Considering the amount of blogging I've done in the last few months, one would assume that not much has been happening with the house. How wrong that assumption would be! Also, I think everyone would agree with the comment that summer is such a busy time. That is my explanation for my lack of updating.
That being said, there's a lot to catch up on. The last post covered little more than a bit about how the bathroom renovation was going and the state of the antique tub. Since then, Jared and I have been all over the place. Firstly, we drove all the way back to Kansas for a bit of a vacation. Ullr came along, and with him and my pregnancy, it was definitely an interesting road trip. Being home was great, although it was not without work. The majority of my time there was spent helping my family pack up and move a good amount of household items in preparation for the impending sale of my childhood home...I almost forgot to mention, we also had a bit of a hiccup when we got in a car accident.
Luckily, insurance took care of everything with the exception of my frayed nerves, and the car has since been repaired completely! Anyway, Jared was a champ at helping and organizing a lot of the work that was done, and I was sad to leave him in Kansas as my mom, brother, and I made our way to Washington.
Three days in a Uhaul and halfway across the U.S. later, we made it without any major incident to Bothell just in time for my dear cousin Lynne's wedding. It was a wonderful day full of celebration for the new couple and family get togethers. My two weeks in Seattle were fabulous. I celebrated my gorgeous cousin Lois's birthday, did lots of knitting, spent lots of time with family, and finally attended my first game at Safeco Field (and saw the Mariners play an awesome game). By the end of my visit, I was feeling pretty prepared to go back to Georgia and kick some major booty on the house reno.
So feeling pretty motivated, I got around to this room.
We had tackled this room months ago. With all the other major renovations that were quite a bit more pressing, the front room got put on the back burner.
During my stay in Washington, Jared managed to get this room completely ready for paint. Sanding all the areas that needed to be smooth took awhile, but he was glad to have the job done.
So just a few days after returning home, I managed to get the room painted. However, I do think I overestimated my ability, and Jared had to finish the second coat for me. Being pregnant is work enough, but adding some jet lag and painting in there didn't really help get this done.
It is always amazing how much difference just a coat of paint can make. How refreshing!
Meanwhile, Jared managed to work up the courage to work on the plumbing in the bathroom. I don't have pictures of it, but he spent many an hour under the house puzzling over connecting pieces and bits of tubing. He did it, though! I am proud to say that, though he had reservations about his ability to do such a big plumbing job, Jared managed to get the thing done with maybe one or two issues along the way. Next, the subfloor and sheetrock can go into place, and it's really just a hop, skip, and a jump before that bathroom is DONE.
I passed some of my recovery time by keeping my hands busy. Baby's first lamb took up a whole evening and morning to complete, but I've been working pretty steadily on baby's knitted blanket. It's very nice to be able to crochet and knit. Such handy skills!
I also got Jared to take a picture or two of my ever-growing bump. Here I am at about five months. Phew, time flies!
And now for a throwback picture. I honestly have to pinch myself when I think about what this house used to look like, inside and out. Over the last year, not much except the foliage has changed on the outside. Until now.
Jared and I had talked a lot over the last few months about the exterior. The old asbestos siding was in poor shape, and we knew that a paint job wouldn't cut it. Jared decided it was high time we looked into some siding options. He found a decent contractor to take on the job, and as soon as I came back from Washington, we picked out the colors for the house.
Bright and early on the 20th, the crew arrived. They made what seemed like good progress until the end of the first day. Unfortunately, though it has rained almost every day for the last two months, Georgia would not spare the crew one clear weekend for work. Having to stop for thunderstorms put a damper on progress, and the crew had to come back for an extra weekend.
The whole process went fairly well, weather considering. As more siding went up, I was happier and happier with the way the house was looking. The crew of four was very job oriented, and I was greatly impressed with their attitude throughout the job in spite of the rain.
This last weekend, the guys finished, and I have to say, it feels like we've got a new house...from the outside. Jared and I are more than happy with the end result!
Jared finally trimmed the giant bush next to the side porch.
Who's happy? ME!
All in all, a very good experience! The house desperately needed the facelift, and I'm very happy with the contractor and crew who worked so hard to make that possible.
Well, that's all the updates for now. Hope your summer has been going well!
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