The Zoo: house projects

Showing posts with label house projects. Show all posts

Let There Be Light

Do you remember waaayyyyyy back in January when I did a post about remodeling the kitchen? Well, it's been a bit of a slow process, to say the least. It's not that we haven't wanted to get it done, it's just that there was precious little time with work and school and such.

Well, my dear, sweet, wonderful, and oh-so-talented hubby has now redone the lighting in my kitchen! To really understand how very excited I am about this, you need to realize that my kitchen was little more than a dark cave. Seriously! It had two sets of track lighting, one of which only had two lights on it. This for a room that is approximately 26' x 13'. I could barely see what I was cutting on the counter-top (which wasn't always a bad thing).

Anyway, now, I have a wonderfully lit kitchen space! Every little nook and cranny is bright! I am beyond happy!!!

Next up, redoing the ceiling, counter-top, backsplash and walls.....

So Worth It

In 2012, we made the decision to undertake a large addition to our house. Not only were there financial decisions to be made, there was the huge inconvenience of living in a home under construction.

It was a looooong three months, that I do not wish to go back to, but we did it with a vision in mind. Not only a vision to have a living room in which our whole family could comfortably sit, but a living room and home in which we could bless people. A place where people could gather and we could show them the love of Christ.

Tonight, we hosted a movie night for our youth group. As I looked around the room I once again remembered why we added on. It was worth every penny and every inconvenience!

I love having my home as a gathering place! I love it!!

Now You're Talking

Chris uttered those wonderful words to me the other night....

"Let's talk about remodeling the kitchen."

YES! ***Barb does the happy dance through the house***

It didn't take me long to do this....

You should all be proud of me that I didn't start tearing off wallpaper until after I got the go-ahead! It hasn't always been so. I have been known to start tearing off wall paper while Chris is at work to, shall we say,....push....the redecorating issue. If he wasn't planning on redecorating before, a little missing wall paper will make it necessary to do now!

This time, I waited....except for that little piece I tore off by the sink a few years ago.....

I hate wall paper, by the way. I take great pleasure in ripping it from my walls with great vim and vigor! The wall paper didn't have to come off quite yet, but it was something I could begin with...to make it feel like the project is indeed underway.

Stay tuned for posts on new lighting (and lots of it), new paint, and new countertops/sink.

Well, That Was Frightening

Being that it's Halloween and all, I thought I would undertake a truly frightening chore.

I decided to clean out my refrigerator. As you will recall from my previous post, my refrigerator is a bit....full, shall we say?

Let me remind you what it looked like...

I will say that I got rid of some truly frightening items, the worst of which was something with a "use by" date of 2005! That means it's been in our fridge almost as long as we've lived in this house! Ewwww!

I also cleaned up some nameless, red, sticky stuff all over the back of the shelves, consolidated four bottles of taco sauce, four jars of maraschino cherries, two jars of kalamata olives, two jars of capers and threw away the fuzziest cucumber I've ever seen.

Behold the new, clean refrigerator...

While the hour I spent emptying and cleaning the fridge may not have given it a noticeable appearance difference, it is now safe to eat anything in there!

Getting Decked!

No, I haven't been in a brawl (I haven't even been to Guthrie yet...oh, wait, forget I said that...)

We are FINALLY beginning to build our deck. It was the first thing to go when we added on to the house last year, and it is the last thing to be replaced. That's okay though because it is finally getting done...or at least started.

As with most building projects, this one begins with digging holes.

My dear husband had no idea that he would spend an ENTIRE Saturday digging three holes, but that's the way it worked out. We have the dubious distinction of living in a VERY rocky area. Rocks and digging holes are not compatible companions :-(

All of his hard work has paid of though, and we now have three very beautiful holes dug in our yard, just waiting for cement to be poured in (after the required inspection, of course).

A Definite Improvement

When you last saw our front yard on this blog it looked something like this. Before we left for vacation we put seed down, and Evan faithfully took care of it while we were away. Now, for the first time in almost 10 months, we have a green front yard....and not just green, actual grass!

Yippee!!

Now we're working on the backyard. By September we should have our yard back!

Next on the agenda? A deck.

It's Not So Different

Some people periodically rearrange the furniture in their living room, I periodically rearrange the flowers in my perennial garden. A lot. I find it very therapeutic.

We've lived here about nine years, and every year I rearrange the flowers out there. I still haven't come up with the perfect arrangement...but I'm getting closer. This year, I added a little walkway and patio, which will one day have a little chair and table on it. I also want to add an arbor at the entrance of the garden with some clematis climbing the sides of it.

I'm creating my own little peaceful, secret garden!

(ignore those pesky weeds. I'll take care of those on another day)

Progress!

Although it may not seem like a step in the right direction, it is certainly an improvement over the weeds and hard, packed dirt that has been our front yard thus far this year.

The winter-like spring and the tropical rainforest-like weather that we've had this summer have made it nearly impossible to do any yard repair. The past 48 hours devoid of torrential rain afforded us a window to get the black dirt spread on the yard. Next up, a little grass seed, and then (hopefully) a gentle rain twice daily. Soon we'll have a lush lawn to play and lay on!

Phase Two

I warned you last year while we were doing our little addition to the house that there would be some "carry over" projects this year. Namely, we have massive amounts of re-landscaping to do. The unusually wet, cold spring has delayed the fixing of our yard until now. At long last, the "getting my yard back" has finally begun! I'm so happy. Actually, I don't think I've ever been happier to see a Bobcat and lots of rock in my life!

Although it's far from finished, I am happy to report that we are no longer getting standing water right next to the house when it rains. This makes me quite happy. I am also pleased to report that we can begin working on our deck now.

Oh, happy day!!

I Was Blind

But now I see? Hmm, no, that's not quite right.

Turn a blind eye? No, that's not it either.

Hmmmm, Oh yeah!! The girls finally got blinds for their windows, after using sheets for the last four months! Yay! That's it!

We're slow, but eventually the job gets done!

That Pesky Corner Cupboard

Trying to organize my cupboards can be an effort in futility. Certain cupboards are home to so many and varied items that there is little hope of making them fit neatly together. nonetheless, I decided to give it a go, on one such cupboard.

The tea cupboard! Yikes! It's a scary place that cupboard is! Here's what it looked like before the cleaning....

And after...

Hmm, not a lot of change! At least I threw out some old items and organized some of the other stuff, but really not as satisfying as some cleaning projects I've tackled. I think I better go find something else to clean that will actually LOOK cleaned when I finish!

Room Reclamation

I told you yesterday that the boys' old room was going to be reclaimed as family space. Today, I started the process...

Don't expect to see the finished product anytime soon! All the stuff sitting around in the middle of this room needs to find a home. Yikes! Time for some major throwing/giving away of stuff!!

Adore A Door

The addition continues to yield dividends in our home. Most recently, the boys have acquired the much sought after, room with a door! You see, for the past five years Aidan and Marcus (and Evan for four of those years) have lived in a sectioned off area of the basement which had no door and no privacy. They made do, and they made do usually without complaining.

Now that the girls moved into their new bedroom (also with a door), their old bedroom was ready to be occupied by the boys. Whoa! Hold on there, not so fast! First we had to deal with a little mold problem, re-panel, repaint and re-carpet. THEN, it was ready to be occupied!

All that work was completed last week, so the boys got to move into their new bedroom this past weekend. The room, about which Marcus just declared, "I adore the door!"

A happy Marcus in his new room

Some fine Hobbit decorating

And, of course, the door...closed!

Now that the boys are situated, I can begin reclaiming the living area that they formerly occupied! The addition truly is the gift that keeps on giving!

Musical Rooms

Now that the addition is done, it's time to get everyone moved into their new room. This, unfortunately, is easier said than done.

Here's the plan (and how it's working out, so far) - Nina, Molly and Emily move into the new bedroom,

Aidan and Marcus move into Nina and Molly's old room,

and Raelea and Zoe get to stay put, but without Emily.

Now, as you can see, the only room that is remotely put together is Zoe and Raelea's. It still needs a new paint job, but at least they are living in it, and it is neat and tidy.

The boys cannot get into their new room until the big girls clean it out - no small task, I might add - and it needs to be painted (unless the boys want to live with dark green, vine covered walls). Oh, and lets not forget the mold on the panelling in the corner (oh joy!).

While the big girls are all sleeping in their new room, it awaits window coverings, and finding a home for all of their....belongings.

One More Reason

This morning I discovered one more reason why I LOVE our new addition...

I can see the beautiful sunrise from our living room now. Additional windows in our living room allow us views in almost every direction.

I love my living room!

I Missed This

My dear, sweet dulcimer has been in hiding during the duration of our home project. There was no table to set it on to play it, and there were no chairs for me to sit on either. Now that the house is back in order, the dulcimer has come out of hiding. This makes me very, VERY happy!

As you can see, it is aptly named now...

don't worry, it's no worse for the wear. It was stored under our bed and came out looking like this, which means all the carpet under our bed is also coated in a layer of dust :-(

Look What $10 Buys

Actually, the piano bench was $10; the desk was free! Here's the deal - after our wee little addition cash is a little tight, so I decided to start praying for certain pieces of furniture that we needed. Lo and behold, God provided us with a free desk to replace our old one that was going to fall down if a big gust of wind blew on it.

Then, I started praying for a piano bench, as our old one bit the dust prior to the addition, and we have been making due with a folding chair since then. Yesterday, I found this piano bench on Craigslist, and it was only $10! As an added bonus, the legs match the legs of our piano. It's those little things that make me smile!

Anyway, next up on the "praying for furniture" list is two chairs for our dining room table. We have only had eight chairs for the ten of us, so two people have been sitting on folding chairs for the last four years. (Yes, I know, we could have gone out and bought chairs, but we never really got around to it) I'll keep you posted, and let you know when we find them!

We Have Furniture!!

For the first time in three months we have couches and chairs on which to sit. We have a dining room table, which we all can sit around. No one will have to stand up for dinner tomorrow night!

Oh, happy day!!

There's nothing on the walls yet, and most of the bookshelves are still bare, but at least we can sit down on comfy, cushioned things! Ahhhhhhh!

Carpet Day

I hereby decree that the 28th day of November be declared Carpet Day, to be celebrated every year henceforth in celebration of our carpet finally being laid. Carpet Day should be annually celebrated by throwing yourself with whole-hearted enthusiasm onto any carpeted floor and proclaiming, "Praise God for his kindness to the human race in allowing carpet to be made and installed!"

If you do not have a carpeted floor on which to celebrate Carpet Day, feel free to come to our house and throw yourself on one of the many floors being carpeted on this very first Carpet Day!

Happy Carpet Day, everyone!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

I LOVE this time of year! I love the music, I love spending extra time with my extended family, and I love cookie baking, which is what we did today at Mom & Dad's while Chris stayed at home and refinished the wood floors.

So, while Chris was doing this...