Archive for the ‘Remodeling & Repairs’ Category

Making a list & checking it twice.

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 |

For the past two months, I have been steadily been making honey do lists for my friend Doug. Doug and Tiffany live in the perfect older home for renovations. They have the most amazing skeleton laid out before them that holds a great deal of potential. Our first order of business was painting their kitchen (which needs finished), then building a coat closet off the front porch and this weekend we will be working on dry walling the inside of the front porch and removing an odd sized window.

Who knows what we will work on next, but we should probably start using project management software to help us keep track of projects. Some of the major projects like new kitchen cabinets, newer carpeting, etc will have to wait, but for now, we can continue beautifying rooms one by one. Helping them on their house totally makes me miss owning my own home.

Home sweet home?

Friday, April 2nd, 2010 |

Have you ever just felt out of place in your own home? I have had an urge lately to move. Not far from where I am living, but something different. I have had my eyes set on a house for a while now, but am playing the waiting game and biding my time. It is a definite fixer-upper, but despite the ugliness, I can see the beauty it holds. When my grandparents come home for the summer, I will have my grandfather come with me to see the house to see whether it is a good investment and make my decision from there.

Is it pathetic that I already have the rooms planned out in my mind? I know nothing about this house other than it is brick, has a gorgeous front door and needs a lot of improvements. Yet, I can tell you what kind of indoor and outdoor décor I plan on using. I have the flower beds mapped out in my mind, the color I would love to paint the front door and what I want to do with the front walk. Is it insane to want something so badly that I have it completely figured out already and do not even own the home? Someone please tell me I am not completely losing my mind.

My head is spinning..

Friday, March 12th, 2010 |

For the past two months (give or take days), I have been busy helping a good friend of mine clean/organize/renovate their home. We have been slowly going down her checklist of things to do and crossing them off. Her kitchen is now painted Apple Blossom and oh my gosh, what a gorgeous color it turned out to be. Tomorrow we will hopefully be able to finish pulling down the trip to sand it down and refinish the boards.

Helping our friends on their house has made me miss owning my own home and being able to renovate. The other day, while browsing the Home Depot website and dreaming about getting a new American Standard toilet. Is that not the most pathetic thing to dream about? But living in our current residence has taught me to appreciate the simpler things in life. Our current toilet wobbles every time you sit down and in all honesty, I would be lying if I said that we never broke a seat or two due to this wobbliness.

Anyway, if you wanted to know where I have been.. now you do. Not too much excitement on my end, but it’s my life nonetheless.

Undermount Sinks

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 |

One of my favorite pass-time hobbies is dreaming about my future home. At some point in the next few years, I want to be able to build my “dream” home. We have the floor plans, now we just need the money to purchase the land. After the land is paid off, we plan on saving money to pay cash for certain things like the well, for instance. We also plan on purchasing things for the house beforehand, like zero radius sinks.

sz110 Anyway- back to the topic at hand.  I am absolutely in love with zero radius sinks.  Many of these sinks have a nice, sleek design that alleviate some of the common problems of everyday sinks.  Something I have learned about these kinds of sinks is that you have to be cautious before purchasing one.

When purchasing an under mount sink, be sure to purchase one that has been sprayed with a sound proof coating and additional thick rubber sound proof pad one the bottom and sides.  Seriously- the difference in noise is amazing.  Without the sound proof coating and sound proof pads- it sounds like you are having your very own storm in the home.

Bathroom Renovations

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 |

One of my guilty pleasures is watching HGTV and DIY Network. I love to watch shows about homes, decor and gardening. I am a sucker for these shows. Seeing projects people take on to enhance the beauty of their homes or just simply upgrade their homes makes me want to rush out and do the same to ours. And can you guess which room is my favorite on all of these make over shows? The bathroom! I am envious of some of the Bathroom Suites you find on these shows. With their fancy body jet shower systems, jacuzzi whirlpool baths and beautiful cabinets/accessories. The suites honestly look like Heaven to me, the stay at home mother with two kids, who can barely use the restroom without at least one child under foot. They look luxurious and relaxing- like a place you can escape your everyday life. When I decided to renovate my bathroom or build my dream home, I plan on having a spa inspired bathroom. And better yet, I will create that luxury spa bathroom and save tons of money while doing it, just by shopping at betterbathrooms.com. Right now, betterbathrooms.com is having a fabulous sale for the entire month of January, so if you are in the process of renovating your bathroom or considering doing so, check them out. Who knows- you may save a money while creating the bathroom of your dreams!

Our plumbing dilemma.

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 |

As if it were not enough to have issues with EVERYTHING else in our house, the downstairs bathroom plumbing is going all sorts of crazy on us. Our toilet does not work properly now, but the sink and bathtub are still running fine- or so we thought. I woke up this morning to a puddle of water until the sink, all over the contents we keep beneath the sink. To say I am grumpy would be a bit of an understatement in this circumstance, but I am choosing to look at it in a positive light.

Rather than get completely upset over this dilemma, I am choosing to take the higher road. The higher road being a trip to home depot, where we will purchase a new cabinet, sink and price out Delta fauctes. I started this “remodeling” process earlier today while at our local lumber store, where they had the perfect mirror for our bathroom.  About our toilet?  I still have no clue what we will do about that fiasco.. but it probably involves a plumber.

And the story goes..

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 |

There are never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be done, but folks, I am working at it..

Got up this morning, bright and early.  Not sure why I keep getting up so early, but you know what?  It is definitely working for me.  I can get so much accomplished when the kids/hubby are still fast asleep.  Amazing concept, isn’t it?

Took Addison in for her 4 month wellness check this morning, which went fabulously.  She is 14lbs 13oz, 24.5 inches long- growing like a weed!  Talked with the doctor about her never ending congestion and they reassured me that she is fine- RSV just takes a while to clear completely from the system.  Got a new prescription for her Pepcid, then off we went to the pharmacy.

Hubby called to tell me that the carpet guy had finally made it to the house. Cost us $100 to have him re-stretch the carpet in Ethan’s bedroom and staple down the carpet in our upstairs bathroom. Jeff wanted to surprise me by having Ethan’s bedroom set up before I got home, but was called into work. Luckily it wasn’t a long shift and we were still able to get the room set up- decorating and all. So relieved to have that done and to have Ethan sleeping in his own bedroom again. And I also managed to put Addison down for bed in her own room, so here’s to hoping that both children sleep in their own rooms tonight and that I get my room back!

Other than those little odds ‘n ends, I managed to take care of some much needed business. Now it’s off to relax, watch my American Idol and head to bed. Hoping tomorrow is as productive for me as today was. Our home is in shambles and needs some serious attention before the chaos gets to me.

Will definitely take pictures of Ethan’s new bedroom in the morning and post them. So very excited and proud at how well it turned out!

About Me

Jessica, twenty-six years of age and proudly living in the State of Michigan. I am a very proud single mother to two amazing children-Ethan and Addison and a furry kid named Lucifer Meep. Currently works from home as the Founder/CEO of Little Tyke Central and as an editor for the Pajama Mommy Community and attending school part-time to become a nurse. Enjoys spending time with friends and family, cooking, baking, crafts, photography, gardening and scrapbooking. More?

Want to subscribe?

 Subscribe in a reader Or, subscribe via email:
Enter your email address:  
Find entries :