New Wall

In order to open up the back room in the old addition, and create a mud room, a couple of walls needed to be built. Here they are, along with a new closet for the mud room. I picked up a couple of 24 x 80 inch french doors at the Restore in Saint John, and with these on hand I could finalize the rough opening for them and finish off the wall. Once the doors are cleaned up and installed, we'll reduce the deconstruction and reconstruction dust that will come with taking down part of the old wall and all the dry wall, so I can finally get it properly insulated. Because is wasn't done when they had it built. Here is how it went.

Mud room side and rough door opening.

New dividing wall in mud room.

A closet out of the way.

Add a bit of drywall.

More drywall and it's all coming together.

Don't forget the tape and mud.

Lots of tape and mud, and a corner bead. 

Final door size rough opening.

More drywall.

More mud.

Add a bit of colour and it looks like it's always been there.

Nice clean look.

One More Job Done

Another part of the addition has been properly insulated, because it wasn't done when they built it. With the next part of remodeling the mud room and back room project a window was required at this stage. These are not big jobs just a bit time consuming, and cumbersome because it's full of our stuff. Here is how this job went.

Remove old Sheetrock, frame out window.

Install window.

Cut the siding to fit around new window.

Add insulation and vapor barrier.

A couple of sheets of sheet rock put up.

Three coats of mud, it was a small job.

After sanding, prime the wall.

Add a bit of colour and the trim will be done later.

First Blizzard OF 2017 - A Snow Day

This is our first blizzard of 2017, we have already had a harsh snow fall about a week ago with freezing rain, power outages and another snow fall a couple of days ago, that was light. This has officially been called a blizzard. We had easily about 8 inches this morning and it's still coming down. I guess I'll just sit and enjoy the snow day, while I can. Here are a few shots of what we are seeing.

Looking north out the bump out window at the hen house.

West view, a bit of drifting off the room, can't see the shop.

From the upstairs hallway, looking for the road.

From the studio window, I found the shop, sort of.

New Trim Work

Now that golfing is over I got started on putting up some trim in the studio as well as finishing up the ceilings in the kitchen and dinning room. Sometimes less is more and in the case of the ceiling trim or crown molding, we went with a simple 3 inch flat board around with a 4 inch block in each corner for some detail. It finished it off nicely and helped us keep the ceiling height we like.

For the doors and window in the studio ReBecca wanted something a bit different and it turned out great. I guess later on down the road I can see this moving into the rest of the house. We went with a larger window sill and top that extends past the sides for an older look. As for the windows in the bump out, a simple 3 inch wrap around the windows did the trick, even with them being so close.

The bump out windows.

Looking into the studio.

Looking out from the studio.

The east wall.

Two of the three west studio windows.

Kitchen ceiling trim work, the tricky cuts.

It finishes it off nicely.

I think the dining room is now done????

It's hard to see the corner blocks. 

It did finish things of really well.

The Medicine Chest (Drawer)

When we moved we put all our medical stuff into a small tote and just put it into a drawer until such time we could sort it out. Well this was the time, we now have an organized and tidy medicine drawer. It really looks worse than it is, mostly seasonal stuff, tums, cough drops and such. We aren't chronics or anything, just need a Tylenol or Advil once in a while.

Just piled up hard to get at.

Bottom insert, nice and organized.

Top tray, with what we use most.

Fits nicely into the middle drawer.

Nesting Boxes

The next step in this adventure is for the hens to start laying eggs, and to help them I've made some nesting boxes. There are many ways to do this and different philosophy's regarding it as well. But we are keeping it simple. Just an opening to hold a plastic bin, in which they'll build a nest and lay some eggs. To keep as much room as possible in their side of the hen house, it was all designed to have just an opening in the one wall and have the body of the boxes in the storage side, and as you can see it all worked out.

Just cut out the wall and add the boxes.

Bins for the nests.

We'll see if they require modifying later on.

Latest Addition

It's been a while since I've posted anything, so here is a look at our latest addition to the property. The Hen House. I started in May and have only a few little things to finish, like vent overs for the inside. It's only 8 x 12 with 6 ft 6 inch walls, but the roof line gives it lots of height and character. We have 11 chickens and soon we'll see how many we keep as layers and how many will go into the freezer. They have an 8 x 16 foot run, covered with, you guessed it, chicken wire, even the top to hopefully keep everything out, not just to keep them in. Here is a look at it's development.

Setting the footings.

Getting the floor joists in place.

Add two layers of 1 x 6 spruce flooring.

Put up a few walls.

Up go the rafters.

Cover it with sheathing.

Finish the roof off with steel.

Gable vents.

Half for the hens, all covered with wire.

They need a place to sit.

Can always use a bit of light.

Add the run and some stain.

Now we have a cute hen house and run.