01.03.08
Posted in Family, Life at 1:31 pm by Elisa
Baby it’s cold outside. So Cole and I are camped out by the fire, watching a little tv, playing computer games, taking pictures of pooches….such a change from the past few months when we had workers at the door at 8am every morning and we had to find a place to go. The only person that has come to the door today, besides the mailman, is a friend of mine that is now starting her own remodel and all the workers are now at HER house.
Pooch pictures
Hmmm I think Barley has the right idea.
Permalink
10.20.07
Posted in ElisaLou, Life at 3:42 pm by Elisa
A few minutes ago someone knocked on my front door- he asked my address and said that he had a birthday party invitation to deliver to Austin, “does he live here?? This house looks abandoned.”
Yikes. I knew it was looking kinda bad lately on the outside but I didn’t expect that. It has to be the biggest downfall of construction, the mess.
I have been getting a little worried about kids, especially ones that aren’t mine- playing in the backyard. Workers are messy, they rarely clean up after themselves. Their lunch, drinks, whatever, never seem to make it to the trash can. But they also they don’t clean up their work messes.
It’s getting pretty hard to get around the backyard.
The front yard is starting to look kinda bad too and I am just waiting for someone to complain. So far my neighbors have been very nice about it, but the comment today left me a little down. I am getting a little tired of living in construction central.
Just have to keep thinking about the end result. Which will be here soon.
Permalink
10.19.07
Posted in ElisaLou, Life at 9:21 am by Elisa
Even though we have added a bathroom to our house (from 3 to 4) we still only have one potty right now. For a family of five this can be challenging. It can also be challenging when there are always workers hanging out in or near the only bathroom, or the water is turned off again. The other day a friend called me on my cell phone and said, “where are you?” At the rec center. “are you peeing??” Of course I am, try using the bathroom at my house- almost impossible these days. So now I pee everywhere I go.
My downstairs bathroom which used to have a potty and sink.
Now has a ladder instead. Everything was pulled out so the hardwood floors could be installed.
The boys bathroom used to have a potty but it was pulled out to be replaced after the new floor goes in.
Yesterday they set the tile in the shower
this will only be the bathroom for two boys now. One lucky boy will get his own bathroom.
Notice the old wallpaper on the right side of the picture, pretty huh? The tub and potty and sinks in this bathroom were mauve.
I am going to spare you a picture of the only bathroom in service at the moment, I am not sure I can even get in it.
Here is the my new tub, yippee!
and our new shower, and the travertine tile that will go in it.
And a few other pics, master bedroom now has walls
kitchen
Family Room
And everyones favorite
The Dog Shower
The slate has not been grouted yet but I still love it.
The board is to keep the dogs out while the slate tile dries. We have always wanted a dog shower and I could have used it yesterday when the dogs and boys and boys friends came in covered in mud from the backyard. I think I should rename it dog and boy shower. It will have a hand-held sprayer- can’t wait. It was a tight spot but I measured the big girl and put her in there a couple times, all 90 wonderful golden pounds of her, and she fits. She loves baths. Shiloh will have room to run in circles. Which she will, screaming as she does it. She gets so dramatic when she gets a bath, total torture for her.
There really isn’t a part of the house that isn’t getting touched but it is all good. I am getting tired of construction but I love the idea that our house will be exactly the way we want it when it is done. No, it won’t have everything my “dream house” would have but it will be very very close. And the best part is that we are keeping it as green as we can. Lot’s of natural products like slate, wood, cork. Blake and I both have horrible allergies and we were lucky that the whole house already had hardwood floors, except the kitchen. Now the kitchen as well as all new spaces will be wood. It is my favorite flooring by far. With cork a close second. We have cork in the basement. Our new spaces are not big, in fact most would consider them small and we are adding almost as much porch space as we are interior space to promote indoor/outdoor living.
It seems like it was just a few days ago when I crept out of the house (the boys were sleeping) to meet my contractor in the back yard, rubbing my eyes to wake up and watching the big digger arrive to dig out the basement. Time flies.
That’s all I got, have a great weekend.
Permalink
10.18.07
Posted in Family, ElisaLou, Life at 4:32 pm by Elisa
Yesterday my oldest baby got braces.
I have been enjoying these (2 so far) ortho appointments. I pull Austin out of school and we always have to squeeze lunch out of the deal- even if it is only 10:30am. My mom used to be in such a rush to get me back to school when I had ortho appointments but I am bad with Austin, I cherish these little stolen moments and I hang on to him as long as I can.
After the braces were put on we went to Whole Foods for lunch. I got a nice fresh salad and Austin and Cole got yummy pizza. A nice change from the standard Wendy’s that they usually request. All good until he realized that eating with braces isn’t as easy as eating without. It’s getting better though.
Love this (big) kid. And a funny tidbit. When he was baby he refused to let us listen to music. He would yell “no song! no song!” every time we turned on the radio or put on a cd. The one exception? Beastie Boys. If we put Beastie Boys on he would actually shake his little groove thang.
Permalink
03.16.07
Posted in Life at 7:28 am by elisa
Do you ever want to freeze time? The sweet 3 year old face, the Lands End rain coat and boots that has made it through three boys (love their stuff). The Lil’ Cowpoke Pj’s made by me that are getting too small. Being small enough to think that the backyard is a wonderland waiting to be explored.
Permalink
02.26.07
Posted in Life at 6:22 pm by elisa
I quickly snapped up shots of the basement before it gets trashed. We haven’t finished putting everything down there. If I had my way the plasma would go down there, at least until we do our family room addition. Our poor house, a never ending work in progress. I love the sparse look it has right now, that will all change when the Wii and PS and all the other messy things with lots of cords get moved down there. Oh and that big box of Rescue Heroes….. not the nicest things to look at.
Wasn’t sure how I would like the cork floor but I love it. It really has a nice look to it. The ottomon is Coley’s favorite spot.
This little room is the toy room. I hit PB for a bunch of baskets and storage. Oh and that cool big Union Station clock sitting in the basket on the top picture.
These shelves were an afterthought and I am so glad we put them in. They hold so much stuff and look cool too. And Cole now has a use for his little yellow ladder/stool that I bought a couple years ago at the Springfield Antique Show
And I will leave you with the sweet puppy face snoozing on an Amy Butler pillow
Lucky Girl
Permalink
02.20.07
Posted in Life at 6:30 pm by elisa
So I started the day with a root canal. Which is always fun. A couple hours later I was back at the dentist because the temporary filling they put in the tooth fell out.
Got that fixed and headed over to the DMV to get a new license. While I am waiting my turn, I was number 55 and they were on 30, some guys across the room start yelling at each other. Things were thrown out there like, “hey we speak English in this country!” to which the other guys yelled something back in Spanish. Then the (of course) white guy start spewing profanities. It was getting ugly and I thought it might be time to head on out when the Hispanic group of guys got up and left. I just sat there, embarrassed. Ugh. People. You find all kinds at the DMV. I ended up sticking it out and leaving with yet another ugly drivers license picture.
Permalink
02.18.07
Posted in Life at 8:12 am by elisa
Hanging on the couch with Austin and two doglets. Waiting for the rest of the family to get up. Word on the street is that we are heading out to Big Boy with the Grandparents for some breakfast. Always an adventure.
So Shiloh is getting an attitude and even Barley is getting a little tired of her puppy antics. Time to step up the training and sign her up for puppy kindergarten.
She is still pretty cute though….I love these picture of her sleeping in the sun with the snowy backyard behind her.
Hope you find your little place in the sun today, snow is falling here again but warmer temps are on the way this week.
Permalink
02.10.07
Posted in Life at 8:24 pm by elisa
Today we went out shopping for a new floor for our basement. First we thought we were going to do carpet, then we decided a wood laminate made more sense, but the flooring we came home with instead was cork. Cork seemed to be the perfect choice for our basement as it insulates against both temperature and noise. It’s easy to care for and not too cool to the touch.
What I really like is that cork is a natural product. The trees are not cut down, only the bark is used. And 9 years later it is ready to be harvested again and therefore considered a “green” product. It is also self heaing, much like my cutting mat! It has to sit in our house for a week before it can be put down on the floor. Jim is supposed to be done painting and putting up trim by Tuesday and on Friday my in-laws are flying in from Texas. Perfect timing!
This whole thing got me thinking how it would make much more sense for my husband to work for a place like Lowes or Home Depot rather than selling womens underwear. We need a good discount on building supplies. I mean there are only so many pairs of underwear a girl needs, but the home remodeling projects are endless. Hmmm, must google where the corporate offices are. Hang on.
Ok it looks like Lowe’s is located outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. That would work for me.
Home Depot is in Atlanta. I don’t know much about Atlanta. Probably a little warmer than here.
Speaking of weather, pack warm, Grandma and Grandad - we are in for a bunch of snow next week.
Permalink
02.08.07
Posted in Life at 6:19 pm by elisa
This is for my mother-in-law Susan who wanted to see pictures of our basement remodel (in progress).
Our basement has two sides. One side had paneling up when we moved in but no real walls, only cinderblock. We tore down the paneling because of water damage. Andy dug a new french drain from the back of our house by the screened porch all the way to the curb. Because of that we will never move 
Even the neighborhood kids helped. Large trees are nice but when their roots grow into your drainage pipes it can quickly cause a wet basement. Then we had new gutters with gutter topper thingys installed. An expensive but well worth it project. Result is a dry basement. We are lucky that our basement has really high ceilings, a rare thing in an older house. It really helps with the feel of the room.
Here is what it looked like before
This is the main room, a cinderblock wall goes down the middle and supports the house. One side is this open area, the other side is storage, mechanicals, and a crawl space. It will eventually be a bathroom and the mechanicals.
We had Jim bust through part of the wall (an area that had a workshop). He had to put a big support beam up
Here are some in progress pictures.
I had him put beadboard up the stairs and carve out these little niches under the stairs. To the left is storage and will eventually be a bathroom.
I am really weird about details and one thing that I HAD to have was a square newel post. Very traditional. LOVE it.
here is the wall that was busted out and the built-ins that he carved into the wall. Behind the built-in walls are mechanicals. We had to do a drop down ceiling in this small room due to vents overhead and we wanted the ability to get up in the ceiling for the remodel of our kitchen. Yes our whole house needs remodeling! I am really glad the rest of the basement could have a regular dry-walled ceiling with can lights.
That’s it so far. Still trying to decide on the floor. Probably go with a wood laminate. I’m not a big carpet fan- 3 boys, 3 dogs- well you get the idea.
I would love love love to put my studio down here but it’s going to be a playroom for the boys. The studio is destined for bigger and better places.
Permalink
« Previous entries · Next entries »
