Monday, May 28, 2007

Working Hard



Mason & I worked all day making a flower bed in the front of the house. Before we started it had some english ivy growing like this picture of the other side of the front of the house (which we have yet to work on). Ugh.






Now it looks like this. It may not look like a very big area, but let me tell you it took ALOT of work. I am exhausted and am sure I will be sore tomorrow! I sure am glad I had Mason to help me. I can't imagine doing it all myself.




I love the two Yaupon Holly trees on each end.

















Bo worked hard all day on the inside installing faucets, the garbage disposal, and the pedestal sink and toilet in the guest bath.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Progress Pictures

The living room has a new color. It's no longer green. Now it's tan.











A yellow kitchen! The black granite counter tops are under the plastic, but you cant see them. They look nice though.











Here's the granite on my vanity in the master bath. Doesn't it look good with the flowerdy wallpaper?? NOT!



--Also the jacuzzi tub.





Here's Bo's vanity.


We've got a bit of a problem in the shower. The walls near the bottom and the floor keep getting damp, and we don't know why. A plumber is coming on Tuesday again. Gotta figure that out before we tile it. It could be the problem that was there when we first started, (remember I said when we took out the old tiles it was wet behind them). We had it all replumbed and thought everything was ok now, but it keeps getting damp. Very weird. (and annoying!).



Here's a picture of Whitney I took today. She is going to a friend's wedding and is all dressed up.

Doesn't she look nice?!



*

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The guest bath is finished being tiled, but not grouted yet. I love the rust colored dots on the floor. I saw that done in an open house I went to several months ago. I took a picture of it and copied it.

I stuck two different wall papers on the wall above the tub, trying to decide which one to go with. I decided against the yellow-looking one. There just isnt enough contrast from the tile, I don't think. And I am still iffy on the rust one. It seems too dark for such a small room, but Bo likes it, so that may be it. I don't know, ......but I gotta make a decision SOON.

I am not a decorator and all these decisions are getting hard.

Mason & I put in a flower bed in the back yard today and it looks very nice. I just love my little backyard. I really appreciate it after not having a yard for a year.

The hardwood floor guys are finished for now and the painters start on the inside tomorrow. Thursday the granite countertops will be installed.

Every thing is coming along nicely so far.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Love my floors!

We have hardwood floors! Yea! They look so nice and they're not even sanded & stained yet. They finished installing about two-thirds today and should finish up tomorrow. Then they will wait a couple of weeks, letting the wood acclimate to it's new surroundings, and come back to finish up.


























Also the tile guy is almost finished in the guest bathroom. I post pictures tomorrow hopefully.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Still Working (and feeling it too)

Another day of hard work! Here's the guest bath before and during:



























Bo built the frame for the jacuzzi tub in the master bath today:













Then we pulled out all the carpet in the house and the little tacky boards that hold it in place.

The living room before & during. Not much difference except the carpet is gone.

























Monday the hardwood floor layers come and the tile guy starts on the guest bath. The painters start next week also, and the wall paperers start doing the prep work in the bathrooms. It's exciting!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

More Progress

Here are some before and during pictures of our work-in-progress:

This is one side of the master bathroom. The shower is behind that wall on the left and there is a bathtub in front of it. Bo has torn out the whole shower and is now opening it up, and has taken out the bathtub. I had noticed when we first went in the house on Tuesday that it smelled very musty. When Bo got the old tiles torn out in the shower, we found out why. It was very wet behind there. He thinks the shower pan had been leaking, and it caused the bathroom and even the whole house to smell very musty and mildewy.












The bathtub and the tile backsplash is gone:













There will be glass in the open places in this picture and of course the shower will be retiled. I gave up on getting the wallpaper off the bathroom walls and called a wallpaper hanger person. They will finish the job and hang new wallpaper.












Here's the kitchen. We took out the island. It was a nice island, but it took up so much room in the kitchen, it made it look and feel small.












Bo & Mason worked hard scraping that linoleum off the floor the first day, but Bo decided on Wednesday to go downtown to where the day laborers hang out looking for work and pick up a couple of guys. They worked on the floor all day yesterday and got it all done.












I think the previous owners liked pink. LOL.

I will share more later.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Progress!

It's 4:30 a.m. I can't sleep. We closed on our house this morning at 9:00 a.m. and Bo, Mason & I went over and got to work. We really got alot done, I think, but have alot to go still.

Bo & Mason worked on removing the kitchen countertops and tile backsplash, the kitchen and laundry room linoleum floor and the hall bath tile and vanity. I worked on removing the hall bath wall paper. Every thing went pretty smooth. I think the removing of the kitchen linoleum floor and the bath wallpapers will be the most work that we will have to do and ugh, they are BIG jobs.

We are only doing the tear-outs and the installers will begin on Monday. This is quite an undertaking, but I think we will like living there when we are finished.

I'm just happy we FINALLY got the house. Yea!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Mason's Graduation Day



Be sure to turn the sound on to hear the lovely Whitney Rodriguez's accompany music. (Hope I don't get sued for putting the music on without permission).

Happy Mother's Day to My Mama!













*

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Little Boy Blue

I found this website that you can upload videos to (Brightcove.com), so I thought I'd try it out. This is an old video I had of Corbin. He was 4 or 5, I think and now he is almost 8. We'll see if this works.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

My Hero

Last night about 10:30, my doorbell rang. It kind of scared me so I hesitated to answer. I ran to the window to see if there was a vehicle out front. I could see a truck. I couldn't tell what color it was, but it was running and the lights were on, so I figured it wasn't somebody sneaking up to the door or anything.

Who is it?

It's Cody.

Oh dear, I thought. Why in the world would Cody be at my door at 10:30 at night without calling first? All kinds of scarey thoughts ran through my mind.

I quickly opened the door and there stood Cody with a shovel in his hand.

What's wrong Cody, --was my greeting to him.

I was coming to check on you. Bo called me and said he's been trying to call for a while and keeps getting a busy signal, so he asked me to come check on you.

Oh. ---I breathed a sigh of relief.

I hadn't been on the phone so I went to check it and it was not working. Mmmm.

I thanked Cody for checking on me and gave him a big hug.

After he left I thought about him grabbing a shovel and driving over to my house to check on me and was so touched to think that he was coming to defend his mother. It's funny how the table turns as our children get older. When he was a little boy, I was his caretaker and defender and last night was ready to be mine.

Kinda corny analogy, I know, but.....

I sure do love that boy!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Bo & I were in Tyler this weekend. We stayed at Sister Mary's house and had a very nice time. We got to visit with all the parents, and Sister Glenda & family also.














*