1 year

This week marks one year since we became homeowners! Sometimes it feels like it's been longer because of everything we've done in this house. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year we gutted the house, reconstructed, and moved in. Between last Thanksgiving and this Thanksgiving, here is a list of things we have done (and I may forget some):

-Ripped out carpet

-Knocked out walls

-Ripped out baseboards

-Scraped wallpaper

-Ripped up vinyl flooring and toilets

-Put up new walls

-Built island shelves/counter tops

-Texture/drywall

-Fixed plumbing

-Fixed/added lighting

-Painted

-Wood flooring

-New toilets

-Replaced windows

-Replaced window trims/painted

-New carpet/vinyl flooring

-New blinds

-New appliances

-Shelving in closets

-New baseboard trim

-Painted inside trim

-Stained cement in basement

-New sinks downstairs

-Removed large pine trees

-Worked on sprinklers

-Tiled back splash, fireplace, entry way

-Renovated deck

-Removed hot tub, gazebo, pool and surrounding deck

-Rototilled

I'm sure I'm forgetting tasks; maybe some major. We've had a busy year between all of this, work, and school. With a lot of help from Blake and some self-teaching, Lane has learned how to do SO much! I am so impressed with his hard work and accomplishments. Projects for 2012 are more limited, but some include:

-New sprinkler system

-New grass

-Plants/yard

-Cement slabs in backyard

-Build shed for back corner

-Fix deck/stairs

-Caulking/painting base trim

-Build desk for living room by fireplace

Things for future/I want:

MASTER BATHROOM! I really just want a nice tub...annnd a new front door. What does all this require though? $$....~sigh~ someday....

Just in Time!

First off, Lane ripped out the deck, gazebo, pool, and hot tub. It was all just a mess and took up space. So we hauled all of this out:

Our yard then sat dead-yellow for a few months...you know, just blending in with the fall colors. Finally, Lane rented a tractor and had his amazingly skilled brother (and nephew) come over and rototill the front and back. It made a huge difference! The yard was all smooth, looked clean (in a dirt-filled sort of way), and made the yards look a lot bigger.

This was literally done with just a minute to spare. The boys drove over the dirt to pack it down a bit, loaded the dump trailer and hauled it to the dump, came back and the minute they got back it started snowing! So now after all the snow this winter, we'll be able to dig the trenches for our sprinkler system and hydro seed in the spring. Just in time!

I don't think I ever really took pictures of our entry way because it was so ugly (dirty, gross wood which I covered with a large rug), but my Mr. Handyman also ripped that up last week and covered it with slate. So now the beautiful slate-look flows from our entry way, to our kitchen's backsplash, to our living room on the fireplace. The tiles are still dirty in this picture...I'll update it when it's clean and we get a smaller rug/shoe rack in there!

Yard

Just so you know, the fine line between the properties was intentional. We had to kill our yard of weeds because, well, it was weeds. We tried bringing it back to life but it just wasn't havin' it. So currently we are sporting the yellow.

We're going to rototill it and then hydroseed. Since we're almost done with the inside projects, we'll be able to focus more attention on the yard.
See the green? That's as much as we got, and most of it was weeds.

This was the yard when we first looked at the house.

Fireplace & Trim

Well folks, our fireplace is finally done; and here it is!

Here's two projects in one--we also painted all our window and door trims in the house (as you can see comparing above and below). I feel like I have done enough painting to last me a lifetime. I knew we had a lot of door frames and windows, but boy! When you're painting them all by hand, you sure know how many you have!

I guess I never really took a picture of the fireplace straight on to begin with, but this is what it looked like (Christmas time, obviously) when we moved in.

Purdy Deck

Within 48 hours I have developed a crush on our deck.

It turned out SO good! Now I want to accessorize it with some plants and other decor. For now I just have my lounge chair with a little pop of green where I can get my tan on reading a good book and listening to some good tunes. Tan during the day with the sun beating on the deck, bbq in the evening with some nice shade. GLORIOUS.

Projects to Come

Ok, so this picture is to show what needs to be done...the fireplace.

It started out as red brick, which I hated until we put the flooring in and painted, which was done before we moved in. In April, Lane tiled the back splash in our kitchen and started this fireplace project to match it. It's been about 3 months since then and we've been staring at this. In the next couple weeks though, it will finally be finished! I am thrilled!

We're also slowly working on our lawn. We decided to kill the whole thing, adjust some sprinklers, and hydro seed. It's a slow and expensive process so I'll post pictures of the stages. But for now just imagine a forest of weeds.

Project: Deck

If you can recall, this is what our deck looked like when we got the house. It had a roof that leaked, the green outdoor grass carpet stuff, and black metal railing with the white wooden posts.

Well we weren't exactly planning on restoring the deck so soon, but we decided to start by tearing off the covering for when we put the windows and trim on, and then it was convenient when we cut down the trees. So then Lane tore off the carpet and top layers of wood.

Under all that it looked pretty good and we were going to sand and stain it as a temporary fix, and then Lane was introduced to this stuff:

Deck Restore Acrylic Liquid Armour Resurfacer. We picked a bluish gray shade to match our trim. It's really thick and you just roll/paint it on and it gives wood/cement a whole new look and feel! We also decided that since we're tearing out the above-ground pool full of weeds, we'd just use the railing from around that deck for the upper deck. So we're in the process of sanding/repainting it. It's looking awesome! Can't wait for the finished product of this longer-term temporary fix!

Organization

If you know me at all you know I'm ALL about organization and being a clean freak. I complain because Lane is not. I guess I've been quite the hypocrite lately though because with school and work, I have had no motivation left for anything else. I guess the adjustment to a much larger house is tougher than I thought...I'm doomed for when we have kids! Hopefully it's just me being in a temporary laziness rut. What I'm trying to get at is...wait for it...Lane switched places with me! It may have just been over the week, or he realized I stopped cleaning as much as usual so he got irritated, but he clicked into gear and went to town!

Our laundry room has been cluttered with everything in the window and a pile of nonsense on the floor. Lane simply added some shelves, and voila!

And in our closet we have had our shoes in a laundry basket/a storage bin...which isn't horrible but Lane finally got some shelves for those and sorted through his shoes and clothes, and voila!

Besides the laundry room, this is what I'm most excited about because it's basically the first thing you see when you come up the stairs. There's still no door but anyone who has been over in the past 5 months has seen a pile of junk/food storage just laying on the ground. Lane finally put in some shelves, and voila!

Imagine that... shelves were what we needed. I guess that and someone to step up to the plate. He has been on a roll with laundry, vacuuming, dishes, and making the bed too! Don't worry Lane, I'll click back into gear once school is out!

Project: Outside Trim

One of the features I loved about our house originally were the cute shutters around the windows. Well, in replacing the windows, the shutters got thrown away. I was bummed about it because they completed the house with the columns. Lane replaced the trim and I started painting in April before my family came...and we just finished today. The new trim isn't as cute as the shutters but it looks good finally painted and complete. (Just don't look up close--you'll see that we didn't hire a professional). Now I need something to go above the door in that huge open area.

Final

Half-painted/No shutters

With the shutters before we bought it

As you can see in the final picture, the lawn is very splotchy when it comes to green. Lane has been working on our sprinklers, but water isn't enough to make that part come back. That pine tree that was in the front put the area of grass around it to its death. After we grind the stumps of the deathly trees, we'll be showing our lawn more affection with fertilizer, weed killer, etc. And eventually, someday...I'll start landscaping. The first goal is green all over though!

Oh, and we bought our first lawn mower!...the first of many yard expenses, I'm sure.

Project: Pine Trees Part II

Well maybe to some people this project was obviously going to be a lot of work with our 70ish-footers x6; however when the project was explained to me in a rundown of how it would go, I thought it'd be basically done in a day. I was sorely wrong. We are left now with this:

...and that's just a portion of the backyard...after a few large loads to the dump. On the plus side, we have plenty of fire wood, and I can start a business making pine cone wreaths and such! If anyone wants to come pick up pine cones, I'll pay a dollar per bucket!

Timm-berrrr!

At least the front yard is almost picked up...

Project: Pine Trees Part I & Project: Window Trim

These beautiful pests provide our house with color, privacy, and shade. I might also add that they ruin our lawns and the lawns/plants of our neighbors...and they leave thousands of tiny pine cones!

So...we decided to end their lives. ~gasp!~ I know, as of tomorrow, we are officially tree killers. We are taking down six of these monsters! Don't worry, we still have plenty of trees and bushes in the neighbors' yards for our privacy.

If you can recall, we use to have black shutters on the windows. Well we replaced our windows and those cute shutters were also removed. I had no say in the matter, but they are gone. Lane has done a great job working on the new trim though. You can't really see it very well right now, but we will be painting it eventually. Ohhhh the endless projects!

So once these trees are gone, we'll get started on fixing the sprinkler system and fertilizing our lawn to make it beautiful. Yes, it appears to have plenty of green; however, a majority of the green is weeds. Oh I can't wait to mow our lawn and start working on landscaping! Tips?

Project: Baseboards

I don't know what's in the water Lane's been drinking but he all of the sudden got back into the house projects mode. If he's not doing stuff for work or sleeping, he has been working every minute on the house. He figured out how to do the baseboards and finished them within a few days (minus the caulking and paint)! They look awesome! Some parts look kind of funny because all the other trim in the house is still brown, but we will take care of that eventually.

(Pardon the fuzzy pictures)

I would take more pictures but we still have messes in the house right now so I don't want to expose those!

Sorry Neighbors!

BLINDS! That's right! No more peeking in, neighbors! Our house is no longer a 24-hour show. Our neighborhood is full of walkers. I always catch them looking in our large, wide-open windows. I even see people driving by and stopping or slowing down. When it's dark outside and our lights are on it is an excellent view from the whole neighborhood. This is why I'm so excited to have blinds! And our house is feeling more and more like a home. These pictures make me want to get some curtains going too though...someday!