Between Two Pheasants...

Hey friends and family! The last few months have been wild, but seriously productive as we made progress on the plans for our laundry room and bathroom.

We are done (read 98%)! The tile is in and the appliances have been put back in place. We have a rug and something hanging on the wall (gasp!). It's been a looooooooong twisty road, but so worth it. I couldn't be happier with how it has all come together. So, about that 2%, here's what's left: Toe-kick under cabinets need to be painted. Quarter round trim around baseboards. Chips in paint from moving the fridge and the counter installed. Electricians back to figure out what's going on with two electric outlets. New oven and stove. I'll let you know in two years when we finally have it 100% over the finish line. So, how about some final pics? Yeah!

It's already mid-July? How did that happen? Of course we are still plugging along on the kitchen remodel. I think this marks two months without an oven/stove and a mudroom since our fridge takes up most of it. But, who's counting? By the end of May, Jesus had finished painting and we had our new Schoolhouse Electric Lights installed. Here's a close-up of the over-the-sink light. Since this picture was taken, we've exchanged the bulb with an Edison bulb. It's not as bright, but it's more period-appropriate.  Here are a few side by side shots of before and after painting. What a difference! Next post will be all about the floors and there is some drama involved!

One month later and a lot of progress has been made on the kitchen. Ugh, but it's not done. We are inching toward the finish line. OF COURSE it always takes twice as long as you originally plan. After the cabinet doors and drawers were in, Tom and Nate took out their aggression the counters and back splash. By far it was the most gratifying as well as messy part of the reno. We are so lucky to have talented and amazing people in our world. Tom and his lovely wife, Betty, are our neighbors who have renovated/restored several homes. (They also give us fresh chicken eggs and figs from their tree) They gave us the confidence that we could take out the counters ourselves and even offered to help. While they worked, I pulled out all my mom-tricks to keep the girls occupied outside. In process pics:

Happy New Year! I've been reading a lot of posts on Facebook about how 2016 was a really tough year for a lot of people. It was tough for me too. I'm still struggling to accept the results of November's election and am scared for my friends and family that will be impacted by the actions and policies of the Trump Administration. Particularly, I'm fearful for immigrants, the LGBT community, women rights (and access to healthcare), and not to mention the impact on our energy, environment, healthcare, and international policies. I won't go as far to say that I'm cautiously optimistic, but I am hoping for the best. With all that said, my year has been busy, hard, rewarding, comical, and full of love. At work, I welcomed two new "bosses" (I have a dual reporting line) all while adjusting to a new routine for Cinderella as she headed off to kindergarten (proud mama). Then there is The Babe doing what The Babe does best (not sleeping, sleeping, waking up ea...

Folks, we are feeling mighty fine. We are legit. We live in a house with real heat, because we have a brand new furnace. That's right! Last month, we said "Sayonara" to our 101-year old, original furnace. As much as we are trying to preserve the house, we definitely need to live in a comfortable home and last winter, the space heaters weren't cutting it. In fact, they were tripping all our electrical breakers. Eek! But, how cool that this house has had the same furnace this whole time. They just don't make them like they used to. Here's a pic of the old guy below. Attached on the top is insulation full of asbestos and there were five metal ducts coming out. One duct was completely turned off because it developed a big split in in sometime over the years before we moved in. Another duct was crunched, allegedly by a home inspector when a previous potential buyer came before us. Anyway, here's the big old boy:

I remember a moment when we were walking through the house with our realtor thinking, "a french door really should go where this window is so people in the house can access the backyard." At that time, I had hoped these hypothetical people would be us and we are! We people are the proud owners of a new french door (as of August)! The door is from Home Depot (Orepac is the brand, I believe) and it was not cheap, but it was about 1/2 the price of Andersen which the price of a small car. We had a real handyman/Jesus' sidekick, Ricardo, install it for us. The door is fiberglass and has a real wood grain texture. Since it is in a fairly sunny location, we opted for something that was a little more indestructible than wood. The hardware is also from Home Depot. Now that it's here and we have a glorious view to our outdoor fireplace, I'm dying to put in a deck. That's going to be a project for 2017 and hopefully sooner rather than later. Side no...

I find that one of the most aggravating part of doing any sort of home improvement is that once you spruce up one area, everything else looks a little sad and dingy. Such is the case with our front porch. Our house is looking beautiful but the front porch is a totally Debbie Downer. Wah-wah! At some point in this Pheasant's House's history, the owners painted the red concrete porch red. Probably to match the brick, but it looks so bad. And, the color of the concrete below is pink. There's NO WAY it can look good. The paint has been peeling off over the years and left the porch with a blotchy red look. Like, worse than a teenager's face. It looked even worse once we power washed it.

So, here's our beloved home between May 1st and Memorial Weekend. This first picture shows the giant hole in our siding that was covered up with sheet metal. We took out a wall a/c unit when we put in the mini-split system. Hence, the hole. Knowing we were going to patch and paint the house anyway, we left it. So ugly. Here's the next phase in the process on this part of the house. Patching the hole! Our new handyman (not to be confused with The Handyman), Ricardo, and Jesus took siding from underneath the double window to match the second story siding. And, here's the patched hole. Viola! As you can see, the back of the house has also been primed, but the trim paint hasn't been put on. Not sure about that smiley face. By mid-May, the back of the house started looking like this. Lots of patching and extra layers of primer. May 16th, front of the house! Shut the front door! Literally, it's yellow and beautiful! A close up of the front porch. T...

Well, hello there, old friend! Yeah, it's me. Totally slacking on updating this blog. Particularly lame because we've had lots of progress with the Most Exciting Update. Yep, the house is finished! Shhh! Don't tell anyone that it's actually been 99% finished since June. There was so much progress in April and May that it doesn't feel right to skip to the end. Gotta prolong the suspense a little longer. In April, we finally got body paint! Still looking like the Coat of Many Colors. At this stage, I am so giddy because the color is just perfect! The house really started to transform on both sides. Here's a close up of the windows.  After scraping and after painting. Huge difference, don't ya think? Here's the same window during different stages of the process. The front of the house started to get some attention too. (Neighbors let out a huge sigh of relief) It already looks so much better, but what about those shutters?  Th...