Category Archives: home improvement

May 12, 2022 · 5:28 pm

A new fixer upper (life update)

If you follow me over on Instagram, you already know this, but we moved! We’re finally, somewhat, settling in, so now I can share more about it here on the blog.

If you have never lived 3 hours from your spouse while prepping and selling a house, while also homeschooling a large family, well – I don’t really recommend it. Whew. It was an adventure. We survived though, and are all so glad to be on this side of it now.

We closed the sale of our previous home in early March, but a few weeks before that we bought our new (really old) house. We aren’t certain how old it is, or what kind of house it started as, but currently our home is a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom, with an office type space and a (extra large!) laundry room, ranch-ish style.

*Yes, we downsized. Yes, it was intentional! More on that later.*

We have lots of work to do, and I can’t wait to share it all with you! However, just like everyone else building or remodeling right now, a big part of the project is just waiting on supplies. At this point, most of what we have done has been the necessary, but less exciting stuff (like a new breaker panel and putting up electric fencing for our animals), but we have big plans for our new space.

I’ll share more about those in another post, along with some before pictures. Be sure to sign up for the email updates to see the progress!

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July 4, 2016 · 8:16 am

Beginning our Bathroom Renovation 

When we bought our house, I wasn’t planning to renovate the bathroom anytime soon. I liked the vintage look (minus the flooring), and it fit so well with the house. We actually discussed adding an addition on to the house. However, life happened and plans changed. 

A few weeks ago we bought a new vanity and mirror for the bathroom and started to rearrange plumbing. That’s when my husband discovered our bathtub drain was completely deteriorated and every time we drained the tub, it poured out under our house! 🙈🙈🙈 Talk about old house problems! 

Soooo, we decided to just gut the whole thing. 

Then the washing machine died. 😂 

Here we are, a few weeks later, sink ripped out (and in my flower bed😁, but that’s another post), new washer & dryer installed in their temporary location, tile and new fixtures sitting patiently in the shop, and our bathroom being ripped apart.

Here’s a little before peek!
   

Did I mention this bathroom was added in the 1950s? Lol 

Our new plan will allow for a bit more space and functionality for our family. I’m excited about that. The actual process? Not so much. Anyone want to come lay some tile? 

PS – Stay tuned to see what’s under all that wall paper. 😁

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September 6, 2014 · 4:19 am

Our new (old, really old) house

I had intended to save this post until we had internet at our new house, so I could include the pictures from the day we first looked at it. However, we’ve been here 5 weeks now and still haven’t found an internet provider. So, here we go… On Father’s Day we looked at this house for the first time. 20140907-151149.jpg

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And fell completely in love. We put in our offer 2 days later and signed a contract on Saturday. We closed a little over a month later. This house is the perfect mix of my husband and I. It has the elegance and charm of a Victorian farmhouse and the ruggedness and history of a log cabin – because it is both. Originally built in 1901 as a dogtrot cabin, the house was put under one roof in the 1930s. As soon as we have internet service I’ll be sharing more pictures and some before and afters of the projects we’ve been working on so far. Here is a small recap of our activities this weekend – yard work!
little sister has taken some wonderful naps in the yard this weekend. 🙂
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Today we planted two cherry trees to finish off the weekend. 🙂 20140907-161618.jpg

20140907-161552.jpg PS- You can also get a sneak peek over on Instagram. I’ve tagged some pics with #movingourzoo and #ourlovelylittlefarmhouse 🙂

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July 12, 2009 · 1:36 am

Weekend checklist

Flooring in nursery – check
Crib assembled – check
Hang photos in kitchen – check (pictures of this to come)
Sorting/purging of kitchen cabinets – check
Sorting/purging of dresser in craft room – in progress
Hang shelves in craft room – postponed (We didn’t have the correct type of screws)

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July 10, 2009 · 9:12 pm

Today’s accomplishments

We’ve had a busy day today.
We started our day with a trip to Lowe’s. We needed some more underlayment for the flooring in Lincoln’s room and another organizer basket for my closet. We spent most of the afternoon working on the flooring in Lincoln’s room.

Here’s Steven, sprawled out in the floor, working on the closet flooring.

Throughout the afternoon, all of the animals had to check out what we were doing. Actually, it was hard to keep the girls out of our way. Minnie and Emerald have separation anxiety issues. Roush was pretty good about staying out of the way though. He just checked in occasionally to fulfill his supervisor duties.


I love it! It isn’t quite finished yet, but after all the work we did, we got worn out and had to take a break from it.

We also assembled the crib!
Steven had to get in the crib box to make sure we had all the small parts out. 🙂

The proud daddy with his finished project.

And the happy mommy…

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June 25, 2009 · 12:32 pm

Getting ready for baby

We have officially started working on the nursery.

Over the last couple of weeks I emptied the guest bedroom and closet, dusted, and vacuumed. This was not an easy task. It also involved emptying and reorganizing the living room closet, reorganizing some things in our bedroom, cleaning out Steven’s closet, several trips to Abilities Unlimited (and another pile waiting in our kitchen), and piling LOTS of stuff into my craft room. We’ll worry about that later.

Steven is home for the rest of the week, so he took advantage of his spare time this week and started on his part of the nursery work. The carpet and trim have now been removed! We will be going Friday afternoon to pick out paint and will be getting the new flooring sometime this weekend. Hopefully we’ll make a decision on paint colors, technique, etc. today. Hopefully.


Minnie Pearl and Emerald were very curious about what Daddy was doing and what was making so much noise.

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· 12:18 pm

Bathroom – check

Well, almost. I still can’t find a light fixture I like!

Here is the latest picture. After we take out the braces today and I get everything cleaned up I will take a better picture. I’m pretty excited about it though! I think my husband did a fabulous job with the trim.

Oh, and here is a before picture.

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June 13, 2009 · 4:01 pm

Our Kitchen – the neverending work in progress

A few of my friends have requested that I post pictures of the work we are doing on the kitchen. Well, it is definitely a work in progress. I’m not sure it will ever end at this point.

Done so far:
painted the cabinets (Never again.)
replaced and refinished the ceiling (That was an experience!)
took out ancient lighting fixtures

In progress:
painting the walls
taking down old chair rail

To do:
paint trim
find new light fixtures
replace blinds
hang photos
get new door/drawar pulls
get new baby proof latches
get new baseboard for dining area

Wishlist: Well, more like the extended to-do list.
replace stove
replace flooring
replace counter tops
tile backsplash behind stove

Before:

It actually looks better in these pictures than it did in person.

In progress:

The raspberry color will only be under the cabinets in the kitchen area. Everything else will be gray, including the dining area.

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· 3:34 pm

Kicking and Screaming

Thursday night I felt my first baby kicks! I was lying in bed, and at first I thought I had imagined it, but then I felt it again! Friday morning when I woke up, I still wasn’t convinced. I thought maybe I’d been half asleep and dreamed it. I went to stretch out on the couch for a bit and felt it again. Still not convinced, I changed positions and waited. Yep, still there, and in a different place! They are still light enough that I have to be paying attention to notice it, but it sure is exciting. Now I just can’t wait until Steven can feel it too.

Oh, and the screaming? That’s because we have way too much junk! This week I made my 5th (yes, that’s a five) trip to Abilities Unlimited, and I’m still not finished. Can someone please explain how two people that have been married less than two years have so much junk?

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March 24, 2009 · 1:21 am

New Furniture

I’m finally posting pictures!
Here is the furniture I got for my birthday.

More naps than I can count have already taken place on the couch and loveseat. Actually, I even caught Steven napping on the ottoman the other day. 🙂 Yes, that is a tv tray in the corner. We are still searching for the right end tables. We actually need a pretty large end table for that corner, and have yet to find any we like that are big enough.

I’m even more in love with this dining set than I was when we bought it. It is the perfect size for our tiny (read: non-existent) dining room. Also, because it is so tall, I don’t have to worry about the dogs snatching anything left on the table while we aren’t watching.

And here is a picture of the collage I finally got put up of Steven’s sister’s family. I’m so happy to finally have photos of our sweet nieces up to show everyone.

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