74. Guest Room is Looking Great!

Well another month has flown by!  My niece got married a few weeks ago, and that took us to Detroit for one weekend, but we did have a couple of others to get a few things done on the house.  With only two days at Grandview at a time, we are still making great progress.

This used to be a double bench seat next to the fireplace, with a  storage area inside.  The right half was eaten up with AC ductwork from the basement to the second floor and the left side had been used for firewood I guess - it was pretty rough inside.

(I did like the little brass handle used on the bench seat though, and I salvaged the one from the right side to use somewhere else.)

Here you can see the inside of the bench, all trimmed nicely with some leftover bead board paneling.  I decided against the firewood idea, considering we had a termite "episode" recently, requiring me to get the house tented and fumigated at the cost of around $1200.  So when winter comes we will buy just what firewood we need, and use the space more efficiently for:  TOOLS!

That brings me to the next item,  lovingly referred to as the "tomboy's pantry" which up until now has been filled with every tool in the book, as well as caulk, paint, and scraps of trim etc.  Not any more!  It's finally received it's own caulk and paint, and the shelves are on site and ready to paint.  I have a novel idea for this pantry - I think I'll store food and kitchen stuff in it!  I already have the tiles to do the floor... one day soon.

I've been heavily occupied in the garden lately, since August is probably the month when you see the most growth out there - desirable and otherwise.  

This gives Dave a chance to finish up all kinds of little trim projects inside the house, which are his favorite.  This where the side of the tiled fireplace meets the chase I built to cover the duct work.  I had no idea what do do here, and actually considered just caulking the crack and letting it go.  After about a thousand mitered cuts, Dave had it nicely finished out with cove molding... sweet, huh?

Another project left unfinished by me... the base around the bar.  He wrapped that up nicely as well.  Sometimes I think this house is going to be so beautiful and classy when it's done, I won't even fit in here!

Now we are up in the guest room, preparing to replace two more windows.  There were 30 year old aluminum windows in here, that were cracked and fell apart when you tried to open them.  I guess those replaced the original cute crank out ones like those in the laundry room long, long ago.  Here we have removed the wood someone put in over where the old hinges were.  Makes me sad that I can't have those up front but the originals are long gone.

After lots of caulking and adding some new wood, and more caulking, here are the new windows installed.  Yes, the center post looks crooked - it will get a little rebuild so that won't be so obvious.   It was amazing as soon as we got them in how tight the room felt - you just get used to hearing everything that's going on outside, and now it's peaceful and quiet.  I am looking forward to doing the same in the master bedroom eventually.  Only 13 windows to go!!

The guest room... all that's needed in here is to paint the trim and it will be the first completely finished room in the house.  We rearranged things to make a sitting area by the windows - it's really quite comfortable, and I hope you get to see it in person some day!


When you do, you will have to take an evening walk to the beach.  We enjoy those - heading down around sunset or after, when things cool down.  Out along the water's edge, we listen to the ocean, as we pass the Ocean Deck and all the hotels filled with people who actually have to leave in the morning!  Then it's on to the boardwalk for a little salt water taffy.  We haven't yet tried the Ferris wheel or go-kart track but I know one day we will.