Hiatus is over.

The blog hiatus is officially over. I tried to recruit a guest blogger, but I guess he was too busy chasing after a certain 1 1/2 year old to add any posts. I cannot blame him.

I feel like a lot has happened in the past (almost) month, and yet I don't really remember what. I need to go through what pictures we do have and get some updates going. Something to look forward to.

In the meantime, we have a super fun summer planned and I cannot wait! A baby shower this weekend for Baby Jones, a vacation to the Dells to celebrate my parent's 40th wedding anniversary later this month, swimming in the pool with Ellie (which reminds me I need to see if we can still sign up for swimming lessons in August), Baby Jones' arrival in July, the State Fair in August and then we are already into fall! And getting the house ready to put on the market. Busy, busy, busy. I cannot wait!

It is finally done.

Two months after we built it, the shed is finally painted and compete. It is a lot taller than our old one, which gives Nick more room for hanging things (and it has a loft area). Nick must like it, because after Eleanor goes to bed he likes to spend time working on his bikes in the shed. Good think it is getting used!

The Bike House

It is a lot more fun to say that we built a new house for Nick’s bikes than to say we needed to replace the shed in the backyard before we go to put the house on the market in the next couple of years.

So… NICK’S BIKES GOT A NEW HOUSE! Although the base size equates to the same number of square feet, we did gain some head space (and a loft) with the new shed, which I am sure we can put to use in one way or another. Two weeks ago we (mainly Nick) undertook the fun task of tearing down the shed in the backyard. Then this past weekend we started putting up the new shed.

First, a BIG thanks to Eleanor’s Godparents, Mike and Megan, for watching her all day Saturday so both Nick and I could focus on the building without having to take time outs to take care of a little one.

Second, I cannot believe that Nick and I put up the shed with just the two of us. Mainly, I cannot believe that I could help enough (or Nick could make up for what I was lacking in ‘man’ strength) to achieve some of the feats we did.

Third, another BIG thanks to Nick’s step-father, Jeff, for lending us some very useful tools to make the project go a lot faster. For anyone that thinks they can put up a shed without an air nailer and just a hammer and regular nails- you are crazy! Here are a few pictures of the not so fun venture.

The shed in pieces: aka the Lumber

The first couple of steps: leveling the foundation, the floor and the start of the sides

The sides are up! They were not light in weight.

We are supposed to get boards for a roof all the way up there! That was the part I was DREADING!

Day two included our very own Supervisor!

She watched from her comfy seat in the Bumbo almost the entire day.

(Thanks again Eric and Jess, that thing is a life-saver!)

Every once in a while the Supervisor required some attention from Daddy.But she let him get his work done (putting up the tar paper).

Tar paper means we did get the boards up on the roof- way to go us!

The shed just a few minor steps away from it current stage. Man that thing is HUGE for a house our size!

In total, I think we spent around 44 ½ man hours between the two of us constructing the shed this weekend. We still need to shingle and paint, but that will have to wait a few days (we need a break). Nick and I are both sore today- but we accomplished a lot for one weekend!

Spare Bedroom #1: AKA The Dog's Room

After

It is amazing how we have a 4 bedroom house and all the rooms are fully occupied- we don't even have any kids! The bedroom below used to be known as the 'red room' for the imfamous red carpet. It is now known as the dog's room since it is where they spend their free time when we are not home. In addition, it is used as the computer room, Kara's closet and random overflow (which we tend to have a lot of around the house at this point.) All this room needed was some new blinds (and still needs curtains), new carpet and a new coat of paint. By far one of the easiest rooms to remodel in the house.

The Living Room

Before

Before

After

Onto the next room- the living room/hallway. We don’t have a picture of the hallway yet, but we will work on that. In the living room we changed out the ceiling fan/light fixture in the main room and above the entry way. We were tired of the old 70’s looking waffle fans and decided and upgrade was due. We painted all the walls, ceiling, and put in new carpet, as well as vinyl in the entryway. We also changed out the window covering over the big window and added wall decorations. The one you can see is a collage of pictures we took on our honeymoon, an everyday reminder of the fun we had in Antigua. This room wasn’t bad to do, although the light fixture over the entry way was not the most fun- that is how we spent our 4th of July weekend.

The Bathroom

What was supposed to be a change in flooring and paint turned into a bigger project! In July we set aside a weekend to replace some of the drywall that was bad behind the toilet and recaulk the tub. Little did we know that our 4 hour project would soon turn into a 24 hour project that would take 2 full days and prevent us from showering the entire time! After it was all said and done we removed the old tub, replaced the sub floor, and put in an entirely new tub. We also became amateur plumbers (not by choice) and decided that we would NEVER replace a tub on our own again. We now have new paint, a new tub, new flooring, new baseboard and pretty much a whole new bathroom. We don’t have before pictures on this room, but do have some action shots and the final product. The action shot is when we were replacing the tub.

After

Before

The Improved House!

It is our goal this week to ‘unveil’ a room a day. We will try to show before and after, with some progress pictures as we have them available. Get excited- we are!

Let’s Dig- AGAIN!

The hole they dug to access the sewer line. If you look closely you can see one of the holes in the line.

One of the issues with the sewer line- a HUGE root that had grown into the line. The picture does not do it justice.

We thought we were finally getting somewhere on the house issues, but we were wrong. The same day we got new carpet we also discovered that the sewer line was backing up again. Luckily nothing got on the carpet and we were proactive verses reactive on the situation. On Monday and Tuesday of this week we had the diggers out again and they proceeded to dig up more of the sewer line. We found another issue and it has been now been replaced. We also had them run a camera down the line to where it meets the city line and everything looks good (we should have done this the first time around, but we cannot go back and change that.) From what we can tell, that problem is fixed.

Also, Lowes came out and did some touch up work on the house so it looks better as well! Now we just have to get everything put away and the baseboard in.

With that big of a root growing in the line we are not sure how anything passed through!

Lowes Professionals- are you sure???

We just purchased new flooring for the house from Lowes. While they claim to have professional installers, we beg to differ. Not only did the installers completely bang up the recently painted walls and baseboards (more than normal wear and tear that we expected) WE had to point out the problems to them to get them to notice. They also managed to tear the weather stripping off the front door, and knock off the corner protector between the living room and kitchen (which resulted in them totally wreaking the paint job on the corner as well).

Could this lack of care and professionalism be a result of having a drink while working? Maybe- because we found a beer can in the just emptied garbage as well (along with an energy drink container that matched another energy drink container found in the house). And while they deny the drinking on the job- I think it is a HUGE coincidence that a beer can ended up in our garbage on the same day they were working on the house (and it isn’t a beer Nick or I would drink, nor have we noticed our neighbors walking down the street with a beer and then choosing our garbage to put it in). They were also kind enough to consider us their ‘mothers’ and leave their lunch/snack wrappers around the house.

In additional, the ONE room we asked them to do on the first day didn’t get done and they did other rooms instead (which meant moving everything we had cleared out of one room back into the room before laying the carpet). I have already made a call to Lowes (who contracts the installers) and we will see how much gets fixed. They claim to have guaranteed satisfaction and they have not achieved that yet.

Our recommendation- stay away from Lowes ‘professional’ installers because in our opinion they are not worth the hassle no matter how inexpensive they are.

On the positive note, the flooring is now in and we can try to get back to normal. Once we get things reorganized we will post pictures (maybe as early as tonight)! We also hope to add a few pictures of Nick attempting to play Wii Fit in the newly remodeled basement.

The drywall is up and we're ready for texture!

The drywall is up. The mud is dry. It's time to texture! We have a date with the texturer either tomorrow or Thursday. Then it will be on to paint. Which we've already begun in the downstairs bedroom. I do believe the hardest part is now behind us. Although there is quite a mess to cleanup now. That drywall dust gets everywhere. It feels good to finally start wrapping things up. Maybe soon things will get back to normal. I'm ready to have the house back. Here are some pictures of where we are at. The first one is the downstairs living room, ready for texture. The second is the downstairs bedroom, one coat of primer already on the wall!

Work continues on the basement

We are making progress on the basement. The drywall is up and the durabond coating is on. We are looking forward to a weekend full of sanding and mudding. OK not really looking forward to it, but looking forward to making progress and getting it done. Hopefully by the end of the weekend the drywall will be finished and ready for texture. We might even have the downstairs bedroom painted since it doesn't have any texture. The end is in sight, but there is still plenty of work to do.

Here is what the basement looks like today:

More than what we anticipated

We started out Saturday with the intention of replacing of drywall in the bathroom, uncaulk and recaulk of the tub---- not a fun project, but manageable. As we began the adventure we were quick to realize that it was not going to be as easy as we had hope. Two days later, we had replaced the sub-floor under the toilet and the tub, and put in an entirely new tub! We are still working on the drywall and hope to have it done soon. Nick and I are getting lots of hands-on experience and I can now say that I have replaced a tub.

And now we have a beautiful lawn ornament- if you can call it that.

Another weekend, another project.

Someday the house will be finished... Until then, we continue to spend our weekends working on it. This past weekend we starting putting in pavers in the backyard. This way Kara can walk from the deck to the shed without having to watch out for doggie landmines (when Nick is behind in his weekly cleaning schedule.) We are almost done and hope to finish them up tomorrow night. Thus far they look really straight (Nick's job) and very level (Kara's job.)

Next up... new ceiling fans, cabinet hardware and painting the doors. Then back to the basement again. Now this is what we call the honeymoon period.

The Painting Continues...

The living room/entryway/hallway are now painted a nice shade of dark tan! Nick and I spent a good portion of the weekend cleaning the walls, painting and painting another coat. I must say, the new color makes a huge difference in how the space looks, and I am very happy with the result. It also means we get to put stuff up on the wall and get rid of the ’70 window shades, which helps make the place feel like a home verses just a house I live in.

The other fun news is that there are only two more ‘whole’ rooms we have left to paint! They are both fairly small and I have already told Nick I would do the bedroom on my own (once we get all of the basement ‘extras’ out of it and back in the basement)! After that, we have the basement to fix up again and hopefully re-carpet the upstairs. Then we can sit back and relax for once. It is much needed since we started this home improvement kick a year ago with the deck and some outside work. More updates to come soon (and hopefully the end of the home improvements for a while.)