Three Years

The anniversary of living in this house for three years passed me by this year... Mostly due to relief at being done with just about everything, and actually enjoying the house!

Here is this year's list of things completed:

• Landscaping out back- tearing up grass, putting in a few plants and bushes
• Putting in the hardwood floors in the main room, stairs, and landing upstairs
• painting the basement
• trim on the main floor and in the basement
• carpeting the basement
• paying to have the basement waterproofed
• moving the office downstairs to clear the room for a baby room
• basement drapes
• tiling the bathroom downstairs, by the fireplace, and basement door
  
• drywalling & painting the bathroom downstairs
• new toilet in the basement
  

No pictures just yet... I have to get one of the cameras out and charged up.

The projects for this year include:
putting in the thresholds between rooms
crown molding in the basement
finishing touches on the bathroom in the basement
New kitchen countertops?
Fixing the electrical running into the house like the inspector told us to do three years ago

Other major improvements for very future planning if we're here long enough:
new windows
a garage
new driveway
a deck out back
drywalling/new flooring in the laundry room?

Confused Crocuses

It's almost 60 degrees today... and when I got home, the snow was melted and my crocuses were popping up.

Will they come back again later when winter is really over?

Broke as a Joke

Taking a big vacation and making major home improvements are tough on the pocketbook...
Better pics and more information to come (someday, I promise). I'm just feeling the strain today!

Missing Rooster

Dave's parents came up this weekend to help paint the basement and take Rooster to Chicago. He'll be there for two weeks while we're in Italy. He stayed there over our honeymoon, which was ten days, but we've never been without him since we've had the house. It's weird.

I get up in the morning and go to let him out. Then I open the cabinet to get his food. Oops, I better pick up that Cheerio because Rooster isn't here to eat it. I opened the bathroom door after my shower and expected to see him get up from watching the door. I go to say good-bye to Dave, not having to protect myself from Rooster being protective. I miss his bark as I walk out the door (hey, he is a herder). Getting home and not having him bounce all over, not putting him out, talking to myself because he's not around . . . you get the picture. :(

Also, Happy St. Patrick's Day (I'm so confused by people saying it wasn't really today). I have been sick for a week and a half, postponing my visits to my uncle, who is in the hospital but doing well. Now I am coughing up a lung. Bronchitis is not a good thing to have when you're leaving the country in two days.

Two Years

We've been in the house two years now. Major projects this year included:

• Paving the front walk with brick
• Replacing the bathroom floor and vanity
• Painting the rest of the main floor
• Finishing the cabinets
• New lights in some areas
• Shrubs & minor landscaping out front
• New banisters
• Getting some pictures up
• (Almost) getting the office cleaned
• Drywalling the basement

This list is not as impressive as last year! There were some major projects, but overall we were kind of slackers. This upcoming year should be a lot more productive with new floors, painting and carpeting the basement, finishing the office, and landscaping the backyard. Oh! I really need to get pictures up on more of the blank walls as well.

After

Cabinets. Done.

We will be redoing the countertops and backsplash, too.

Drumroll, please...

The cabinets. Before.

The drumroll is because I am truly going to work on my paper now, and who knows when I'll get the 'after' shot uploaded.

One Year

It has officially been a year since we moved into the house. It is hard to remember being packed into my parent's basement for 8 months, and I have even almost forgotten the several months of waiting that it took to get the deal final on this house.

In one year, we have:
-painted the 3 rooms upstairs blue, taupe, and southwestern red (including windows and trim)
-painted the upstairs bathroom green
-put in a bathroom fan
-changed all the lighting upstairs (including a fan in our bedroom)
-built a desk for the office
-put up curtains in all the rooms upstairs, the main room downstairs, and my aunt made us a big covering for the downstairs sliding door
-painted the upstairs hallway and the main living room downstairs (light gray)
-knocked down two walls (one to open up the kitchen area and living room, the other to open the basement up)
-painted all of the ceilings on the first and second floors
-painted the insides of all of the closets on the first and second floors
-painted the kitchen cabinets white (they were avocado green, and, well, we're almost finished with this)
-painted the soffit above the cabinets red
-changed out most of the electrical outlets
-had a very large tree removed (with a very large bill)
-drywalled the main room of the basement
-put in front landscaping- pachysandra, planted bulbs, and used rock
-torn down a bunch of overgrowth in the backyard

I am sure that there is more. It feels good to write it all down, though!
This upcoming year, we want to:
-put in hardwood flooring on the first floor
-re-tile the upstairs bathroom
-get the downstairs painted, carpeted, and finished
-put in a new stone front walkway
-decorate (many walls have bare spots...)
-finish the kitchen cabinets with hardware and get the doors back up
-finish painting the kitchen area
-drywall the downstairs laundry room and bathroom
-fill in all the patches of grass in the yard
-paint the front door
-finish replacing the lighting on the first floor

That seems like such a shorter list, doesn't it? It should be no problem, right!?!?!

**Pictures:
#1: Before shot of the guest room (pink walls, blue trim... blue ceiling)
#2: After shot of the guest room
#3: Before shot of the bathroom
#4: After shot of the bathroom
#5: The Louise House