WE still work since Mike is at work

Today we went to the high school for Marissa's senior pictures. I think they will turn out great. Tomorrow we are driving to Chesapeake for Marissa's consult with the oral surgeon. She needs to have a baby tooth removed. They will attach something to the adult tooth that is laying sideways up in her jaw so it will come down and be attached to her braces. I know we are looking forward to that. We are hoping to get it done in august so it won't inter fear with school. She is so excited about being a senior.


The pictures are Isabelle with soot on her nose. She didn't know where or how she got it. The last 2 are the living room door frame and window frame that i was scraping yesterday. The walls still look black but great with the crisp white base boards.

Look what Mike & the boys did

We almost have a new side porch. Last summer we tore off the falling down deck boards and screen. We have gotten wood from 2 different people for free. Mike used some of the wood to rebuild the front balcony and balaster. It's looking very nice.
The first picture is before we bought the house, the second is when we tore it down and the 3rd & 4th is the new construction.

Have you ever done something

your husband and kids said was really cool but you weren't so sure about. I'm painting the formal living room with some paint that we had in the paint room. On the lids they both looked to be a dark blue. Boy were we wrong. I started painting and to me it looks black. To Mike he says it's a dark blue. The kids just say it's cool. I guess I will have to see when i get the whole thing done. I posted some before and during painting pictures. The trim will be white.

Tree/Bush removal

We have been removing tree/bushes around the outside of the house so the windows can be painted. The first picture is before we bought the house. That is Isabelle & me. I'm walking Rex. I will take some after pictures when the windows are painted.

The Beautiful Outside

Isn't her beauty starting to shine thru... I knew when we bought this place it would be pretty but i am falling in love with it all over again. With every wall removed, rebuilt or just painted she is looking wonderful. So far today Marissa and Mike finished the painting in the eat-in side of the kitchen. Patrick got a few more window trim and now he is painting door frames to the bedrooms. Mike is scraping and painting the other half of the balcony. Brandon painted the porch columns for the side porch after Marissa primed them the other day. Isabelle helps where ever she can. I patched a few holes in the upstairs hallway. Now i'm going to prime the living room so I can paint it. We found 2 gallons of a dark blue in the paint room so the living room will be blue with creme curtains.

Back to work.

We have been painting up a storm...

The reason we have been working so hard on the house is because Mike starts his new job on Monday. YEAH!! Not that i haven't enjoyed him home (most of the time), but with him working a full time job & his commute an hour each way he won't get much done here. So I told him i wanted the bigger jobs on the house (that i can't do) done. I have been painting inside and he has been painting outside (I'll post pictures of the outside in the next post)

The first picture is the hallway that was the top pink, half the bottom yellow and the other half gray. (apt B) I decided to paint the hallways and door frames the same for the entire downstairs. The walls are a light brown/tan and the frames are a dark brown with a hint of green. The second picture is Mike trying to fix a crack in the wall. The third is Brandon holding Lola in the finished hallway. The fourth is the other hallway (apt A) before and the fifth is Isabelle (& Brandon) showing off mommy's paint job. The next 3 are the before and not done of the hallway to the dining room. The last picture is the wall that Mike replaced last week (to the half bath & pantry).

I'm so tired but tomorrow i am starting on the formal living room. All the furniture gets moved out so i can paint walls & trim around windows. Mike get to finally install the ceiling that I stained last summer. After I'm done with the living room I'm moving on to the library.

Yes the kids have finally been helping with not to much complaining...lol Let me get the pictures uploaded of the outside paining....

What we've been doing

LOT has been going on. The kids have been scraping and painting the trim. Mike & I got out there today and touched up what the kids missed. Mike also did around the front attic window. While i was finishing the trim around the 3 front windows and 1 side. (picture 2 & 3) Isabelle in the 4th picture shows where we removed the large weed/tree that was growing in front of the window. Now if it wasn't going to rain I would be out there painting it.
Mike got all the dry wall up for the downstairs bathroom and pantry. Also put the door frame back for the bathroom. He also taped & mudded the joints today. Plus some uneven spot in the hallway that needed it. I have been painting the hallway and trim. I took some paint that we had that were used gallons, not enough to paint the whole thing and mixed them together. Now we have enough for the entire downstiars hallway.
I want to get 1 more weed/tree removed today before the rain starts. I'll make sure and get before & after shots. TTYL Kathie

Working on the dowstairs hallway

Mike got the wall framed and the dry wall hung. I have been painting. We have many gallons of paint in similar shades so i decided to mix a couple gallons together to have enough to do the entire hallway and door frames . The first picture is Mike screwing the dry wall up. The second is the girls and Mike scrapping the wall. They found this pretty wall paper that was on the entire hallway of apt B.
This week we have been trying to get electricians out to

give us an estimate on rewiring the house.

TTYL Kathie

Mike got...

the kids to work.

New sub flooring

We have new sub flooring but the ceiling is falling off.

So Mike is up on the ladder getting the plaster off the ceiling so it won't hit anyone in the head. The kids have been outside painting the trim around the windows. And I am working on painting the girls closet. I am stripping it 4 different colors. I have made some curtain that i hope will match.lol Back to painting for me. TTYL

It's started

Mike started to rebuild the floor. All the joists are in place & he is nailing the bridging in as i type. YEAH!!

the rest of the holes in the floor

Today we are working on the rest of the water damaged areas. The hallway downstairs were we removed the center wall back by where the bathrooms used to be. The first & second picture is before we bought the house. The first is the bathroom we turned into the pantry. The second will be a half bathroom when done.The 3rd picture is Brandon removing floor boards.The rest are Mike working in the hole. He was hoping to be done with this project in 1-2 days but I'm thinking it maybe more since the wall came apart from the ceiling and dropped into the hole about 6 inches. Now he has to take the wall apart and rebuild it after he gets the new joist in the floor. The last picture is Mike posing as Capt Morgan. lol