85: Landscaping Project

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Wordless Wednesday

Home Improvement

Blake and I are quite amazed at the amount of "stuff" we have accumulated in our almost 5 years of marriage. Some the "stuff," we, of course, use on a daily basis. The other stuff. Well. We have decided to simplify. And get rid of stuff. I am hoping to go through our house, room by room, and get this place whipped into shape and.... declutter. My goal is to be finished, well, by the end of the year. We are also going to take each room and make a list of improvement projects that we want to do, and as the ole' funds allow, do some projects around the house.

Project number 1: Paint the vanity in the master bathroom. This was originally my project. But in the end, it was only my idea. I did help pick out the supplies. But, guess who did most of the work? Not I.

Before:
Old Hardware Sanding down the doors

The finished product!

This past weekend's project was not a photo op. We replaced the toilet seat. I'll spare you the shots. But, I will mention that Blake and I got into a rather heated discussion at Home Depot. He wanted one of the soft, squish seats.

This is our "To Do" list for the master bathroom:

1. Replace the shower curtain liner and swap out the shower curtain from the guest bathroom. (It matches our bedroom).

2. Replace the valence.

3. Paint the walls and trim.

4. Lay tile. (We already have it left over from Dishwasher Drama. It just needs to be laid.)

5. Replace lighting.

6. Replace mirror.

7. Replace door hardware.

Move That Bus!

Living room from front door

Extra Bonus: Tile in Hall Bathroom

Living Room from Kitchen

Well, we have been back in our house for several weeks now, but I just got around to taking a couple of pics today of the final results of our dishwasher initiated home renovation. We are very pleased with the end result. More importantly, we are just glad to be back in our house. To our parents: Again, thank you so much for letting the three of us, and our dog, stay with you for 2 weeks, and some change. Thanks for all of the meals, laundry services, and overlooking of our clutter. We are truly grateful for your hospitality. We love you all!

Our adventure was sponsored by this fabulous Whirlpool appliance.

Day 15: Welcome Home, Freeman Family

Yay!!! We got to come home today, and our house looks better than it did before we left. I will try to post some pictures when I a) have a free moment and b) can locate my camera cord. We have become a bit unorganized the past couple of weeks. The floor is a lighter shade the than previous hardwood, and I am hoping it doesn't show scratches and blemishes as much, especially since we keep Lady indoors, and Jackson is 110% boy. There are still a couple of things that are not finished, but should be within the next few days. The laundry closet was damaged the most, because the water drained into that floor. So, they are laying ceramic tile in the laundry closet, and our hall bathroom as a bonus. That is all still drying, and we can't move our washer and dryer back in for a few days. The dumpster is also still in the driveway. I am hoping I will feel ambitious and do a little Spring cleaning, and take advantage of that. Our garage and bedroom could use a good clean up. We are so just so glad to be spending the night in our house. We are so grateful to our parents who let us stay with them. I know they really didn't mind (especially since we came bringing Mr. Jackson). I don't think he would have fared well in a Motel 8.

Day 14

Just for the record, we are still not home.

Day 10

Nous rentrerons dans notre maison mardi. That is French for, "We are going home on Tuesday." We have been gone from our home longer than we were gone to Europe a couple of years ago.

Day 9

A coat of polyurethane was put on the floor today. They will be putting 2 more coats on, painting the trim, and them it must dry for 48 hours. Also, they will be adding a new shoe molding, and touching up the base boards. I think they are also moving our furniture back in the house for us. Blake will hear from the contractor tomorrow to see when we can get back in. So, if you see any of us wearing the same clothes repetitively, we are washing the same outfits over and over and wearing them over and over again.

Day 8

Today, our floors were sanded, and also were stained! Yay!

Day 7

Today, there was no progress. I think they must have been off of work today. Or maybe there is other work to be done besides our house.

Day 5: More Photos

Progress!

I think it looks great! I am excited about the new renovation.

Seeing the new floor made me realize that it has been about 15 months since my house has seen a "good cleaning." Lots of dust and some cobwebs. Surely, I am not the only one that has this problem. (If I am, don't tell me.)

Let's Roll. Mr. Jackson is not so well adjusted at bed time, or 4 AM. We went for a ride in the car at 4:45 this morning to get him to go back to sleep. Doesn't self soothe so well in the Pack N' Play.

Day 3

Today, Blake talked to the contractor, and things are progressing along. Yesterday and today, the sub flooring has been drying. Tomorrow, the floor installers are going to start working on putting down the new wood. Luckily, there was no molding issues thus far. On another positive note, the floor we are having installed is top of the line, and a better floor than the one that was removed.

Another interesting, quite comical, event occurred today, as well. My father in law received a phone call today from a realtor attempting to reach Blake or myself. Someone was driving through our neighborhood today looking at two other houses that are for sale, and wanted her to contact us, and find out if we were getting ready to sale. They saw the dumpster and were curious, and said that the house looked empty. They liked our house! We are probably not selling our house anytime in the immediate future, but it is kind of promising to know that people that are house hunting thought our house was cute!

Day 2: A Photo Op

This is the old linoleum that we put the hardwoods over. This may have saved our sub floor in the kitchen from being ruined.

I went by to check progress again today. Everything appears to be removed as planned. Blake is calling to find out tomorrow what the next plan of action is. I can't locate my camera cord at this time, so a friend from work let me borrow her classroom's camera, and the memory stick in compatible with my lap top...Yay!

Demolition Day One

A dumpster arrived in our driveway yesterday morning around 8:00. The crew was still in action when Blake and I went to check on the progression of the demolition after work, about 3:30. My oven was in the laundry room. My furniture and other decor were in the bedrooms and garage, and some still sitting on the sub flooring of the house. Most of the hardwood was in the dumpster, except for the hallway. There were tons of staples still in the floor. The shoe molding has also been removed due to damage.

I felt really bad for Blake when we saw the gigantic mess in our home. This is our first home. See, when we moved in the house, it needed alot of cosmetic work. The carpet in the house was goldish, brownish, ugly-ish, and was rolled up, and just a mess. The walls were all white, and so was the linoleum. It is great house, but it the house needed some TLC. So, for the first two years we lived there, it was our project together. We have painted every square inch of the house and replaced every square foot of flooring in the entire house. What was special about the hardwood floors is that Blake (along with a little help from the fam) laid the entire floor himself. He pieced and nailed every plank together. So, seeing it all thrown into a dumpster yesterday made me feel sorry for him, just because he had worked so hard. So, Blake, I am so sorry!

In the scheme of life, this is totally not a big deal. I just think it is pretty crazy that a dishwasher installation has created such havoc. It's is just one of those moments where all you can say is..."Seriously?"

Still can't find my camera cord. Hopefully, today I can rummage around and find it!

Dishwasher Drama: A Summary of Events

What originally started out as a simple, routine, and minor home improvement has turned into a very unexpected renovation of a large section of our home.

For some time, our dishwasher has been making a horrific amount of noise, as well as leaving a disgusting sand like residue on all of our dishes. The dishwasher was a base line model that was installed when our house was built, about 11 years ago. We have been putting off purchasing a new one, but decided about 2 weeks ago we would like to watch television without the rumblings of the dishwasher, and I was probably wasting money by running the it multiple times to get the residue off...because, let's face it, who has time to hand wash all of the dishes? I am too lazy for that, I will admit it!

Perhaps a bulleted list would be the simplest way to describe the timeline of "Dishwasher Drama."

• Day 1: Purchase dishwasher and pay INSTALLATION fee. Installation is scheduled for Day 4.
• Day 4: Installation gentleman arrives. Works for some time to remove old dishwasher. He is unable to remove dishwasher from the cabinets. He felt the hardwood floor was trapping it in. Informs Blake he must do it himself. Blake comes home from work, unscrews four bolts of sorts, within 5 minutes dishwasher is no longer "trapped."
• Day 5: Installation gentlemen arrives. Installs dishwasher. Starts dishwasher to check for leaks. Leaves the premises. Forgot to REALLY check for leaks. The dishwasher is wonderful and quiet. I use it again after cooking for my crew.
• Day 6: My mother was at our home watching Jackson. The dishwasher needs to do its thing again. I called to check on Jackson, and she discovers water is seeping into the laundry room from the dishwasher. Perhaps our installation gentlemen should have more thoroughly checked for leaks.
• Day 7: Hardwood floors are starting to cup. We also notice a dip in the floor. We made a few phone calls
• Day 8-13 Summary: Basically....water had been under the floor since the installation day. Our hardwood floors are ruined. The company in which the dishwasher was purchased is fixing everything that was damaged. Unfortunately, we have to leave our house for 7-8 days, so that this can be accomplished. Yes, a demolition team is coming to our house tomorrow, as well as a dumpster, which will be located in our front yard.

I am expecting to see Ty Pennington tomorrow morning for my vacation to Disney World while our house receives a makeover. Probably not going to happen....we do get to stay at our parents' houses, though. We are packed and ready. I took some pics, but I can't find the camera cord....