Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

“We’re getting there”

Probably the number one thing we said throughout the house process and we still have a few things left to finish up, but “we’re getting there”.

When Rob and Teresa were here, they made the comment that from my previous pictures, it was hard to tell how the house is laid out. So, I have taken a few shots of the more finished spaces to try to show it.

From the front entryway, you can either go up a 1/2 flight of stairs or down a 1/2 flight of stairs (think open split-level). I don’t have a picture because the entryway is still unfinished and doesn’t look so nice :)

The main level has the kitchen, living area, dining area, homeschool area, office and half-bath. It is an open floor plan with walls around the bathroom and one wall to hold the kitchen cabinets and pantry.

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At the top of the stairs, looking towards the right is the living area.

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Looking to the left is the kitchen and office further to the left (conveniently hidden because it is always a work in progress). The chalk drawing is a fun thing for Savannah and Daddy. She draws pictures (of horses, of course) and he likes to add to them. She loves finding his handiwork and sometimes even leaves them in.

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A couple of more shots to try to get the perspective. In the one on the right above, you can see the stairway.

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Along the back wall of the house – the deck would be out the sliding doors on the right-hand side. I am standing next to the armoire (pictured in the topmost picture of this post). This is our dining room table. The last picture in this group is our homeschool area. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this piece we found at IKEA. There is a column of drawers for each kiddo and one for me. LOVE it! It is actually in IKEA’s kitchen furniture section, but John is excellent at thinking outside of the box and it is perfect. Did I mention that I love it?

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Main level half bath. The color is the same as the kitchen area and pillars. It doesn’t photograph well, and it was also my least favorite color to paint. I had to do 3 coats to get it to look decent.

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From the kitchen – it shows the corner of the kitchen island and is looking at the stairway. The front door (still not painted) is visible, but 1/2 steps down. I am standing next to the refrigerator. So from here, also 1/2 flight up or 1/2 flight down.

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So, now up to the landing, looking down over the main level and you can see a little bit of the second level. Look closely, you can even spy Hadden playing in the living room. Oh yes, and Lilly, the spoiled one sprawled on the floor. You can also get a perspective of the back deck and dining area beyond the kitchen.

Upstairs is the bedroom level. At the top of the stairs to the left is Savannah’s room and shared bathroom. On the right is Hadden’s room and straight back a small hallway is the master bedroom and master bath.

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This is Savannah’s room – we found the bunk bed set on craig’s list. Now my challenge is to try to pull the turquoise and the purple together. Note to self: furniture first, then paint. She loves it, so that is really all that matters. It is a really cute piece – has drawers and shelves on the one end and a little desk on the other end.

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This little horse just makes me smile. Savannah got him at the arts and craft fair that we went to recently.  You’ve seen their bathroom, but here it is again.

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This is Hadden’s room. We also found his furniture on craig’s list. (Hadden is still wondering who Craig is :) His bag is already packed for our trip. You can see a bit of his deck, also. Each of them have a little deck off of their bedrooms. I also have a challenge in this room to pull the green and blue together. Again, furniture first, then paint. I am hoping to go shopping for curtain fabric while in PA – hopefully I can find something that will work.

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Fondly known as the cockpit, aka very top landing in the tower. The far left picture shows the topmost stairs up to the roof. The middle picture is the captain’s chair :) The right picture is actually a reflection in the mirror at the bottom of the stairs, so it is in reverse, but I thought it showed all the pieces pretty well. Confused yet? :)

The master bedroom area is not finished, so no pictures yet. We did get a king-sized mattress finally, and wonder what took us so long. We are hoping to have the inmates build the bedroom suite, but am not sure of the timing.

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Finally, VERY EXCITING to me, we moved the washer and dryer to the master bath! Whoo hoo! I used to think that having the laundry room in the basement was a good idea … that was before all of the loads and trips up and down the stairs. Although it was great exercise, it also made a necessary chore extra hard and undesirable. The final picture is of our temporary little dresser. I don’t know why, but I just love this little piece. If I remember the story right, previous owners of the house that I grew up in left it behind. When I went to college, I “stole” it from the storage building and have had it ever since.

Hopefully, these pictures have helped to figure out where stuff is in the house. If not, you’ll just have to come and visit and see for yourself :)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

All hands on deck …

Update: I can't believe I forgot to tell you (except that I had a child hovering waiting for me to finish the post so they could use the pc :) ... about the railings. It was a very big blessing and I want to give credit where it is due. While at HD last week trying to order the balusters for the deck, I was waiting at the pro desk while another customer was being waited on. Another HD person walked up and asked if she could help me and I explained that I was waiting to order balusters as I showed her the one in my hand. To make a long story short, she told me they had some on clearance that had been returned and proceeded to show them to me. After talking with John on the phone and agreeing to purchase them, I told her that I didn't need as many as she had. In order to get rid of them, she reduced the price even more and I was able to get the whole bunch for less than half of the original cost!! Thank you, Lord, for this serendipity!

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Jeff was back down this past week to help us on our big deck – he was a huge help! Here are some pictures from the week.

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Jeff and John securing the floor joists. It was COLD!!

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Working on finishing up the deck boards.

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The kids helped with putting the “doo-hickeys” together – these were for the rail balusters top and bottom.

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Jeff finishing up the deck boards and John starting on the railings.

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The sun is starting to come back around – whoo hoo!

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Ta-da! It’s completed. They ran the deck boards on a diagonal for strength and also to minimize the number of seams. It turned out great!

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Here is a shot of the deck and the house together. At night, it looks like a nice outdoor eating space. We are looking forward to a little warmer weather to be able to enjoy it.

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Next up: final stair treads. Here are the bottom sides while they are drying.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A couple of house pictures …

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Kids bathroom – finished. Mirror was installed last week, other minor details completed. Whoo hoo!

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Painting – finished!!!!! Well, at least walls and ceilings. Still need to work on window surrounds, trim, touch-ups. This is a close-up of the entryway tower – I LOVE this paint!! It is Sherwin Williams Soft Suede – if you can tell from the picture, the end result has a suede appearance. It’s super easy to do and I love how it turned out. In retrospect, I am really glad we chose this particular paint because it is pretty “forgiving” – I could do sections at a time and it still looks just fine. That was a necessity when doing some parts from scaffolding.

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Stairs are still a work in progress – John has contacted a local specialty contractor to work on the stairs and railings, so they are moving forward. I am looking forward to seeing them finished. This shot is to show you the light playing on the walls through the stairs. The soft suede paint adds an extra dimension that you can’t really see in the photo. Did I say how much I love it :) I am absolutely thrilled to be done painting, too. I still like to paint, but a break will be very nice!

John’s brother is on his way down from PA again to help with decks and other tasks. Looking forward to catching up with him.

I was just thinking earlier about what on earth I will blog about after the house is finished :)

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Floors and kitchen

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Bamboo floor is 2/3 installed on the main floor. They did enough to support getting the kitchen cabinets in today. We love how it looks, but the flooring is a little softer than we expected. This just means that we will have to be more careful and try not to scratch or damage it.

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Shot of the island and upper cabinets. The far left is for the refrigerator, the next opening is for the oven and the little one on the far right is the microwave. Needless to say, we are VERY excited.

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From the other angle – this wall portion will also have a countertop area to allow passing dishes from dining table to sink or as a serving area.

Now, we need to finalize the countertops and get them ordered. The appliances are still about 2 weeks away.

Monday, November 30, 2009

We're In!!!

Just a quick note to tell you that we are officially IN the house! No, it is not finished - only the basement at this point. This will be our first night sleeping in the house - yippee!!

I am busily painting the next floor so that we can get flooring in and then the kitchen! So, for a little bit, we will still need to use the camper for kitchen-type activities.

Hopefully, I'll get some pictures posted soon. Thanks for checking in.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Well, not exactly tomorrow, but close …

So, we are learning that “tomorrow” is apparently relative. As in - “we will definitely be done with that tomorrow”. This is a few days past what I thought tomorrow was, but it’s all good.

We now have lights, heating and air, and outlets!!!!! Very exciting!!! Now, I will be painting at night after the kiddos go to bed instead of playing on the computer :)

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Heating and air units.

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Front entry lights installed. Note: the door is not stained yet – it is not necessary for moving in … therefore has received a pretty low priority.

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Lights up the front tower.

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Interior lights … ok, I guess you get the idea.

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My current favorite tool. I finally had a chance to use it yesterday to prime the walls for the kitchen. I like it. The complaints online talk about what a pain it is to clean, and I kind of agree, but feel like it is worth it. I am planning on trying to be organized as I paint and do large jobs all at one time, and then just clean up once for them. If I can find the right block of time, I think that will work.

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I went and picked up my Casting Crowns CD – I had preordered it (which with coupons made it free – of course, you have to buy something more to get the discount, but that is not a problem for me and Christian bookstores :).

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I am THRILLED to report that Hadden is feeling substantially better today. Praise the Lord! I haven’t had to give him any Tylenol or Advil all day and he has been great. Certainly not 100%, but he is WAY better than the past week and a half. Thank you for your prayers – I appreciate them so much.

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Psalm 28: 6-7 Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

House update

It has been a long while since I gave you a house update - sorry about that. We have been working - little by little getting tasks done. The tasks have been tough to photograph, so here are just some of the latest pictures.


View from the back - we are using the patio even with all of the construction. If you look really closely, you'll see the kiddos in the pool :)


John has been working on framing and drying in these sections - the black plyform and red metal will be covered with stone and the deck eventually. Please take special note of the caulking job - that has been my main task for the past two weeks. It's harder than it looks and takes forever! I am thrilled to say that for the moment I am finished caulking. There will be a few more places down the road, but for now I am putting the caulk gun to rest.

In other areas - the stairs are still in progress. We are hoping to have the first set ready this week. The inmates are building them for us - that thrills me.

But I thought you might be interested to see what we are currently using for steps ...


The first set is not so bad - even Lilly has mastered how to get up and down. I think she is a smart dog - although others might not agree. A few times I have been on a ladder outside of a window, she has gone in the house, up the stairs and greeted me at the window. Now, isn't that smart? I think so :)


Up to the next two landings - they are pretty sturdy (except for one), but they are getting higher and higher. I am still thankful for them, though, because before these steps were in ...


we had to scale across the 2x6 wall to get to the landing. We only did that once or twice trying to keep rain out of the window openings (before the windows were in).


Here, John is demonstrating for you. He is carrying pocket door frames for the closets upstairs.


Ta-da. Pocket door frame installed. John did 4 of the 5 yesterday all by himself .... while I finished caulking.


I was able to trade my caulk gun for these! Oh, how I love to paint! For now, the only project is exterior doors - 7 of them. I did one coat on one yesterday.

So, things are progressing. We have an electrician and crew coming soon, a quote from an HVAC guy, got the name of a plumber and a quote for stone for the concrete section outside. We have been shopping (pricing mostly) for some interior stuff - showers, sinks, lights, kitchen cabinets, flooring, etc.

Every step is a little bit closer.

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On other news, Annie has her own sidebar photo, by repeated request (hi-d!).

Friday, she apparently got on the wrong end of some critter because she came back with her eye swollen almost shut. After Benadryl and a few hours, she was fine.


The good news is Lilly has limited the neck biting to a minimum, so Annie is much happier :)