Screen Door Suprise

Ever since we 'finished' the mud room. I use the little quotes around finished cause well, it's not quite finished. It's more than usable we just need to install trim around the window and door and a base board. You know little things. I'm sure it will be done by Thanksgiving, of next year.

 

Any way, ever since it became a functional room I have been bugging Mr. B that we need a screen door for it. It has the exterior steal door, with no window. It would be nice to be able to leave it open to light in the light and the fresh air but not the bugs and geese. You see I have this bad habit of not shutting anything, drawers, cupboards, doors. I was always leaving it open. With a screen door I wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

 I had my heart set on one of the wooden full screen doors. You know the ones with the spring that just slam shut.My Granny had one in her house when I was growing up. The house that her and her father built. My sister and I would always get scolded, not by her, never by her, by our parents every time we visited not to slam the door. It was fitting that our house have one too.

 

Well when I came home from work on Saturday Mr.B had a surprise for me.

 

 

 

And I let it slam every time I open it. 

Mud Room Progress Part II

Just wanted to give you an update on the mudroom. Remember how Mr. B had drywalled and put down the sub floor a few weeks ago. The plan was for my to do the mudding myself, I even borrowed the proper tools and got a crash course from a friend who used to do it professionally. Well the room sat for a while with nothing being done. We have been busy working on the "master suite". (The big reveal is coming soon I promise.) Any way we have been working on a gazillion other projects around the house and the mudding got pushed to the back burner.

Two weeks ago Mr. B suggested that we just give in on this one and hire someone to do it. It would save us time and it would save my sanity. Seriously, there is always so much to do around here and too little time! I called around and found someone who could do it without braking the bank.

I think it turned out wonderfully. I do feel a tad guilty for not doing it myself but it was so liberating to come home last night and have it done. Now all I have to do is find time to prime and paint the walls and lay the flooring. And get Mr. B to put up the trim and baseboards and make me a storage bench and hang coat hooks and get a work bench..you know the easy stuff!

For now let's just relish in the fact that it is mudded and looking great.

Mud Room Progress

This year the big project around the Acres has been gutting and redoing the room off the back of the kitchen. We want to turn this space into a "mudroom". The main entrance to the house. A place to take off coats and shoes and some extra storage. 

When we started this spring it looked like this. 

The room was not insulated. Because it wasn't insulated it would freeze up in the winter and thaw, then freeze again, then thaw. There was allot of moisture in the room. We had a slight mold problem. See the right hand side of the picture, that's not a bad paint job, that would be mold. Yup it had to go. 

So at the beginning of the spring it was all torn out. The moldy fiber board the crappy "wood" linoleum flooring. It all went bye-bye. It sat empty for a few months. Nothing but the sub floor and the studs. 

A few weeks ago my parents came down and helped with the wiring. Since then Mr. B has been quite the handy man.  

He insulated and installed the vapor barrier.

His brother came over and helped hang dry wall. 

He laid plywood over the floor to create an even surface for new flooring. 

I think he made some major progress these past two weeks. 

He also wore a tool belt. 

We Have Lights and Power

While mom and I were ripping out carpeting this past weekend, the boy played with the electricity in the mud room. We know have lights on a switch! The one in the mud room was on a pull chain. Now we have two lights on that we can flip on with a switch. 

We also have a light on the porch, on a switch. Moving up in the world. We opted for a halogen security light. Most of the stuff at the home improvement store was the "rubbed oil bronze" color. I love it but it doesn't go with the white and black exterior of the house.  The ones that would go with house were limited, and not so nice. And with the security light we have a better and brighter view of the yard, easier to spot the predators that might come after the birds. 

The boys also installed three of these. 

We didn't have any outlets in the mud room before, unless you count the one on the light fixture. That we never used. They also put an outlet on the porch. Most exciting part of the whole adventure. We no longer have to run an extension cord from the kitchen if we want to use power tools outside.