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We needed more landscape wire last weekend to get the lights put in the tree. I’m super happy to say that my tree is now gorgeous – for as much as a tree can qualify for being gorgeous. We were also able to get the mudding done on the handrails and got the stair side runners put in. We will be on break next weekend, so no update. Chad is getting his cortisone shot in his hand and I’m heading to New Orleans with Ciera for her birthday! We will be back the following weekend.

We were busy this weekend! First, I hope everyone had a great New Year’s and that you are off to a great 2023.

We normally take any of the construction debris to the landfill on Saturday and they charge $25 for a truckload. We didn’t quite have a full truckload, so we hurried up and got the carpet removed from the stairs, the handrails removed and what I’m going to call the middle wall wood removed. (Making a good truckload). You will see in the pictures below why I’m calling out the middle wall.

If you remember from an earlier post, right now we are to be working outside as it is great weather. After our destruction, we did move back outside. We were able to get all of the landscape lights wired in, we ordered the rock so almost ready to put out the planters and plant the new shrubbery. Then all we will have to do is paint the house and we should be completed outside (until we start on the pool).

Stairs before – take note of the handrail…behind the handrail is a 2×4 board that they nailed to the wall. I kid you not the nails they used were like railroad ties (damage they made to follow).

I’m so glad we know how to repair drywall…those nails were CRAZY! (See picture below too).

This is the middle wall. If you look at the top, they had sheetrock here, but then notched it out to make the decorative board work. (shake my head). Then if you look at the bottom, there is no sheetrock there. That’s ok construction folks, we will do your job right!

We did not do a lot this weekend, we finished my desk, and the extra bedroom closet shelving is all painted. Like most of the country, we were abnormally cold, so just literally “chilled” all weekend! New Year’s weekend – different story, I should have new stairs! (We will see).

Marbled top (fake) and gromets!

Ready for work on Tuesday.

All painted

We have new gutters; landscaping bricks are in and almost a new desk! I mentioned a few posts ago, the outside is the focus while the weather is at the perfect temperature. We have the new gutter up on the garage side of the house which included putting in pop-ups so the water will flow further out in the yard. We also have all of the landscaping bricks installed. Next weekend (as long as it isn’t raining), the plan is to put a gutter up on the front of the house and install the landscape lights. Then we will be ready to PAINT!!! Getting so close to having the outside done. Yahoo! Chad also started to build my new desk. We took a door, and this will become my desk. The trim is what makes it stand out; otherwise, everyone would know it is just a door. We have to put the legs on from my current riser desk and it will be completed.

gutters and landscape bricks completed

We were going to work on finishing the landscaping wall and installing lights, but that didn’t end up happening this weekend. Chad ended up bruising his palm (on the hand that he gets cortisone shots) so I decided it needed to be a lowkey weekend instead. We did get the gutter stuff bought this weekend as that coincides with the landscaping. Outside of that, his garage was a MESS, so we cleaned that too. Trust me when I say he is OCD of his garage, this has been a topic for a while and since we needed something lowkey, that was a perfect project! We also were able to get the last tree up, so the house is 100% decorated for Christmas now. Next weekend, we should be back outside with the landscaping and gutters (I think it is supposed to be 60-70, so unless the forecast changes, it should be perfect).

gutter stuff and a door (the door is going to become my new desk, I gave my old desk to Ciera and my company one is just a little small, LOVE it though as it is both a stand and seated desk).

You will see in the next picture, normally NOTHING is on top of the toolboxes that should not be there (this is a disaster). Partly my fault as I just dump things on top.

Much better….I would be lying if I said there were a few times I was questioned if we should just skip everything and finish the garage first…answer: NO

As I mentioned last weekend, it was all about a new fence. The fence on the east side had to go (termites). Chad got a couple of his friends, Dillon and Jason to come help and Dan our neighbor helped too! Having the extra help definitely made this go a lot faster, plus for once I didn’t have to pretend to have ‘man muscles’. This allowed me to start decorating the inside for Christmas. I have everything done minus the living room tree as I need Chad’s help for that. We also spent some time on Sunday afternoon building the other landscape wall in front of the garage. We should be able to get all of that done next weekend.

I don’t have a very good “before” picture of the fence, but you will get the gist. Shame on us for forgetting the before picture this time!

Before…

This would be the area in the before picture – fence is down.

New fence! Chad will be staining this, but new fence is up!

Well as you know, we planned to move to all of our outdoor projects as it is finally the perfect weather here. However, this was a rainy weekend, so nothing happened outside beyond ordering the new fence (which we plan to do on Black Friday). We instead worked on the extra bedroom closet. It is almost done, but will not be completed, completed until we tear out the AC unit (most likely this spring). The closet ‘houses’ the AC unit for the upstairs and even though they put in a new one, it just is not right. Instead of fighting with them or having to tear down a whole wall section, we are going to install multi-split units upstairs. More to come on all that fun this spring. However, we did get all of the old shelving out, painted and got the new shelving put in. On the one wall with the AC unit, we will end up putting up a rack to hang clothes, but again, that will be this spring.

Before (yes, more drwall fixing). Initially where it is blank was a small shelving unit.

Behind the brown doors is the AC unit. No idea why…I can only shake my head as to why this made sense when they built the house.

Painted and prepping for shelves. I had this old cubbie that I decided to use and build around.

Just need to paint the shelves and it will be done until this spring!

Well, we were back at it this weekend. Chad’s company gave them Veterans Day off, so I took it off as well so we could try and get a few more things done. For the most part you will see us doing things that are outside as for us, this is coolest part of the year (Nov-Feb) so the best time to knock out the outside stuff. We put in the new front door, started the outside landscaping and I need to order the stair parts, so worked a little on the step that goes down into Ciera’s room to make sure what I think should work really works before I order everything for the main staircase.

We also took some time for fun and went to one of Chad’s co-workers BBQ cookoff. The food was great Dylan!

The front door we knew would be fun as one of the previous owners tiled under the threshold and outside of the door. They did this as the tile was taller than what must have been down (thinking linoleum) and they cut the door to match the door opening. We knew we were going to do things right, so a normal 2-hour project was more like 4 as we had to cut out the tile then grind off all of the tile glue. Fun story, for the little bit we had to grind there was dust EVERYWHERE and the smoke detectors went off. I cannot wait to see what kind of mess we have when we tear it all up along with the bricks in the living room. Fun awaits the minute it warms up again – so March!

This week you do have to do some imagination, as some things don’t “look right” as we need to paint, but one step at a time, so read the captions and go back to your childhood and imagine….

Old door is OUT

So much glue!

Back to concrete…

Imagine… white walls, gray trim and black marbled floor

Imagine… a white, with a smidge of cream on the siding

Front landscaping brick. We have the lights and will plant some very unique flowering bushes, not going to spoil it!

This weekend was low-key for the most part. Chad and I got our flu shots and Covid booster, so we did plan for not doing much. However, the HOA had their fall fest and asked that I do a table and activity for the kids to trick-or-treat at. That was more fun than I had thought and now that I know what to expect can take it to a higher-level next year.

I’m always nervous to throw my first Halloween party in a new house/town. Will people come, will they have fun, and will they like the food? I know I shouldn’t care, but I do. Since it was party weekend, we did NOTHING but focus on the party. I’m not quite sure what the plan will be for next weekend. I know originally, we were going to use October to do all of the landscape brick and lights (outside stuff). We ended up using the flower beds to as the area for the tombstones, so it will be a surprise on what we do or don’t do next weekend. I’m sure we will figure it out. Here are the party photos…