The Remodel Before

Rod and I began on the remodel upstairs just 5 short weeks ago (honestly it feels like an eternity considering how much we have done). Timber and Angel moved! Sad day! So Rod's friend Blake moved in-and Rod's Aunt and Family moved in just this last week!
Below is the scary tile staircase that was there before. Rod's mother even fell down them when she came to visit! Thankfully Rod was there to catch her!
This is the upstairs living room. We ripped off all the tile trim and Rod made beautiful wood base and installed wood doors that Rod stained and glazed. We also ripped out all the old carpet and pads and got new ones. Rod retextured the walls and we painted them Basket Beige.

Here is the kitchen...not the prettiest but we improved it! We painted the cabinets white, got new hardware and Rod tiled the counter-top! We also bought a new stove...but that is a story in itself...THE STOVE SAGA.Here are the wood stairs! We took a couple days to rip out the tile base and Rod made these! They look absolutely beautiful!
For the after pictures...I need to ask Maurie if I can take photos of her home! It looks so amazing! I love the sounds of people running up and down the stairs. It was so quiet when Timber and Angel had to move! NOw Rod and I are not as lonely anymore.

This picture is the results of a remodel. I don't feed my husband so he resorts to this. Can you see his bite marks?

Cute.

The sink and stitches

Much has happened in our little lives since Rod's birthday. Considering it has been about a month, you would hope so.
Rod and I took a break for about 2 weeks and slowly worked on the house instead of working at mind-numbing hours. Rod began the kitchen counter downstairs.
Rod has never done tile but it is looking good. He always figures out how to do everything.

TA-DA!!!

But the tile required Rod to take out the sink. The sink is old and worn and he stuck it outside our back door. Well things started to get difficult and he accidentally knocked over a garbage can. Next thing I know he is screaming and running around the backyard like a crazy person saying that he cut his leg.
MIND YOU THIS PICTURE IS GROSS. LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK!!



It cut his shin clear down to the bone on that sink sitting right outside the door. For the next hour he convinced himself that he didn't need to go to the doctor (because he didn't want to get a shot). So as soon as we got to work the principal and I found the school nurse and she ripped of his "ghetto" bandage (her words, not mine). Although, I do agree considering it was toilet paper with a piece of leather binding it together.
So he went to the Instacare and has to get about 10 stitches.


Haha they had to shave his leg!
Much better though.

Happy Birthday!

So much has happened! I can never seem to stay caught up on all the things that Rod's
intense motivation and determination can allow us to accomplish. So I made a giant post to celebrate what we have done and RODS BIRTHDAY!

Rod turned 25 September 17th!
So here are 25 things to celebrate him.

1. He loves me enough to go all the way to Vegas to pick us up a fridge! He is the master craiglist watcher.

2. He is the sexiest rock climber alive...
3. He forgives me when I chicken out...even if I have done the climb before...sad I know.

4. He let's me read and inspired me to read his favorite fiction...The Work and the Glory

5. He lost some of his equipment so happy birthday! Quick-draws and runners for you my dear. Did I mention that he lost them because we went together and I distracted him...we left without getting them back...and when we went this last time we almost forgot them again due to a craving for frozen yogurt :) Thanks Angel for searching in the dark with him.

6. He builds me things....like a pantry in our laundry room :)

6. He builds cupboards too. He is amazingly talented!

7. He never leaves anything unfinished...see where the hole used to be??? Nope you don't.
8. He is a wonderful teacher and he teaches me anything and everything he knows. Like how to caulk and paint this here cabinet...

9. He loves pizza, so I learned to make crust and breadsticks!
10. He can install doors!
11. He sees and creates beauty. Look at those doors!

12. He loves fruit trees and he finds amazing deals, $10 a tree: 2 peach 2 nectarine 2 apple and a pomegranate bush...later we even got a pear! The pear tree took a turn for the worst but we think it will make it. We also lost an apple tree to a wind storm :(

13. He makes sacrifices...his beloved dirt bike he traded for our fridge and...

14. a basketball hoop! Because he loves basketball!
15. He gets everything done quickly and does a quality job! He dug this hole in 1 day. And by one day, I mean in about an hour before we had to go to work.

16. So he can plant his favorite part of his birthday...a SWEET in-ground basketball hoop.17. He never gives up
18. He believes strongly in our little family
19. He loves the gospel
20. Rod loves me as much as I love him
21. Rod is the best best friend you could ask for
22. He is intelligent, logical, yet creative and intuitive
23. He refuses to let life pass by and makes things work even when it is hard
24. He is grateful-he doesn't take anything we have for granted
25. Rod Peterson is the love of my life!

I have been whining around about all the work we have to get done on the house. Now that things are getting closer to done I am surprised that it does feel good. Rod and I were talking and he said "I am excited because now our lives can really start."
I am ready to put up posts of Rod painting...cause that is when the fun really begins!!

Surprise, surprise

Rod is pretty hilarious. Monday he went on and on about cleaning up the house from all of the projects because we could not find ANYTHING through all the mess. It got so bad the clutter was filling our thoughts. So much so, that Rod and I searched for his keys for 30 minutes on Saturday and found them in his pocket...of the pants he was wearing...Whoops.

So resolved to get the house spic-and-span so we could isolate the debris of any upcoming projects I came home from work on Monday...and this is what I found.

Rod ripped down a wall in our master bathroom. Just tore it down. Wait, wait, wait...isn't that more of a mess? Yes, yes it is.
So we have started another project and I really don't want to clean anything up now.

Rod does everything to code! Hahahha...well it worked anyway.

Hatchet, hammer, pliers, broom...the bathroom will be beautiful, just don't get in his way!

It is coming along, and it does feel a whole lot bigger, without that blasted wall.

Those floors I despise...almost complete

This is what our house looked like at 1:30 in the morning when we finished up the floor Monday night.Yes FHE was spent doing this. We got all the rest of the glue up off the floor to stain it.

The next morning we laid the stain down. It smells like dying Easter eggs. Those little tablets get dropped in the water and they fizz up and stain the tips of your fingers. This stuff bubbled up and stained EVERYTHING and it smelled just like that times 50.

Then you seal it! And completion! Now our house reeks of toxic fumes...I preferred the Easter eggs. But the floor is beautiful.

My man can make anything

To save money...but not time, Rod made our base for the downstairs and the hardwood floors for the master bedroom.

Spray, spray, spray, stain, stain stain, seal, seal, seal...

Distress, distress, distress...Rod made those "wormholes" very clever.

That is a lot of wood...and it rained last night...and we had to move it all while it poured.

The hands of a working man. LOVE.

Glaze on...Glaze off

These are our colors plus glaze and here is the magical transformation that makes our painted walls absolutely fabulous!

Our red wall is a lot more elegant.

No more minty kitchen!

Ta-da!

This is a very messy job but it turned out beautiful. We scrubbed and scrubbed our hands to no avail. The kids at worked freaked "What is on your hands!" And even days later the boys told me, "Tell Rod to wash his hands, that is disgusting"...I never knew teenage boys were that interested in hygiene...but I have been wrong before.

It keeps going and going

I keep trying to get caught up with what we have already done, but more just keeps happening and I can't seem to get there.

Rod bull-nosed all the corners. It was one of the quicker parts of the remodel that will make a great difference.

Then we painted. I think our colors are awesome. I wanted a green kitchen so we picked Great Green over Leap Frog and this is what happened...Double you pleasure, Double your fun, that's the statement of the great mint in Doublemint Gum!

Our wall color is Basketweave...no way to go wrong there.

Positive Red is positively red. This is our "accent" wall in our room. It looks like more of a major "statement" wall.

Then we our plastic everywhere to paint the ceiling. This picture looks like it was taken on another planet. That is our baby shop-vac in the foreground of the picture.

And by the way. Don't think that we are completely lost...glaze is coming to improve the wall color choices. It WILL make sense...