Between Two Pheasants...

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:

Remember this room when we moved in? I barely do. It feels amazing to look back at the real estate photos and see how much progress we've made. This sleeping room/porch is one of the reasons why I love this house. For a recap of when and how this wallpaper came down and the beginning of this room's transformation, you can read about it here . Shortly after, the Handyman and I painted the walls SW Mint Condition, but didn't dare touch the trim. For a long time, the room looked like this. Yuck! We didn't touch the trim because there is A LOT of it. There are seven windows, three doors, and baseboards in this room. There was... Lots of chipped and cracked paint: Nail holes and damaged wood. Gaps between the baseboard and plaster wall: And, window hardware needing to be cleaned up. We knew that Jesus would need to save us on this one. The main reason it took so long to get back to this room is that I hadn't found the right ...

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...