Some Wyoming Before/After Pictures

Disclaimer: These are the most un-staged pictures I've probably ever put on here. The goal is not to show perfection or "done". As is with most of this last year, the goal is to show "progress". 

This will be the baby's room.

Before:

Before:

After:

Those are two of the four boxes of clothes that do not fit me and have been shoved into the storage unit. 

After:

Christmas decorations that need a box and lots of things that Scott thought would go into his "hunting room". It's a hunting room no longer.

After:

New light fixtures are on the to-do list. This house doesn't have any ceiling light fixtures because of the shape/material of the ceilings. But I do love the ceilings. 

The living room and kitchen is open and has been painted yellow. That needed to go away, so I used my stand-by paint of Valspar Rocky Bluffs and turned most of the yellow into gray two weeks ago. My plan is to finish that part next weekend. 

Before:

After:

One of my favorite parts of the house is that the floors are all hardwood (like, old, original hardwood) or tile. There's no carpet, no linoleum, etc. The blonde trim in the living room is also something I like and I think it looks good with the gray and with the floor. 

I never assumed I'd be repainting another house so quickly (as I painted the whole darn Colorado house over two years), but it'll allllll be worth it. 

Who's a fan of snakes?

I saw a rattlesnake in the yard a few weeks ago.  You might ask, "Kristin, you spend very little time outdoors...how would you know what a rattlesnake looks like?"

Well, after I ran it over with the four-wheeler, hopefully mortally wounding it, it rattled its way under our shed.  That's how I know.

This past weekend, Scott came across this same snake while he was mowing.  He ran it over with the mower.  I would show you the aftermath but...I don't feel comfortable putting gory pictures online. If you want to see it, shoot me an email :)

Ever since the first day I saw the rattlesnake, I've been on high alert.  I saw no snakes last year and I've seen several this year, whether that's been in our yard (3), on the dirt road (many), or smushed on the highway (several).

My official position on non-poisonous snakes is that I don't want to see them.  I don't want them where I am. They usually startle me.  I feel the same way about spiders. I won't run screaming from a non-poisonous snake though.  They don't bother me that much.

The other day, Scott told me to get the camera and get outside because there was "a snake, but not a poisonous one".

So there's that. 

Happy weekend :)

Starting to feel like home

Our kitchen is not quite finished.  We need to install more cabinets on the wall by the oven.  We need to paint a few of those cabinets still.  We need to order a few custom-made cabinet doors.  We will eventually get a new dishwasher (though this one works so well that I see no rush there).  We need to paint the walls and we still haven't decided on a color.  We also need to finish the trim around the bar and paint it.

But it is 100% functional as a kitchen and dining area.  And for the first time, it feels like it belongs to Kristin and Scott.  For the first few months we were here, it was just a demolition zone (see pictures at the end of this post).  We've now been in this house for 6 months and now that the heavy duty work is out of the way (eh, most of it), I don't have to curl up in the corner with my glass of moscato and just wait for it to be over.  

That's a swamp cooler on the wall, by the way.  I meant to do a separate post on that back in June when we installed it.  It's like an air conditioner for the desert climate.  Keeps that house at 70 degrees or cooler during the summer, using evaporated water in an energy-efficient way.  We realized we needed it when we were ripping up carpet and it was 90 degrees inside and that's not a motivating temperature.  Without this $500 investment (installed by Scott), we'd have not gotten very far on this place.  I have no idea how the previous owner got by without it.  

In case you've forgotten….June 2014.

And here's the in-between phase…which has been most of the last six months.  

These are in no particular order.  Just a sampling.

Oh, you'd do it too if you had a puppy and hole in the countertop. 

I desperately tried to keep up normalcy by crock-potting dinner.

Progress is progress, right?  Goal for December:  paint the kitchen walls and cabinets that are left.  

How we are paying for our remodel

Scott recently added up how much we've put into this house since May and it's quite a bit.  In fact, everything liquid has been tied up in this place (liquid, Chuck Bass, he he) to this point.  Now that's kind of over with since the major purchases are taken care of. This is how we've been able to afford a remodel…

We bought below our means.

Colorado Springs is expensive.  In order for us to get the kind of house I wanted, we'd have to apply for at least a $300,000 mortgage.  In order for us to get the kind of house I wanted on more than a quarter of an acre, we'd have to have a mortgage of at least $350-$375,000.  That is not in the cards when we would like to be able to sleep at night.  Plus, I don't think they'd have given us that anyway.  We'd applied for our mortgage on just Scott's income because, at the time, I didn't have a job lined up.

We purposely bought a house that was well below our budget so we could renovate it. They ended up dropping the price right before we made an offer and we still low-balled them because the place needed a lot of work.

We've been able to take all that money we didn't use to pay for the structure of the house and put it into the house.

Scott knew the kinds of houses I would look at if I house-shopped online…I would find pretty ones, already done up with what I wanted.  Or I would find houses that were like our past two rentals:  builder-grade with basic fixtures/features that I would want to improve upon.  But when a builder-grade house already costs $300,000 in Colorado Springs, there's no way we could ever afford to put any money into it.  That's why I let him house-shop for us.  It was incredibly nerve-wracking, but I do trust him and, even if there were moments of doubt about this place (uh, a lot of them), he's made good on his word.

This is actually the second house we've bought and the first one was paid off within 5 years due to the fact that Scott should've gone to school to be an accountant or something.

Also on our side is that fact that Scott is doing all the work himself.  From the carpentry to the electrical to the plumbing…the only thing we've had done professionally is the installation of the countertops.  Just because they're very heavy and accuracy is key and he didn't have anyone with arm strength to help him.

Scott also mentioned that whenever we get around to the garage, we'd have to call someone in to pour the foundation.  But that is a LONG way off.

I suppose the point is that if you're wondering how we're paying for new stuff for this house, it's because our housing allowance more than covers our mortgage, so we're able to take what's left over and use it for the important stuff.  Like copper sinks.  (which actually didn't cost more than a really nice stainless sink…sinks in general are just annoyingly expensive).  Does that make sense?  My advice is that if you're looking to put money into house, lower your price bracket by $50,000.

With that being said…

Aside from the a forth-coming slate floor, I'm done with the master bathroom.  You'll remember that one of the very first changes I insisted we make in this house was the removal of the terrible wood toilet seat and the addition of a towel rack.  I've had plans to paint it ever since I saw this bathroom, and I've spent the better chunk of two weekends doing just that.

However, there's already tile in the bathroom and while it may not have been the exact colors we'd have chosen, it's better than laminate countertops so it's not a deal-breaker.  Also, I think this will come together when we put in the slate floor and I think I'm going to paint the doors.  There are two doors and I think they need to be painted off-white.

I don't have a million "before" pictures simply because sometimes taking "before" pictures makes me overly sad and anxious.  But, I mean, it's just a bathroom. 

Before.

I do realize that it's not the worst color in the world, but I gave an explanation here.  Plus, those cabinets with the white knobs…I need to do something with them.  They make my head hurt.  

After.

One more thing taken care of, right?

Las renovaciones continue

This house is almost starting to feel like home.  When we moved in, we had no intention of keeping anything the way it was.  It really felt like we were coming into someone else's unicorn-adorned home.  You know what that feels like, perhaps.  Someone else's home always looks, smells, and just seems different than yours.  Our rentals in Alaska always felt very much like our home to me.  The one in Missouri never quite did for some reason.  However, although it's taken about 4 months, with each coat of paint I put on these walls, it seems a bit more like how our house is supposed to be.  

Even though I'd painted the pantry door, we knew we'd have to reconfigure it because the bamboo floor and the subfloor would make it so the door wouldn't open or close.  In other words, our floor is a good inch higher than it was when we moved in, so we've had to readjust some doors.

Scott took out the track and added handles to the front and hinges to the sides.  However, the hinges make it so the doors won't close in the middle.  As soon as he gets some time, he'll inset the hinges and that will close those gaps on the sides.  Hopefully.  We really like that it opens in the middle now.

My hutch!

Scott picked this up at Pier 1 last week.  It's perfect and is actually the only piece of furniture we've bought since moving in here.  I don't know if that bottom part is supposed to be a wine rack, and we own exactly 3 bottles of "nice" wine, but that's what I'm using it for.  Also, you can see that we're missing some trim on that wall.

The bar!

Don't mind the flyswatter.  Or the shotgun shells.

Scott built this frame for the bar with some shallow shelving and it still needs to have some "facing" attached and painted. The reclaimed wood bar top should be delivered within the next few weeks.  I don't think I've seen it yet, but it's on the way… I'm going to paint the shelving to match the island and add in a teal accent. Thoughts?

We couldn't finish the kitchen portion because we needed to account for whatever space the island/bar would take up.  Also in the background of this picture, entryway to the door, will be a slate floor.  Eventually.

This past weekend, I was working on the bathroom.  It was a dark sea foam color which, honestly, is not that bad.  But when you add in the fact that the master bedroom is the same color…and the master bedroom carpet is also seafoam green, I really, really hated it.

Green on green with a few orange stains.  This room is next on my list for many reasons.  

I ran out of paint halfway through the job, but intend on finishing next weekend.  Scott picked the color.  I hung up 4 paint chips, he picked the one he liked.  Valspar Signature Buttered Popcorn.

This was before I touched up the edges.  I swear it looks neater now.

Things I am absolutely sure of

Sweater:  Old Navy // Scarf: Target // Boots: Report // Pants: JCPenney

(Don't mind the chairs)

1. I believe I've gotten my $15 out of this scarf.  This is its 3rd season.  It's thick enough to be a cold-weather scarf, but you can also leave it on all day without sweating and it matches everything.

2. BareMinerals is absolutely worth the money.  And I don't have any other make-up actually because if I'm going to the trouble of putting on make-up, I might as well wear the good stuff. Otherwise, I think I'm doing myself a disservice because I'm putting a lot into my skin these days by using Rodan and Fields.

3.  Leaving voicemails, if it's not business related, is a waste of everyone's time.

4.  I hate Rascal Flatts.  Not all of their songs are absolutely terrible.  But their very first song was so awful that I never could take them seriously after that.  I mention this because they are on the radio all the time and this is why I hate the radio.  I feel the same way about Kenny Chesney.  His bad songs outweigh the good by 99:1.

5.  When I think about the blood, sweat, and tears we've put into this house over the past 4 months, I tell myself I would definitely never go back and do it again.  Then, I read about others who are "overseeing" the production of their prefab homes and I feel like I win at life.  Well, Scott wins at life.  I probably couldn't do this without him.  Blood/sweat/tears equals appreciation for things, right?

Also, I'd be lying if I didn't say our kitchen wasn't just a bit inspired by Snow White's.

New countertops…

…are supposedly showing up today.  

Think good thoughts please.  I (we) really need this to go well.  I can't deal with the constant upheaval. I just emptied everything of the kitchen for like the 3rd time since we've moved in.  This is exhausting. Cleaning up dirt and dust is tiring.

If I don't get a fully-functioning kitchen soon…

…I might lose my mind. 

3 months into a remodel

3 months into this remodel, the living room is finished.  There aren't any curtains yet, but I'm not sure what I want and/or if they're even necessary.  I like the wooden blinds.

Don't mind the kitchen table.  The living room is its current home.

We are still missing one piece of trim by the door.  I'm patiently waiting for someone to cut it…

The rug is from Lowe's.  The t.v. stand is from an antique/country furniture store in Pennsylvania.  The table is currently hanging out in the living room room while we finish the kitchen/dining room (which is really just one big room).  That bench goes with the table but we've been using it as an ottoman/coffee table.

In case you've forgotten, here's what the living room looked like before…this did not happen overnight.  Again, 3 months.

It actually hurt to put our furniture on that carpet.

Thankfully it was only like that for one day.  I moved into this house on June 7th.  We ripped up the carpet on June 8th.

The dogs were quite helpful.

But not so helpful that they didn't have to be locked away for a time.

Sand under the carpet.  It was disgusting.  And I pulled out every single staple with a pair of pliers.  THAT is why my back hurt this past summer.  I spent days with the heating pad after we ripped up that carpet. 

Look how little!

I'd call the plywood an improvement.

The process is: tarpaper, leveling cement, let it dry, primer, let it dry, whittle down the leveling cement so it's not bumpy, cut the floor with a circular saw, snap the floor into place, pull the floor boards back up, use the glue to stick them back down into place.  That's why it has taken so long.  

We now just have to finish the kitchen side and all will be well in the world of glue-down bamboo flooring.  

Looking back, we've come really far.  So I'd call living-room DONE a victory.