Deck!

The deck is (almost) done. It's totally functional and very pretty. There are a few minor details to finish up, but I'm calling it a victory. We've come a long way since we bought the house in 2008.

Originally, the house sported a patio covered with a large metal awning, popular in the 70s. Houses all over the neighborhood are decked out with these lovely metal vines. When Nate and I first saw the house, we saw the potential for a deck. We put off building a deck because it didn't seem like a "need."

Personally, I think the house looked better without the awning and I could have gone a summer just enjoying the empty space. Alas, those stairs were a death trap for kids and they made it difficult to enter and exit the house - even for adults.

We naively thought the deck would be finished in one, maybe two, weekends. Alas, it has been a full summer project. But TOTALLY worth it:

As you can see, we need to finish up the pergola and the stairs need some skirting. This week, I will be purchasing a new/used patio set via Craigslist and we'll string some lights. Just in time for the end of summer days!

Deck the House

After several weeks of preparation, we started on the deck this weekend. Nate has been so committed to getting this project done. He's prepped the house and area after work and on the weekends. As part of this project, we replaced the gutters and trim on the house. Nate removed the old gutters and replaced the trim. He's been digging post holes for what seems like forever.

But, Nate, his dad and a friend down the street made significant progress. And it looks amazing. Poor Nate will have to commit a few (many) more hours to the project, but it will all be worth it when we're drinking gin basil smashers on the deck this summer!

When Nate and I first looked at the house over five years ago, we could see a deck in the space where the patio lived. The L-shape of the house nestles the deck perfectly. And we can access it from the kitchen, which is something most older homes are not equipped for.

Notice the new gutters and paint? I think it looks really sharp, even if it's not a big change. Eventually, steps will wrap around the front of the deck and a landing will be placed in front of the kitchen door. We'll also install pergola.

It was a long weekend for everyone, including the kids. But they had a good time "helping" where they could. The loved measuring the wood and drawing on it. That made the weekend relatively easy for me too. While Nate worked, we rode all over town to gather food and libations for the fellas. Not the worst way to spend a weekend. Not at all.

The Great Outdoors

Otherwise known as our yard. Or at least for this weekend, the great outdoors was our back yard. We didn't have much planned for the weekend, so Nate and I used it as an opportunity to get our yard summer ready. The kids didn't seem to mind.

This spring, we have an especially big outdoor project to prepare for: A NEW DECK!

When we bought this house, we saw all sorts of potential - with both the house and the backyard. The kitchen was big, though dated. And the backyard was also big, but in awful shape. We knew that if we worked hard enough on the house that we wouldn't regret it. We finished a kitchen remodel right before Lila was born and we're so happy that we bought a house with a kitchen larger than a postage stamp. Most of the houses in this neighborhood feature small galley kitchens, which is something that we wanted to avoid.

The transformation of the backyard has been a bit longer in the making. When we moved in, the grass was nearly dead, there was a carport attached to the garage and it took up about a third of the yard, a rose patch took up about a quarter more, and an old chain link fence provided a full view of the alley. AND an rusty corrugated metal awning covered a cracked patio off the kitchen.

In five years, we have removed a lot of concrete - both from the carport and the crumbling sidewalk, installed new turf and a sprinkler system and generally cleaned up the backyard - moving plants around and rearranging the layout. Now it looks like a completely new backyard. This year, we decided to do away with the metal awning and patio in favor of an expanded deck and pergola. In order to do that, we also need to replace the gutters and paint the trim, but those projects needed to be completed years ago as well. So, the backyard and the front of the house will be getting a face lift!

Come summer, we'll be ready for some major entertaining, so be sure to come visit.

Sitting Pretty

For the first time in, well, my adult life, I (we) are sitting pretty in terms of finances. And by sitting pretty, I mean that we're able to live relatively comfortably AND save some money. And I'm not even 35. What a deal.

I'm not making hand over fist with Struckman Consulting, but I'm making a respectable amount of money and working less, which means that daycare costs and commuting costs have been reduced significantly. We just refinanced the house and are saving nearly $250/month on our mortgage bill. We don't have credit card bills or car payments. And we only have one student loan to pay off (Nate's). All in all, it feels very good to come out ahead every month and save to make improvements on the house, pay for a new car in cash and have some money on hand for emergencies.

That's not to say that we are going to be able to actually save significant amounts of money for traveling (something I'd really like to do some day) any time soon. The house will be a money pit for the foreseeable future: improving the front yard, repairing the garage and garage door, painting the outside trim and installing new gutters, hanging new windows, replacing the carpet and painting the entire basement, buying a new washer and dryer... The projects seem never ending.

The good news is that when we finally finish with all of these projects, we will be able to take a break from the house and truly enjoy it until we find that it's time to move.

Summer Scheduling

It's already happening... Although we wanted keep this summer relatively open in terms of scheduling, weekends are already getting filled. And I know it will get worse. We're already booked for four weekends in a row starting in mid-May. Then we get a bit of a break before we'll travel somewhere for the Fourth of July (western Colorado or Iowa). July may be our only month to camp and spend some time in the great outdoors. August is booked up now too. And with Benny starting school in late August, this schedule thing is only going to get hairier through the fall.

The saving grace is that many of the weekends are filled with visitors to our house, which makes things a whole lot easier. So although things will be busy, I know that we'll be able to enjoy a few mojitos and other appropriate summer drinks in the new (new sod!) backyard. Can.not.wait!

The Kitchen: After

Whoa! After over a year, I'm FINALLY prepared to share the "after" photos of the kitchen. Check out the before pictures here. Overall, we are so thrilled with the kitchen. The house's original kitchen was about the size of the third picture (the "bar" area). It would have been nearly impossible to cook in a galley kitchen that size! In the 1970s, the previous owners added the rest of the kitchen.

What we didn't know when we bought the house was that much of the work was done by the homeowners and they took some significant short cuts, including digging a shallow foundation for the addition. The result of that shallow foundation has been a consistent up and down movement of the structure. When we were designing the remodel, we decided to remove the half-wall that remained from the original kitchen. The contractor decided to stabilize the wall by placing a beam in the ceiling. However, in the process, he discovered just how bad the settling had impacted the addition.

In the end, everything worked out and we were able to insert the beam and repair the enormous crack in the wall where the addition was splitting away from the original house. The kitchen is an amalgamation of old and new. Here's what we did..

CABINETS. We couldn't afford new cabinets, so we decided to paint our old ones white. The cabinets are oak, so there were lots of grooves. Nate sanded and primed the cabinets. After several weekends of prepping and painting, we decided to hire a professional to finish the final coats. It was one of the best decisions we made in the entire process! We did have to buy two new base cabinets to replace the area where the oven was located (see appliance description below). The doors didn't match completely, so someone suggested that we use glass inserts in the "bar" area cabinet doors to distinguish them from the rest of the kitchen. Good suggestion!

APPLIANCES. Keeping the appliances that came with the house was not an option. As you can see in the before pictures the appliances were pretty dated. The fridge was small and old and incredibly inefficient. The dishwasher may have been one of the first dishwashers ever manufactured. And the kicker: The original 1940s oven was located where the bar area is now. We didn't use it for an entire year because we had to light the pilot light in order to start it, Benny could reach the knobs and turn the gas on, and I'm fairly certain it hadn't been cleaned in roughly 50 years.

COUNTER TOP AND BACK SPLASH. To be honest, we didn't really have a design in mind when we embarked on this remodeling adventure. We didn't know what colors we wanted to use, how to lay the kitchen out, how the appliances would match everything else, etc. But, we figured it out along the way. We picked out the granite counter top first. Nate had played recreational league basketball with a granite importer (totally random, I know!). He gave us a smoking hot deal on a slab of granite. We ended up paying just slightly more for the granite than we would have for Formica. No kidding! The slab is a dark, dark green - almost black. We love it, but it presented a few decorating challenges.

For example, when I was shopping for back splash tiles, I felt a little constrained. Not much looked good with the counter top we'd picked. That's when it's important to talk to a professional. I spoke with a woman at a high-end tile store who was able to pick out some beautiful tiles to complement the counter. At eight months pregnant, I planned to tile the back splash myself. However, after attending a training on tiling, I decided that spending the money to hire that out as well was well worth it.

LESSONS LEARNED. 1. Overall, we learned that we are not DIYers. We didn't enjoy committing entire weekends to working on the kitchen and neither of us is very talented in the area of home improvement. Plus, we had a toddler running around and I was pregnant. In the end, we didn't save much money by doing things ourselves. And it took so much longer. Our contractor was finished with his work in a month. It took us nearly eight months to finish the remaining projects - and we still aren't done with a few!

2. Having a design plan is recommended, but not necessary. I'm really happy with how the kitchen turned out. And I'm glad I didn't have too many preconceived ideas that may not have worked out. However, I would recommend agreeing on paint colors before having an argument about them at the paint store.

Let's Hear It for the Boy

Or, in this case, man. I just posted some before photos of our house. We have made some major improvements to the house in the past 10 months or so. And we're rushing to get little jobs finished before Baby Girl arrives. However, when I say "we," I should be giving the credit to Nate. He has given up many weekends to devote to the house. Being pregnant has definitely had its advantages when it comes to getting out of DIY projects.

In addition to painting most of the house and finishing lots of random projects in the kitchen, Nate completely overhauled the yard this spring. He installed drainage next to the house, constructed a fence, and has tried to keep our garden alive (the same can't be said for the grass, but that'll come back in the spring, right?). He really has put a lot of sweat equity into this house and I can't thank him enough.

I'm going to make you wait for pictures. Mostly because Nate is still installing the drapery rods and I can't post an incomplete project!

The Dining/Living Room: Before

Although I've mostly been writing about our work to the kitchen, we've done some extensive work to the dining/living room area as well, including: re-texturing the plaster walls, painting the walls, painting the trim, and installing a new light fixture. Add to that a new dining table and new drapes and VOILA! we have a much improved living space! After pictures coming soon!

The Kitchen: Before

We took these photos when we were first looking at our house two years ago (almost to the day!). These are the before photos of the kitchen. After photos are coming shortly...

Action Shot!

We are nearly finished with the kitchen (yes, after nine whole months!). Here's an action shot of me - at nine months preggers - painting the walls. I was pretty committed to getting this task finished prior to labor. We just need to install a stemware rack and then we're officially DONE. Well, not officially. We still need to finish up a few details, but DONE enough! Pictures coming soon!

Well, I'll Be

After weeks of asking, nagging, then outright harassing, Nate has put up some cabinet doors! They look great! Now we just need to find a tile contractor and paint the walls and we'll be all finished! I'll post pictures once all the doors are up. At this rate we'll have the kitchen finished in time to welcome our petite fille!

Fenced In

I don't think I've announced the most recent house/yard project to the blog. Two weeks ago, Nate and a few friends built a fence. About a month prior to that, we had a bunch of concrete removed from the yard (the old carport and all of the sidewalks). We're planning on planting grass and bushes to extend the yeard. We'll be replacing the sidewalks with brick. I'm not sure when that will happen, but we're on our way...

While I am very happy to have a fence, I also must report that the kitchen is nowhere close to being finished. We moved back in three weeks ago. The doors have been finished for at least two and a half weeks. And, we're still living with door-less cabinets. Read: Mama is slightly frustrated. I did attend a tiling class this weekend. We're going to pick out tile and glass door inserts this weekend. Perhaps the doors will be up by Friday, but I'm not holding my breath. If they are, I will most certainly post photos.

Halleluja!

I'm not much of a God person, but I am screaming "Halleluja!" tonight. The cabinets are painted. Yessirree! Those cabinets have the final coat of paint. I never, ever thought I would see this day. Granted, we have to let the paint cure so we can't move in for another week or so, but the end is in sight. I'm going to start hauling all of our kitchen items up from the basement and wash them this week. I can't wait!

It's been five months - FIVE MONTHS - since we started this project. It's far from over, but at least we don't have to store our dishes, spices, food, cookware, etc. in the living room any more. And I can be thankful for the small things.

The Kitchen: A Belated Update

I've been hesitant to post anything about kitchen progress in the past few weeks because, well, there hasn't been much progress. However, yesterday we hired a painter! In a week and a half he will come over and apply the final two coats of paint. But here's the kicker... The painter took all of our doors and is going to prime, sand, and paint them. Yay! We have been struggling to get those doors sanded and painted. It's such a time-consuming activity (for example, I spent three hours sanding six doors last weekend).

Nate's dad and step-mom will be here this weekend to help us prime the walls in the kitchen and paint the ceiling. While they're at it, we'll probably ask them to help finish up painting in the living room as well. I went shopping for curtains, chairs, and dining room tables yesterday and I have some excellent ideas. If we're lucky, we'll have a liveable home by this summer - just in time for BBQ season!

During (90 Percent Complete)

The kitchen is taking a tad bit longer to finish than originally anticipated. Painting cabinets, as it turns out, takes a lot of effort. Because they're oak, they have a very deep grain. We don't want the grain to be visible through the paint, so Nate is applying a thick putty to the bases and doors. Then we have to sand, reapply, sand, prime, sand, paint. Hopefully this picture gives you an idea of where we're going.

Nate's been a trooper throughout this process and given up many a night to make this dream kitchen a reality. Props to him. More updates as they're available.

Before

This Old House

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! It's about time for a house update...

Our contractor finished all of his work on December 26th. He did a great job and left us with some really big projects. In an effort to save some money, Nate and I decided long ago to paint and tile the kitchen once all the more laborious work was finished. As a result, the kitchen is functional, but we still can't use it. The desk in the living room continues to function as a pantry, cupboard, and a general collection place for just about everything. The dust, once long gone from the kitchen, has returned.

We, er, I mean Nate, has sanded the inside of all of the cupboards. I just finished priming the last shelf. We should be able to slap on the first coat of paint this evening. Once the insides are finished, then we must move to the faces of the cabinets. Much sanding and swearing will ensue, no doubt. Then a couple of coats of paint. Then the walls. Then the tiling. If we're lucky, we'll be finished by 2011.

The good news is that everything looks great. With a coat of paint everything will look fabulous. And, for the first time in over a year, we have a functional oven. Definitely something to celebrate in the new year!

Happy holidays to all! Here's to home projects and 2010!

Zee Kitchen (Update)

Countertops. Check! New door. Check! Things are coming along. Enjoy the pics of the installation of the countertop. It's a dark, dark green granite. I haven't even seen it in person yet. These pics are courtesy of Jake the Contractor.

Zee Kitchen (During)

1. Nate finishing his demo work.

2. Bare kitchen - nothing but the cabinets.
3. Ditto.
4. Today, after Jake the Contractor (think Bob the Builder) removed the partial wall. Those wooden pillars will be removed soon. It's so open now - minus the debris.

Things are most definitely progressing. Even in the cold, dusty house, the kitchen is coming along!

Life Sans Kitchen: Day 3

Technically, I've only been without a kitchen for about two days. So far, OK. Jake, our contractor started yesterday after a long weekend of Nate tearing stuff out of the kitchen. The only thing Nate left in there were the cabinets. Jake's progress report yesterday read something like this:

The Good: The dishwasher did not leak as bad as we had thought, so we don't need to do any repairs to the subfloor (that could have gotten expensive FAST). Also, the floor is already insulated, although you would never guess that by walking on it on a cold winter's day, so we'll save that money.

The Bad: The crack in the wall where the old house and the addition meet is much, much worse than originally anticipated. Jake said he's seen worse, but I'm not sure. The structural engineer will be at the house today to check things out.

The Ugly: I can't remember what the ugly was. Perhaps it was our entire house. The living room now houses a (working) refigerator and a (not-working) range as well as a make shift kitchen (complete with a microwave) on the desk. It looks pretty, pretty classy. We have yet to go out to eat, after two full days of this. Hopefully that bodes well for the future!