Work accomplished this weekend

Well, its that time of year again.  School is back in full force and my blogging is down to an all time low.  Work on our recent bungalow purchase has not slacked off though.  Friday, after we ate, we went over to 94 Bungalow and painted the kitchen.  Steven primed it Thursday night all by his lonesome self.  I have to say, I was impressed!  The kitchen is an old time bead board type both wall and ceiling.  So, Steven had to prime the wall, ceiling, trim and windows….basically everything in the room.  I painted the walls and ceiling with Glidden’s Cozy Light.

Kitchen before 1

Kitchen before 2

Kitchen before 3

Kitchen before 4

It was pretty gross, as you can tell from the pictures above.  It looked like the house was starting to be remodeled in most of the other rooms, but the kitchen had not been touched.  It has grease all up the wall and the large vinyl linoleum piece they had in there was peeling up around the room.  After we scrubbed the walls, scraped the peeling paint down, primed, painted and redid the floor, this is what it looks like…beware, it is not a true AFTER photo as we have a few details to finish, but you can see the difference:

Kitchen in process 1

 

Kitchen in process 2

The spots that you that are not painted very thoroughly are where the cabinets are going to go.  The cabinets will run along under the window and then “L” on the wall opposite the window.  Didn’t Steven do a good job on the floor?  I thought it came out very nice.  We bought some generic ceramic tiles and terra cotta grout.  Steven is going to install the cabinets sometime this week, and I will finish them off with a red chestnut stain and a coat of poly. 

Kitchen floor

Cabinets waiting to be installed and finished

 ***Update: Click here for updated pictures of the kitchen***

Here is a picture of Vivian doing “karate” with the shop vac attachments in front of the cabinets where I was trying to take pictures.

Vivian looking fierce, trying to do karate

Hi-yah!

Finally, I put a coat of black paint on this thing.  I think it makes it look better.  I need to get Steven to make some doors for the cabinet.  I tore out the cabinet pieces on the top half.  They were falling off anyway.  I figured whoever rents it can use it for a Kchotke shelf.  Hopefully, in the near future, I will post pictures of the complete house.  But for now, here are the in process ones.

Built In Before

Built in after

For more pictures of the transformation of this room, click here.  I painted the front three rooms of the house the same color, Timothy Straw by Glidden.  It makes it easier on the eye than seeing two shades of orange and one room bright Irish green.  We have a lot of finishing work to do, which we will try to accomplish on Labor day weekend, but I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Once we get this one off of our books, we will be able to return to OUR house projects!

Happy weekend everyone!

Andrea

Save the Armour Building

Thank you Town Talk for spotlighting this historic building.

“Too-costly repair plan leaves Alexandria’s Armour building vulnerable”

The old Armour & Co. building in Alexandria is potentially facing the wrecking ball again. This time, local preservationists want to save it for good.  

“Enough is enough,” said Charles Charrier, president of the Historical Association of Central Louisiana. “So much of our past is gone. Much of our downtown is gone. Many of our commercial and warehouse buildings are gone. Our position is it’s time for the ‘just tear it down’ mentality to stop here in Alexandria.”

The former meat processing plant at 1901 Third St. is a good place to take that stand, Charrier thinks.

Built between 1909 and 1914, the building for decades housed a packing plant, which would receive meat via railroad and process it for sale locally. It has been vacant for about 20 years.

“It’s one of the last surviving industrial buildings that depended on rail transportation for its existence,” Charrier said. “That’s why it’s significant, along with the grand design and historic character.” …for the rest of the article, click here.

Is it that time again???

School officially started today in Rapides Parish.  I did not get home until 4:25.  I am TIRED.  The sad thing is, I am not worn out because of the kids…I don’t see any until Wednesday.  I am worn out from the TEACHERS!  LOL.

Happy first day of school!

Andrea