virtual open house

When we moved downstairs into the remodeled house in November we had every intention of hosting an open house in January. But with money being tight we haven't been able to do that. So...I decided to post some pictures of the mostly finished project so you could see it as it is now. Maybe some day we will have that open house.
The living room is part of the original house - built in the 30s. It has very low ceilings and I really didn't think I would like this room. But is is so cozy in the evenings. I am working on a mosaic tile project on the floor in front of the fireplace. Here is a picture of the fireplace that was bright red. I will put another picture of the mosaic when I get that done.

This is the opposite wall in the living room that has my grandma's piano she gave me.
The front door is in the living room but we barely seem to use it. Most everyone comes in the back door through the laundry room.

Our coffee table in this room used to be Curtis' grandparents dining room table. The legs were chopped down and it was made into a coffee table many years ago.

Here is a wall in our dining room. The dining room is a walk-through to the kitchen. Not my favorite but it works.

Our kitchen is really functional. We got these cabinets for free and they were a perfect fit! God totally took care of it!
They turned out great but painting them was a big project that I do not want to do again for a long time!
The kitchen and family room is the new part of the house. It has concrete floors and high ceilings. It is where we spend most of our time.

This is the spiral staircase I showed a long time ago. It is in the corner of the family room and leads to a TV room upstairs.

I thought I would show you the finished closet in Cody's room that Curtis and Cody designed and built themselves. It turned out pretty cool. Here is what the closet looks like lowered to the floor....

And this is what it looks like raised up into the ceiling....

I guess that is pretty cool when you are a thirteen year old boy. This closet makes mom a little nervous - I don't want anyone standing under it at all!

So...there are some of the pictures. I will show more later. You can come by any time you want and see it in person. While this house is definitely not our dream house that we left behind 2 years ago, it is still our home. We miss our old house and our old yard. I drive past it about 5 days a week taking the kids to school and it is sad to not live there anymore. It was our dream home and this one has many things about it that we would not choose - especially it's location. But God has us here for a reason and we look forward to seeing what He has in store for us. We are grateful to have a home.

Counting down the days & praying

We spent the whole weekend making a lot of dust...sanding away the old look of the wood floor. Here I am on Saturday saying goodbye the basketball floor for good.
Here it is yesterday after many layers of sanding and putting a natural sealer on it. Our house has smelled of oranges for 4 days now.
The kids have been learning a lot of different trades since we started this project. Grouting is a fun one - spreading all that "mud".

I continue to paint away at the cabinets a little at a time. Finally doing the doors in red.

Tonight we taught the kids to lay tile floor. They are doing the floor of their bathroom. I hope they will appreciate it so much more each morning they stand on it to brush their teeth.

We played christmas music tonight as we worked to get ourselves movitvated to be in this house by Christmas!

I will show you the bathroom when we get it done.

Praying also tonight for my dear friend Ashley, who lost her mother to cancer last night. We love you Shaddys!

Also, praying for our good friends the Delamarters who are celebrating the birth of their sweet baby Kate - can't wait to see her tomorrow!

changes & cabinets

To think that this is what the house downstairs looked like only last year. Man this family has gotten a lot done!

We put in heated concrete floors in the kitchen that we then stained. I think they will look pretty good in the end. This is the corner where the kitchen is now.
These are the cabinets our friends, the Morrells, gave to us. They were in great shape for as old as they are. Thanks Morrells. Thanks Dad & Mark for helping us move them home. Thanks to the Dillon's home group for sanding and prepping them for us. Thanks Mark for helping us install them last week. Wow - we have had a lot of help on this kitchen!
Here is what they look like currently since I have primed them. Tonight we will start painting them inside and out. You will have to see a finished picture later....
This is all the doors and drawers laying all over the living room as they are being primed. Notice we still have flooring like a basketball floor...that was put off until next week. Kitchen was a priority to get moving on.
My hubby has trimmed out a great post and built some cool cubbies for books and games that I am excited about. I am looking forward to this breakfast bar too.
We got enough free cabinets that we put in a built in desk across from the kitchen. You will have to stay tuned to see the cabinets painted. This was the hardest decision in a while! I could not make up my mind. Dark brown or deep red???? I finally made my decision today and the paint starts tonight! I hope I like it.

A Productive Day!

Today we were blessed by a home group from our church that came to help out for the morning. They installed shelving, started all the sanding of the kitchen cabinets, sanded windows for trim to be installed, and did a lot of painting.
Here is a group shot of them after the lunch they provided. It was so nice to have so much help. We got a lot done in the hours they were here and it definitely boosted our spirits!

Most of the interior wall painting is now complete. Here is a photo with the fireplace I started a month or so ago. We still have to do the tile in front of it. Right now it is the storage spot for our musical inspiration while we work!

This is Cody's room. He did two walls lime and two white. The contraption made of wood is actually a closet that comes down out of the ceiling with a remote. I am told this is pretty cool. We still have to paint it but it is close to being done.
Notice the window trim got installed today also. Andrew came over after the other crew left to help out for awhile.

Emma's paint and window trim was completed today also. The pink and tan looks really great together - but the basketball flooring has got to go! It should be a beautiful maple floor after this next week.

Our bedroom has a color I am liking more all the time. It has a bluish-green color on a couple walls and then the tan on the other two. Our floor is a stained heated concrete floor that I hope I will like.

It was so nice to get so much done in one day. It has been a slow but steady process and we are thinking we will meet our goal of Thanksgiving. Thank you to all the people who have blessed us so much this week. You have lifted our spirits more than you can imagine!!

the fun painting begins

The kids finally got their paint this week and started making the rooms their own. Emma is doing 2 pink and 2 tan walls in her room with all of her pink, brown and orange decor. She is really excited to unpack all of her stuff and get it back into her own space.
Cody is going for a pretty daring color. He is doing two of the walls a very bright lime green. I was a little nervous about it a first, but I really like it on the wall. He & Curtis are building a secret closet that comes down out of the ceiling since his room did not have a closet. It is going to be a "dream" for a boy I have been told. His friend that came to help paint thought the closet was the coolest thing!

We are having a work day this weekend and hope to have all interior painting complete. Then the hardwood will get refinished and the trim installed. The end is in sight!

Today I was blessed by my MIL and SIL who came and cleaned my apartment while I was gone. It was nice to have the space we are living in be clean since the remodel makes such a mess. Thanks friends and family for all the support!!

House Update

I realized it has been over six months since I updated about our remodeling project we are in the middle (please say end?!?) of. We have never remodeled a house together that we actually live in and I can now see why. Besides the added stress we currently have in our life...like shutting down a 15-year company and loss of income...we have had the joy of this additional stress on top of it. Maybe this is why my eye won't stop twitching!!

I think I may need to check into an insane asylum!

We have now finished framing the kid's future bedrooms - we added a couple closets and my daddy just completed all the wiring - praise God for Dad's who can help so much!!

Last week we purchased 900 square feet of flooring from the "Hoop" that was bought by the Russian church. I think a basketball court would look fabulous in my living room, dining room and kid's bedrooms - don't you?? We will post a picture of the finished flooring someday.
There was a fireplace that was painted very bright red in the living room - so the kids and I primed it this week to say goodbye to the red!
You will have to stay tuned to see the completed fireplace - I will be painting it the same color as the front door and the chimney outside. Hopefully that will be done before Curtis puts the flooring in front of it - I had better get going!!

Curtis had this very cool idea to write all over the sub flooring. We are putting lots of scriptures and sayings we want to declare for our family. Emma has had a lot of fun with this and when Cody returns from camp next week he can add a bunch.

Emma thought we should put our family mission statement right inside the front door - good idea guys! It is nice to know we are covered in the word of God under our feet every day!

I am confident we will all survive this season and look back with "fond" memories. We will definitely be able to say God provided - which if for nothing else, makes it all worth it!