And the Work Continues...

When my mom arrived, we decided that it would be good to continue our hard work in the kitchen. Up to this point, we had changed the cabinet hardware, removed the countertops and installed new ones (yes, Justin and I did that by ourselves...I'm pretty proud of that), installed a dishwasher where none existed, taken down wallpaper and torn out the horrible backsplash. While we redoing the countertops, we had a pumbler and electrician help us move the sink to the island and the cooktop to where the sink had been. I didn't like the idea of a hot surface on the island/bar where little hands could get burnt. I love the new change! So, our next step in the transformation was to tile the backsplash. As with many projects, that took longer than expected and we didn't have it totally completed when company arrived. But here are some pictures of our kitchen transformation thus far.


The kitchen at Easter before any changes have been made.


Old hardware


New hardware...it was amazing what a difference that made


Wallpaper removal


Closeup of the wallpaper design


The spot for the new dishwasher and the beginning of the tile removal


Justin jamming on his I-pod while removing tile...a messy job


All the ugly tile is gone


The old cooktop is gone


Countertops are gone


Drywall for the tile backsplash is put up


The new countertops are here!


Dishwasher is in...thank goodness!


Countertop and new cooktop in!


New island sink...love it!


Beginning the tile backsplash


Almost done!


A few decorative tiles are spaced throughout


All the tiles are up!


Justin is very happy to be done with his part of the backsplash

I will still have to grout the tiles next weekend. And at some point we will have to tile the floor, as you can see in some of the pictures, the flooring is very dated as well. But I will probably try to paint the walls and put up window treatments first. The kitchen has come a long way though!

Of course, Justin did most of the tile work, so that was done in the evenings while my mom was in town. During the day, my mom would watch Garytt so that I could get some painting done. I was able to paint the dining room and the formal living room. I do still have to do some touch ups but it looks a lot better than before. I have to say that I like the dining room color but it was an "Oops!" paint that I found at Lowe's for $5. So, it probably isn't the exact color I would choose but, hey, it was $5!


Dining room before paint


New color on the wall


New curtains up


We started to hang some of our pictures


Living room before changes


Living room after



Thankfully my mom was here to help me put up the curtains in the formal living room. She made the curtains for our house in Basehor where they were attached to a board that doubled as a shelf to put decorative items on because we had such a tall window in our living room there. So, we had to modify them a little to work on a normal curtain rod. But I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

Of course, we still have a ways to go in all these rooms...mostly the flooring and the light fixtures have to change. We will be pulling up the carpet in the dining room and living room soon and we hope the hard wood floors underneath are in good condition!

We are very thankful that my mom was able to come up and help us out. She did a lot by watching Garytt and then she helped with the projects if he was napping. We enjoyed her visit but unfortunately were so busy with taking pictures of the progress on the house, I don't have any pictures of her this time. We hope she enjoyed her time with Garytt while she was here!

Enough R&R...Back to Work!

When we returned to Kansas, we had about two weeks before my mom came up to visit us. Then the following week, we would have four adults coming to stay with us. So, my mom planned to visit us to help watch Garytt while we tried desperately to finish up some home projects that would make the house a bit more comfortable for guests. So, in the couple of weeks before my mom arrived, we were supposed to change out a window in the bathroom, rip out the tile and convert the bath to a bath/shower combo. Unfortunately, the window was on backorder and didn't come in with enough time to complete all of that. So, rather than have a half way torn up bath, we left that project for another time. So, our guests would either have to take a bath upstairs or a shower in our unfinished basement where there is a pretty industrial type hook-up. I've showered down there, it's not too bad really, it's just not pretty at all.

As you can see in this picture, the whole bathroom really will need to be remodeled...it will come in stages. We have already taken down the horrible curtains and we use the tub as a shower with a hand wand from Wal-Mart as a temporary fix...it was the best $10 we spent.



Since that project was scratched, we decided that we would do a few smaller projects. One of which was to replace the garage door opener. Our old one was one of the original sears models and we were having problems with it and it didn't have any safety features. So, Justin spent a weekend day doing that. I am happy with the change and feel safer with G outside.

We also decided to tackle the removal of the wallpaper in our dining room. That was a process, as most of the wall paper removal has been. We were able to get it down and patch the wall and have it ready for painting.


Justin removing some wallpaper


Patching the wall...we found a cuby that also had to be covered back up.

We also did random odd jobs like removing some of the shelf supports they had left in our family room. While Justin was doing that, Garytt decided he needed to climb up on the step stool. He has become such a monkey these days!







We did try to take some time to relax and play with Garytt. His favorite thing to do is to "show me your muscles." Then he flexes his arms and makes a funny face. We have been trying for months to get a few good pictures of it. These are the best we've gotten.


Happy boy...then we asked him to "show us your muscles"


Mild


More intense


With a little attitude


SERIOUS!

By then my mom would be in town and we would be working on more home projects while she was here to help with Garytt.

We're Back!

Ok, so we know we have been terrible about posting new blog posts. As many of you know, life has been a bit crazy for us over the past few months. Justin accepted a new position in Oshkosh, WI starting in February. We were very blessed to sell our house in Kansas and find a house here in Wisconsin. We were only separated for two weeks during this transition, which was also a huge blessing.

Our house here in Wisconsin is a diamond in the rough. It is a nice solid house with a good amount of space. However, the previous owners lived here for 47 years. Needless to say, there are a lot of updates needed. The carpeting is probably from the 70s. The previous owners really loved carpeting though! So, much so that they decided to put it on the walls in the hallway upstairs...yes, on the walls! We haven't tackled that project just yet, but I will be sure to include pictures when we do!







As with so many home projects, our first project took much longer than anticipated. We decided to strip the wallpaper in Garytt's room first so that we could get it painted and make it feel like a comfortable place for him. What we thought would take a few weekends, took a month. But we are very happy that we took the time to do it right and remove the wallpaper rather than just painting over it because it looks so much better now!


This is the before photo. You can't really tell but the wallpaper had very small flowers all over it. Not only is it totally not my style, it looked a bit girly for Garytt.


Pulling up the carpet.


Patching the wall.



We will be adding a green stripe and some wall decor. We'll have to post more pictures when it is totally done.

"Curtains Up"

The Nursery project is moving along. We now have the curtain up! Plenty of animals to go around to fit in the Noah's Ark theme.

Assembling the Crib

Start Time: 7:43pm, End Time: 8:14pm

Assembling the crib did not take as long as we expected. Maybe that's because it's simply made of solid wood and metal. No particle board and plastic for this baby! And as you can see, if you click one of the photos and check out the gallery, Jennifer, as always, is responsible for reading the instructions...and Justin is the manual labor.



Another project checked off our to-do list!

Painting the Nursery

Lots of bright colors in here. Lots more to come, though!

Lesson learned: a 6-inch stripe around an 11x11 room does not require a gallon of paint! What else shall we paint bright green?