Sideboard

Work continues and there's really not much to report this week. The back breaking work in the basement is nearly finished. I've been told that there's only a corner left. I actually haven't been to the house all week. BUT I have been working behind the scenes. Well, it's hardly work since it's so much fun! I've been to several places poring over wallpaper. It was love at first sight when I saw this wallpaper a while ago.

I have to have it for Rebecca's room. It's almost as cute as she is! Her room is on the 2nd floor of the new addition. And now the other two girls really want some wallpaper in their rooms too. I had planned on just keeping the original wood paneling that's in all the bedrooms. But we ended up taking out some walls to put in new wiring etc. Which means each of the rooms need a new wall so I told the girls they could pick out a wallpaper for that wall. They were soooo excited! So I've been poring over wallpaper samples. Not a hard job since I love wallpaper!

Madelen currently has her heart set on this one from Borge:

And it's got birds on it!! I love birds. So sweet. And it's pink so perfect for my little girl.

We haven't quite got one narrowed down for Emilie yet. She's very fond of blue. But I think I need to take her with me on a few trips so she can pick one. It's months yet until we're ready for wallpaper but it's good to be prepared. *wink*

And I'm still unsure about the kitchen. Here are the two that are currently in the running.

The first one is a little bold. And the second is maybe not "kitcheny" enough?? I've kind of had my heart set on some blue in the kitchen since the rest of the house will be quite neutral. But maybe I should just continue with the neutrals?? Maybe just painted wood paneling like the living room? Well, good thing I don't have to make up my mind tomorrow.

I also bought an antique sideboard this week. So poor Sindre had to devote Friday afternoon to driving us out to pick it up. I adore sideboards but have never had room for one. I've got the perfect spot for it and I can't wait to see it in it's place. 

I think it's gorgeous. The woman I bought it from stained it this dark colour but it's a little too dark for me. I was thinking I'd paint it white but.....maybe something a little more original??

Like this colour?

What do you think??

The Cellar- Part 2

It's been a busy week at the farmhouse again. There's not much we can do in the main part of the house until the contractor starts in a few weeks. So we've been focusing on the basement. The ceiling is now completely removed  and all the subsequent sawdust swept up. Phew! (Achoo!)

We had decided that we wouldn't work on the basement until after we've finished the main floors and had moved in. But we need to get a cement truck out anyway to pour the concrete for the new basement section under our addition. So they might as well pour the floor for the old basement at the same time. And Sindre is in the city today for a course and will be picking up the in-floor heating cables on his way home. So if the ceiling and floor are getting done, well, we might as well do the rest and have the basement available when we move in! I'm excited about that. However, that means we have to remove the floor that is there now and that's what we've been doing this week.

 *Disclaimer* When I say "we" I mean Sindre and his dad, Roy, and his brother, Markus. This week's work is far too heavy for my finicky back to handle.

The concrete floor is in bad shape and extremely uneven. Removing it requires slamming it to pieces with a sledgehammer. The concrete also sits on top of a layer of rock. So that means while someone is pounding away, another is putting all the pieces and rock in a bucket and lifting it out the window, while another person stands outside the window, takes the buckets, empties them in a wheelbarrow and wheels it all down to a section on our property where we need some fill and dumps it there. So, in other words, hard, back-breaking labour. I'm sooo thankful Sindre has lots of good help from his family. We're very grateful and don't take it for granted.

See the boards over the window? Well, it's not easy throwing concrete and rocks out a window without smashing said window. Doesn't matter. We're getting new ones in a few weeks anyway. *grin*

Rebecca trying her hand at smashing concrete. She could barely lift the sledgehammer! Hehe!

We found this old New York license plate behind the old concrete sink we removed. Cool! Definitely a keeper.

And we finally got an answer back from the "county conservator" about whether or not our blueprints and plans for the house are approved. It wasn't a straight forward yes. They want us to do two changes. They don't want the addition we're building to be flush with the western wall of the existing house. We need to move it in a half a meter. I totally don't get it as the existing (much smaller) addition is already flush with the wall. We're just tearing it down and making it bigger. I swear, they just make this stuff up so they have something to do.

And they also want us to reduce the height of the addition so it's slightly lower than the dormer on the front of the existing house. *sigh* So nitpicky. This means we have to get new blueprints drawn up and reapply. *doublesigh* It's not really a big deal but it just makes this process longer when we just want to get our approval so we can break ground for the addition. Winter is coming on and we would like to have everything done and weather proof before the nasty(ier) weather sets in. *triplesigh*

Still LOVING this project though!! Here are some interior inspiration pictures I've been drooling over lately.

 Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Apple Pie!

I've been wanting some apple pie. There's something about the smell of apples in the fall! Delicious! Thus, comes the craving for apple pie. So, Rebecca and I made some this afternoon. I peeled apples, and Rebecca nibbled on the cores and peelings. And she did a good job of rolling out the pie crust and putting the apple filling in the pie crust. When we were done, I asked Rebecca what she wanted for lunch before we had our pie. She said, "Do I absolutely have to? Can't we have pie for lunch?" And, really, that's all I wanted too. So that's what we had.

I found these adorable tea light holders at Ikea when we were in the city last week. I think they're so sweet!

I found the recipe for the pie HERE. I made my own pie crust. I also added about 3 tablespoons of flour because I was afraid it would be too runny. I also halved the sugar cause I like my apple pie to taste like apples....and because the apples I used weren't overly tart either. I thought it turned out just right! Not bad for a Friday afternoon.

Before and....a little bit after before.

Today, I've decided to post some before and after pictures. I wish they were AFTER after pictures, but they're "after ripping apart" pictures. I have to admit, we're getting kind of tired of the ripping down part of this renovation. It's really dirty, dusty work. And we're left with just SO much material and wood that we have to carry out of the house and get rid of somehow. It costs to throw stuff so anything that's burnable, we've been burning. But first it has to get ripped down, dragged/carried/thrown out of the house, stored in the garage and then burned on a giant bonfire. Thankfully, we're just about done with that part. We need to insulate between the basement ceiling and first floor so we don't have freezing floors and lose a lot of heat. Sindre has got half the ceiling ripped down so we're almost there. But what a dusty, dirty job it is!!! They used sawdust to "insulate" between the floors, so with every ceiling board Sindre removes, comes a shower of sawdust and dirt on his head. I've been sweeping up the sawdust and we've already got at least 5-6 large garbage bags full. Well, at least they make for good firestarters for our bonfires. The floor boards in the attic need to be removed as well so that we can insulate. That's also a difficult, dirty job. And there are gigantic hornet nests up there. So, ya....we'll be glad when we're done ripping  down and can start building up again.

So let's see what our house looks like now. Warning: it's not pretty......yet.

This was the kitchen:

It now looks like this:

We removed that wall and it's now open all the way to the window.

This was part of our living room:

Here it is now:

This was the wall between our two livingrooms:

Here it is now as one livingroom:

Emilie's room:

Madelen's room:

Our room:

Like I said, it's not pretty and it's a messy, messy job. But we're proud of the work we've gotten done so far. And here's something really exciting! The contractor ordered all our windows last week! He said it'll be about 4-5 weeks before they come. But as soon as they get here, they're ready to roll!! So by the beginning of November, they'll be going full speed ahead. Just one more ripping apart job before they come. Removing all the siding and every window in the house ourselves. *faint*

Electrically Charged

We've had fall break from school this week. So I've had a busy week with all my little girlies at home. But Wednesday was an extra fun day. Because we made our first big purchase for the house!! We went to the city about noon that day and we only had the two youngest with us. Our first stop was where we made our big purchase. It may not sound like the most exciting thing but we're now the proud owners of pretty much everything we need to install the electrics in our house. From cables, to light switches, to, well, a bunch of other stuff that I really don't have a clue what is. We're very lucky that Sindre is able to do the electrical work himself so we'll save on not having to hire an electrician. And there was a big campaign sale where we bought everything. So we were very happy with our savings.

I had been dreaming about gorgeous, historically styled, porcelain light switches. Like this beauty:

*Sigh* Pretty, isn't it. Alas, that was not in the budget so we've got regular old light switches. Ok, so I'm slightly disappointed but saving money here will allow us to spend a little more elsewhere. For example, these  Norwegian historical tiles for our entry:

I love these!!! But they're e.x.p.e.n.s.i.v.e. We'll see. I've got my fingers and toes crossed.

We spent the rest of the day looking around for ideas and prices for other things that we want/wish for our new (old) house. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get one of these:

And, of course, a trip to the city is not complete without a trip to Ikea. We're keeping all our furniture from our house now but we've decided to get new couches for the living room. Our corner sofa will be going down into the basement for our TV corner (whenever that gets finished). And our other couches are black leather. I just can not move two black leather couches into an old fashioned country farmhouse. They will just not fit in. So it was either cover them or get new. I'm kinda falling for these:

All in all, it was a great day! We had so much fun window shopping and the girls were so good! Their prize was going to the children's play area at Ikea where they had facepainting. You get free childcare for an hour. They had a blast playing and we got to "roam free" for an hour. Win-win situation.

Oh, and one more thing. We got our estimate from the contractor. Our first real number about what all this is going to cost us. We had a number in mind. I was hoping and praying for that particular number. And you know what???? That's the number we got. God is good!!