Steven's room

The first bedroom we did was Steven's.  Still to this day it is the only one done but we are getting there.  Here it is before.

And during

 But here is the end result for our baby to come home to.

Unfortunately this was 3 years ago, so now I am already changing it to something for a toddler not a baby.  Where does the time go?

The Shed

We needed a shed for all the stuff that just accumulates everywhere.  We have a pretty large yard so we decided to put it in the side yard but because of the telephone pole and wires we needed to set it kind of in the middle.  I finally have my little barn.  Here are some pictures during and after. 

And here it is almost finished.  I need to paint and then decorate a little.  I think a weather vane would be perfect at the top.  I can't wait.

This is where we stand today with it.  It got to cold to finish painting so we have to wait for better weather.  I can't wait to work on it.

The Fence.

We decided to just fence the small part of the backyard so Steven could use it as soon as possible.  If we had waited to do it all I am afraid he would be in college by the time it was done.  So we had to put in new posts and stain the ones we could actually keep.  Here are a few pictures of Steven and daddy working.

Here are a few finished ones.

The Backyard

Now on to the backyard.  Apparently the renters before us had a lot of dogs....big dogs!  I wouldn't let our son out there to play because I thought we would lose him in a hole .  It was awful.  So we hired someone to come in and finish the backyard while we went on vacation.  That was the best idea I have ever had.  So here is the backyard before we started.

I guess I didn't get to many or I just can't find them.  But here is some of the finished yard before the fence.

The guys that did the yard also found my husbands wedding ring which he had lost back there.  Then he lost my ring in the side yard but we won't get into that.

The Yard

So during the time that we have been working on the inside of the house we also have been working on the outside too.  I don't know where we find the time for all these projects.  I need to stop adding things to my and my husbands list before we lose our minds.  So here is a few pictures of the side yard.

I knew that if we tried to do this project something wrong would happen so we actually hired someone to do it.  They did a great job and I am very happy with the end result. This picture is during the process.

And here is the end result.  Next we have the fence and the rest of the backyard.

Wallpapering the kitchen ceiling

So of course I had to add something else to my list to do.  I hated the ceiling in the kitchen.  It looked like someone had put a bunch of patchwork drywall up there and didn't know how to finish it.  So I covered it.  Thing to remember is wallpapering for the first time by yourself and with a 2 year old running around......not really a good idea.  I would have to do it a little differently next time.  

Here is a before picture of the ceiling

 And here is what it looks like after.

I am loving it more everyday.  Yes there are some mistakes but that's okay with me I can live with them.

The kitchen soffits

I hated my kitchen soffits.  It was going to be more work to tear them out then to try and cover them some nice way.  So I looked everywhere for ideas.  I finally decided upon covering them with bead-board.  Here is a before picture.

And during

So they aren't exactly finished yet, all the bead-board is up but we still have to finish the trim.  I decided that we would wallpaper the ceiling first and then finish out the trim work......so one more thing to add to the list.

The Kitchen Counters

Here we are at the counters.  I have a wonderful husband that did a ton of work getting these things out of there.  We decided to do one side of the kitchen at a time so we started at the sink side.  GROSS is all I can say.  Of course we found holes chewed through everything, and figured out where the ants were coming in during the summer.  

To save money we bought stock cabinets at Home Depot.  I have sanded and primed then painted everyone of them so far.  It has saved us a ton of money but it was also a ton of work.  Now we have an old 1957 home that I am loving more and more as we make it our home.  I have always wanted a farm sink and then I fell in love with butcher block counters.  So many people said that butcher block was so hard to take care of around water but I haven't found that to be.  As long as you wipe up the water they are just fine. Here are some after pictures so far of the kitchen.