Five Months and

Christmas Is Coming!!  

We started out December planning "Christmas Morning Breakfast" for our family...it was a goal...Michael and I worked diligently on the office where we would serve breakfast...;-)

I worked on piecing a log cabin Christmas tree that I started years ago...why now, you ask?  With our lifestyle in such an upheaval, i.e. still living out of boxes that can't be unpacked, etc....well, sewing is like a tranquilizer for me...;-)  And I still had the "Thanksgiving table" to work on....the largest work surface in the house since we've been here....lol

Michael began the drywall mudding of the upstairs alcove.

He's always very careful, but watching him up on his "homemade scaffold"  just makes me cringe....lol

We got almost 3 inches of snow on the 14th and it was beautiful!

My daughter, Renae', who was here visiting over Thanksgiving gave us a Space Saver Radio for a housewarming gift....Thank you Nae' & Dave!!  ;-)

Michael gets started on the texturing of the walls and ceiling in the office.

The Christmas Tree finally was decorated...

...and my log cabin quilted tree skirt finally (after 5 years) made its debut...;-)

The texturing and painting is done in the office.

Next he moves to the stairway....grrrr...scares me to death!

THEN, he started on the steps....I came home from work one day to find that I couldn't even go upstairs....lol

His plan was to sand and stain the existing treads and paint the risers white and the treads would protrude from the drywall about an inch, then trim work would be attached on the ends and mock shoe attached underneath each tread. 

However, problems arose....NONE of the treads were the same length and in order to have them uniform, there wasn't enough left to hang over the side edge....

...anyway, they look pretty good and far better than they did look!

We really like the "open look" and do not plan on a baluster and spokes on the outside, just a banister on the wall.

In addition, the risers are too short....and even though mock shoe would look right from the front, they'd look bad from the side with an empty space of 1/2"  above each one...:-(

SO...he decided to go ahead and finish them as they are for the time being and we'll be buying all new treads and risers to put down in the very near future....in the meantime, they still look pretty good and at least I can get upstairs again....lol

The carpet goes down and Michael attempts to stretch it without the proper tools....as always, he gets an A+ for effort, but it just wouldn't work.

So he borrowed a power stretcher from a friend and completed it in no time at all!!!

Just one small little booboo....;-\

The trim work goes up.

And the weather was so warm and beautiful that we actually got to open the patio doors today (Dec 23).

Time for a very well-deserved break....;-)

We're all set for "Christmas Morning Breakfast"!!!

After Christmas, I'm just like good 'ole Ebenezer....just can't wait to get that tree down...lol

Michael got my walk-in closet finished upstairs and all my clothes FINALLY got hung up in a safe place...;-)

I have a single rack on one side and double racks on the other...shelving will go in between.

The rest of the room is still a wreck, but progressing.

Email us with any comments, suggestions and yes, criticisms too!

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