Home Improvement

Busy

kanniduba9 Comments

Well well well!! Things are busy in the Zanduba household! All is well and I find myself stopping in my tracks quite frequently to say a prayer of thanks that I once again can MAKE tracks. I have made peace with my medications, and my twice a week chiropractor visits are now so routine that I’m trading girl talk and decorating advice with the nurses and receptionist. 🙂 My body takes care of me as long as I’m taking care of it and putting it first. Very grateful to find myself here compared to where I was one year ago I take NOTHING for granted, including the ability to lie comfortably still. Not sure I’ll ever be what I was, but that’s okay.

Anyway, back to the here and now…May is here, and things are moving. Notices about end of the year activities are coming home from school (OMG!!!) and spring band and orchestra concerts are happening. Mister is playing tee ball for the first time, so we have games to attend a couple nights a week. Here he is at his first game:

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Doesn’t he look like he’s having fun?! Okay, you’re right, he wasn’t having ANY fun! But, each game has brought a few more smiles. I’m thinkin’ baseball might not be his thing though. Time will tell.
As you know we’ve been painting the kitchen. It’s *nearly* done. Still a few things left to do, but here’s a sneak peek at the progress:

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I’ll dedicate a whole post to it when we’re officially done. I’m loving the brightness and freshness!
And this came today! Official blueprints!

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It’s all very exciting! I don’t like writing out those big checks though. That part is scary.
So much more, but it will have to wait…
I’ll leave you with more dandelion fun from today. Wonder if he will ever grow tired of these?

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Renovation Update…

kanniduba6 Comments

While we are busy painting and spiffing up downstairs, our builder is busy getting our upstairs reno project approved and getting things ordered so we can start in June.  I found out today that our bathroom fixtures (tub, showers, faucets, toilets, sinks) were just ordered yesterday!  Whoohoo!

Thought I’d take you on a little shopping excursion to see what we have picked out.

First, the old bathroom will be getting gutted (can’t wait!!!)  We will have a basic boring white toilet, a corner shower, and two pedestal sinks installed in there.

The sinks:

The shower should look something like this, except white and chrome:

Our faucets:

and the floor will be white hex:

Now, the second bathroom, which is the new Master will have a Bubble Massage tub (or as Mister calls it, “The Relaxitub”)  a shower, vanity and white “comfort height” toilet.  (My back is happy.) 🙂

The shower…kind of like this one:

Our “Relaxitub”:

Our vanity:

And our faucets:

We have chosen black hex tile for that bathroom:

And the ledge surrounding the tub will have this tile (I just decided on this today…Zan doesn’t even know yet. *tee*hee*)

 

Still need to choose lighting and roofing and other stuff.  So far, so fun! I figure if I ASSUME it will all go smoothly, it WILL.  Right?  Um, right???

I will keep you “post”-ed.  😉

(See what I did there?)

 

Beautiful Black

kanniduba5 Comments

I don’t know about in your house, but in my house, this means trouble:

These spread innocently on the table are enough to strike fear in the core of any husband.  Mister asked me this morning, “Are adults afraid of things too?” I said, “Of course they are Honey.  Mommy is afraid of spiders, and Daddy is afraid of paint swatches.”  Okay, maybe I’m making that second half up, but if I HAD said that it would’ve been true: paint swatches mean a whole lotta work and aggravation for my dear husband. 🙂

But wait till you see what I’ve been dreaming up over here!

Let’s take a look at my staircase.

That horrid carpet has been there since we moved in.  The entire house, minus the bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen, was carpeted with this ugly fuschia wall to wall monstrosity.  We tore ALL of it up several years ago, exposing the oak floors underneath.  The only piece we left was the staircase.  Having little ones, we decided carpet was a good idea (for cushioning potential falls) and we weren’t ready to spend money to recarpet them.  So there the staircase has sat neglected and ignored…until now!!!

I’ve been spending lots of time on home and renovation idea websites lately, and look what I came across:

Photo courtesy http://www.houzz.com (Rachel Reider Interiors)
Photo courtesy http://www.houzz.com (Stacey Jacobi Interiors)
Photo courtesy of http://www.houzz.com (SchappacherWhite Ltd.)

I am suddenly completely, obsessively in love with the look of the black banister, rail, and stairs.  I WANT IT! I’ve even gone so far as thinking about painting my hardwood floor in the entry way in a black and white checkerboard pattern, but apparently the going opinion is that painting a perfectly good (albeit in need of refinishing) hardwood floor is a sin of the Mortal kind, so I won’t go there.  But don’tcha think it’s beeeeeeyoooooooteeeeeful?!

And while we’re sprucing up the heart of the home, let’s look at what else needs a little attention:

That bookcase has got to go. It’s just not working for me there anymore.  We’re thinking of creating a built-in to hold the kids coats, shoes, bookbags, etc. but that’s a whole other post. Or maybe I’ll dream up something else for that wall. You never know!

Stay tuned to see what trouble I get myself into.  After all, there’s something about these photos that speaks to me…black moldings anyone?

Photo Courtesy http://www.houzz.com (Neuhaus Design Architecture, P.C.)

 

 

Photo Courtesy http://www.decorpad.com (Jessica Helgerson-Design Sponge)

Big Doings

kanniduba3 Comments

So, you will recall that about a year ago, I mentioned a little roof problem? Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so “little.” Back then, we met with a builder who gave us some round about figures and professional opinions on what could be done. After some thought, we then had Tom Builder (as he will be known henceforth) come back in August, take measurements, and come up with a detailed price and contract. The cost to replace the slate with slate was prohibitive, so he priced the job with quality asphalt roof shingles, and also priced it with synthetic slate. A $20,000 difference between the two had our hearts in our throats, and we opted not to sign the contract, instead limping our roof through one more winter giving us the time to save more money, and to think a bit more about needs versus wants. We have been incredibly fortunate this winter….VERY little snow, warm temperatures, and not a single icicle. We have also had the ability to save a bit more toward the job, and are very excited to get started. Tom Builder will return next Friday, new contract in hand, and at that time we expect to be able to officially hire him on to start the job…exciting and scary all at once.

We will be adding on with a second floor extension, adding a new bathroom, a new bedroom, a closet, and renovating the existing bathroom…topping it all will be a brand new roof. Not synthetic slate, but I have made peace with the decision. I will share “before” photos of the interior rooms that will be changed when they are cleaner when I get a chance. In the meantime, here are photos of the present exterior. The back of the house is my kitchen…this is where we will be raising the roof to a full second story. It will also get spiffed up with repair of trim and a fresh coat of paint on the wood surfaces.

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Wish us luck! We’re going to need it! 🙂 Words of advice are welcome as we enter into the world of hired out home renovations.

P.S. Forgot to mention THE best thing! My washer and dryer will move up from the basement, to the new second floor bathroom!!! Whoohoo! My back is very excited. 🙂

It’s a sickness, really.

kanniduba3 Comments

So, I have a little problem.  I know I’m not the only one.  Tolle would say that it’s my ego talking, not me.  Little comfort to my dear husband!

My little problem is that I am never content.  I always have to have something to look forward to.  I should say that I am extremely content with the “big stuff” in my life as it is–I don’t “need” anything to make me happy (for example, another baby, a new house, a new job.)  I am truly happy in the moment. 

But my mind always seems to need the preoccupation of looking forward to something.  Now that the anticipation of Disney is over and I’ve had a week to come down off the trip, my mind is already busy conjuring up “the next thing.”  If the next thing isn’t a trip, it invariably becomes a new house project. 

Poor poor poor poor Zan.  Now that I’m not working, I have more time than ever to think…and dream.

“Hey Honey, I’ve been thinking…”

*sigh*  “Oh, no.”

Yep…that’s usually how the story starts.  And before you know it we’re heading off to Lowe’s.  A friend of mine used to say, “It all starts with a throw pillow.” 

So let me tell you about the “next thing.”  Mister Baby Boy has discovered the Big Outdoors.  However, Mister Baby Boy gives Mommy heart attacks because he wants to be running around very unsteadily on the blacktopped driveway, trying to make baskets in the way-too-tall-for-him basketball hoop.  He is not satisfied to play with the toddler-sized basketball hoop in the yard.  Oh, no…he must be Danger Boy (he has his own theme song, by the way—but that’s a story for another day) and nearly cracks his handsome little skull on the concrete as he looks up to the basket which is so high that he loses his balance and falls backwards. 

So, I say to myself, “Now, if we had a big deck off the back of the house, I could gate off the stairs, and sit outside and let Mister play on the deck with a bunch of toys, and watch the girls without having to chase him around all summer long.”  Some chasing, good.  All chasing, bad.

Ergo, “Honey, I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh, no.”

So we’ve spent the last two days looking, measuring, researching.  An easy do-it-yourself weekend project!  *tee*hee*hee* 

Relatively inexpensive!  *tee*hee*hee*

And somehow, a very simple, square, 20×20 deck has become this elaborate extension with a tree coming up through the middle of it.  And who wants plain old deck flooring?  Wouldn’t a herringbone pattern look nice?  And what about those wood balusters?  Ew!  Boring!  I’m thinking THESE would be nice.

And who wants plain old post covers?  Wouldn’t copper be great?  Or, ooooo, what about these????

And a brand new deck definitely needs a brand new grill!  And did somebody say screening?  Screening would be nice.  And…..*sigh*

See?  I told you, I have a problem. 

But I think Zan has an even bigger one.

🙂

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