The Cedar Loft..........Revealed.

The Cedar Loft is, for the most part, completed. And we made our deadline of Labor Day! We are very thankful to my dad for all his work on the plumbing and electricity and my mom for helping whip it in shape at the last minute, as well as Colt helping us on Saturday mornings. There are still several little things that need to be done, but it is definitely a living space now! Most of the things left now are really just "wants" and cosmetic things.

As I mentioned in a former post, our first guests, Kim, Chuck, and their girls, stayed up there over the Labor Day weekend. And we’ve already enjoyed two Friday nights up there too, followed by Saturday morning breakfast. Grandmama and Pop came over and joined us for breakfast the last two weeks in our cozy loft.

I’m excited about the decorating part, but it will just take time since funds are low. Oh well, I will definitely have something to look forward to and will be keeping my eye out for bargains now. :)

Some of the “little” things still left to do include more trim pieces (several in the bathroom), little spaces stained where boards were cut, my bench painted and put at the foot of the bed, the chest put in the dormer window by the bed, night stands by the bed, a free standing cupboard in the kitchen (Jason will build this and I’m really looking forward to it), curtains over the bed and in the dormer window, wall décor, coffee table, rugs, a TV/DVD player………… Wow….that sounds like alot when I typed it. Oh well, we will eventually get there.

In spite of the things left to do, we’re enjoying it as it is. I can envisioning the Christmas holidays up there and enjoying my anticipated Christmas movies there as well. We just might make a regular Friday night treat out of it. It’s nice having a special retreat in our own backyard actually.

Well, I won’t keep you waiting any longer……..here’s The Cedar Loft……….

The little spot next to the refrigerator will be the spot for the free standing cupboard.

Closer look at the countertops

The bathroom…..it actually turned out to be rather roomy and especially has a cabin feel to it.

Don't you just love Jason's toilet paper holder design?  He surprised me with this!

One of the curtains is the shower and the one across is a double closet with a curtain in front of it.

My mom and dad brought this home from Alabama to add to our bathroom.  I love it!



You can see the little spot for the cupboard here.  You can also catch a glimpse of the laundry area here too.



The little laundry room/pantry area.

Jason's design for closet doors.

I really like the way the bathroom is on an angle.  It seems more roomy.

The Cedar Loft - Update #7

As you probably know from my last post, we took a little break to go to Alabama to see my new nieces this past weekend, so we didn’t get much accomplished since last week’s update for The Cedar Loft.

I did get the bead board that covers the kitchen bar area painted and distressed and Jason installed it. This is a photo of the living room side.  Oh, and you can see the painted door to the side.  That's the color all the doors will be.  It's called Brown Moss, but it's actually more green(ish).  I love the way the two colors compliment one another.  It actually even looks better in person than it does in the photo. 

The bead board is also on the backsplash area next to the bar on the kitchen side. In the background of this photo below, you can actually see more of the true color of the door.

The wood countertops will separate the red of the cabinets and the red of the backsplash, adding contrast, but we’re still working on them.  Here's a sneak peek:

Speaking of the countertops, they have certainly challenged us! Jason finally got them cut to fit properly. He has sanded and re-sanded. I’ve stained them and now we’re applying the layers of polyurethane, which is important for the protection of the wood since they will get lots of use. This is just time consuming. I’m not very patient either. :) There’s too much waiting in between staining and adding polyurethane and waiting for it all to dry! However, we hope to have the last layer of polyurethane applied and begin installing the countertops tonight.

I had hoped to have a picture this week of the bar countertop in place (it will sit right on top of the red bead board panel of the bar in the first photo above), but the best I can do is show you a picture of it on the sawhorses this week.

And that is where we are this week with progress on The Cedar Loft. Jason is off this Friday, so we hope to accomplish much: painting the doors (bathroom, laundry room and closets), begin hanging doors, getting the toilet in, and installing the countertops (which I think will make a BIG difference).

But…..we shall see! Sometimes our planning exceeds our follow through. :)

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you all have a wonderful day!  :)

The Cedar Loft - Update #6

Finally……progress you can really see!

The flooring company guys came out late Friday afternoon to prep the floor, then were back out late Saturday morning and finished with it by 4:30 Saturday! I love it! It’s even prettier than the sample they gave us (that we used to make the decision on the flooring).

There’s much more detail. For vinyl flooring, I think it really does look like a rustic pine wood floor.

Despite the wind Saturday, we managed to get the cabinets painted, distressed, and a coat of polyurethane added. I can’t believe I'm actually going to have red kitchen cabinets somewhere! Remember how Jason likes his wood? Well, he gave in and gave me my red cabinets in the loft. My red cabinets make me really happy! :) Oh, and I did change my mind on the red…..the new color is Valspar – Heirloom Red. It seemed to match the red table and chairs that we bought at the Antique Gallery a little better.

Here’s a little peak at the cabinets along with the stove and dishwasher. We’ve just begun getting them situated in their spot in the kitchen.

I’ve still been staining lots of trim, but still have more to go! Actually, I think I'm only half way there!  Hopefully later this week, Jason will begin hanging some of the trim. We’ll be working on the wood countertops and I hope to talk him into hanging the microwave vent-a-hood, so I can make a decision on whether I want a wall cabinet or just open shelves.

And that’s where we are.....what we’ve been up to this past week on The Cedar Loft. :) Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate your visit!  :)


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And by the way, thanks to those that left input on how you blog. I found that very interesting! I guess I AM a little strange! Lol! 

The Cedar Loft - Update #5

There’s really not as much to share in an update this week, at least not anything that’s very exciting, or changes that you can actually see. Well, Jason did finish hanging the last piece of barn siding on the walls on Sunday evening and we finished painting it all that evening too. That is something to celebrate anyway! Here’s just an overview of the room (this is the kitchen/living room area) all painted:

And now you can tell a little bit more about the bathroom with the interior walls in place:

Because of the slope in this corner of the bathroom where the sink and vanity will be located not leaving room for anything but a mirror, we had to have some type of alternative lighting on the wall beside it. We found this light in the outdoor section and I love it here! It looks black, but it’s actually rubbed bronze, so it coordinates with the others that I spray painted the “rusty” color.

There’s good news and bad news about the flooring. The bad news: that particular flooring that I had picked out has been discontinued (this happened just since the time I picked it out a few months ago and the clerk told me they “always” had it). :(  The good news: we ARE going to be able to have the flooring company lay the floor (they gave us a really good price). And they found something that I like just as much, possibly even a little better (because it isn't as glossy) . It still has rustic appeal. Here’s the new flooring:

They are scheduled to lay the floor on Saturday, possibly even starting it Friday evening. We won’t lose time because if we were doing it, it would have taken us longer than them. While they’re laying flooring, we will be staining trim and cabinets downstairs.

That brings me to my next part of the update. Last night we made a trip to Lowes and this was a biggie trip. We had the truck bed and trailer loaded down! This is stuff for the cabinets, countertop, trim work, kitchen sink, and finishing out the bar area.

This week Joy and I will be staining LOTS of trim. We will have cabinets to paint. And speaking of cabinets to paint, I changed my mind on the cabinet color. Let’s see if you can guess what color I chose……

If you guessed red, then you would be correct. I just can’t help myself…..I love that color. It makes me happy. And you know Jason doesn’t go for painting the cabinets in the kitchen, but in here, he didn’t care what I chose. He left it totally up to me, so I took full advantage and just went bold! So I will have red cabinets, a red table, and a checked red couch! I’m doing the happy dance!  :)

I found another wonderful greenish/brownish color that we will be incorporating in some way, possibly the doors, and maybe even into the bar area. So here’s the color scheme:

Actually this red is in question.....while at Lowes last night we tried another sample because this one tended to have pinkish hues......the finally decision will be made today after we try it over oak.

We tried out several samples of stains to see which coordinated best with our colors and tin ceiling.

My hubby is going to love the fact that  put a picture on here of him all sweaty!  Shh!

 We finally decided on Provincial, which is in the 2nd one over counting from Joy's end.  Here it is with some of the other colors.

Next week’s update should make a huge difference with flooring, and maybe even some of the cabinetry installed. Hopefully we will have a very productive weekend, but it’s going to be tough in this heat. We will be staining outside and it is supposed to be 103 degrees here today. Have I ever mentioned how much I really don’t like the heat? I am going to gladly welcome fall!

Thanks for stopping by! And thank you for the very sweet comments on little Sydney and Ellie, my two new nieces! I think we’re going to take a day off from working on The Cedar Loft next weekend to go plant some hugs and kisses on those two.

Have a great day! :)

The Cedar Loft - Update #4

Things didn’t go exactly as planned this past week.

Joy and I did begin staining the siding for the interior walls last Thursday and got as far as eight sheets stained. I wasn’t pleased at all with the finish but waited to hear Jason’s opinion when he came home. He agreed; so it was another trip to Lowes.

We took a board with us and went through five of their little samples, trying each one out there on the spot. The clerk was great……very patient with us. She asked if she could try a color. We told her she was more than welcome to try any she wanted and that we should have asked her sooner! She tried a color and it came very close to the shade we were trying to achieve. When we told her it was getting close, she went over and picked a shade called “leather satchel” and tried that one……and bingo, we had a winner! It’s a warm cozy color and I think it’s going to be great for that space!

So the report for this week is that most of the knotty barn siding is hung and painted. At least, as of now, the main living area is done.

My daddy hung most of the fixtures and did the electrical hook ups.

I love these two pendant lights hanging over what will be the bar area.

These fixtures that hang in the kitchen, bathroom, little hallway, and living area were purchased like this. They look nice in black, but I wanted more of a “rusty” or “bronzed” look and couldn’t find anything I really liked within our budget. I really preferred more straight lines and most of the indoor fixtures were curvy. I ended up going with these – the closest I could get to a rustic/prim look on our tiny budget. They were actually in the outdoor section of Lowes. So, they started out this way:

But with the help of this:

They were transformed into this………a little more prim/rustic.

And for the laundry room and closets, we just purchased these very simple wall plates and for good measure, I sprayed them also. From this:

To this:

The rest of this week, Jason will be hanging more siding with his helpers, (Colt, Joy, or me). I think he prefers Colt (he knows a little more what he’s doing than the other two). :) Then Joy and I will paint and Jason will cut in.

Luke loves being a little helper. He watches and listens closely to his daddy at work and we find him “working” too. He will stand on the little ladder and look around and say “hmmmm”, like he’s trying to figure it out. He declared that the tin ceiling was “like a puzzle”. He’s so right. It was definitely like a puzzle! He likes to help wherever he can. He’s been really good about hanging out there with us, especially for an active three year old boy.

Next on the list is the flooring. We have a flooring man coming out tomorrow to give us an estimate on laying the vinyl flooring for us. Because there will be so many seams to glue down and a pattern to match up, I think Jason and my Daddy aren’t feeling very confident about tackling it. According to what kind of estimate we get from them, we’ll have to make a decision on going ahead with the vinyl flooring we picked out and letting them lay it (I do love this pattern) OR staining or painting and applying polyurethane to the plywood subflooring. I guess next week’s report will tell the story.

This weekend we’ll be taking a little break for part of the weekend to celebrate our anniversary (which is on Sunday). We’ve climbed these stairs way too many times this week! Poor Jason, especially, carrying that heavy siding!

My favorite carpenter at work:

It’s exciting to see the transformation and it’s so amazing how adding the walls added depth and makes the space appear bigger! My mind’s eye can see how connecting the tin ceiling and the walls with the trim (which is one of the last steps) will make a huge difference too!

So that’s where we are…….chugging right along, not really too far off schedule from our goal of completing it by Labor Day. I think we can, I think we can, I think we can........