Bones to Beauty

This weekend it was all about atriums! We started Saturday with going to a reptile convention to find an Egyptian Tortoise. Unfortunately, Ciera did not find her tortoise, so that search is still on. On Sunday, we spent an hour or so in the backyard tilling up Ciera’s garden and put down grass seed. Chad spent a little bit of time putting the finishing touches on the cart (he actually got it all running last weekend and I forgot to mention that). Now he can put it up for sale. Yahoo! Then it was time for demolition which is the most fun ever! We are putting in door from Ciera’s room into the atrium which we will build floor and put a door into the other side (which is the garage, so then you can walk into the garage which mean BIGGER HALLOWEEN (and more) DECORATIONS!!!! So excited!

This pic was when we moved in. If looking to the left is the garage and to the right is Ciera’s room that has a window.

Ciera’s window into the atrium.

Ciera doesn’t think this is safe – makeshift floor (only about 4×6). This is why I have life insurance on Chad. hee hee

Window is out and now we will cut it down about 4″ as that will match her floor and put in the door. We will naturally then have to add wall to the top. It is going to be awesome!

Ciera’s room was done minus the closet and getting the popcorn ceiling off. Naturally it makes it a lot easier when she isn’t under the roof to demolish her room. 🙂 We took this weekend to get the popcorn ceiling down and have the ceiling retextured. Depending on how the week goes we can start to prime or that will be next weekend’s adventure. Then we will move down the upstairs hall and entry way (removing popcorn ceiling) and once we paint the upstairs and stairway/entry way; the upstairs will be done. We also took a small amount of time to install new tanning bed bulbs which makes only me happy!

such thick popcorn

no more popcorn but included this for the slanted side. The original builders did not put any tape on the slants. Like, come on man!

new texture, now we wait for it to dry.

That means, it was a perfect weekend for me! We sent our stuff in for our taxes, got the items under the stairs reorganized (it was a mess after the 2 holidays), got a consultation scheduled for new siding, and got the tree guy called to come make the front tree beautiful (needs trimming). We also fit in moving sprinklers (since we put in the landscaping bricks), the pots all put where they need to be, put down grass seed, and got the stair handrail and sides all caulked so I can paint them.

I know my last entry said we would be back in a week; well, it ended up being 2 weeks. I ended up scratching my cornea last week, so it was a very bad eye weekend last weekend and that meant if anything was going to get done, it was up to Chad. He did move some rock into the flower beds and this weekend, we only had Sunday to work, but were able to get the side boards installed on the steps and the new middle handrail to the steps. Slow weekend, but we are getting there one weekend at a time!

The middle handrail with the trim below and then this is one picture of the side stair board which naturally is on the other side and the other set of stairs that comes up.

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!