More progress

The deck is all torn apart. No turning back now........

What a lack of patience looks like.....

Construction is about 2 1/2 weeks out and my hubby just couldn't wait to destroy the deck - mind you, he started out trying to remove EVERY single nail from the deck - one by one.......two boards and 45 minutes into it, he finally got out a circular saw and went to town.











All we're missing now are some pelicans to sit atop the posts.......






Now we just have to get a trailer to haul all of this to the dump instead of trying to put it in the dumpster.

Snowballs in April & May

So - don't those little projects always snowball? What started out as a little one week project has now evolved into at least a 3-week gig......most likely more! I don't care what happens - just get my scrapbook room done first....lol If I have to do it all myself, I will!

The original plan was to rip out the paneling, remove the inevitable plaster below it then re-insulate & re-wire and drywall as well as replace the flooring. Then, we planned on building a wall to section off my scrapbook room. Well - since we've been planning this for a couple of months, the dining room wall was the next victim. Yup, that's out of there.......thus making the play room and dining room one room - and more spacious........

Well, Jason said something about getting a 'real' pool for $3K and my Mom was like......geesh, there's nothing wrong with the Sam's Club pool. It'll last us a few more years and if not, $300 is a lot cheaper than $3k - you could use that $3K for a dining room this year (we had planned on doing it eventually). I mentioned it to Jason and well - apparently that sounded like a good idea because suddenly, the contractor is here, the foundation guy comes and things are snowballing. Is it sad that the foundation is going to cost nearly as much as the completed addition? Of course, we don't know exactly how much the foundation is going to cost since we're not sure how much dirt there is before we hit rock. We shoved a pipe down in two different spots. One hit rock at 27", the other hit it at 35"..........So it looks like we're not going to be able to go down the full 4' like is common but that's good - because that means it'll cost less because there will be less materials used and they can just clip the foundation footers to the natural rock below. This little diddy could cost anywhere from $2k - $4k. ;o( Hell - the materials alone for the addition (besides the foundation) are only $3k.

So - this is what things look like...........

The brown deck on the left is outta here. It's where the dining room addition will be going.


The French doors will be removed and moved to the front of the addition. That hole will be the opening between the kitchen and dining room. The small window is coming out and will become a pass-through for dishes since the sink is right there. The driveway side will have 3-3'x4' windows to overlook the backyard and let lots of light in. All of the red siding will be coming off and that'll end up sheetrocked. Also, the basement door will be moved from inside the current dining room to the right of the current French doors. It'll give us one solid wall in the kitchen in case we ever decide to put more cabinets in.






The front door of our home leads directly into my scrap room/kids play room. It's supposed to be the living room but since there is a large family room addition on the back of the house, we use that for our living room.


Now we just need to pick an outside option for the addition. We both hate the blue of the house so that's NOT an option. I like the look of stone but it's so expensive! I thought about trying to cover the front wall of the addition (the one with the French doors) with stone.......just waiting on a price for that..........Then maybe next year, we could rip the fugly red stuff off the front of the house and replace that with stone too. ;o) Just not this year - between the addition and our Mediterranean vacation - we're going to be broke!

My new room!

OMG - time is just dragging for my new room. I can not wait for construction to start (and end! lol) I've been gathering things here and there for my room and it's just going to be fabulous - it'll look like something out of a magazine when it's finished. ;o)

I went to Michaels yesterday and picked up this little gem.......I've been wanting it for a while but I just couldn't bring myself to spend $35 on it - but yesterday it was on sale for 50% off and they only had 3 and it was the first day of the sale so.......I snagged it right up! I'm going to use it for my re-inkers and stickles - maybe glitter too if it fits...




I'm painting the outside white, the dividers black and then lining the back with this fabric. It's also the same fabric I am using on my tall white cabinet. I'm making the doors of it into a 'message board' - you know the kind with ribbon on it to make diamonds......It'll be so pretty!



I also got this cute decoration to hang my CTMH apron from.



These are the curtains I picked for my room. The panels will go on the right window and in the doorway. The valances will go with those two areas and then the 'balloon' like valances will go on the back windows. I'm just going to get mini blinds to go on those windows too. It's going to be very shabby chic yet crisp. Ooh, did I mention that the walls are going to be Indian Corn Blue? So the overall color scheme will be ICB, black and white. The cupboards will be painted white and then the counters are black. I'm also building my own personal shelving unit and it'll be painted all white. I am so excited!