No More PACI!

Yesterday was a big day in our household-no more pacifier! Over the last few months the paci collection in our house has dwindled.  I decided it was now or never and we devised a plan. I started talking up the "No Paci Party" we would be having on Sunday. We gathered up the pacifiers that were left and placed them in a bag and headed to Toys R Us. Here we are in front of the store--we are about to "buy" a toy with our pacifiers! 

 Here is what Jason  Davis picked:

When we checked out I told the cashier we were here to buy this toy with some pacifiers. The cashier must not have children because she looked at me like I had lost my mind! I mouthed to her to just play along and she finally got it. Davis told the lady he was a big boy and no longer needed his pacifiers. I was really afraid he would cry but it was actually me who cried the whole way home when I realized I don't have a baby anymore.

House Update

Our general contractor had the nerve to go on vacation last week and slow the process down. I really should fire him but I don't think he would listen to me (our GC is Jason)!

Here is the new brick work completed under the kitchen window:

 In front of the master bathroom:

 It is really hard to tell with the shadows but here is the front of the house. I LOVE the finished product:

Here is the front of the house before the new brick. Notice we took out the rotting wood and changed the three window front to two:

No more wood between the windows and new brick pattern:

 And we have a new door! This leads from the breakfast area out to the driveway. We knocked out a leaking shower to put in this door.

Electrical starts today and the new siding starts tomorrow!

To the Studs!

More house.....Upstairs bedroom with no carpet:

 Hallway:

 Davis' room (notice it is 3 windows..will become 2 shortly)..

 And now....drum roll please....we are to the studs and then some! So the picture below is standing in the formal dining room (wall now gone) looking towards the backyard. If you remember the doorway on the left of the fireplace used to be a wall. It will soon become two sets of doors to the outside patio (former sunroom)

 Standing at fireplace looking towards the front of the house. The wall in between the dining room and family room is gone--as is the pink half wall.  The step down into the house has been jack hammered out and flattened:

 Looking upstairs:

 Looking towards the breakfast room. Half wall in between breakfast and family now gone and beam in place:

 Sunroom turned outdoor living space:

 The three windows up top and three down have now been consolidated to two larger windows.  All the windows were replaced this week. Check out the old frames in the front yard!

 This was the area in the front of the house that used to be siding. Now a pretty brick pattern:

 Front entry with construction door and leveled out entry. We decided to knock out the entry closet to allow more space in the entry:

 The windows arriving:

 Another window that had siding underneath that now has pretty brick!

 Hallway downstairs prior to the half wall framing coming down:

 Upstairs hallway:

 Outdoor sunroom prior to the new mudroom being framed out:

 What a mess

The plumbing is now complete. Next week brings AC system and electrical...

More House

These pictures will seem comical in a few posts. Why? Because, we seriously thought that we would be able to do the demo on the house ourselves. So we threw a big pizza party to kick off closing and then started demo. It was very fun and we felt like we got a lot done. 

In talking with the owner of the house we learned that they worked with an interior designer when they built the house in 1979. They followed all the designer's advice and then never updated a single thing again! So the wallpaper was the original wallpaper. The beautiful pink walls (who the previous owner called terra-cotta and got very upset with me when I called them pink) and the wet bar have been in the home for thirty plus years. 

Here Jason and Derek tackle the formal dining room:

 My father-in-law taking up the floors:

 My mother-in-law taking down the wallpaper:

I have a personal issue with hearths. I dislike them and all I can think when I see them is emergency room trip waiting to happen. So out the hearth went:

 My brother and sister-in-law to be taking out closets and tile:

Stay tuned....you're going to be shocked!

The House

Jason and I are so excited that we found a house that we hope to call home for a very, very long time. We love the trees and the fact that we are on a cul-de-sac. 

When we first walked into the house I immediately said "No way, lets go" but Jason promised me that he had a big vision for this house. After the initial walk through we came home and he drew out for me the ideas he had with the house. I loved the idea of being able to make it our home so I got on board!

Here is the front of the house:

 Walking into the front of the house. It is hard to tell but when you step into the house you actually have to step up. Then to go into the house you step down--either into the formal dining or the living room. I won't mention names but we've already had a few people trip on this (myself included). So we will level this out and then get rid of the wall that separates the formal dining from the living room.

 Looking into the living room with the odd half wall. Just past the living room is a Sunroom that will become outdoor living space.

 The master bedroom with study off of it:

 Master bath:

 Breakfast area looking into the kitchen:

 Breakfast area looking into the family room. This buffet is leaving...

 On the other side of the cat picture is a full bath. It will become a half bath with a door that goes out to the side driveway...

 Here you can see the walkway to the upstairs--we intend to open all this up...

 Upstairs bedroom:

 Upstairs bath:

 Davis' future bedroom:

 Another bedroom--this bedroom will have a bath added to it where you see the closet:

Check back for some pretty drastic changes!