Happy Holidays!

The front door is here and in the garage. Should be installed in the near future - weather needs to cooperate to make this happen. All is well. We still haven't forgotten the "reveal" - but, heck, we've been so busy! It's still on our radar and we'll have something before the end of 2011! :)

The Dust Bowl Endeth

We experienced our own dust bowl this year. With the back yard used for a construction staging and work area, the inevitable dust bowl came into being. Keeping the house and dogs clean became impossible. So, we were thrilled when we could finally re-sod the back yard and say goodbye to dirt.




The first thing we did after the sod was laid was to clean all rugs and floors. Normally, this kind of cleaning is drudgery - but this time it was joyous! Cleaning meant we have the house back to ourselves - life can ease back into the normal. Praise jesus!


No. We're not all done - but we're pretty darn close. The new front door still has to arrive and be installed...and the porch floor needs a final coat of paint...and we've added another item....an awning over the porch door...as matter of fact, Mr. Contractor was here today checking out the new back yard. It sounds like he'll punch these items out at one time.

We (Mir and I) still have some painting to do in the hallway. We hope to get it done before the end of the year but we're running out of weekends.

Time flies.

What light through yonder window breaks...could it be the light at the end of the tunnel?

Well, the deck is complete. Humans and dogs both love it. The porch floor is scheduled for final paint tomorrow. We're doing a test area first and if successful, the rest will be painted.

And that's about it folks. We won't have our new front door until probably the end of November or thereabout.

Can the final reveal be far off? Stay tuned.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor...

Friends, once again it has been a very busy and tiring last few weeks. As you can see from the image above, we cleared out our storage unit at the end of August. That meant many boxes were carried and many hours of unpacking. We are down to two boxes that need to be emptied and the inside of the house is almost back to normal. We still have the hallway to paint - but all in good time... all in good time.


Here is Sydney doing her usual QA - inspecting the wood that will be used to build our deck.


...and here is the deck in progress.


Looking good - still have railing and benches to install. Also, it will get dressed up a bit with shingle siding. Gonna be beautiful. With the new deck, the dogs are now really learning how to use the doggie door. Peanut is the expert. Boxer and Sydney are learning...a bit more slowly but we're confident that after another week or so they should be able to exit and enter at will.


To show you that we really are approaching the end of the odyssey - the lattice is now being built and installed.


There aren't enough words to express how happy we are with the final result. Phil's design plans were excellent and Mercer's (aka Mr. Contractor) execution and attention to detail has been tremendous. Doug's wood work and Adam's tiling have been top notch. We are getting just about everything we wanted. Make no mistake about it though, we are also much poorer than we've been in a long while. But this too shall pass.

Life is good.

Trimmed Out and Ready to Go...

The hallway door is trimmed and ready for prep and paint. Friends, we LOVE this door. Stress levels for both humans and doggies has dropped significantly now that we are able to implement our "two-door" rule between the female canines.


What's with the trailer, you say? Well, friends remember that one little item we spoke about eons ago - and even provided a custom drawing for?


It's time to start building that deck! We're so excited, we just can't hide it. We're about to lose control and....well, you know the rest of the words.

We're So Glad We Had This Time Together....

It's been a while, dear readers. Life is still hectic but we wanted to get something posted before you began to think that we've fallen off the face of the earth.

We've got new door knobs for the exterior rear doors and the laundry closet. The lock for the front door is yet to be decided on. We'll wait until the new front door is installed. Yes, friends, we still have a little ways to go with this remodel...more like fine tuning...but the big reno work is done.

This is a new door way as it appeared when it was first framed. And below is the hallway wall - you can see the plaster cracks and such. Note to would be painters: This is what happens when you have latex paint on top of a layer of oil based paint. It won't stick without applying primer (painting 101). Not to belie the point, but you can chalk this one up to the previous contractor.

Now the door is up and the hall has been re-plastered. It's very nice - just needs some paint and we're in business. The hall door is scheduled to be trimmed this week. There will be a transom above the door to allow for air flow. Why the hall door? Security. So, the two *itches can't get to each other. Our blood pressures have already dropped with the installation of this door.

The new bedroom is lovely. We still need to hang blinds and artwork - soon, real soon. Our shower door should arrive sometime within the next 10 days or so. We've also ordered some towel holders. Once all is here and installed we'll be ready for the reveal - so stay tuned.

Slowly, our stuff is coming back from storage. Hope to make a run this evening to pick up a few more things. It was a delight to finally have our dining table back in the house.

Our new porch and it's bug free zone has been a pleasure. It's a wonderful space. We've been enjoying most of our meals there.

We'll post more pictures when the door is finally trimmed. Thanks for stopping by - so long(ear tug).

Doorknobs Are Here!

The image got a little skewed but you can still see the beauty!

It's been an exciting day as our doorknobs arrived and installation began. We've chosen glass for rooms and porcelain for closets. It's amazing how a doorknob can change the ambience of a room.

The master bath is not yet ready for a reveal. We  just ordered the towel holders and what not yesterday. Sorry about the delay. But it'll be worth it - trust us!