Weekends

Two weekends ago Bryan replaced the part of the playroom/breakfast nook floor that had been Winston damaged. I think it's safe to say it was much easier than he had anticipated and was able to get substantial work on the master closet (which was finished this past weekend... except for repainting of the window sill, and the back of the door needs to be scrubbed down) finished as well.There were water marks from the roof debacle that needed to be taken care of on the closet ceiling. Bryan just went ahead and decided to repaint the entire thing. It's so fresh in there now! Baseboards needed some work too, so it was tedious and time consuming to say the least.While Bryan worked on the chemically smelling projects, I cleaned out and reorganized all of the closets. I ended up packing away tons of linens and extra towels.

Upstairs hall/linenDownstairs/coat closet. Come Spring/showing season, we'll be able to pack away all the Winter season items.Since Bryan finished the playroom floor, I was able to have my dining room back. I ended up repainting the table/chairs and was able to put a clear protective coat on, but it definitely needs a couple more before it's called finished. I picked up a couple of little decorative things, so it can be crossed off the list any day now.The big project this weekend was the master bathroom redo. It needed a ceiling repaint as well, so Bryan was able to get that and the walls repainted. The walls are now a blue color, and I LOVE them.New color on left, old color on right... this was taken at night, so the colors are way off.
This is a much better picture taken today during day light.The plan this weekend is to finish up the master bath, clear out all that got replaced in our room during these projects (in order to call the master suite finished... minus replacing all screens), and working on the baby's room. That room took the brunt of the water issues from the roof, so it'll take some time no doubt.

Slow and steady wins the race... or at least it better. :)

Holy shenanigans...

We've been MIA for 3 months. Holy shenanigans. We have, however, been keeping busy. In addition to home improvements, we've spent the last three months traveling for the holidays... which included trips to Disney World and New Orleans, AND I'm currently incubating a bambino, so needless to say we've been busy. :)

We have definitely been able to work on some projects around here, both large and small. We'll start with some of the small ones. We FINALLY replaced the broken bar on the outside lamp, and I painted the lower portion. The top still needs a good coat of spray paint, and we need to find the pieces that go inside in order to have it operating. You'll also see a change in the seasons! ;)Ugh, I seriously wish I had a before picture of this door. This is the door that leads from the inside of the house to the garage. It was BEAT TO HELL... and that's putting it nicely. There were scuffs and marks ALL OVER this thing. I talked Bryan into picking up some of that Glidden door paint that you see on the fancy commercials. IT'S AMAZING STUFF. I did one coat of white over EXTREMELY black marks, and it looks AMAZING! Well worth the $22/quart!Our biggest project so far has been re-tiling and painting the spare bathroom. I realize the befores are pretty dark... but the paint is grey, and this was taken after we had already began taking things apart.(Note how non-pregnant and skinny I am!)Nice and fresh! Left to be done is replacing the screen, kick board under the sink, and the toilet seat... oh and new caulk is needed around the sink area.(Note how pregnant and non-skinny I am! My belly button looks like it is going to poke someone's eye out... ha!)A closeup of B's beautiful floor.A current thorn in my side. It's organized, but it's not cute. I'm seriously considering getting some large baskets to house towels here and putting all the bath toys under the two sinks (which need organizing anyway).Our big project this past weekend was working on our master bedroom. This blank area is where the previous owners had a mirror attached to the wall. We could not for the life of us get it down, so we simply painted around it. Fast forward to a couple of years ago (we've been here 7 years come May), and the damn thing just came off, so this is what we've been looking at... sad I know. Add in a random dresser from the girls' room, a chair, a chest, a set of plastic drawers for linens, and a portable heater for the baby's room, and you have the master bedroom/catch all. I guess life just caught up to us, and we simply didn't make time to fix the things that were wrong. Now we're doing it all at once... oy.This is the only before shot I have of our room... and it's a good one for sure... all the mess and shenanigans are hidden. ;) We kept the same color... just a fresh coat was put on, took down all of our personal family photos, and took out everything that didn't belong. We still have the same duvet cover, I just haven't put the down comforter back inside it yet.There's that chest hidden on the left hand side. It'll be taken out this coming weekend when Bryan can put it in the garage to be put in storage. I can't wait to move, recover the cushion, and put it under a sweet little mirrored hook thing I have... it'll be so cute near the entrance to a front/back door/mudroom!The door to the right is the closet (which is also a project for this coming weekend), and to the right is the master bathroom (which needs more help than I even care to acknowledge right now).Speaking of taking down all personal photos... I really miss them. :( We still have personal photos out, just not with people in them. I'm starting to feel like I'm in someone else's home... which I guess is the goal.Fresh paint and lacking personal photos.This coming weekend's big project is repairing the flooring in the playroom/breakfast nook. This is the most recent before photo I could find, but it doesn't even look like that anymore... most of the toys have been taken upstairs into the girls' closet/garage.Damaged floor from our dog who used this as his potty while we were at work... ahhhh work... work outside the home... ahhhh... that seems FOREVER AND A HALF ago!And now this is the current state of my dining room... In order to get one room done, you have to totally destroy another. Our bedroom is looking great, but now it's all shoved into our upstairs hallway. Our living room is looking great, but now it's all shoved into our garage... it's a vicious cycle I tell you! :) Hopefully we'll have some more updates to share after this week/weekend... it's getting closer to listing time!

Check and check!

I think I can... I think I can... we are currently chugging along in the wonderful world of home improvement. Some recent projects we've finished are:

Stripping and repainting trim around the garage doors.
Bryan finished the roof... completely... it's beautiful.
AND after nearly 3 years, Bryan finished the lip overhang on the hard woods upstairs. The carpet on the stairs still needs to be replaced, so please disregard the filthy mcnast. :)
B is currently working on the new tile in the spare bathroom, and it's BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait to share photos. The goal is to have it completely finished before our company comes into town tomorrow afternoon... hmmmm... should be intriguing. :)

I've also been working on a mailbox and lamppost face lift, and we're on the hunt for a box of our flooring from the kitchen/dining room/play room. Winston MAY have peed on the floor and damaged a portion of it. Sadly the floor has been discontinued, resulting in us having EXTREME difficulty finding it. Oy. This will be worth it... this will be worth it. :) The girls' rooms are also getting makeovers... can you say bunk beds? ;)

Hiding from the goat man...

We are now the proud owners of 20 trees. :) While I was in Tidewater, Bryan took a field trip to Lowe's to buy up some of their outdoor trees to plant on the property. We will now be able to add a nice little barricade between our sweet little piece of land and the creepy hoarder goat man that you can see through the trees that are already there. Once we're in the new house, we'll add a privacy fence in addition to the trees, but this is a good start. :)

Curb appeal

Bryan worked in the front yard while I was in Tidewater visiting family. You may remember what the front of the house looked like before:And then one day I got a little over excited with the clippers on our dying bush, and Bryan had to finish it off upon arriving home from work:
We separated and transplanted plants from the left side into the right side, but it still looked super rough. Bryan finished hacking at the roots and bought/planted a small tree to match the one on the right side. There is a HUGE size discrepancy, but hopefully some trimming back and time will allow them to equal out some. I pulled up this afternoon and was really pleased with B's hard work! Now to get the trim/pillars repainted and the driveway resealed. Small bites.

A roof over our heads...

We've been super busy traveling this summer... and by busy I mean we've been home for like 2 days. That's a slight exaggeration... but just slight. Truth is... we've been home for one week straight all summer, and that week we worked on the house. While I worked in the garage, Bryan replaced the roof. This is a picture of his dad holding on to a rope attached to his pants... their brilliant idea on how to keep Bryan from falling to his death. Bryan has his master's degree... wouldn't know it would you? ;)
Truth is, the roof looks BEAUTIFUL! I'm super proud of his outdoor handiwork. I, however, am not proud of the water stained ceilings we now have to repaint due to his handiwork. :) We got like 2 inches of water in a matter of moments the afternoon he removed a good chunk of the shingles. We were prepared for a bit of rain but not a monsoon. You live and learn I suppose. We still saved THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS, but Bryan definitely said he wouldn't do it again. :)

And it starts...

Things are coming along... slowly... but they're coming along. Since the weather has begun to cooperate, we've been able to get some renovations started on the outside. We started a few weeks ago out front with a complete change.
That bush had been dying a very slow death and simply had to go. We're slowly working on transplanting other plants into the front beds and can't wait to see the finished product.Into the back yard. A piece of our flowerbed was rotting, so Bryan had to replace it. It looks pretty laughable at the moment, but we're waiting to see how much it will weather in the next year or so. We figure it if still looks ridiculous, we can always power wash each piece, and it'll blend better. The first picture also KIND OF gives you an idea with the heinous amount of weeds we were dealing with. I really wish I could find my before picture of this side bed because it was HORRENDOUS. Like OMG I'm embarrassed to show you HORRENDOUS. Now... it's gorgeous, and we really hope to be able to stay on top of it to cut down on the work next spring.

Power washing works miracles!

The deck has had quite the makeover. We power washed it and couldn't believe the difference! We got the new stain/sealer on the main part of the deck, and Bryan is currently working on the railing. It's BEAUTIFUL!After power washing the back patio and the pillars, things were looking pretty rough. Luckily they all cleaned up nicely and look great with a new coat of paint. It's amazing what some paint can do! Back patio. The concrete needed to be repainted. We've since purchase two large outdoor storage bins for the girls' plethora of outside toys. It looks TONS better.

We've definitely been busy, but there is still SO MUCH to do. It feels great though seeing our hard work pay off!