Flooring

When we moved in here, the house had laminate flooring in the kitchen/dining room, carpet upstairs and downstairs, ceramic (smooth) tiles in the master bath, and the original linoleum in the bathroom upstairs and not the laundry room. We began changing out the flooring the first spring we were here. We purchased laminate. We installed it in our last house. It held up well, considering how hard the boys were on the floor

A year and a half later, I am not happy with how this flooring has lasted. I have been looking into other, affordable choices. I have boys, do foster care, and have 3 large dogs. My flooring gets a ton of use. I was surfing the web, looking for ideas. I found sneak diy plywood planks. I started looking and researching. I think that cost wise, it will be more practical than buying and installing hardwood flooring.  My husband would need a new table saw. It's the perfect excuse to buy one,right? I have no problems with staining and sealing. I like that I can have the floors as light or dark as I wish. We are planning on making the stairs hardwood. I feel the plywood planks will give it a better flow. I will be tearing out all the trim when we redo the floors. I have some ideas. I have lots of time to play. 

bedroom re-do

Several years ago, my older two boys picked a horrible bright shade of yellow for their bedroom walls. At the time, they liked yugi oh and the color matched their comforters.

They older boys have since moved downstairs, and Andrew and Ryan moved into this room. They have been asking me to repaint it. They have been trying to find a color they both like.
They finally picked one.
I began the process of painting their room.

I wasn't too sure at first how I felt about the grey, I really like it!

 

Now the room should not be so bright. I found some cream color curtains at Target ( what is up with stores selling one panel for curtains, I mean really?  Who honestly buys one panel?)
I painted the closet door a bright white. I think we will have to replace the trim, as it is pretty trashed. I was going to paint it, but stopped. Why waste the paint if I am going to just replace it?
I will post more pics later in the week once the room is done. The lighting is better when done in the morning.

Complete! ( almost)

I came home from work Thursday to find the old cabinets, countertops, and sink in my driveway.
Inside, the boys and hubby were working on putting in the new cabinets.
I am happy.
I have to stain and seal them. Its been too hot here to do that at the moment ( high today was 92, and yes for the Seattle area- that is just HOT!)
I also need to patch some holes and repaint. That's all easy :)
Pictures coming soon!

sun!

It's been warm here, 84 today. It feels so nice! My garden is beginning to grow, my trees are budding. I dried 6 loads of clothes on the line! Dinner was BBQ chicken and baked potatoes. Simple,easy and filling.
We have been pricing counter tops, sinks and faucets. We found a sink we like, now we have to decide on what type of counter top. I like quartz, but hubby didn't see any colors that he liked. We will have to go to some more home improvement stores and compare.
On a better note, for those who are aware, we have a foster kid. The good news is the adoption should be final by the end of this month. We will be glad once this process is done,it is so much paperwork.
We had a birthday party for our FK. I will post pics later.

Kitchen-before

This spring, once J returns from school; we plan on finishing the remodel on our kitchen. We have done it in bits and pieces. The next plan is to raise the ceiling and replace the 1970's cabinets.
Here are some lovely before pictures.

 

 

The cabinets are painted white. When we bought the house, the counter tops were a lovely

shade of yellow ( sponge yellow that is) and the cabinets were a dark brown. My kitchen is not very big, so J and I thought we would paint them and replace the hardward- to give them a different look.

The ceilind is dropped, we will be raising it and replacing the light fixtures ( happy dance for me!) I have the new base cabinets. Once we have raised the ceiling, we will get the uppers. I want to make sure we dont have any wasted space!



These are the cabinets J and the older boys built over the summer. See where my phone is?  I want to eventually remove part of that wall and open it up into the dining room. Its not load bearing so with my luck it should not be a problem ( ha ha ha).

 

 

Christmas present

So, leave it up to hubby and I to come up with creative projects before Christmas. Over our fireplace, we had this large mirror

Here is a view. We also had several cases holding our CD's and DVD's. We had been talking about taking down the mirror and putting up shelves where the amoire was.
So, Jason called my dad and borrowed his grinder. The mirror was held by two slids, but the rubber inside the slides was hard. The mirror was not going to move.
We removed the mirror. It exposed that lovely wood paneling ( cough cough)

 So with the mirror gone, I then primered and painted the paneling. Its too cold to mess with drywall right now ( and who wants the mess two days before Christmas)

We then waited for it to dry, then moved the TV.

 

 

I really liked how it turned out. My boys and husband then constructed the new shelfing unit.

 

 

 

I was getting excited to make more room in my living room and to open up the space.
Here is the final result:

 

The best thing- this cost us a fraction by doing the work ourselves. We still have finishing touches, however it will have to wait. Jason is getting ready to leave for school, so it will be on his "honey do list" when he returns. Its nice having more space!

New Cabinets

Here are the new cabinets that my husband and boys built. I absolutely love them! I love having my food storage upstairs in my kitchen. I still have space left to fill! We built them because it was a fraction of the cost. My pantry is 34 inched wide, 24 inches deep and 7 feet tall.  I look forward to canning with having the extra space available.

Spring!

It felt so good to work outdoors today! The sun actually made an appearance. We widened and begun to gravel the driveway, Jason and the boys picked up a yard of dirt, which we added to the garden and to some low spots in the backyard. My backyard is finally looking more organized. I am getting ready to paint the inside of the house again, I'm just trying to pick out the colors. I think the kitchen is going to a light green ( I like the maroon, its just a little too dark for me). Thomas and Andrew want me to paint their room, they are trying to decide what color scheme to use. I hope we see the sun more this year than last, the rain usually doesnt bother me but as of late, I'd really like to see some more sun!