Tag Archives: Projects

Swing Set Project

3 Apr

Just realized I never really posted the swing set project photos here… so here ya go!

All that’s left, as of right now, is to install the fireman’s pole off the back… attach the second set of swing hangers (which we have now) and maybe add some flowers (fake or real, not sure yet) to the flower box. Then Carly is getting a baby swing for her birthday from us, and Jonah is getting a big boy swing from Mamaw and G-pa, I think, that will both get hung up.If Jonah gets the steering wheel that he wants for his birthday from someone, we’ll need to attach that too… but we’re pretty close to being DONE with this project! Yay! So fun seeing it come to life!

Garage Renovation: DONE!

7 Mar

It all started with us getting a bunch of new power tools for christmas this year, not having anywhere to really put them, and being generally displeased with the dark dungeon of clutter that was our garage. Jason had a week off work and school between Christmas and New Years, and we typically try to tackle a major home improvement project at that point every year… last year it was Jonah’s big boy bedroom. We knew this was going to be a much bigger project, and would have to be done in phases. Our hope was to be finished with Phase 1 (the door wall) by the end of the break. We made that goal! Our next goal was to be finished with Phase 2 and 3 by spring break so that we could have it finished when Jason would have another week off school and work and we could then dedicate that week to building the kids’ swing set for their birthdays… and given that spring break starts next Friday, I am happy to announce that we are DONE! Here’s a little photo time line for you!

Door Wall Before (12/29/09)

Exterior Wall Before (12/29/09)

Cleared off, Patched, Painted the Door Wall, Built Shelves and Peg Board (12/31/09)

Rubber Maid Tub Shelves Close Up (1/2/10)

Custom Rolling Work Bench (1/2/10)

Pyro Corner... Fireplace, Grill, and Fire Pit accessory storage (1/2/10)

Back Wall Before (Taken 1/23/10)

Peg Board and "Racing Stripes" for heavy duty hooks (2/10/10)

More Tub Shelves, "Phase 2" Complete! Ready to start Phase 3! (2/15/10)

Rolling Wood Rack Built (2/20/10)

Exterior Wall After (3/7/10)

Back Wall After (3/7/10)

Overhead wood rack, shelf on the back wall for our pool off season, and shelf on the door wall for chemicals (3/7/10)

Door Wall After (3/7/10) painted the door frame, but should probably paint the door itself too I guess.

We are THRILLED with our new garage! Can’t wait to use all this new available space to start working on the swing set next weekend! It’s exciting to work in a space that works!

Got Alot Done

11 May

With my mom hanging around and helping out last week, we got WAY more done than any couple with a nearly 2 year old and a 1 week old should! My mom is a major DIY handy-woman, and just couldn’t contain herself when she came to stay. By the end of the 1st day she was just itching to get started on some projects. Who am I to complain?! I knew it’d happen, so that’s why I had already started a list of little projects around the house that needed doing, that just haven’t gotten done, for whatever reason. She actually started working on things while we were still in the hospital!  My to-do list that my mom tackled this week… as you’ll notice, she didn’t leave us much to do after she left! hahaShe got Jason involved in a lot of the projects too, and some of these he actually did on his own.

  • Install Handheld Showerhead & Caulk Around the Ring
  • Install Blinds in Our Bedroom
  • Fix Drippy Master Toilet
  • Fix/Oil Master Closet Door Knob
  • Fix the Storm Door Alignment so it’ll Actually Close
  • Remove the Satellite Dish
  • Remove the Antenna
  • Put a Piece of Screen Over the Chimney to Keep Birds Out (need to call chimney sweep first to get current nesting birds out)
  • Put Hinges on the Sandbox Door
  • Re-Configure the Sandbox Lid Boards to Make an Easier To Open Lid
  • Dig Out the Rose Bush in the Front Flowerbed
  • Dig Out the Bush Stumps in the Front Flowerbed
  • Check on the Roof Leak and Seal Where Possible
  • Hang the Letters for Carly’s Name in the Nursery
  • Fix the Wet Bar Cabinet Door that’s Sagging
  • Install Trim Around the Guest Bath Mirror (need to buy trim)
  • Change Light Fixtures in the Guest Bath (need to buy light fixtures)
  • Install and Overhead Light in the Garage (Bonus! They ended up re-wiring a bunch of stuff and putting in 2 new outlets too!)
  • Paint the Nursery Furniture (need a non-muggy day to paint)
  • Some Projects she thought of that I hadn’t -
    • Replace the Missing Toe Kick Under the Dishwasher and End Cabinet in the Kitchen & Install Trim
    • Fertilize the Yards
    • Replace Missing Pickets on the Fence
    • Replace the Damaged Board Around the Garage Door (We discovered ACTIVE termites there! Yuck! so had to get that treated first, so that project is sitting unfinished right now.)
    • Clean Some Previous-Owner Junk Out of the Attic

It was such a busy week that I’m probably forgetting some of the other stuff that got done, but we always appreciate having my mom come stay for a while! Jonah CERTAINLY enjoyed having his Mamaw around to play with, and to “help. work. hammer. outside. saw. ears. noise. loud.” with!

New Baby – New Project

28 Apr

With the addition of our little girl, Carly Michelle, to our family I have added a new blogging outlet for myself! I attempted to start this photography project, called the 365 Challenge, with Jonah at one point, but always wished I had started at his birth and used it to document his 1st year in our life. I kind of failed at keeping up with it, but I’m wanting to try again now that I have a new little life to document as well! The idea is that I take at least one photo every day and post it on this blog. I’m sure I’ll get behind on ocassion and I’ll forget entirely on ocassion, but you’ll forgive me! I know you will! Here’s where you’ll find the 365 blog… http://365pacesfromhere.wordpress.com Enjoy!

Daddy’s Little Building Buddy

15 Mar
Jonah was quite the little helper!

Jonah was quite the little helper!

This was just too cute for me not to blog about it! Jason sat down to start putting together the new side table and mini dresser that we bought from Ikea for the nursery, and Jonah jumped right in on helping him out! He was putting screws and pegs in the holes for Daddy, fetching boards and “dew divers” for him, and trying to help hammer some of the parts together. We had to reel in his enthusiasm some though, because it’s all made out of soft pine wood and even with his little plastic toy hammer, he was managing to leave a few good marks in the wood! hehe I just had to get this pictures though, for putting in this little girl’s scrapbook… showing that her big brother personally had his hand in helping put her furniture together. What a good helper! For more pictures from their building adventures, check out my “Pre-Baby Girl” album on Facebook.

A Growing To Do List

4 Mar

With less than 2 months, now, before our little girl arrives, my brain has started churning over all the things that I have to, and would like to, get done before that time. My friend Sarahjenne made a similar list on her baby blog, so I guess I’m stealing the idea from her!

Need to Do Before She Comes:

  • Make arrangements for going to the hospital (with back up plans)
    • Write down Jonah’s schedule, routines, and weird habits
    • Write down Jonah’s usual snack/meal options & preferences
    • Write down Jonah’s most difficult to understand phrases
    • Get volunteers that can come watch or come get Jonah from the hospital, if I go into labor before the c-section date, until my parents can gather up their stuff and make the 2 hr drive here.
  • Get baby clothes and bedding ready
  • Get baby bottles ready
  • Pack for the hospital
    • Her bag. Since she’ll be rooming in with us most of the time at the hospital, and because I’ll be there for 3-4 days, I plan to take:
      • (3) newborn t-shirts
      • (3) 0-6 mo gowns
      • (3) burp cloths
      • (6) pairs of baby socks
      • Her cherry-print onesie for a twinkie photo op w/ Sarahjenne’s baby if they come to visit. ;)
      • Her homecoming dress, shoes, socks, hat & hair bow (I plan to clip the pink bow to her little white hat)
      • Baby Nail Clippers
      • Pacifier
      • Pink gingham print blanket & ladybug blanket for photos
      • Her Baby Book
      • Nursing Cover
      • Video Camera & Power Cable
    • My Medela pump bag just in case I need it at the hospital like I did last time.
    • Boppy Pillow
    • Shop for & purchase a big brother t-shirt and a few small surprises to have for Jonah at the hospital when he comes to visit.
    • Buy a picture frame from Ikea to take for visitors to sign like we did for Jonah’s arrival. (w/ tax return $)
    • My hospital bag.
      • Birth Plan
      • Insurance & ID
      • Cell Phone, chargers & Headphones
      • Laptop (load the announcement files on and include internet cable just in case!)
      • DSLR Camera & USB Cable
      • Hair Brush
      • Hair Bands & Clips
      • Deodorant
      • Toothbrush & Toothpaste
      • Chap Stick
      • Going Home Outfit
      • Slippers
      • 3 Pairs of Socks
      • 3 Pairs of Throw-Away Undies
      • 2-pc PJ set
      • Nursing Bra and/or Tank Top
      • Nursing Pads
      • Snacks
      • Hard Candy
      • Jonah’s 4 big brother surprise gifts
      • Gift bag and tissue to put his gifts in
    • Jason’s hospital bag… who knows what he plans to take.
  • Install the car seat
    • Buy another vehicle seat protector, like Jonah’s, to install under the baby’s car seat
    • Get the car seat’s instruction manual from the internet (bought on craigslist, so it didn’t come with one)
    • Install the baby’s car seat
    • Have the car seats checked for correct installation at our hospital for free
  • Pre-Register at Centennial Hospital
    • Fill out the forms
    • Drop them off at the hospital or mail them in
  • Buy a few last things for Jonah’s Easter Basket
  • Prepare for the Playgroup Easter Party at our House
  • Prepare for the Baby Announcements
    • Make a few templates
    • Load templates onto laptop
    • Order & address envelopes
    • Order pre-paid prints
    • Buy stamps

Would Like to Do Before She Comes:

  • Finalize Jonah’s Birthday Party Plans
    • Send out invitations/Call those who don’t check email!
    • Put together party favor bags
    • Order the party favors online
    • Buy the rest of the party supplies
    • Do a 2nd practice run of making the train cakes (first attempt failed miserably)
    • Get the rest of Jonah’s birthday gift(s) and wrap them
  • Finish the nursery
    • Get Jason to raise the mattress back up on the crib
    • Paint the picture frame mat and the lady bug in the middle
    • Hang the picture frame and 2 heart canvases up behind the chair.
    • Find a place to hang her 1st year calendar.
    • Buy the side table and unfinished crib-side mini dresser from Ikea (w/tax return $)
    • Get the mini dresser primed and painted white
    • Get the side table primed and painted white
    • Organize the dressers and the hutch
    • Buy and install a new ceiling fan/light fixture & dimmer switch
    • Hang the letters for her name
    • Find and buy a heavy ladybug garden ornament to use as a door stop when we have the windows open.
  • Finish the guest bathroom makeover
    • Install a hand held shower attachment in the guest bathroom
    • Hang up a new shower curtain
    • Replace the bare bulb light fixtures in the guest bathroom?
    • Install trim around the mirror?
  • Buy some Velcro and finish up the Boppy cover I made
  • Make a Taggie blanket or burp cloth to match the Boppy cover. (buy ribbon first)
  • Do some gardening
    • Plant something in the new back yard flower bed
    • Plant some tomatoes in the new back yard flower bed
    • Add in the 2nd back yard flower bed on the other side of Penny’s gate?
    • Till up the garden spot and plant some veggies?
    • Clean out the rest of our front  flower beds and plant something there
  • Make the train table operable and the area semi-presentable for Jonah’s birthday party
    • Buy & hook up a power supply & locomotive (w/ tax return $ maybe?)
    • Cut, Finish, & Attach the nice wood sides
    • Install the cork board or picture frame with sketches and diagrams of the finished plans above the table
    • Install the 2nd and maybe even 3rd level of plywood just for looks?
    • Install the light above the table
    • Install the shelves for the HO scale trains
    • Hang a couple of picture frames with the shelves
    • Swap the small black arm chair for the big red one in the office
  • Mothers Day/Birthday Presents
    • Mamaw’s Mother’s Day and Birthday Present
    • Nonna’s Mother’s Day and Birthday Present
    • MY Mother’s Day and Giving-Birth-Day Present (nudge nudge Jason!)

Need to Do at Some Point:

  • Get roof leak fixed (call insurance company during the next big rain)
  • Make her Christmas stocking
  • Buy & Install new blinds in our bedroom
  • Get window screens for the whole house
  • Have A/C serviced or replaced
  • Replace the ceiling fans in the playroom and master bedroom (at least)
  • Get chimney swept
  • Start working on her 1st year scrapbook (traditional style)
  • Do family scrapbooks for 2006, 2007 & 2008 (digital style)

That’s all I have the energy for right now. I need to be napping while the boy child is down, so I’m sure I’ll come back to these lists to add more later.

Nursery Project – Weekend 3

2 Feb

Friday night we painted the first coat of light pink before heading to Tyler.

Saturday we got back too late from Tyler to do anything useful.

Sunday we painted the second coat of pink, took down the tape and started working on touching up the white stripe because there’s just no way to tape on textured walls without having jagged lines where the paint seaped under the tape. Since we were having a super bowl party, we wanted to get the room presentable, but we were only able to get the touch-ups done on the walls behind the big furniture done. I’ll still have to go back and touch-up the other side of the room. I also need to go get the black out material to make Jonah’s bedroom curtains so I can bring my black velvet drapes back into the room. I think that will siginificantly help with the pink glow the room puts off during the day! ;) I plan to eventually put a valance over the black drapes to lighten it’s look a little, but that’ll have to come later. I also still need to find a decent ceiling fan replacement and I need to work on putting the quilt hangers together so I can hang her cute little quilt on the wall until she’s big enough to use it at night.

One thing I would like some opinions on, I guess… I have thought about swapping the location of the crib and the recliner because the way it’s set up now, I’ll have a big black leather recliner in front of big black drapes… and a big white crib in between a big white changing table and big bank of white closet doors… so one side of the room is very black and the other is very white. I was thinking it’d look better to have the black and white more evenly distributed… but it might not be as practical since the motion sensor monitor has a wire coming from the bed and needs to sit on something right next to the bed (it’s currently sitting on the changing table, but couldn’t if I moved it) and the chair is aligned with the hallway, so if I needed to call for help, I’d be more likely to be heard than if I were in the opposite corner… then again, I’d be out of the direct line of sight while nursing and the crib would be in view for a quick peek in if I needed to. Maybe we just need to move the furniture around a time or two and see what we (I) like best. ;) hehe

Nursery Project – Weekend 2

30 Jan

We didn’t actually finish painting the 2nd coat of pink until late last night cause we got side tracked with other stuff this weekend. There’s no mistaking it though, it’s definitely a pink room now! haha! The picture of the outlet is probably the most accurate representation of the wall color though. The flash photography on the others has made it look alot more HOT pink than it really is.

Jason replaced all of the painted over, almond colored, outlets with new white ones and we put new cover plates on all of them too… fancy childproof ones on all of the ones that won’t be behind furniture and regular ones on the others. A quick and simple fix that really does make a big difference. We’re kind of hoping we can finish all the painting and get the room put back together before our super bowl party on Sunday (so I can show it off) but we’ll see if that happens. We’re going to Tyler tonight and won’t be back until tomorrow night… and we haven’t even BOUGHT the second can/color of pink yet!

Nursery Project – Weekend 1

17 Jan

Since this nursery painting and renovating thing is going to take us several weekends, I’m not going to even TRY to get it all on one post. I’ll just give updates of each weekend we work on it.

Project Photos -

Day 1 – Saturday

Goals for the Day:

  • Get little stuff moved out of the room.
  • Move big furniture to the center of the room.
  • Remove coverplates and old nails.
  • Patch and prime old nail holes as necessary.
  • Sand, prime, and paint the chipped areas of the crib railing (From Jonah’s teething days).
  • Remove mini blinds, closet rod, and shelf.
  • Finish drawing the stripe.
  • Tape off the stripe.
  • Paint 1st coat of white (on the stripe and in the closet).
  • Paint 2nd coat of white (on the stripe and in the closet).
  • Remove 1st round of tape.

As you can tell, we didn’t really get as far as we hoped we would today. I guess it was for a lot of reasons: I finally used my Valentine’s Day Coupon (from last V-day) for a “Saturday breakfast in bed” so we took longer to actually get started on the project, then we took time out to go to Sonic for lunch, play with Jonah at the park, and pick up a few things at Wal-Mart. I also took a much needed nap while Jonah napped and Jason worked on re-installing stuff on the laptop, which he just fixed last night (it was continually rebooting itself, so it needed a good re-formatting), we also stopped working on the room while we made dinner and did the whole bed-time routine with Jonah, and stopped entirely shortly there after because Jason has some papers to read for his class. So at the current rate… we MIGHT be finished with her room before she gets here! ;)

Day 2 – Sunday

Goals for the Day:

  • paint the chipped areas of the crib railing
  • remove mini blinds & shelf
  • patch holes in the window sill
  • paint 1st coat on stripe, closet, window sill, shelf, and closet doors
  • paint 2nd coat on stripe, closet, window sill, shelf, and closet doors
  • remove 1st round of tape
  • touch up where neccessary

We managed to get quite a bit of painting done, but by 9:30 we were both beat, so we didn’t finish it all. I guess that’s what we’ll be doing on Monday night… finishing up the white paint details. Other than that, the only complaint we have is that the people who were here before us did some kind of crappy patch work in some areas… we ran across the same problem in Jonah’s room in one area… where the paint causes the patch to loosen off the wall and just crumble when you pull the tape off of the wall. I posted a picture above of the one area in the nursery, where we had already done the best we could, with touch up paint, to make it look better. I’m still not really happy with it though. :(

Jonah’s Big Boy Room Project

30 Dec
Photo Gallery

 
Day 1 (Tuesday)

Our Goals for the Day – Paint the closet and white stripe.

What We Accomplished – Painted the closet and white stripe, patched and primed all the drywall holes, installed 2 out of 3 new electrical boxes.

Details of the Day – Today marks the first official day of work on Jonah’s new big boy room. Jason emptied out the room this morning and took off all the faceplates and blinds so we could prep for painting. We had our accent stripe measured out and taped off by nap time. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting 2 coats of paint on the white accent stripe and painting the inside of the closet white (which Jason did on his own cause the fumes were pretty intense in the closet) After all that was done, we went to dinner, then went to Lowes to pick up some new electrical boxes and face plates because the phone jack, cable jack, and sattelite jack in that room were all dated/the wrong color/broken/painted over. We also bought some new 2″ blinds to hang in there after we finish painting because the vinyl mini blinds that came with the house were beat up and broken. After Lowes, we stopped back by Wal-Mart to exchange the green paint that I had selected earlier because it was just WAY too close to highlighter yellow. KINDA LIKE THIS. So we exchanged it for a color that was a couple of shades darker. KINDA LIKE THIS. It’s still bright, but so is everything else in the room, and at least it doesn’t look yellow anymore. And yes, I got teased by my husband for picking a “bad color” since I’m supposed to be an “expert” at choosing paint colors. :-p

Day 2 (Wednesday)

Our Goals for the Day – Paint the blue stripe, replace all the lower electrical sockets/faceplates, and find new homes for all the seasonal junk that used to be stored in this room.

 What We Accomplished – Painted the blue stripe, found homes for the seasonal junk, replaced the electrical stuff, bought and put together the storage unit.

Details of the Day – With one round of taping and painting done, and the white paint dry. We got right to work on painting the blue portion of the room. Because of the heavy texture on the walls (and ceilings) throughout this house, the tape doesn’t want to lay entirely flat, so we’ll have a lot of touch up work to do between the color changes. The base boards are also too thin for my edging tool to work right, so there will be a lot of touch up to do there, on the last day, as well. I’m LOVING the blue color though. I’m just hoping the green won’t be too loud when we paint it tomorrow. Oddly enough, I think the blue, white and khaki combination looks good together too, just not for this application cause the khaki won’t go with ANYTHING in his room. While we waited for the 1st coat to dry, we found homes in the attic and garage for all the stuff that’s not going back into either of the kids rooms. I know that made Jason happy cause he hates to have stuff just sitting out all over the place.

After naptime, the 2nd coat of paint was done and we were all getting hungry, so we decided to pack up and head to Ikea, for 50¢ hot dogs…. oh, and to buy the storage unit and a few other small things for the room. I think I impressed Jason because I went in with a list and a budget, and I spent 6¢ less than what my budget was, and didn’t get anything that wasn’t on the list! :) We got home with all our loot and started working on replacing the outlets and coverplates. The original ones were all almond colored with mismatched plates and everything had been painted over multiple times. We decided as we renovate each room in the house, we’ll replace the sockets and switches with new white ones cause it’s cheap and easy, and looks SO much better. It’s amazing how much something so little can make such a big difference.

Once Jonah was in bed for the night, we busted out the storage unit from Ikea to start putting it together. It went together really easily and is really sturdy feeling. We moved a few of his things into his new closet, just to get them out of the living room, and called it a night. While we were waiting for the ball to drop, I ran to Wal-Mart to get some wall anchors and washers for tomorrow’s projects. While I was there, I found out that my baby bedding, that I’d ordered online, had just arrived!!! I was so excited! I went and picked up some paint swatches to figure out what colors we’ll do in her room. All I know at this point is that we’ll be doing the same treatment as Jonah’s room, the big white stripe with 2 different colors above and below it. I’ll post my ideas for her room on the baby blog sometime tomorrow. Got home just in time to ring in the new year and crash in my bed… exhausted from the past 2 days.

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.