Last month I started work on the guest room. This is more than just a paint job! Ripped all the old trip out, extensive ceiling and wall repairs, as well as some minor electrical work.  Once we were ready to prime, it turned into a much larger job. Over the 80 years of the life of this home they painted every single square inch a dary blue gray. Ceiling, walls, trim, everything.  It took 3 coats of primer.

I am finally at a point where we can start applying the final paint colors.  Check out the progress pics below.

Project Hillside: Guest Room Repairs

We are looking to kick things into high gear at Project Hillside and get the upstairs projects finished in 2012. We are going room by room, starting in the guest room.  I started work on December 8th and after about 4 days of work (mostly weekends) we have the following progress. Follow the pictures below for a complete photo recap of where we stand today.

Before

The room was painted the same color everywhere! Ceiling, door knobs, trim, light fixtures, you name it, it was painted.  Extreme cracks in the ceiling, chipped paint, lots of cracks in the walls, and the baseboards are covered in 80 years of paint and must be replaced.

With 2011 nearly over we were able to squeeze in the start of our guest room repairs to hopefully kick 2012 off with a bang! If you follow Project Hillside you will know we haven't touched the upstairs since we purchased the home 2 years ago. Now with our wedding behind us we are moving full steam ahead, room by room, upstairs. The first project was our guest room (although it will probably become the master bedroom).  Stay tuned for a complete photo gallery outlining the work.

Clearly I am a little late on this post .. fall has passed and we are taking the Thanksgiving decorations down and preparing for Christmas. Fall was a time of celebration with our wedding being our big event and primary focus. We did manage to complete a few projects and here are some pictures from this fall.

I think this marks the 10th time Hillside Road has flooded. The creek just can't handle all the rain NEPA has been getting over the past few months. So far, we've had a stream running down the road for 2 full days.  The bridge at the end of the road was damaged so badly during hurricane Irene it was already shut down.

What a great year 2011 has been! Along with getting lots of projects done at Project Hillside (Vines, landscaping field stone wall, cellar racks, inside cleaning/repairs) Amber and I celebrated our wedding on September 10, 2011. It was amazing and better than we could have dreamed of!

The wedding turned into a full time project at the start of this year! We were both so excited by it much of our free time went to planning and making sure this day was going to be the best memory ever. As you can tell, projects at Project Hillside slowed down just a little.

Last week sitting in Ixtapa Mexico overlooking the Pacific Ocean Amber and I couldn't resist but bringing up the counter top debate! After a year of having the kitchen complete, we still have temporary counter tops in! We are now excited to really put the finishing touch on the kitchen and get those counter tops installed along with starting work on the upstairs.

Stay tuned for updates because October - EOY are going to be a HUGE push to finish much of the upstairs.

Thanks for reading.

Last August, as you probably know, Amber and I got engaged. The wedding date was set for September 10, 2011. Wow! It's only 16 days away as I type this. As you can imagine, this summer was packed celebrating with family and friends, vacations, business trips, and spending as much time as possible planning for the big day. While we worked on Project Hillside, naturally we slowed things down a little due to wedding expenses and our distraction by this major life event Amber and I can't stop thinking about :) We will be sharing the day with 100 very close friends and family. Be sure to check-out our wedding website and our engagement video.

Amber + Jason from Rasan Amintha on Vimeo.

Remember the wine cellar project started last July? And the progress made by  the end of July on the wine cellar? Well, as you know, it took me about 5 months to figure out what type of racks I wanted. Initially I planned to build them. However, cost and time eliminated that. After all, this wine cellar was never part of the budget!

Eventually I found VinRac, an Australian based company that is now selling racks in the United States. The racks were about $1/bottle, easy to assemble and made of high grade plastic. I was concerned plastic would make the cellar look cheap or not "professional enough". Soon I remembered this is a functional wine cellar, in our house, that isn't going to be used for anything other than storing wine. The cellar will remain locked and pitch black 98% of the time. As a result, it's not like it really matters if it's not a high end wood!

We ordered enough for 400 bottles and very pleased with the results so far. The cellar is inventoried and I can go from the kitchen, on my pc find the bottle, and pull it within minutes! It's great! Here is what it looks like:

This summer has been a blast at Project Hillside. We really have enjoyed the backyard and lots of local activities. As you know, we planted quite the garden this year. I like to say, "WE ARE THE FARMERS MARKET". Our harvest includes celery, peppers, grapes, blueberries, and tomatos.  Everything is growing well given the constant battle with wildlife eating everything.

We are about to harvest 30 tomatoes off the vine and tons of celery this week.  The peppers have yielded about 20 nice size ones with about 20 still growing.

Enjoy the pics and take a "virtual walk" around our garden at Project Hillside.

Hillside Flooding

What a rainy year it's been at Project Hillside. Earlier this year, in March (blog post: Flooding in Shavertown Pennsylvania) we learned all about the creek across Hillside Road from our house.  Down the street the creek makes a hard hook, under Hillside road, to get on the other side of the way (across from our house). When it rains heavily, it seems to "jump" this hook, come out of the natrual hollow, and start flooding houses as it rushes down the road.

Luckily for us, the house sits far enough back and high enough to avoid this rush of water.  It stop at the base of our driveway (at least this is what all the flooding has proven so far) and literally will keep you stuck at the house until the water resides. 

This past weekend, it flooded again:

This wasn't nearly as bad as it was last time when you couldn't even see the lines on the road! However, I feel terrible for the neighbors up the way that continue to be impact by this vicious creek!