While We Wait

Patience may not always be my strong suit of mine, and it's even tougher when you are past your due date. Projects to pass the time are a must, even if they are manual labor. The Saturday morning farmer's market was full of Spring garden seedlings, the weather was begging for us to be outside, and it was hopeful that a little yard work would prompt some labor. While we weren't successful in the latter, we did get the garden tilled with fresh soil and Spring veggies in the ground. And our biggest commitment: Asparagus. That little row of lettuce may not look like much, but surrounding it are asparagus crowns. Since you can't harvest the first year it's not an immediate gratification, instead a long-term play that will hopefully have delicious payoffs.

The Baby Room Reveal

After months (and months) of hard work the baby room is finally complete. It's by far the best room in the house - quiet and lacking the drafts that exist in most of the house. It was also the first time we got to decorate a room from scratch. Aside from a new crib (Thank you Gran Ran & Pappy!) and dresser, most of the room was re-purposed from the rest of the house or handmade, making the end result fairly affordable.

It's hard to believe it is even the same room. Peeling paneling, bent up metal blinds, and big drafts did not make for an ideal baby room. With lots of help from friends and family it has completely transformed. We couldn't have done it without everyone's help - THANK YOU!!

That old paneling doesn't even compare to the new tongue and groove panels that replaced it. To say it's solid is an understatement. The windows got alot of hand sanding and detail work, along with refinished hardware that now makes us want to refinish the rest of the windows in the house. SOMEDAY. Travis' handy work on the trim makes the room look complete. And when we tore down that old wood paneling we found a nook to the left of the door that now creates incredibly functional shelving. While it was a bit of a puzzle making it look square when it's not even close, Travis did an incredible job. It even fits the baskets we already had perfectly.

 

And while I say the room is complete, there really is one more detail left to finish. Above the Ikea dresser that we stained and painted will be his name banner - waiting to be hung upon his arrival. One week and counting until that due date!

You can find all of the baby room progress and inspiration posts here.

Baby Room Sneak Peek

Baby Moore's room is certainly coming along. Construction is complete and furniture has been moved in, but there are still little details to finish. Oh yes, and a crib to purchase. But we still find ourselves in the room almost nightly, tinkering with a light bulb, folding clothes, or hanging pictures. It's getting close guys! For now here's a few sneak peeks into Baby Moore's room.

2013 Review

2013 was a fruitful year for 765, in more ways than one, as evidenced by our orange tree. In the past we've been lucky to have a handful by the end of the year, but this time the branches are weighted down by the fruit.
It wasn't the busiest year on the blog, but the projects that did happen were all substantial ones, for our home and for us. Here's a quick recap of 2013...

We started the year off working on the drafty (and nasty) cabinet under the kitchen sink. A little insulation, spray foam, and fresh shelving makes all the difference now.

Thanks to Travis I got a closet update. No more peeling fake paneling that drops on my clothes. Painted walls and bright light make it (a little) easier to pick out my outfits in the the morning.

It wasn't the greatest year for our garden thanks to busy schedules, but we did get a few good crops and experimented with some new veggies in the garden. A little bit of time off has hopefully given the soil some replenishment time and we'll have a bountiful season coming up.

We announced a new project. A big new project. A baby room.
It's already amazing to look back on these pictures to see how far we've come. This kid sure is going to have an awesome room.

Family, friends and neighbors came together to help 765 have the best baby room ever. Demo, sanding, painting, more sanding, installation and more painting - it wasn't the easiest of work, but we couldn't have done it without your help. A millions thank-yous go out to all of you!

The gender of baby Moore is finally revealed!

A big kudos to Travis for the baby room. Clearly the room construction was not my handy work (mine is just about to begin) and thanks to his skills and puzzle solving the room has come together beautifully. It looks all that much better knowing the room came together because of our own efforts and I'm pretty damn proud of how well he's done.

Tame Teal officially became the color of the 765 Baby Room. With color on the wall it's starting to get real.

Hopefully 2014 will begin with a completed room, as Travis works away on the trim as I type. Only 64 days and counting - it's really go time now.
As we count down into the new year we normally cheers with a Blue Moon and our freshly picked oranges. It may just be a glass of OJ this year but we're certainly excited for what's to come in 2014.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Baby Room - Update 5

Tame Teal has arrived!
It was a decision on a whim to whip out the paint brushes and finally put color to the walls. All of the detail in the paneling meant we went along every seam before covering the walls. It was a bit meticulous but we still finished it in less than a day.
The ceiling got a fresh coat of white mixed with Tame Teal and we realized just how old and dingy the ceiling color looked before. For now you'll have to suffice with little previews of the progress until the final reveal. Up next: trim. Likely the most detail oriented part of the room, but once it's done this kid is going to have the best room in the house.

Baby Room - Update 4

Progress has continued in the baby room. More paneling boards were ordered after everything we had was installed. That meant another round of priming, which we flew in some help from California for. Mid-day painting in the heat - welcome to Louisiana! (Thanks for the help John!)
It's a time consuming process of installing the boards and four hands certainly help speed up the process. The biggest challenge yet: the nook. What it was used for exactly we're not sure, but we know it wasn't designed to be a shelving unit being that it's not even close to square. It was quite the puzzle but Travis and Pat have made it look fantastic. And messages to future owners were left for years to come. A few more pieces of paneling to go up and then it's time for Tame Teal!

Baby Room - Update 3

Once all those boards were primed it was time for another decision. A big one. What color would we paint the room? I knew I wanted a jungle-esque theme, something that would work for a boy or a girl, and a light blue/green seemed like a versatile color for either sex. I picked up a slew of color samples at Sherwin Williams and the debating began. Travis and I each silently picked our favorites and revealed.

While I'm glad to say we were clearly thinking on the same track in the color range, they are so close yet so different. Putting them under every light possible and comparing I still loved Tame Teal. Travis loved Pool Blue. Something had to give. We finally made a decision, and then Travis received this kind advice from his co-worker Chris that he found at a local hardware store:

It seems we likely made the right decision: Sherwin Williams Tame Teal! We bought a second can mixed down with white paint for the ceiling and some white for the trim as well. Now let's hope it looks as good on the walls as it does on that teeny tiny card.

Baby Room - Update 2

The next phase of the project began with the delivery of the paneling that will go up on the wall. Nine-foot tall 1"x6" tongue and groove panels of V-Edge Pine arrived ready to be primed, and thankfully Hannah, Pat and Randalle were on hand to help out. There was an assembly line of paint-dry-flip-paint-dry-rotate, until all 75 panels were complete. Stacked in our dining area, they are getting adjusted to the indoor air, anxiously awaiting to be installed and painted a wonderful baby color... In the meantime the electrical is back up and running in the room and every outlet works! The room has officially been upgraded.

Thanks again to all of our helpers!!

Baby Room - Update 1

Work continues in the room for Mini Moore. After getting all of the major grunt work done (with alot of help from Joey - thanks Joey!) we moved on to the next fun step: sanding. And more sanding. What we can salvage of the original details we're trying our best to. The windows are original to the house with sash weights for moving them up and down. With the help of Travis' parents we sanded every nook and cranny of those windows. Afterwards a coating of tung oil* made the wood look absolutely gorgeous and worth all of the effort. We also discovered a nook in the wall when taking down the old wood. As a future shelving unit it will give us a little added storage - something we'll never turn down.

Travis managed to save the molding when taking it down, so we sanded it for painting later. And that is sanding by hand with strips of sandpaper, no palm sander allowed for those delicate pieces.

Then the front door. This door leads from the baby's room to the front porch. We knew the stain wasn't going to match once we sanded down the windows and other details, so we took it off the hinge and got sanding. I don't think any of us expected how pretty the wood would be underneath the years of weathering. It instantly brightens up our front porch, and now has us wanting to sand the other front door. (One project at a time here...) We'll add a coating of tung oil to the inside and and exterior finish to the outside so we can keep those gorgeous colors.

*While neighbors told us about the tung oil for the windows I was of course picturing tounge oil. Not so. It's from the seed of the tung tree and it hardens/dries when exposed to air to create a satin finish on wood. The oil is even considered one of the few environmentally friendly wood finishes available. The best part is that it resists water better than most other finishes - perfect for old windows. Definitely something we'll be using again throughout the house.