plank walls IN : Hayden's room

Tonight, the 12" wall plank installation was complete, in addition to the cap shelves. Finish moldings for the corners and some spackle on the nail head holes will have us ready for the white-wash paint and base molding installation as soon as we can get to it. Getting closer!!

Working on the walls

Worked on the lower half of the wall today, which included lots of measuring to retrofit the outlets and phone jack (no, Hayden is NOT going to have a phone in his room!). Working in non-AC is wearing thin. but Ken is getting a little reprieve from it with his daily pond dips.

Hayden's Room Progresses

This afternoon we made big strides with Hayden's room renovation. The upper wall final coat of paint was put on (Suzan is in LOVE with the color) and we began cutting and installing the big primed planks on the lower wall. Everyone had fun painting and drawing all over the walls, but some of it had to be covered up once we realized that it would be wise to paint white stripes where the plank seams would go... To prepare for a potential future shrink or shift in the boards. It is fun to see the vision finally coming to fruition.

More Liarope Movin' in

This evening, Ken and Hayden put in the second batch of Liarope. A trailer full is so deceiving when you get it into the ground... Looks like we might have to take a 3rd trip to visit our freecycle friends in Landsdale for more if they'll have us.

Hayden's Floor

Yesterday was a busy studio day, but time was made for two coats of porch paint on hayden's floor. The sea grass area rug was also delivered! Sorry, no pix... Updating from Ken's parent's house. A relaxing weekend is surely needed! The rooms did not stay on the intended timeline, but we are happy with the results so far and will continue to chip away at it next week. The kids will have to camp out elsewhere for a bit... Good thing they are flexible in nature and love a good adventure!!

Room Switch EXTRAVAGANZA

Last night, we were ambushed by Ken's accountability group buddies. Instead of their weekly gathering, they came over to lend a hand and stayed past midnight! They accomplished SO much in one evening, it is almost UNBELIEVABLE. First, they removed the old carpeting from Hayden's new bedroom and then took off all of the hardware from the previous shelving and patched up the walls. Then a hole was cut through from the studio closet wall to the outside of the house and a masterful custom engineered coupling (go Ken!) and installation soon had the Pinguino air conditioner up and running (not sure who is more excited, the computer equipment or Suzan). Then the crew completely painted the first coat of the upper wall in Hayden's room, a fabulous thunder cloud blue. This is no small task, considering the ceiling is vaulted and we did not have a scaffold. And if that wasn't enough, they jumped into installing the pretty marble double-sink vanity top in the kid's bath. That box has been a semi-permanent fixture in another part of the house... So, this install was a two-fold treat! The faucets were just set in place, saving plumbing for another day. They all gathered up the GIANT pile of refuse and even helped get it to the curb. A BIG THANK YOU to Scott, Ray and John for your willingness, enthusiasm and hard work (and a thank you to your wives for letting us borrow you!).



PS: Thanks for picking the pretty wild flowers for the studio Mr. Knott.

studio MOVE IN

Tonight, with the help of Scott S., all of the studio furniture was shifted from "studio A" to "studio B". Ken and Scott looked like professional movers with their matching shirts, don't you think? The computer set-up got Suzan all in a tangle, but her non-techi right brain figured it out eventually. We have started to find homes for everything, all while doing a big PURGE of "Do I REALLY need that?" items.

Studio wall and floor complete

Yesterday was MOST productive. The walls and trim were completed and the sub-floor and new flooring was laid. Thanks to Home Depot for being open on the 4th of July, we were able to acquire more glue and complete it exactly at midnight. A shoe molding will need to rim the wall yet, but that might have to come later. Thanks Jim, for taking your day off to help the Knotts. Your friendship is a blessing! Next time, we will take your suggestion to purchase knee pads... we are hobbling around like senior citizens today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.A.

New STUDIO status

The prep work for this room was MUCH more than we anticipated. Removing the wallpaper glue took over 6 hours. The top wall was taped and painted was completed last night. We determined that the floor would be unable to handle the tiles, as it was way too rough and uneven. So a plan to purchase sub-floor put a jolt into the plans. Fortunately, this morning, Ken found just enough primed underlayment material in the basement left over from the Columbus Studio "walls"... HORRAY! So while he is cutting that, Suzan will start painting the bottom half of the studio wall. HAPPY JULY 4TH!!!

NEW ROOM projects have begun

After a long drive back from dropping off Morgen at camp, we jumped right into emptying 1/2 of the studio shelving and completely gutting hayden's old room. The carpet and pad was removed (it is in good shape, so we listed it on freecycle) and the arduous task of removing the 12" wallpaper border began. NOT fun. Suzan was peetering out, so Ken took over the scraping...then...a light bulb finally went off in Suzan's head... and we started to steam it off with the iron. MUCH better! Gave up for the night at 12:45 am. Tomorrow we will start painting, after removing some of the remaining glue residue and giving it a good sanding. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Big day at the Knott POND

After a week of rain, we celebrated July 1st by having a family inaugural swim in the pond. It was nice and warm! Ken also finished out the day by planting the new Cat Tail Punks he dug up (thanks to Terry Moyer!). Of course one swim was not enough... After dinner, as the sun was going down Ken, Morgen and Hayden jumped in and enjoyed the fireworks from next door while they floated and spied on MoJo, one of the three resident bull frogs.