On Cats in Ceilings

Mateo and I debated what we could tackle this weekend, but then the cat decided for us. Yup. The cat.

Remember the stairs?

Well, the basement's drop ceiling actually hangs lower than the opening for the stairs. (We looked at raising it, but there isn't enough room due to duct work, in case you are curious.)

We knew we would close this in, but we were more concerned about finishing the stairs themselves. After trying the brown kraft paper technique from Lovely Crafty Home, I had to admit that for whatever reason, it will not work on these stairs.

It just keeps peeling off.

Then, one day I couldn't find the cat, but we'd had some tv repairmen in the house, and she always hides when strangers are around. But after they left, I still couldn't find her.

Later, she sauntered around -- sneezing.

 Weird noises at night that night.

Next day, the cat disappears again. (And I knew she wasn't getting out; she's a scaredy cat who won't go out.) She's Mateo's cat really. So he goes down the stairs calling her, and suddenly she's at the top of the stairs, but she didn't run up them and a ceiling tile crashes down.

The darn beast was playing IN the ceiling!

That did it. New plan. Seal the ceiling.

This was a Matt project. He used some leftover lumber to make a box that would match the little bit that already existed.

Then he took some scrap paneling and filled in the front so it would have the same matching panel lines.

Next up will be priming and painting it all. But Matt had to hammer some nails at weird angles, so he was ready to be done.

At least Tesla can't climb into the ceiling anymore.

And, yes, she's a bit miffed about the whole thing right now. :)

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH) The ArtsyGirl Connection,  Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

Progress...sort of

It feels like it has been forever since I've posted about a project. Oh, right. It has been forever. :)

We have several things up in the air at the moment. Making slow progress between Mateo working and me schooling.

I almost never talk about the basement because we started stuff before I even started blogging and it's mostly sat around because it was just headache-y. We are making built-ins.

Big excitement is that the book cases are finally built and painted!

Look at those gorgeous books. Mateo and I both love reading. That's not actually all of our books. I just didn't feel like it was home with all those still crammed in boxes so I'm sooo excited.


Even if the bottom cabinets are still not done.

We did just add an electric fireplace. Partly 'cause it will look nice when we build it in, and partly because it does put out heat and it's chilly downstairs in the winter.

I've talked about the stairs before. Long time ago. Sigh.

But I just tried out Lovely Crafty Home's paper treatment, and I thought it was going to be great, but then it dried, and....grrr. It's all flaking off. I need to go make sure I followed the instructions correctly. I knew it would take awhile to complete all the steps though. But, I thought I had made progress.

It's all down and the wall is clean and bare now

In the living room, it is hard for me to feel like progress is happening. I took down the burlap wall. :( I had to because we are putting in wider base boards and crown molding. The burlap is going back up as soon as that is done. I miss it!

I pried off the first bit of baseboard, so that is progress too. This is what I keep telling myself. Once the baseboards are off, we will be repainting the room too. It's going to take time to get it all done since we don't have as much spare time as we used to, but the room I can see in my head is awesome. I will love it when it's done. 

This post may be linked at the following parties (for their Blog Buttons see my Link Love page): (M) C.R.A.F.T., Amaze Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff,  (T) A Little Birdie Told Me  Stories of A to Z, The Blackberry Vine, How To's Day , Type A, Amaze Me August, , Show Me What Ya Got,  (W) Wow Me,  Blue Cricket Design, What I Whipped Up, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Sweet Peas & Bumblebees (TH) The ArtsyGirl Connection,  Creative Juice, Thrifty 101 , Smilemonsters , Everything But the Kitchen Sink, Shabby Chic Cottage, Thrifty Thursdays, House of Hepworth's,  (F) Fingerprints on the Fridge, Furniture Feature Friday,  Lovely Crafty Weekend , Remodelaholic, For the Kids Fridays, , Craft Goodies, (Sat) Tatertots and Jello , Anything Goes , Funky Junk Interiors (Sun) Creative Blog & Hop, Sundae Scoop, Under the Table and Dreaming

Fits and Starts

We've been moving along on projects, but lots of things are still unfinished. I have decorating ADD. I start one thing, hit a glitch or get tired or just feel the need to squeeze something else in and start another thing.

You may recall the basement stairs project. If not, check out this post, and a few others under the stairs label. We've slowly made progress (but truthfully we've mostly abandoned it for outdoors projects right now) but there was more to the demo than we thought.

Three layers of stick on tile plus a layer of plywood and some random screws that may have held carpet tack strips. No wonder I always thought the cadence was off!

Lovely, isn't it? Someday I'll have a big reveal. Someday...

We've been uber busy on the outside of the house. When we bought it, it looked like this:

But some of that cuteness went away, and upon closer inspection some things were annoying. Let's make a list!

1. Cute decorations and chair went away with the old owner. :( Kind of hoped they'd leave it, but I didn't expect it.

2. Color although nice and cheerful in the summer, was really washed out and dreary all winter and most of the fall and spring as well, so you know, most of the year.

3. The postal service is making new owners move the mailbox from the house. I understand, but find it annoying. (I'll show you that solution later.)

4. The house numbers are annoyingly small and the 0 was put on upside down.

So some changes have occurred and more are coming.

But I'm not going to show you just yet! I'm such a tease.

What I've been up to...

Well, you may have noticed lots of little things and no big reveals lately. That would be because my big project is taking 

forever!

We've been doing a little demolition on the stairs to our basement. I've hated them from day one. But it's funny, I wanted a house so I could do whatever I wanted to it (as opposed to renting). Then this huge major change was so difficult to start. I think we were hesitant, like, can we really do that?

 

It will be awhile before it's done. Here's the progress:

This is before:

 

This is what we found when we took the paneling down:

 

This was next:

 

Now here we are:

 

We still have a long way to go. Those stair treads are being really stubborn! But I will win! So, that's why I haven't had a big reveal in awhile. This one's taking time.

I have three other smaller projects to show you, but I need the weather to cooperate. As soon as the weather remembers it is spring, I'll get right on those. :)

Stairs Revealed

I am updating our basement stairs. Here's the before:

 

 

Beige. Trippy stairs (and not trippy in a good way). And well, it's just not pretty.

But all that's changed!

 

Ta da...

Isn't that just the greatest pop of color? It's just what I needed in that space!

 

Did I get you? Do you really think that's what I'm going with? I totally punked you! Tee Hee. I truly crack myself up. Oh, and props for the Ashton Kutcher reference, right?

Okay, so here's what happened. We really are changing the stairs, and we also want to take that wall out. So, Mateo pried off the paneling to reveal ugly, crazy 1960s (I can't be sure, it just seems that way) wallpaper. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have found what 1970s paneling is better than - 1960s wallpaper. :) You want another look, I know.

 

That part of the wall is already out now. But the next part required the saw and little more time that we had, so now my stairs look like this:

 

Sad, to say that it is better this way than the wallpaper. For the actual inspiration, check out this post.

 

 

Deep breath...

Here are my basement stairs.

Yes, they are ugly. And those metal treads? I know they are supposed to keep you from slipping, but they actually are a tripping hazard!

Plus it hurts more when you fall.

Yes, I have fallen on my stairs. Sigh.

So, I have wanted a makeover for awhile, and I found the greatest inspiration: Lovely Crafty Home.

That is sealed kraft paper!


I think the demo is going to take awhile. I have to get off those treads and pull up all those peel and stick tiles, sand and paint before I even start with the kraft paper that will turn my stairs amazing. So, I'm going in...