Closer each day.

Each day after work I stop by to see the progress the boys have made.

They've been working their tails off to get as much completed as possible for the move this weekend.

One day was slowed by the installation of my new washer and dryer.

But it's finally in it's little cubby.

 The frame of the kitchen cabinet lowers were placed early this week.

Just yesterday the trim was finished on the stairwell.

The kids' all have their window trim completed as is their baseboard trim.

The kids' bathroom vanity arrived finally.  It took two weeks to get here.

Hunter checked everyday this week to see if the access in his closet was closed off yet.

To his delight yesterday, it was finished.

He was pleased.

The kids' bathroom is completely trimmed and ready for stain.

My mother-in-law worked her tail off yesterday cleaning up.

She got the kids' shower looking really nice.

Our closets are no longer filled with tools.

Silly HOS

Grandma Sue also cleaned up each kid's bedroom.

Hunter's showing off Dave's room.

Imagining himself asleep in his own room.

Checking out Trinity's closet light.

What it will be like to scare his sister.

The hallway trim downstairs is complete.

Looking toward our front door.

My David, babying his concrete counter tops.  He and Brady got them poured yesterday.

Here is the color of the table that was already poured.

The counter tops will be similar.

No dye was used in the concrete.

Once cured, Amber and Olive acid wash was used to create the color.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

 

 

More like The Light at the Bottom of the Money Pit.

 

Saturday, January 19th.

Official Moving Day.

 

 

David has been putting in long, hard hours.

He was hoping to move this coming weekend.

But delivery guys had other plans, apparently.

 

Our main living space, with built in family dining table.

Beautiful Cedar Trim and Accents are starting to come together.

 

 

Our secondary front door.

With our wedding gift bells from Mr. Dennis.

This will be our front door.

 

Our front office windows are complete with beautiful Cedar trim.

 

Our main front door.

 

Our stairs - close to being done.

 

Looking toward our bedroom room doorway is trimmed and the laundry area door still left untrimmed.

 

Hallway, the "twins" doorways have Cedar trim complete.

 

Our bedroom.  His and her closets.

 

Our bedroom windows are trimmed.

A view of South Manistique Lake is a huge bonus.

 

Our little Master Bathroom.

Small, but just ours.

 

Tile is all complete.

 

David is raving and raving about the checker floor in the kids' bathroom.

He thinks it's the coolest.

My ideas, are pretty good once in awhile, he admitted.

 

Brady outdid himself doing the subway tile for the kids' shower.

It looks seriously, way better in person.

The picture doesn't have as much Wow factor.

But it's wow.

 

Stairs are still in progress.

 

Cedar in just the right places.

 

David was exxcited to use his new gizmo.

He can now make hand-made tongue and groove boards.

Here and in most of the house, he used cedar.

 

All of the trim he did is hand-made.

 

And last but not least, my laundry area.

I do plenty of laundry, and I can't wait to get a new set.

 Fancy.

My new washer and dryer are set to arrive on Thursday.

As moving day nears, I'm excited, and decided no matter where the light leads, it looks pretty good from here.



BNS was here.

I tend to spend most of this blog praising my husband.

He is if you didn't guess, the love of my life.

I am super duper proud of him.

 

Being Christmas Day,

I also wanted to give praise to the other half of RM Petrie Builders and Sons.

 

BNS - our Brady.

 

He is without a doubt a huge part of our life and our family.

He is talented and humble.

He never wants praise or credit.

He never wants his picture taken.

He is David's right hand man.

David can always count on him.

I am grateful he has such a co-worker not to mention such a friend.

 

Watching them work together is like watching a fantastic machine.

They don't quit.  They don't take breaks.

They work without speaking.

They understand each others strong points and weaknesses.

They catch each others mistakes and razz the snot out of each other for it.

 

 

He has been a huge part of making this old house of ours the beautiful thing it is becoming.

I just wanted to say Thank You to him.

So he knows I appreciate all that he has done for my family these last couple years.

Thank You Brady.  Merry Christmas to you.

Hardwood Christmas

 

When we started this adventure.  It was agreed that we would refinish the floors.

I mean, one of the best features of a 103 year old home would be the floors.

 

Until you're the one trying to refinish them.

 

 

I can't take any credit.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to have such a man.

He took on these floors with gung-ho gusto. 

 

Two days into it, as I spoke to him on the phone while I was at work.

He sounded beaten.

 

It was a sound I hadn't heard out of his mouth in quite awhile.

 

He sounded as though failure was immient.

 

He brought up putting down laminent.

He brought up putting down carpet.

 

His partner called me 'the queen'.

As in 'the queen' would not be satisfied. The queen would not be happy.

 

 

This are how they looked before he started.

Not only years worth of paint and lacquer.

But drywall dust and globs of joint compound.

 

 

A rented sanded and fifteen million sanding pads.

Just to maybe get to specs of the wood underneath.

 

David spoke to every contact he had.

Researched tiredlessly on the internet of other options to refinish floors.

 

The option he found that suited his need for the results he wanted.

And his need to make sure I was happy without putting him into an early grave.

He hand planed them. Every inch of them.  On his hands and knees.

And wire brushed them.

 

 

The process was long.

The process was exhausting.

 

 

Distressed floors are all the rage I told him.

I stopped by to take a look one day on my way home from work.

 

 

I told him they were looking fantastic.

That I didn't think he could see the forest because of the trees.

 

Once the stain and polyurethane was on there, they would look great!

 

Our Christmas celebration this year was on Christmas Eve.

When you have children who have other parents, it's part of your holiday celebrations.

Holidays are shared.

So today, Christmas Day, it was just David and me.

 

We decided to get over there and try out the stain.

 

It was a Christmas miracle, these floors will indeed be quite lovely.

 

He realized all his hard work did produce something that made me the happiest girl on the block.

 

 

I certainly hope he realizes that I am so very thankful for him.

I have never in all my life had someone work so hard for me.

He is my dream come true.

And together, we will have this tremendous dream home.

 

And next year, on Christmas Day, our family will be in this new "old house"

 

Merry Christmas to you all.

From our family to yours.

 

xoxo

Primed for the Season

 

It's been slow going the last few weeks.

Work, kids, preparation for winter, deer hunting, have all taken precedent.

But the upstairs is primed.

 

 

 

 

In other news, the holiday season is upon us.

 

 

We celebrated Thanksgiving at home, in our current house.

It was a good day. Filled with food and football.

 

Holiday specials have caused me to make a few purchases.

Our refrigerator and stove are on their way.

Light fixtures are next on my list.

I'm hesitating making my final decisions.

But I think I have most of the choices finalized.