A different kind of foundation

I've always wanted to surround my home in scripture. I know for some of you it sounds hokey, but there is something comforting for me as I walk around my soon to be home knowing that behind doorframes and walls are what we consider biblical truths and encouragement.

I thought over which scriptures to write in each area and looked up examples from others online to get ideas. Maybe my list will also help someone else as they renovate, build or even just repaint a room.

Living Room: Joshua 24:15

Kitchen: Matt 5:6

Kitchen heading into hallway: Deut 6:5

Dining Room: Psalm 34:8

Dining Entryway: Col 2:17

Inside every bedroom closet: Col 3:14

Littles room: Psalm 133:1, 1 Thes 5:11

J's room: Prov 3:14

J's Closet: Isaiah 40:31

Behind Bathroom mirror area: 139:14

Guest room: Num 6:24-25

Master bedroom: Matt 11:28, Prov 3:14

Master bath: 1 Pet 3:3-4

Hallway: Psalm 119:105

Laundry: Psalm 51:7

Subfloor: 1 Cor 3:11

Every Doorway: Micah 6:8

Now...onto the walls and floors once they are covered...

It's amazing what walls can do to a house! ;-)

Laundry side wallboard done. This laundry/pantry room will be a pale yellow.

Along with the shiplap (which T would put on EVERY wall if he could...EVERY. WALL. As well as a drain in the center of the floors in place of toilets.  Yep. Man has vision eh?)

we also of course had a lot of sheetrock to continue putting back in place.  Only three areas were left alone...the littles bedroom, J's bedroom and the hallway.  These were the only three rooms in the house that didn't have water damage or other damage that needed walls torn down to fix.

J's room...we did have the guys repair some spots but otherwise the hall, littles room and this room will just need new paint.

That left 8 rooms to rewall (not counting closets).  2 were total shiplap (kitchen and dining).

We ended up having our tile guys finish off the sheetrock as well as tape and float for us because even though we both have experience with this (ok obviously T has more plus he hung a lot of the sheetrock before giving in to the tile guys) neither of us wanted to attempt taping and floating ceilings fo sho!

The back wall of the living room is shiplap, we will also have some boards above the fireplace. The rest of the room and the entry way (which is the drop down part you see at forefront of photo) is all sheetrocked.

So obviously, our main tips here are: 1. leave any walls you can and 2. hire someone to do as much as your budget allows, especially tape and float. It will leave you free to do other projects.

While T has continued to work on major projects (and after I finally finished priming a bazillion shiplap boards...), One of my main jobs has been to clean the rooms so we can stay ahead of the mess. Mainly clean the sheetrock dust, which will get EVER.Y.WHERE...even your nostrils. Ok especially your nostrils.

My other job has been to make sure light fixtures are ready to go when the electricians finally make their way back. This included shining up a few tarnished brass fixtures.

Now let me start by saying...I did not intend to get them shiny shiny, but once I started cleaning, I just couldn't stop. 

I bought this old brass and milk glass fixture for $45 at Canton.

Our good friend Scott cleaned it up a bit and rewired it for me. I originally thought I wanted to leave the patina.

Then I finally discovered the joy of Brasso...oh Brasso, you're simply amazing when it comes to shining brass.

I used several tools...but ended up using the most fine steel wool I could find (and said it was safe for brass) and I also used white rectangle finishing pads (they come in a 4 pack and are in the same area as steel wool). I wore gloves while doing this and my fingers would still end up "tarnishy" but not near what they would have without gloves.  I found that cutting the finishing pads into small workable pieces worked best. 

Some of the detail work was hidden by the tarnish, such beautiful work!

 I also had to clean the globes. I tried soap and water but the brown remained in the crevices. Then I had the idea to pull out Bar Keepers Friend. It doesn't scratch the electric stove so I thought...maybe it won't hurt the milkglass. 

It worked perfectly!

You can see the brown on the top design of this globe. It almost appeared permanent but then...

gorgeousness and they are shiny under that grime!!!

unscrubbed globe on right, cleaned globe on left

I used just a soft rag with water and they cleaned up quickly and beautifully.

This fixture had layers of tarnish so it took a lot of elbow grease, but the results.... 

I can't wait to see this hung up in the dining room! And to top it off, after a bit of research, I discovered that this is most likely from the early 1900's and I got quite a deal at $45 ;-)

That makes my budget-minded hubby happy.

Now for a fun find:

I like to drive. I like to take unknown roads and find my way out. I get this from my dad. T can still get lost in our town...but that's a story for another time...actually many stories. Anyhoo...while driving down our new road to see where it ends, I found this beautiful old home...

with this marker out front

Turns out this was once the home of Peter Ellis Bean, a member of Nolan's Expedition. Or atleast the location of his home. When I researched, the home was more a dogtrot style, not two story. This also says there was a sawmill in the vicinity, so I hope to find out more about the property.

Info on the sawmill: The first sawmill identified with a specific individual is an 1829 mill on Carrizo Creek in Nacogdoches County, built by entrepreneur and land speculator Peter Ellis Bean. Bean exemplifies the nature of the American frontiersmen who settled Texas. He first entered Texas in 1801, hunting horses and trading with Indians along the Brazos River, at a time when it was still under Spanish rule. He built a water-powered, sawmill (sash saw) and gristmill and also ran a lumberyard in Nacogdoches. Attracted by that success, other logging entrepreneurs began operations in Texas.

exerpt from texasbeyondhistory.net

He lived here from around 1835 to 1847. Which gives more substance to the research we've found of this road being one of the branches of El Camino Real (now hwy 21).

After driving down our road, I discovered why Melrose is in the name...it ends in Melrose, which is between Chireno and Nacogdoches on hwy 21. Just in case you were curious. Which you probably weren't. Unless you're a non-challenged driver like myself who likes to find old houses and new ways around town ;-)

Next up...tile work and wood floors!

Sailing...takes me away....

Now here's a fun find...so because this was apparently built from an older homestead, we keep finding interesting pieces of wood all in the structure. We're talking roof, walls, studs...we have seen newer wood, older wood, distressed older white painted wood, distressed older reddish-brown painted wood, distressed older cream painted wood...

weathered white painted wood in living room wall

Reddish brown painted wood on ceiling

and then you also have this.

Used as a smaller stud/brace 2x4 in the dining room wall is a board with an eyehook on it, used to be the framing for a screen door.

Kind of fits when you remember we found a light switch in the ceiling...cause that's normal.

Ok, back to progress...and there has been quite a bit. Although it doesn't always feel like it, especially for my man who is working every free minute to get us in the house before summer.

While our tile guys started on our two bathrooms,

T has been working hard (with help again from our friend Cole and his brother Tanner) putting up ceilings where needed and walls in the kitchen and dining room (Hence the Christopher Cross reference in the title...shiplap's going up!).

Tip: Rent a Sheetrock Lift if you are putting new ceilings in yourself.  Doesn't cost a lot to rent and saves a lot of sore muscles. Sheetrock is HEAVY!

Living room ceiling done! This one took some thinking from T and his brother as it sloped a bit, but they rocked it...get it...ROCKED it...sheetrock...I crack myself up.

Kitchen ceiling done!

And now on to the shiplap...

AFTER: living room back wall

First Dining room wall (going into kitchen)

And the Kitchen begins to take shape!!

  I'm proud to say I helped with this room.  And by helping I mean, I stayed quiet and did what T told me to do (hold up boards).  This may seem like a small thing, but if you know me IRL, you know I'm not always quiet...nor do I usually do exactly what T tells me.  However, after years of marriage I have finally learned to:

1.do as he directs on house projects and then

2. do what I want when he's not around and he usually will like it (or he will pretend to)

 BEFORE: Kitchen

AFTER:

BEFORE: Laundry/Pantry (was a breakfast nook)

Kitchen wall leading to dining room and laundry/pantry to the right

AFTER:

Now enclosed and will have a sliding old door we bought from First Baptist in Lufkin before it was torn down.

This is looking towards dining and new laundry/pantry.

Laundry side

Pantry side

 Of course, T being T, he keeps finding things that haven't been fixed "just right" (interpret to mean...as HE sees as right because he's always right...slight sarcasm intended for T's benefit...but of course he's always right...).

Like...

We love the fireplace...however it was lacking some support so T had to add some boards and shore a few things up.

And...

Shiplap started but also notice the subfloor...T had to go back and replace several that should have been replaced and had to secure several before starting on walls.

He gets frustrated because when hoping to spend a day putting UP walls, he ends up spending a day taking OUT things that still aren't how he would prefer them for his family. 

But, once he gets things fixed there's a feeling of pride in a job well done and he feels more secure for us all being in a home well built. I love that about him. I also hate it because he keeps finding little tiny things to fix and I'd like to see WALLS.  Stubborness might be a family trait....

Another project T has been working to finish is adding maple wood floor boards where we had to move the old fireplace and widen doorways.

Spot where old fireplace was in living room against back wall

When you need to replace real wood floor boards, the trick to making it look seamless is feathering new boards with old boards.  Then once it's all sanded and restained they should all look like they were laid at the same time.

We are truly hoping to be in the house by the middle of May, the sooner we stop paying rent and mortgage all the better! Plus this...

  

This is such a peaceful spot and every time we are out there we hate leaving.

Now for your extra looks...thanks to renovating an older home, I've been able to go to Canton Trades Days TWICE this year! Going once is a rarity, but twice...unheard of and it's been so fun :-) 

First trip was with my kindred spirit friend Wendy, we haven't seen eachother in person in a couple of years so it was long overdue!

Two different times we found Hogs and Frogs together, it was a trip meant to be :-)

Before we were done, I found this jelly cabinet and it will go in our kitchen by the hallway.  Perfect width and height and keeps us from having a cabinet built and the price was low, so perfect for me.

The lady who put the two pieces together and sold it had a son with CP who had passed away recently, I knew it was the right cabinet.

Second trip was with T for my bday...well my excuse was we had to pick up the cabinet I bought the month before when I was with Wendy. Thankfully T likes to go too, so we had a great time.

AND...best part...we found these!

The sign on the right was painted on a piece of metal from an old saloon out of Kansas, that's the one we bought :-)

 

A sign to go above our Laundry/Pantry door and Metal roofing tins. These will go behind our stove in the kitchen and we are thinking maybe around our fireplace too, couldn't believe we found some this trip. We've been looking for months!

That's it for now...hopefully I'll get another blog written before May is over. Maybe.