Stay Awhile

If you have been following along with our home renovations, you may have already seen this bedroom, but with a blue bedspread and accents.  We have often had a blue guest room, and I have always loved the crisp blue and white contrast, hence me toting those things around for 10 years, at least.  

But this room is a large guest room off our downstairs living room of greys and neutrals, and it was just bugging me.  Instead of feeling warm and inviting, it felt stark to me. 

I shopped our house, which by the way is far harder to  do now that I have 34 Weeks of Cleaned for several years in a row, and came up with a new plan.

I had previously bought this bedspread (it has a fleecy bottom layer) for Salem back in Mesa.  Where the current highs have been in the 100s for the past few months.  What was I thinking?  He slept with it on his bed for about 3 days and them politely asked if there were other options.  

Luckily I kept it.

 

 

All it took was adding a few pillows and new matching lamp and I feel so much better about the space. 

 

 Found the perfect sign-

And done!  Well except for curtains, but I am waiting for the light grey linen material to restock so I can get busy sewing again!

 Who is up for a visit?

Blessings,

Epic Movie Night

Epic! Not because of the specific movie, mind you, but because our entertainment center came in!!!  In one piece! 

This is what we have lived with for four months. 

 

OK, for a family that has had one small TV for YEARS, and has not even have cable half our married life, this is BIG for our family!  While we do not watch TV often, this family loves its weekly family movie nights.  It is a time to rest and regroup after a busy week and we hold that time together closely. 

 

This is what we have now!

Finally!  Did I mention we first ordered the thing in MARCH?!!  Seriously, my patience has been tested. 

Mind you, the issue has not been so much about the entertainment center, though the mess ups in ordering and the continual delays have tried my patience.  The bigger thing for me is I like settled. And organized. And I have not been able to convince my organized crazed self that my living room was done with this wall NOT done!  It literally drove me bonkers daily.  Sad, but true.  

Even when we move, I try to get our main room done ASAP to allow us to have one place of rest and quiet.  A sanctuary in the middle of the madness.  

My sanctuary is now complete!  And I love it!

 

Who's up for a movie night?

Blessings,

It Came Unbroken!

The master shower door, that is!

Shower door number three! 

When the box arrived I took one look at it and thought, well, we will be ordering a fourth.  It was beat up and had rips in it.  Even the delivery guy shook his head.  But praise the Lord, somehow it was in one piece. 

And yesterday Clarke spent a few hours getting it put in place.  Bye bye shower liner (that was intended to be a week fix, not a 7 week fix), hello glass doors!

Before- (though we had already removed the existing gold doors!)

Shower liner pushed to the back wall while Clarke put the frame in-

Finished product!

Needless to say, we love it and can't wait to try it out tomorrow once the caulking sets.

Now, if that front door would just show up! ;)

Blessings,

House Reno- Week 7- Winding Down

It's hard to believe but we do not have much to show you this week.  Most of the week was spent just settling in some, decorating a few areas, and celebrating Colby's 13th birthday, with a weekend away to visit his sisters and some friends of his.

I mentioned this book before, but seriously, you need to get it and read it- Cozy Minimalist Home!  It is a pretty quick read, but has quite the punch.  I am so tired of STUFF, but I do not want to empty my home of everything and I certainly want to maintain that cozy feel we all love.  This book has been eye opening and a great "how-to" helper.  Hopefully my other helper (Ashton) will be up soon to hang pictures and out on the finishing touches.

Decorating touches this week-

The biggest change- KITCHEN DOORS CAME BACK!  While now I cannot find anything in the kitchen again, I love the finished look!

The remainder of our time was spent on the phone trying to resolve two issues!  The first- a now THIRD shower door has been ordered for the master bath.  Thank goodness for cheap shower curtain liners!  The first two glass doors were damaged in shipping we are told, and they keep telling us we need to cancel those orders and have a new one shipped.  Growing weary of that drama!

The second is an entertainment hutch that was ordered at the end of April that has yet to arrive.  Oh well, not entirely true.  The wrong bottom was delivered.  Without the top.  (that is still in my garage because the delivery company has yet to figure out how to come back and get it.  BUT, the same delivery company then delivered the top and bottom pieces, both literally in pieces.  I mean, broken shelves, pieces in the bottom of the box, the works.  We refused delivery and they went back.   Come to find out the manufacturer is here in AZ (the pieces shipped from Minnesota), so we have cancelled the order and found a local furniture store that is going to order the pieces for us.  Cue another 6 weeks of waiting, but at least they will make sure the pieces are in one piece before they get delivered to our house.

It would all be a comedy of errors, except it is no longer funny.  And in the meantime, the TV is still on the floor.

Good news- front door is being replaced soon, and windows in the garage door have been ordered.

Before and after pictures will be coming soon of lots of the spaces, and then I am going to stop boring you for a while

After that, phase two begins! ;)

Blessings,

House Reno- Week 5

Happy June!

While we have only been living in our new house a week and a half, we are on week 5 of renovations.  Five very long weeks!

Thankfully, now that we are waking up and going to bed in the house rather than going back and forth from the rental, things have felt a little more manageable.  Don't get me wrong though, we are still falling into bed every night exhausted.  Restrictions due to Corona virus may have been lifted in the city, but honestly this family has been too tired to do much more than take long walks at night exploring our neighborhood.

Sunset

These sunsets make may heart happy, as does meeting our neighbors while on horseback!  Them, not us!  We may only be 15 minutes from town, but this slower "country" life has been such a blessing.  It is easy to leave the "worldly" stuff behind and just rest in God's peace out here.  Much needed, especially in the times of unrest we are in!

So what have we gotten done this week?  Let's see if I can even remember!

• Replaced shower heads in the master.  Still waiting for the glass door for this shower.  Apparently the first was damaged in transit, and now the second is "lost" in transit.

Hello, silver, goodbye gold!

• Finished hanging the remaining lights and ceiling fans.  That is 10 fans total that Clarke has replaced!  I have lost count of the lights!

•  Removed last of old lighting.  Yes, that really hung in a bathroom!

• Hung the mirrors and lighting in the master bathroom!

• Replaced the outside house numbers.

Before

After

• Finished the remaining outside door hinges and locks.

• Cleaned two rugs.

• Changed out faucets in three bathrooms.

• Hung towel bars finally!

• Moved the lighting and added a mirror in the hall bathroom. 

• Finished decorating a few rooms completely!  I will show before and after shots in a few weeks, promise.

Whew, I don't know about you, but I am exhausted! ;)  Now, seven ikea bookshelves to put together for Clarke's office.  Who wants to help?

Blessings,

House Reno- Week 2

Second week done, and it feels like it will never be done! ;)  On the other hand we did get a lot done this past week and the painters start today painting the main floor.  Can I tell you how thankful I am that they are doing that and not me?  I spent days, with lots of help, painting the master closet and the pantry and it wore me out!  Still have to paint one bathroom this week and I am dreading it already.

Because of our cooler temperatures, we have been able to keep the house open and enjoy a breeze while we worked.  Unfortunately, the cottonwood is flying and my allergies have taken a hit.  Itchy eyes and stuffy noses are prevalent and I am falling into bed exhausted every night!  Thankfully I have no where to go, because I am sure the looks I would get out would be ugly.  I need a shirt that says, "Just allergies!"

Just a peek at the things that have started pouring in.  Someone should have bought stock in Lowes this month, just saying!

So this week's progress-

• Finished demo'ing the master closet and painted it.  Three coats!  Ready to install closet system if it ever arrives.

•  Put together my new desk!  No more  blogging on the couch!

• Lights all in and wired and ceiling ready to be painted.

• A friend added vertical dividers in the pantry and we painted it.

• Replaced multiple bathroom lights

• Took down multiple lights and ceiling fans which will be replaced once the rooms are painted this week.

•  Replaced more faucets in bathrooms and began tub fixture replacements. 

Waiting for the rest of the parts to come in

• A friend built a frame for Colby's bathroom mirror.

• Took out glass shower doors to be replaced once they arrive.

Look, more gold!

• Began the task of replacing hinges on all the doors (over 100 to be done!) and changing out the door handles.

 

• Repaired two french doors that needed some TLC!

See that view?  One of my favorite things about the house!

• Unpacked and organized mechanical room storage.

Christmas decorations and boy toys! ;)

• And managed to shatter one shower door!  Praise the Lord for safety glass and His protection!  You should have seen the look on Clarke's face when he was left just holding the door handle.

Ya'll if we could turn all this gold we have removed into cash we would be rich!  Haven't even gotten to the second floor yet.  Funny story- we took a bunch of things to the local ReStore and they said a polite "no, thank you" to all the gold fixtures except a ceiling fan. 

So this week while the painters work, we will be finishing up some painting and continuing the seemingly never ending removal of gold fixtures.  We are also continuing to slowly move things over and aiming for a complete move May 20th!

Exciting yet tiring but staying motivated with dreams of decorating and settling in!  One of the first things going up is our new sign from a friend.  I am so ready to fill this home with family and friends, and tons of love and laughter!

THANKS, Lynn!

Blessings,