Spa Room Transformation, Part 2: Our New Study

We've finished the room previously known as the "Spa Room". New sub-floor, insulation throughout, new electrical, sheetrock, lighting, paint, and carpet. For the first part of this room's makeover, click HERE. Take a look at some of the final steps in creating our new study/office/craft space!

The little guys helped me paint. They did a great job!

He had so much fun painting, he didn't want to quit!

I'm loving how this paint color looks, especially with the bright white trim!

We used plain boards for the mop-board and window trim, and also for the wall corner and ceiling trim. 

The new lights and ceiling fan are just right!

It's looking so good! 

We opted for an inexpensive variety of commercial carpet tiles and glued them down.

With the kids still being little and messy, we thought this would be the most economical, since the carpet would likely need to be replaced in a couple of years. 

I still need to make some curtains that fit these windows a little better, but I really like this room so far!

It's the most-completed room in our whole house! I love it! 

Spa Room Transformation, Part 1

I think the last time I really talked about the "Spa Room" is when we were planning on turning it into a baby room, when we were expecting Baby W.... which was all of five years ago. 

Obviously, time and life had other plans, and that spa room has sat there untouched these last few years. Finally this year, we hit it hard.... and finally got it DONE! 

I'll be posting this in two segments, one to show the work-in-progress, and one to show the finished project. These posts will be pretty picture-heavy. 

Beneath the old tile floor was the original wood floors,

but part of it was rotten from an old water leak under the whirlpool tub. 

Plywood was screwed down directly onto the original floor.

Little I loves to help!

The new wiring going in nicely. 

I'm pretty happy with my first time hanging insulation. It was much easier than I expected. 

Sheet-rock going up. This is always the part where we discover just how NOT square this old house is. 

We left this wall in the original siding. This was the outside of the house at one time. 

Mud is drying. 

Handy Husband took his time making sure the sheetrock looked really good.

Lots of mud, sanding, mud, sanding. 

Adding the window trim and sills.

Eventually we still plan on replacing these windows, but there's no hurry. 

Another look at the old siding on this wall. 

In PART 2, we'll see the new lighting, paint, and carpet go in. 

Farm Update

Day to day life has definitely got me busy and just a bit too occupied for blogging. So here's a quick rundown of all the things we've got going on right now....

Above and below: Built new rabbit hutches. Love them!

Below: Ducklings are getting big! 

First cucumber!

Baby I loves the sweet and gentle Barred Rocks.

Refrigerator pickles! Yummm.

First time processing and eating our quail. It was very easy and pretty tasty too!

Love our homegrown v-6.

Lots of predator problems lately! We have to reset our traps constantly!

Cleared out the "spa room" all the way down to the bones.

Getting back into my old hobby of making miniature leather saddles.

More baby quail!

First haircut for this little one.

Mealworms are doing fantastic!

First eggs from the black copper marans are so dark and pretty!

Baby bunnies!

Pallet furniture. Love this table for the family room.

The Future Room of Baby W

We began work on the "spa room", which will become Baby W's bedroom. It's a lot of work tearing out all the tile and the whirlpool tub, but it will be well worth it in the end.

 

 

The Fate of the Spa Room

As it turns out, my "spa room" is destined to become something more.

Much more.

Note: picture was taken before we moved in and cleaned up, so disregard all the dirt.

None of us are really big "bath" people, but the jacuzzi tub might have been a nice treat to enjoy once in a while. And with this room being so beautiful, with the windows and all, I *HAD* planned on making it my Spa Room Getaway... complete with hanging plants, a vanity/makeup table, a sitting chair. You know- stuff only I would enjoy. And I might use the jacuzzi tub occasionally.

 

 

HOWEVER...

 

 

With the news of our little one on the way, it's come to my attention that we really don't have a "room" for the baby. Naturally, the baby will share our room for the first few months, but after that... it looks like the only option is to convert the spa room to a bedroom for the baby. It's not a huge room, roughly measuring 8x11- which is small compared to the other bedrooms in this house- but should be adequate.

 

 

It will be a big job to take out the tub and all the tile, and then to install new flooring and do all the painting and such, but I think it will be a beautiful room for the baby.

Homemade Incubator

My Handy Husband designed and built our homemade incubator and it has worked great!

He built it using recycled 2x4s and wood paneling, added 2 normal lights for heat, and we put an old window pane over the top that can be vented to let extra heat out. The eggs sit on an old window screen that is held off the floor by the 2x4 frame. Beneath the eggs is a bowl of water, to add the necessary moisture needed for growing and hatching healthy babies. By no means was this incubator scientifically built, but I think we did a pretty good job of it!

Watching and waiting for signs of life within the eggs gave the family HOURS of entertainment. My spa room served as a temporary storage room, incubating room and, later, the brooder.

And after 21 days of waiting....

...new life emerged!

Our initial hatching resulted in ten out of twelve aggs hatching successfully. It amazes me SO much to watch these tiny, fragile little creatures hatch completely by themselves with no outside help whatsoever. To see how they are acting entirely on instinct and just KNOW when, where and how to crack that egg open from the inside is just miraculous.