Barely Beginning the Counter Tops

We went downstairs today and pulled all of the hardwood off in my sons room. We put the carpet from the dining room down in his room also. I am still trying to decide if I want to panel or drywall the bottom of the walls down there. Paneling would probably be easier to change out if it gets wet. We still do not know what happened down there to cause the water damage. I am waiting to see a huge leak or something, but nothing yet.

Tomorrow we will be cutting the pieces and getting ready to start on the countertop. Lord knows we have enough wood. We probably have enough total from all of the walls to build 4 countertops for 4 different houses LOL. I am so excited about all of the new stuff. I need to pick priorities though. Finish one room at a time Kim. LOL As much as you want to no more quests to find new stuff until you get the kitchen done. Then pick one room and go from there. You can do this.....I think I can....I think I can.

My daughter Ashlei stopped by with her roommate Heather to show her the house. What a nice surprise. They thought my happy dance was pretty funny too. But they know I lost my mind along time ago. We called my mom and told her about the ceiling. She is just as tickled pink as I am. She keeps saying she is going to move in here with me. She has some lamps she is sending to me that she says will match the house. I also found one at a local thrift shop the other day that fits in here. It looks so nice on my end table. And best of all it was only 8 bucks. Gotta love cheap cute stuff.

While looking around at different blogs and things today I found the desk I want to make for my computer.
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2012/08/diy-desk-for-bedroom-farmhouse-style.html
I already have most of the wood. I had a different idea in mind but once I saw this desk I changed my mind. My to do list is growing bigger every day. And time grows smaller it seems. Since I watch the grandkids during the week I really only have the weekends. But that is ok I love having the kids here. And besides I also get to see Keegan every day. Matthew takes Tareh to work and Keegan has to give me a hug and kiss. I just love that to pieces.

My Living Room Ceiling

Ok so I have been searching online for planked ceilings and how to do them. I LOVE those ceilings. They give so much rustic appearance. Well as I am reading some of the blogs talk about using wood repurposed from other houses or barns. Well I really don't know why it hit me. Dave has been spending a lot of time nosing around in the attic. He told me a few days ago that we have a space between the floors upstairs and the ceiling downstairs. So I sent him on a small quest. Look and see if by chance there are planks on the ceiling downstairs. And GUESS WHAT....THERE ARE!!! YEAH!!! Can you tell I am past excited? 

There is a spot in the living room that is cracked and starting to come down. Dad pointed that out and we couldn't figure out at that time if it is water damaged or not. Well it isn't. I poked at it this morning and look what I found...... 

I am so excited. It is a good thing my mind still works because there is no way my body could do the cartwheels I am doing in my head. Planked ceilings in the living room for FREE. Dave keeps laughing and shaking his head saying

"you are a dork". I am singing and dancing around the house " I love my house, we have planked ceiling and wood floors". LOL 

  We are thinking that gravity and time are the culprits in the cracking and sinking. I am really trying to do one room at a time, but curiosity not only killed the cat, it got me right along with it. 

A Big Thank you

  I have been meaning to write this and have no excuse for not doing so before now. I need to give a big thank you to a few people. First my parents. Without them we would not have our home. Second to my son in law Matthew and my son J. Without them we would never have been able to move everything. With my MS and Dave has nerve and disc issues in his shoulders and neck, the heavy things like my china cabinet would have been almost impossible to move. Matthew and J busted their butts, literally on Matthew's part, to get us into this house in basically one day. It was the 16th anniversary to the day of us moving into the trailer. Matthew said "oh no it is the anniversary today we are getting you into this house TODAY" LOL. He meant it and he did it. Thank you so much. It was so appreciated. And we love you all for everything you have done for us.

  We had so much fun that day! This family is crazy sometimes. You name it, we joke about it, and turn almost anything into a party. Poor Matthew. He scared me to death twice in 5 minutes. We rented an appliance dolly for the move. We were hoping the refrigerator would go into the basement for my son but unfortunately it was too big. Well Matthew had shoes on that were slippery on the ceramic tile. While trying to back the fridge out of the basement doorway, he fell. The fridge started coming down right on top of him! Oh my. Then while trying to bring it up the 3 stairs to the sun room and kitchen, he fell again. Same thing that darn fridge started coming down. I thought this is it he is gonna be a pancake. And leave it to Matthew to sit on the floor, declare "my butt hurts" and laugh. Oh my. That was NOT a time to be funny or make me laugh darn him. But Matthew just fits into this family. Always laughing, joking and teasing.

  Everyone worked together and had a great time. It was nice to have Ashlei and Keegan at the trailer with us for a while. Ash walked through the trailer to her old room and said "mom this is kind of sad, I spent so much time in here". And she did. She fought battles within herself in that room. And she won. She came out strong, it just took her time to realize how strong she is. She spent a lot of time with our first Pit Jade. Jade brought her through a lot also. As she cried, Jade licked her face. What a great and special relationship those two had. Keegan was thrilled to be at Grama's new house. He kept saying "I am gonna come here and sleep upstairs with Grama" LOL. There are already so many memories and it has only been 2 weeks. I am so excited to create many more.

Kitchen and Back Yard Progress

  Well I hung the new curtains in the sun room today. I am not big on curtains. I am also very picky. It is rare I see curtains and think oh man do I like those. But these curtains are very pretty and have the perfect green that will match the cabinets.

   The back yard has a fence on both sides. The one side had fallen down on the ground. And with the frost and snow this last week we couldn't get out there to fix it. And we always go out with the dogs when we let them out any way. Well this morning our oldest dog decided to take off after a cat. Yes people she hates cats. She hasn't hurt one but she refuses to let them stay in her yard. She didn't really go out of the yard just on the end of the fence laying down, but I didn't like it any way. She is so well behaved and listens so well she stopped as soon as she heard her name. But considering we just called animal control on the guy behind us because his huge Rot's were in our yard and growling at Dave the other day.... Dave went out this afternoon and fixed it. Sorry Shiloh no more chasing cats LOL. Bella could really care less yet but she is starting to follow lead and looking at them like ok Shiloh doesn't like you so I don't think I will either. We still have to replace the fence along the back and add a piece to the driveway area but i can't wait to be able to let the dogs out and let them run around without being out there. I mean come on people. Why in the world someone would let any dog out without watching them is just beyond me. I don't care how nice they are at home you just never know. We have 2 pitbull female's. I love them. They are both big babies. But I would never just let them out. This guy behind us would just open the door and out the Rot's would go. Then come into our yard and growl at us. I don't think so. Then the idiot says to Dave "our property line ends at that fence". Um first I don't think the dogs care where your property line is and second they went over it and came over here. Shaking my head...which is something I have been doing alot of this last week and a half. I think I am getting shaken baby syndrome from it all.

Another Day

  We almost finished hanging the kitchen cabinets yesterday. This is really coming together. And it is faster than I expected. We have been here a week and a half and have almost all of the kitchen done. We need a new refrigerator so until I have time to go pick one out we have the last 2 cabinets sitting in the middle of the kitchen. They will go in between the stove and refrigerator. We took 2 of the wall cabinets and put them in the sun room area for a built in shelf unit. I took the doors off the front and will be adding a top to the bottom cabinet later. We plan on building a corner window seat under the windows next to the shelf unit.

  We have done a lot of head scratching so far and I am sure will be doing more. We can't figure out why they did some of the things around here but ok to each his own. At one point the previous owners had put the 220 for the dryer and a vent in the sun room.  My dad came over last week and disconnected the 220 upstairs. He reconnected the 220 in the basement and looked at the regular outlets to see why they were not working. Wow...they had a fire. They had to have been standing right there when it happened. The wires were absolutely fried on the one outlet for the washing machine. They built a half wall that doesn't even begin to go to the top of the ceiling. That made it difficult to have enough wire to redo the outlet. More head scratching. Another thing to add to the massive remodel list. Build a real wall for the laundry area.

  I am keeping one of the corner base cabinets and will be making a tv stand for our bedroom out of it. Some of the extra wall cabinets will be used to make various cupboards and stands throughout the house. I have some other tables I will also be refinishing. I figure with all of the things on my list I will be busy even from the grave LOL.

 

 

Busy Beavers

  Wow have we ever been busy. Between moving and watching the grandkids I am completely worn out. We started on the kitchen and dining room this last week. We brought the oak kitchen cabinets from the trailer that we had purchased a few years back. The cabinets here were nice but the kitchen just seemed closed off. With the sunroom on the back it should feel more open. They had the refrigerator right in front of the door from the dining room. That made it feel like you needed to pull your shoulders in to get into the kitchen. So far we have the sink side all installed except for the new counter tops. We will be making butcher block counters. I can not wait. The improvement so far is amazing and it will be just awesome once we get done. I picked my paint colors at Menards the other day. A sage green for the cabinets and a beige for the walls.

  We are using all of the materials we can from here. I guess you can call it a "Green" remodel. Not to mention the money it will save us. Which is a double plus. I have been reading up on making a butcher block counter from recycled wood flooring. Someone put hardwood flooring on the bottom half of the basement walls. I thought "what" when my son started taking it down. At first glance it looked like some kind of beadboard panel. Then it hit me. After looking at hardwood flooring at Menards I thought hey we have a ton of it in the basement. We will just cut off the bad parts.

  When the previous owners remodeled the kitchen they put linoleum down. Well lets just say oh my. They put a ton of glue and i mean a puddle in some spots then no glue at all in others. The bigger pieces we pulled up I am saving just in case we can use them in other places. I am thinking one place will be the bathroom in the basement.

  We pulled the carpet up in the dining room the other night. Woot Woot the hardwood floor is still there. But oh my does it need a ton of work. They started to paint it in one corner then must have changed their minds. Oh my. It was easy enough to pull the carpet up. My granddaugher Sophie helped us. She is grama's big helper. The tack strips along the edge kept "biting" us. She would say "Grama" "Grampa" you be careful don't get booboo's. It was the cutest thing. She is so observant it is amazing sometimes. She watched me take the flat head screw driver with the hammer and tap the tack strip off the floor. I layed them down to go into the other room and heard a tapping noise. When I got back into the dining room she had the screw driver with the hammer just a tapping away. Now she isn't big enough to hold the hammer up and tap the screw driver, so she improvised. She layed the hammer on the floor and using the end of the handle slid the hammer along the floor to hit the screw driver. Dave and I giggled over this one and thinking to ourselves that she wouldn't get too far that way we watched. Well to our surprise we were wrong. I should have known not to underestimate that child. She comes from a long line of strong stubborn women. She managed to get a whole wall of strip off. Woot Woot go girl. My grandson Bryson helped a little too just before taking his nap. He used the power drill to put a screw into a piece of flooring for me. Here is this little guy with a power drill almost as big as he is holding it up and drilling. I laughed and laughed. He did a really good job too. That screw was straighter than mine. LOL.

  We have had a lot of fun and laughs while doing this. And it is making me love this house even more. Knowing that as a family we are building our home and putting our own imprints on the history of this place. I can look at that wall and smile knowing that Sophie helped in that small area. And every time I walk into the kitchen I can smile as I walk over that area that Bryson held a power drill for the first time. Who knows.....maybe they will grow up to be a famous decorator or architect.

Our New Home

 Well finally after 16 years in a mobile home I bought my first house. I absolutely LOVE it. I didn't have to move, I could take my time and find a home I loved. Sure the trailer needed work but just normal cosmetic stuff and some subflooring work. But all in all it was a nice little place. That was my first home. That was the place I "saved" my kids. But that is a whole different story all on it's own, better reserved for another time. For whatever reason this home just did not sell. It was on the market for just under a year. I don't really understand why. It isn't the best neighborhood in the city but it isn't the worse either. My mom keeps saying it is because it was meant to be mine, which I think just may be the case. 

  Now  most people want modern and new. Me....I wanted old and antique. I love the old wooden staircases, trim and floors. My boyfriend has the same taste and he agreed so the search began. We have limited income with both of us being disabled so price was obviously top on the list. Dave (my boyfriend) kept saying I don't know....which basically means I have faith in ya babe but this one I gotta see for myself lol. 

 We had kind of a hard time finding a realtor. Mostly because they wouldn't call back. One actually set up an appointment to look at a house then called a few hours before to say "look I had an unexpected and eventful evening and would have to come back into town to show you the house" HUH. Wow, ok, well we will find another realtor. Sorry to bother you as I scratched my head. We found a realtor that we liked and the search began. 

 I kept telling Dave that I was going to find us a home cheap that we loved but even I started to doubt that after looking at about 10 houses. I just can't believe how some of the houses are set up. It was important to have wheelchair access to the major rooms in the house for me. God willing I won't go to my chair but in reality I probably will. I wanted the original woodworking that hopefully wouldn't be painted. A basement and garage. The original wooden staircase that hopefully wouldn't be painted. And hardwood floors. Ok so far this list seemed almost impossible. 

 Most of the older homes were in the not so nice neighborhoods. My dad cracked me up. He kept saying it doesn't matter where you live any more, any where can be bad. Ok dad well the difference is in getting shot or not lol. I would get online every day and search the house listings, call the realtor and off we would go. We had so much fun looking at houses. My parents would meet us and my mom and I would ohhh and ahhh together. She loves the older homes as much if not more than I do. I had this idea in my head and just couldn't shake it. I really wanted what I call the short door going to the attic. That is the little door you walk through that leads out to that cool attic space you can stand up in. That door that leads out to a whole little world all in it's own in your house. We found a house that I really loved, made an offer, they accepted, but the paperwork they sent to us just seemed shady. They wanted the money before closing. Ummm ....no. So that deal fell through. I really became discouraged at that point. But we had only been looking for a few weeks. Patience is a virtue. I kept repeating that to myself. When the right house comes along it will all fall into place. And that proved true. 

 Now this house listing kept drawing me back. I would go every few days and look at this listing. The pictures were horrible. They didn't show much detail. But something about it kept pulling me back. I mentioned it to Dave and my dad a few times but I really don't know why I didn't put it on the list of houses to look at. 

 Then another bump in the road. Our realtor called. She lost her license because she didn't have the money to pay her realtor fees. And the search for a realtor begins again. We found Pat Smith. An older woman who was very helpful and just the sweetest thing. So after only 2 months of searching I added this house to the list of houses to look at. We fell in love with this place once we walked through it. It has everything except the garage that I wanted. Plus one thing I didn't have on the list. A dishwasher. Yeah! I forgot to put that on the list. That is a good idea. With my MS I may not be able to wash dishes later. How could I miss that one. Lol. 

  The house originally started out at a price of 24,000. After a few months they dropped it to 19,900. After several months at that price we came along and walked through. My dad had surgery on his foot and couldn't make it to look at the house with us. We told Pat that we would be getting in touch with her probably the next week to look at this house and another again once dad got back on his feet. 

  Jump forward a week. We meet my parents and Pat at both houses. Dad gives the go on this house. Picture me doing cartwheels inside my head. Woot Woot. I LOVE this house. Now comes the teeth clenching. They had in just a few days dropped the price to 17,400. Now mind you this house has been on the market for almost a year. Right around 11 months. It was a repo. Banks do not like to hang onto houses. Lets put in a ridiculously low offer maybe they will bite. The worse they can do is say no. So I say ok lets offer 12,000. Dad adds that they also need to fix the window in the back door. Sitting on pins and needles on Friday we send the offer. On Monday they accept! Double Woot Woot. I found the house we love for major cheap. I am on cloud nine.

  Ok now Pat also added that the bank turn on the utilities to save us the turn on costs. Doing more cartwheels in my head because this deal is just getting better and better for us. The Lord is watching out for us on this one. Then the phone rings. They turned the gas on and the furnace is broken. A short moment of oh man. Then mom says and by the way the bank is fixing the furnace for you. More cartwheels! Thank you Lord. And more cartwheels. 

  The day before closing Pat wanted us to meet at the house to do a walk through. We get here and the bank did so many extras for us. Instead of fixing the glass in the back door, they replaced the whole door. They also replaced the faucets in the kitchen and bathroom. They fixed the furnace. And they accepted our crazy low offer. 

  So I found us a house that we love. It has the original woodwork that has a few paint splatters but that is from them probably using a paint gun and not taping. No big deal with a little work I can get that off. The original wooden staircase with a closet underneath. The short door that leads to that dreamy attic space. We pulled carpet up in the dining room and the hardwood is there! Wooden columns leading into the living room. 10 ft. ceilings. A sunroom on the back off the kitchen seperated by a snack bar. 3 bedrooms. A full basement with a bedroom and living area. The funniest part is the basement. There is a hole in the middle of the floor for a toilet. That just cracked me up. At some point they must have had a flood down there because the bottom of the walls are gone. I wonder if the plumbing maybe cause the problem because the toilet is gone. I don't know but man did we laugh when we saw that hole. So I did get the second bathroom I wanted I just have to build it. 

 Thank you Lord for all of the blessings and everything you have given us with this house.