Plaster, Paint and My Paradise

Well, we got 4 new rooms plastered and 3 of them painted! It just feels good to be moving on and I think it looks pretty fabulous too. I will let the pictures do the talking, but they really don't do it justice.

The first 3 are my bedroom.

Check out my ceiling! It's like my own piece of art work.

Master bath ceiling.

This one is Judah's and Micah's room. Pretty awesome! Judah was disappointed there were no zebras on the ceiling, though.

This will be Judah's and Micah's bathroom.

Judah's and Micah's room all painted. It is not quite this bright blue in person.

My room all painted...again not so bright in person.

Ahhh...part of my master bath as seem from my shower. You are looking at the vanity wall and insert a claw foot tub in front of the window... my own little paradise at home - eventually. Oh, and if the kids don't come a knock'n!

I wish you could all see it in person. These pictures only tell half the story and the paint looks so much prettier.

The Forgotten Blog

Well, summer came and went and so did most of fall. Here we are on the 20th day of November; nearly a full year from when this whole renovation thing first began. I haven't posted since April? Really? I seem to have left this little blog in the dust of the reno and forgotten all about it. I really thought I would do a better job. Really, I did.

The brick and stone finished up and looks great! We are very happy with how it turned out. Unfortunately, it took all summer because all the old mortar had to be grinded out. This was not easy and it was a very, very messy and very, very slow process.

This is what the bricks look like without the mortar.

This is where the mortar went. My window sills, my windows, all over the cars, on the swing set, all over the toys in the sandbox. Dust was all over everything for a while; you could see it floating through the air all summer long.

This is the new mortar, yay!!

We also got our doors painted. This was such an excited thing for me! One more piece of the puzzle fitting in right where it belongs. I finally got the outside lights picked out and can't wait to get them in. Notice the holes where they will go. We also had the old side walk dug out and a new one poured. I will put up a post to show the details.

This is our mud room door. A new addition to the house and already makes it convenient when carrying a lot of stuff into the house. We intend to have cubbies for each boy and lots of hooks inside this door.

I have so much more to post. Our new sidewalk, the old upstairs of the other side, and a new boiler system is getting installed. My boys are learning to solder...yikes! Stay tuned there is more to come!

A Little Preview

I realize it's been a while since my last post. We have been getting the stone work done on the outside of the house and not much has been going on inside the house. The weather was very cold and nasty for a bit too. My front yard is pretty much gone and the grass has turned to mud. I'm glad the boys are at school during the day so there is no temptation of playing in all this mud.

Our stone guy has been here working hard and I got to snap a few pictures of the progress. I am really anxious to see the finished product. All I have for now is a little preview of what it will look like.

Our first set of windows is finished and looking great! What a huge difference from what we had before. It's amazing to see this transition happen right before our eyes.

I had Elijah and Isaiah hold up some shutters to get an idea of what it will look like once it's all done. It is so hard to wait!!! I keep looking at this picture, trying to imagine the entire house finished. We still have sooo far to go, though. Btw, yes, Isaiah is in his pj's in this pic. Shhh... don't tell him I put it on here ;)

This is the view outside my front door. We obviously aren't using it right now and neither is Lucy Pup. Just a minor inconvenience in a long line of minor inconviences now days! It's funny how something like this becomes part of your everyday life so quickly. Chipping, and banging, and drilling and mud, and coming in a different door... it doesn't really affect us at all. The baby sleeps right through it all too. We really are just going with the flow of all of this.

This is a preview of the stone work on the front door. I just want to see it all done!!!!! It's like waiting for Christmas as a child and wanting to rip into all the wrapped gifts under the tree!

This is the stone guy, and our friend Anthony. I promised him I wouldn't put this pic on the blog, but look at that stone work. How could I resist?

Brickyard

I feel like I live in a brickyard these days. All of our stone as arrived and the brick has been removed. Boy is it a mess! The best part...only 1 door and 4 windows. The picture doesn't show all the mud where we used to have grass but it will look so nice when it's all said and done.

Our living conditions are a little different now too. These pictures remind me of when Adam and I first moved into our house nearly 14 years ago. We actually hung the dry wall, together, that we just took down from our living room. It's a little bitter sweet, but what was done with love back then is now being done with 5 times the love today. Such a beautiful chapter we are writing for our family.

This is what the front of the house looked like yesterday afternoon...

...and this is what it looks like now. We had to build a tent for the stone guy to work in. All I can do is laugh at this picture; who would have thought we would get this much snow at the end of March?

So much for going out like a lamb.

Invasion!

Well, it took a little longer than I thought, but it has happened. My living space has officially been invaded by the remodel. Behind that plastic is the old front door and a lot of mess. This all took place while it was pouring down a nice wintry mix on Adam and Eddie.

Taking out the old door and putting in a new set of windows.

The view from outside. These holes look way too big for the windows and I am still in awe with each one we do.

Can this really get put back together? Even though Adam has already put two windows in and taken one door out, the ammount of demo is just mind boggling.

No more giant holes! It is so exciting to see my duplex transform into one home! There is now only one front door and I just love the way it is all taking shape. We have stone and brick going in next which will make it look even more like a single house.

I took before and after pictures of one of our windows from the inside. This is in our living room, which will eventually become a bedroom.

Here is the new window. Such a huge change and so much light!

The Two Shall Become One

This is the new view from my laundry room. There used to be a wall seperating the two houses. Yep, it's gone! A little shocking, but very exciting at the same time. I love that I can open the door and see all the way to the end of the house. The stairs are going to be moved and this will eventually become our foyer and family room.

The cement block has been removed from in between the two houses and this is what is left. The front door is directly behind where this picture was taken.

We removed the door to the first house so the boys are using this one a lot now. Josiah especially loves to come in and announce he is home when he gets off the bus.

This used to be my laundry room. So weird not seeing my washer and dryer there anymore.

One of our new windows and where the old door was taken out. Can't wait to get the old windows out too!

Life has become very dusty, loud, crazy, and unpredictable. Oh, wait ...I guess it kind of always was :)

Renovation Cuteness

I just had to post these pictures. Judah is Adam's right hand man all the time and today was no exception! He decided that the sledge hammer was the best way to go about getting the beam out...

until he knocked himself over with it!

Work Day

Today was another work day here at Camp Thompson. Even in the yucky cold weather all my boys were out working on bricks and windows. We did get another window in and the old door out, but it was too dark to take a picture.

Bad Blogger

I admit it...I am a terrible blogger. Life gets in the way and then I don't want to take the time to post anything. I just got the boys in bed and Adam is still working on windows, so I have zero excuses. I may even put up two posts tonight - maybe. We have had our door in for a little while now and I love it. I cannot wait to get it painted and see the final results!

I also love my new door handle. One of these days I might actually remember to take a picture of the inside part too.

After the guys got the brick removed we were left with another giant hole in the front of our house. It is always very shocking to see a hole that large - so glad they don't last very long!

1 set down 4 to go...on this side of the house anyway.