Office Completed (finally!)

I've been working my way around the downstairs these past couple of years, trying to bring major construction to an end...EIGHT YEARS after moving in! This little project called "PhD" has been slowing me down a bit. This summer when I'm not writing I've been finishing the office. First step was emptying it out (no small task):

As you can see from these images, we've been living with the SIPs panels as wall surfacing materials for a while. Once the desks and books and the rest of the junk was moved out, the next task was prepping and painting the ceiling and plaster walls. Next, I built extension jambs around the windows and put up the tar paper so the SIPs wouldn't be viewable through the spaces in between the barn wood when that went up.

Then the barn wood - which I had stacked in the basement after washing it and ripping it into 5" strips a few years ago - began to go up...

And finally baseboard trim, a wooden cap on the sill that surrounds the perimeter of the house on the first floor, and shelves.

Here are some shots of the office after partially moving back in:

 I built these two pine shelving units and mounted them over the desk on the west side of the office. They're part for storing office necessities but also for displaying some of my book collection.

There are still a few additional jobs that need to be done, but I have already begun emptying out the next room (my bedroom) in preparation for the next task. Hope to have that one wrapped up by the end of the summer...along with my dissertation. Crossed fingers.

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Boys' Room Completed

After living in the house for, what, eight or nine years now - and in light of the fact that my eldest is heading off to college in less than two years, I decided it was time to check another room off of the list of projects. Here's the before and after shots. The boys chose the colors and the wall decals.

I'm actually up about 12 feet up in the air measuring for a difficult piece of trim.

Here's the view down.

Cutting and fitting the drywall around century-old beams that aren't quite straight or true is a b-!

Roughing in the closet.

Finished product. Tree decal was the boys' call. I love it.

You get a sense of the height of their two-story bedroom from this shot.

New Red Mailbox!