House Remodeling, House Guests and Worrying About David

The title of this post sums up the last two months at our house.  No sooner had David left for Basic Combat Training, we launched into a few house updates, including new siding for the exterior . . .

 

Here's a picture of the old one . . .

  

 

We are such wild people, going from light grey to white!

We also got rid of the "builder special" lights and got pretty new ones!

We were trying to get it all done before our guests arrived!  I hadn't seen my cousin Robert and his wife, Ely, since their wedding in 1970!  We had kept in touch over the years by phone and Christmas cards.  The visit was wonderful!  It was as though we did this all the time!

We played tourists on Lake Michigan.  Here they are with Navy Pier behind them, and the beautiful Chicago skyline . . .

And here's a picture of my son, David, "borrowed" from the FB page for their battalion (he's the one on the far left).  Boot Camp ain't what it used to be.  Imagine!  They have a Facebook page!  He looks well, but it seems I've found a new hobby:  Worrying about David.

Backyard Fence . . . Before and After . . .

Before . . .

After . . .

Before . . .



After . . .



Before . . .

After . . .

Before . . .

After . . .

Welcome summer!

We're floored!

Our floors are done!  Trim molding has yet to be installed, and there are some paint touch-ups here and there, but for the most part, we can start putting our furniture back . . .

From the Living Room towards the Dining Room . . .

The Breakfast Nook and Kitchen . . .

From the Living Room towards the Front Door and Hallway . . .

From the Front Door . . .

First step going to the 2nd Floor . . .

Steps going up.  The risers will be painted white . . .

2nd Floor Hallway . . .

Steps going down . . .

And our brand new stove!  Completely installed this very night by my handy husband, who after grumbling a little and making a couple of trips to Home Depot, once again managed to do the installation on his own.  He did need to read the instructions this time . . . imagine that, my guy reading instructions . . . 

I may actually have to crack that booklet open myself.  This new stove has more features than I know what to do with . . .  And I have some catch-up baking to do . . .

Home remodeling . . . and being good neighbors . . .

My neighbor's garden . . . Ahh . . . With very little imagination you can hear the birds chirping . . . the water gurgling from her fountain . . . and you can envision butterflies fluttering amongst her flowers . . . I blogged about her garden last year in this post.  We are really lucky to enjoy such a view.  In a few years, the pine trees will fill in and we won't be able to see the flowers, but that's O.K.  The trees will provide a lovely green curtain and hopefully, bring more birds to our neighborhood . . .

And here is the view that my neighbor enjoys of our backyard . . .

Hmm . . . not as pretty, I'm afraid . . . That section of the fence was knocked down two years ago by a couple of teenage troublemakers that were trying to run away from the police by jumping fences.  The kids were caught, by the way, and the father made one of the kids come over the next day and attempt to make restitution.  Unfortunately, we already knew that the fence was in bad shape and it seemed petty to make him pay for it.  Instead, my husband made him pick up a gazillion apples from the apple trees in front that we have since cut.   I wrote about our apple trees here and here.

We knew we needed to do something, but I have to claim responsibility for dragging our feet.  I just had to overcome my basic antipathy to wooden fences.  By the time I made up my mind last fall, it was too late to move some of the boxwood we had planted previously, which would be in the way for the new fence installation, so we decided to wait until this spring . . .

Jeff Foxworthy would have felt right at home in our backyard last week.  Our old stove was put on the curb on Garbage Day and it was gone in less than a half hour!

The four boxwood bushes next to the garbage cans are the ones that will be transplanted elsewhere.  We are planning to add a garbage corral in that corner . . .

This piece of fencing will be removed.  The new fence will be installed closer to the garden shed that stands behind it, and then we'll plant some yews in front to create a hedge that will conceal part of the new wood fence.  I still haven't gotten over the wood fence thing.  Our only other choice for privacy was one of those PVC fences, and I dislike that look even more than the rustic wood fence.

Another view into our backyard from our driveway . . .

Here's a natural fence in the front of our property that provides privacy as well as beauty, but unfortunately Mother Nature takes her own sweet time, and we do need the privacy.  On top of that, last month we received an anonymous letter from a neighbor asking us to fix our fence so we don't bring down the property value in the neighborhood.  How mortifying!!!



But the installation of the new fence is in the works.  JULIE has already been here - Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators - and left our backyward filled with little flags . . .

In the meantime, we enjoy the beautiful clematis growing next to our deck . . . and we hope our patient neighbor does as well . . .

And we wait for the new fence to be installed . . . as well as the new stove sitting in our garage . . .

The flooring contractors are coming tomorrow and we hope they'll wrap it up then.  I miss my kitchen . . .

If I had a hammer . . .

I'd hammer in the morning . . . at 6:45 A.M. to be exact . . .

Medium Brown on top . . . Early American on the bottom . . .

Refrigerator temporarily moved to Breakfast Nook . . .

Floor installed and wood filler applied . . .

Refrigerator moved again . . .

Big sander waiting its turn . . . tomorrow . . .

We are making progress . . .

One step closer . . .

The hardwood has been delivered for our new floors!

“The strongest of all warriors are these two: Time and Patience.”

– Leo Tolstoi

Demolition update . . .

The Humpty Dumpty rhyme keeps running through my head . . .

Will we be able to put Humpty together again?

Here's the china cabinet in two pieces, resting in front of the fireplace . . .

Coat closet door has been removed . . . we should've moved the coats first . . . oh, well . . .

And when we removed some of the molding in the kitchen, we found a hole . . . Now how on earth does that happen . . . ?  What, did they run out of dry wall . . . ? Was that a mouse's attempt to get inside . . . ?  Argh!  Add this to the repair list . . .

My husband pulled the cabinet off the wall so the contractor can add wood flooring underneath the cabinet instead of butting up the new floor against the old cabinet.  We won't need any quarter round trim at the bottom, but now we have to repair the wall . . . And did I mention that we are also getting a new stove?



The "may-as-well" syndrome is alive and well at our house.  Our existing stove came with the house and we would have been replacing it within a year or two anyway.  We just moved up the timeline a little.  I'm very excited to start shopping for a new stove!  Every stove I've ever owned has come with the house!  This is going to be fun!

I'm trying to stay positive in the midst of this chaos.  I keep reminding myself of the six months that it took to remodel the 2nd floor bathroom.  A month-and-a-half for beautiful new floors and a new stove . . . ?  Piece of cake!