workin' in the cellar

When the winter winds are blowing and it's a little too cold to play outside, there are always inside projects to be done. Our main focus over the past month has been the cellar. We have a really nice cellar, that walks out to the back yard. The "kennel" area is there, and it's bright and sunny and very pleasant to be in. The stairs have been a huge deal, for the longest time they have been "open" with no sides. This always made me nervous when the dogs were scrambling up and down.. pushing and shoving to see who could be first, I lived in fear of someone going off the side. But Ed has them all closed in now, with proper railings and I feel much better.

We got the one back wall all insulated as well. Suddenly it's so quiet, and the wall isn't cold when you walk by it. We now need to get the sheetrock done - which will be fun, because there are some really neat things that we can hang up.

Along with this great project has been the radiant heating for the first floor, which as you see, is in the ceiling of the cellar. This has been an interesting project, getting all that tubing going to it's proper place... but we did (and let me tell you, it's warm on the first floor!!!!)

It amazes me how well this radiant heat works. We have it in the cellar floor as well (and the doggies are always toasty warm).. but it's neat to walk across the floor in your bare or stocking feet and feel how warm they are.

We still need to finish this insulating as well. All the tubes have to be covered so the heat can work efficiently... but it will make a nice clean ceiling for the cellar when all the insulation is up

And last but not least, real lights. Up until now, we have been working off a sting of construction lights, which I had to plug in everytime I needed lighting in the cellar. Now I can just flick a switch and it's magic!!! I also have plugs, so I can run my dryers to dry the doggie's after bath time. It's really nice. So, bit by bit,it's coming together. We still need to get our back deck built (hopefully before the weather gets too hot or buggy) and there are a few small things to do.. but the house is really getting close to "done"