Decision Made

 Well I finally did it.   Decided on a retirement date.   

May 1, 2023.   

I know it's a ways down the road but I'm a planner.....ha ha....and I will be counting down the days.

This House is now a Home

 I started this endeavor June 1, 2021 and mom moved in November 27.   Almost 6 full months of blood, sweat and tears.    It isn't finished but it's getting there.    Now she gets to organize and find a spot for all her treasures.   She is truly making this house her own.  

Here she is figuring out how to use the remote.   New town, new cable, need I say more!

 Mom has collected glass baskets for years and I thought it would be fun to put them on the top shelf of cabinets.    I don't plan on putting the doors back on the top so it will be a great place to display and enjoy her collection.

Thank you Alicia for putting up the shelf paper and wallpaper behind the baskets.  

I know, I know.....get the cabinets painted.

Grandma and Alicia, almost birthday buddies.  Born exactly 50 years and 1 day apart.

John will learn to not ask what he can do to help.....

challenge of putting on door knobs of a house that is 70 years old. 

Kitchen Update, Close but not Done!

 Well I just ran out of time.   The kitchen is usable but not finished.   So far I put in a new floor, painted all the walls, ceiling, trim, door and wainscoting,  New counter top, which is butcher block, new sink, all new plumbing.  All new appliances which include refrigerator, stove, garbage disposal and dishwasher and also new windows. 

I have tiled the backsplash but still need to grout.    

I also stripped all the cabinets which had no less than 5 coats of paint.   The doors are in pretty bad shape so I'm going to try and be creative to try and make them look nice.    It takes time for a masterpiece.....at least that's my excuse.  

Kitchen is usable but just no doors.  So just in case you lost track I have pretty much touched every single thing in the kitchen.   This was the most challenging room by far. 

Before

After

Laundry Room Done

 Slowly but surely we are getting towards the end of our project list.  The laundry room is finally done.   This one included painting of course ceiling, walls, trim and doors and new windows.  New hot water heater, wainscoting and new floor.  This room also had one step down from the kitchen so I had the floor raised so that there are no steps in the house at all.  The yellow makes it a happy place.  

Before

After

Living Room is Done

 Well I can check another one off the list.   The living room is finally done.   This one included painting the ceiling, walls, all the trim and the doors.  New windows where I took out the big picture window in the front and replaced with 3 windows for better fresh air flow.  Also a new ceiling fan, and new drapes and that ugly a/c unit is gone and replaced with central air.   

Before

The floors were in pretty bad shape so I just jumped in with both feet to see if I could make them look better.   I didn't really have time to have them refinished so I did the next best thing.

Here's the floor before I started.   All I've done so far is scrub them down.

Mahogany stain, it's a little scary because it looks so dark.  

It turned out perfect.  

After

And the finished product.  Couldn't be happier.

Bathroom Finished

 Bathroom is finished, well kind of.  I need to put down the baseboards but can't get to it today.  Soon! Oh and forgot, need to hang the towel bar....it's always something.

Bathroom was a total gut job including all new plumbing.  Removed the tub, sink and toilet, ripped out the floor and took down the fake tile on the wall.  The only thing that I kept was the light fixture.  Replaced the window with rain glass so that it lets in light but you can't see through the window. I must say I'm very happy how it turned out.

Before

After

New shower base, tile in the shower, wainscoting and new floor.

New show head, just in case mom wants to sit and take a shower!

Hard to get a good picture in a small bathroom but here's another angle of the completed bathroom.

My Little Helpers

 Couldn't have done it without the help of my little helpers, and of course Jackie.  Sorry Jackie, not a single picture of your working hard.   

Sammy, keeping the home front safe.

 

My sisters even got in on the action.

Bedrooms are All Done

 Both bedrooms are done.  We have painted walls, all the trim and the doors.   I also added an additional closet rod and new ceiling fan.  Curtains were something that mom had and they look great in her new home.  Almost forgot, new carpet and windows too.

Before picture of the front bedroom.

After

Extra curtain rod in the closet.

Extra Bedroom and Office.  Paint walls, trim, and doors.  New carpet, new ceiling fan and lots and lots of work.   This room needed a lot of sheet rock repair.

Before

Can you believe it, not a single picture of the bedroom before I started.   Ugh.

Well, here's the after with the desk and boxes starting to be unloaded.  

Kitchen Countertops

 I have sealed the butcher block kitchen counter tops and they are so pretty.   Brought it out to a beautiful rich color.   Another step in the process done.

Wainscoting

 Well another item to check off the list.   The bathroom had ugly plastic sheets  that kind of looked like square tiles.   The key word is "kind of".  It wasn't pretty so it is now gone and replaced with pretty bead board.   First step of many for the bathroom.  I also decided to put wainscoting in laundry room.   They had water lines run on the wall and the sheetrock work was too much for me.    Looks good now!

Bathroom

Laundry

Pretty Pretty!

 New ceiling fans and the added bonus is they have remotes!    They look so pretty and so much better than the old brass ones.

YouTube Saves the Day Again

 I watched a video today on how to install weather stripping on the front door.    Doesn't look like much but the house is getting ready for winter. 

Kitchen and Laundry Room Floors Down

 Ok, another thing we can check off the list.   I've never laid linoleum before but it's amazing what you can find on youtube.   This took be a week or so.  Had to strip off all the old flooring then lay down the new.  Other than putting the quarter round down the floors in the kitchen and laundry room are done!

Here's the steps:

1.  Scrub the floor good and make sure there are no goobers on the floor. If you are wondering what the white paint on the floor is, well I spilled paint so just rolled it out!

2.  Carry in the heavy 12' roll of vinyl.

3.  Lay it out and trim to fit, you don't really want to see that picture, not too exciting.

4.  Pull the linoleum back half way.

5.  Start gluing, and hope the youtube video was correct.

6. Start praying that when you lay it all back down it fits.  

7.  Use roller to get out bubbles

8. Stand back and be proud of the new floor!

Kitchen

Laundry

My plan was not to do the floor until the walls were done but plans change.  They are bringing over the washer and dryer on Thursday and I didn't want to move things twice.