Master Bedroom

After the ceiling fan was installed, we cleaned the bedroom floor and started moving our furniture to the new room.

The bedroom we were using isn't tiny, but our king bed is huge and took up so much of the room. I had to turn to the side to get between the bed and wall on my side.

When we bought our bed about 5 years ago, we had to purchase a new mattress set. We bought a solid latex mattress, which is well worth every penny we paid for it, but it is a nightmare to move. There is nothing rigid about it and it is just dead weight. You'd think that for what we paid for that monster, the factory could have installed handles or something like that. I almost don't think that would work because it is soooo heavy - they would probably be ripped off. Words cannot describe how difficult this thing is to move. When we moved it out of the house in Tifton to my grandmother's house in Nashville before we moved it to Atlanta, we had 4 people helping, and we still had a lot of trouble. When we moved it to the moving truck for the drive to Atlanta, I decided that we should try to roll it and use rope to tie it and use the dolly to move the huge roll. This worked much better than just trying to drag it, but it was still hard. One person pushed the dolly while 3 people walked on the remaining 3 sides to keep it from dragging the ground.

We get the headboard and footboard moved and the rails installed (with help from Grant since the headboard and footboard require someone supporting them so they don't fall and turn you into mush. They're kind of big, too. The headboard is just under 7' tall, so it barely fits through door openings.

We get that monster of a mattress on the boxsprings and the room is pretty much finished after we make the bed. Yay!

We're trying to decide what to do for night stands. We never bought night stands to match the bed (kind of expensive) and they've stopped making this particular bed. We can always find something and stain it to match, so this isn't a huge issue with either of us. For now, we're just using the old ghetto fabulous ones we've had for years. They don't match each other or the bed and are just ugly, but they work. We also have pretty lamps that look great with our bed linens.

We are both so amazed with the amount of space we have in the new room. It's huge compared to our old room at this house. It's even larger than the master bedroom at our house in Tifton.

We're not exhibitionists - we did move the curtains from the old bedroom to the new one.

The ceiling fan. Looks are deceiving. It's pure EVIL!

Justin and I aren't fans of bed skirts or dust ruffles. I am a huge Martha Stewart fan ("It's a good thing.") and she suggests using fitted sheets over the boxsprings in lieu of bed skirts and dust ruffles. This makes cleaning under the bed easier, too.

This is the ceiling fan remote. It can be easily removed from the wall, but the wall holder is pretty convenient, too.

The Evil Ceiling Fan

A few weeks ago, Justin and I ordered a ceiling fan for the master bedroom. The Saturday morning it arrived, Justin removed the old light fixture and realized that the box in the ceiling that helps hold the fixture to the ceiling was loose and would have to be replaced. We headed to Lowe's and bought boxes (one deep on and one standard one). We think the old box was installed before the drywall was installed on the ceiling. Because of this, Justin had to cut the drywall as he removed the box (some of it just fell on its own). We had quite a hole in the ceiling whe he was finished.

Justin had to go to the attic and move insulation to find the area over the master bedroom. This part of the attic is very difficult to move around in because the roof framing is not very high, so you're basically crawling. There is also no light in this part of the attic, so you're crawling in the dark while trying to hold a flashlight in the heat. Good times.

Justin cut two-by-fours and nailed the new box to them and installed that over the hole. As soon as we started trying to install the first part of the ceiling fan, we realized the deeper box we bought and installed was too deep. Before Justin removed the new box to start over, I went to hardware stores looking for longer screws. I was not successful, so we had to start over, which didn't take too long.

Before we could begin actually installing the ceiling fan, the hole had to be patched. Justin started this, but it was time for me to leave that weekend, so we didn't get very far with the installation. He worked on the hole during the week since the stuff had to dry between coats.

The next Saturday morning, we began installing the fan. As we worked, the ceiling patch was crumbling, but we continued. Justin even let me help wire the fan, which was actually very easy. Before we finished installing the fan, we turned on the electricity to that room to make sure it worked. It did, so we continued (after turning off the electricity, again). We finished installing everything and stood back to admire our fine work. We turned on the electricity and pressed the button on the remote (yeah, isn't that lazy?!). Nothing. We checked everything, but couldn't get it to work.

We began going back through the directions and came to the part that tells us to stick the remote sensor through the ceiling box so the remote will work. Note, this step is very important since the remote is the only way to operate the fan/light and the remote waves (or whatever they are) cannot go through metal. I haul a chair in the room and am given the task of holding the ceiling fan near the ceiling after Justin "unscrews" it from the ceiling plate holding it to the ceiling. That ceiling fan must weigh 30 pounds, which doesn't sound like much, but when you're holding it above your head with outstretched arms, it's heavy! I eventually gave out and Justin had to call Grant in to help (he did this several times because I apparently have no upper body strength). I am a weakling.

Justin worked fast and got the fan reinstalled. We flip the switch and nothing happens. Justin decides one of the wire connections is loose so we'll have to remove the fan again and check everything. He does remove some of the blades and uses the ceiling plate hook to support the fan so I don't have to hold it that entire time. He finds the loose connection and fixes it. We get everything reinstalled and ta-dah...we have lift-off! The blasted thing works! During the next week, Justin purchases joint compound to repair the hole. He says this works much better than the previous stuff. He sands it and paints it before I arrive the next Friday.

It only took three weeks, but the ceiling fan was installed.

My Sweet Justin

My husband is really a great guy. He's pretty handy, too!

The picture above shows Justin while we were working on the floor at our house in Tifton. He did so much work on the floor. He likes wearing gloves when he's working with any kind of chemicals (the wood/floor glue was a skin irritant). I pick on him for this, but it really is a good idea. We also both wear flip flops around the house - I think I'm to blame for him starting this habit.

He and I took off work last Thursday and Friday so we could work on the Atlanta house. We got a lot of stuff done (I'll post pictures later) and both enjoyed spending the time together.

He's so smart and can do so many things. Last weekend, I asked him to hang a ceiling fan in my room at Mama's house. He removed the old fixture and hung the fan. I love a ceiling fan running while I sleep! For Christmas of 2007, Justin and I bought Mama a light fixture for her living room. She asked several electricians to hang it for her, but no one ever showed up. Justin hung it one Sunday afternoon and did a terrific job!

He measured and installed wood shelves and clothes rods in the master bedroom closets in Atlanta. He enjoys "designing" things and building them. He installed wood shelves in the Tifton house that he cut and stained (I helped stain them). They looked fantastic!

He also knows some about vehicles. For Christmas a few years ago, he installed a new radio head unit (that thing in the dash) so I could get Sirius radio in the Explorer. He installed the satellite tuner so it was concealed in the dash, which made me really happy. He researches everything so that he does something as well as a professional.

I know these are typical things that men do around the house, but I think he's especially good at this stuff.

Floor (Part 3)

The floors have been stained and sealed. The base moulding and quarter round should be installed today. I think the installer will apply another layer of polyurethane after he installs the moulding. We are very pleased with the results.

These two pictures are of the master bedroom. This floor is identical to the rest of the house. We are so happy with how this turned out. I cannot wait for it to be finished!

This shows the transition area. I think the lighter colored board to the right of the door frame is the first row of new boards. Other than a slight sheen, which will probably be buffed to blend the new and old floors, you cannot tell that new floor has been installed.

These two pictures are of the sunroom floor. This wood has beveled edges (cabin grade), so there will be slight ridges that the rest of the floor in the house doesn't have.

Beauty shot of the sunroom floor...

This transition area is obviously more noticeable. The sunroom boards are slightly wider than the existing wood, so we had the new boards installed so the extra board width wouldn't be as obvious here. It looks really good, too!

Floor (Part 2)

The oak strips have been installed (nailed) and sanded. The floor guy will stain and seal everything soon (this week, maybe?). We are very excited!

These two pictures are of the sunroom. This is the cabin grade wood (see previous post). Justin and I are very pleased with this floor. This room needs to be painted, but that will have to wait until the floor is finished. Ideally, we would have painted before the floor was installed, but Justin and I don't always do things how we should.





These two pictures are of the master bedroom. This wood is identical to the wood in the rest of the house. We are extremely happy with this room, too. White base moulding with stained quarter round (stained to match the floor) will be installed in this room and the sunroom to "finish" the floors. We cannot wait!

Floor (Part 1)

We finally got the "structural" part of the house repairs completed and the wood flooring is being installed. When we bought the house, two rooms in the rear part of the house had carpet. As luck would have it, these two rooms are the ones with the wood-eating fungus/water damage, so the flooring would have been removed anyway. I'm not opposed to carpet, but this carpet was not clean. It was probably fairly nice and moderately priced when it was installed. It doesn't appear to be very old, so I'm guessing one of the previous owners didn't keep the floors very clean or had pets (the pets option has my vote since I have found many long brown dog hairs in drawers and on closet shelves).

The rest of the house has stained oak floors (with the exception of the bathrooms and laundry room), so Justin and I wanted stained oak floors in these two rooms. There is a flooring store very near our house called Floor & Decor. They sell really inexpensive floor coverings that are very good quality. We visited F&D several times before purchasing the wood.

I should mention that Justin and I can be very frugal. Justin will search and search for the best deal before making most any purchase. He calculated several different types of oak flooring before we decided to purchase cabin grade oak. Cabin grade oak is what you might expect to find in a "rustic" wood cabin. This wood grade has knot holes, some very pronounced grain patterns, and worm holes, all of which some people find appealing. We weren't really interested in these features because we wanted the floor to match the existing, so we purchased it knowing that we would have to go through the wood and decide which pieces to keep and which to trash (we're not going to actually throw the unused pieces in the trash...we just haven't decided what to do with it, yet...maybe sell it on craigslist). Due to this, we had to purchase extra wood, but the price allowed us to do this.

After we hired a floor installer and he began working, we discovered that we were going to be short on wood. Justin and I discussed it and decided to use the cabin grade stuff in the sunroom and buy first quality for the master bedroom. Justin and I spent most of last weekend going through boards and hauling the bad stuff to a pile outside. After we went through the boards, we arranged them on the floor to see if we would have enough. We did not have enough "good" boards, so we had to go through the "bad" boards again and give some of them more consideration. We eventually gathered enough boards to finish the sunroom. Justin got up early one weekday and drove to a flooring store and purchased wood for the master bedroom. Floor & Decor ran out of the cabin grade stuff and didn't have anything that would work for us.

We're very excited about this part of the house being finished because we're very eager to get to use these two rooms (which are fairly large) as living spaces. We found a stain that is a match to the existing floors, so when these rooms are stained, we're hoping they look like the rest of the house. I'll post more pictures soon.

These are pictures of the unfinished wood in the sunroom. The installer will sand, stain, and seal this next week.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

I'm sure you know it snowed in the Southeast this weekend. It snowed in North Georgia and a little in South Georgia. Naturally, Nashville didn't get any snow. I was disappointed, but didn't really expect to see any snow.

Justin came down on Friday and went home Sunday evening. I hated to see him leave because of the weather. There wasn't any ice or snow in South Georgia, but I knew that Central and North Georgia got snow and ice. Justin said the drive up wasn't bad until he got to Macon. He said he was a little nervous there because of the ice warnings and snow. The construction zone south of Macon didn't help, either.

Once he got to Atlanta, he could tell the roads had been coated with salt. He said there were chunks of snow in the road that had fallen from other vehicles, but the roads were in good shape other than that.

When he arrived home, he was surprised to find snow on the ground and house because the temperature was above freezing.

Justin said he was happy to see the snow on the roof - means the new insulation is working.