Turning a House Into a Home (Part 9)

About 3 years before we bought this house, a huge dust devil came rampaging through the neighborhood (New Mexico's version of tornadoes) and tore the carport roof off and flung it up onto the house roof, leaving just the posts outlining the cement pad. Later another dust devil flung the carport roof into the front yard. 

Despite this, only a few shingles were damages and there are (surprisingly) no leaks. Still, the roof needed replacing. Oh, wait I forgot to mention the giant hail storm that hit Belen 4ish years ago. My parents got a new roof after that. It is metal and more energy efficient. Which is why we decided to put up a metal roof on this house as well. 

We went back and forth between a red or green roof, before picking the sage green.

 

At some point, a new carport roof will be built and all the brown trim and garage door will be painted a hunter green. Also the two solar panels peeking over the back have been taken down. We only got the front of the house done before baby and a long cold snap. 

In case you were wondering how you put on a sheet metal roof...

First you have to get each piece up on the roof

Then you have to line up the edge with the top and bottom of the roof, and no roof is perfectly angled.

Then someone (Blair) has to hold the piece in place while Dad  put in screws and  Mom made sure it stayed even.

Once the first piece is on, it goes much faster

The key is to use the right screws for attaching the metal to the roof and the sections to each other. The wrong screws were used on the first piece and when the spring winds hit I heard a banging. The roof was blowing off! I have no pictures because Mom, Blair and I were all making sure it got screwed back down. With the right screws this time. 

It's been to windy to finish the back side of the house, you don't want to be holding a flat piece of metal in strong winds, it would pull you right off the roof like a parachute. Soon though, we hope to get it finished before it gets hot. Roofing in the summer sucks. 

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