Documenting January 2022-March 2022
I think it's cute how optimistic I was in January when I did the last house project post. At that time, I still thought we'd be 90% done by April 1. I feel less cutely optimistic about it all now, but patience and contentment have been given space to grow in our hearts. That's a positive, right? A finished house is good. Patience is also good.
Does it feel like I'm grasping for a silver-lining?
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| Day 76 |
James surprised me by arching the opening! I was giddy about that for weeks. Can you tell I've got a thing for arches? Spoiler alert - we're not done adding arches yet.
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| Day 77 |
It took us a long time to decide on what we were doing with this fireplace. I explained some of our back-and-forth in my last post, but we finally made a decision. We covered it with cement board to preserve the brick. James was even sure to only screw into the mortar joints so that the brick would not be damaged. We refinished the hearth, shown a few pictures down, and then, eventually, the cement board will be stuccoed. Originally I was wanting it plastered, but James felt more comfortable with stucco, and so that's the direction we're headed. I'm shooting for a smoother stucco with character, some lines showing, but not the popcorn ceiling style you might be picturing. This won't happen for a little while, because we're matching the finish to another piece in the house, so they'll be done at the same time.
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| Day 79 |
Apparently we had bricks on the mind, because next we started pulling off exterior brick in order to make room for a few larger windows that were going to be installed.
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| Day 80 |
I feel like I've spent months of my life painting at this point. Ceilings take a lot. Priming takes a lot. Trimming takes a lot. Touch ups take a lot. New drywall takes a lot. Heck, old drywall takes a lot. After the bulk of the painting, it was fun to get a little bold color in the space. This green (appearing really dark in this photo because it's in the shadows) is an accent color that we're running through the space. I knew I really wanted your eye to be drawn to the arch, and adding some color behind it did just the trick.
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| Day 82 |
We hired someone to come relay the bricks surrounding the widows that were changing sizes. James was short on time and it was something that was easy to delegate. Don't worry - the mortar dried to a matching color. It was still wet in this photo.
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| Day 85 |
We bought thin brick to lay over the top of the existing hearth brick on the fireplace. We knew we wanted something with a little more charm and age. We're both kicking ourselves for picking too white of a mortar color, but if that's our biggest regret in the project, I'd say we did alright. This beauty is just waiting for her stucco finish. Then she'll turn all the heads in the room.
Spraying the closets was a job that took several days. It probably won't make a huge difference, but while we were in construction we knew it was the time to give them a fresh coat. We hit two closets in the office and two coat closets that are outside of our laundry room.
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| Day 94 |
Day 96 might go down as one of my favorites in the first 100 days. It was February 14th, and our white oak floors finally arrived. The minute that we got word that they were done, James offered to come pick them up so that we didn't have to wait another day, or week, or whatever it was going to take before they would get them to us.
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| Day 96 |
73 bundles of the prettiest stuff you've ever seen. James hauled each and every bundle into the house single-handedly that night. No one has ever accused him of not working hard.
We tried to distract ourselves from the thought of the floors by tying up a few loose end projects. One was finishing out the pantry. You might remember that James laid the extra original hardwood floor into the pantry since it now opens up into our bedroom hallway. He sanded and stained it to match the rest.
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| Day 98 |
Then he went to work setting up a painting booth in the garage.
(OH. And our new front door arrived and I squealed.)
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| Day 98 |
He started with our garage/back door. We opted not to replace this door, but we gave it a facelift while we had things torn apart.
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| DAY 100 |
This was the state of our house at 100 days! My initial estimation was that this project was going to take 120 days. LOL. Cute. But I really am so so proud of the progress we've made. This is a whole new space already. A lot was done in 100 days.
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| Day 100 |
A great 100-day gift was pulling out our old front door and prepping the brick for the new. We literally had a zipper wall for a front door that night. And no one robbed us. Probably because we had so much junk and trash in the front yard, no one thought we had anything valuable inside. We are making the inside of our house beautiful, but on the outside, we are the white-trash house in the neighborhood right now. Furniture, trash, old doors, trim, lumber, boxes, toys, a trampoline that looks like a taco... I mean it's all screaming something. "Classy" probably isn't it.
I did tell James that there was no way we could sleep through anyone trying to open that zipper wall. Great security system, right there.
Thankfully, it was only one night and by the next day, this was our view. Changing the front door was not part of the plan when we started the project. But the deeper we got into this space, we knew we could really change the whole room with an upgrade here. We were going to have to pull out the old door regardless, because of the floor height changing, so we decided to pull the trigger. The added windows let in so much more light and being able to center it on this wall made a huge difference. This is our only south-facing "window" in our living area, so we knew it would be worth it. Plus - this will be my view when I'm working at my island. Talk about dreamy.
On the downside... I probably can't neglect my flowerbeds as long, or hide from the Schwan's man anymore.
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| Day 101 |
We opted for adjustable shelves in the walk-in pantry. This will be where we store oversized items and backstock. (We will have another built-in pantry located in the kitchen for frequently used food items.) Immediately after we hung the shelves, James moved all of his tools into the pantry. It's now his tool room.
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| Day 108 |
We also added some smaller black shelves on the other wall. The pantry is almost completely done. I need to finish the doors, put up trim, and hang a few hooks between these two shelving units, but that's it. Then it will be totally ready to store all of my pantry items. As soon as James finds a new home for his tools...
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| Day 110 |
The beautiful days allowed us to get the new windows in while it was nice out. The two windows on the fireplace wall were ones that we decided to make a little bit bigger. Anything to get a little more natural light into a room that can feel pretty dark. You can see the sizing change in the photo above. Macklin loves that he can see out now, from these windows and the front door.
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| Day 111 |
I had the biggest smile the next day when I entered the room and saw all of that morning light!
The photo below is a picture of the outside with the new front door and windows. I probably could have chosen a better time of day so they were easier to see, but don't get picky with me now. We'll spruce up the exterior when we have more energy in like 10 years.
A few more nice days allowed James to start spraying interior doors so that they're ready to install when the floor is done. The doors will all be the same color as the trim. The trim paint was a disaster for me to pick. None of the paint matched the swatches in the space and it resulted in me buying a dozen or more sample cans before I finally felt like I got it right. I was still a little nervous until I saw the interior doors painted, and then I sighed big and knew it was perfect.
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| Day 112 |
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| Day 113 |
We laid brick inside the garage/back door. It matches the fireplace hearth, except we did a gray mortar this time. We knew we didn't want to lay the wood floor on this landing because it collects so much gravel, dirt, mud, and water. We wanted something that would be durable and add a piece of character, too. I think it's safe to say we made the perfect choice. Originally, I hadn't planned to lay it in a herringbone pattern, but James suggested it and I quickly agreed. It's a timeless look for brick and I think it gave this small landing a pop. I adore the little mundane areas of the house that suddenly feel so charming and special.
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| Day 114 |
That brings us back to the wood floor saga. Ordering the floors was one of the first things we did; we started the process clear back in July. We knew it was something that everything else hinged on. We wanted to have them locked down and ready to go when we needed them. That was a really great story. But it's not how it has gone. The wood we ordered arrived at the mill in November. The plan was for the floors to be milled and delivered to our house by the first of January, and then have them finished mid-January after they had a couple weeks to acclimate. Worker shortages really made that an impossible timeline and they were never able to stick to their timeline. January came and went and the floors still hadn't even been milled. They were eventually able to start on our floors the first week of February and James picked them up on February 14. There was a short time period where we were told it would take a month for the wood to acclimate before they would lay them. (Insert panic moment.) They ended up only needing two weeks, but after the two weeks were up, no one was available to lay the floor. And they wouldn't even give us a timeline for when they could get to us. So, James decided to lay them himself.
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| Day 120 |
I actually fought James on this pretty hard. Not because I didn't think he was capable. (Obviously, he's very skilled.) I just knew how much he had on his plate between now and May and I knew he didn't have an extra week to spare on a project that we had hired out. The house projects that were still lingering were going to eat up a massive chunk of time. He didn't have time to spare. But he knew we couldn't afford to push the floors off any longer, especially having no real idea of when they would finally get to us. So I caved, and he did what needed to be done.
Our friend, Luke, came and helped James get started the first day. James was able to lay the rest within a couple days and he did a phenomenal job. They are seriously so beautiful. It really made the room come together and helped us feel like we were that much closer to completion.
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| Day 122 |
The white oak runs across the main room, down the hallway to the back door, through the laundry room and into the office. It's wonderful to have it feel like one cohesive space.
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| Day 125 |
Seeing the wood steps come down to the new brick makes my heart flutter a little.
This room (below) was initially being remodeled as our office. After we found out we were expecting another baby, we started to wonder if we should make room in the office for a crib as well. Then we realized, most of the office work happens when the baby is asleep... so that wasn't the best solution. We finally decided to convert the room into a nursery and move the office into our schoolroom in the basement. It's not the most ideal situation, but baby takes priority and the best option for everyone's sleep schedule is the obvious choice. Which means not adding a newborn into Mack's room since we have another option.
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| Day 126 |
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| Day 138 |
We originally had picked out a stain color for the floors, but after seeing the natural wood in the space, we couldn't bring ourselves to masking that. I think I was initially struggling most with a natural floor because sometimes the clear satin coat can really make everything feel very orange. The few samples we tried just went that direction and I didn't know what to do about it. Then I cautiously suggested a clear matte finish. We put down a sample and both fell in love instantly. That was the winner. There was no changing our minds after that.
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| Pre-finished Floors |
And that's where we're at.
The upcoming projects: cabinets will be installed, trim and interior doors go in, appliances hooked up, countertops can be templated, furniture can be moved back upstairs, nursery can be set up, and life might feel a little less hectic. The things that will likely linger at the end of the project will be building the range hood, finishing the fireplace, renovating the bathroom, laundry room cabinets, and building the sliding door for the laundry. I'm sure there are a million other things that will take a long time to wrap up, but it is what it is. Life will go on without the project being at 100% completion.
Today is Day 140 and it seems as if there's no real timeline for when this will really wrap up. The farm is beckoning. Church is very busy. Flamers need to be assembled. The baby is growing. My stress is, well, up and down with the hormones of the day. It all feels very exhausting right now. I've got 15 weeks of pregnancy left and the thought of having nothing ready feels heavy. The to-do list is growing by the day, but it's nothing that I can actually do right now. Every agenda item relies on 7 other things happening first. My brain is mush. But. I'm trying my best to embrace the joys of this season and learn from the disappointments and struggles.
The reality is that we already have a beautiful home, whether or not it has fresh paint, or new floors, or heck, even an oven. It's beautiful because that's where we get to live out our love for one another daily - a constant opportunity to remodel our hearts after the One that created our hearts.
What a beautiful place to be.
Floors galore, growing on the farm...
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