Chris Catch Up

We celebrated Chris' 33rd birthday (in May) with a trip to the Morton Arboretum. 

He scaled mountains (or rocks)

Crossed treacherous waters full of...tadpoles

tadpole hunter

spider(boy)

we got lost in the maze...again (3 times and I still can't find my way through)

Claire did was she does best, hang out and be cute!  

And then she pooped one of those poops that went everywhere (literally, everywhere, including on me), and it was time to go home!  

I baked a cake the size of Texas:

and Chris got exactly what he wanted!

In other non-birthday news, Chris was on the development team for a new oatmeal product, and it is yum!  Go out and buy some if you haven't already.

And in between playing with James non-stop and creating new oatmeal, I keep him busy with an endless number of projects, like this:

One of these days I'll run out of things for him to do...maybe not! 

Happy House Anniversary

Two years ago we closed on our home and began what has turned out to be an endless "to do" list.  We have crossed a lot of items off the list...but home renovations are never complete!

We have tackled (or have paid to have done):

• Paint all interior trim, walls and doors (there are still a few doors to go)
• Replace carpet, sand and restain hardwood floors
• Paint kitchen cabinets, new appliances, new countertops
• Replace all light fixtures 
• New chimney crown and replace the top 10 rows of bricks, installed new gas log set
• Gut job on two bathrooms, including changing the footprint in the master bath
• Landscaped front and side of house
• Exterior power wash and trim painted
• Removal of flagstone patio

Still on the list (of major things to accomplish):

• Replace windows
• Paint deck
• Landscape backyard
• Resheetrock garage
• Refinish the finished basement
• Refinish the finished walk-in storage closet
• Finish painting the interior doors

And then I'm sure I'll find 25 more things to do around here!  Or maybe we'll go on vacation...

April Project

In April we our hired contractor tackled James' bathroom.  It was the last room that needed to be renovated on the two main floors.  The only things we (aka Chris) did was paint.  Everything else was hired out, and it was the best decision EVER.  Even the contractor took twice as long as was quoted to get it done, so Chris would for sure still be working on it.  And we'd probably be divorced : )  No really, I'm a firm believer that a marriage can only take so much renovation.  And we've hit our quota.

Here's the frame by frame.  We still haven't hung the mirrors (because it took me three tries to find a pair that fit), so true after pictures will be up this weekend.

 

First Signs of Spring

 crocus

peonies

House Tour: Half Bath

Before

(my dad really wanted to take that wooden seat home with him)

My dad did all the work in this room while we were packing and loading the truck.  The flusher didn't work on this toilet, so you had to stick your hand in the tank to flush it (yummy).  You can see there was a metal trim around the mirror.  I got really high one day trying to Goof Off the glue.  It didn't work 100%, but is a lot better.  We really wanted to replace the countertop with the same granite that is in the kitchen, but decided the extra work of removing the mirror and fixing drywall, moving the light fixture, and the extra cost of the granite just wasn't worth it in the budget right now. 

House Tour: Master Bathroom

This is the room that has seen the most transformation.  The original master bath was tiny (and so so gross), only had a shower stall and ONE SINK.  There was no way we were making it with only one sink. 

Next to the bathroom was the worlds smallest walk-in closet.  Our plan was to gut the entire bathroom and the closet, put in a double vanity with two sinks and then a separate toilet/bathtub room (with a door) and convert the walk-in closet to a reach-in. 

Once all the walls were down we determined it would not be possible to get the toilet and bathtub behind another wall/door within the bathroom.  We had already moved that far wall on the right as far as it would go (which even included altering the walls in the hallway). 

The construction was finally done in August, just in time for us to have house guests (seriously, who wants to share one bathroom between six adults and two kids?).  It took me another five months to finish painting the trim : ) 

The one thing I wish we would have done differently is having a separate switch put in for the ventilation fan light.  The fan noise drives me insane, but the extra light on that side of the bathroom is nice to have.  Good to know when we renovate James' bathroom. 

I'm always bookmarking new decor.  I'm contemplating changing the shower curtain to one of these:

West Elm

Overstock

I would also love to incorporate this print

Etsy

I don't know what it is about those flamingos, I just love them. 

We've still got a bit of work to complete the master suite.  All the doors need to be sanded and painted, it is just too darn cold right now to be in the garage to do that.  And we still need to install the closet systems (soon though!).  I was hoping to have the master completed by the end of February, but we'll see.  My mind is swirling with ideas and it may take me a little longer to get it completed (and save the money to do it)!

Sources:

Paint: BM Wythe Blue

Floor Tile: Carrara Hex

Wall Tile: Imperial Gloss Subway

Vanity Light: Robert Abbey Chase

Faucets: Grohe Arden

Shower Curtain: Amy Butler Bucharest

House Tour: Kitchen

Here is the kitchen when we first saw it, complete with pickeled cabinets, bad tile job, no appliances (except for a microwave that didn't work) and terrible lighting (or none at all in the eating area).

We had to rip out the bottom cabinets to raise up the subfloor to be level with the hardwoods,

and while we were at it had all the cabinets sprayed (the same color as our trim).

Appliances arrived about a week after we moved in (due to a shipping issue), and we lived without a fully functioning kitchen for a few weeks after that due to a gas line that needed to be fixed, a water line to the fridge that busted when we tried to hook it up, and just normal other delays that seem to always happen during a full house remodel (as we've come to find out).  I think I'm still working off the fast food diet we lived on during this time! 

Eventually we got everything hooked up, and finally had the countertops replaced in December and the backsplash was completed this month.  I can't tell you how nice it is to have a fully functioning kitchen that you love walking into each day.  Of course, this doesn't mean I necessarily love cooking in it!

Sources:

Appliance - Whirlpool Gold

Cabinet Hardware: Home Depot (here, here)

Granite Countertops: Black Pearl

Backsplash: Imperial Bone Crazed Subway Tile

Wall Color: BM Grant Beige

Cabinet Color: BM White Dove

Faucet: Moen Boutique

Rug: Target

Eating Area Light: Shades of Light

Kitchen Light: Bellacor