Over the hump with our bedroom renovation… Maybe one more day!

My sister, Deb, posted this on facebook…and I had to share! Love my brother and sisters! :o)

A fun Easter picture to start your week…

There’s a new show on TV called “60 Minute Makeover” where a whole team of people come in to redo someone’s house and surprise them . It’s a little bit too crazy for me…sometimes as many as 25 people yelling and slapping paint on the walls while someone else is wallpapering an accent wall, and someone else is building a new set of cabinets for an office. It’s too chaotic for my tastes, and I really wonder if they “actually” do it all in the 60 minutes they say they do?

If they DO… they certainly put me and Rebecca and my hubby to shame. I’m sure we’ve put in 60 HOURS this week on our single bedroom.

At least ours wasn’t chaotic…OH WAIT…. yes, it was at times…

Rebecca and I finished up ALL the painting and it looks so pretty around the windows now. I love that crisp sharp look of the white windows against the gray walls.

I even had to hang something on the wall when we finished…

The closet doors have been primed 2 times and painted once… They still have one more coat to go…

…and yes, my house is a disaster…

On Saturday my hubby and I started working on the trim around the closet doors and I thought we both might lose our minds…the closet opening wasn’t the same on each end…in fact, the difference was almost 1 1/2″.

We tried measuring from the ceiling to the opening at each end and got different measurements…we tried measuring from the sliding track to the floor and it was WAY off…we tried to put a level on the trim while we had it clamped where we thought it looked the straightest…and finally, we just decided to go with what looked the most pleasing to our eye…

We hung one of the doors on the sliding track to see what happened..on the left side, the door touched the floor…on the right side…well…I’ll just say…it didn’t!!

Then it was time to work on the trim around the door…but first we had to figure out where the door hinges needed to be placed.

We bought this door several years ago when we found it on sale for $5!!! What a steal… it’s been up in our attic until Saturday… and Saturday we found out why it was $5. Someone had mortised the edges (where the hinges go) backwards.

My hubby had to chisel out new places for the hinges to be attached. It wasn’t hard to do, just took up more time. The places that had been mortised out on the door, didn’t match up the places on the door facings where the old door was. So now we had to fill in that area with little pieces of wood and I called in Mr. Spackle again. I did that all by myself…and I was pretty proud of how it looked…

It went from this…

…to this…

We finally got the door up (after 5 times of putting it up and taking it off) …shim this, trim that, shave this, spackle that! It was somewhat crooked too, but my hubby said, “We aren’t jacking up the house just to have the doors straight at the top.” I agreed and we moved on.

When we bought this house 16 years ago, there was NO trim on any of the door facings or windows…the paneling went to the edge of the opening and that was it. (This is the outside of Rebecca’s bedroom door.

So to see pretty trim around my windows and doors is quite a thrill. This is what it looks like now…

The ceiling light was next… It gave my hubby troubles from the git go, but he finally got it up there… something about the screws not being long enough and there was one wire that didn’t seem to cooperate. This was a light we used to have in our kitchen before “Chandi” came along! :o)

We’re almost finished… here’s one last shot of what took up at least half of Saturday!

Monday morning we are starting on the flooring! Yippee… it will dramatically change the room and I can’t wait to see it happen! :o)

See you tomorrow, if I’m able to move! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne

18 thoughts on “Over the hump with our bedroom renovation… Maybe one more day!”

  1. Charlotte Trayer

    First of all, I want to thank Laura for posting the links to her church and her church’s Easter service. It was lovely. I cried during the first hymn, because I miss going to church! It was nice to see your beautiful sanctuary, and all the paraments, and the vestments your pastor wore. My dad dressed like that for services, too (he was also a Lutheran pastor, originally with the Augustana [Swedish] synod). Now my husband and I are Baptists, and it is a much simpler setting, no vestments (the pastor wears a suit and tie) and only a fairly simple cloth on the altar.

    Jeanne, the renovations are coming along beautifully! I love that light fixture you put in Rebecca’s room! It certainly has a lot more character than some of the modern ones do! But what a challenge, with those doors! Wow!! Glad I don’t have to try to figure that out!!

    Hope everyone had a good Easter. I did take pictures of my Little Darlings in their Easter best today, so will try to post to my doll groups (and send to Jeanne) in the very near future. For now, it’s off to bed for me!!

    1. Hi Charlotte, I’m so glad you enjoyed our church service That is so nice to hear your dad was a Lutheran pastor. I recall you saying you have Swedish heritage. I’m Missouri Synod because of German heritage. *smiles* I’ll bet the services were very similar.
      Normally there are many more hymns, the choir sings, and a longer service for Easter, but with no one there this year, Pastor Jack made is a normal length.
      Our church had it’s 175th anniversary back in 2013, so we are old. It’s neat to imagine the people who sat in the pews so many, many years ago. I wish I could have shared all the stained glass windows on the sides and the organ in the loft… maybe someday. The ceiling still has the originally tin tiles.
      Looking forward to pictures of your dolls in their Easter finery and your wedding.

      1. Since I had some time, I thought I’d go browsing for some possible pictures and found a few more.

        http://interesttime.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/St.-Johns-Evangelical-Lutheran-Church-Missouri-Synod.jpg

        http://www.stjohnsmarysville.org/sanctuaryorgan

        https://www.google.com/search?q=images+st.+john%27s+lutheran+church+marysville+ohio&sxsrf=ALeKk00Ylqr1nyglFivOL1nXf9_if1ib3w:1586800236496&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=Y1ihnNRwZoVxMM%253A%252C14M0-4DSGOF6SM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTrzAvYnqK2H_M_B_se9p9DYWjgIA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjU0rPD–XoAhWaVc0KHVf8CYUQ9QEwBXoECAkQEg#imgrc=Y1ihnNRwZoVxMM: I had the sanctuary photo larger, but can’t seem to find that image back now.

  2. One of the things that makes the room look so pretty is the view from the window, and what makes the view so pretty now is the nicely trimmed and painted window. Congratulations on the results of all that work.

  3. Good morning, Jeanne! How wonderful that you can see the end coming soon! The trim looks so nice and it certainly does make a difference in the room! I can’t wait to see what Rebecca does to decorate! Of course, she or you (!) still have to move everything back into the room, but what a revelation that will be with everything looking fresh and new again!
    Is she taking off an extra day, or maybe that won’t be able to be done? It’s going to be a day to stay in, for sure, with these winds howling!

    We did have a nice Easter, in spite of the fact that we were home by ourselves. Our daughter and granddaughter stopped by to give us some cake and cookies in a very short visit on the front porch! It was nice to see some familiar faces, if only for a minute or two.

    1. Hi Linda, Thank you for you sweet comments on my church. It really is a beautiful place to worship. The founders certainly created a lovely church to God’s glory.

      1. Laura, your beautiful church must be a wonderful place to worship in! I almost thought it was a Catholic church, of which I am a member! However my church is very contemporary in architecture!

        Ahh, the Missouri Synod! I live close the the headquarters here in St. Louis and pass by it quite frequently. One of my former neighbors, was a Lutheran pastor who worked there. Small world!

  4. Laura, the front of of your church is so similar to the one we were married in and son was baptized. The altar has the same statue of Christ in the green robe, the pulpit is elevated, the style painted white. Ours didn’t have the last supper on the altar, otherwise it looks exactly the same! I examined the historical society plaque and was not surprised to see Mo. Synod. 😊 Such a blast from the past!

    1. Thank you, Julia. Jesus, the Good Shepherd statue might be in many Missouri Synod Lutheran churches. The one we belonged to when I was a teen and where I was confirmed had the same white background and elevated pulpit. The only difference is Christ was wearing a rose robe, not yellow as in our current church.
      I posted a few picture links under my comments to Charlotte above, if you’d like to see more.

  5. Gettin there. One step back. Two steps forward. Love your intervention with Spackle. I think the company might want to use your blog for their advertising. I’d send them an email. 🙂
    So, since you are starting the flooring I think today, will it be the same as what you have installed in the living room and kitchen? Then when you do the hallway, it would all match. My dream is to have new flooring here from the kitchen into the dining room and into the living room. It isn’t that large of an area, but changes levels because of the old existing flooring. It would be major ripping out old hardwood and trim and then putting in level sort of underlay all before any new flooring could be installed. Oh, and I forgot, tearing out the old fireplace too. And our major problem, where to put everything while doing the work. We don’t have the luxury of an extra room or space in which to store anything. I don’t think a 60 minute make over would ever work here. 🙂
    Love seeing all of that gorgeous fresh white paint. Everything looks so professional.

  6. I think that’s because George IS a professional! Jeanne is a carpenter’s helper and also the designer, so it’s a great combination to keep within one family. Some would say, “If the marriage survives,” but they’ve been at this for years. Remember the church renovation? Congratulations just on that door frame let alone the whole job. Doesn’t hurt to have Rebecca right there doing her part. What a family ❤️❤️💕. The hearts are for George, Jeanne, Rebecca and Reuben. Can’t wait to see it finished!

  7. Everything is looking so nice. I, like Marilyn, also really love the views from the windows, won’t you hate to cover them with curtains? Your experiences with doors, and trim probably explains why there weren’t any when you bought it. LOL It’s so much more fun to be viewing from “our” couch, thanks for sharing, shall I put more coffee on?

  8. My patience level exploded just reading about that closet door! Yikes…what a job! BUT omgosh..how wonderful everything looks! Fresh, clean lines, lovely color choice, beautiful windows. If you didn’t hurt yet you probably will after the floor is laid. Something about crawling around on the floor and stooping all day makes one hurt😟
    Take care be good to yourselves!😷😷

  9. Rebecca’s room is coming along. Such a wonderful transformation. The ceiling light looks really nice. I can just imagine the frustration with the closet doors. The window views are lovely. I think I would want to install shutters.
    I can’t see the picture because I don’t have a Facebook account. Maybe you can post it another way.

  10. Dorothy in PA and the World

    Dear Jeanne, the room looks so nice. I can’t wait to see all of the little touches you will add when it is completed.

    I don’t know the 60 minute decorating show you mentioned. I am reminded of two shows from the 1990s(?): While You Were Out and In A Fix. On these shows, the design teams were charged with re-doing rooms in a limited amount of time (longer than 60 minutes though).

    My favorite TV design show is Restored with host Brett Waterman. He focuses mainly on Arts and Crafts Bungalow homes. That is my favorite housing style. I like that he doesn’t just rip out walks but works “with” the house.

  11. You’re almost there. Can’t wait to see the finish.
    This has been a lot of work for you all, and fun for the rest of us getting to go along with you.

    Judi Kaye

  12. The room has come together and looks spectacular! Will we get to see a picture with all the furniture in it?

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