comin' along!!

It's been a while since I've posted . . . I know!! We're still incredibly busy, but all is well! We've been working hard at work and at the house, among other things. Football season ended a couple of weeks ago . . . they had a great year - winning their league and making it to the playoffs. It was a huge deal for the community and quite exciting!! We also ended up buying a new car (a black 97 Ranger) for Bryan. He thinks it's too nice for us, but it was pretty much a necessity since we had been stealing Brad & Krystal's vehicles. We also spent last weekend at Atwood Lake with our youth group. It was a beautiful weekend & we all had a nice relaxing time. Other than that, not much new . . . I just wanted to post a few pictures of our progress. We had our inspection on Monday and passed that, so they're gonna release our $$ back to us, which is a much needed thing!! I think we are going to move in this weekend since the floors and most of the painting is done. Exciting stuff :) We still have lots of things that need done, but it's starting to feel less like a construction zone and more like a home. Here you go . . .

The master bedroom (red/tan):
Family Room with blinds and windows put back together:
View of the awesome floors!! Disregard the cove base stretched across the floor & the strange blue streak on the side (??):

Fireplace lookin good with new paint and floors surrounding it!

A view of the living room from the steps:

Living room with a few things moved in (our free piano from Krystal . . . or . . . her sister?)
Bigger upstairs bedroom with tan walls, white windows/trim, and green carpet tiles (windows still need scraped, cleaned, etc:

Smaller upstairs bedroom with dark tan carpet tiles (ditto):

I think once we get "finished," I'm gonna do some before/after comparisons so we can all see how much it's really changed!! Have a great week!

oh so sleepy . . .

but I just had to share a quick update.

I did finally finish sanding, and the guys finished drywalling. Our newest, and MUCH more exciting, projects are painting (EVERYTHING) and installing flooring. Here are a few pictures!

Tan walls for the kitchen & dining room, and white for alllll the trim & cabinets!
We cut the piece above the sink so that it didn't look so 70's . . also, this window has been giving me fits because the varnish keeps busting through the primer (making the white look yellowy). . . I think I may have it defeated though . . . I hope?
view into dining room
newly drywalled & painted (green) family room. . . ooooh!

I hope you can see how awesome it looks! It's a bit difficult, because the floors are really dusty, and it was really dark out, but you still get the picture. It has been so exciting to watch it all come together just as I imagined!! Hope everyone is having a great week :)

busy-ness & a little progress!

yep, we have been super busy lately! between starting my new job, football stuff, and working at the house, we have not stopped to take a breath!! it's all good stuff, but we can't wait for life to slow down a little :) here are a few new pictures i wanted to share:


front with roof done:
back with roof done:
our cute little shed (smells like a sauna bc of the cedar!):
bryan ended up completely tearing out the dining room ceiling to prep for drywall:
wasn't it nice of him to clear a path??

former weird toilet room becomes a private laundry/half bath:

BEFORE #1:
AFTER #1!!
BEFORE #2:
AFTER #2!!
remnants of my job for the last couple weeks (sanding - blah!)
i'm in love with fall (a pretty tree in our backyard):
also in love with this guy (us at a wedding last weekend!):

hope you are all well! goodnight!

if only we were ready for them . . .

Last Thursday . . . the results of our carpet tile shopping adventure!! We got carpet tiles for the 3 bedrooms (tan, dark tan, and sagey green). They are really nice & cheap in comparison to all of our other carpet options! Krystal and I felt kind of funny flying down Rt30 in a Dodge full of carpet tiles, especially when one of the box lids flew off and hit a van!!! haha . . . but we were glad we didn't take the van like we thought we could . . . I guess we needed a whole lot more than we thought!

Thursday (carpet tiles) + Friday . . . Carl (my father-in-law) & I went to pick up the laminate floors I had ordered online. I saved like $125 by doing this instead of having them delivered directly to the house! It was a lot of hauling, but they are safely sitting in the living room (which if you didn't notice, has the lime green carpet removed & rolled up! We will be leaving it on the stairs and using it in the upstairs hallway until we can afford new!)

Lots of prep work still to do before we can install these floors (cleaning, sanding, painting, etc), but things are getting exciting around here :)

Saturday my dad and Ann came down to see the house & help out. It was really nice to see them! Together, we were able to clean up the rest of the old shingles and mess that came down. I even mowed the front yard for the first time - it looks awesome!! That will probably be the one and only time I am excited about mowing! Carl, Brad, and Krystal also finished the roof!! Anyways, I have to get a picture of all that, but I'll post it when I do!!

changing daily!!

Here are a few new pictures!

The front that they finished Saturday (note the slight difference in the columns as well!):

The back is still under construction, but getting close!!

The mess that was left behind!!:

Getting ready to be drywalled:

Cabinets, doors removed and cleaned, ready for a little sanding and paint :)

I also did a ton of work today cleaning windows and trim and whatnot. . . my fingers hurt!

I also went to a place called Building9 in Massillon. We're gonna get carpet tiles there for our bedrooms. While I was there a freight company called to tell me that our laminate floors are probably coming tomorrow! That was amazingly quick!! We have lots of work til we're ready for floors, but it's still really exciting!!

Goodnight!!

progress!

Well, as many of you know, we were able to close on our house last Wednesday! We are so glad that part of the process is over with!! Now it's on with the work!! No really, we have been at the house every free moment we've had since Wednesday night! There is A LOT to be done, but we're excited to think about what it will look like when we're done. We are so thankful to have family members who are so knowledgeable and helpful!! I don't know what we'd do without them!! We started roofing this weekend, and it is starting to look really good! It needed a lot of repairs, but we were expecting them, so it's not a huge deal. Krystal and I also attacked the inside of the house by taking down all of the blinds, curtains, mirrors, etc. We now have running water too, so that has helped to get a few things cleaned up. My next giant task is cleaning and sanding and prepping everything to be painted. We need to get things painted soon so that we can put down the floors that we just ordered last night. It's a lot of work, but it's so exciting to watch things change!!

Here are a few pictures of the beginning roofing on Saturday morning.

Here are a few more "before" pictures I took of the house that you haven't seen yet.

Other Upstairs Bedroom:
Covered Porch:
Say Goodbye to the SkyLights!!
Back Yard (once we get the giant circle filled in and the deck torn down, it will be great!):
We call this the wood room, but it is going to be drywalled:
Random Toilet (this will be laundry/half bathroom):
Surprise!! :(
The sweet paneling in the basement:
The Living Room with lime green carpet & GIANT window!

More to come as updates happen!!!

Oh, and I just found out today that I got the position I was hoping for at Nationwide - I start in a couple weeks! I also may do some medical Spanish interpreting on the side, depending on how things work out. I am excited to start working again, though I'm sure I'll miss these days when I am back to the grind!!

Hope you are all well!

a few pictures

Well, I had hoped to be writing that we closed on our house yesterday . . . but due to some problems with our lender and then the title company, it has been pushed back to this coming Wednesday. While it is a little frustrating, it has turned out a lot better than it was looking last weekend (when we all of the sudden had NO loan). Everything is set now & we will be closing Wednesday, if not Tuesday! It sure has been a long, drawn-out process, but it will be worth it!!

I thought I'd share a few pictures to appease you (& myself). You may have seen the outside picture on Bryan's blog, but the inside ones are all new! We had to go measure for flooring, so I went photo crazy!! Sorry for the bad quality, it was dark out and very few lights worked inside!!

Front: The roof and garage doors will be the first things to change on this house,with hopefully the columns not far behind!

Kitchen: We love the overhead lighting. Cabinets will be painted white, with hopefully a new sink someday! Oh, and the mini blinds WILL come down - they are all through the house - yuck!

Kitchen: A view of the peninsula bar thing (family room is to the right, laundry room & garage down the hall)

Dining Room?: It's gonna be big enough for Thanksgiving dinner! Imagine with dark wood laminate flooring. (Living Room & Basement doors to the right, master bath & bedroom straight ahead)

The fireplace: I like it more and more every time I see it!

Master Bedroom: Hard to photograph - has two windows and two big closets! Needs carpet :)

Master Bathroom: Needs just a little updating! Anyone in the market for lavender sinks? The toilet and shower are to the left, behind a pocket door.

Upstairs Bedroom: Quite large, with a cedar closet. Just needs paint and carpet!

Upstairs Bathroom Vanity: Looks like they started making improvements??

That's it for now - I'll try to get more pictures when it's actually ours & has better light! And of course I will keep you all updated as it changes :)

Other than that, we continue to be incredibly busy. I had two interviews last week at Nationwide, and I have one this week with Mercy Medical as a Spanish Interpreter. Please pray that I (& my interviewers) would make the right decision. I've also been getting all of my appointments in - eye doctor last week, dentist this week (ouch), and doctor next week!! I know, I know. . . but you weren't in Costa Rica with terrible insurance for two years like I was :) Bryan is doing well with his classes and football - they beat a pretty good team last night!! It was exciting - hopefully it stops raining by next Friday though!!!

Hope you're all well! Hopefully next time I write, it will be as a proud homeowner!