Remodel Update

It's been forever since I've told you about our remodeling project going on here at the parsonage.


I tried to go back and find the last post on it, so I wouldn't repeat myself.  Turns out someone needs to label her posts better, sheeesh.  I couldn't find much.  Someone also needs to update their blog more often.  Annoying.


In September it looked like this from the outside:

The inside of the addition was just bare bones.


Our main builder/deacon works for a farmer, so the project sat on hold for a few months while they harvested.  Which was totally ok, it gave us all a break from construction for awhile.



But Marlin is back to work and it's so much fun to see progress!

This picture is at the top of the stairs (2nd floor) taken from the old part of the house.  We refer to it as the "old house" and "new part"...we'll likely still be saying that ten years down the road...because that's how we roll.  


Until recently, when it was all insulated, the guys have been crawling through that little attic door every time they went to work out there.  

And now it looks like this!  Straight in is the master bedroom, and to the left inside the new doorway will be Lucy's new room.

  

The hubby has been helping when he can too.  And Jake thinks it's great fun to sweep up the drywall dust.
This is inside the master bedroom.  The walk in closet door is on the right...

This is inside the closet.  EEEK!  I'm so excited about that closet.  I need to show  you what mine looks like right now...so you can be as excited as I am. ;)


Ok, now I'm taking you back downstairs...

This is looking into the new kitchen, from the old kitchen.  

Today they're putting up drywall on the ceiling.  They're standing in the dining room now. :)


And tomorrow, we go look at kitchen cabinets.  For real.  

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Day 4 - Happy Painting

Day 4 of 31 Days of Happy - Happy Painting.


Painting makes me giddy.   It's not that I love doing it.  And it's definitely not that I'm even remotely good at it...because I'm messy as all get out.  BUT...I love that it's quick and changes things so drastically.  


For someone with my attention span, that's perfection.


The past couple of days I've been working on painting the doors to the new part of the house, and also decided I'd give the church doors an updated color.  So now the parsonage and the church totally match.  Oh, and I painted the side door to the garage too, so it also matches...I mean who wants their garage looking all left out?!?

The weather here in Iowa is gorgeous this week.  Look at the reflection of the changing leaves in the window.  Perfection.

The space on the 2nd floor, where there's no window is where our ginormous closet will be!  So yeah, it looks a little unbalanced from the outside...but it's a necessary sacrifice. ;)

Church doors.  They were robins egg blue before.  Very 1999...literally.  I said to Ben, we'll find out who loved the blue doors and who didn't by their reaction on Sunday.

• What happened to the blue doors?!?  = loved the blue
• Wow the gray doors look great!  = me ;)

Eventually, the older part of the house will get new windows and siding...just in case you were wondering.  I'd hate for you to lose sleep.

It seems that the more I paint, the more objects I find that need to be painted.  This little cradle was mine when I was a wee one.  I'm sure the wood stain was all the rage in 1977.  Who knew I'd grow up to be one of those weird people who actually likes everything to be painted...including wooden objects .

 Ta Da!  I'm gonna sand it a little and add some stain to it so it looks a little "old."   Oh Happy Day!


You know what else makes me happy?  Our make-shift sidewalk.  It kills me. I literally chuckle about it all the time.  I'm sure there's other ways to make a temporary sidewalk...but could they be any more classy  klassy?  I think not.
  

I'm curious...what makes you happy today?


Oh, and FringeGirl has a great post today on Happy Spending.  Go visit...good stuff.

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Progress!

I like small spaces.  Small houses, small churches, small mini-vans, small cars, small towns, small groups of people.


Like Alan Jackson said in the 90's..."It's alright to be little-bitty"  


I adore little bitty.


But...I also like my personal space...I'm complicated.  :)

I think the addition to the parsonage is going to offer the best of both worlds...enough space yet cozy rooms. Sounds nice.

The addition project to the parsonage is coming along so, so well.  I can hardly believe it.  I like to stand inside of it and imagine actually having people over without hours spent rearranging furniture in order to make standing room.


When finished, the parsonage will definitely not be little bitty anymore.  We will have room to spread out...room for people.  I am excited about room for people.


Last time I  blogged about it (in June) it looked like this:

And Now...

You might notice it has two doors, right beside each other.  The plain one on the left goes straight into the laundry/mud room and a hall to the bathroom.    The door on the right, or as I call it, "The Pretty Door" (because I'm so in love with it.) will be the main entry.  With this set up, the kids will use the door to the mudroom to bring in their mud, thus keeping the other entry (into the dining/kitchen area MUCH cleaner.  YAY!

I'm super excited about this door.  I'm planning on painting them dark gray.


What amazes me most about the whole addition is the fact that it's being built by the guys in our church, who are sacrificing their time and energy to bless our family (and their wives and children are too!).  It's amazing.  And humbling.  And makes us so thankful for our church family here...not because they're building us this big house, but because their hearts and actions show such love and humility...it is truly an honor to serve with people like that.  

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Not Irish...

Monday Ben and I marked our 13 year wedding anniversary.  I tossed around several sentimental ideas for blog posts...but who am I kidding, I'm just not very sentimental.  Or gushy. I love him, I think he's the best, and it's been a crazy-fast 13 years of goodness.  It works for us.


Monday morning (anniversary day) I got a call from Ben while I was watching Jake at swim lessons (or as Jake calls them:  Pool Lessons) that the cement guys had shown up.  We both said to each other, "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"  Seriously, it made our day.  


That's how we roll.

Later that day, Ben was out chatting with the cement guys, and came in to tell me that it sounded like the foreman guy had an accent...it's no secret I'm totally enamored with accents.


Remember Julie?  And while I'm sidetracked for a moment, did I tell you all that Julie is coming back from Norway to Iowa on August 1st to go to college near by me?  Seriously, have I mentioned this, because I can't remember...


Back to the other story:  So yesterday Ben was home on break and went out to talk to the cement guys again and I tagged along (because it would be weird for me to go chat it up all on my own, after all) so I could listen to his accent.


While him and Ben were discussing whether or not the old wall to the basement may or may not cave in, I couldn't help but blurt out, "Where are you from originally?!?"


I, in all my infinite knowledge of accents, was guessing it sounded Irish.


He's from Yugoslavia.  


And he has quite the story of how he arrived in America...and it made me think (again) how everyone has a story.  I just wish mine had a cute accent to go with it. ;)


That's my story.

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Don't Cry for Me...

I'm hoping to blog about something other than the building project we have going on...eventually.  Sometimes, Facebook and the blog and real life all mush together and I can't remember what I've shared where.  Kinda like in real life when I start in on a story and then say, "Did I tell you this already?!?"  Because frankly, my friends, my mind is mush.

I should do more crosswords or something.

Anyways, lest you start to feel too sorry for me about living through construction, I should tell you that other than the fact that my house is somewhat smaller than normal (for the time being) life goes on as usual.  Nothing is really disrupted all that much.  Even Lucy is getting used to sleeping through the noise.

My kitchen is currently housing my washer and dryer.  My friend from England tells me I have now have an English kitchen.  I love that.  Those English people know what they're doing, because I happen to LOVE it in there.

Summer is going good so far.  I'll admit, sometimes my children make me insanely crazy with their bickering and dragging in of sand, and their eating all. day. long, and their changing of clothes 500 times, they're messy hogs really.  But they're my messy hogs, and I love them.  And in between times of ripping out my own hair, I smile and remember that someday I'm going to miss their hog-i-ness and I'll be totally bored not having to clean up all the time.  I'll find myself doing frivilous things, such as showering and wandering around Target aimlessly...which reminds me...Target is waiting for me...right now...with four kids...still worth it.

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It's Begun...

Saturday I awoke to the sound of large machinery.

I knew it could only mean one thing.

And please, by all means, have a good laugh at the "trailor" for the old shingles.  I did.

Now, the hole will be dug and the cement people will come...that's as far as I choose to look ahead.

I have one motto regarding remodeling, it's called No Expectations.

So far, it's working swimmingly.

On a completely other note...I learned a lesson about Lucy while grocery shopping with her and her three brothers last week.

1 - She loves M&Ms.  Like...a lot.
2 - She rages when I take them away.
3 - They make a huge mess.

I also know you do not visit my blog because of my fantastic photo taking capabilities.  It's likely more because of my excellent English grammar.  *cough*  Either way, thanks for visiting...much appreciated ;)

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The Parsonage is Getting Bigger

Hello poor, neglected blog of mine...I've missed you.  I think of you often.  Let's update.

My husband's a pastor in a tiny town.  We live in the parsonage next door.  The 100 year old, three bedroom, one bathroom house that I really quite adore.  This is all old news...the NEW news is that our church recently voted  to add an addition onto the parsonage.  A quite large addition, like double-the-parsonage-size type addition.

They will be tearing off the back of the house, which consists of the mud room, little tiny garage, and attic/storage room above it.


They will be adding a  24'x 24' two-story addition.  New kitchen, dining, mudroom, and bathroom downstairs and upstairs there will be two  new bedrooms, one huge master and one smaller bedroom.  Then it will be new windows and siding throughout.

It's going to be  a process.  A likely long process.  Our tiny church never ceases to amaze us, we are humbled and excited.

The section with the red door is what will be torn off and where the new addition will be.

Ok, lets keep it real.  This is at the top of the stairs, that is the tiny door to the attic/storage room.  This is where I have been the last few weeks.

This is the attic mostly emptied out.  I know.  It was completely full, like "how do I even get in here" type full.

In order to tear off the back of the house, it required me emptying the attic, which is the room I like to call "I have no idea what to do with the item so I'll just open the door, toss it in and worry about it later."  I've done that for close to 6 years now.  Let's just say it's taken me weeks and hours of my life to sort through our stuff.

Ridiculous amount of stuff, most of which is sitting in my garage waiting for tiny-town city wide garage sale tomorrow!

It's got me thinking a lot about "stuff" and why we had so much.  I never want that much stuff again.  I want less stuff in our bigger house, because the stuff  is a waste of time and energy for me.  It's a new way of thinking, and I'd love to write more about it as soon as this garage sale is over!  :)

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