Mama Knows Best » Remodeling & Repairs

i can see it now.

Jessica — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:50:21 +0000

Yesterday was a day of achievements. I was finally able to catch up on a lot of various things– filing the kids artwork, cleaning, laundry, painting the spare bedroom and filing my taxes.

Having spent so much time inside of the house yesterday, I got the sudden itch to flee the scene. We had already eaten dinner and both kids had been bathed– it was 6:30 and I was going stir crazy. We packed up and headed towards Menard’s, our family’s favorite home improvement store (seriously). After wandering the store for a couple of minutes, we made our way over to the flooring department to pick up a few boxes of tile for the kitchen project. And then somehow found ourselves looking at appliances.

When I began planning out the new kitchen, I had my heart set on stainless steel appliances. There really is not a need to invest in stainless steel for this house when I know that I will be leaving this house sometime in the next three-five years. I will not live here forever– this is more or less a temporary home and investment opportunity. The logical part of me chose to go with black appliances. Last night was the first appliance purchase I have made up to this point- a new stove and dishwasher. They are absolutely beautiful, functional and NEW! I was excited to bring my new stove home with me last night, but will have to return in ten-fourteen days to pick up the dishwasher.

Now if only the rest of my kitchen was already shiny and new. Hopefully by the end of February I will have a kitchen I can scream from the rooftops about.

in which i don’t really say an awful lot.

Jessica — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:47:29 +0000

It is amazing how much a home renovation can consume a person. You set goals for yourself, dreams of what the house will look like one day and expectations of how you want to maintain your home and how quickly you want something done. I have plateaued on my desire to work on the house lately. My motivation to get things done is pretty much gone. I get these short bursts of energy when I look around online at ideas, but that quickly fades too.

My two biggest projects are my kitchen and dining room. I’ve sort of changed my original plans on those rooms. There is a wall that separates my kitchen from my dining room and if the gentleman working on my floors gives me the go ahead, I will be tearing our that wall completely. It would open up those rooms completely, give me more entertaining space and quite honestly, the open concept that I love about so many areas of my home. It’s amazing how many different styles and tastes one can go through when they begin a process like this. I’ve gone from wanting rustic bedroom furniture to a having a more modern kitchen. My style is all over the place and quite honestly, it’s getting harder and harder to make it all blend together– especially between my kitchen and dining room!

Of course there is also another matter at hand when it comes to my home renovations.. the back yard. I’ve declared that it is in dire need of an overhaul, as it’s just completely hideous. My shed has no siding, the yard is just sort of blah and it’s missing a nice big ‘ol deck. My big plans for the space? I am planning on blocking off the back yard with a partial privacy fence. I will not be completely enclosing my backyard, but just enough to eliminate the view from the road into my yard. I will be putting a rather large hole in my backroom wall to install french doors that will lead out to a large deck. I’m still tossing around layout ideas for the deck and furniture. And then there’s the whole flowers, shrubs and trying to find a place for the kids swing set.

What I’m trying to say is renovating is hard work. It is so completely time consuming, frustrating and exciting simultaneously.

Before: Dining Room

Jessica — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:00:39 +0000

Tomorrow I will begin the remodeling project on my dining room.

It will not be a small project to tackle by any means. I have to move the last little bit of furniture from it (as you can see in the photo), tear up the carpeting/padding, fill in the missing piece of drywall/trim where there used to be a doorway and then figure out what needs to be done to level out my floor. What you cannot see in the photograph is the current “bumpy” state of my floor.

In it’s current state, my dining room is horrendous. Even once the carpeting is up, I’m still not sure I am going to love the room. With all of the furniture in the room, you cannot see the ugly wood on the walls. If I made the decision to tear down all of the wood, I would then be stuck with having to patch up the walls & pay someone to come in and re-texture my walls. It’s like a catch-22 really. Do I want a glamorous dining room? Or do I compromise? I guess what it boils down to is what option is going to make me the happiest?

The only thing I know for certain is that this room needs help.

Enjoying the view..

Jessica — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:08:27 +0000

Sorry for the sideways photograph.. it’s all I have (right now). I have been enjoying watching each room of the new house come alive. We need to move the current owner’s furniture out and our new furniture in, but it can wait. I’d much rather our sweaty bodies sit on the old furniture rather than the new, you know? Either way, I am enjoying the view. I am loving the wood floors, the green walls and am stoked about being at the point of accessorizing the room. A rug is being purchased this weekend, pictures are being hung and we’ll be able to mark one entire room off my to do list.

Things have been crazy busy around these parts and I feel absolutely negligent of all my other priorities. Today will be another whirlwind of a day, as I have so much to get done in such a little time frame. I just finished vacuuming and shampooing my carpets, I threw a load of laundry into the washer/dryer and dusted the furniture. I still need to run to Wal-Mart & print photographs for my collage picture frame & order photographs for photo album gifts I will be giving to special people in our lives and run down to Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up the material I will be reupholstering my dining chairs with. All before 3:00p.m., which is our hair appointment.

Sadly, this is how my entire week has been.

Work, work, work.

Jessica — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:58:39 +0000

Between working from home, outside the home and remodeling the house.. I officially have no time for anything. Life seems to be dragging, but maybe it is the overall lack of sleep lately. Despite the loss of sleep lately, I wouldn’t trade any of this. The house is getting closer to being ready to move in each day.

Living room walls are freshly painted an olive green color, trim is one coat of paint away from being finished and wood flooring goes down this weekend (hopefully). I have finalized my idea for the art work/photographs going on the back wall and am hoping to purchase my area rug within the next two weeks.
Extra door in the bathroom (it went between bathroom and dining room) is gone. Dry wall is hung, taping and mudding seams is complete, now I just need to get off my bum and finish sanding. As soon as that is done, I can prime and paint the bathroom walls, put the new counter top in place, hang the new cabinets and accessorize.
Flower beds are mostly finished. I need to finish putting down mulch and then it will be complete (for now). I may throw in a couple more plants before I mulch.. who knows.

Overall, the house is slowly coming along. The projects I have left for the downstairs are minimal, unless you count the kitchen that I will be completely gutting out this winter. I have been saving money and pinching pennies to be able to pay for this kitchen overhaul out of pocket. I am trying to remain as debt free as possible through all of these renovations.

And speaking of renovations- has anyone else ever purchased and moved into an older home, only to find some of the most random things hidden throughout their house? Hidden underneath the counter top in my bathroom was a diamond tennis bracelet, under the carpet in the living room were probably four or five pens/pencils and behind the trim in the dining room were hair clips, bobby pins and q-tips. I can only imagine what we’re going to find when we move to the upstairs to being remodeling.