We have stairs!

Craig was off one day this past week and put the steps and risers in. They look really good, I can’t wait to see what they’ll look like with a banister. The color of the risers is the same color we are painting the middle room. The steps are stained the same color as the floors.

Here are a few pictures of the trim Craig has made. The trim for all of the windows and the front door were made to match the interior door frames that are built in to the walls. Everything still needs touch up paint and the closet doors are ready to be hung.

Craig also put the exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Congratulations to cousin Jason and his new wife Amy! They were married on February 13th in Punta Cana and we celebrated at their reception last night at the V. Craig was honored to give a speech and had a funny story to tell. Everyone had a great time- and I got to be the wedding photographer! I had a blast!!

Hope everyone has a great Easter!

Work is slow

Not getting a whole lot done since Craig has been working more due to the good weather (NOT a bad thing) and last weekend shearing started, so the weekend work is going to slow up as well. Here are a few pictures of what has been going on lately.

Josh came over last week and finished the plumbing and also put the new bathtub in.

The bathroom closet re-framed after being torn out with the rest of the room. I think its going to be really big!

Dad came up this week and ran all the wiring for the bathroom. Next step- drywall! I think…?

Now on to outside. TONS of flowers are popping up all over our yard! I’m so excited to see what we all have. So far from what I can see, we have daffodils, tulips, hen and chicks, maybe some lambs ear, one or two rose bushes, mums, and some other things that I cannot identify. I decided that this year I will just kind of “experiment” and see what comes up, and where it comes up, and then next year I will focus on making the yard pretty. We have two small grow boxes for gardening, which I would like to make bigger. However, this summer we will have to see where our sunny spots and shady spots are because there is a big ol pecan tree in the back yard.

Craig ripped the porch of the small shed. I kinda liked it… but I trust that everything will eventually start to look nice once all of the debris is out of the yard and we can start cleaning things up!

Here are the grow boxes. Tiny, yes. Like I said, it will only be for this year.

Easter Lilies- i think? (Below)

What a mess…

Can anyone tell me what these purple flowers are?

Can anyone tell me what these are? They are coming up all along the north side of the house.

Well as you can see we also have a lot of work to do outside- most of the flowers coming up are not in beds. I have an extreme Type A personality and need structure!!! So if anyone could give me any gardening advice I would appreciate it. We do gardening as part of my internship, but it is mostly vegetables. Speaking of the internship, only 9 weeks left!!! SINGLE DIGITS! Can’t wait for this phase of my life to be over!

First Demolition!

Today Craig and Josh started the demolition of the bathroom. My brother will be helping with all of the plumbing jobs. I tried to get a picture of the inside of the bathroom before my camera died, but caught Josh cleaning up instead. But you can still see what the bathroom looks like now.

Here is what the boys got out of the bathroom, which is pretty much everything!

I don’t have the most recent pictures of the floors, but this is pretty much what they look like after being sanded, stained, and polyed. We really like the way they turned out!

George has been doing the mudding and taping in the middle room around the stairs.

The garage looks more like a workshop for the time being! Craig has been working on making our trim for the windows, doors, and baseboards, and I have been painting them! Hopefully we will be able to put all the trim up in the three rooms that are ready by the weekend, (hopefully). . . . .

Thanks for stopping by, check back soon for more updates!!

A few updates…

Craig has been working on the steps. We thought we were going wider, but it turns out that isn’t going to be possible anymore. However, we are going to put the banisters on the outsides of the steps, and they will not go all the way up the stairs like they used to. That will save us a few inches. Thanks to my dad who came over and helped with the wiring on his lunch break one day this week. (I guess it pays to have a family full of brick layers, construction workers, plumbers, and electricians. Hope I didn’t forget anyone?)

Craig was nice enough to put a closet back underneath the steps. He didn’t want to put one in, but I think it will be a great additional storage place. The boys ripped out all of the paneling that was around the stairs and the furnace vent. The old paneling came all the way out to the door frame you can see in this picture. They dry walled around the existing furnace vent that runs upstairs, and we will be putting drywall over the exposed brick. This will open the room up just a little bit! There will be new treads and risers on the steps (I think that is what they are called?).

This is the finished color of the living room. It looks really great, and I think Craig picked a great color. We have two extra gallons if anyone is interested… This is the master bedroom with its finished paint job. Turned out just a little lighter than we thought it would, but it is going to work just fine. And here is the spare bedroom. I will call it the spare since my mom doesn’t like me calling it the “baby room.” She would rather me call it the office. We started priming some boards to put up as trim. Craig is trying to match the built-in door frames on all of the windows and other doors. The whole house, except for the kitchen, is going to have white trim. It will look sharp!

Well that is all for now! Check back next week for more updates!

Slowly but surely…

On Thursday, the small bedroom and the living room were primed for painting over the weekend.                                                      

Craig, George, and Randy also tore out the stairs… I’m glad I was not there for that! The stairs are going to be wider, but just as steep.                                                    

First touch of color- “Sweet Tea” in the living room     

Finished with the first coat, still wet.

“Blue Cosmos” in the small bedroom.

Notter came over- and we put him to work :)

Just thought I would give everyone an update of what has been going on- next we will be painting the master and finishing the second coats of paint, working on the stairs, and starting on the bathroom.

 

***The first lambs were born yesterday and today, two sets of boy/girl and a set of boys! Aren’t they cute!?

View Full Album

Workin Hard!

Miranda came over to see the house, and she got put to work!

The wallpaper border in the living room and the middle room (I don’t know what to call that room) was completely removed.

We decided to strip the paint on the 4 door frames. I think we found about 5 or 6 layers of paint on each frame and used about 1.5 gallons of extra strength paint stripper!

Thanks Randy for letting Craig use your sander! 

George and Craig hard at work on a snowy day off.  

Here is our little squirrel buddy I found crawling around in the carport! I can’t wait to have a bird/squirrel feeder in the backyard. Maybe the squirrels will take some of those pecans we’re going to have falling all fall and winter long.          

We have a few big decisions to make in the next few days: what to do with the stairs and what to do with the kitchen. We appreciate everyone’s advice and input! Hopefully this weekend we will start painting the rooms and things will start coming together.

On Sunday, Craig and I have Pre-Cana class all day long to prepare for the wedding. What a great way to spend Valentine’s Day!