Staging The Laundry Room

In case you need updating, I am on hiatus from the Little

House In The Ozarks.  The hardwood floor guys are doing 

their thing + it was raining, so I headed back to our northern house.

I will work on cleaning + staging this house for the next couple of days.

So today I did some staging in the pantry.

I bought these galvanized tubs at Walmart over the weekend.

They are going to be used for laundry at the new place,

but I am taking advantage of having them now.

They were about $13 each, so very reasonable

compared to other vintage-style laundry options.

 I also purchased the two drink containers on the top shelf

in the photo above.  They were very reasonable too.

 "The Pantry"

(aka laundry room)

has so much great storage.

I am going to miss it.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 24

 Not one minute of today was part of yesterday's plans for today.

The above photo was taken at 8 a.m. -- after Cory and Dustin Handymen had

pulled an all-nighter getting the flooring replaced.

I kid you not.

(Look at the little doggie schnoozing in the background).

 They had to get it done, because the hardwood floor

refinisher guys were there at 9 a.m.

This is how the floors looked after getting sanded.

When I heard that I couldn't walk on the floors until Saturday --

I gave them to keys to the house, and headed back to our

house "up north" for a few days.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 23

 I am shaking it up a bit today.

The whole point of March was to get the Ozark House

"bones" ready for habitation.  Walls, ceiling, floors. 

But today I went off-road....

 I hung curtains in the sunroom.

(Minus the sun today.)

Not as easy as it sounds.

My first experience with "anchors".

Overall I was very pleased with the effect.

Except for the "puddling" (which is actually very popular).

I will have to wait to procure a needle a thread to

make it a length I am happy with.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 22

The previous owner burned some of his trash 

and left the rest in a small mountain in the back yard.

It is going to take some doing to get rid of it all.

We've been told that most of the trees in the background

are walnut and hackberry.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 21

Truly,  there were no photos opportunities today.  Husband rolled white over white in the sunroom. Then we went to the cute local library (internet at our little house in the Ozarks is very slow) and put together our Zillow account for the "northern" house we will be selling.
In the afternoon, handyman Dustin came and pulled nails for the recycled flooring that he will be putting down. 

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 20

 We did alot of "piddling" today.

My husband did get the bathroom painted

(a light gray, I don't know if you can tell).

And I got a curtain up,

instead of a paint dropcloth.

And we did yet more white on white painting.

Sigh.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 19

I had a guest today, visiting a guest.

My son was doing a visitation with his cat

between trips.

So I put him to good use. (Hard labor)

Hauling heavy rocks.

With his help, the 3-tier

stone garden is almost ready for planting.

I have decided to turn it into a back door herb garden.

The large plant in the center is sage,

so I already have a good start.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 18

 You remember the limestone slabs that surrounded

the propane heater?

 Well today was it's last day.

It put up a good fight,

but finally the guys won the fight.

I promised some of the stone slabs to my neighbors

and I will use some as benches on our property.

 I was concerned about the hardwood flooring underneath,

but it survived in reasonably good condition.

 
 And, the upstairs heating / cooling system was installed!
(These gentlemen said it was the first time they had ever
been asked to pose with a unit.)

Recreating Aged Layered Paint On Old Bistro Chairs -- Day 17

I was right yesterday.  Two coats of white paint,

on already white trim in the sunroom,

did not lend itself to good photos.

So I took pics of two bistro chairs that I worked on today.

They will go in a small corner in the kitchen.

The one on the left is shown "as found".

The one on the right I hit here and there with a pale green color.

 After the pale green dried,

I added a dark green covering most of the chair.

Then a little sanding to distress.

Followed by a wood stain, brushed on and

immediately wiped off.

Both chairs are now ready for a cozy eating area in the kitchen.

Working On Little House In The Ozarks Day 16

 So, this week I am working on the sunroom.

I should just keep recycling this photo,

because today I patched, sanded and primed.

And it looked like this.

Tomorrow I will repaint the white trim.

And it will look like this.

Wednesday I will roll the walls.

 And it will look like this.

I like the white walls, they just needed a refresher coat.

 And I played outside a little.

I am working on two rock gardens.

(Who am I kidding? Every garden

around here is a rock garden).

The one pictured above has three tiers,

and today I just worked on the bottom tier.

 This doesn't look like much, but it will.

I am creating a stone "berm" using rocks that

were around the trees and light poles.

Eventually I will add soil and succulents.

Here you can see the location of the "berm" to the house.

The area on the right of the berm (with concrete) has an 

electrical outlet.  So I might be able to incorporate a fountain

or water feature.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 15

So much excitement packed into one little day.

First, my husband bought me a reciprocating saw!

Love it, have wanted one forever.

Have already used it.

Second.  Our friend Katie and her son were in the Ozarks

for some basketball, and were brave enough to stay with us.

(No beds, no heat, no towels -- we offer a 0 star service B&B).

Third. We went to an antique shop and found this great vintage outdoor set,

which I am sitting at right now!

I will use it in the sunroom until we move our furniture down here.

While at the antique store we met someone who does custom woodworking.

He is going to build us vintage style shelves for our pantry and our

laundry area!  Quite a day.

Painting On A Jute Or Sisal Rug -- Day 14

 This new house is costing us dearly.

We are hemorrhaging money --

my husbands words.  After refinished the hardwood floors and

purchasing three Magnolia Home rugs, our floor budget was busted.

So I dragged these two garage sale rugs out of storage.

I paid $5 for the top jute one, and a big $6 for the bottom sisal rug.

Problem was, I hated the designs on the front.

Above is the turquoise one.

 

But the backs were great, and plain except for the rolled hem.

I did a quick internet search and people paint on these rugs all the time.

The recommendation is always to use primer as a first coat.

This heavier sisal rug had a rust and black tiger stripe action going on (ysh) in the front.

 

So today I painted a thick primer on the underside rolled hem,

which will now be the top side.  I wanted it white,

so I will probably just leave it with primer.

TWO good size quality rugs for $11,

that won't break the bank.

Even our bank.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 13

DEMO DAY.  Finally taking out the "surround" around the laundry area,

which made everything seem dark and cramped.  You can see it to the left

of the fridge.

Here it is from the opposite angle.

We are getting the hardwood floor

refinished in a couple weeks, and needed

to get the left wall out before that happens.

Yes, that it a light and ....

yes, that is a light above the surround "ceiling".

This is the area to the left of where the

washer and dryer will be.  The

previous owner used it for a large chest freezer,

we will use it for a laundry folding area.

The demo was a beast.

My husband did not allow any photos of him,

but there was much sweat involved.

Finally, victory!

And, we are hosting a special guest this week.

Butterscotch (my son's cat) 

will be keeping me company for the next week.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 12

 My son came today, so I put him to work.

Digging out bricks that had been buried 

beside the workshop.  It was a gorgeous day.

 And we did some indoor work.

He rolled paint on the walls of the office,

and then scrubbed the floor.

I cut in the walls of the office,

and we finished painting it!

Love the color.

There is still alot of work to do in there,

but most of it needs more skill than I possess.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 11

FINISHED painting the guest room.

Did another round of cutting-in, and a finish coat with roller.

See where the shelves are missing in the closet?....

I polyed 11 shelves (for both guest room and office).

I hate the fiberboard so much,

but I am trying to work with what was already there

as much as possible.

It was a gorgeous day so I donned my mucking boots for 

the first time, and did some walking around the property.

They are the first camo-printed item that I have ever owned.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 10

 Dustin (& Ratchet, in background)

came today.  He started replacing the non-matching

oak floorboards that had patched over a

large floor register space.

I worked on the four closet doors some more.

I got two of them repaired, painted and installed back in the office.

 I also started painting the guest room walls.

They will need two coats :(

But already it looks brighter and bigger.

 I did a little bit of tromping around the property.

There was a single daffodil blooming ....

 and I found several Oskaloosa bricks.

Working On The Little House In The Ozarks Day 9

 My son came for the day to lend a hand,

so we did some mother / son bonding over paint.

We launched into what will be the "office".

 We cleaned the walls, sanded and patched them.

Then he painted the trim while I cut in the wall color.

Notice TWO ceiling fans in one tiny room -- that

will be one of the first things to change .....

 and the rock wall with fiberboard shelving will be the other one.

 Since it is exciting for me to go anywhere these days,

I took my camera on our hardware store trip.

This is my new local hardware store, how cute is it?

But the excitement was not over for the day ....

 Lowe's arrived with my new fridge.

(Had to take the solid oak front door off to bring it in.

And then it took the three of us to get it on again.)

After all that he still posed for me.

So thrilling to upgrade from a dorm fridge.