{ Checking things off }

It's been absolutely crazy around here. Not just house stuff, but life stuff. You know how it is. Seems like on Monday, I have all these goals of what is going to get done this week and then before I know it Friday is here and I have only half accomplished ONE of my many goals for the week! Geesh! Do you all feel this spring pressure to get yard work, house work, organizing work yada yada yada done so when summer hits we can sit back, relax and enjoy the nice weather? I do! It's a lot harder when the list is long but we are trucking away at it one day at a time!

A lot of you have asked if we are moved in yet and the answer is no. Not yet but hopefully soon! We are working to get the kitchen finished up currently. I have a little more painting to do around the house and then all that's left are LOTS of small projects but those can more than likely be finished while we live in the house so after the kitchen is operational- we will be moving in!

Back in October, last year when I started out writing this little blog that I made a "TO DO LIST". I figured I would go back through now and see what we can cross off and what is left yet to do. This will give you an idea of where we have yet to get some work done and hopefully give me a reminder of how far we've come.

Outside:

2% done

• build an attached garage with breezeway to the house. the breezeway area will include a 1/2 bath.
• landscaping
• remove massive tree's in front yard
• install fence for kids safety
• paint
• add a garden area

I said 2% because I crossed out three letters in landscaping due to this very tiny project that took place back in late October. There is still SO much to do outside.

Living Room:

75% done

 

• paint walls, ceilings, and trim
• white wash the fireplace like this
• install a wooden mantel
• resurface the hardwood floors (see new floors here)
• install ceiling lights

I have to paint in here yet and then the only thing left to do is the fireplace so this room is very close to being done.

Kitchen:

75% done

 

• remove closet walls to place refrigerator in that spot
• remove bulk head and beam across the ceiling
• relocate the small window (see here)
• install ceiling lights and a dining light fixture (still looking for the right dining table light)
• replace the flooring (see here)
• replace counter tops
• paint the current cabinets
• install under cabinet lighting
• paint

We have a lot crossed off in here! So much change has happened in the kitchen! The cabinets are 75% painted. The island needs a back and some trim added and all that will need to be painted. The counter tops will hopefully be installed very soon and the whole room needs trim yet too. There will be lots of small projects to do later on down the road too like adding a tile back splash and building a bench seat under the window but that will all be after we move in.

Bathroom:

90% done

• open up the room a little by moving some walls
• replace stand-up shower with a tub
• replace the tiniest sink in the world with a vanity and sink top
• replace the flooring
• install ceiling light
• paint

The bathroom is still missing the trim piece around the painted line across the top of the walls, a mirror, shower curtain rod and a vanity light. It's still a small bathroom BUT this room is AMAZING compared to what we started with! In case you missed it, you can see what the bathroom is looking like right now here.

Master Bedroom:

90% done

• install ceiling fan/light
• paint walls and trim

I said 90% because I have to do one more coat of paint in here. The ceiling fan and light combo was installed forever ago and now that we've lived with it, I've decided that I want something different. I'm thinking just a light and no fan. So technically it's crossed off the list here but it's back on my list of things to swap out when the money tree grows back!

Second Bedroom/Nursery:

80% done

• Remove the laundry hook up that was installed into this room
• add electrical outlets
• paint walls and trim

The walls still need some paint on them. I cant make up my mind on a color....

Upstairs:

95% done

• remove all paneling
• remove the wall between the two rooms
• remove all insulation and replace with new
• replace all electrical outlets and add new
• install ceiling lights
• drywall
• replace two windows
• build closets
• paint

This was the mother of all projects in this house so far! You can see the changes by checking out these posts here and here. We have a little bit of trim left to do and the closet doors need to be painted. We need to add some closet organizers and then this room will be checked off as officially being d.o.n.e!

 

Basement:

2%

• paint ceiling and walls and flooring like this on the laundry room side
• add shelving to create storage space
• paint fireplace
• paint paneling in family room
• install more ceiling lights

This has been our working area for the past six months so I gave it a 2% only because we initially cleaned up the grossness that we inherited when we purchased the house but other than that we haven't done any projects down here yet except make more of a mess with sawdust, paint, tools, and pipes! The basement will be more of a project for once we are moved in.

 

 

WELL...facts are, we still have work to do BUT we've seen a lot of updating in this little house of ours and we are quickly approaching move in day so I would say we are pretty excited. I know some of you may be thinking to yourselves "why is it taking them so long?" Believe me, I ask this question A LOT, but both of us work and sometimes Mark works long days and Saturdays and with kids and family functions and school stuff and extra curriculars, life just simply gets in the way of house projects. I wish things could go faster but if we were there any more than we are now then we may not be a happy family so we are doing things as life (and money) allow, which is OK with us. Thankfully my parents are amazing and allow our family of 5 to cohabitate with them during this crazy time in life and for which we will be endlessly grateful. 

 

Next week I'll be back with pictures of the kitchen cabinets-hopefully all hung and.. maybe pictures of the living room paint...we will see, remember what I said about making lists and then not getting everything done. Cross fingers for me!

 

Have a great weekend!

{ Focal Wall }


Back when I was painting up in the kids' shared room, I decided to do a fun focal wall. I debated forever on what pattern or color that I would do and finally decided to do a herringbone type pattern with two different colors that I purchased at Sherwin Williams. I started taping the pattern on the wall and because I have zero patience when it comes to waiting to see what things will look like, I started painting before I got all the tape lines up. Then once that dried a little, I peeled back the tape on the painted parts so I could get a good look at what I was doing.

I stepped back and right away I knew I couldn't keep going with this pattern on that wall. It doesnt look too crazy in the photo above but imagine the whole wall done in those colors and in that pattern. I'm pretty sure it would have been the most overwhelming, headache inducing focal wall ever. So I primed and painted over it with a really nice muted shade of blue-gray (which I love).

But it was a fun wall and I had the paint so I thought that I could still do that pattern, just somewhere else, not so focal. There is a tiny area on one side of the stairs that we will have kids toys/books so I figured it would be perfect there. So I taped up the pattern on that wall and again couldn't wait so I started painting

I wasnt careful about measuring out the pattern, I literally eye-balled the lines as I was taping them. I like how random it is and I really love that it's on this wall where no one really will see it until they look for it. It adds some color and fun to the kids play area without giving me a headache every time I walk up to their room.

So here it is all finished



You can see on the back wall we now have curtains hung (which I hemmed myself) and a light fixture installed (Thanks Papa Rawson!) so, it's really looking more and more like a finished room. The trim, the closet doors, and closet shelves are the only things left to do up here. I painted the beds too which you get a small view of in one of the photos above and I will share all that with you next time. 

Just in case you are a little confused where we are in the room this photo gives you a little better view



Now can you tell it's the stairway wall that you were looking at. On the right is the door for the closet and behind me is the big open room. So you can see it's a pretty small little spot but it's just perfect for a play area for the kids. 

What do you think? Was a good choice to hault the focal wall on that main wall and move it? I'm really happy with my decision to move it over to this little wall and the kids love it! 

{ It's SHOW-ER time! }

Sorry I was MIA last week. Internet issues and computer problems made it hard to get a post up. But I am back with an exciting bathroom update to share with you!

Mark worked really hard on the bathroom the last two weeks.

First the toilet was installed

When mark was hooking it up, you can see on the wall there where the water comes in got a little damaged which will eventually get fixed. I figured once the trim is up there will be a few more spots that need paint touch up so I'll do that all then.

Then the tile started going up

He got the border done and a few starter pieces in various places one night after work to start it off.

That same night we hauled the ridiculously heavy vanity in. We left the  shrink wrap on the marble top when we purchased it back in December (I think) to keep it safe until we were ready to place it in the bathroom. I think you can tell where this is going now, right? So I was all geared up to hear singing angels in the background when it was removed because I was seeing it for the first time in all its beauty and guess what...HUGE stinkin crack down the whole right side of the marble. SIGH. Mark quickly got on the phone and the supplier ordered us another one and told us we had to wait 1-2 weeks until the replacement came in. The photo below shows the crack. It was hard to get a good picture of it because it was actually under the surface.

We had 2 minutes of pure frustration but then we pulled up our big kid pants and went back to work on other things. 

When Mark had time after work a couple days later he put up a few more tiles on the shower. I tried it out too. See those three rows on the bottom right, yup those were mine. I'm skilled people! (I kid, I kid!)

Last Saturday we grouted. It was a group effort. Three of us in the tub at once. (Not like that, you sick-o's!) Kyle and Mark did most of the work but I did the top right corner. I hadn't ever grouted anything before so it was interesting and very messy. I'm learning all sorts of new things!

 Sorry for the blurry photos but I took some quick shots with my phone. You can see it's almost done except for one little section on the bottom that we needed to mix up a little more mud for. 

See that mess. Looks so good though!

I love the two shelves in there too. Thank you Pinterest for that idea!

Mark got the shower head installed

He had to get one more valve to finish the faucet but here is a shot of it almost completed. You can finally see the white tub for the first time too! Isnt it SO pretty!!

Here she is in all her (almost) finished glory!

I say almost, because we still have to caulk around the top and sides of the tub. 

 Back to the vanity, we only had to wait a week for the finished vanity to come in. We took the shrink wrap off prior to moving it this time and...no cracks, whoo hoo!! My dad was at the house so he helped Mark carry the new one in the bathroom (thank God because no joke that sucker was heavy!).

 Mark installed the back splash and then the faucet, which he picked out and I love!

We are really happy with this vanity! 

So much better than the original one that came with the house (that my left foot couldn't even fit into on a skinny day). 

Did you notice in one of the photos above that the ceiling is painted? 

I originally started off only painting the wall that the vanity was going on

But...I knew I didn't like it right away. I couldn't figure out though if it was the color I didn't like or the placement of the color but then I saw this and I knew right away that was what I wanted to do. I used the same paint, just switched it up to on the ceiling and the upper 8 inches of the wall all the way around the room. I love it. It makes the small room seem bigger too.

I still need to add a small piece of trim along the paint line on the wall as seen in the inspiration link above.

So it's looking pretty good huh?! Finally. It's been a long road getting here. If you missed the other bathroom posts you can check them out here and here. 

We still have a few things to do and I still am on the hunt for the perfect mirror and vanity light but it's really shaping up and looking great in there! 

 Next up on the to do list is, I'm finishing up painting the kids beds upstairs and Mark will be moving his work base into the kitchen and hopefully getting the counter tops installed very soon. Exciting stuff happening around here I tell ya!