The Great Remodel of 2012

A LOT has happened since our last post. Apparently we’re not good posters! LOL!

During 2011 we continued with a lot of the same things we’d done in 2010. But there were a few changes:

In August 2011 (a few days before her 5^th birthday) Alex started kindergarten at North Davis Preparatory Academy. She is now in first grade in the immersion program. She likes it a lot and seems to be doing well. She tries to speak Spanish a lot of the time, but doesn’t always make sense. It’s fun to watch her learn.

 

In December 2011 my mother passed away. She had been suffering for many years with multiple health problems. An infection hospitalized her and even though they were able to get it under control she asked to go on hospice. She knew that her extensive health problems meant that even if she survived this hospitalization she would not be around much longer. It was really hard to let her go but we honored her wishes and said our final goodbyes on December 10^th. Her passing made for a bitter-sweet holiday season but we were grateful for all the blessings in our lives and especially the world’s best friends and family to help us get through.

Zack started preschool this fall at Bravo. We love seeing all the things he’s learning! Our kids are growing up so fast!

 

Nate is still working at HAFB but for a different contractor and on the Air Force side instead of DISA. We’re really grateful that he has a job in this unstable economy.

So, aside from normal life, we’re done a whole-house remodel! We talked about moving and building a new house but realized that wasn’t in the cards. So, we decided to finally make our home the way we (I) wanted it. :) We started a day after Christmas in 2011 and have been working slowly and surely ever since.

Here’s a quick and dirty on the big job!

We started with paint. We painted EVERY surface of the house. We started in the basement with the ceilings (yes, we did EVERYTHING including ceilings, closets, doors, trim, etc.). Painting ceilings sucks. Our necks and shoulders ached. But now that we’ve recovered from the pain we can say it was worth it! LOL! The paint in the house was originally all a cream color. We did the ceilings, doors, and trims in white. The walls are all a light tan color. It’s hard to tell any change in some of the pictures. But trust me, there is a change! Here are few before pictures of the basement. Zack wanted to be in the pictures. Notice Nate’s office…it’s still a mess almost a year later. LOL!  :)

   

So you can appreciate the work, here are some during pictures. We borrowed a power roller from our awesome neighbors for doing the walls. It was the best! I highly recommend it! We also used a sprayer for the closets. It was MESSY but made the work faster in the closets. The handsome gentleman you may not know is my dad. He helped a TON! He’s amazing!!!! Love you dad!!!  :)

     

The basement didn’t see as much change as the upstairs. But here are the after pictures. It’s hard to see the difference in the color because the flash washes it out. But if you look at the trim you can see the wall color is darker. It’s better in real life. :)

     

Upstairs there were lots more changes. In the kitchen, Nate put in can lighting. I was totally impressed with his ability to do this basically all by himself…with just my dad and me hollering at him while he worked in the attic. They look so much better than the ugly light fixture we’ve had for 10 years. Go Nate!  :)

 

We also got rid of the pain-in-the-butt screen door. Yeah! Who knew it would be such a pain-in-the-butt to replace it? They had to remove the siding! AHHHH! Our awesome friend Eric Morrill of Morrelli Construction took out the old door and put in the new French doors. He did an awesome job! Thanks Eric!  :)

   

Then we decided to copy the rest of the neighborhood (sorry Julee and Vanesa) and put up board and backer in the kitchen, dining, and family rooms. We spent a couple of days mudding, sanding, mudding, sanding, mudding, sanding, and mudding and sanding the walls to try to make them smooth before they put the boards up. My dad came to help again. This project was awful. It made the whole house a HUGE mess of mud powder that got in the vents and blew all over the house. AHHHH! Eric came back and put up the boards too. He did an amazing job! Then we called in another favor and our friend Kevin Garduno of Finishing Touch Painters sprayed the board and backer and the ceiling in the great room. That was another HUGE undertaking to remove everything out of the room including all light fixtures and furniture. Again, though, it was nice in the end. J Note: The kids had to eat in the entryway because we had no kitchen for a few days. AHHHH!  :)

           

 

Here’s the finished product!

     

Some additional changes in this area included repainting the toy box in the family room, buying and painting the dresser in the family room, and refinishing the kitchen table (to be exactly the same, but with some fresh paint and some fresh poly…thanks to Korrie Bastian of Red Hen Home for her help with the table refinishing project!). White paint makes everything better. Nate and I became quite the paint sprayer pros. Ha ha ha! When we will the lottery, we plan to put in granite countertops and a tile backsplash…but that won’t be for a while since we don’t buy lottery tickets. :) LOL!

   

The entry way was home to this lovely bench that belonged to my Grandma Gould (my mom’s mom). It was a gorgeous piece of furniture but the gold didn’t go with anything here. So, I painted the bench white (after my dad made some structural adjustments because of the way it was originally built) and my good friend Erin Valentin made gorgeous aqua colored cushions. Thanks Erin for sharing your amazing talents!!! I made the pillows on top. (I can only make square things like pillows.) J The trains are still often featured on the bench if you come before cleanup time.  :)

 

The kids’ rooms probably changed the most. Zack’s room went from a baby room with a crib to a big boy room with a bed! (Oh yeah, we also potty trained him this year. Yeah!) Alex’s room went from a pretty purple color to boring tan. Sorry! But I had to make everything the same. I am, of course, the official Princess of Sameness. I must be true to my calling.  :)

Zack’s room after. He LOVES cars so we decided to embrace that and decorate his room with cars. His furniture was ugly old oak stuff. We got some of it for free and some from KSL. Korrie Bastian of Red Hen Home refinished the furniture to make it much prettier. You can see her blog post about refinishing the furniture here: http://redhenhome.blogspot.com/2012/04/zacks-room-oak-to-espresso.html.

   

Alex’s old purple room.

Alex’s new pinkish room. I made the pillows on her bed. I love the 3 euro square ones the most. I had to cut out over 100 circles to make them but I think they turned out SO cute!  :)

   

The master bedroom used to be a beautiful green color. It was the only room I was super sad to paint. I loved it the way it was, but I was committed to making everything the same, so the green had to go. Here it is before.

 

The master bedroom after.

   

Here’s the bathroom makeover. Before.

After.

 

I know this is long, but a whole house remodel takes forever! LOL! Believe me, this is an abbreviated version of all the work that went into everything!!! Stay tuned for the finishing touch!