Working in the Garden

This week we are finally getting into the 80's-90's for highs and the flowers we planted are wilting. Thankfully today with the help of our children the sprinkler system is back in action. However we are still missing the timer and the 4 way splitter ... I'm sure they are somewhere are here.

2018! Finally

So thank you for allowing me 2 years to update this blog.

I'm finally up to the current year.

Let's see what happened at the beginning of this year:.

Continued progress with the master bathroom.

January 2018 Phillip kept plugging away at electrical and drywall.  Below is a picture of the light switch and the green (moisture resistant) drywall next to the shower/tub area. 

Trust and believe we tried to find a better spot, but as you walk in the bathroom the door opens to the left, so we didn't think putting the lightswitch behind the door was logical.  On the right is the sole heating vent for the bedroom and bathroom, so running electrical thru that wasn't an option either.  So it's directly on the wall across from the door.

The bathroom is still waiting on mud/tape and painting, but all the elements of a functional bathroom are there.  Lights work, plumbing works, floors are safe and it's insulated and warm.  After all that we've been thru with this house... it's all I necessarily need right now anyways.

2017: Fall/Winter also known as Kitchen and Baths

So.  

Mid-July 2017.  I quit my job.  The job wasn't bad. It just wasn't a good fit for me with all the overtime required.  I tried transferring within the company, but after 3 months it wasn't working. I left in good standing and started on the next chapter of my life.  I regret nothing.

That being said.  By Fall 2017 I was sick and tired of my house.  I didn't like the master bathroom.  It didn't function. It didn't have a proper floor. It was in half-progress construction since we demo'd it way back when we bought the house!  So I encouraged my husband to help me make so progress in the areas I really wanted updating.

Below you see me doing tile work.  Simple 57 cent tiles from Lowes.  

I'm not fancy.  The area my house is in wouldn't support super fancy for resell...so it was a win-win.

I got my flooring!!!

While I did the flooring. Phillip got the electrical updated so that I can have lights.  He finished insulating and did the very basic of drywalling.  We still need to finish mud and taping...but so far I'm satisfied.

The other part of my house I wasn't a fan of was the kitchen.  Green counters, greasy brown cabinets.....tiles that could pop off the wall at a moment's notice!  Yeah... this was necessary.

Using the same tiles from the bathroom we re-tiled the backsplash and bought a cheap white countertop from IKEA. We also painted all the cabinets white.   Once again our house is in a working class neighborhood close to the highway.  Laminate and basic porcelain tile is perfectly expected.  So we went for it.

Until Phillip somehow found a different white paint can and now 1 cabinet is completely different color then the other ones.  Note it doesn't help that we had to buy a new cabinet since we also took out the weird peninsula splitting the kitchen in half and the new cabinet doesn't match other cabinets...but now it's also a different color.

We had a good laugh before we eventually found the other can and I.  Let me repeat.  I...fixed the painting mistake and repainted the new cabinet.

As part of the re-design of the kitchen we took out a weird pantry like cabinet and low and behold the wall had a metal plate screwed to the wall that clearly was were a gas range could vent out.  That was ALL I needed to know.  I was QUICK to go to Nebraska Furniture Mart and switch my electric stove we bought when we first bought the house to a new black and stainless steel gas stove.  Phillip and I tiled the back and worked on fixing up the wall to make a nice clean galley kitchen that works for a growing family.

This is the before and "now".  We still need to paint the cabinet over the vent hood and paint the kitchen walls but I feel like the kitchen is now more open.  Less filled with cabinets that didn't work and chopped up the kitchen and it just feels lighter and brighter.

We still have kitchen painting and hardware to finish up along with trimwork and dozens of tiny items, but I can't complain.  Being off of work allowed me the much needed time to do the projects that have been sitting on the to-do list for years.