New Polka Dot Pillows

To go with the new couch, I bought fabric to make new pillows for the back room. It is black with grey polka dots and the piping will be red. Like always, the cat helped me cut it out.

I used red piping to trim out the grey and black fabric. 

The finished product is very cute, I rounded out the corners and synched in the sides a bit to make it fit snugly.

Also new in the room is the rug, it’s so pretty! The cat like it a little too much though, she started clawing it and ruined some of the tufting already.

And now we know: you find things at the most random times, I was ½ hour early to a party, decided to waste time in a Home Sense and happened to find this great rug.

Insulating the Front Attic

This weekend we finally insulated the second knee wall attic along the front of our house. Before it was filled with old blown in cellulose that was no longer doing the job and the walls had thin batts of insulation with paper backing.

So I donned my jumpsuit and headlamp and shoveled out all the old insulation, all 18 bags of it. This time around instead of carrying the bags though the house, Tom lowered them out the second bedroom window. Less dust equals a slightly happier husband during a reno. Then I vacuumed to make it even more clean in the attic

After a trip to Home Depot for 5 bags of insulation, I put in the wall batts and covered them with vapour barrier. This time we tried something different, I left the vapour barrier full width so it covers the wall, then continues onto the floor and about 18” up the other side wall. Hopefully this will help trap in the heat even more. 

 Finally we added insulation to the floor, the simplest and fastest portion of this project.

 Oh and I also attached some insulation and vapour barrier to the inside of the access door.

And now we know: this was definitely worth doing ourselves. We actually got a quote and it would have been $1200 just to remove the old stuff, never mind put in new. It was only about $250 for the new insulation and my labour is free!

Glad that is over though. I enjoy working on the house and I even don’t mind working in the attic, but the safety gear you have to wear is ridiculous and makes you so hot. Also the husband is so antsy about the dust 

Finishing the End Table

Back to work on that end table, I attached the legs to the box. I used screws from inside as well as glue. The hardest part was that my drill didn’t fit inside, so manual screwdriver in was.

 Then came 3 coats of clear coat over the stain

Next I attached the drawer front. I glued and nailed it in place, which in retrospect was a bad idea. It took 3 rounds of filler before the holes didn’t show.

 Once dry, I put a few coats of blue on the drawer front and edges and attached the handle

Here is the table sitting in place next to the sofa. I am happy with the shape, size and design, but am not 100% sure I like the blue with the wall colour. I’ll live with it for a while then I can always re-paint those parts.

And now we know: don’t nail through the front even if it is the easiest way to get the drawer front lined up properly. Bring your wall colour when you buy spray paint

End Table Progress

My end table is still progressing, this week I spray painted the legs bright blue.

The box is now constructed and sanded. 

Inside the box will be a drawer, which is also now constructed, sanded and painted blue.

Also blue is the interior of the box, no one will see it but it’s fun when you open the drawer. I wrapped in plastic to keep the paint off the outside.

For the outside I used a dark stain, same as the chairs in the back room. 

And now we know: use gloves even with water based spray paint. That blue got in around my nails and I couldn’t get it off for days.