Living Room, Dining Area, and Fancy New Light

When we bought this house, as you already know, we gutted as much as we could. We really wanted to make it much more open. You see, this house is small. Tiny, in fact. Going from a 6 bedroom house to a 3 bedroom was somewhat of a challenge. And the chopped up feeling of all the little closed off spaces didn't help that somewhat claustrophobic feeling that I initially got when I came here the first time.

So, the original view looked like this:

 

Here, we are standing in the dining area looking towards the front door and the hallway to the bedrooms. To your right you can see the kitchen, or the wall to the kitchen. 

 

This would be standing back towards the wall by the front door.

So after removing the kitchen wall, which you've already seen, and the wallpaper, which you already heard me whine about, there was the linoleum to remove. It was glued down directly on top of plywood, which was stapled over the original linoleum in the house. Which was very, very ugly. Which, now that I've watched about 150 episodes of Property Brothers, I now know was probably full of asbestos. Good thing I spent hours removing it and its one million staples.

Think about me when I die of asbestos poisoning. How sad that will be.

Anyways, the new hardwoods were laid, the kitchen remodel done, and the doorway to the garage moved. And here's what we have:

The opening in the wall by the front door was enlarged to create a much more open feel. The posts were removed, and we had my grandpa finish a board to lay over the half wall that remained. Much nicer and lets in a bit more light to the front door. There is a love seat in here too, you just can't see it. 5 people can't fit well on one couch. The ceiling fan is a rescue from the previous kitchen, and the only light to survive the reno process.

You can kind of get a sneak peek at the back splash in the kitchen from here. It is lovely. It makes me really, really want to get to painting those cabinets.  But with the wall gone and the garage door moved, kitchen is much, much bigger, much more open, and the whole area just feels so much bigger.

I would like to assure you all that my house is never, ever, ever this clean. We had the house appraised that day. The children were threatened within an inch of their lives if they messed it up before the appraiser came.  You can see my fancy new window treatments and custom blinds. I am very, very spoiled with my window treatments. I have a fabulous designer who makes me anything I want and never complains about my ideas or lets me pay for them. It's good to have a mother in law like that :)

The hardwood extends throughout the house. I think they really make it feel like a much more spacious area.

I want to turn your attention to that fabulous new light. Costco, baby. $39. Huge and awesome and matches the ones we got from Ikea in the kitchen. You should really look at Costco if you are in the market for anything having to do with your house. They have some pretty amazing deals there. Half our bathroom is from Costco. No, I am not being sponsored by Costco to tell you about their awesomeness. I just love that place.

The door is to the garage. Not really my favorite, but it was previously in the middle of the kitchen, which would have been much more of a pain. I have no idea how people functioned in that kitchen for so long. I would have been utterly insane, I tell you.



My walls are gray. They apparently photograph purple. But I assure you, they are gray. And the white rug is from Menards, and was very inexpensive. For those of you doubters that think white and small children cannot go together, you are probably right. But it didn't cost too much. I prefer it that way. If it gets wreaked, I probably won't lose my mind so much if I didn't have to pay much for it.

There isn't much to say. It isn't huge, but the changes we made have had such an impact. Anyone who has seen it has commented on how much nicer it looks now than before. That does make me smile :)

Big Boy Room

Yeah, I know. I already told you about his room. But we changed a few things already, so here it is again.

It is hard to design a room when you have an idea of what you want it to look like, and the toddler has a totally different vision. Mine was antique fire trucks. Just like his old room in the old house. We would put up the board and batten, and paint it the same navy color that we had before. It would look amazing.

He wanted Cars. The End.

So, because I am a kind and loving mother, I let him have some of what he wanted. Not all but some. And in the end, it is super cute.

So lets start with the before, shall we?

Love it. Two doorways, wood paneling and fluorescent lighting. Awesome.

And that carpet. So nasty.

So we ripped down the wood paneling, tore out the carpet, and ripped out that ugly desk and lighting. We closed off the doorway that lead to the kitchen, and the closet was sacrificed to the bathroom.

It is hard to see from the picture, but can you see the lines that go down the wall? Those are nail holes. Big nail holes. Apparently, whoever put up the paneling was so in love with it, they assumed it would live forever. So they put big fat nails in the wall, essentially ruining it. Fabulous.

Now, use your imagination for a second. Imagine that the hard drive containing all my "during" pictures did not get dropped and broken, and that you are seeing someone mud the entire wall. The process of skim coating basically muds and sands the entire wall, so you are left with a much smoother surface in which to paint.

Got the vision? Good. Let's move on.

The bright blue wall was not my first choice. But quite frankly, the room is very small. So blue and "hot green", as the boy calls it, makes it not seem so cramped in there. The bed is full of friends. My children are hoarders of stuffed animals. If you can look closely, there is a purple Figment from Disney World with a tutu sitting front and center. I assure you, that was not bought for him.

The fire trucks and pictures still have a prominent place. Someday maybe we can do that room again.

The closet, light, hooks on the wall, and rug are all from Ikea, as are the little storage containers that are under the bed. Let me tell you, I will be a happy, happy girl the day I do not have to drive 500 miles for an Ikea. Which, for anybody who is counting, should be approximately 18-20 months from now. Cue the angels singing, folks. That will be a good day.

He has a puppy quilt that great grandma made him which is his bedspread. It must have been in the wash. It tends to alternate with Lightening McQueen.

Anyway, the closet is super cute and just his size for now. So it works for us. The pictures on the wall are the antique fire trucks. And you can see in this picture now, what you have yet to see in any picture of our house.

Baseboard. Take a minute. Appreciate it.

More on that another day.

And the changing table turned dresser because we (sniff, sniff) are all done with diapers at this house. In case anyone cares, my brother insists I stole this from him. I assure you, if he ever gets around to having kids, it will be dropped off at his house the moment he announces it. Until then, it is needed to hold pajamas.

His toy box that is currently empty. Someday soon, I would like to make a cushion for the top of the toy box. Maybe something in green. The tractors and barn just sit on top, because it would be a pain to put them away all the time. Great Grandpa found the barn at a garage sale, and repainted it all up for him.

And of course, Mickey and the firefighter made it to the room. I looked long and hard for this print. He'll be hanging up for a long time.

We may be doing a redo of this room very soon. We are planning to build him a new bed, and take out the rocking chair. On my next trip to Ikea, which is very soon (yay!) I plan to get him some more pieces that match his furniture.

I like this little room, even if it is tiny. It holds everything we need it to. It is bright and cherry, just like the 2 year old who inhabits it. And if this tiny house has taught me anything, it is that we don't need so much stuff around anymore.

That's it for this edition. The little people are destroying something as we speak, I am sure. More soon...

Pink and Paris

When my girls first found out that they would get to share a room in the ugly house, they were less than enamored with the idea. My older one, especially. She was feeling particularly woeful about the idea of having her sister in her space all. the. time.

So very sad when we don't get our way. Sniff, sniff.

However, my girls got pretty much free reign on the design of their room. The only stipulations included the comforters had to stay, and they had to agree on what they were going to do. I am quite confident that there was some definite big-sister influence on the little one. But as both were happy with their idea of a Paris themed room, that is the way we went.


First, lets have a before again, shall we?

Ahh, yes. The sports people again. They were everywhere in this house. and the vibrant green carpet. And the wallpaper.


And now I present the after:

 It is very pink. I wasn't fibbing, was I? We have carted that tea party chandelier into three houses now. She is still holding up just fine. They each have a lamp for their bunk as well, for nighttime reading.

 The curtains that were picked out and designed by the girls and their Nana. I didn't even see them until they were done. How's that for trust? They were going for Paris cafe. I kinda think we are closer to Minnie Mouse Clubhouse, but that's just me.The white spots on the walls is from the sprayer when we painted the ceiling. I cannot tell you why the probably 30 minute job of touching those up has been put off this long. I am sure it is my laziness, but I just start thinking about dragging out the paint, and I get tired.

We went with curtains instead of closet doors for now, since there is less chance of the curtains injuring little hands. And we have yet to build out the closet. We simply lowered the bar and shelves to make it more accessible. 

 It is much more the colors I had in mind in the first place.

A peek under the bottom bunk reveals some of her favorite things. This was the only spot her sister would even allow such stickers to reside. We also have Chloe the stuffed dog, Lily Mohawk, the kitty, and our unicorn pillow pet.

Paris in all of it's finery. From Great Grammy's house.

I wish to share with you all that in order to even photograph this room, I had to clean the desk. An entire trash bag of paper went out the door, as well as various other treasures, such as loose sequins, rocks, empty hand sanitizer bottles, etc. Maddening, I tell you. Utterly maddening.






 

The small Eiffel tower is actually from Paris. It is another heirloom from their great-grandmother's house. The big one is from Las Vegas. It was on clearance at the Paris hotel. Not exactly an heirloom. 

The shelf was in the house when we moved in. It was in the living room, literally bolted to the wall. We had to break the shelf to get it off. However, my grandpa fixed it up for the girls. He even re-stained it so it would look brand new. I didn't have the heart to paint it after he went to so much work for them. 

 

And of course, the hangout of a few special friends. Someone is having a bad hair day. And it appears someone else had a serious migraine or hangover, I'm not sure. One of those friends must have needed power for something, as I just now see that the outlet covers are off. Huh.

They have a really cool  purple shag rug too. The pictures do not do it justice. It is several variations of purple and really, really soft. We actually went back into Ikea just before we left that trip, looking for a slightly larger frame for the boy's wardrobe. No luck there, but wouldn't you know it, in there clearance section, there was the very rug I hunted all over Ikea the day before looking for. And half price. I rolled that sucker up and carted it out. My husband is a saint. He somehow rearranged the car so it would fit. Because it was pretty stuffed after Ikea. But I just drove 500 miles one way for Ikea. I sure as heck wasn't leaving it there.

Their room cost very little to do. We had the beds, comforters and paint. We had most of the wall decorations. The bookshelf , owl picture, and rug came from Ikea. The desk is a hand me down. The barbie house is an old shelf we had. Matt laid the hardwood floor. And Nana made the curtains. They have blinds behind the curtains that hide completely away during the day. 

(Someday soon I will do a breakdown of what we actually spent to completely redo this house. Even I am amazed how little we were able to do it for.)

So there you have it. Pink Paris in a nutshell. They tolerate sharing a room quite well. I think they even like it, even if admitting it is unthinkable. 

Till next time!

A New Year Story

OK, so now that we have lived here awhile, I have been asked what else we have done to this house. I suppose we should share.
 - The bathroom is done
 - The backsplash is up
 - The apple tree produced a couple hundred pounds of apples that had to be dealt with
 - My grandparents provided us with enough produce to feed an army- that required canning and freezing and an entire new deep freeze to hold it
- The wallpaper in the basement is down
 -The basement is painted
 - The lights are up
 - The curtains and blinds are hanging
 - The rugs are in place
 - The pictures are on the wall
 - The sandbox is built
 - As of today, the swingset is up.

Well, that list makes me feel better about what we've done with our time recently. Unfortunately, we had a computer issue and the in-process pics of these amazing home renovations have been lost. I shall however, take some after pics this week and share. And in the next couple weeks, we shall be hanging our baseboard. As I am sure there will be drama. And I will make sure there is a play-by-play of the drama shared for all to see :)

I digress.

I am sharing a quick peek at our bedroom. I intend to take some new pictures tomorrow, so the curtains and pictures are in there. You know, something slightly more recent.

So now, onto the New Year. 2012 taught both Matt and I plenty of new skills. We have turned from somewhat reluctant in home repair to confident DIY folks. We look around this house and see how much has been accomplished in such a short time, and it gives us a lot of faith that we can keep it going. Some projects are hard. Three children greatly increase the time it required, as helpful as they try to be. We are still deciding what our next project will be that we tackle. Maybe some outdoor play spaces, such as a new deck. Maybe we will build some furniture for spaces that need it. Maybe we should just clean out the garage so two cars could actually fit in it. (No joke, the sheer amount of kid crap in there is astounding and takes up an entire car stall space.)

My goal was always to share these events with all my friends. I have been so blessed to have so many amazing people that actually care what we are doing here. We have fabulous family up here that has helped us in more ways than I can count. It is simply awesome to be so near my parents, who help up in any way they can, and my grandparents, who take every opportunity to stuff my kids with candy that they can. I miss the city greatly, and my sister, who would have lived so close to me had we stayed. And someday we may go back. But for now, our story continues in tiny town USA.

 So bear with me, folks. I have big plans for the new year. I intend to write more often and share more frequently. Tomorrow there will be more pictures, and more stories. But for now, I shall bid you all good night :)

A Boy's Room

One of the best things about getting a new house is the chance to decorate from scratch. I loved my baby boy's room in our old house. I really, really did. I wanted to recreate it this house as well. However, his old room had the white board and batten around the bottom. Which would not have looked good with his wood trim windows.

We had some challenges in this room to deal with. Lets take a look at where we started:

Wood paneling, ugly carpet, fluorescent lights, and sparkly ceiling. Eww. 

Then when we removed the paneling:

We were left with a very torn up wall and a disgusting floor.

The process of fixing the wall was called "skim coating." It involved applying a very thin layer of sheet rock compound, "mud", to the entire wall and then sanding it off. I take no credit for this process. It was all my dad.

The closet was sacrificed make space in the bathroom. The hardwoods were laid, the walls and ceiling painted, here is what we got!

I should have made his bed. Oh, well. I was hard pressed to get pictures where nobody was messing up my work.

His sisters decorated his table with his tractors and his tractor blanket. There are now blinds on the windows, however the window treatments need to be reworked to fit the space. There is no baseboard yet, anywhere in the house. We have a wall picture above the dresser and table now as well.

I wanted antique firetrucks for our theme, like his old room. He wanted Lightning McQueen. This is the compromise. I detest character rooms. I really do. However, wall stickers are cheap and easily taken off when we get tired of them. So that is my concession.

His wardrobe and light are from Ikea. I heart Ikea. If only it wasn't so far away, I would be there much, much more. The wardrobe holds all his hanging and folded clothes. It has three drawers in it, and we still have an empty shelf to work with. Really awesome piece that was totally worth the drive to go get.

I will still be decorating this room for awhile. Only one outlet actually has power right now, so his lamp and Ipod are not in their final spots. We need something on the wall above his bed. A lime green rug is in his future. And a few other things, like baseboard, vent covers, and other boring constructions stuff.

I am pretty happy with this room. It is very little boy, and I kind of like it that way. He won't be little forever, so for now, we will just enjoy this stage of life.

A Sneak Peek

We are here! We are slowly getting settled into our new house and our perpetual construction zone. The progress is coming along. We now have a working kitchen, which is utterly fantastic. We had been eating takeout and restaurant food for far too long, but not anymore!

I can't wait to paint the cabinets. And maybe put some trim on the window. And the toe kicks. And the backsplash. And clear off some stuff on the counter. Oh, and drink the wine. I do love the wine.

And the fridge is touchscreen. It is amazing. We had no idea. That is what you get when you buy scratch and dent appliances. All I wanted was a child lock so my son could not flood my floor. And I get this amazing feature that shows me ingredient subsitutions, can show me a slideshow of my pictures, and be programmed for exact measurements of water to give small children. Like I said, amazing!

The living room. I need window treatments. I love the hardwoods. I love the paint color.

And I really love her :) And she loves her new house :)

More to come!!

Almost Pretty...

We are in the midst of packing away here. Less than one week until we load up that big moving truck and head off to our new town. There is much more done in our new house than I actually have pictures of. But here is a sneak peak of our new quartz counter top.

And my amazing new stove and dishwasher bought from the scratch and dent section of Nebraska Furniture Mart. The bottom "drawer" is a second oven. A real oven, not a warming drawer. I cannot wait to break that bad boy in. More on it later. My father in law asked me if it would sing to me, when I was describing all the amazing features. I will be sure to find out :)

Plans are still in place to paint the cabinets, but it will be sometime after we move in. We still need plumbing and a gas line ran to the kitchen. It is currently painted and the floor is in, however, I haven't even seen that so you all will have to be patient a bit longer.

Don't worry. This kitchen will look amazing when we are done with it!

Pink

There isn't much else to say. Other than it is very, very pink. The photos do not do it justice.

That is a semi repair shop across the street out the window. My son is in heaven.

See the hallway? Distressing isn't it? Boy that was a hot mess of wallpaper.

 But, pink is divine. And my girls are happy. And so am I.

Wallpaper Hate

Let me really share the wallpaper drama with you. People, wallpaper is awful. As is I-hate-the-inventor-of-wallpaper awful. It is messy and ugly to put up. It is ugly on the wall. It is messy and ugly to take down. I cannot stand wallpaper. Really, I cannot.

Let me give you a brief sample of my fight with this paper. We shall be looking at the master bedroom. The one with the ducks. Now, on the previous walls, the paper came off after being drenched in water, and some scraping. It was not pleasant, very messy. But it did come off with little wall issues. The walls required minor repair, washing of the glue, and ready to paint. However the ducks put up a heck of a fight.

They were bound and determined to live forever. Practically impossible to get off. And the paper underneath? Forget about it.  So time to call in the big guns.

A wallpaper steamer. So, out come this glorious product from the box, it gets filled, and then takes 15-18 minutes to begin steaming. Or 25. You know, same difference. So you step away and look for your Diet Coke, only to take a swig and discover it tastes like sheet rock dust. Everything tastes like sheet rock dust. You stomp around and look for your drill to begin taking off outlet covers. You discover your husband has drained the battery and not plugged it back in. So you go looking for something else to drink, and have to settle for water. Even thought it is late.

Finally the machine begins spewing steam and boiling water. You pick it up and promptly scald your hand as the boiling water runs down your arm. You speak some foul words, climb up on the death ladder, and begin steaming.

It steams and bubbles, and off comes the wallpaper. 

And the sheet rock paper. That makes me sad. And it makes me say bad words. And the entire wall looks like this. Nice.

It can be repaired. But seriously, I hate wallpaper. And I will probably always hate wallpaper.

Little Helper

 The new counter is in and so fabulous! I can't wait to get some pictures of it. And the girls' room is also painted! It is very, very pink.

Until then, the scraping of the wallpaper continues:

Me: What are you doing?
K: I'm pulling off this paper on the wall. 'Cause is is very, very ugly.

Starting to Look Like a Kitchen!

So, in the last month, a few things have happened. First, we have sold our existing big city house. YAY!! It was a stressful process that involved 22 showings in 10 days, two offers that fell through, and practically every meal eaten out. However, on July 6, we will officially be done with the old, and ready for the new!

Our oldest made her First Communion on her birthday. And I completed my Masters. April was a busy, busy month. Now that school is officially over, the real work must be stepped up a bit!

Now, on to house progress. You may remember what the kitchen look like when we first bought the house:

Lovely.

And shortly after we gutted it:

All opened up

And torn all the way to the studs.

The ceiling eventually came down too. 

I will not bore you with the middle action. It involves wiring, plumbing, and drywall. Mudding and sanding drywall is not fun. Not fun to do, not fun to talk about, not fun to read about.

So we are skipping it. Right to where the cabinets are now set on the floor. And the walls are up. 

Can you see my vision, yet? Because I can!

 

 

(VISION)

The layout will look somewhat similar to the above. I have several pictures on Pinterest of kitchens that I have found that will work for the layout that we have to work with. This is the general finished idea, with a few appliance changes, and pretty white cabinets. 

 These are the cabinets from the house. We have been able to reuse the, only in a slightly different layout. the stove goes in the big empty space on the big blank wall. The sink goes under the window, with the dishwasher directly beside it. The refrigerator will go on the wall you cannot see, along with a pantry cabinet, to be built in the future. By using what we had, we saved a fortune on new cabinets. The quartz counter top will be installed this week. Quartz is very similar to granite, except that you do not have to seal it. Ever. That is fabulous. 

Nutmeg counter top

The counter top was a steal. We purchased it from a reminent sale at the installer here in town, the same installer that the big stores use and who would have installed it for us wherever we had bought it. By picking out a reminent, we ended up saving well over $3000 on our counter.  For that price, I was more than happy to pick out a slightly different color counter than I originally would have chosen. I think it will look fabulous with white cabinets, don't you?

The counter gets installed this Tuesday. I will be there to take pictures of the beautiful product. In the meantime, we will be picking out paint this weekend and heading up there as soon as I wake up tomorrow. It is coming together quite nicely! I cannot wait to see it done!