Buzzings from a quilter who bumbles her way through life!

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Something Old, Something New for the New Year! Hill Country House Update for December!

Something new:
We have a floor! I love it! It is a "distressed" wood that will work really well with the "hill country" style.


The kitchen island is not finished but the appliances are in the garage waiting for installation and the gas line and water lines have been run as of Tuesday. The cedar island countertop is just sitting there and the baseboards are not installed, as you can see, but we are getting close enough that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Speaking of baseboards, I spent some time caulking and painting baseboards after the floor was installed. 
I'm pretty handy with most tools, but I found that I was extremely clumsy with the caulk gun! I had an entire main floor to caulk, so I knew I had to come up with a solution! I just couldn't imagine trying to run a fine line of caulk around the shoe molding (or is it toe molding? I know it has something to do with a foot!) when I was ending up with more on my hands than in the cracks!
I decided to draw on previous experience that gave me much more control!
I used the caulk gun to squirt all of the caulk into a quart sized Zip Loc freezer bag. Then I snipped off a tiny bit of one corner.

 (I have used this method to decorate cakes. I knew I could make it work although my sweet husband was pretty skeptical!) 
  

 
I was able to control the fine line of caulk easily! I also filled in nail holes and then smoothed the line out with a soft rag. (Sometimes I used my fingers, I must admit!)
All finished! (This is the same area in the photos above.) I know that those of you who are professionals at caulking are shaking your heads, but it worked and looks pretty good!

Now for something old:
My sons gave Doug these two stretched canvases for Father's Day. They will be hung in the entryway. The one on the right is a photo of his great grandaddy, known as Little Buckshot. The one on the left was his sidekick. Little Buckshot, Conrad Wentworth, was a colorful figure who scouted for wagon trains and actually taught Buffalo Bill how to shoot! (They were in the Pony Express together. Buffalo Bill was a young teenager.) Do you see the buckskin jacket he is wearing? He loaned it to B. Bill to use in his sideshow and it is now in the Cody Museum. The Cody family gave it back after Buffalo Bill's death and I have actually seen it in person before Doug's family donated it to the museum. It is much more colorful in person than it looks in the picture. There is a pass in Montana named after Little Buckshot. It is so much fun to have the photo. There is quite a bit of family resemblence to my husband and sons!   His daughter Harriet, known as Hallie, was my husband's grandmother. 

Another old item:
I have removed the slate centers from the old Craigslist coffee table and side table. I plan on making a shallow shadow box center where interesting photos and mementoes can be displayed.
Hopefully soon, I can show you a finished kitchen! Things are looking better now!

18 comments:

  1. 1) I live in Moline, IL only about 20 min from the B.Bill museum in LeClaire!! I have not been there in years (I think our oldest was 5-6 last time I was there!
    2) the toe boards (or whatever they are called!!) Look great! And if they don't...I wanna know who's getting on the floor that close to check!! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your kitchen and what you have done with it, beautiful design.

    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your floor looks great, Linda. I love the canvases from your sons. How fascinating that they are relatives of your husband and there is a wonderful story to go with them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your floors are beautiful! It looks like you will get to move in soon. It is good to see all the progress and you should be proud of all your hard work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm so glad to see that things are coming along and that you will be finished soon. I love the historic photos....how fun to have something like that!!! Finally, I agree about caulking. I can do most things, but that has always defeated me, but I really like your idea for piping the caulk "icing"!!!
    Happy New Year to you and your family!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such wonderful progress. Wishing you a beautiful finish in 2015 Love the backstory on your family history.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like 2015 is going to be a good year at your house! Love your piped caulking technique... whatever works.... works!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like your caulking tip. I am going to give it a try because we have had carpenters that are not good at caulking. I will first try in a spot where no one would see.Your floors are gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are so smart ! I had never thought of or would have thought of that for caulking ! Your home is looking just WONDERFUL ! And I am totally in love with that flooring !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy New Year. It's been fun to watch your new house come together. Lots of hard work but well worth the effort.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy New Year Linda.....Such a beautiful and unique home you will have when all is said and done. I especially love those arched windows. We have a number of palladian windows in our home and I love how much light they let into the house. It's been fun being able to follow along with the construction and can't wait to see the finished product. Do you have a projected finish time yet? lv2bquilting2@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  12. Coming together and looking absolutely lovely!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Everything is looking so good!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Simply gorgeous! Such nice clean lines, lots of light, everything is going to provide wonderful living spaces for you and the entire family. Love everything!!
    Happy New Year!
    Gmama Jane

    ReplyDelete
  15. I like your way of caulking. If it works, then, do it. Looking mighty fine there.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Love the way everything is coming together! Interesting story about Little Buckshot.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your home is looking so lovely!

    We didn't caulk our baseboards in the kitchen and now they are looking pretty awful. Its on our to-do fix list this spring. Your tip will come in handy!

    ReplyDelete

You can leave your comment here! (I'm so sorry, but if you are an Anonymous commenter, your comment will not publish. This is because of the huge amounts of spam that I have received from anonymous sources.)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...