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Surprise! Let’s Add Roofing and Siding to the Project, Shall We?
Roofing and siding are big home systems and both are something you want to look closely at when considering a new home purchase. Everyone knows you need a home inspection to inform the purchase process, right? Yeah, we know that as well which is why we did our due diligence and had an inspection done on our Young Victorian while we were considering the purchase of what we knew would be a true fixer upper. Some Stuff Can Wait! Imagine our delight to learn that the original roof was in great condition and should last us several more years! And while the wood siding would need to be replaced at…
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Why A Painted Staircase?
A painted staircase was not our first intention… When we first saw the pictures of our future home online, the foyer shots definitely stood out. What looked to be a grand foyer (complete with a very Victorian newel post light), was probably the most formal of all the rooms! And when we first toured our future home, we confirmed that the foyer was most definitely the most formal space. Even though the wallpaper was peeling, the flooring was in rough shape, and the room was very dark, we could see the potential of this grand space! Looking Below the Surface Once the home was ours and the renovation began, we…
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Our Own Island (Kitchen Island That Is)!
So once the cabinets had been installed in our Young Victorian, it was time to finish the kitchen island. This was a huge step in the kitchen renovation as there had been no island previously. We had a large open space and a desperate need for more storage given our decision to forego upper cabinets. You can read a previous post on the decisions surrounding the island and cabinets here, if you’d like to catch up! Big Space Needs A Big Island The original owners of the house had utilized an antique retail counter as their island. The piece, however, had been sold during an estate sale prior to the…
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Making Time; An Update
Last year, I wrote a post about making time for God (you can read it here). And now for an update. I wrote about learning to cut myself some slack about the daily time I dedicated solely to my relationship with God. About how I had learned it was okay to make time whenever I was able to do so during my day. But I also wrote about a coming transition that I was expecting to take place. And it happened! Making the Commitment I made a commitment. I know I grow as I deepen my relationship with Him and through that growth, I also know I thrive. And so…
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Loving You Tommy Lou; Me and My Mom
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Kitchen Cabinets; Finally!
Kitchen cabinets are pretty necessary. And when you’ve gone without them for 6 months, you really appreciate it when you are finally able to install them into what will be your brand new kitchen (some day)! In a previous post, I shared our experience with picking out the cabinets. You can click here to read that post. We had decided to go with IKEA cabinets given their cost and the flexibility to create a configuration that would work with our specific kitchen space. Mixing It Up We also decided to go with two different types of cabinets. Remember that we do not have any upper cabinets because of the configuration…
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Loving You Tommy Lou; Me and My Mom
Tommy Lou. That’s my mom. That’s the name she went by with family and friends from her youth. But for her adult life, she went by Tommy. The traditional boy’s spelling mind you, no girly “ie” or “i” on the end! It’s Time Recently, I was struck with a desire to write something about my mom. Her passing in June of 2016 was well over 3 years ago now, so I suppose it was just time to do this. And it’s not so much a tribute specifically to my mom as it is a tribute to our relationship, or more appropriately, our relationships. So here goes. Why Is It? My…
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Thistles Are For Eeyore!
Who likes thistles? Anyone? Eeyore likes them, bees like them; I don’t like them! And I feel quite confident in that statement because I’ve been battling thistles and other nasty weeds around our property for 4 years now. I feel like I’m slowly winning the war but that may just be wishful thinking. Grilling, Hikes, And Thistle Pulling; Must Be Summer! During the summer, I’m out on the property almost every week pulling thistles. Warren helps the process by mowing the entire property 2-3 times a summer. But these nasty weeds grow so fast, and so much faster than the natural grass that grows here. I have to pull the…
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Making Space Work; Surviving the Reno
Making space work; I touched on this “surviving the reno” experience in a previous post but it’s definitely worth revisiting. As we navigated the renovation, we had to be flexible and down-right creative at times. You learn to get resourceful with making space work during a whole home renovation. It was a struggle to feel “normal” during those days that seemed would never end. Days when the construction dust was thick and we were tripping over a variety of tools and materials strewn about. Even the tiniest amount of “normalcy” was the life preserver I was reaching for at the end of the day! Turning Chaos into Order by Making…
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Painting Round 2
With the hardwood flooring complete in the downstairs spaces, we could now turn our attention to painting some of those same rooms. Like the last post on the hardwoods, I’m going to just lump the painting in together. In real time, the rooms were painted as we completed other projects in each space over the course of several months. We previously discussed our paint color choices in an earlier post that you can read here. And here’s a discussion on painting the upstairs rooms, if you’d like to revisit that process! Painting: Color Makes All The Difference We wanted to have our cool color palette on full display in the…
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Hardwoods Going Down(stairs)!
We’re ready for the installation of the hardwoods downstairs in our Young Victorian! And while it will take a total of 5 months to complete the task (given there are 6 rooms to work through in stages), we’ll go ahead and cover all of the downstairs wood flooring in one post, just to button-up the topic! In case you missed it, or because I wrote the posts so long ago, you can go to this post to read about the flooring we chose. And you can go to this post on the first part of the process of laying the floors upstairs. And then go to this post to see…
