For the home!

Ever since Brett and I bought our home in the winter of 2009, we have been on a mission to make it our own.  First came the roof – that was mostly out of necessity since the previous roof had as much give as a trampoline.  The roof was a great project – it’s how we picked out the his and hers sides of the garage (we both fell through the ceiling to claim our sides).  Everyone in the family played their role:  Brett and I were the bulk of the manual labor hauling old material across the roof and into the dumpster, Dad was the foreman and barked orders from his chair below, Chuck was the jack-of-all-trades and was called on for everything when we needed him, and the mom’s kept the peace and kept us fed.  The new roof has kept us dry and warm since then and we are very thankful to have our family help.  Later in 2009 we also had a fence put in and several trees taken out.  We knew the fence would come in handy because we wanted a dog.

Second major project was the bathroom remodel in 2010 – and by this we definitely mean MAJOR.  We knocked down walls, replumbed, tore out tile, beat a bathtub to death, got rid of all scalloped edges and expanded our bathrooms into the luxurious and zen-like space it is today.  I even got a walk-in-closet out of the deal!  It is so nice to have space enough in the bathroom for both Brett and I at the same time.  Brett, Chuck and I did the majority of the ‘unskilled’ labor and Chuck and family friend/neighbor Ray took care of the technical stuff.  Chuck got paid in beer (he he).  It permanently changed our upstairs from a 4 bedroom into a 3 bedroom. But I think the extra bathroom space and the walk in closet is more than worth it. 

In 2011, we took it a little bit easier.  We worked on the landscaping.  When we bought the house, the landscaping was HORRENDOUS!  There were these little Christmas tree looking shrubs ALL over the place – they lined the property line, there were several clusters in the back yard and right in front of the house.  There was also this terrible looking blue spruce in the front yard and several large dead/dying trees in the backyard.  Those all had to go.  We pulled many of the smaller trees/shrubs up with a tow-strap attached to Brett’s truck.  Some of the other ones we had to get a stump grinder or a professional team to take them out.  It was all worth it and we focused mostly on the landscaping in the front of the house.  We planted a couple crepe myrtles, several cherry laurals, several boxwoods, several nandinas, and some decorative grasses.  We shrunk the size of the ‘island’ in the front yard so that it only holds the Japanese maple (the only tree actually worth preserving).  I also planted a few hydrangeas (although – I’m not sure what the point was because the deer promptly eat them).  We planted grass seed and now our front yard is exactly what we want it to look like!  You can actually see our house now and it is beautiful.  Now if only I can remember to plant the wine barrels with pretty flowers…. Perhaps I will just plant the flowers I can buy at Michaels and AC Moore ;-)  We also replaced all the doors in the house – we took them from the flat doors to the 6-panel colonial doors.  It was so nice not to have squeaky doors and closets.  Everything matches now (after the bathroom remodel, some of the doors were 6-panel and some were flat) and it looks fantastic. 

This year for 2012, we have a couple home projects.  The first one was something we had pegged for future years but got accelerated due to Will’s allergies.  We thought it would be best to get rid of the carpet in his room so that it would minimize the allergies he was exposed to.  That sort of snowballed into “let’s do the whole upstairs” and then that snowballed again into “let’s do the whole upstairs and the stairs and the foyer”.  I’m not complaining – I’ve been wanting that carpet gone since we bought the house.  It is so much nicer – I think it makes a really big difference!  Ray and Chuck did most of the work again.   We keep joking that they should start their own business:  “WWFB Handymen” (aka “Will Work For Beer Handymen”).  After a couple weeks of working – voila the wood floors were put in and everything looks so fresh and clean.  I absolutely love it and even though Brett doesn’t want to admit it, he likes it too.  One of the best parts is that we got rid of all the squeaks in the floor.  I can now sneak out of Will’s room without the creaks and the cracks waking him (priceless!!!!).  The next project is the back patio.  We earmarked some of the money that we got from Aunt Michelle to use towards revamping our backyard.  I know that she would like it and if she were still alive she would love to spend time out there with us.  I know Will will benefit from it too – he will love playing around in the new backyard.  Will keep everyone posted on the patio progress.  Demo begins on May 5!