Weekend updates preview

So I still haven't pulled all the photos off my phone, but I have taken a few shots that I can share. I'll have the full blown before and after shots later, so think of these as previews.

Henry's mural

First let me start with the nursery that we actually started weekend before last I think. It made us both a little sad to paint over the things that were painted on the wall for Kinsley. We were able to make it through because we had just painted her new "big girl" room the weekend before. This is really making me realize how long we've been at this reno thing this time. blah. So the room used to be yellow with pink "murals" on the wall. As  you know, we are having a boy this time so that wouldn't work. We painted the room a nice pale blue and as with each child, he too will have a mural. We didn't really plan on the "theme" for his nursery, it just sorta happened. More on that in another post. Colin's nursery was airplane themed, Jonas's was ocean themed, Kinsley's was meadow themed, and Henry's is woodland themed. We are reusing the crib bedding that Kinsley had, something that I have never done before, because I like it and it's neutral and once again, the whole theme just sorta happened and it fit. So here's a sneak peek of the nursery. This is the beginning of the mural. I think this was on day 1 of its existence, so there's been alot more added and obviously you can't see the top of it but it goes to the ceiling. As usual this project exploded to a level far above what I originally intended, but I've learned not to fight the urge and to just go along with it. :-P

Cotton, flannel, & fleece, oh my!

So in addition to the mural, I've picked up a few other things to go along with this woodland theme. There I was, cruising Joann, when I spied this fabric. Now I wasn't even looking for fabric for myself, I was just there with a friend and when I saw this I knew that I had to have it. I didn't even know what I was going to do with it when I saw it. I grabbed all the fabrics and headed to the cutting counter. While I stood there in line, and thankfully there was a line because I had no idea how much of each to get, the uses for this adorable fabric came to me. I knew that I didn't need bedding for the crib and I already had the matching valance so all that was out, but what I didn't have was bedding for the pack and play that will live in our room for a while until he can bunk in his own room. I also didn't have boyish covers for the boppy, or the Moses basket. The light blue fabric at the top left is flannel, the green one to its right is cotton, the animal print one is standard fleece, and the other two are cuddle fleece which is super soft but a bit of a pain to work with because it stretches and sheds like mad! I've also ordered some custom stuffed animals to keep him company, and his "baby/lovie" will be in keeping with the theme also. I so can't wait until all this is done, it's going to be so over the top!

The boys' closet, sorta.

Henry had a special project to do that I had nothing to do with other than to suggest it. He found the time during all this to make the boys a closet. There is a large utility closet in their room, so we decided that we could section off 1/3 of it for them. We have 1/3 for our stuff, the water heater has 1/3, and they have the other 1/3. The closet isn't finished yet, but here's a preview of it. Henry made a new raised floor so that in the event of a water leak, maybe their stuff won't get wet. Smart thinking I think! We still have to finish it off and add the shelves, but there will be no door. This serves one major purpose and that is that it will keep them from leaving it open and slamming the bedroom door into it. That door is just to the right, you can kinda see it in the bottom right of the pic.
So we've also been working on more adult spaces/ the entire first floor of our house. The cabinets have been painted, the hideous pink carpet is gone, the baseboards have all been removed, the laminate and underlayment are piled up under the bar, and we bought seven, yes 7 gallons of paint at the Depot the other day. We had such a space to paint that we were pretty confident it would take most of it and leave some for touch ups since we do not intend to repaint for a while. I don't have pics of the actual rooms painted because all of the furniture is still in the middle of the rooms so you couldn't really see anything anyway. What I do have is a picture of the swatches side by side so that you can see where we're going with things. Before any of you say "omg, that's builder beige, that's hideous, that's what I want to stay away from!" let me say that we have already experimented with the bold and questionable, and we feel that going back to basics is the sane choice at this juncture. Let me also say that while the color on the right is one of our original choices and was one of the ones painted on random walls in the kitchen for the last 2 months, the one on the left is new. I couldn't find the original swatches in the house and when we were at the store I only found the darker swatch "spud". I had been discussing using a "parchment or oatmeal" color on the way to the store, so I took it as a sign to go with it when we couldn't find the original lighter brown swatch "caramel something or other". The color on the right was painted in the kitchen/dining room. We feel that it was a wise choice since all the trim, doors, and cabinets are white. We wanted something adult like that would warm up the space and not wash it out. The crisp white looks amazing with it, and our dining room furniture is sort of a blonde wood so it pops as well. The color on the left looks like parchment in certain lights, however our house does not typically have said light so much to my surprise when I cut in upstairs it is a much darker taupe-y color than what I thought I was getting. Note to self: bring home the swatch and tester before you buy gallons of paint. I do like the color, and now that it's up I realize that it's a better choice than the super light color I thought I wanted/bought. It won't show crud as well. :-P This color is painted everywhere else downstairs. The entryway, the stairway (yay! goodbye yellow that I thought I loved), and the living room. We also have enough left over to do the boys' room and office later on. The half bath will get a soothing green color in a week or so because I'm so over the purple that was a "mix these buckets together and paint" choice. The light color makes the darker furniture in the living room pop, and also looks awesome with the crisp white trim. Our goal is to install the flooring not this weekend but next, since we already have a full schedule this weekend. (Happy Anniversary to us, this remodel turned out to be our gift!) The flooring is kind of a medium tone that we really hope will play well with the furniture and wall colors.
Overall, we're really happy with the choices to go "back to basics". There are multiple reasons that model homes are painted these colors, and that's because they are soothing, neutral, and appealing to a vast array of individuals. From now on I think I'll stick to crazy throw pillows, curtains and accessories if I feel the need to be bold and daring because this whole repainting the entire inside of the house thing, it's not happening again for a looong time. -Kellie-

Another photoless update

There are no pictures in this update because honestly I've taken them with my phone and getting them off requires that I turn off my phone, remove the cover and battery, remove the card, plug it into the computer, download the pics, then put the phone back together. Motorola, SERIOUSLY what were you thinking with this design on the Droid??? I'm too lazy for all that right now so you'll just have to use your imagination. Progress over the last couple days has been slow because of the amount of work that's gone into each project. Henry created a closet for the boys, and I painted all the trim in the upstairs hallway, followed by having him help me paint the stairway. I had a small nervous breakdown when I realized that the color we picked out in the store did NOT look the same when painted on the wall. Don't get me wrong, I do like the color but it's not what I had in mind. The swatch did not look like that color at-all. Lesson learned about not bringing the swatch home and buying a tester. In any event, the color is much better than the previous and I'm good with it. I'm putting the previous paint colors into the "what was I thinking" file and I'm going to forget them. They were kind of like mid-life crisis choices... you know, you feel like getting crazy and make a decision and you dig it for about a month then you realize that it really was not the best thing to do. *Insert what were you thinking look along with shaking of the head here* Unlike that sports car you financed and can't sell or that tattoo you got, the crazy paint decision is more like a bad haircut in that it can easily be changed with a little time. Not really if you shaved your head, but anyway. I've also squeezed in a little work on the nursery mural just for relaxation and a little creative expression. I promise to post pics this weekend so that you can see how things are coming along. Until then, I'll have my preggo rear on a step stool (because Henry is BAD at cutting in and it's only 2 steps up) cutting in hopefully the downstairs hall and maybe the living room today. My mom would remind me of what her grandmother used to tell her about having her hands above her head- "it'll wrap the cord around the baby's head" hehe. I know better so it's ok. I'll also add that we are using NO VOC, low odor paint, so don't freak out that I'm painting while pregnant. I do it every time because as I've said before, I think I have extreme nesting. The kids and I are all fine, mostly ;) Until next time, have fun relaxing while I'm busting it so that I can put these renovations to bed! -Kellie-

Trying to find a new temporary center

So today has been one of those days where I just didn't get done what I wanted to. I gave it a try, but in the end I feel defeated and sad about work and a little overwhelmed by all of the things still left to finish up in the house. All of the details are starting to pile up while time quickly ticks away. I wonder how much longer I can keep pace in the name of progress. I think about all of the cool things I should have been doing with the kids over the summer which is almost gone. I think about all of the renovation still left to do before the new baby and Thanksgiving arrive. I'm wondering how I'm going to get Christmas shopping done with a brand new baby. I'm thinking about all the fabric I bought to make him some awesome bedding, it's going to be so cute! I'm thinking about the fact that one of the apple trees needs to be seriously trimmed back and that I hope it doesn't kill it. It's really a 50/50 shot of it making it since if we don't trim it it's going to break and maybe uproot, and if we do trim it, with the amount that's going to have to happen I hope it doesn't go into shock and die. We can't trim it until Fall, so there's really no use worrying about it now. I'm also wondering about my Etsy store. I hate to let it lose steam while I'm on "maternity leave". I'd like to make some extra items to sell on there since I will not be able to hit the craft fair circuit this fall. That makes me sad. I like the craft fair season, and it's a fun way for Henry and I to spend time together. Speaking of Henry, I started working on the mural in the nursery today. I had an original vision which of course exploded into something much much bigger, but in the end I think it's going to be really neat. I'm taking pictures as we go along so that you can see it in a week or so when I'm hopefully finished. That's just an approximate timeline, so don't hold me to it. I'm thinking that the best way to get myself motivated and realize progress and not get overwhelmed is to make several lists and start working through them. I'll need a baby list, a renovation list, a kids list, a work list, and the other general lists for things like housework and other chores. I think I'll go do that right now, since the thought of some organization gives me a feeling of control and I really feel that I need that now. :)
-Kellie-

House updates so far

Lots of you have asked how the house renovations are coming along. I finally have things put back together for the most part and I'm ready to share what we have so far. Let me preface this by saying that we haven't completely finished any of our renovations except Kinsley's room. I still have a few tiny details like pictures to put in her room, but other than that, she's all set. Here's how things look at the moment. Please lower your expectations and remember that things are not finished.

Living room floor painted

Ok, so this is the living room floor as it is right now. The hideous pink carpet has been removed along with the tack strips which were not easy to get out of the concrete slab. I cleaned and painted the slab to help seal it and keep things cleaner until we install the laminate which we have but don't have time to install just yet. Some of you have asked "Don't you wish you'd done this sooner?" and the answer to that is no, we weren't ready for it until now. We hated the pink carpet yes, but it wasn't until recently that I in particular got so sick of it that I decided no flooring at all was better than the gross carpet. I had actually removed the carpet in the dining room once before because I hated it, but after looking at it for an hour, I decided that it wasn't really that bad. That was 1 baby and 1 puppy ago and I changed my mind. Some have asked why we don't install the laminate if we have it in the house, and the answer to that is because we have been trying to get lots of other projects done so we A: don't have time, and B: it's flooring and I don't want to ruin it while we are doing all this other stuff. I am so happy to just have it in the house and the pink carpet out that I don't care that it's not installed. It is not longer a pipe dream, it's really going to happen. So what if we can't use the bar for seating because the flooring is piled up under it, that's a minor technicality. How Henry feels about this: He's ok with it. I'm not sure he really embraced it at first when it was bare concrete, and he wasn't sure about the painted floor, but after it was all done he's ok. I of course didn't discuss any of this with him prior to doing it so he was surprised to say the least. He was with me when we bought the laminate and probably assumed that we'd wait to remove the carpet until we were ready to install it but he knows how I am so I can't say that he didn't at least sort of expect it. On a side note, the paint is 4 different buckets of wall paint that we had floating around in the closet. I freed up space and made the floor better. It was a win win!  :-P

Moving right along now, I'll show you Kinsley's room. I don't know where the before shots are, but it was the boys' room and had beige walls and a popcorn ceiling. We had never painted or done anything to it before now.

So here's a shot from the door. The walls are a very light purple. She has a new little bed. I'm going to put some pictures or a banner with her name or something in this area because it looks like it needs something. Poor kid, she just doesn't have any toys. :-P She 's kind of at that in between stage where she still plays with baby toys, but also toddler/ pre-school toys so I didn't pack anything up unless she was obviously too old for it. So I did give in and put Dora stickers on the wall. Yes it made me a little sad because I'm not a 100% supporter of Dora because she's loud and encourages my kid to yell, but other than that I can tolerate her she makes Kinsley happy so I bought the stickers. Yes that is chalk board paint on the closet, and yes I'm going to repaint the hall. It seemed like a good idea at the time and for about a month after, then I was sick of it but didn't want to go through the hassle of painting it again at the time. It will get repainted when we decide what color downstairs will be.

 On to the office and the boys' room

Yes those are bi-fold closet doors that we used to divide the room. Again, I don't have pics right here to show what it looked like before, but they are on the blog somewhere. Anyway, we temporarily divided things this was for several reasons. 1. There is no window on the other end of this space, so it would have been an even darker hole if we completely closed it off. 2. There is no air vent on the other side, so it would have been even hotter. 3. We intend to seriously gut this entire space maybe next year. It has framing, insulation and electrical issues. When we do gut the room, we will add a window and air vent for the boys and divide the electrical so that their room and the office are truly two 
separate spaces. Though the office is smaller, it is 
actually more functional this way and I don't mind. 
I was able to keep it on the ground floor with exterior access. True, to get to it from the inside of the house you have to go through the bathroom, but that's another minor technicality and not usually a problem. If you really need to get into the house and can't go through the bathroom, you can go outside and around. You will notice in photo 1 that there are 2 desks. You will also notice that most of the stuff on the wall in this photo is not mine. I tried really hard to keep Henry in here even though we lost some space. I feel kind of bad that he lost his man space, but that's what happens when you get married and have kids. I will also keep the office neutral when I eventually get to paint it, no floral girly stuff not that I would choose that anyway.

So the only room left is the boys' room.

 You will notice that there is a fan in there, and that's because of the whole circulation/ventilation issue that I mentioned before. The low spot in the "wall" also allows for more light. It's not an ideal situation, but that's what we have. It's a little dark in there, but they like it that way since they always kept their curtains closed when they had a window. I love that they are downstairs because they are away from sleeping babies and adults who like to pretend to sleep in on weekends. I'm not sure that an extra 30 minutes is sleeping in, but whatever. Since they are on the ground floor which is a concrete slab, and on the other side of an exterior wall, it is quieter in the
mornings. No running up and down the stairs and giggling in the bathroom. They also lost a little space by moving downstairs. I'm not sure exactly how much square footage, but they don't care because they have cable and video games in their room. It was pointed out that if they abuse this privilege, they will no longer have it. We still have to separate the existing utility closet which is huge and make them a closet that they can access. In theory this should be a fast and easy thing to do, but in reality I'm sure that it will take all day and we will all be mad by the time it's done. I think that the window will be somewhere in the area of those blue crates on the wall, but I'm not sure. We'll cross that road when we get there and the space is all gutted.  
All in all we are happy with the changes that we've made so far. The space and general ideas work so the fact that details aren't done is ok. I've learned to lower my expectations as to when things get done and accept that they will happen when and if they need to. Some people have suggested that we buy a new house instead of flipping this one all around, but we love the location, the neighborhood, the neighbors, and the house. We don't mind the near constant renovations and the fact that nothing has been  really "finished" the entire time we've lived here. It's been sort of nice to have temporary things because it has allowed us to see what we really want and need. We've revised plans lots and lots of times, but the internal layout of the house is pretty much like it will be for a long time. Then again, who knows... :-P 
-Kellie-

Apples galore!

So we have these two apple trees in our yard. We didn't do anything to them until last fall when we pruned them so much it looked like we'd cut down a small tree. There were way too many little sucker limbs and crazy growth and some dead limbs that all needed to go. This year, we have the biggest crop the neighborhood has ever seen! We know this because they have all commented on it. Limbs that are usually over my head are on the ground! No kidding, the eating them right off the limbs. 

Here are the two trees. See all those little green dots? Yeah, they're all apples. :)

Here's the one on the ground! It's not broken, it's just FULL of apples!

Just to prove that the apples aren't only on the outside of the limbs, the underside is packed too!

Here's our harvest. These are just the ones we can reach from the ground, and we already gave some to our neighbors.

 Now the apples are green because they're supposed to be, and they are smaller than what you typically see in the store because they are truly organic. We have no clue what kind of apples they are specifically, but we know that they are baking apples because they are green, firm, and a little on the bitter/sour side. They aren't crab apples, but somewhere between them and a granny smith. Tonight Henry and I peeled several dozen and maybe tomorrow I'll cut them up and make a pie. This is the first year that I have attempted to harvest, prep, and cook any of the apples. We aren't stingy with the apples either, we beg er I mean encourage the neighbors to come and pick at will. I'm really hoping that the pie I attempt to make is good. I'm not sure if I'm a good apple pie baker, but I sure am a good apple pie consumer! -Kellie-

The birth of renovation

I haven't blogged in a while and there are lots of things that I'm skipping over, but I plan to backtrack later and post details and YES, pictures!
It seems that with every pregnancy (by the way, we're pregnant! It's a boy- Henry! and we're half way through!) anyway, it seems that with every pregnancy I have what I jokingly refer to as extreme nesting. It starts early on, and involves waaay more than just washing and folding baby clothes and painting the nursery. Nope, that would be normal and let's face it I'm anything but normal. My nesting involves taking a good look at the house and seeing all those semi-major projects that we just haven't gotten to yet. They have to be done. Now. With Colin we repainted the outside of the house, with Jonas we tore out part of a wall, with Kinsley oh man there were so many things I don't know where to begin, and this time (with Henry) we have repainted the kitchen cabinets, ripped out the ugly pink carpet in preparation for laminate that I'm praying the kids don't destroy before they move out, and we've totally rearranged parts of our house. Now, I DO always paint the nursery in preparation. This will be the only time that I am reusing crib bedding because it's really neutral and I like it. I will "man it up" by accenting with cute woodland animals instead of flowers and butterflies. So the idea for this post came as I was moving Kinsley's stuff to her new room. Just for quick reference, the boys moved downstairs to the majority of my office (I put up a very temporary wall to keep them out of my stuff), Kinsley took their room, and Henry will have the nursery. It's not saddening for me to move Kinsley out of the nursery, in fact it's a nice change because for the first time since she's had toys, they will all fit in her room. It's kind of hard for me to see her growing up and being a little person instead of a baby, but I still see her as a baby so it's not so bad. It was a good time to go through her clothes and toys and pack up and or get rid of things that she's too big for. It's a good time to decorate her new room with things she'll like, like dare I say it, Dora. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little by admitting that. I like Dora, but she's loud anyway and then she encourages the kids to scream and it just drives me nuts. If she was quieter I would LOVE Dora. Anyway, I'm off to see what else I can pack up out of the nursery and take into her new room. -Kellie-