One step at a time . . .

One step at a time.  I think Aaron had to laugh at me this weekend.  Someone asked what we were planning on doing at the house this weekend and I said something to the sort of "finish putting up drywall in the kitchen and bathroom, putting in the floors and starting on the cabinets."  Well, as I've said before, I'm not the carpenter in the family.  Sizing together drywall in a house that's not "square" takes a lot more time and

energy than I expected.  We did get the the drywall up in the kitchen.  I'm so proud of Aaron and so thankful he knows what he's doing!  We had a lot of fun, even at the end of the day when our energy and nerves were just about shot. 

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Once again, Ashlee was a GREAT help.  She worked diligently in the bathroom taking down the drywall and "cement".  Besides the toilet that needs to be removed and the drywall that the cabinet is hanging on, the bathroom is ready to have new drywall hung.  My words so we'll see what Aaron says but we're making progress! 

             

Our days are getting shorter with all the events of the wedding coming up but our goal is still to be in the house soon after the wedding.  It's so exciting as it all comes together.  I'm having a lot of fun working with Aaron and get so jealous when he calls and says he's gotten something else done on the house without me. 

What was I thinking . . .

It was apparent this last weekend that I'm not a carpenter.  But Aaron comes from a long line of carpenters so I'm learning a lot!  Friday night I started taking off the tiles in the guest bathroom because we wanted to save time and money and keep the dry wall that was already there up.  I found that I was much better at tearing something completely down than trying to save the existing.  There ended up being a few holes in the wall and honestly I didn't get a very big area done. 

Fun Fact:  Our house was built in 1912 and was the old grade school.  Elaine went to school in our house. 

Delman and Doug came over to help us explore our attic situation.   Once they got up there they found that there was the ceiling of the old school rooms and then the roof of the old school and then the current roof.  (I thought there were four levels but I can't remember what the other one was).  Delman walked around and thank gave us an idea of what were were working with.  They even helped up take town the 2x4's that were built into the attic.  We're still not sure how it was built because they couldn't really get to them from the attic itself - it was a maze of sorts. 

The next morning we went back to the house refreshed and had our awesome helpers, Elaine and Ashlee.  Elaine worked on cleaning up the kitchen, I started pulling up the tile on the floor that was in the closet that we have now make into the addition of the kitchen and Aaron worked on taking down some of the ceiling that needed to be replace.  I gave Ashlee the task that I wasn't very successful at in the guest bathroom and pulling down the tiles. 

Elaine and I did as much as we could do in the kitchen.  The room just became too small for three of us and honestly it was a safety hazard as the ceiling came down - very near our heads.  We moved into the guest bathroom to help Ashlee.  Ashlee had found out how hard it was to take the tiles down without ruining the existing dry wall.  We all did our best and got all the tile off, took out the shower, sink, and flooring.  Aaron came in and determined that it would be best to just take down the walls since it would probably take as much time or more to patch the work we created.  We started taking down the walls but that project still needs to be completed.  There are only so many hours in a day.  I am SO THANKFUL for Ashlee and Elaine.  They are machines and have been a true blessing. 

Aaron and I started to work in the kitchen and decide where to put the appliances so that we could start putting up sheet rock and cutting out the correct areas for the outlets.  We thought we were making progress but an old house isn't built completely "square".  He measured the wall, cut the sheet rock and we started pushing it up into place . . . to big, so we cut some off the top but still to big - we did this a couple more times and decided it wasn't going to turn out good if we kept at it so we saved it for another day. 

On Monday the guys from Plains Heating came out and started putting the furnace in the house.  Aaron and I went to Burlington and picked out our carpet.  Luckily they just had enough of the color we liked and it will be added to the things to install list. 

Engagement Pictures

We got our Engagement pictures taken Sunday, March 27th at the pasture south of Bennett.  The weather starting out pretty good that morning but as the day progressed the clouds and wind rolled in.  The photographer called to confirm that we were still on and to make sure it wasn't raining.  We met Mike Polfus of Bella Giorno Photography at the King Soopers in Bennett and drove out together.  It was a good way to get to know one of the guys that's going to be spending one of the most important days of our lives with us. 


We got to the pasture and it wasn't raining but it was COLD and WINDY.  My long hair and the wind gave Mike a challenge to get just the right shot.  We had a lot of fun taking over 300 shots.  Mike made both Aaron and I feel very comfortable.  Turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.  Below are some of our favorites.

Demolition almost over

I feel like a lot was accomplished last weekend.
We completed the demolition of the kitchen which included:  removing tiles, removing sheet rock & installation, removing the hall clost and adding the space into the kitchen, removing the soffits, removing the linoleum floor. 

We had some much needed help which we appreciated so much.  Thanks to Ashlee, Elaine, Uncle Melvin, Aunt Carol, Doug and Mason.  (I'm not sure how the sheet rock would have gotten inside if it wasn't for Doug and Mason).

Tile and sheet rock off the walls

Removal of the soffit - making space for our cabinets!

Does this beam go all the way up?

The hall closet is now part of the kitchen - a few more beams to remove.

Kitchen floor swept - Thanks Aunt Carol!  Just to make it a mess again.

Lots of dust taking the soffits down.

Are those electrial wires?

We also removed the carpet, padding and tack board from the Master bedroom and closet. 

Upcoming projects are:  adding a closet onto the west side of the Master Bedroom.  Turning the Master closet into a Master Bathroom.  Making a mudroom/Laundry Room.  Demolition of the guest bathroom.  Laying flooring in the kitchen, dining room, living room, etc.  Lots to do.

At the end of the day we still love each other and that's what's important!

Supplies

So no changes in the actual house but we spent a lot of time at Home Depot this weekend.  We picked out and measured the appliances we want (refrigerator, stove, microwave & dishwasher) so that we can start getting an idea of how we want our kitchen cabinets to lay out.  We got Brazilian Cherry hardware floors for the dining room and kitchen.  We got "tile" for the entry way and guest bathroom called Cordova.    We also made an eco friendly purchase - a two flush option toilet!  You push one button for #1 and another button for #2 - to save water!  We were paying for everything and I looked over and there was the paint section . . . oops, that was one of the main things we wanted to purchase so that we could paint before the flooring went in.  I pulled some samples and that's my project for the week to decide on colors; at least for the kitchen, dining room, living room and guest batheroom - this way Aaron can lay the flooring once the painting is done.  My job sounds pretty easy compared to everything Aaron was telling me he had to try and get done this week.  Goal for the upcoming weekend is to have the walls washed and painted. 

We also got our engagement pictures taken on Sunday afternoon.  The photographers that we are using for the wedding came out and we went down to the pasture south of Bennett.  Besides the wind the weather cooperated and I'm hoping we got some great pictures. 

March 20th

We also decided to pretty much gut the kitchen.  Aaron was excited to take out the cabinets and use them in the garage.  Come to find out, the cabinets were built to the wall as a whole unit and not individual pieces.  He was able to save one cabinet but they rest of the cabinets ended up coming down with the help of hammer and force.

Kitchen

We have electricity now so we'll be able to work later than 7:00 p.m.  It's all so exciting.  Next task is to clean the walls so we can start painting before the new carpet is laid.  

The work has started . . .

We started working on the house March 19th and 20th.  It's amazing how many times we can change our minds in a day (near alone a minute)!  Our task was to pull out the carpet in the Dining Room, Living Room and Spare Bedroom.  Our goal (right now) is to put hardware floors in the Dining Room and Spare Bedroom and new carpet in the Living Room.  With the help of Ashlee and Elaine the carpet, padding, staples, etc. were removed and below are pictures:

Dining Room

Living Room

Spare Bedroom