Projects: Kitchen Part 2!

Kitchen Part 2

I think we have improvement ADD.

We start a project and get it almost finished and

then decide we are sick of that project and work on another one. 

In our defense, in this case we decided since it's getting warmer outside, that we'd focus on the outside and finish the kitchen when it gets cold again.

And since the kitchen is usable again, it works.

Also, even though the trim isn't up yet, I LOVE the way the cabinets look!

So fresh and clean!

I think the white even makes the ugly blue counter tops a little less ugly.

Some day we'll have another picture of these beautiful cabinets with equally beautiful counter tops,

all in good time.

Projects: Kitchen! part 1

Yep, you read that correctly! It's finally time to update the kitchen! Ironically one of the things we disliked the most about the house is one of the last things we are changing! Those blue counter tops! Funny, huh? But that's okay, it's going to happen!

We decided to start with the cabinets since if we spilled paint on the ugly counters it wouldn't be a big deal. We went back and forth on whether we should paint or stain the cabinets. We found a stain that we liked, and tested it on the furnace cover door since it's not close to the kitchen so if it was a total disaster we could just rebuilt it or something. We liked the stain but then decided it was too dark and that it would make the kitchen too dark. We also found a more durable paint that is supposed to be really good for cabinets. And since we both liked the look of white cabinets better we decided to go with that. The reason we were hesitant is because we painted our bathroom cabinets and it has already started to chip in a few places, but this new paint is different. So we'll see.. here's to hoping for the best!

Sweet Girl and I took down the upper cabinet doors one day (we decided to do the kitchen in stages so we don't have to have our entire kitchen in boxes for forever). Then we boxed up the items in the kitchen. It was nice to do this because it helped me declutter some of our cupboards!

My Sweet Husband and I started sanding the cabinet doors and the cabinets themselves. Sweet Girl is a champ because she slept through two sanders and a shop vac going at once! Thank heavens for a deep sleeper!

Then the Friday and Saturday before Valentine's Day we started painting the cabinets. Thanks to the help of my parents and my sister (both for painting and babysitting). We decided to use some of the less expensive white paint we had left over from other house projects for the insides of the cabinets while we used the better stuff for the outsides. And it looks SO much better! I love the white! It makes our kitchen look so much brighter!

Before

Half Way

 (sorry for the odd angle of this picture, I'm trying to hide some of our hoarder-lookingness..

lol yes, I made that word up)

Stay tuned for the finished product!

Projects: Windows

I went back in my posts and found pictures of our home so I could get a before picture.

It's really fun to do that sometimes because it helps me remember how far we've come and it makes me so grateful that we are where we are now!

So walk with me down memory lane.

Ahh... the Blueberry.. lol!

After the eves were painted and we put up the rain gutters.

At the beginning of October we replaced our windows.

By we I mean my sweet husband and both of our fathers,

I helped a little, but it was mostly holding it in place while they did the hard stuff.

I think the new windows look SO much better!

And the best part about the new windows is that they keep out the outside air!

Don't all windows do that?

The answer... No. When the wind would blow one of our old windows would let in so much air that the curtains would move! Now, this does not happen! YAY!

 Now you can see how long it took me to actually take pictures of the windows because that cute little pine tree was our Christmas tree! We planted it (more on that later)!

 We did the windows General Conference Weekend.

We had fun with our awesome guests! And they were so sweet to help us with the windows too!

 What a lucky girl to get to spend time with both grandmas at the same time!

I love that both of our families get along and we can spend time together!

Projects: Master Bathroom

We finished our master bathroom a few months ago,

I finally am getting around to posting about it!

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

We're in the process of replacing the windows, 

so I don't have the window covering made for it yet.

Another post for another day!

Since I'm not sure if I have the before pictures (because of the hard drive crash), I'll list the changes.

What we replaced/remodeled:

1. Tiled the floor (the same tile as the other bathroom)

2. Refinished the cabinets and counter tops

3. Replaced the mirrors and added trim around the mirrors

4. Painted the walls

5. Replaced baseboards

6. Tiled the shower; replaced the door, shower base, and fixtures

7. Replaced sink and other bathroom fixtures

8. Replaced medicine cabinet

9. Replaced light fixtures

10. Replaced the toilet

11. Fixed the pocket door and replaced the hardware on it

So glad it's finished!

Projects: Front Yard

Since the weather has been nice we decided to take advantage of it 

and Sweet Husband's off Friday and worked in the yard.

We plan to do more work in the yard throughout the summer,

but for now we are working on curbs around the lawn.

I've watched my Dad work on cement all my life,

I guess some of it sank in.

I really enjoyed it! 

Although, I'm sure if it was a bigger area it would have been a bit more stressful and difficult. 

 When Sweet Girl wasn't sleeping she was really good and played under the shade of our umbrella!

She loves being outside!

 By the second day she started to get a little restless,

so thankfully I'm pretty good at multitasking... lol!

Sweet Husband did most of the work, we had a friend who helped for a bit Saturday morning.

After that Sweet Husband mixed the concert, poured it, set it, finished it when I wasn't able to help.

I think it turned out pretty well!

We still need to do the other side, but we'll get it done soon.

This summer we hope to pour sidewalks all around the house and the lawn in the backyard, plant some more trees and other plants, and grow another garden (a salsa garden).

The Little Blue Truck... Home Depot Style

I'm way behind.

I will catch up, I promise.

But before that happens I want to share a funny story.

If we are friends on Facebook and/or Instagram, 

you probably already know at least part of this story.

And if you know me, especially if you are one of my college roommates,

you know that I can't tell a story without telling the back story too.

So I was born in a small town...

just kidding, 

we don't have to go that far back.

It all started with our shower door.

We are remodeling our master bathroom at the moment, I've mentioned that.

Well, we were just about finished with the tile in the shower

and started looking into a new shower door.

The old one was gross and I think we had already disposed of it.

We went to Home Depot and looked at the options there.

Nothing really caught our eye,

we noticed that we could special order a door;

however, we figured it would be way out of our price range.

So we went home and explored other options.

One day my Sweet Husband decided to look into it a little more,

to make a long story short we realized we could get one we liked for a decent price.

Since the special order desk is only open during business hours,

Sweet Girl and I got the privilege of going to order it.

It was a Monday.

A lady helped us. I showed her the series and model number of the door we wanted.

She looked and looked through her magazine and found one that was "close".

I mentioned that we probably didn't want close...

I mean I had the actual model number!

So, she tells me that she has to get a quote on the price,

mind you the sign we found it on.. in the store.. had the price right next to it!

But I figured it was probably just the way they did it.

So she looks for the form she needs.

Can't find it anywhere.

Calls all around the store.

No forms.

Calls the company,

it's all online now.

She has no idea how to do it.

She takes down my info and says she'll call back with the quote.

Wonderful, we'd been there an hour and Sweet Girl had been SO good, but was starting to loose it.

So we leave.

Two days later, still no call.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure she's getting a quote on the wrong door.

It's now Wednesday, still no call.

So I call, they tell me they'll have her call me when she gets in.

She calls, it's almost $100 more than we thought.

Thanks but no thanks.

But then we think, it's probably the wrong door.

So Friday, I go in again.

I talk to a different guy.

This time I have the actual picture of the sign my Sweet Husband looked at

and I found it in the store so I could show them if need be.

I show the picture to the worker.

He looks it up on the computer and within 5 minutes he has the correct door

and the correct price!

YAY! We order it and go on our merry way.

Ten days go by, the sign says 3-7,

my phone rings and it's Home Depot.

The worker says something like this,

"So I'm looking at your order here, which one is the height

67 1/8 inches or 34 inches?"

In my head I thought, "Why would I want a 34" tall shower door!?"

LOL!

But I was nice and told her that the 67 1/8" was the correct height.

I also ask her when the door will be in, since it has already taken so long.

She calls back later that day to tell me that it will be on the 16th (mind you that is 17 days away).

After about ten phone calls,

a few questions,

several ship date changes,

and a small refund

our new ship date was April 6th.

April 6th, 7th, and 8th

No door.

No call.

We decide to give them the benefit of the doubt,

it was just the ship date.

On the 8th I call.

The worker calls the company.

The company says,

"My computer says the ship date has changed the 16th but it doesn't say why."

Riiiiight.

Oh well, not much we can do. We're a little annoyed, but that won't change anything.

We decide to work on other projects.

April 15th

THE DOOR IS IN!

The worker calls to tell me that the door is in and ready to be picked up.

She also asks when I'm going to be there.

I tell her either later that day or the next day.

Well, it was Wednesday. My Sweet Husband and I both have callings that have us booked for Wednesdays and I needed our truck for the evening, so we decide that I will pick it up Thursday. 

April 16th... aka yesterday

I'm excited to go pick up the door, but I figure I probably won't be able to lift it myself and I had a dentist appointment so I wouldn't be home for a while during the day so I didn't want to just leave it in the back of the truck while I was gone. So I decide that I will go after the appointment but before my Sweet Husband gets home. But I have this nagging feeling like I should just wait until my Sweet Husband gets home. I shake it off because I told him I would do it and I like to do the things I tell him I will do for him. He does so much for our family, running errands for him is an easy thing I can do for him. And part of me thinks that I'm just being a chicken because I'll have to ask for help.

The time is 4 PM.

I load up Sweet Girl.

I drive through town, rather than take the freeway to get there.

(I was trying to see what would be the best route for driving back home with the shower door and a new toilet in the back.)

The truck seems bumpier than normal, but I figure it was just because we went over the train tracks and we don't usually go that way.

A man in our ward pulled into the parking lot just before me.

I watch him park.

I'm headed to the parking spots in the loading area.

Just as I'm passing the front doors of Home Depot

it feels like I hit a GIANT pot hole.

We bump along,

I say to Sweet Girl,

"I think we just blew a tire."

I remember what my mom told me to do if I ever blew a tire.

So I slow down and try to pull over.

I stop and lean out to take a look at the tire.

But there is NO tire in sight!

I get out of the truck,

just then that man in our ward rolls the tire to me and says,

"I think you lost your tire."

LOL! "Yep, it looks that way!," I laugh,

the quote from Sister Hinckley kept going through my head

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” 
― Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I'm shaking a little,

the man in our ward tells me he'll call his AAA for me.

I call my Sweet Husband.

He says, "Don't call AAA, I'll be there before them."

He also tells me to get Sweet Girl out of the truck and put the hazards on.

Sweet Girl and I go into the store so we don't have to stand by the truck.

As we walk around the store I just keep laughing to myself.

While we are looking at the toilets my Sweet Husband calls to ask exactly where the truck is.

In the middle of the call,

my phone dies.

I'm not sure what to do at this point,

but I decide that I'll hang out by the front doors so I can see him when he pulls up.

Really, there wasn't any way he would miss the truck.

We were right to the left of the front doors.

But I didn't want to miss him when he got there.

After a little bit of small talk with some workers who came to see the truck,

I notice my Sweet Husband's old vanpool van pull up.

We have a friend in the vanpool,

so I go to see if I can borrow his cell phone to call my Sweet Husband back in case he needed to tell me something else.

Sweet Husband is actually talking to our friend when Sweet Girl and I walk up.

A bit later my brother-in-law also shows up.

I felt so loved, my Sweet Husband made sure that we had people to help us and those people actually did! I was so grateful!

As I'm telling them what happened, I'm laughing, and insist that they see it.

It didn't take much convincing.

Our friend goes home shortly after this, because there isn't much we can do without either a tow truck or a jack and tools. My brother-in-law took Sweet Girl and I home with the plan to get the jack and tools and spare tire. But just before we get home my Sweet Husband got to the truck. He decides we just need to get it towed home. My sister and brother-in-law agree to watch Sweet Girl for me so I can go back and be with my Sweet Husband and pick up the stuff I went for originally. They also let me borrow their truck, since our's was most definitely out of commission. 

What we figure happened with the truck is that the lug nuts came loose,

then the tire started jiggling and wiggling around,

over time the holes where the posts come through the rim got bigger and bigger until the lug nuts slipped through and some wiggled off,

until we lost them all and the tire fell off!

We ended up following the tow truck home and eating dinner before we picked up our stuff, or tried to.

We go to the customer service desk and show them our paperwork,

they bring up the shower door.

My Sweet Husband looks at it and says that it isn't what we ordered.

After more checking,

it most certainly is NOT our shower door.

In fact, this is a bathtub door, there are two doors. We ordered a shower door, or in other words, one door.

The part number is all wrong.

I just keep laughing,

I couldn't stop.

What a day.

We get a refund,

get our toilet and a few other things we needed and head home

To find that my sweet sister and brother-in-law have even put our Sweet Girl to bed! What awesome babysitters!

We change into pjs and decide to watch a show and relax after the crazy day.

I finally plug in my phone.

I have a message.

It's from Home Depot.

They actually do have our shower door.

The tags got mixed up.

LOL!

I call back and say I'll come in Friday (today).

I went in today,

paid for the door again,

picked it up,

and my Sweet Husband is installing it as I type this!

What an adventure!  

Extra Shout Outs to my Sweet Husband, our friend, and my sister and brother-in-law!

You all are awesome!

Thank you for helping us!

Also, I am so grateful that we weren't on the freeway when the tire came off,

it could have been SO much worse.

But thankfully it wasn't.

Thankfully it was just something we could laugh about.

Heavenly Father was definitely watching over us!

And a shout out to you if you made it all the way to the end of it.

Sorry, it was SUPER long!

Nunchuck Skills

Okay, so not nunchuck skills. We've been busy little bees. My sweet husband has been honing his tiling skills. He tiled our shower in our master bathroom. Now he's working on tiling the floor. 

I've been channeling my inner Sawdust Girl.

I decided we needed another bookcase because our current one is overflowing!

So looked at her website and found a plan for one I liked.

I made mine a little taller and decided against the fancy bottom piece, I like things pretty simple.

(My sweet husband has helped me some too, mostly with the big cuts.) 

And last but not least, I've finally started learning to play the violin!

This is a skill I've wanted to have for a long time.

I borrowed my Grandmother's violin about 5 years ago and I finally found a teacher!

My friend (who also doubles as my visiting teacher) is my teacher.

Another friend and I were discussing how we wanted to learn how to play 

and how that was on each of our resolutions lists for the year.

My friend asked my other friend and she agreed,

so we are taking lessons together before church each Sunday!

It's been really fun so far!

This was from our second lesson. 

Projects: Master Bathroom

Lest you think we've stopped doing home improvement projects since the baby,

behold the master bathroom!

Okay, let's be honest, most of the work has been done by my sweet husband,

but I did help with the painting and glazing of the cabinet.

I forgot to take a before picture, but they were stained brown before and the counter was an ugly pretend white and gold swirled marble. 

This bathroom has needed to be updated since we moved in, if you couldn't tell,

but since no one but my sweet husband and I really ever used it, it got put pretty low on the to do list. And now is its turn! YAY! 

Obviously we aren't finished yet,

we still have to redo the floors, replace the toilet, redo the shower, re-install the sink and back splash, and possibly do something with the mirrors.

But here is a close up of the refinished counter top and cabinet.

My sweet husband did such a good job!

He's so handy!

I'm one lucky girl!

Projects: Misc and thoughts

I thought I would share a few miscellaneous projects I've done recently.

This first one my sweet husband helped me with because I couldn't get the router bit out by myself,

and I was up to my ears in red fabric... lol aka working on the bench cover.

I have some seasonal decorations I put in this frame, but I haven't finished the ones for spring and summer.

So it tends to hang empty for those months.

One day I was reading my scriptures and a conference talk or something and I thought, "ooh, I really like that quote, I should make it into a sign or something and put it on my wall."

Then a little while later I thought the same thing, by the end of reading I had like 5 quotes I really liked.

So then I thought to myself, "You don't have that much wall space."

Thus, I needed a different plan,

and so the chalkboard idea came to be.

You can buy the already made blank chalkboards at the home improvement stores,

for a while they had ones that were just about exactly the size I needed,

but apparently those were promotional items and weren't being sold any more.

So I got the bigger one and had them cut it down. 

 I really like it because I can change it as often as I'd like.

I really love the bottom quote,

it says, "Marriage is a gift from God to us; the quality of our marriages is a gift from us to Him" 

(Elder L. Whitney Clayton).

I've never thought about marriage quite like that. I love being married! I love my sweet husband! But I've never thought about how the effort and love I put into our marriage is a gift from me to my Father in Heaven. Which is also neat because we can't give a lot of gifts to Him,

but showing Him how much we love our spouse and truly cleaving to our covenants and our spouse are ways we can show our appreciation for the wonderful blessing of marriage He has given us!

The other project is one that we've been meaning to do for a while.

Our food cupboards have been getting quite cramped, so we cleaned off one of the shelves we had in the garage that wasn't very full and moved it into the laundry room.

Someday we hope to have cupboards in there, but until then this works.

I like that I can see everything really quickly!

We had an ant invasion a few weeks ago, and that is what really kicked us into gear to get this done!

I pulled everything out of the cupboards to vacuum them out and then decided, rather than shoving it all back in I may as well organize it all and finally put it on the shelves like we'd planned. So my sweet husband helped me clean off the shelves and then moved it into the house for me.

Then I organized it all! I then organized our canned food and noodles and all the other food that didn't fit on the shelves in the cupboards in the kitchen. I was even able to fit all the extra cans we've had under our guest bed for food storage in the cupboards so that we can cycle through them as well! It was a very productive day!

Projects: Back Patio

We've been very busy trying to get a few projects done before the baby comes.

Our most recent project was the back patio.

My sweet husband spent a few days jack-hammering out the old back patio.

 My parents came down to help put the new one in.

My dad finished taking out the last little bit while my sweet husband was at work.

 Then they all had the fun job of loading the old cement into the dump trailer to take to the landfill.

Our brother-in-law helped with that part at one point but I forgot to take a picture.

 After three trips to the dump Wednesday morning our backyard looked like this:

 Also if you look close in the previous picture you will see where my dad started rototilling the dirt.

Then came round one of compacting the ground.

They started with a jumping jack we borrowed from a friend,

but after fixing a part and changing the oil, the oil cap busted and shot oil all over part of our house and my poor husband! So we rented a compacter, which we needed later anyways.

 Then came round one of fill dirt

 And several more rounds of dirt

 More compacting

 Compacting and leveling

Then finally it was time to start laying the pavers.

Our original plan was to pour cement, but after some discussion, we decided on pavers.

 Many hands make light work... 

 And here are many pictures to show our awesome helping hands!

 It went on like this for a while, they would lay out pavers for a few rows, then set them in place, and then start laying out more.

 I was banned from most of the work, but I was able to help sweep the sand that would help keep the pavers in place.

 They worked until it was pretty dark

 And started again the next morning pretty early.

This was Friday morning, Thursday night they had made quite a bit of progress.

 On Friday, they finished up the main area and then worked on cutting the little pieces to fit up against the house.

 All three days that they were working on the patio, I was great moral support and quality control.

This is how I spent most of my time, under the shade of the umbrella.

I felt a little bad I couldn't do more, but they were all really great about not giving me grief and actually they would have given me grief had I tried to help!

 After they finished laying all the pavers and the little pieces up against the house we swept more dirt all over it and then they compacted it again. They finished up around four Friday afternoon.

That night to celebrate we had our first BBQ on the new patio!

 It looks SO good!

Here is what it looks like from the back edge of the grass.

 We finished off the night with some campfire popcorn.

We are SO grateful for the help our family gave us! It was a lot of work and they worked very hard! We couldn't have done it without them!