Preparing for mom and the babies

I'll start this post by letting you know that you'll most likely see an improved quality in the photos that I include in this blog.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't hire a photographer to start taking all of my photos.  I'm referring to the fact that I finally put two and two together and took a lesson from how I post photos of things I'm selling on Craigslist and am applying it to this blog.  Anyone who uses Craigslist regularly probably can tell the difference when someone uploads their photos directly to Craigslist compared to other posts where the photos are obviously from better quality files that are hosted on another site.  I learned this lesson years ago and have since started uploading any CL photos I had planned on posting, to my photography website, then linking them in the html code, instead of uploading them using the CL photo upload tool.  When you do that, similar to how blogger does it, the posted pics get compressed and end up with horrible artifacts that don't look anywhere near as clear as your originals.  Not sure why it took me 20 posts to figure it out, but I found another blog where the pics looked great and it got me thinking.  Anyway, just wanted to share my lesson in case anyone was noticing the same thing on their own blog photo uploads.

I keep referencing how busy I've been, in my previous posts, trying to get the house ready for when Meghan gets here in June, so I thought I better share some pics of the work.  While there's no real deadline, I have a self-imposed deadline of trying to get all of the inside woodwork and painting done in the next four and a half weeks.  We don't want mom to be breathing in fumes and sawdust do we?

I'll be sure to post a complete before and after sequence when I'm done with our bedroom, but I wanted to share some photos of the progress I'm making, mainly to reassure my wife that all of those Lowes credit card charges are actually resulting in WORK, not just a garage full of tools :)  Though, (men take note) signing up for a project like this is an excellent excuse for building out a tool collection.

I hadn't really worked with wood much since my father and I built a custom loft bed for my dorm in college.  It was pretty sweet.  We had built in lighting and ran electric conduit up top and underneath, all controlled by a built-in light switch.  It wasn't too complex, but it was pretty cool when I set it up in my room.

Here's a quick shot of one of the larger frames that I had to build.



This all started with this woodpile,



and was cut up and put together with these tools,



to create the foundation for the wainscoting.



I know you can't see it yet, because the vision is still in my head, but our bedroom walls will be lined wainscot panels that have a 4" shelf that runs along the top edge around the entire room.  The inside of each square/rectangular panel will be finished off with decorative trim and then it will all be painted in a glossy white "trim" paint.  To top it off, I'm putting up crown molding at the top of the wall and will run rope lighting around the room to illuminate the tray ceiling. 

My goal was to create a super-comfortable room for Meg when she needs to sneak a few minutes for herself.  Don't worry, the girls' room is getting some major attention, too, I just wanted to have our room complete before she gets here.  To top it off, I'm adding a patio on to the back of the house with a firepit!  I'll share those pictures in another post.