With summery weather now here to say *crosses fingers* I’ve been busy doing ALL the outdoor projects.
The previous owners of our house LOVED statues. So much so that they built little rock mounds for them. There are two in the backyard. I removed one and planted grass seed. Depending on how the grass grows (if it grows) I’ll remove the other rock mound. If not, I’ll figure out a plan B.
I also built a stand for our little grill. It’s not my best work (warped boards) but it’ll do for now. In our “forever home” we want to build a nice stone BBQ and pizza oven station. So until then, we have this super fancy stand.
*Toby says hi*
Our garden is coming along nicely! I am in the process of replanting the summer squash and zucchini so hopefully they’ll expand nicely once out of the pots.
It’s not an “outdoor project” but I did make it outside so it counts. My desk was getting super crowded and cluttered so I decided to make an expander out of 2×4’s and leftover pallet pieces. It’s given me a good 3-ish feet of extra desk space so I’ve been able to regain my sanity.
While Melissa is busy working hard all day I’ve continued to keep busy.
I rediscovered my love fro Cross Stitching. My mother taught me how to cross stitch (along with many other random skills…which I am forever thankful for) when I was younger. This was the first one I’ve completed in about 25 years or so.
Melissa made the frame. It’s perfect.
I saw this on Pinterest and decided to recreate it for our family. We have tons (literally) of stones all over our property so it was pretty easy to find them all.
Bonfire season is now upon us so I bought a bunch of wood. So, naturally, I wanted to organise it. So I built a quick fire wood shelf.
I also made a Macrame planter for the office and a sign to hold the boys’ leashes.
Melissa and I bought the boys a mini soccer boy so we are now, officially, “soccer mums”.
With the major house projects done I’ve been keeping busy by creating some storage pieces for our kitchen.
Our stove is a stand-alone so I created a small shelf to sit next to it to serve as both a shelf and to hide the giant stove outlet in the floor. I also made a shelf for above the stove. And I ordered a paper towel holder from Amazon to replace the cheap plastic one the previous owners had.
The total cost of all three came to about $19.
Shelf above stove: The board is from a FREE pallet Melissa got from work. I sanded it and stained it using stain we already had. The brackets we bought at Menards for $1.99/each. After buying some mounting hardware, the total cost came to around $5.
Shelf next to stove: The top boards are from the same pallet as the above stove shelf. We had some leftover 2×4’s as well. Total cost of this project was free.
Paper towel holder: $12.99 +tax on Amazon.
I made a new pantry shelf to replace the metal IKEA one we had (it’s now in the garage holding tools). It was too small and the aesthetic didn’t fit the rest of our kitchen. This new shelf is by far my favourite piece I made (so far).
Total cost for this project was around $22.
Well, technically $66 since Melissa bought me a fun toy from Lowe’s. A new Black + Decker Mouse Sander! Prior to this sander we had a vintage 1960’s style sander which, did do a decent job but, was old and the sandpaper didn’t stay on very well.
The only part I bought were the boards which I got from Lowe’s. I stained them using the same stain as the other pieces. The back of the shelf was a piece of old paneling from our kitchen wall demo that I cut and painted using the same paint as the upper part of our kitchen focal wall. Screws and nails we already had as well.
I much prefer shallow shelves vs deep shelves. I’m an “out of sight out of mind” brained person. So I love that everything on this shelf I can see. I no longer have to move other jars around or place things on the floor to pull out a jar. Plus, it’s super cute and I can better showcase all of the jars which is part of my design style.
I don’t like to let things go to waste, even scrap wood. So I decided to create a cute little painting using the leftover piece of pallet board. In our next house it will hang with our wooden map but since we don’t want to put any unnecessary holes in our brand new walls, it sits above the stove.
Our garden and my flowers are coming along nicely. We added a few more plants as well; some more tomatoes, summer squash, and zucchini.
The boys have adapted to all the major house changes quite well.
Since the new kitchen floor is slippier than the old linoleum they’ve learned the hard way not to run super fast through the kitchen!
Now that our major home projects are complete we are just relaxing and enjoying our hard work.
If I begin feeling stir-crazy again while Melissa is at work I may paint the guest room. I also plan on repainting all of the big trim pieces throughout the house, paint the small area between the bedrooms, and possibly build some more things. But we shall see!
Summer is on its way, thankfully, so we are excited about warmer days ahead!
Melissa bought this house shortly before we began talking. I remember some of our early conversations were about her doing some minor repairs in the house.
I moved into this house in late October 2019. Since then we have remodeled all but two rooms in the house (laundry room and guest room).
I remember looking up the listing to this house when Melissa first told me about it. I can’t forget my initial reactions when I saw the listing photos. To say it was gawdy is an understatement. The previous owners had fake flowers, feather boas, Jesus paintings, rooster/hen decals, crosses, beads, etc on nearly every wall and surface of the house.
Fast forward almost two years since Melissa bought the house and we are 95% complete with all of the renovations we wanted to do. In honour of all of our hard work I thought I’d share the listing photos with the current photos so you could see just how far this little home has come.
*I tried to get the same angles as the original but some I didn’t. But you still get the idea.*
With this all of this COVID-19 going on schools have closed which means I am not working currently. This is upsetting because I love my job and miss the kids but I’m using this extra time to be productive around the house.
The first thing on my list was to refurbish the microwave cart I bought into a coffee/tea bar.
The next thing on my list was to rearrange the kitchen. I really wanted a table and chairs in the kitchen so we weren’t always eating on the couch. With how our kitchen was arranged before I couldn’t fit my small table and chairs nor would I have been able to fit the coffee/tea bar. Plus it just felt so cluttered and didn’t flow very well.
So I moved some things around and was able to not only fit the new coffee/tea bar but also the table and chairs! I love it now. We’ve had dinner at the table every night since.
We have discussed laying new flooring and fixing the walls as well but with my being out of work for an indefinite amount of time we don’t have the extra cash to do that. Plus we are wanting to move sooner rather than later (*finger’s crossed*) and so we don’t want to put too much money in to the house.
There’s a lot of annoying things about this house (nothing is square or level, previous owners didn’t do things correctly or did them cheaply, weird decals all over the kitchen, etc) but I love our little house. It’s our first home as a married couple and it’s cozy and cute. I love being creative and decorating and doing home improvement projects so I’ve really enjoyed this house. Plus it’s good practice for our next house (which will also be a fixer-upper).
Melissa and I are in the process of s l o w l y updated the house, little by little. Project number one was redoing the bathroom floors. The previous owners put CARPET down in the bathroom. Which we think is totally gross. With all the guests coming soon for the wedding we really wanted to change the floors ASAP.
The entire carpet was glued down and we were worried it had been glued to the subfloor. With all the water dripping on the floor we had no idea what state the subfloor would be in. Thankfully though, we discovered that they had carpeted over the linoleum thus making the floors waterproof. Plus the linoleum was MUCH easier to rip up than the carpet.
The most difficult “surprise” for us was when we removed the toilet. The wax seal was either so old or improperly installed that it had leaked. Years of water leaking and pooling under the toilet resulted in a gross, rusted flange that broke because it was so brittle. We were able to find a replacement one that wasn’t too costly and installed it ourselves, with a fresh wax seal. So now the toilet is leak free.
The finished floors! We are also planning on refinishing the walls, painting the cabinets navy blue, replacing the sink, counter tops (maybe), and replacing the trim. But for now we are just going to enjoy the beautiful, and more sanitary, floors!
Today is the 1 year anniversary of our first date. A year ago today I had a moment of boldness and decided to ask Melissa out, not expecting her to say yes. Panic and nerves set in when she did actually say yes! I almost turned around at least a half a dozen times on the 1hr 20min drive. We met at a small Mexican restaurant in her town. We are both very awkward and shy so I’ll let you use your imagination as to how well it went.
Word of advice to the singe readers out there, don’t put too much stock on the first (or second) date. Unless the person is a jerk or rude to the wait staff, give them a second (or third) chance. I’m so glad I did.
Sometimes awkward first (and second) dates lead to marriage.
On Sunday I made a wreath while Melissa was at work. It’ll serve as wedding decor as well.
An Awfully Big Adventure 