On the Third Month of Home Renovation…(February)

Even though it was still cold and snowy, we knew that spring was just around the corner. We started the seeds for our garden. We planted a ton of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc., etc.


For a very long time the side of the front yard has been a pretty big jungle – just full of giant, ugly bushes, vines, rocks, and surprisingly beer cans and bottles. We spent quite a bit of time removing everything. It was amazing how much extra space we had in the yard afterwards!





We had a giant eyesore on the side of the house – the mudroom. It was actually a pretty solid structure. I removed the windows and doors, and all the shingles. Chris removed the roof and walls. Chris’ dad helped with the sledge hammer to remove the cement block foundation. You can still see the outline from the mudroom but the room itself is long gone!





While we were removing the ceiling of the mudroom we discovered a family of mummified dead squirrels. It was pretty creepy!



Later in the month I started removing the vines that had grown up the fence all around the property. I also removed the barbed wire that was at the very top of the fence. We figured we didn’t need the barbed wire since Tucker is a little nicer than the last dogs that lived here. Tucker was even there to help me remove debris – and supervise!

On the Second Month of Home Renovation…(January)

We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. But when we got back to the house, we had more work to do!


The big job of the month was finishing the half bathroom. It was great to have a nice bathroom in the house for a change!







We performed some nice demolition in the basement – we removed the laundry room stud wall, the half wall that used to be part of a kitchen, and the stud wall in the temporary “workshop” area.







I cleaned out the creepy under porch area…and only found a few questionable items.




We had a beautiful snow storm too!


And finally, we started stripping our master bedroom furniture (and a year later, it’s still not done!).

Happy Second Birthday Money Pit!!

Time flies when you’re having fun! We definitely slowed down on the house projects in the second year of owning the Money Pit but we still got a lot accomplished. So without further ado, here is the beginning of the 2nd Annual 12 Months of Home Renovation!

On the First Month of Home Renovation…(December)

Year 2 started with a new (brief) addition to the family. Fortunately, Patch eventually found a nice family (after going through about half a dozen others first!).



December was filled with parties, travel, and shopping but we did get a couple house related things started.

Our next door neighbors gave us an old dresser that was in pretty bad shape so I started stripping and sanding it.



The old pantry in the hallway was being turned into a half bathroom – and was only roughed in at this point. Our contractor had done a very poor job on the drywall (including closing it up before it was inspected – a big problem). We had to remove the drywall to pass the inspection. This month, Chris started fixing the wall in the half bathroom to cover the rough in plumbing. He also started putting down the cement board for the tile.




This was also the month that we got our venison back from the deer incident and bought a freezer.


And finally, Chris won his first homebrew beer award!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today is Chris’ birthday.


He is such a wonderful husband – he deserves a night off…but we’ll still probably work on tile tonight!

Nursery Progress

We didn’t get much done in the bathroom this week – we were busy getting things ready to set up the nursery.

For the bathroom, we were able to put up the first section of glass tile. We started putting up the diagonal ones, found a problem, got frustrated, and then quit. We’ll work on it more this week.

In order to set up the nursery (aka the small bedroom) we needed to remove the furniture. In order to remove the furniture, we needed to get the upstairs ready to house the furniture. Friends of ours had given us their old carpet when they put in hardwood. We have had it sitting upstairs for about a year and a half and all we’ve used is for the upstairs bedroom.

The most challenging part of this was that we had to move everything multiple times to lay the whole carpet (the upstairs is currently storing things that we had to move for the bathroom work). Notice the incredibly ugly tile on the floor (and the multiple types of tile in the “kitchenette” area). I find it amazing how much more welcoming the upstairs feels now that it has carpet – I might actually want to spend time up there now! Don’t mind all the boxes!





My parents drove down on Saturday morning to help us with some things and to bring down our gifts from my baby shower. The first task was to move the furniture to the upstairs bedroom.



Everyone else started unloading the van while I started assembling the baby’s crib. I had heard stories about how difficult it can be to assemble these but it was really easy – I’m guessing the people that have trouble don’t read the directions or don’t do much work with tools! Also, take a look at the beautiful quilt my mom made for the baby!



After the van was unloaded, Chris and Dad started work to re-frame the door from the master bedroom to the master bathroom. Initially they had framed it according to the information they got from calling the guy at Lowe’s – unfortunately the information was for the door frame size instead of the rough opening size. Once they re-framed, they installed the door – it really looks like the entrance to a bathroom now (of course it still needs some paint, trim, and a doorknob!).


While they were working on the door, Mom and I were working on installing the trim in the nursery. We had to re-use some of the old trim and then installed new shoe molding. I applied the painter’s caulk and Mom followed up with paint. She also put a new coat of paint on the top of the dresser and nightstand so I can soon start filling them with tiny baby things!


On Sunday, Mom and I picked up an Exersaucer from a Freecycler (I love this group!). It was an older model but in great condition – a little bit of cleaning and it’ll be like new!

When we got back, Chris and Dad went to buy an extension ladder. Unfortunately there must have been a run on them for all the guys putting up Christmas decorations because they were all out at our Lowe’s – they finally found one at another store.

We needed the extension ladder in order for them to install the soffit vents that attach to the bath fan ducting. It will be nice to have a fan in the bathrooms – we’re tired of having “sweating walls” after we shower!

After Mom and Dad left, we were a little lazy. We watched some football and I decorated a little bit for Christmas. In the evening, Chris organized the tools in the workshop area – a task that was long overdue!

We hope that by the end of this week we‘ll have a fully tiled bathtub surround! That would put us one big step closer to not having to use the upstairs bathroom!