master bath and baby boy

We've got most of the Gustav aftermath picked up and our insurance claim has been settled. We should be receive a check in the mail soon so we can beging repairing the damages that were done.
In the meantime, renovations continue as we get closer and closer to my due date (March 19) for our little one! Realizing that things will come to a snail's pace after the baby is born we have decided to forgoe finishing off the mudroom bathroom and hammer on the Master Bath Renovation. Willem began gutting it several weekends ago and we are finally seeing some progress. He's managed to reframe the whirlpool tub so we can have a suitable surround and sitting bench at the end. The next step is to get the plumbing in place to accept the new vanity. Once that is done we can put up new drywall and prepare the floor for tile. Getting tile on the floor is our utmost priority as the plywood subloor is beginning to shred and give splinters. All the while, we are still using the bathroom. There is no other bathroom on the second floor besides the ensuite bath in the girls room. Therefore it is a tricky balance between getting work done and still having a semi functional bathroom.
Below are a couple of pics of the work in progress as well as a picture of a sketch of what the bath should look like when it is all finished.

The shower will most likely be postponed until after the baby arrives. I am using the closet that will eventually be the shower and a closet/dressing room will have to be built in the bedroom before shower construction can begin.
Somewhere in between getting this stuff done we will also have to prime and paint the bedroom which will become the baby's room. We'll post those pics too as we get it done. ALSO in case you haven't heard we're having a BOY!
That's enough for now. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it all! Or it could be the constant whirl of power tools!

GUSTAV!!!

So it's been forever since I've posted. Summer led into the beginning of school and our schedules got hectic and we've done very little inside the house since July. As most of you know Gustav just left us. I promised some pics of the damage it left behind. It looks bad but the buildings and fences were all things we knew needed some work to update. Unfortunately, they were not high on our priority list which is frustrating knowing that just cleaning up this mess is going to delay progress on the inside of our house, but we're rolling with it.
Things for us could have been SO MUCH worse! As I type thousands in my area are still without power, running water and even roofs over their heads. We are super grateful and are praying that relief comes quick to our friends who are suffering!

On a happier note...We are expecting another Mast come March! I am three months along and feeling quite well. The girls are super excited as are we. We're all hoping for a boy but are happy for another girl as well. While this is fantastic amazing news we are feeling the pressure to get some renovations done prior to Baby #3's arrival. A master bathroom with flooring other than plywood subfloor would be a great start! Hopefully we'll start on this as soon as we clear out the Gustav aftermath! We'll try to post as soon as anything of interest occurs.

FREE TRACTOR RIDES!

Last weekend was Father's Day. I think Willem had a great day. The girls and I got him a couple of adirondack chairs to put around the pool or wherever. He got breakfast in bed then we headed off to church and then my parent's place for lunch. Mom made lunch and afterwards I expected to just mill around and relax. Apparently the men that my dad and Willem are wouldn't allow them to just sit still. They moved furniture, a new bed into our spare room and then Dad got all ready to cut grass. Apparently he had been itching to get on our tractor and do some cutting. I think he was feeling nostalgic about when he was a boy growing up on his family's farm. Far be it from me to stand between a man and his desire to cut OUR grass on Father's Day or any day for that matter. We all ended up getting involved. Below are a couple of pics of Daddy riding our IH.

Anyways that whole "Dad wanting to ride the tractor thing" got me thinking. If any of you out there want to "ride" the tractor. We are giving free tractor rides every weekend! They last about two hours long and you go in circles until the grass is all cut down!

We have this enormous slab on the side of our house. I say enormous, it's about 20 feet by 18 feet or so. It used to be a little house. Anyways it's too big to break up easily and dispose of and it's too big to ignore. And it's very close to the house so we're unsure what we will do with it. In the meantime we have decided to make good use of it. We put our above ground pool on it and it fits perfectly with enough area to sit and chill. Not permanent, but until we can afford to get someone out here to bust it up it'll be home to our swimming hole.

For those of you who are wondering how our bathroom reno is going here is an update. We needed to bust up the concrete in order to relocate a toilet and to move the shower drain into place. It was a pretty daunting task but it ended up being not that bad. Willem cut with a concrete blade on his circular saw to try to score the concrete. He then tried busting it with a sledge hammer. He finally decided to rent a jackhammer and it was smooth sailing after that.

We got the drains in place, plumbed up and concrete is now curing downstairs over what was a huge gaping hole. During the week we hope to finish all the plumbing and get sheet rock up so that we can begin floating the walls and tiling the ground. We're still shooting for it to be finished by July 6 but my guess is we'll be lucky if it's operational. Keep your fingers crossed.

That's it for now. I'll leave ya with a couple more pics of bathroom demo and that pic of the tree house i've been meaning to put up. Hope all of you dads had a great Father's Day!

Yardwork, Drivers Ed and Demolition!!

So I've grown to like the look of a freshly cut lawn. Problem is we have way too big of a lawn and it's the beginning of summer. In order to achieve a fresh cut lawn we have to cut at least once a week. The section off the back porch took it upon itself to populate with crab grass which grows at a tremendous rate. I swear i cut it with the mower and the next day it is back to where it was the day before. It's astonishing! Just another thing we need to take care of.

Due to my new fascination with fresh cut lawns, i've had to learn how to help maintain this jungle we own. I've learned how to cut with the tractor which I have to say is quite relaxing. I climb on with my ipod and just ride....for hours. I can get some great thinking done as well as a great tan. I've been caught several times singing at the top of my lungs. The birds don't seem to mind and I can't hear myself so my hope is no one else can either. The picture below is of a very frustrated me on the tractor. I needed Willem to help me figure out how to turn the thing off and he was busy snapping away pictures!

I think our tractor looks like something off Bob the Builder. It's cute! (Don't tell Willem I said that) We've yet to give it a name but i'm working on that.

We spend a lot of time cutting down branches these days. They hang too low and one has to duck and maintain control of the tractor to get anywhere near the trees. Therefore the fourwheeler gets used a lot to haul branches to and from our burn pile. The girls have come up with their own mode of getting around too. They've taken the once neglected Barbie Jeep and now it is their very own off road vehicle. They will go to get the mail for me. Run up to the house to retrieve stuff for us and ride all over the place just for the fun of it.

Maddy took it upon herself, being the big sister that she is, to teach Savannah how to drive last weekend. It's a scary glimpse of the future. Savannah isn't the best driver and Maddy gets really impatient. I guess the front yard is the best place for Savannah to learn. Thank God we won't be letting her get behind a substantial wheel anytime soon!

We started our next big project tonight. Below is our mud room. I am in love with this room. I have this vision of it being the entryway from our outside chores and play. My goal is for the kids and us to clean up in here before tracking dirt and mud in the house. It is already equipped with a half bath. We decided to add a shower in there so Willem can really clean up when needed and we have a full guest bath on the first floor. Our goal is to get this done before July 6, when my sister and brother in law show up for a visit. We wanted to have something for them to use and we need it when we start demolishing the master bathroom after they leave. Josh and Janelle we can't wait for you to get here. We'll be taking a much needed break!

I know the pictures look fuzzy, but Willem tells me it's from the sheet rock dust in the air. Maddy loves demolition as you can see. She's a big help. Savannah, well Savannah likes the thought of helping but she's there for moral support and posing for the camera.

We'll post more pics as they develop and some pics of our new tree house and "swimming hole" soon. Till then Happy Trails!

We're Back, Floors and All!

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. We are back in and have been for a little while. What was supposed to take 6 days ended up taking 10! The floors were in such bad shape that it took an extra two days of stripping and an extra 4 days of drying time! We moved back in on May 3 but were unable to use the downstairs for another 5 days! We had our refrigerator outside and a plank to walk from the stairs to the front door. We'd wake up in the morning trek outside then around the house to the fridge for milk and back up the stairs so the girls could have breakfast in their room. Then we'd wisk them off to school. The rest of the meals were spent at my parents house. Thank God they live around the corner!

Keep in mind we had to move all of the furniture from the first floor into the mud room for the floor job so it took us a while to "unpack" and get everything back to normal again. We still have a few unopened boxes upstairs but for the most part we are unpacked.

Check out the before and after pics

BEFORE ------

AFTER ---

These don't even do them justice. You should have seen these floors! You could actually see the dirt waxed into the surface. It totally made the first floor brighter. In the kitchen it looks like someone covered everything with a honey hue but we are thinking we will paint the cabinets white and install some grey concrete countertops to brighten up the place and put a contemporary yet still country spin on the room.

That's all for now. We've been busy with dance reviews and kindergarten graduation. Savannah's bday party is in two weeks and Willem is finishing off a playground/treehouse for her present. We'll post pics of that and the party when it is all done. For now here are a couple of shots we took outside the house and of the past couple of weeks.

Four Wheeler Fun!

Happy Birthday to Willem! Happy Birthday to Willem! Happy Birthday dear Willem! Happy Birthday to Willem! (could you hear me singing in your head?) Anyway, it's April 27th so birthday came early but he didn't mind one bit.

We cut trails in the back 3 acres with the bushhog so he's been riding around through that. It's pretty fun I have to admit. The girls love it and it's helped with hauling stuff around too.

We had an awesome moon tonight so we got a cool shot of me and Savannah! We'll post again after our floors are finished!!

Cool Floors!

Okay so as promised I took a couple of pics of the first floor. It took me so long cause well it meant I had to straighten up. I said to heck with it and took the pics anyway.

Well the first thing that attracted me to the house besides the location and property was the uniqueness of it. The entire first floor is covered with real old chicago brick. In addition to that there is cypress wainscotting over the bottom half of every wall on the first floor. I'm not sure i like the wainscotting and I'm certain we will do something with it in the future but for now it will stay.

Here are a couple of pics of the living room. As you will notice the there is some serious issues with the brick floors. They are totally different colors in some places. Some places have a thick waxy surface some are right down to the brick. Luckily we have a floor guy coming in Wednesday to refinish the floors. He will completely strip them and then reseal them. We think the brick above the fireplace will be a good indication of what they will look like when they are finished.

Notice the set of cabinets in the living area in the distance. Those will be coming out, in fact they will come out this weekend as we need to refinish the floor underneath. We think it was intended to be a bar of some kind. That area will be somewhat partitioned in the future and will be an "Away Room". We hope to sound proof it somewhat and make it an office/ guest room. A place where one can go and do some work but still feel like they are apart of the family room without the noise.

Next up, the kitchen and dining room. It's pretty big and the cabinets are custom built and in good condition. Only problem, we hate that honey color! Here is where I want some viewer participation. We can not afford to completely overhaul the kitchen right now. We are thinking about just putting something over that hideous white formica for now and painting the cabinets, probably white. I'm a bit clueless on wall color and i think the red makes that room so dark right now. Any suggestions? Also, note the huge window seat. We think it's pretty cool too.

In addition to these huge rooms there is also a half bath, linen closet, stairwell and mud room on the first floor that are not pictured. We'll get to those in time.

Anyways, that's it for now. I may post a short blog later tonight as I got Willem a new toy and I've yet to get a picture of him on it. I'm writing today cause we are about to be displaced for the next week. The floor guy comes Wednesday and the process takes 6 days. Two of which we can't even sleep here. So it's back to Mom's house. In addition to that I have jury duty starting Monday, ughhhh! But next week we'll have new floors which I'm sure will be a dramatic difference. Bye for now!

The Biggest Weeds you've ever seen!!

BEFORE.....

AFTER.....

We spent our weekend clearing out the overgrowth you see in the first picture. All that remains are three satsuma trees. We'll move those in the winter when they have a better chance of surviving. There were several banana trees, a kumquat tree, an old fish pond, etc... There was even an old fence or trellis of some kind burried in a sea of honeysuckle. We only know it was there from the wreckage after Willem plowed it down with the tractor. Of all of the stuff we removed though our favorite was the two layer thick pathway of bricks. Yep, bricks tons and tons of brick buried just below the surface of weeds and dirt. We placed them in our horse stall for the time being. Take a look!

We got tired of stacking them after a while. And by the way there are more in the front yard! The pic on the right is the beginnings of the girls club house. Maddy had two friends over to spend the night and they decided to help by finding good use for the bricks. I'm told you're looking at Aubrey and McKenzie's room, Maddy and Savannah's rooms will be completed at the next sleep over. The girls were actually a ton of help. They hauled branches to the trash pile and helped us by catching every earth worm that was under the brick pathway. Those pesky earthworms!

Willem also found time to bush-hog the front three acres. Maddy rode along and Savannah and I watched, until she got bored and went back to playing with the earth worms. Anyways, here are some more pics of the weekend, including one of Maddy with a surprise we found in the dirt. Savannah named it "Cristy" since I found it. She keeps telling me I need to find Cristy's legs.

Maddy doing a little dirt work

Maddy and "Cristy" the alligator

Savannah taking a ride with daddy

Willem and Maddy bush-hogging

The after shot of the front three from the house

We've got blackberries!!!

Anyways, I promise to post some interior photos soon. I'm sore and tired so I'm off to rest but I'll leave you with our "aww sha!!" shot of the weekend.

So here it is. This is the view from the front. It took us a while to get the grass cut enough so we could get a decent picture. And in case you're wondering the rest of the three acres i'm standing on is still uncut behind me. That's this weekend's project.

Just to bring you up to date. We've been doing work on it since closing date which was March 18. We discovered the night before our scheduled move in day that the new water well had not been connected to the house! That prevented us from moving in for about 10 days. Willem and my dad, Gene, dug hole all over the place to find the water main into the house. After about 5 tries they found the pipe and took to digging the trench for the new water main.

Shortly after that we also discovered another water pipe that had been busted by the crew workers' machinery who had put in the septic tank.

After getting water on, there were leaks on every cold water fitting and toilet gasket. (The house had been sitting for 2 years without water...everything had dry rotted.)

Next came hot water heater, new kitchen appliances, lights, and as of Saturday new air conditioning units. We'll post more pics of the inside as we start to renovate. Below are a couple of cute pics of the girls in the front yard.