The week that keeps on giving...

Hi there! It's been a while, I know. We're still busily preparing for our big paint job over here.

Late last Thursday night, my husband left for his annual family hunting trip. While he was gone for the week, my mission was to 1. Survive 2. Keep the girls alive ;) 3. Pack like crazy 4. Clean ahead of the painters arrival. 

Here is our dog Mia looking super cute in her hunting boots.

Let me tell you how it actually went...  The very morning after he left, our oldest woke up sick and wound up missing a total of 3 pre-k days, our youngest also caught the cold and I got next to no sleep on any of the nights he was away. Because much of my attention was turned towards caring for them, I got very little packing and cleaning done. But here's the bonus... As a result of stress and a lack of sleep, I developed Shingles. Cool, right? I'll spare you the pictures.

Thankfully, he's home now and immediately jumped into action helping me pack up the house. This morning while I was out purchasing more boxes, he began to empty out the girls room and then we moved on to the dining room, the foyer, and now our bedroom.

Another noteworthy thing to add about my week... While returning to my car at the store this morning, I noticed I had been hit by another vehicle at some point. It really could have been any time and anywhere. Thankfully, there are no dents or scratches and we think the marks can be buffed out. 

Total bummer.

We are not having any painting done in our kitchen or laundry room because we intend to save up and update that later in a whole different project. As a result our nook has become a catch all for the things we did not want in the container outside. Those items mostly include anything from our china cabinet and bar along with all of the photos and paintings hanging on our walls. We will be eating our meals in the living room for the time being.

Cluttered Nook

Here are some more pictures to show some of the progress we've made. More will follow as we accomplish more. These will mainly serve as a before. I have been taking photos with a camera other than my cell phone but those will be saved to do the big unveil of the finished product.

Our oldest was eager to ride the length of the driveway.

She's normally confined behind the gate to the backyard. 

Foyer

 

Dining Room

Until next time! 

Next...

With the 'man room'  and the smaller bedroom carpet long gone, we turned our focus onto the master bedroom which currently houses our two girls. I knew it was a very real possibility that the floors could have some marks due to the times our dogs had accidents as puppies. So it wasn't any surprise to see this right by the door to the hallway.

It was a total bummer, however it still looks better than the dingy old carpet so we're willing to deal with it for now. Also, it's the only issue out of all the floors. The rest of the room was ok. Having the floors refinished is on the list of to-dos although it's way down towards the bottom so it will have to wait.

With the carpet gone, a little moving of furniture and some added clearance finds from Target, our girls now have a darn cute room! Seriously, those kids have it good. There is more to be done in there with organization, decoration and cleaning but it's feeling better for now.

With all of the carpet torn out it was time to load up and take it to the dump. Of course we get the first load ready to go and find that the two dumps closest to us are not open on Sunday. We wound up finding a landfill that was a 40 minute drive one way and took two full loads there. This was one of those drive up a dirt hill, back over a giant pile of trash and throw it as far as you can, kind of place. It stunk, there were no less than 100 flies that went into the cab of the truck and there was a huge piece of machinery with giant metal spiked tires running over everything. (Frank really enjoyed that part). To top it all off? It started to rain on us. Even with everything, Frank and I were in really good spirits because we were getting rid of so much stuff!

After the dump run I ran out to Target to try and find some rugs for the now carpet free areas. We had learned the night prior that it was a must due to the fact that our two dogs were wandering back and forth looking for a comfortable place to lay. Not only were they click-clacking loudly on the floors but they were restless in finding a place to sleep which kept us up. I found a cheap little dog bed, some clearance bedding for both beds on the girls bunk bed, two clearance rugs for the girls room, a clearance rug for the 'man room' and a rug for our bedroom. That night everyone slept so much better.

Since then we have had a PackRat storage container delivered and have begun the tedious process of loading our belongings into it. This morning I had the first of many contractors over to begin the quote process for projects. Which by the way, is such an awful thing. You have total strangers walking through your home and then they give you this quote that is no doubt more than you really hoped to spend. It was giving me such a strange feeling of nerves, excitement and nausea all at once.

Still, onward we go! Time to bust up the piggy bank and get this show on the road.

See ya carpet!

I never realized just how satisfying it would be to tear old stinky carpet out! We started in the den/manroom that houses Franks desk and his gaming table. These pictures show the various stages of the tearing out process. The room is still very much a mess so please overlook that.

That floor.... Whoo boy. It's held up fairly well thanks to a nice thick carpet pad, however it's crumbling in the areas where the carpet tacks were. The room now has a nice echo to it which won't go over well when Frank has his friends over for their weekly game night. It will be high priority to re-carpet this room once we get the painting completed.

Next we moved on to the smaller of the two bedrooms. In all 2300sqft of this home, there are only two actual bedrooms. Sigh. All the rooms are oversized, which has perks, but an additional bedroom would make it so much better. 

Do you see those pristine wood floors? I actually kept pausing from staple pulling to squee out loud over how great they look. Frank and I can't wait to tear into the master bedroom carpet and see what damage our dogs may have done in there. We're hopeful that they will look just as good as these do. 

Let's rewind for a moment...

Hi there! I'm Tiffany and I'm married to an awesome man named Frank. We live in Northern California and we have two wonderful daughters and two big dogs. Frank purchased our lovely home straight out of college and a handful of years before we even met.

When I arrived on the scene the home looked like the picture below. Excuse the quality as it wasn't taken as a before picture. There was a large storm that took down many trees and branches in the area which is what I was documenting.

Frank isn't one for initiating big changes on his own so I have spent the 9+ years that I have lived here encouraging change after change. Soon this...

Turned into this (though grown up much more)...

There is so much I could say about what went into all of this, but that will have to come another time. I think it's safe to say that the outside looks well enough for now so our attention has turned to the inside. That is what this blog will document.

More to come...