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| Ellie Jo running after her daddy on a recent shopping excursion to the Home Depot |
When we first bought this house in 2013, we knew we had a lot of work to do before we could even move in. There was nicotine running down the walls, and a horrible stench. It had popcorn ceilings, scratched hardwood floors, old doors and windows (single-pane aluminum glass), and 1/4 acre of unkept property.
With a lot of hard work, a lot of help from family and friends and determination, we moved in 2 months after we closed.
After we moved in, there were still many projects. The windows and sliding glass door, finishing the bathroom (including installing a new window), landscaping, etc.
What we didn't plan on was a rotten, unmaintained tree from our neighbors' yard hitting our house and property! Our punch list quickly grew. Items we lost when the tree fell included: Our BBQ, shed, canopy, outdoor heater, and hot tub. There was significant damage to parts of our house, mainly the roof. Our total settlement from our home owner's insurance company was plenty for us to do the work ourselves. But, it meant that a lot of our winter was consumed with repairs. We were able to replace the BBQ and outdoor heater, and we're planning to rebuild the shed and canopy. Speaking of which, this is one that I saw at Costco that I felt would work great for us:
But, that price wasn't working for Robert. He insisted that he could build one just as nice for about half the price.
So, recently, we placed a gigantic order with Lowe's, and the materials to build it are included! Yay!
This project is not as high on the list as others, though.
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| Ellie Jo on our adventure at Costco |
We decided against replacing the hot tub for now. It's not a necessity, and we weren't using it anyway. We're using that money for projects around the house instead!
A lot of our purchases have been ordered online through Ebates so that we get cash back for all our purchases (I will be detailing the expenditure and savings tracking in an upcoming blog post). The only problem with ordering online is that sometimes, we don't know exactly what we're getting. A lot of the nuts and bolts (literally) aren't what Robert has been expecting, and the BBQ was quite the adventure... We ordered the biggest, most expensive BBQ we could find, because I got it on sale for an amazing price, and our insurance money covered the whole expense. (Yup, we got cash back from Ebates, too!) Anyway, when we got to the store to pick it up, they wheeled a box the size of a smart car around the corner at the Customer Service desk, and I thought Robert was going to pass out! He said, "Uh... so I guess there's not much assembly required?" We had to scramble to figure out how to get it home in the pouring rain, but luckily it worked out, thanks to his parents' perfect timing being at the store next door at the exact same time we needed to borrow their pick-up truck! Haha!
I was able to order our outdoor heater online. We went from a tabletop sized one to a full-size 7-ft tall outdoor heater! (We may be buying a second one, as I didn't realize that Robert wanted a different style than the one I bought).
My garden is a more pressing project, as I've already started to miss spring planting dates. But, as with most things in my garden, it's pretty subjective. So I feel like waiting a bit is okay.
I saw this idea on Pinterest, and Robert said it wouldn't be difficult at all to build. We do have a different gate, which was given to us from my cousin, Melissa. But I am so excited for how this turns out! I'm planning to plant lower-growing crops like lettuce, carrots, potatoes, celery, etc. in this garden. My other two raised beds will still house my corn, artichokes, peas, beans, etc. We also have about 20ish pots (blueberries, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) I'll be posting an update on our garden plans soon.
For now, check out how much work Robert has done just since Saturday!
I swear, my husband can build, fix or re-do anything. And he does a very respectable eye-roll when I start dumping Pinterest plans on him! Haha!
In addition to all that, I've been working to get some spring cleaning done. I have no official list - I'm just doing what needs the most attention. To be quite honest, we've just been accustomed to living in a renovation zone for the last 2 1/2 years, and it means that things are kind of crazy most of the time. Cleaning the 3 carpets we do have, the upholstery, and giving the floors a good cleaning in general were at the top of my list this year. I've already cleaned 2 of the 3 carpets, and I have to wait on the upholstery until we have an evening where I can do it quickly before bed. I also did a lot of toy sorting/ cleaning/ rearranging with my dad and Robert last week.
Here are some pics of the progress I've made with cleaning:
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| Ellie Jo's carpet |
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| Living Room carpet |
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| Ta-da! No more Mt. Vesuvius of toys in the family room! |
I swapped Elizabeth's toy box with her Princess shelves, and now the toy box houses toys in the family room, and the shelves are in her bedroom. Much cleaner!
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| Before & After of my recent painting project: hand-me-down 3-drawer bins that were reddish- orange, and are now watermelon pink! |
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| Drawers to the left of Ellie Jo's play kitchen area. |
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| The only place I can put this for now to keep it out of our way... |
Of course, we never miss our nightly FaceTime session with Grandpa, no matter how busy we are!
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| Here's Robert showing all his tools to Ellie, and explaining the difference between the "Daddy, Mommy and Ellie" sized hammers! |
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| He actually took baseball swings to get the metal frame out, but I missed it with my camera :( |
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| Helping Daddy remove screws |
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| Because no home improvement project is complete without an impromptu trip to Home Depot. |
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| Finishing touches installing the window itself (obviously, we still have to do some drywall) |
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| The new sill I insisted on, haha! |
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| A project I decided needed to happen... our Master Bedroom closet doors. I've always wanted bi-fold doors (I cannot stand bypass doors!), and I found them at Home Depot this weekend. I said that I couldn't possibly paint/ prep them if I didn't own them, ha! Many trips in our SUV have this view... |
The last picture doesn't look like much, I know. But Robert and our friend, Jeff, spent 13 hours (13 hours!) on Saturday, clearing all the debris and yard waste from the tree falling. They hauled 3 full dump trailer loads to the dump, totaling around $200. It was about 3.5 tons of stuff! WOW!
Needless to say, this picture is progress. PROGRESS!
As you can see, we're busy! We have a lot going on, and we like it that way. Ellie Jo is learning a lot about what we can do with what we have, and how to use simple tools like hammers and Daddy's power tools (just the screwdriver function, and only with help).
*Disclaimer: If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen a lot of these pictures. And if your name is Keri, you've already seen all this in our most recent texting conversations, haha!
