Renovation, Day 772: Deck Painting

Well, apparently Mark and Another Nathan didn't paint together enough in 2011, because they were suddenly, out of nowhere, gung ho about beautifying our pool deck out back.

I rolled my eyes. And then got on board.

And then got really glad I got on board because whoa what a difference. Here's what it looked like BEFORE:

(This picture is from last summer before the sweet Ueckers moved away. Annie doesn't mind the rough peeling paint and weird color and half-broken gazebo frame.)

So then Mark pressure washed for a few days, we sampled several colors (only four! sorry to disappoint you), we shut the kids out of the pool area, and painted.

Well, I painted a little. Another Nathan painted a lot. And Marky painted a crap ton.

Nathan pretended to help. (That one extremely well-covered corner took days to fully dry.)

And then in a sudden burst of last-minute momentum, Mark also decided to stain the fence to match! The end result looks so much better. Don't you think? Here's the AFTER:

For something I look at every time I glance out the back doors of our living room (which is... a lot), it makes me feel happy every time I see it.

Who's coming over to swim?

New House! We Live Here Now!

Can I still call it the new house?  We've lived here for four months, and we're finally really settled in. 

Before we left for the hospital last week, Mark went around and took a bunch of pictures, because we still hadn't really shared many since we've moved in, and also because with Nathan and Anneliese out of town, and Charlotte still inside me... yeah it was almost clean around here for a minute.

So because you, oh internetty bloggity friends, were so tolerant of renovation pictures and updates, here you go.  Before and after pics of our new house (well, the downstairs living areas, for now).  This is what it looks like now* that we're living in it. 

Kitchen BEFORE:

Kitchen AFTER:

Living room BEFORE:

Living room AFTER:

Bonus room BEFORE:

Bonus room AFTER:

Wow, now that I look at these pictures I realized we need to, like... hang pictures and stuff.  We'll totally make that happen.  By Christmas, I promise.

Next time, bedrooms!

*But way messier.

Pool Renovation!

How to renovate your pool in ten simple steps:

Step 1: Glare at the murky mess in your deep end for four or five months.  Complain about the noise of the frogs who live in the swamp that is your pool.

Step 2: Hire workers to pump putrid water out, remove multiple bags of gross swampy debris, blast off old paint, and repair cracked cement and plaster.  Optional: let you children and dog run around in the empty (but clean!) pit in the backyard.

Step 3: Refuel said workers with lots of soda and gatorade as they coat the inside of pool, transforming it to a beautiful shade of bikini blue.

Step 4: Wait impatiently for three days while paint coating dries.  Get very excited about swimming.  Go shopping for floats and rafts.  Realize you waited about a week too long to find floats and rafts still on shelves.  (Back-to-school stuff already?  Really?)  Settle for sub-par floats.  Be happy they only cost a dollar.

Step 5: Hire a tanker truck to come fill the pool.  (Stand in shock when it takes three truckloads to fill it up!)  Allow tanker truck to entertain your children on a hot summer day when Daddy is out of town.

Step 6: Watch water dump into pool.  Start to get very excited at surprising your husband with a full and cold clean pool when he comes home!

Step 7: Cry a little when the second truckload goes in a little bit, um... greener than it was supposed to, and the pump isn't up and running correctly.  Begin to regret jumping the gun on having pool filled before husband comes home.

Step 8: Take frantic steps to clean and prime pump, repair pvc pipes, and shock green pool water. Begin to feel better (and proud!) when you actually successfully get everything, including the new-to-you saline chlorinator, working correctly.  Smile and take deep breaths as water clears up pretty fast.  Welcome your husband home to his new pool.

Step 9: Haul your very-pregnant belly and the rest of your family into the pool, and go swimming!  In your very own backyard! 

Step 10: Try not to mock your husband for being thirty years old, yet still playing with toy torpedoes.  Just relax and revel in the pool awesomeness.

Playing in the Pool... Kind Of

Well, I don't think this is exactly what I had in mind when I pictured my babies playing in the pool...

But it'll do for now!

We're so excited to have the pool under renovation!!  It's totally cleaned out and no longer a swamp full of swampy creatures (bye bye, fornicating frogs!)... which means it's a lot quieter around here in the evenings.  Besides cleaning out the muck, the workers have also blasted the old peeling paint off, repaired the cracked plaster underneath, and (after these pics were taken) painted it a lovely shade of blue. 

While we were playing in the pool yesterday, we also saw that Bowden had apparently traipsed through some of the plaster before it dried, which means her footprints will forever be on the floor of our deep end.  (Right now it makes me smile.  But someday I will be a crying wreck over those footprints, I guarantee it.)

Yes, we play in dry unpainted pools in our PJs. Don't you?

So for now there's nothing to do but wait for it all to dry.  And kill time sitting in the lounge chairs, practicing for when we get classy enough to move them out of the front yard and onto the pool deck.

I think we'll be able to fill it up on Saturday, and I assume it'll take us a few days to get used to the saline system and balance the chemicals correctly. But we hope we'll really be playing (and splashing!) in the pool sometime next week!

Renovation: Finishing Touches

So technically this is Renovation, Days 57-69.  But seeing as there have been a lot of down days in there where no work was done, and there's really only about a half-day's worth of work left to do before the official renovation account runs dry, yet still years before the house is really done up exactly how we want it (but isn't that always the case?)... we're just calling this, here and now, The End. 

A "month-long" project turned seventy days.

We're in.  We're getting settled.  And whenever we sell the old house, we will have a fantastic renovated pool as the icing on the cake.  (Ooooooh let's fill it with icing!  No, cake batter! *saysthepregnantlady*)
So, this is The House That Love Built* -- our new home:

Since the last reno update, the new siding (replaced due to the termite damage, of course) has been painted to match the rest of the house.  We have freshly repaired dormer windows in all the upstairs bedrooms (look ma! no more rotted wood!)... Oh, and the whole exterior got a good pressure washing.

We have several new entrance doors (they're all in now, but a few are still waiting to be painted):

We've also properly fenced off the pool from the rest of the yard:

We can now get from the house to the deck, the guest house, and backyard without worrying about the pool -- which is behind a very kiddie-proof (read: Erin-proof) latched/locked gate. 

I am so happy that we found a way to fence the pool off while protecting easy access to the guest house and yard.  Really.  It seems like a small thing, but I am very pleased with the setup we worked out.

So. Buy new house? check. Renovate new house? check.  That's all, folks.

Yet... we're far from done.  There's the whole renovating of the pool, of course.  And someday we'll stain the fence.  And clean up the wild area in the backyard.  And remodel our bathrooms.  And put a door on the laundry room.  Put knobs on all the cabinet doors.  Replace the ugly brass light fixtures.  Screen in the back deck.  And soon, fix the leaky toilet line so we can use the kids' bathroom upstairs again.  (And there's still that pesky business about selling the old place too.)

But I get exhausted thinking about all that, so today I am just going to sit back and enjoy all the work that's already been done.  On this new home, which I love.  And be happy with things how exactly how they are right now.

*Hey, when you don't have enough money to just throw some cash at the problems, a labor of love is also required.  (Labor of love almost always means elbow grease.  True story.)

Renovation, Days 46-56

Wait, what's this?  We're moved in but still renovating?

Yep.  A big, somewhat unfortunate yep.

We had hoped to be completely done before we moved in, and even gave ourselves almost three weeks' worth of breathing room between the scheduled completion date and our moving date.  But with the guest house damages being so much more substantial than we originally estimated, and with adding more projects to our renovation list (like floor refinishing) than we originally planned on... it just didn't happen.  Fortunately most of the stuff still being worked on is outside and quiet, so the disruption to our lives is minimal.

Scenes from the last week and a half of reno work...

Brad, our awesome contractor:

Seriously, how many people really like their contractors?  Because we do.  We really, really do.

All the siding that had to be replaced due to termite damage has now been repainted to match the rest of the guest house:

Guest house from the back -- doors and a cleaned-up patio and everything!

New tile in the guest house bathroom:

And new bamboo flooring in the guest house living/bedroom (the only pic I have is the one in progress; don't worry it's done now, I just didn't sneak a picture before we dumped a bunch of stuff in there when we moved.  You get the idea though):

Brand new yesterday! A safety rail and new steps/handrail for our back deck:

This deck rail will eventually be connected to the new pool fence, going in next week.  I will breathe a lot easier when the pool is officially and firmly sectioned off from the rest of the backyard and house!  I might even stop calling it the death trap.  Maybe.  No promises.

In the midst of the continuing renovations, we're getting unpacked and settled as best we can.  In my world, that means slowly but surely, with lots of furniture arranging.  And re-arranging.  And arranging back.  But the boxes are disappearing, and it's beginning to feel like home...

Renovation, Days 41-47

The only real news to report on house renovation in the last week or so is new flooring.  I know, I know.  That's all.  Looks small when I type it out, but it has made a huge difference in the feel of our new home.  Huge.  Huge huge.

We had all the hardwoods refinished.  We had new bamboo laid in the guest house.  Mark scrubbed and re-sealed the grout in the guest house kitchen tile.  The guest house bathroom is getting brand new tile (which still isn't finished, pictures... someday).  And we had new carpet put in our room, Nathan's room, the hallway, and main staircase.

Take a look:

master bedroom

bonus room

Nathan's room

upstairs hallway -
from here (Nathan's doorway) you can see:
Anneliese's room,
the the girls' joint closet (purple),
then into Sprout's nursery --
pretty much the whole length of the house

Sprout's room

living room (looking into dining area)

kitchen and dining room

Anneliese's room... well, it got a good vacuuming.  I know, poor middle child. 

Suddenly our house feels shiny and new and definitely not someone else's dump of a foreclosure.  I can't even tell you how excited I am to get moved in!!!

Painting Outtakes

We're having the hardwood floors refinished at the new house this week, which means we've had to pretty much stay away for the last four days.  Which is probably a healthy thing.  So in the absence of new renovation progress to report, I thought I'd share some "outtakes" from the last month of painting...

What's a good home renovation without a band sash as part of your painting outfit?  I mean really.

the sexiest accessory I own, for sure

Paint brush, hair brush, what's the diff?

it's cute that she thinks she has enough hair to brush in the first place

Another Nathan's what! the hell! face (in his best Avril Lavigne voice) (fortunately the fact that he's a classically trained musician hasn't diminished his exquisite taste in pop music), sported when Mark or I has suggested something about the house about which he's feeling rather... dubious:

what! the hell!

Renovation means no time for haircuts.  Or for icing black eyes or wiping green kool-aid stains of childrens' faces, apparently.  Our child is officially a ragamuffin.  Who really needs a bath.  We'll totally do that before we move.  It's on the list!

hot mess and still as precious as ever

Boss-man Mark is always just around the corner, always hearing every word we say, always... supervising.

Big Brother is watching?

Another post-church, pre-nap lunch at the new house.  Why would we let our children sit down to eat when they can stand around a half-broken card table covered in painter's tape and feed themselves from there like a trough?

at least they're *dressed* well, even if everything else about our lives is sloppy!


Just a grown-up, sitting in a toddler's car seat, eating a burrito.  What of it?

should we put one of these seats in our backseat just for him?

Three easy steps for classin' up the neighborhood, Bumgarner-style:
1.) Let your mom pee in the yard behind the pool house because the toilets in the house might or might not be broken and she doesn't want to risk waking the kids up from naptime to figure it out.
2.) Let your son pee on a tree in the front yard because he can't hold it long enough to get inside and find a working potty... to the chagrin of your classy expat Londonite neighbors.

3.) Instead of throwing away your old broken toilet, put it in the backyard and sit on it while you revise your to-do list. 

bonus points if you pronounce it "terlet"

And everyone who has been over to help us will be happy to know that the end of our painting means the end of watching me hitch up my ill-fitting pants seven times every hour.  Good thing Mark took a picture; I don't think any of us could have survived long-term without my pants-hitch being caught on camera.

did I really just post this on the internet?  really?

Mark and Another Nathan and I had a celebratory(ish) dinner last night to ring out the painting job the same way we rang it in -- just the three of us, no kiddies, at Outback, laughing a lot.  But this time wearing non-paint-spattered clothes, because they've all officially been washed and put away.* Win.

*For what, I don't know.  Those two are going on a mission trip this summer where they might could** use paint clothes, but I don't know if I'll ever have use for painted-on maternity jeans again.

**Yep, it's a thing.  Double modal.  Look it up and get on board with my southern English.