Saturday, August 16, 2008

House Update

House Before
We have been remodeling our house on five acres for almost a year. While it has been a bigger project than we could have ever imagined, we are finally in the home stretch. When we first started looking for a house, I instantly feel in love with this property and it's beautiful heritage oak trees. With the crazy house prices in California, property was just something we dreamed about. With my parents help, however, we were able to make that dream a reality. When I pull up to our house, I still can't believe it's ours. I feel to blessed and thankful. I can't think of any other place I would rather be. In the beginning the house was definitely not picture perfect, but it has so much potential. It has been amazing to see it change and become more than we could have ever dreamed of.....


House- Getting Closer
It is so fun to see the outside change even if we still have a long way to go. We are still building a deck on the side and will install a railing along the front. I haven't even thought about the landscaping. I am just taking it one step at a time, but I can't wait to just relax on the front porch and watch my kids play. I love our property and have so many ideas for it. I just can't wait to watch it take shape.




Kid's Bath Before
This bathroom wasn't pretty. It was really outdated and in need of a face lift. It is also very long and narrow. We gutted it, but kept the layout the same. It had just come together this last week. We still need to find a mirror, but I defiantly don't miss the tri fold medicine cabinet.


Kid's Bath After
It is a litter hard to see these pictures. We have a solar tube in this bathroom and the sun is really bright because the cover isn't on it yet. The tile is a large greenish/yellow subway tile. This is the tile that kind of set the tone for our house. I just fell in love with it so I picked all the other tile to blend with it. I really wanted a pedestal sink, but also wanted a vanity for storage. This was the design I came up with. I had a hard time explaining it to the cabinet company, but I love how it turned out. Cute, but functional. I put a deep tub in here because I love to take baths, but couldn't fit one in the master. We still have to install the glass door, but I love how this bathroom is turning out.
Master Bath Before
This was by far my least favorite room in the house. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. The bathroom felt pretty small and was really outdated. The shower was really tiny (not to mention really gross). The vanity was really short, and overall there just wasn't a good use of space. There wasn't much we could do with the layout, but there was a pretty large linen closet which we made a little smaller to allow for a larger shower. We changed out the toilet and vanity. We had to fill in the window to add on the flower room, but we put in a solar tube which lets in a lot of natural light. It was really fun to see the room change, especially because I was put in charge of designing it. Overall I think this has been one of the biggest transformations.


Master Bath After
It feels so good to have this bathroom almost done. It is so fun to see everything come together. I had an idea of what I wanted in here, but it was so overwhelming picking out tile. There is way to much to choose from, and so many details to keep in mind. One of my favorite things in here is the vessel sink. We still have to install the shower doors and windows, but at least the toilet is up and running.


Makayla's Room Before
One of the things I liked most about this house was that it had large rooms and closets. This room had two wall length closets. The first thing we did is knock one out, making the room much larger (almost as big as our master), and creating a solid wall for her bed (the other walls had windows). We also have replaced the the carpet and painted. We installed new windows, doors, and molding.


Makayla's Room After
Makayla's room is pretty much done. We have always rented so I have had so much fun being able to paint her room. At first she was a little worried because I told her she could pick green or yellow for her room because that was what would match her bedding. After a little thought, she looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't really want a John Deere room." I guess all that country air is getting to her. She finally decided on yellow (well I actually told her I wanted green, knowing she would pick the opposite). All that is left is to hang her chandelier and she is ready to move in. Yeah!


We are still working on Evan's room, the kitchen, and family room. I will post some pictures hopefully soon. Remodeling has defiantly been more work than we thought, but as things are finally starting to come together, I am getting really excited. We have been to thankful to be able to live in such a beautiful setting.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

First Day of School

Makayla started kindergarten on Monday. It was a hard day...mainly because I had to get up at 6:30am. It's going to take awhile to get used to that. Her school day is from 7:55-12:55pm. It is not that much longer than preschool, but it is everyday. It is so weird not having her home with me, but she loves school and learning. The best part about her class is that her best friend Pearl is there with her. The fun thing about just having Evan during the morning is that it allows me to give him my full attention (by that I mean watch him like a hawk). I am kind of amazed that he had made it to this point in his life without any major injures (fingers crossed). Another cool thing about her school is that it is the same school I went to...crazy. It is a small country school. There is only one kindergarten class with only eighteen kids. When I graduated eighth grade my class size was only twenty five. Not much as changed. I love that.