGHT need some more later this Fall, ha.

This pink one is obviously Valentine's Day!  OK so red may also be obvious but since red was already taken, and pink wouldn't work for any other holiday, Valentine's Day it will be!

This pale green has become our Easter color.  I bought two of them and they are perfect for the Easter decor.

In fact, here is an example:

This is one of them with some Easter items in it (including that awesome garland I found).

This one is for...4th of July decorations! We have two of these since we have quite a few things.

Hello, St Patrick's Day!  Perfect color green.  Again, these colors are also used at Christmas for storage, but since we're trying to keep our holidays sorted, and we already have red for Christmas things, this was perfect for the luck of the Irish!

This one is going to be for Mardi Gras decorations.  They made a dark purple one that I would love to have had, but they are sold out.  Since the colors of Mardi Gras are purple, green and gold, this will still work!

Here are a some more that I bought recently, just because these colors come and go throughout the year and once gone, they are next to impossible to find.

This will be where you all come in:

Suggestions for what holiday or decor to use them for?

This is an aqua/teal blue green.

They call this one orange but it's definitely different from bright Halloween orange.  I was thinking that this might do as Fall/Thanksgiving.  But as Fall gets here, they might just have an even better new color for Thanksgiving so f I don't need it for that, any ideas?

                                                                                        

This one is marine blue.  It was the original one I chose for the 4th of July box but the other blue is a much more patriotic shade of blue, so this one is up for grabs as far as holidays.

I also have a white one.  This one could have been 4th of July for sure, but it can be for something else.

The good thing is that for now...

...they stack up easily for storage until we have the attic space to put them.  After that, we can begin sorting through our decorations as we find them after the move and start getting them filled.

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 It's been a busy weekend and the weather (at least yesterday) was sketchy.  Didn't get to mow or edge, way too wet out there.  Time for some good food and some Hobart!

But it WAS a good day for a roast chicken and vegetables.  Always so good.  And we can eat on it for a few days!  Win/win!

Hobart was on the floor relaxing, just waiting until we finished cooking the chicken so he could get some on his own little saucer.  Because...

#notspoiled

ACRYLIC STORAGE BINS TRASH TO TREASURE

 Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor, and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

Saw these, they were all piled into a box that was closed, on top of the dumpster.  I opened it and found a bunch of acrylic plastic storage containers.  I brought them upstairs and sorted through them.

Here they are:

There is one long narrow one, one smaller bin, two 4-compartment bins, and four bins that have air flow holes around the sides.  There were so many, they didn't all fit in the same picture...

Here are two more very large bins, with handles on each end for carrying!

We're thinking of plenty of uses in the new pantry but they are also used in fridges and freezers and I was just thinking how wonderful some would be to store things we put up in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer.

We popped them all in the dishwasher to make sure they were clean (though they looked brand new) and then we put them in a box to await the big move.

Hey, for whatever reason, someone didn't want them and so we'll be happy to get a jump-start on storage solutions for the new house.  A few less things we'll need to buy to stock up our pantry/freezer!  Win/win!

Nope!  Not this weekend!

#farmshark

SHEETROCK REVEAL NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Finally, some exciting (i.e. non boring) updates to show and pics you all have been waiting for: they put in the drywall!!

We have actual rooms!

Coming in the front door and foyer, there is the coat closet...

Looking ahead, this is the hallway to the two bedrooms and guest bath.  Main attic access is up there.

Here is our study/2nd Man's office.

And this is the guest room.

Forgot to get a pic of the guest bathroom, but not much to see at this point, it looks more like a large walk in closet, ha.

Walking back toward the front door and walking slightly into the living room...

...you'll see this.  Here I am standing in the living room looking back to the foyer (this is the temporary front door, actual will be glass of course) and you can see into the kitchen.  That wire on the floor in the kitchen is the stub up for power to where the island will be.

Here is a view from standing near the end of the island, looking back toward the foyer (the coat closet you saw earlier). The doorway to the right is the hallway to the master bedroom.

Here is the master bedroom.  Nice and big.  My desk will be under the windows with a view of wide open spaces, ha.

Here is the shower, looks small in this picture but it's six feet wide, will have a bench on one end and it's 9 feet tall.  You can't see out of the window, the top of our heads come to the bottom of the window, ha.

Turning around, this is the wall where the double vanity will be. Two sinks with a cabinet in the middle.

Going back out of the bedroom and into the living room...

Here is the view looking toward the back porch and the living room.  The doorway opening on the far wall goes to the laundry, pantry and garage.

Here is a view while standing at the sink and looking back toward the dining room windows.

Here is that doorway, going into the garage.  Pantry on the right, laundry on the left.

This is the laundry room (pocket door will be here).  Stack washer/dryer on one side and large freezer on the other.  We have a drain in the floor in case of 'accidental leakage', ha. 

Turning around...

Here's the pantry (a matching pocket door here).  I walked to the back wall...

...and turned around.  Here's a view looking back toward that hallway and the laundry room.

And lastly, here's a view sticking my head out into the garage from the door.  Our extra attic storage space access is there.  It's a nice size garage, still two car, but a little oversized width wise.  We are so excited!

Lastly, here's a shark week photo:

Glad I already mowed! 😄

#farmshark

CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE SLITHERY KIND

New house update will be tomorrow, I didn't get my photos uploaded in time...but trust us, it will be an exciting one!

This weekend, I was scoping out the yard ahead of mowing, looking for rocks, pieces of wood, etc.  Oh and looking out for that electrical line, when I saw this:

See it there in the grass?  Maybe?  Let me get a close up for you:

There it is!

In fact, here, check this out:

I captured it (ON VIDEO, ha).  I believe it's a rat snake, common and non-venomous...and bonus points, they take care of rodent control.  It was headed toward the house and I walked around it and guided it back to the grass and the shady are of a tree and the pasture behind us.

Still, not something you want to just randomly run into but we will be getting used to sharing our property with the native wildlife.

'Tis the season for #farmshark!  You never know where it might show up.