Crazy Crunch time

Ok so I know I have been slack with this blog. But we literally have NO time. Plus there wasn't too much to post in the last week or so b/c we were waiting for the drywall guy to finish up in the kitchen so we could get back in there and work. 

Let me just share a few changes that we made in the "down" time. I bought these sweet closet kits for $35 each. Total steal!

And I installed them by myself. What do you think? This is in "master" closet.

And since we can't afford to do any major changes to the front door. Here is the pic of the before:

And the after. I think that new lock and handle make quite the difference..for now.

And some of you might be wondering (maybe not all)..what we do with our kids when we are hard at work. Well..a lot of the time my mother-in-law is kind enough to look after them for us. But sometimes we bring them along...

That styrofoam piece kept Kai entertained for hours. At first it was a flying ship...

..and then it was a snack station.

For the last 3 days I have brought both boys in the mornings, put them in their bedroom, turned on a movie for them on the computer and they have mostly done rather well. Kai even put this Ikea pot lid holder together all by himself. Oh and those are our doors in the background. Just need to stain, add the hinges, add the new knobs and install.

 Ok..so once the drywall was finally done. We were able to get in there & paint. We had a major set back though. The drywall guy (Dwayne), ended up spraying the ceiling twice but the yellow stain from Nicotine (I guess) kept leaking through. So Chad came and SAVED THE DAY!! He got an oil based paint that thankfully fixed the problem. But it was a lot of hard work and time. And we had to wait to finish painting the walls till the ceiling was done. A million thanks to Chad though! Seriously! He was there from 10am to almost 7pm! Talk about an AMAZING friend!! Chad we are taking you & Laura out to dinner whether you like it or not!!

 Alison & Amanda also helped a bit that day with painting and odd jobs. Alison and I had the fun job of taping up that plastic onto the beams (so they were protected when Chad painted the ceiling). It was a lot harder than it looks. Stupid things kept falling down. Haha! Thanks Alison!

 Ok this is a horrid picture..but this is Joel and I downstairs in our basement putting together the Ikea cabinet boxes while Chad was painting the ceiling. 

 And then....we finally got to finish painting!! Here is the entry way. The color is "Graphite". What do you think? It looks amazing with our new hardwood floors going in.

 And then there's the dining room wall. It's called "Slate". This is a really horrible picture b/c it's not showing their true colors. The "Slate" is slightly darker and it doesn't look green at all like it does on my screen right now. Everything else is "Cloud White" - the hallway, kitchen & living room. I know most of you are probably thinking...boring white. Well it's going to look crisp & clean and a great back drop for all my colorful decorations. 

 Justin came over to help install the hardwood. Thanks Justin! I think it's funny that he looks like he's checking out Joel's bum in this pic. hehe!

 Joel setting down the first several boards. Soo exciting!! We have been waiting to see this for 2 months!!

 And then Jason came over (Joel's brother) and helped out as well. Thanks Jason! The entire living room was done and now were just starting to work into the kitchen here. Oh and thanks to our nice neighbor who let us borrow his flooring staple gun.

 Looking good! Flooring & husband.  Haha..minus the drywall dust. 

 And here's a shot of the nosing that I stained. Looks pretty awesome huh?

 Oh and this is what I was doing while the men worked hard on the flooring. Putting together all those Ikea drawers for the cabinets. Fun...let me tell you. 

 And what do we do with our evenings...you might ask. Well we put on silly hats and make our own window treatments. Joel is in charge of sewing the straight seams. I am in charge of cutting, ironing & then sewing on all the brass rings (to make roman shades). 

 We got a little loopy that night. This is possibly the best pic I have ever captured of Joel...ever. Let's think of a name for this face...hmmm....any suggestions? 

 I look a little bit like a fruity Peter Pan in this pic.

  Well that's it for now. We will be moving in this weekend. Hopefully Joel will get the flooring done by Saturday. Then we can start installing the cabinets, drawers & doors. Hook up the dishwasher, plug in the fridge, plumb in the sink, install the range hood, & hook the oven up to the gas line. The goal being: to have a mostly function kitchen (minus the countertops..which Joel will be making as well). Super husband...yes..yes I know. I know it, love him, thankful for him and like to brag on him. And also post funny pics of him. ;) Ok...back to work. 

My Mama, Paint & Carpet, Post & Beams!!!

My Mama came for a visit!! It was soo great having her here for 10 days! She helped us out so much by watching the boys and making dinner.

And we had a few other helpers this week. Thanks to Amanda Denharder for lending us her wonderful father, Steve. He was a HUGE help to us! He worked on odd jobs at our place 3 different days! Here he is staining our stair nosing. He was very focused on his work. 

And special thanks to Chad Riggins for helping me paint our bedrooms. That dude has mad skills! 

Ok. So onto house progress....

The Bathroom - that we won't be reno-ing right away. Like the lighting and the shower? How about the taped on tile job?

 The Hallway without those sweet hand rails. Getting ready to be painted soon. 

 The Entry.

 Master Bedroom - Ceiling & wall ready for insulation. 

 With insulation & vapor barrier. Now that was a itchy/hard to breathe job.

 With paint color of choice - Pale Silver. And with newly installed carpet. It's feels like a MARSHMELLOW people! I am seriously considering throwing out my bed and sleeping on the floor.

 Boys Bedroom - Before valence was ripped out and before drywall patched job.

Valence out. Drywall man patched it up.

 With Kai's paint choice - Sycamore Green. And of course the yummy carpet. Mmmm!

 Kitchen area before we ripped out the cabinets and the bulk head.

 Living room with all the mess.

 Here's an angle of the living/kitchen wall that I enjoyed smashing to pieces.

 View from the Kitchen side showing the stairs down to the carport.

 Joel working hard knocking out the studs. (View from the carport)

 The wall is basically OUT!! I got a few sweet battle wounds smashing the drywall. 

Joel ripped out the stairs and joisted the floor.

 Living room cleaned up a bit. 

 Supporting the ceiling. Waiting for the beams. Also the kitchen floor is sheeted in the background there.

 POST & BEAMS are in!! And Joel just started on the island framing. Eeeeeek! Can you see the beautiful picture?! 

House progess...

Here's several pics for you on some of our progress. I do apologize for their quality. Most of them were quickly snapped with my iphone which is slowly dying. 

Here's the master bedroom in it's original state.

Check out the icy blue wallpaper. Yeah...that HAD to go!

The boys bedroom. Oh that wood paneling. Rustic..but not the rustic we're going for.

The Hallway. The door closest on the left is the only bathroom in the house. The master bedroom is on the right. The boys bedroom is on the far left. 

I forgot to take a picture of the stairs with the original carpet on. Oops. 

This is the entryway. Up the stairs and to the right is the hallway to the bedrooms. To the left is the kitchen/living/dining room area. 

Here's a horrible blurry picture of me working in the living room. 

Here's a panoramic pic of how the roof looked originally. Mossy/moldy mess! 

The roof swept clean. 

Here's my father-in-law helping us re-sheet the roof. Thanks to Justin & Chris Pankratz as well.

Roof papered. Joel said that the official term is "membraned"..but that just sounds weird and slightly gross.Great view of the fascia. (Can you tell I'm proud of my staining job?) And the huge garbage bin that we rented twice so far. Steel roof is on! This is the best picture to get the sense of the color. Another view of the steel roof totally finished. View of the front of the house with the fascia on and steel roof totally done!

So what do you think of our little house?