Green grass...



So people have been asking me when I think we'll be in our house. Me being optimistic has said, "Oh superbowl weekend." Well after spending countless hours Saturday helping Dustin put up cabinents in the kitchen and looking around at all the work that needs to be done...I'm saying maybe when we see green grass and when Brooklyn asked today when the house would be done we reassured her by the time the pool was open we should have a house to live in.  If only I could see the look on my in-laws face as they read this right now! They may stay South longer than they planned!!

Dustin has almost everyday filled this coming week with jobs, next weekend we are going to Pierre for Brooklyn's birthday, and the following weekend I am on call and then it's superbowl weekend before we know it! Hmm..don't they say "time flies when you're having fun?" Who the hell came up with that saying anyways?!!

We did get quite a bit accomplished this weekend and I'd have to say for a couple of rookies putting in cabinents we didn't do too bad.  No instructions and/or experience hanging a full kitchen worth of cupboards...you be the judge.  Keep in mind there is no backsplash, no undercabinet lights, no appliances, no crown molding, no toekick, no hardware,and no touch up on the paint yet.  We put some of the appliances in and it's starting to look more like a kitchen all the time. We did have to call on a friend to help get the 400 lb. fridge in the house. I was not nearly strong enough to get that puppy up the front steps! Otherwise what you see is what the two of us did!! Don't worry we do have a dishwasher, but we didn't get it put in yet.
Don't expect an update for quite sometime now, unless it's a plea for help or a counselor for the 2 of us!! 



Like father like son!




A new light to put a little light on the subject!























 





Progress...not much

What progress have we made in the last week or more....not much!!  Dustin fortunately has been busier with his business, so unfortunately that means our house has been put on hold for a while.  We got the floor grouted last weekend and it is sealed where the future cabinets will go! We still need to finish dehazing the floor and clean up the grout lines and finish grouting the entry and 1/2 bath but the floor tiling is completed as far as cutting and laying. Thank goodness my worker was getting mighty cranky about tiling!  Little does he know I have big plans for the bathroom tub surround! 

I will give you a little sneak peek of what lies ahead for the future kitchen (sorry for the suboptimal pictures, I keep forgetting my camera at the other house)....now you have to stay tuned to see the finished product. We started putting in the cabinets tonight, so maybe in a couple days you can see some progress!!



Counter tops!



Not fully finished, but you get the idea!



Backsplash and cabinet!







Floor after grouting, before dehazing!

All is well....

I am sure some of you are wondering what we've been up to?! This first pictures explain a lot of what our energy has gone towards for the last week or more! Thanks to my parents, my brother, Ed, Dustin's parents and his brother we have officially moved out of the rental and now instead of 3 houses with our belongings we have just 2! I wish our Mayflower movers could have been here to assist us this time too!
We enjoyed Christmas at mom and dad's and Rich's retirement party too, some people enjoyed it more than others and didn't feel so well the next morning, but I won't name any names or else he may get upset!  I guess he deserved a night out after all his hard work on the house!
We are back at it again and in full force.  My mom was here until Monday helping to organize and get our chaotic life a little more on track!  Thanks mom!!  Dustin's parents hit the high road on Sunday for warmer weather and are secretly hoping our house is complete and they can have their own home back free of clutter, laundry, and hungry mouths! 

Dustin has almost completed the tiling job in the kitchen. It's a lot of work for one person, but he's been a trooper blisters and all!   Brooklyn and I on the other hand have been painting to our hearts content in the bathroom. I will give you a glimpse of it, but it's far from complete.  I have not had the best reviews on the color choice, but good news is they don't have to live there and there is a 1970s bathroom in the basement if they need more a netural tone to do their business in! The new bathroom is a beautiful red accent wall with a tan color to tone it down. Dustin says it looks like ketchup sprayed on the walls and wanted to know if I was going to do one wall mustard yellow and the other relish green! Not a bad idea, but I can't seem to find a shower curtain with hotdogs on it, so I'll stick to my original design!

As far as the kitchen you can see in the first picture we've put sheet rock up and the ceiling is patched in.  Now just to paint the ceilings, walls, finish the tile floor (grouting & sealing) and the kitchen will be ready to install! Woot woot!!  I can't wait!  The cabinents are patiently waiting in the garage, me on the other hand am getting slightly impatient, but I haven't revealed my emotions in fear of irritating the help! He's pretty cheap, just make sure you feed him and have Dt. Mt Dew on hand and he's content to work minus the few complaints of stiff back, blistered hands, and sore shoulders! I love you honey! 

The above pictures are just of the hallway down to Brooklyn's room and of the new carpet and Dustin's tiling! I think he would rather I wouldn't have asked for a design in the tile and just did the 12X12 or 18X18 tiles as we originally envisioned!  He'd probably be done and moved on to the next task! Oh well..for better for worse he's committed to me and knows if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy! It's going to look so nice when it's completed.  

You are probably wondering if we've seen the marriage counselor yet...happy to say we haven't called on him/her yet. No major "discussions" as of now, but this project isn't over yet. Stay tuned for the rest of the story!

Chaos...chaos...chaos

Have you ever had the feeling you are standing still and you feel as if the world is flying by? That is how we have felt since December 7th.  We aren't sure where the time has gone, considering Christmas is only a few days away. In the next 10 days we have to pack up a four bedroom home, move it across town, clean the rental, continue with the renovations, work, oh yeah and enjoy this time with our family celebrating the birth of Jesus! It is going to be a crazy one!

Although I haven't been the best at taking pictures I will give you a little snap shot of what we have been doing at the house...please note when I say we it really means Dustin, his dad, and our moms!  We pulled all the woodwork off, pulled up the carpet and all those little staples every 1 foot, painted 3 bedrooms(ceilings, walls,closets), put new woodwork up, new doors are on, gutted the kitchen, added a 1/2 wall in the bathroom, replaced the tub, tiled the bathroom floor, entry way, and part of the kitchen, put up new lights in the hallway and bedroom, had the walls/ceilings taped and textured where the cupboards were removed in the kitchen. And today the carpet in the hallway and bedrooms go in. Wade (my brother), Dustin's friend Ed, and some other friends are coming to help with the moving this weekend.  Pheww...if only that was it.  There are so many other details Dustin has done, but I won't bore you with them all. Just know I don't know how I got so lucky to have a husband who is soo handy!

 Here is the kitchen which has now been sheetrocked, taped, textured and mudded already.

 Above is the lovely yellow bathtub we removed and below is the hole we now have which has actually been filled with a new tub and pipes.

 Below and above is a little sneak peek at the new doors we are putting up. All stained and finished by Dustin and his little helper elves...Jackie and I! Oh yeah Joel was our "clean boy" so he handed us rags and wiped the sweat from our brows!

And so it begins...

And so it begins! We are now in debt again...we signed the papers yesterday afternoon and the fun began shortly there after. The demolition started yesterday for a few hours and all day today.  We made quite a bit of progress, yet we have so far to go!  It is overwhelming as anyone know who is doing a remodel job. Where to begin and what to do?! Below is a few photos of the work being done. Thanks to Dustin's friend Ed, my mom, and in-laws for all their help today. Stay tuned for the next update! Tomorrow we begin to paint.  

                       The b-e-a-utiful backsplash that matched the countertops perfectly!

                        This is a picture of the kitchen before (with the other people's stuff).

           This is a picture of the after math of today's demolition. 

This is a picture of some of the carpet we pulled today. It is looking

for a good home, so let me know if you are interested. 

I really would make you a great deal!

Stay tuned for the next chapter...

It's been a while since I've last posted on here, but my goal is to start blogging again. Hudson is now 2 and a pile of fun, Brooklyn(almost 6) is in school and loving it. We are living in Redfield, SD and enjoying being closer to family. So they say the day you start a remodel project you better get a marriage counselor, well Friday (Dec 7th) we sign for a new house (well a new house to us) and let the remodel begin. I don't have our counselor picked out yet, so if you are familiar with a good one we'd love to know their name and number!!

As many of you know we came from Rochester, the land of new homes and infinite choices of homes. Redfield....not so much. We purchased a home built in the 1970s and it has not had 1 update, besides the occasional paint on the wall. Although I do have to admit it does have a backsplash, the fabulous gold countertop rolls right up on the walls, it's beautiful (sense the sarcasm)! And if anyone is looking for some retro 70s green carpet for that certain someone on your Christmas list, I'm your go-to-person. Stay tuned for pictures and let the bidding begin, just in time for the holidays!

All kidding aside we are excited to put our touch on this home. It has a nice big backyard, attached garage (hard to find in Redfield), and it's a good structure. It just needs some updating. Follow along on our journey as we update and modernize it. Dustin will be doing the majority of the work on his own, there will be little we have to hire out. Granted we will call on our family from time to time to help out, but they are inexpensive help and provide good quality work! Can't beat that!!

Brooklyn new room!

Well Brooklyn's room is now completed, so I thought I'd put some pictures up. Dustin was busy making the dresser/bookshelf and the vanity. My mom was out and helped hang some stuff on the walls. Brooklyn loves her new room and I love that the transition went well. Having her in the basement now is so different. She is getting to be such a big girl!!