Tony's Working Too.

See! Carpet is up, stairs are almost ready for new stain.

Kitchen progress

Floor is all prepped, upper cabinets have their first coat of stain.

More Progress

The (new) third bedroom got new doors, a newly painted ceiling and new (almost-done) painted walls. Up next: baseboards, finish painting & ceiling fan. Yay!

Darker blue is Lone Wolf by Dutch Boy (we saved big money at Menard's) and the lighter one is Old Faithful.

Kitchen Update

Here's a more accurate picture of the flooring. (I'm sure this random man appreciates being put on this blog. He looks like he is very proud of his new floor, as he should be.)

Project Update

The cracked, sinking outside patio is going to cost a lot more to remove than we expected so DIY to the rescue!! More demo to come in the next few weeks. You can kind of see the crack in this picture.


I came across this article today and it looks like we're focusing on the right things, at least for resale value. Really nothing earth shattering - kitchen, bath, Master, etc. etc. etc.

Kitchen Decisions Made

We've ordered the hardwoods for the foyer, kitchen and dining room. It's Manchurian Walnut. This looks redder than it really is though. (We also ordered the dishwasher so Jaja (read: Grandpa)can install on Labor Day weekend when we move the cabinets around but that's boring - the dishwasher, not Jaja - so no picture.)

And here's what we're thinking for the cabinet stain (it's not even close to this dark in person.) It basically matches the darker parts of the floor. We'll be going with a lighter granite on the countertops then to balance it all out.

Weekend Two - Kitchen Floor

The kitchen floor is no longer. Hardwoods are being delivered next week.

Weekend #2...We have closets!

Well, it's technically one closet but yay! It's a bedroom now.

Second Bedroom - Almost Done

Still need to change out the baseboard and paint the ceiling but close enough to being done. Well, and something on the walls would be nice eventually.

Susie's been busy - Third Bedroom

We have more drywall and you can see the closets better now.

Kitchen ideas

We are thinking about using this floor from the foyer to the kitchen into the dining room (at an angle). Floor is called Thomasville Angelim from Home Depot.

I don't have any skills, part deux

However, I can shop! I found 10 door handles and 30 door hinges on Ebay to replace the brass ones that are creating an eyesore.


See the brass handles? Yikes.


I also took off all these handles. All 45 of them. Double yikes. They're currently for sale on Ebay.

I don't have any skills.

Since I'm not the handy one, or particularly strong, I stuck to painting the second bedroom.

Weekend One - My Mom Builds Better Walls Than Your Mom

This is Susie (Mom!) starting to put together the walls for the third bedroom in the loft. We're keeping the other area a true loft for an office.

The walls are up! This is looking from the living room up to the loft. We're putting french doors in the middle here to let the light come through still.

Starting on the closet - there will be two doors to get into the closet which will run the length of that wall.

Tony starting on the drywall - we're waiting until we get the french doors before we finish the drywall.

Weekend One - Wall Demo

Looking into the kitchen from the (dark) foyer:

Let the demo begin:

More demo...:

Ta-Da! No more wall! Blue tape on the floor is where the cabinets are going to be rotated out to create an area for barstools / more room in the kitchen.