The living room remodel

I realize that most of this project was almost a year ago, but now that the slide show feature is available in the blogs, it is very easy to show you the process.
When we bought this place, the previous owners were not idle by any means about getting the property cleared off and starting to update the home. We appreciated the things they had finished, but there was still a lot to do. I will give you a glimpse of our living room project.
The living room closet used to be the front porch area, but they put in a big sliding door, and closed off the porch, making it into a closet. The big metal front door was still there when we moved in, so we decided to put a smaller closet door in, and build some shelves in there for games, DVD's and what not. I put in a few plugs as well, since there wasn't anything there. We put in a ceiling fan and well.
We had to change the texture on the walls. It was very much old school, and I was afraid that when the kids were bouncing off the walls as the sometimes do, they might start to bleed. Just kidding, but you get the point. I put in a few pics to show you how rough it was. I had a few choices. Tear off the sheet rock, and replace, then retexture, or scrap and fill the existing, then retexture. I chose the latter, it was cheaper, and we all know I am cheap. Well, I would like to think I am quality, but inexpensive...moving on.

Like I said, I ended up scraping the really high rough spots off the texture, enough to start filling with mud. I put on two coats, sanding flat in between coats. I put 12 gallons on sheet rock mud on the walls before texture just to smooth them out. Then the texture went on. Fun....
The door on the closet used to be the door that was out in the mud room. That was fun, keeping the old hinges and glass knob. We wanted to keep the older look. We stayed up all night painting the living room and getting the door in place. About 5am we thought we should get a nap before the kids woke up.
We are now thinking of expanding the kitchen by removing the wall between it and the living room, making it really open. The pics should give you a little bit better of an idea of what we went through getting it ready for hanging out in. We are drawing up some add-on plans right now, but depending on the cost, it may be awhile!

Warm up, Biking & Mt. SI

So back in JUNE...I know, why did it take so long to post? Life happens, FAST. You make your new years resolutions and all of the sudden its October. Go figure. Speaking of figure, I am adding to mine everyday. Moving on...
Back in June, we went on a little getaway weekend with some friends. We went up to a Bed & Breakfast spot in North Bend Washington. They had been there before, and just loved it. I must admit, it was a great little cabin and the surroundings were beautiful. It was supposed to be just a nice relaxing time, lots of rest and relaxation, a little hiking and mountain biking. Well, their idea of an easy weekend was a little different than our out of shape bodies were ready for. We started out with the warm up hike the first evening. Just a mere four miles, checking out the cool falls and what have you. Not to bad. Just enough to let us know how bad of shape we are really in. It was a good start. We had a great time, as the pictures should tell.
The next day was the big day. It started off by having our B&B host drop us and our bikes off at the top of the John Wayne Pioneer trail head. It then is a 20 mile downhill ride to where the car was to be parked. That is more biking than I have ever done, combined. Anyway, it starts by heading through the Snoqualmie tunnel. A little over two miles, right through the mountain. There are no lights in there, unless you strap one to your forehead, or you have one on your bike. I had Jami turn her light off so we could "feel" the darkness. I thought it was pretty cool, Jami thought it was a little spooky. Here is a Wiki link to for a little more info. Click me.
We had a great time the rest of way down the trail. We stopped a few times to take some pictures, have some water and a snack, or just chat. There was a section where a bunch of guys were rock climbing. Some of those guys were really good. Climbing up to set the rope is the big challenge. There is no one to belay you, and you just tie into the rock as you climb up. If you fall, you trust that last clip you put into the rock.
We stopped for a geocache once. I forgot my GPS, so it was just from description. No biggie. Jami posed with her finger atop of the Mt. we were going to hike up later that day. We were finished in a few hours, and I tell you, I was saddle sore. Get a good seat if you are going to do that very often. No, I take that back. Get a good seat no matter how often you ride.
We went back to the cabin for some lunch, and then headed out to hit the next trail. As if we didn't feel enough out of shape with the previous days four mile hike and the 20 mile bike trip, we topped off the day with a 8 mile round trip hike up Mt. SI. It's not that high, just 3600ft, but the trail head starts you out at 500ft. So you have four miles to gain 3100ft. All part of the adventure I guess! Jami and I brought up the rear the whole way up. It was a pretty crowded trail the first few miles, but the traffic died off after that as only the die hards, or INSANE people were going to the top. I know, I must be a wuss, but for a guy who doesn't hike, that a lot of elevation. About halfway up a guy went jogging past us. About two thirds the way up he was jogging back down. Yes, he jogged up and down the mountain. I was never in that kind of shape, even in high school. Here is a link for the trail. Click me.

We got back, all safe and sound. That night we treated ourselves to some Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a movie. It was a good finish. We only had a few blisters from the day, and were pretty sore the next.



Enjoy the pics.

The Von Rudens

I will start off at the end of summer...

So we have been busy having fun around the property. I will start here, and collect my thoughts later on some other news.
We have been here a year and still haven't made it across the creek to start clearing out the berry bushes yet, so I got a wild hair and drove the tractor through the creek, (it was low enough), and got busy clearing with the brush hog. We made a go of it throughout the weekend and got quite a bit done until the tractor got a branch through the radiator. Now I have to find parts for a 19?? Massey Ferguson. Such is life.
I must admit we are terrible at keeping this thing up, but tomorrow may prove to get some creative juices going and let me update this more thoroughly.

Until then!

Take a look at our friends the O'Haras Blog. There are some good things happening in their family!

I know, I know!

Yes, there has been little activity here...BUT, we are busy bodies! Things are changing up, and we will post pics, news and stuff here real soon!

The busy Von Rudens