You are here: Home / 0 / Archives for July 2011

A Break From the Chaos

2011
3 Comments

This past weekend we had some great friends come over for the weekend to “camp out” at our house.  What troopers they are!!  We were going to go to a campsite close to our house but when I realized that I had a husband who probably wouldn’t want to leave for a whole weekend at this point, I threw out the idea.  “It’ll be a lot of fun, we have all the toys one could think to play with, and (here’s the selling point) we can do a giant slip and slide down our hill!!  Yeah, that even sounded fun to me!  So, that’s exactly what we did!  I didn’t capture it all, just the best part…the slip and slide!

No, I’m not pregnant..that’s my sweet friend ang who’s due in 2 months and looks amazing!!  But look at the length of this thing.  I gotta tell you, the kids came down so fast we needed a catcher, but they were all smiles.  I tried to capture some of the true emotion in these pictures….

Hang on Tate!!!

Seriously, it doesn’t get much better than this does it Leelah!!  I so wish I could show you how fast they were going, because after going down a few times myself, I was a litle nervous!!

We did get a beach/playground run in too!

So fun!  P.S. Look at that handsome hubby, he has already lost 18 pounds since being on the “never have a minute to sit down and eat” diet.  Not sure if it is the healthiest diet, but he’s getting skinny!!

He’s a worker too!

 What a blessing to have some much needed family time!  God is good:)  Now back to the grind to show you what else we’ve been working on!!

Filed Under: Family

Master Bedroom

2011
1 Comment

So, when we first saw the picture of this house that was going up for auction, my first thought was yay!!  It’s got character and shape, something I can work with….minus the bats!  But I also remember seeing this cute dormer coming off of the roofline and wondering what fun little nook or cranny that was in. 

Please forgive the quality of the photo.  I took it on the 90% humidity with 100 degree temps, crazy how that affected it!!

After going to look at the house a couple of times I forgot about this dormer until after we had purchased the house and realized, that dormer is nowhere to be found!  It was a false dormer purely for asthetic looks for the outside of the house!  Well that was not going to fly with this girl, and thankfully my hubby was on board on opening that sucker and bringing more light (and character) into our bedroom.   So, we have finally opened up the dormer!! And raised our ceilings, so here are th pictures of what she looks like before….

Lots of paneling, lime green carpet, and a big ole closet right when you walk in.

Also the ceilings were super low.  The lowest ones in the house.  Boy did we change that!

So, after lots of demo and lots of sweat, we managed to come up with this…

Don’t mind the huge mess, but the ceilings are higher and we added lots and lots of insulation in the roofline.

Ta da…there’s the hidden dormer!  The window is almost a whole window length above the rest, so it’s going to be more of a skylight, but with no windows on that side it really did lighten it up in there!  Notice the old roofline?? Gotta love those shake style shingles.  The wall will go straight up on that side but I think we are going to add a couple of built-in cabinets to store off-season clothes. 

Our other plan is to add a double closet the whole length of the room on the side with the yellow insulation in the roof.  We got some fun doors to do double door openings, one for our washer and dryer, and the other for our closet.  Nothing grand, but we just didn’t want to cut out a huge square from the room again once we had it opened up.  So again, stay tuned.  Next week I’ll show you the vanity I’ve been working on and am super excited about!! 

Happy Friday everyone!!

Filed Under: Remodel

Slowly But Surely…

2011
Leave a Comment

First of all I want to introduce you to some cute little friends we have encountered throughout this process…

awwww, isn’t he cute??

Yep, it’s true.  We ran into a bit of a bat infestation.  Ryan opened up the attic above the kids rooms to run wires and found himself shin high in bat poop and urine.  ISH!!  Him and his two buddies (thanks a millions Jeff and Andy!!) spent a whole day shoveling 10 inch piles of bat poop out of the closet and also eliminating the bat population.  If you are against any cruelty to animals then you may want to skip to the next paragraph.  After about killing 200 bats (4 which Tate killed, proud mama:)  I think it is about coming to an end.  That and 10 tubes of silicone to close up any holes that they were sneaking into from the outside.  So, onto some more fun pictures…

Our stairs are completely framed out, just have to wait for all the rest of the remodel before they can be trimmed and decked out.  I am so excited with how they have turned out…quite a bit grander than I expected!!

There will be railing the whole way up and we brought in an old post to help visualize height!  So fun:)

Here’s the view from the living room.  I’m thinking this 3/4 wall will be where my future wing-back chairs go!

This is the view from standing in the bathroom door.  Also it has a make-shift railing up for safety.  I love though how I can see the living room from my bathroom.  I’ll be able to keep my eye on the little squirts while I’m getting ready!  That and the loft type feel it adds with all of the railings.  I can’t wait to see the finished product!!

So, this was a huge feat done.  As well as the stairs we got all of the new headers in and you will be happy to know that the house is fully supported now.  It was a bit scary before.  I’ll show pictures later.  As well as the master bedroom, which is turning out to be my favorite room in the house:)  Stay tuned for the on Friday!!

Happy Monday everyone!!

Filed Under: Remodel

I’m Alive!!

2011
4 Comments

Okay, so this has been my first official week of “camping” and with 80 percent dew point this week I have pawned myself and family off on any near relation around:)  I have been pretty optimistic about this so far, but I must admit….it is getting a bit draining living out of sheds/pop-ups/vans/etc..etc.   Just to get the kids dressed in the morning is quite an ordeal.  So–with that being said I wanted to tell you all to STICK WITH ME:)  There has been massive changes taking place at our house and I am going to show you some pics tomorrow, I promise!  I also have a few fun projects in the making that I’d love to share too!!  So, say a prayer for our family this week and stay tuned for tomorrow, you’re about to see a pretty impressive staircase in our kitchen.  (Only wood at this point, but much better than a ladder:)

Filed Under: Demo

White Dishes

2011
1 Comment

Whenever I am looking through some of my favorite magazines, displays of white dishes always catch my eye.  I love how soothing it is to look at.  Take these for example…

ahh…..so pretty:)

a little more country charm…

Isn’t it just soothing….

my favorite:)

So, for the last couple of years my idea has been to pick up a piece here and there at garage sales until I have enough to fill my hutch or some floating shelves.  Guess what??  Most people don’t sell pretty, simple, white pieces.  Bummer.  Moving into a new home I realized that I wanted to take this 2 year hunt to a new level.  I hit up the Goodwill.  Goodwill is AMAZING for finding white pieces, and usually you can get a few in one visit.  A couple of visits later and voila, you have your grouping!!  I have already found some really fun unique visits in Minnesota, but they have since been packed away, yearning to decorate a shelf soon.  But, since being in Wisconsin I hit up my mom’s local Goodwill (I’m such a sucker) and found a couple of more really fun pieces that I’m excited about!!  Here they are…

Aren’t they cuties!!

I found the two canisters first, which I fell in love with!  They were only 2.99 and 3.99….such a steal! I flipped them over and found out they were Martha Stewart, no wonder it was love at first sight:)  Then I found these coffee cups.  I love how simple they were, and for only .99 a piece I couldn’t refuse 4.  It’s all about mixing and matching and I’m okay if I don’t have a whole 10 piece set of one kind of dish!  Then I found that funky little pitcher over there.  A little modern for me, but such a fun shape, and the color was perfect.  It might add a little summer fun to one of my shelves, and if not, it was only 1.99.  So, hopefully I’ll have an actual “shelf” to show you soon with all of these items on.  I’m getting so excited to head back to the house today and see the progress and share.  If only we were at the drywall stage!  Happy Monday everyone!

Filed Under: Decorating

Progress

2011
1 Comment

It’s official.  We locked up the doors.  Wow.  Harder than I thought, especially when you have a little boy asking to go home and he can’t.  It was a good lesson for me though on how much I do find comfort in material things and my surroundings.  I am being stretched and learning that home is where your family is and sometimes it’s okay to venture out of your comfort zone.  It’s just hard to watch it affect your kiddos and not be able to explain it to them:(  So, instead of moving into the camper right away…the kids and I ran for the hills!!  :)  This nomad business is a little weird so where do I go when I need some familiarity??  Home, to Wisconsin that is.  I still call it home even though I haven’t lived here for 10 years.   It’s so good to relax and have a couch to crash on.  Thanks mom and dad!!!  And so far only being gone one day my hubby has GONE TO TOWN on the house:)  :)  It’s so fun to see the progress, I make him send me picture texts so that I can share them with you too!!  So, here’s the little rundown of the demo of the kitchen and stairs…

1st…

2nd…

3rd…

No stairs, or cabinets!!  to Finally 4th….

Sorry, this one was a picture text so it’s little, but notice the two landings!!  The stairs are almost done….just the last leg down:)

And also while we were/are still gone he worked on the master.  The last I left it it looked like this…

We got the closets out and the ceiling, but since this is the only low ceiling in the house we decided to bump them up a bit.  I thought we decided we’d bump them up to 10 feet (even though I just thought we should go all the way up:)  But Ry surprised me and bumped them to 10 1/2 feet.  Thanks for the 6 inches baby:)

Again, mobile upload…but you get the idea!!  I’m so excited about the slanted ceilings, such a change from the box we came from:)

So, while I stroll down the river on the pontoon, Ryan is working his tail off.  I know, it doesn’t seem quite right, but the kids are happy.  I’ll get back there soon to make the important decisions:)  Speaking of which, here is a sneak peak of the flooring we are going to go with….super excited:) :)

They have less of a warm tone and more of a cooler gray tone in person…weird what the computer does!! But the fun texture and distress makes them look super comfy and cottagey…I think I just made that word up:)

That’s all I got for now, oh, and a new listing under the for sale tab, check it out!

Filed Under: Demo

Home Sweet Home…

2011
Leave a Comment

Here she is…my home for the next 2 months.  I know…you are jealous.  It’s okay, really girls,  you can be jealous:)

Wouldn’t be a bad garage sale huh??

See that pretty stainless over there?? That helps a little:)

So, we have packed, and packed, and packed, and even managed to pack some more..and it’s finally come to an end.  I must admit, even though I am going to be oh so missing my bed, it will be nice to have the whole family in one spot the whole time and not trying to move and demo and work all at once.  Now we can focus a little more on renovations and family…hopefully.   And I’m praying Jesus gets more attention to.  I just need to make it a priority.  Maybe when we are all up at 6:15 cause the camper door will be creaking when Ry has to go to work.  I must admit though, the kids seem pretty happy out here..

Even though Tate said to me 2 days ago, “Mom, I have an idea…why don’t we go to the farm and get all of our stuff.”  Yep, definitely holding back tears on that one!!  Sweet boy, it will all be worth it!!

So I guess this is me signing off for just a bit.  I haven’t quite figured out how to get internet to the shed yet and I still haven’t been allowed to splurge on a laptop with wireless (I’m working on that one:)  So, I so hope you stick with me.  I am going to try to blog at least once a week, I’ll have to stalk a few other computers, and show you what we’re working on.  I have some super fun projects that I am excited about that are new for me.  So with that being said, happy Friday everyone!!

Filed Under: Family