Bathroom Updates

I'll let the pictures do the talking..but we are making some headway in the bathroom.  We've been at a stand still ...waiting on the drywallers to finish, and then waiting on the wood floors to cure in the hallway so we could get back into the bathroom to work on it!!


We spent a few hours grouting the tub surround a few nights ago. All that's left to do is to seal it!  It really turned out great!  Thanks to some fabulous friends and family for your help on this project!


The bead board on the wall...looks terrible in person. We are taking it down...and installing a different kind of bead board.... stay tuned :)


We also brought in the vanity....and hung the light.  So it's taking shape...and looking..BeTtEr.  We are almost there! 


Enjoy the pic's!  And...in case you don't already know...thanks for taking this journey with me.  I know you are all out there ...reading....and praying for us!

Living the Blessed Life,
Annette

Ewww la la...

Hubster and I did a little visit to the Country Mill Cabinet's ...which is where our cabinets are being made.  We stopped in to take a look at the hood they just completed for over top my cooktop.  We snapped a few photos..and chatted a bit.  And well..we were informed..that they are slammed with work. GOOD for them. BAD for us.  And can you guess what I'm going to say next?  What's ONE more week?!


It might not be an entire week...but they are NOT going in on the scheduled date..next week. :(
Regardless of logistics...the cabinets are going to be stellar...we are grateful for the chance to have our cabinets custom made...and we are going to be patient. You wanna know why?  Cause that's what God says I need to do..whether I want to or not! :) (how's that for honesty?)


Here are the snapshots I took:

Our hood...just needs the paint and glaze :)

SO.VERY.EXCITED. :)

Living the Blessed Life,

Annette

Whats one MORE week?

Its beginning to feel like we won't ever move in. Every single out-sourced job we've had has been a week ..or more behind.  The roof was installed a week late.  The drywall was almost 2 weeks late. The wood floor guys...were a week late... AND...well, they jacked up our floors. 

After a few ..very frustrating couple days...we have a plan.  Of course, most of you don't even know what happened.  Let me catch you up.

About two weeks ago..our floors were completely installed( by the hubster)..and they looked stellar.  Here is an example to refresh your memory:


This is the floor completely installed in the dining room. :)

So hubster did a great job...and we were VERY excited to start seeing some color....DARK color on those beautiful floors.  The Amish ( of course we chose the Amish again)  came... (a week late)...to begin their job of finishing the floors.  

 The process was started and we couldn't have been more excited.  We spent the next few days watching our floor transform...and wow...we were pumped.  PUMPED..UNTIL, we saw the coat of poly..which brought to life ALL of the mistakes they made during the sanding phase.  It was...shocking.  We were beside ourselves...trying to decide if we were over-reacting..or if we were getting the short end of the stick.

So, we called in a favor from a lady we had used on the wood floors in our old house. ( we LOVED how they turned out). We had her come out and give her opinion on the floors.  She agreed we were not crazy...and that the floors looked...not.so.good. :( She actually recommended we NOT PAY the bill....unless they agreed to do it again..for free.

The mistakes are not easy to see on camera...but this is what the floors looked like at the completion of the job:

  

  Did you notice the beautiful new lights my hubster hung last nite?  :)  We waited until black friday..went they went on sale...and we snatched them up!  Oh..and yes, you heard me correctly...he went black friday shopping with me :)

Back to the wood floors.  The owner of the wood floor company met Adam this morning to take a look at our floors...and they "chatted" :)  As of ONE hour ..after their conversation...our floors are being REDONE. (not sure if I need a happy or sad face there)

So..all of that to say...the floors are jacked.  We need them redone.  They take about a week or so to do...and well... what's ONE MORE WEEK?!?!

and..YES...I'm STILL living a BLESSED life...cause God is Good...and he's got everything under control.

:) Annette



A side note

PINTEREST..  If you've not been on the website. GO THERE NOW.  If you have....well....then you'd agree.  Its the most fab site for us fellow crafters. I have found quite a few of my ideas thru the pages of inspiration on that site.  Seriously....its like FREE ideas for decorating, accessorizing...crafting..etc.  So. like I said before. If you haven't been on pinterest.com....your missing out.  Okay....enough about that.

So, I found the most adorable Christmas Tree Skirt on pinterest and decided I would try and do it.  OH MAN.  SOOOOOO cute. 

http://www.hgtv.com/handmade/how-to-make-a-no-sew-ruffled-christmas-tree-skirt/index.html

The link above is the HGTV step by step instructions for how to do it. I definitely want to try a different version with maybe different colors...or even textures, but for starters I used the fabric they suggested.

See for yourself:

For those of you interested in the details.  I purchased the base, a drop cloth, from Walmart for $9.  Then I went to JoAnns and purchased the cream cotton fabric for 9.99$...and I bought 4 yards. 

I spent around 50 bucks for the total project and it took me close to 4 hrs to complete.  Be sure to purchase EXTRA glue. You will need it. ( I had to run to the store)..and if you have it, use a low temp glue gun.  The standard glue gun gets too hot and you WILL BURN YOUR HAND!  Take it from me...its painful.

* I usually don't blog on here about anything other than house stuff...but with Christmas coming...I was so excited to share this with ya'll.  I will post again today with more updates on the house.*

Living the Blessed Life,

Annette

Wood Floor

Yeah. I know. Where the heck have I been?  I really don't have an excuse this time.  Well..Ive been busy...that's the best excuse I've got.  Forgive me...and just keep reading...right? Cause that's why your on this page....to read the updates...
Okay..enough apologizing...

We are in the process of laying our wood floors.  They are awesome!  Adam is doing it himself, with the occasional expertise of his wife (muah)...he has been laying it a few hours here and there.  We are so excited to have REAL wood again in our house...and we are even more excited that its turning out how we originally envisioned it!!

For those of you wondering where we purchased it...we used a company out of Shipshewana, IN...called

They are Amish...which of course, I love.  They are SUPER nice..and they are FAST!  We picked out our flooring and they had it "tongue and grooved" in like 3 days.  Their prices were great too...and they are also the ones who will sand and stain it...in just a few days! 

Here is how it looked when we picked it up that day:

It is  3/4" oak floor...and it is (unlike our previous floor)  knot free. We had originally tried to match the wood floor to the existing dining room floor...but realized after we purchased the flooring to match, that the floor in the dining room was FAKE! grrr. So we needed to order more flooring...and we could have chosen a completely different flooring altogether. Oh well..it will be beautiful...with or without the knots! ( we love the rustic look...and these floors are not so much)

The floors came bundled together..like this... so they were easy to unload.  This is a great picture for you to see the "tongue and groove" areas.  This is lingo for the way the wood fits together.  Its sorta like a large puzzle! The hubster is very particular on how he lays the floor.  It needs to look...perfect.:)

When I arrived at the house....this is what I saw...and I was pumped.  Laying the first piece of wood is CRUCIAL. If you don't lay it PERFECTLY straight...you will be able to tell when you move down the hallway or across the room. Hubster was VERY careful...and used my amazing 6$ laser level to make sure it was exact! :)  (he's so smart)

Of course, we have the BEST help out there.  Little and Big Man are always ready to help out their daddy.  Here they are "approving" daddy's work. :)

LOVE them. Seriously..they are the best.





Here is our hallway...so much better than that nasty base floor.  It looks SO good in person! * Take note of our freshly painted hallway and 6$ sconces.  :)

The dining room...



It's coming along. Huge progress since we purchased it, just a few short months ago.  The new plan is to be moving in by the end of this month.  :)    Kitchen or no Kitchen!!!

Living the Blessed Life,
Annette

Sneak Peek

This is just a little snippet...of what is to come of our fabulous kitchen. We "borrowed" a sample of our kitchen doors from our cabinet company...and used it to purchase our granite counter top last week. I snapped a photo...and we cant WAIT to see the finished product.

What do ya think? 

(We chose different handles...but this is the same color and style of our future kitchen!!)

Living the Blessed Life,
Annette