House Before and After!

The fireplace before and after reminded me to post some kitchen before and afters! We still have several small projects to complete but the "big stuff" is done!  

Before: 

(we are still contemplating putting a kitchen island back!  We want to find our breakfast nook table before we make any decisions to see how that affects the space.  

After demo: (everything except the soffet...the boxes above the old cabinets)

After:  

 (Thanks for the photo bomb Elli!...please ignore the carseat...I was extremely lazy not to move it!)
We still need to decide on a backsplash and rug for some color...any suggestions???  and paint the warm khaki color to the left of the fridge!
Close up of the lights and box Chris built to hide the drain pipe above the cabinets.

We replaced their old desk area with more cabinets that are super deep.  They are my favorite base cabinets in the whole kitchen!  Don't worry about all those backpacks on top of the countertop!  I've already talked with my personal contractor (AKA my husband) and he is going to build me some "mudroom-like lockers" in the little hallway!

I don't know maybe we don't need a breakfast nook table...Charley's playhouse works just fine for now! :)   Let's play "where's Elli" in all these pictures!


Here is the awkward space we're not really sure what to do with!  We know that the oversized desk (that's my Dad's old double sided desk from the railroad!  Chris and I striped it and stained it!  We love the piece it's just had to find a good spot!) and filing cabinet really don't work but we don't have any other space for it so it works for us for now!   Sam's vote is to leave it as is...it makes for a pretty legit basketball court!  That hoop on the door to the garage sees a lot of action!  Ha!

Is that Elvis or my daughter...I'm confused...

We could really use our interior designer (AKA my sister Amy Jo) to come figure this space out and bring some artwork for that huge, empty wall!

Sleepover!

Somehow our big kids can always talk us into a sleepover!  We bring two of the matresses down and all pile on!  Here is all 3 kids in their footed PJs!

The Dowdy's classic move:

the couch flipped down as a soccer goal!

This is how I found them in the morning!

Fireplace Remodel!

One last look at the before picture: 

Demo time!  We only had to demo the outside layer of brick on the hearth, the actual metal fire place insert and the mantel piece holders (official names I'm sure...ha!)  We used natural stone so we were able to stone right over the brick.  (Please note every time I use the pronoun "we" I mean Chris...I had very little to do with this project unless you count nursing a 2 1/2 month old!)   Let's not even talk about the dust this project stirred up!  And yes we are using the Dyson because our shop-vac went ker-plunk!  

Next up was the "scratch coat".  Chris had to nail up wire meshing and coat it in mortar. Then use a piece of wood with nails sticking out to "rough it up"!  Don't you just love my "formal wording".  I'm thinking of starting my own HGTV show!  

We bought 3 more bags of mortar during the process!  That rock is NOT coming down! :) 

 Then is was rock time!  Chris's college roommate's Dad (did you follow all that) owns a local masonry company and he lets us go to his building and hand pick our rock out.  He also only charges us what it costs him to get the rock here from TN...it's a pretty good set up! :) We set the rock out for a quick rinse off!  The stone looks darker when wet...

We tried to protect our floors the best we could...

We brought all the rock in to see what we were working with...

Gerald let Sam have his own bucket to "pick out rocks" with! We actually used some of his rock and he even found the places to use them!  He is very proud of his rock!   Can you tell which one is Sam's bucket!

 Don't let this picture fool you...Charley wasn't "into" working on the rock!

 
Slowly but surely over 3 weekends Chris laid the rock.  He could only lay about 3 feet at a time.  Lets talk about how awesome hammering rock was with a sleeping baby!  Max may have slept with his fan on high and two noise makers on during the hammering process!  Laying rock (especially when it's a one man show) is an extremely tedious process!  This is a natural dry stack (unlike manufactured stone that somewhat "fits" together) so he literally had to find rock that was close and hammer the edges to make it fit.  We like the "rugged" look so we didn't bother making them fit flush or filling in the small cracks.


You have to make sure the rock will sit on top of each other.  You use mortar on the back but you want to make sure it will sit on top without it first!  The smaller rocks (the super tiny ones) are "shim" rocks used to balance the rock.  The long rectangle rock is my favorite rock!

I feel like this could be a GMC comercial.  3 kids, carseats and all plus all our hearth rock!  This is inside Gerald's building.  You can see the huge machine used to cut the rock in the background!   It's quite interesting and our kids liked all the "fieldtrips"!

 
Laying the hearth rock...

The finished product!  Chris is going to build a new mantel and stain it the same color as the floor but we put our old one up just to give the look!  We still have to clean the rock again (look how dirty the hearth rock got when we grouted it..the hearth and where the rock meets the wall are the only place you have to grout with drystack!

 Please ignore the dirty floors to the right of the fireplace.  We hadn't scrubbed them good (yes on our hands and knees) yet!

 We love our fireplace!  Thanks Daddy for ALL your hard work!  YOU ROCK (yes, pun intended! :)) (I just read that sentenced to Chris in which he responded, "Oh my gosh Emily, I bet you were waiting all blog to say that!"...why yes I was!

A before and after:

Sweet Faces

Aren't they just the cutest kids??  (there are more of Max only because he can't run from the camera...I have him exactly where I want him..ha!) 

 I seriously just want to kiss his face off!

 "You talkin to me...????"

 This is the sweetest little boy I know...

Those eyes...she is so beautiful!  

Can you tell I went back to work today...I'm all sappy!!!  I survived my first day!!!  I'm mostly just exhausted!  I pack 9 bags everyday!  9 BAGS!!!!!  CRAZY!!   I'm giving myself 2 weeks to get adjusted to my "new routine"!  Hopefully by then I'll be smooth sailing...just in time for soccer season!!  I think I can, I think I can!   (It helps I have the best friends and family in the world!  All your kind words and actions really, really, really make it easier!...thanks guys!)  My first graders were all smiles today!...they make it easier!  And I felt really good as a teacher today...a "I'm exactly where God wants me" peace!   Pray for the next couple weeks...if you want to mention snow, I'm not stopping you!  :)

First Snow of 2013

Is there anything sweeter than kids watching the first snow of season??  And YES they had their bibs on as soon as the first flake fell!  

I'm not sure who is more excited...clearly...

                          

 Any other fathers use duct tape around the gloves??  It made it interesting when Charley had to use the bathroom (of course about 10 minutes after we had finally gotten everything on...isn't that always the case??)!

We went out Thursday night (twice)!  We were the ones that let our 3 and 5 year olds stay out until 10!  Sam and Chris found out they could sleigh ride all the way down our hill, across the street, down our neighbors hill, through Sugar Plum Forest (their nickname for the evergreens), all the way down to the train tracks!  AND they even convinced Charley to go with them several times!  They went so far that you couldn't even see where they ended from our front door!  Every time they came back up they found a new railroad spike!  Chris fixed some awesome soup and I made hot chocolate and then they went out again!   The next day we built a fort for Charley and watched some movies...

     

and of course we played in the snow some more!  They somehow still managed to go across the street without it being snow covered.  (We did knock on our neighbors door to make sure it was ok.  She is the sweetest little old lady and said, "oh heavens yes that would be fine"...Chris and Sam shoveled her driveway the next day in return!)   Sam also broke out his boogie board (best dollar you ever spent Amy)...

Chris made a legit igloo using a rubbermaid...

Sam decided to just go on his belly...

I love the clothes all piled up!  Next year we will have another snowsuit to add to the pile!  

Max made his first snow debut!!

I was supposed to go back to work on Friday so this snow was super liked by this mommy!  Extra day of maternity leave...I'll take it!  We had the BEST family time and made the sweetest memories!