Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Finally, bedrooms for the kids

When we moved into the house over three years ago there was a lot left unfinished. We did not complete the planned bedrooms for the kids at that time because they were so young that they didn't really need their own rooms and we just wanted to be done and moved in so we said we'd get the rooms done "someday." Well, that someday came this winter after Chris' injury. The kids were ready for some personal space and in the light of Chris' disability we also needed to create an office/spare room where we could potentially put an intern to help us out on the farm.

After the injury we received an outpouring of offers of help as well as some financial gifts from family members too far away to help in person. We took those offers and decided to go ahead with the room construction. The first thing we had to do was clean out the entire West half of the house, otherwise known as the playroom. My mom spent several days down here with me helping to sort through all the mess and put everything in boxes. Here is the "before" photo after clearing stuff out.


Our friend Aaron is a talented carpenter and in just two days he had the majority of the three rooms framed. This was a difficult job because of the earthen-plastered walls and floor which are inevitably NOT square, but Aaron figured out how to deal with it.



After the framing was done, my Mom's friend Paul and his wife came down to spend a day on the project. They even brought a helper and lunch for everyone!

We got much of the rock on that day and I even ventured up into the attic to work on the wiring. It was an enormous boost for us and it was so much appreciated.

The following weekend my brother, his wife, and my niece Aris volunteered several hours to painting.


Here's the view of the rooms from the outside.


The kids enthusiastically helped with the painting. Fortunately the paint was clay based so it washed off the floors easily.


Scotty demonstrates the use of Eliza's little climbing wall on her bunk bed.


More photos of the finished rooms coming soon!

2 comments:

Alan Post said...

eee! Yay! I want to see it now.

Yarrow said...

awesome! i look forward to the final photos!

have you had any luck with either of the intern programs? we've had less people through here lately, but have a couple lined up for June.