Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Provision, Second Floor Tour- Before

A Little Of This and A Little of That

This phrase pretty well sums up this past week,
both at the "old" house and the "new" house.

The "Old" House
(which is newer than the "new" house by about 50 yrs)

With Saturday being so beautiful, we
decided to get the last of the outdoor sprucing
done before our Open House on Sunday.
Wayne sanded and painted the front door,
while Madison and I planted cheerful pansies.
We planted them in the planters by the front door.
We planted them in the pots on the back patio.
Some went to the bed in front of the living room window
and
the remaining went along the sidewalk to the front door!
I'll do about anything to get this house SOLD!

The "New" House
or as we call it The Provision!

This house will be our labor of love.
So far we've toured the first floor and ripped out carpet (see here)
then we
toured the basement, trimmed the bushes and raked (see here).

This week has been busy, too!
Last week I stated that we had yet to
start raking the right side of the house....
now we have started!
Before
This bed runs along side of a concrete
retaining wall by our neighbors driveway.
I believe that the neighbor said it had been at least two years
since it had been cleaned out.
before
We fully agree with his observation!
It was neat to see so many flowers pop their way thru the leaves.
after
We were even more surprised to see many more
that hadn't yet reached the sun!
after
I don't think I've ever had so many flowers!
While I raked the rock bed, Wayne
got busy clearing the roof and gutters of leaves.
before
Next we power washed the front of the house!
after
It is much better, however we are still needing
to find a product to clean the remaining "brown" away!
Any tips?
Today we moved onto the right side back yard.
Wayne and Zac uncovered and cleaned out the fountain,
while Madison and I raked leaves, pine needles and
trimmed trees!
Wayne then went about the task of untangling the Wisteria vine
off the house and wrapping it back around
the arbor.
A quick power wash was all it took to make
the arbor good as new!
Remember the "vintage" bar in the basement rec room?
It's Gone!
(We are praising God that Wayne decided to tear it out.
Come to find out it was being eaten by termites.
Thankfully all the entrance tubes were dry
and they had all made their way to the bottom.
I killed the ones at the bottom by pouring a gallon
of vinegar all over them!
Guess who's getting called tomorrow?)
The ceiling in the rec room is now gone as well!
I decided that these two items were worth keeping!
I'll have to find a special place for these!
(Jane they reminded me of something you would
find a special use for!)

The Upstairs Tour- Before

When I gave my first floor tour, I neglected to
give the location of the stairs going to the second floor.
These stairs currently go up from the short
hallway between the kitchen, old dining room and side entry door. 
I must warn you that the upstairs needs lots of love too!
Going Up!
At the top of the stairs turning right,
you find the front dormer of the house.
This will be closed off to make Zac's room!
Standing in Zac's room and turning left,
is the small dormer overlooking the back yard.
This area will eventually become the landing
and the dormer will be turned into a window seat for Madison!
Walking ahead at the top of the stairs is this bedroom.
The brown door goes to a closet and the white door
by the window would be
this very scary bathroom!
This room will become Madison's room but only
after the current closet and scary bathroom are demolished!
I think that it is funny that each "room" upstairs has a different
color of asbestos tile.  We are not planning on tearing these outs. 
 Instead, we will be covering these with padding
and carpet in the bedroom and real tile in the new kids bath!
At the top of the steps looking behind you is a small
hallway leading to the left dormer of the house.
We have plans to remove this wall and add a banister.
A view from the other end looking towards the doorway Madison's room.
At the end of the hallway is this small room.
The last thing we did this weekend was to remove two walls of drywall
and plaster to expose the studs in what will become the kids new bathroom!

So to follow tradition... this is what's awaiting the trash man this week.
More yard waste bags, two or three trashcans of drywall,
and part of the rec room bar.
Just to name a few....
And this is what's waiting for me!

I am linking to Metamorphosis Monday
at Between Naps on the Porch.

Have a great week!


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Dinner & A Shout Out


Yesterday, I took some ground beef out of the
freezer to thaw before I left for work.
I also started to rack my brain... what should I make?
I don't know if you do this in your house,
but I tend to get stuck in dinner ruts.
Ground beef often equals=
Meatballs
Meatloaf
Bean Dish
Chuck wagon Casserole
etc....
I knew I wanted something different...
Exploring blog land I found a recipe that
both used ground beef and surprisingly enough
items I already had at the house!

Cheeseburger Cups!
They were excellent and easy to make!
(we decided next time we make them
we would remove them a few minutes earlier)
I found this great recipe over at Decor and the Dog!
To go right to the recipe click here.

I found this to be a great blog, full of
creative projects, great recipes, humorous dog posts
and before and afters!
Most recently she gives a how-to on adding bead board to her island!
What a beautiful kitchen she has!
Worth the hop over to her blog!

Thank you Wendy, at Relatively Unique,
for this weekend reading tip!
If you have never visited Wendy's site,
she is another blogger worth checking out!

Have a great day!


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Weekend Happenings at the Provision

The Not So Ugly And
The Really, Really Ugly

That would be a great way of describing this weekend's
work at our new house..we've named The Provision.
Can you tell what we did on Saturday?
In all honesty this is the second set of 15 yard waste
bags that have made it's way to the
curb in the past three weeks!
Removing leaves from beside the garage retaining wall,
taken a few weekends ago.
Look what we have found under many layers of leaves!
Exciting "greens" are popping up all over the yard!
I can't wait till spring and the flowers are in full bloom!
All our hard work is starting to pay off in the yard!
Leaves have been raked out of flower beds,
hedges have been trimmed back,
and flowering buds have been discovered!
Unfortunately we still have at least another 15 bags to go
on the still untouched right side of the house!
Zac, my son, was put to good use hauling dead and
downed tree limbs to the front curb
for our city's once-a-month limb pick up service!
Madison, our daughter, kept busy bagging leaves for us!

Now for the really scary...
The Basement

Going down.....

The laundry area
(this hopefully won't be my laundry area,
we are planning on putting the laundry on the first floor!)
The basement shower....
(really... not sure I'd even bathe my dogs here!)
This area is against the front of the house and up till today
housed a dilapidated, mildewed dresser
and storage cabinet.
The dresser found its way to the curb after my
curb side photo was taken, and the cabinet was torn
down and will be on the curb for next week!
The happening bar in the rec room....
(this will also be finding its way to the curb soon too!)
The rec room photos are fuzzy, ....
fuzzy = dust and dirt.
Notice our professional masks!

The inspector stated that the stuff on the walls was not harmful mold,
however... they will be getting cleaned, sealed and painted!
The basement is concrete block, which is not
as waterproof as the modern day cinder block.
No worries, this will not be our rec room,
even when it is sparkling clean!
The ceiling in the rec room... is coming down.
We hauled out two large garbage cans full today.
I was teasing with Wayne that we might need to start
"tipping" our garbage men at this rate!

So to cap it off,
Saturday we took advantage of a rare mid-60's day
and worked outside....
Sunday afternoon we tackled sweeping the basement floor,
shop vacing the walls and ceilings
and removing part of the rec room ceiling.
This week we hope to power wash and seal the
basement walls!

A little something fun....
Since our current home is on the market,
I been buying lemons to display
in a bowl on the counter.
Twice we have used the old lemons to make
homemade, fresh squeezed lemonade!
Today we added blended strawberries and ice
to make strawberry lemonade!

To make:
1 cup of fresh lemon juice
3 cups of water (i use more)
1/2 cup of sugar (to taste)

mix and stir and
enjoy!

Have a great week!

I am posting to Metamorphosis Monday
at Between Naps on the Porch!




Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Provision- First Floor Tour - Before

I am joining Susan today for Metamorphosis Monday
at Between Naps on the Porch.

This is our new house! 
We've named it the Provision at West Bay.
For more info on how we found this house click here!
Here is how it looked  about three weeks ago.
Here is how it looks today!
You will probably see a trend to my postings,
Metamorphosis Mondays will most likely equal
what's out at the curb for Monday morning trash pick up!
Today's Before and After= Carpet removal!
Since carpet was only installed on the first floor,
I'm using this post as an opportunity to
give you a quick tour.

The Living Room
Before carpet removal!
Entering the front door, to the right
is the living room!
I know that it is hard to tell in this photo, but the carpet
was in terrible condition and be thankful that
smell-a-vision has not yet been invented!
So out it came!
Living Room Before- Fireplace Wall
Looking back from the other side of the room you can see the
original front door.  We have many plans for this room,
including, new trim, doors, floor refinishing, fireplace surround and hearth!
For now we are happy to start with carpet removal!
Living Room Bay Window -Before
After! 
Can't wait to paint the windows and add new trim!

Hall Way
Hallway- Before
Walking into the hallway off the Living Room,
turning right will get you to the front bedroom.
Front Bedroom- Before
This room was already without carpet and needed
only to be cleaned up!
Front Room - After
This room will eventually become part master closet
and master bathroom!
If you look down the hallway to the left
you would see both the first floor bathroom
and the back bedroom!
First Floor Bathroom- Before
We left the bathmats down...half the floor tile is gone!
This room will eventually be gutted and expanded
into the Front Bedroom to create the Master Bath!
At the end of the hallway is the Back Bedroom.
This room held the record for the oldest carpet in the house.
We are guessing it to be pushing 40 (at least!)!
This photo does not due it justice.... one word
Gross!
Back Bedroom- After
This room will be expanded and will become the
master bedroom.  We are hoping for a new wall
of windows against this back wall!
Back Bedroom Closet View- After
Looking back towards the Hallway from the Back Bedroom,
we are planning to create a small powder bath in some of this space!
Back in the Living Room looking thru the archway
you came to the Family Room/ Kitchen combo.



Family Room/ Kitchen

Knowing that this was a later addition to the home,
we decided to brave taking up the very dirty, faded, smelly, and stained pink
carpeting, and found this "beautiful" flooring underneath.
See my new toy!
The remaining carpet will find its way to the curb this week!
Oh..... the plans we have for this room!
New windows, french doors, gourmet kitchen, and new hardwood floors
just to name a few!
This room gives you a great view out to the property!
Kitchen- before!

Dining Room
Dining room- Before

This room was once the dining room.
It has also served as a bedroom.
And we have plans for it to become
our mudroom and laundry room.
You can enter it from both the front door
and kitchen side door.
Dining Room - After
Sans carpet!

Thanks for joining me for my first floor tour!
This week we hope to be cleaning and weather proofing
the basement!
After that, we move upstairs to demolish a small bathroom
and gut some walls!
(Wayne finally removed the dead mouse
the former owners left for us on
one of the basement shelves!)
Speaking of dead...
Wayne earned his "man points" today not only cleaning
up the mouse, but a dead raccoon we found today up in the attic!
No joke!
He has assured me that all things dead out now
in the trash pile by the curb!
(Aren't you glad that I don't photograph everything!)

Have a great week!