Several weeks ago (on 11/17/17 to be exact) I proposed to Brian that we do a little update on the main floor of our house.  I had a very detailed list of items I wanted to tackle (in a spreadsheet of course!)He didn’t immediately say no, so that was a good sign!  I’m kidding, he was very receptive to it.  Not much scares him really.

As of November 2017, our house turned 15 years old.  Time flies.  We love this place (or maybe it’s just me), so making it the best it can be is always on my priority list.  Brian and I made all the decisions together in building it and we brought all 4 of our babies home from the hospital to this place we call home.  We could certainly use more storage space as we have converted almost every square inch into living space.  We can barely store a thumb tack at this point!

I distinctly remember coming over to check on the building of our house on a very regular basis as we were living at my sister’s nearby.  Thank you Shauna & Scott for taking us in!  All of it was so exciting (and stressful), but in the end we were thrilled to be home owners of a brand new house.   Even if every smell inside made me want to throw up because I was pregnant with my 1st baby and nauseous 24/7.   Insert the green throw up emoji here…

This is what our house looked like then…and here it is now…

I don’t think any of our neighbors are the same ones we had when we moved in.  Which is not surprising, really.  Some of them have been around for many of those years though and they are like family now.  Here is our current neighborhood crew rolling out of Falcon Valley in style for a Christmas lights tour together.  So fun!Over the years we have made updates in our house from time to time like changing out our formica countertops for granite, switching out our stair spindles from painted wood to wrought iron, new kitchen appliances, a couple new light fixtures, a recent remodel of our master bedroom, adding in an outdoor kitchen, and some furniture updates.  Of course the kids rooms get changed from time to time.  The boys are really pushing for an overhaul in their room.  I’m not up for that quite yet!  No question, this recent remodel is the biggest endeavor yet!

If you walked in today, you may not recognize the place.  On 12/28/17 a crew came in and moved all of our stuff to the garage and demolished our flooring.  Bye bye dining room carpet and super easy to clean tile floors that were an upgrade at the time.  We had fun leaving our personal messages on the subfloor…

 

We lived like this for several days during the New Year holiday…

Not the best venue for a New Years party but Morgan and her friends weren’t scared away.  They still rang in the new year in a pile of dust.

Oh these girls make me so proud putting up a backdrop and gathering decorations for a party.  They are definitely taking after me 😉

Over the course of 3 weeks, we spent many hours cooped up in my room playing monopoly and just trying to stay out of the way.  It’s not an activity I really recommend.

Honestly, I felt a little paralyzed and confined during this process.  Our normal life was put on hold.  In a nutshell, I have eaten out way too much and gotten nothing accomplished for weeks.  Hence the reason you have seen very few additions to this blog lately!

During the process we discovered our dining room floor wasn’t level and needed repairs and our master shower needed a bit of an overhaul.The temperatures outside were dipping into the single digits, icy conditions were compromising the ability of workers to get to our house, kids were home for snow days, Brian was in Vegas for the week, and our fridge was in the family room.  Not the most ideal conditions and I was on the verge of a breakdown a time or two, but we made the best of it!As of 1/19/18, our renovation is complete and we couldn’t be happier!  You wouldn’t recognize it if you walked in today.  Morgan had snap chat friends asking her if she had moved!

Here are the before and after photos!

Before…I remember being enamored with the beautiful dark stained cabinets when we moved in and all of the sudden one day, I looked up and wondered why they were looking orange? Weren’t they dark walnut before?  Are my eyes playing tricks on me or am I just bored of looking at these cabinets?  Or perhaps I have watched too many Fixer Upper episodes?

Here we are now with a fabulous change…
My dad installed under cabinet lighting and up-lighting for me (he is an electrical engineer by the way) and I’m loving it!  Thank you dad for putting up with my hair-brained ideas.  I’m certain he wants to slap some sense into me most of the time.  But this time, I think I’m ok because now he’s installing it in his own house.  See, not all of my ideas are bad ones!

Kids are loving it too and Reece left this sweet note for Papa for working so hard at our house…We also got him this personalized tool belt for his birthday.  When he showed up with a tattered tool apron and supplies in a plastic wal-mart sack, we were a bit concerned.  We’re trying to spiff him up a bit so when he makes house-calls, he looks the part! Isn’t he cute!?
Brian’s home office has lost the burnt orange color that was popular in 2002 and become a much more streamlined dark gray.  I have many pictures to hang up still but I’m trying to give my poor dad a break.  He’s my picture hanger!We have a new look to our fireplace…And freshly stained hand rails and stair end caps…and no more carpet in our dining room…hallelujah!

before…

After…Quite different, right!?  I think our family is really going to enjoy these changes!And no more brown bathroom…

 

We had quite a lot of work getting everything put back together.  Stop making fun of my paper plate and napkin collection right now!  I know it’s bad!  This is a collection from years of parties and I’m working it!

My dad missed the last step heading downstairs and this crash happened.  No worries…he’s fine and the shelves have been repaired.  They could fall off if you sneeze near them but for now, it’s fixed!Apparently I was harvesting an unsafe work environment 😉

We hope to make many more memories in this house and we are really excited to show everybody what we did in a very short turnaround.  Listen, I don’t mess around.  When my dad spoke at our wedding reception, he mentioned my determination and my ability to go after what I want.  I guess this is no exception.  I’m starting 2018 with a big project already crossed off my list!

Come on over anytime…you’re all invited!