Turning a House Into a Home (Part 8)

I skimmed through my last couple of posts about the house last night to see what needed to be caught up - and I was surprised with how much has gotten done while we've been on break! At least this post and the next will be playing catch up.

We had a last burst of energy, right before Jack was born, looking at all the pictures we got a lot done the week before!

We got all the doors painted and hung on the bathroom, our room and Jack's room. We still need to spray paint the handles silver or replace them, but that is far down the list.

Remember the giant hole in the living room floor?

This one?

Blair and dad mixed up bags and bags of concrete, Mom ran to the store for more.

Mixing concrete is heavy, hard work. Blair and Dad still complain about the mountain in the floor, even after all the work they did. Still it is a lot better. I don't have much more to say, There isn't much more to say. That little bit took several hours of work and 10 bags of cement! 

Summarized: 4 Months of Life

I'm back!!

It's been 4 months, but we are now starting to rock along on the house again. First, though;

Jack was born Nov 16th after three days of labor. He was 8lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. By his one month appointment he was 12 lbs and at his two month appointment he was 15 lbs and 24 inches long! Now he is around 19 or 20 lbs and just the happiest little boy!

A week after Jack was born it was already Thanksgiving, and then, suddenly, Christmas. With Jack's birth, and the holidays we decided to take a break from renovating. Jack met his great-grandparents over Thanksgiving and I tackled one of my New Years resolutions early by cooking a 4 course meal for a fancy family Christmas Eve. Nearly every recipe was a new one, and I'll be sharing a few winners here.

For New Years Jack fell asleep before 11pm and Blair and I toasted in 2014 with a baby sleeping between us and a couple of glasses of sparkling cider. January saw Blair going back to school, us going to church with Jack. In February my mom and took Jack and I too Oklahoma so our extended family could meet him.

5 generations sitting right there!

 In March, Blair turned 30 and his brother and girlfriend came out to help us celebrate. Then Blair had spring break and we did absolutely nothing, which was awesome! We went out one night to a Broadway show thanks to my aunt and uncle, and had sushi. Other than that we just chilled.

That pretty much sums up the past 4 months. It's been a whirlwind and a time-stop of love and fun with our little one.

With spring coming on we are getting back into working on the house, and I've got posts to catch up on of what we've gotten done here and there. Check back soon! 

Nursery Tour (Turning A House into a Home) Part 7

The past month has been busy. My due date was November 3rd. I figured my son would be late, but it's the 14th and still  no sign of him. I've stayed busy, the kitchen is nearly complete. the living room is at a good place and several other big projects have been completed - not the least of which is that Blair and I are now fully moved into our house.

Here's hoping Jack comes tomorrow so we can bring him home to the room we've made for him, it's been filled with some pretty special things:

Before....

We turned our consignment store find from this, into this:

After

The giant bear is something Blair had to have for Jack :) the bumper with the forest animals and the crib skirt were made by my sister who is very excited to become an Auntie.

More crib decoration handmade by Auntie Casey!

Snuggle buddies

The polar bear is from me and Blair and the crochet bear is from my sister-in-law, Ashley, she also made him two quilts!

Quilt #1

Quilt #2

Oh and my mom made the best mobile ever for Jack:

 
The animals match the ones my sister put on the bumper :)

So that is Jack's little crib and love that went into making it!

As for the rest of the room we took a dresser given to us by my sister and her husband and ...

Before

After

We painted it the same color and filled it up with baby clothes and diapers :

Blair hung the art work my aunt made for Jack's room above the dresser and I found the cute hamper at Wal-mart for $9! We tossed a changing pad on top and called it good.

Remember the giant shelves in the living room from the demolition?

We up-cycled some into this:

Baby books and extra storage!

So there you go! A picture filled tour of most of Jack's room, we have a rocking chair in one corner and a few pictures to hang up, but its all ready for our little boy!

Turning a House into a Home Part 6

Since there are plans in the making for guest posts etc. I won't go into too much detail, but there are two things about home-ownership that ring true; when something goes wrong it is all on you, and when it rains it pours. 

So when turning on the gas at our house is becoming an ordeal like getting the electricity on, the septic pump at my parent's house goes on the fritz and insurance company decides they don't want to insure a house that is in the process of being remodeled... Well it pours. Then we find out that that the previous owners vented the dryer into the attic. So there is dryer lint from 40 years adding to the insulation and fire hazards to be fixed. Oh, and the living room floor? Check it out: 

8 cubic feet of concrete will need to be poured to level the floor, which is fine, but in the smashing dad and Blair discovered that whoever poured the foundation of the house neglected to use re-bar, at all. 

However, all of those fun issues are posts for later, for now where we are even with with the bumps in the road:

Plumbing on the kitchen sink taken care of

Kitchen sink area sheet-rocked

Cabinets are now painted and awaiting counter tops.

Trim being painted

Blair chiseling up the old glue in the entry way

The beginnings of the hole in the living room

 Laying the floors:

 In going through all of the pictures I've taken, I realize I have a lot more to share... Tomorrow I'll post what is done in the nursery, it isn't finished, but it is getting there.

Turning a House into a Home Part 5

It's October, not sure when that happened. A lot took place on the house front, so much so that I wasn't able to get the greatest pictures, but these before and after snapshots will at least show how much we've gotten done!

Jack's room!

We should actually have Jack's room all put together except for the details after tomorrow! He is due in a month so I guess we should get to work on it. In other news I am LOVING how the floors are looking! We will be using that wood in every room except for the kitchen and baths. I'll have to take a picture of the tile we are putting down in the kitchen.

Quick snapshot of the kitchen make-over

The cabinets are all done and the ceiling and part of the walls are painted. We'll be putting up beadboard for the backsplash and the counter tops will be solid white as well. Getting the sink and the cabinet it goes on all built (the original was was rotted through, ew) is the "big" project to get finished. The floor should be a breeze.

Middle Bath progress

I forgot to take a picture of the master bath today, but here is the middle bath, we just need to get the top half of the shower replaced and the vanity painted and re-installed and it is done, you can't see it, but the floor in here has already been replaced.

Sneak peek at what will be going in into Jack's room tomorrow!

The weather is getting lovely here

Turning a House into a Home Part 4

We finally got the power turned on at our house today. It has been a long drawn-out process that was much impeded by red-tape. And then they didn't put a work order into their system after saying it was there to actually get a crew out until yesterday. 

While the rains last week finally cooled it off it has been HOT working on the house, and humid. And there is a limited amount that can be accomplished without things like power tools, which require power. 

And apparently you can't get electricity turned on without a licensed electrician, then the State inspector and then the power company's approval which took three weeks and then they didn't turn in the paperwork! I called and was told nothing was done and we needed papers from those three people and I about had a coronary. Thankfully after multiple calls and time spent on hold I found someone who knew about the paperwork. Then all I had to do was ask - again for it to be turned on. At least they came out the next day. 

 

A quick recap - its almost time for before and after pictures!

The master bedroom has been painted, walls and ceiling

We now have the hallway and the three bedrooms painted and all that is left to do in them is to lay the floor. Now that we have power we can start on that. 

The laminate flooring in the master bath being removed.

Once Blair removed (in some places chipping off dime size pieces at a time, thanks babe!) the old laminate flooring in the two bathrooms, my brother was able to fix the plumbing on the sink in the master bath, install a new toilet and move the old one into the hall bathroom. 

New toilet and flooring in the master bath

Then my dad and uncle laid new laminate and we started painting the walls white in the bathroom.

We might have half the house completely done by the end of this week now that we have power!

Demolition Day Two (Turning a House into a Home Part 3)

Day two of utter destruction closed with all popcorn ceilings stripped down (full tutorial coming tomorrow) and carpet removed from the bedrooms, the kitchen laminate ripped up. Basically anything that could be taken up or down is now out of the house, except for the bathrooms and we are ready to start making it our own.

Working on ceiling

Ripping up carpet in the bedrooms

Finishing touches in the dining room

Carpet is out

Removing the tacking

Removing final shelves left in the house by the previous owners

Checking the state of the slab in the living room

There is some scaling, and cracks

Office is clear

Baby's room is ready to go

This will mean multiple trips to the dump

Chipping up the kitchen flooring

Will have to work on removing the glue in the kitchen once we have power