some fun details.....

need to decide where to put the island so we brought a few things from the house over....tom thinks the end table/flowers/and picture were overkill....but it helps me to see things looking like a house. i have decided that the CHAIRS were the mistake since his breaks are much more comfortable now - haha. this allows us to tape off where we want the island so we can run laps around it like the kids will do and make sure we aren't hitting anything =D

included a picture of my bar stools i rethunk for the house....the fabric on the seat and the roll beside it are the fabrics i am using for window treatments in the front rooms of the house. hard to see but the colors are really pretty!

also got some window treatments started in matthews room....(putting roller shades behind them for privacy)....and emma and katie's room.... (they need to be raised to the ceiling and the girls want sheer white curtains behind them....

got another 1/3 of the front of the house painted - more blue gone!!!! and hung two sets of shutters! replaced the front porch light too!

working on getting the floor down for the shop! yee haw!

baby steps.....but we're getting there!

We've got "squatters"!!!

we aren't yet living in woodstock....house is still far from finished....but there IS a family already living there! didn't even ask us! aren't paying any rent at all! but we can't bring ourselves to evict them! haha we watched these little birdies from the time they were just eggs. it has been so fun to see them get bigger/open their eyes/get wee feathers - something we look forward to checking on every time we go!

so what's new in the progress?

working on some exterior painting - emma and megan tackled that job for a bit.....

lindsey is still hard at work on her room - it's looking fabulous!!

matthew taught katie how to mow and she did a great job on the front yard! they were a great team!!

and EVERYONE is excited about the new potties!!!! the kids helped choose and the photo you see is of the flush button! there are two flush options.....as the box says...."one for liquids and a more powerful flush for solids". gross huh? but they are more energy efficient and hey...if the kids will flush more regularly then woooo hoooo!

chair rail is up in matthews room - as are his beloved baseball caps!

not pictured but also done: one and 1/2 bathroom floors. molding in the front room, divider wall in linz and megs room, paint job in one bathroom, lotsa work in tv room.,...so again - sooooo much left to do - but we're working hard!!!

my shop!!!

this look hilarious to be excited about....but we have started on my shop.....laying it out and leveling for the floor. we had six awesome young men from church come help on saturday. (they must have needed the money DESPERATELY!!! haha) they got so much done! the first two photos are before they came -second two are the after photos. huge piles of demolition trash moved and the shop floor almost in place - bigger job than we anticipated! we were grateful for their hard work!!!!

oops!!! the photos actually posted in reverse order - before shots are on the bottom!

first impressions....hahaha

since first impressions are everything....since you can only make a first impression once....we purchased a new front door! (the funny part is that right NOW it's not that impressive since you still see a blue house and maroon shutters and broken porch rail all around it, huh?) BUT....i LOVE the door - its' really pretty at night with light behind it (which we established in the previous post we now have plenty of!!). we went ahead and got the door cause we wanted to rekey everything and it seemed to ME like it would be silly to rekey the old door when there were so many pretty options out there.

also got a great start on getting the cabinets painted. they are the benjamin moore fieldstone then i distressed them and glazed them with the ralph lauren smoke glaze and sealed them. couple of sections are totally finished already. i really like them!

floor are also in upstairs in the bedrooms and in the front room downstairs.....and i really like them! can't wait to see things more finished/polished....

things are moving along....slowly....very slowly....but we have a plan and we're making progress. i am still soooooo very proud of the kids and how willing they are to help! megan stepped on a board last week and two nails went thru her foot. it was so bad that as she hopped over to sit down the board actually stuck to her foot!!! before she could get her shoe off it had literally filled with blood. it was scary! but she's up to date on her shots and when we called the dr. he said to keep it clean and watch for infection. she limped for two days but no infection and it's all better now. she had a great attitude about it....ALL of the kids have been wonderful!!! it's fun to spend time laughing with them! we're creating all kinds of memories!!! =D

let there be light!

since i started with "in the begininng" i thought i'd continue the religious theme - haha - and title this post "let there be light". after hiring an electrician to come replace the breaker box for the entire house and check all the wiring....with his blessing....tom has now installed about 27000 watts of light in our new home. i LOVE windows and there arent that many in the front room and i worrired that it would feel dark...NO WORRIES! its crazy bright and i am thankful for and loving every single watt!

also very excited to see cabinets going in.....katie and megan worked with tom all day on saturday! they were wonderful and got enough done that they were able to place some cabinets!!! now i gotta get over there and paint those puppies! if you scroll back and look at where we started....this represents an ENOURMOUS amount of work! and i'm starting to get a wee bit excited as i see it turning into what i envisioned!

goodbye YELLOW!

so the previous owners chose a paint color for most of the house that would not have been my first choice. it was a NEON yellow. not sure how they slept with that on the walls. (possibly they didn't? based on the condition of the house there could have been quite a bit of partying going on! ha!) didn't even know you could find that color anywhere other than the "oops" cans at home depot!

well....there is quite a bit more detail work to do...but look how much better!!!! i have chosen a really pretty gray color (benjamin moore fieldstone) for the cabinets....and this is a gray color - very light and airy - that compliments that and looks super with the bright white molding we will eventually put up.

makes a BIG difference...and it was wonderful to be able to say.....goodbye YELLOW!!! =D

the "best day ever"

to be excited about these photos seems insane, right? but we had the best day ever (quote straight from matthew's mouth) yesterday. by the time we left no one could stand up straight. everyone had something that was cut, scraped, twisted, bruised or in some other way injured, and from YOUR point of view (well .... ours too haha) the house is still a total wreck. BUT we also had so much fun working together!!! all five kids jumped in and really truly worked like crazy. we laughed and sneezed and joked and coughed and played and had a total blast. what did we accomplish? the kitchen is now ready to start being created - old hardwood and two linoleum floors are gone (HUGE project) along with 5,000 nails in the floor attaching said flooring. all previous counters/cabinets/applianced/sink/everything is gone and ready for our fresh clean new dreams! and the kids also started painting their bedrooms. tom had already taken care of ripping up all the flooring in those rooms so they could come and paint. i took and deep breath and let my kids each choose their own paint colors (very difficult for my controling personality) and i think they have ruined the upstairs - ha! just kidding - they each chose something that looks exactly like them. and as matthew told me....mom - this is going to be a hard move - but since you're letting us design our own rooms, it's really starting to be fun and i'm getting excited! who knew my little man would be the one to say that....but i think all the kids felt the same way. so again....try and look past the monumental mess and see the smiles and know that we have a dream and that working together to achieve that dream has and will be harder than we ever thought....but also has been more fun and rewarding for each of us than we ever imagined!!!!