Feels Good to Be Back In!

It's the day after Christmas, and we are BACK IN OUR HOUSE. We have working heat now, we have some electricity, and we now have running water!

Yesterday, Christmas morning, we got the best present Trent and I could have imagined. We were able to take a hot shower in our own house.

We moved back in on Saturday, the 22nd, after 2 months of living across the street at Trent's aunt and uncle's during the renovations. We had some heat in the house, but no water yet. On Sunday, we went to my mom's family Christmas in Iowa City (still no water, and had to shower across the street). Monday, Christmas Eve, Trent had to work, and our contractor came over to get the water working. He wasn't successful. He couldn't get the copper pipes to connect and broke one of the fittings. He left and told us he'd be back Wednesday to run new lines.

So Trent got new fittings while he was working, came home Monday evening, and was able to get the cold water line working! We had cold water in the faucet! Christmas Eve night we went to Trent's brother's house to celebrate with their family.

Yesterday morning on Christmas, Trent went back down and was able to get the hot water line working to the shower. He was only one fitting short of getting the hot water to the bathroom faucet, so he is picking that one up today when he gets home. We were finally able to shower in our own house and enjoy Christmas with our families yesterday! Who would have thought just getting running water in our house again would feel so satisfying!

Happy New Year!

We are only hours away from celebrating a New Year - 2018. It's been a great 2017, mostly a year of travel for us! We didn't get a lot of house projects done this year, but we are hoping that next year we will get to some bigger projects that we've been wanting to do for a while.

This New Year's, we have several inches of snow outside, and temperatures in the negative digits. But we're ready to ring in the new year with Trent's family here in town!

I hope you all have a Happy New Year, wherever you are. Stay warm everyone!

Living Room Wall Clock

Hey guys! I bought a few new things for the house online this past week. One of them was a new wall clock for the living room. Our old one had been broken for a while now. No matter how many times I changed the batteries, it always seemed to get "off." So I did a lot of looking online, and a little in the stores, too. In the end, I decided on this one from Target:

I like the distressed wood look that it has, and it was on sale for $35.99 from $40. It's pretty big - 24 inches. Our old clock was 18 inches, but the space is big enough to fit a larger clock, so we decided to try it.

It just came in the mail this week, and we hung it up today! Since it's bigger and heavier than the old one, we had to hang it a little higher and use a reinforcer with the screw.

I'm really digging it!

Here's the old one for comparison:

The new one is a bit trendier, and I feel like since it's larger, it makes more of a statement.

Definitely liking the new look. Happy Saturday, everyone!

Status of the House

I thought I would write a house-related post today, since with all of the traveling and stuff we've had going on this summer, it's been a while since we've been able to really do any home renovation projects. So I think our little house deserves a "Status of the House" post.

Our house, fall 2016

For years now, and even before I started this blog, we've had a huge list of things we've wanted to get done with this house, and we're probably not even halfway through that list. It's true that while we've done a lot with the house so far, we're not nearly as far as what we envision the end result to be in our heads.

We've made it comfortable for us for the time being, though. Comfortable enough for everyday life to take place and not have to worry too much about the house on a day to day basis. But there are so many more projects that need to happen, namely structural projects, that we're just trying to find the time to fit in with our everyday lives.

When I look back at the time of my first blog posts here, especially when I first moved in, we were thinking about the house constantly. The living room and bedroom were both in a state of renovation, and we wanted to get those projects done as soon as we could in order to live comfortably in our home.

Trent working away on the hallway floor

Now, in recent years, we've taken things a lot slower than when we first started. This has allowed us to not only live in the house and really think about what we want to do with it, but we've also been able to just experience things without worrying as much about what we need to do with the house. We've been able to fit in small, and slightly larger projects, here and there, while still being able to make memories, get married, travel, and work along the way.

So many memories in recent years!

Even though this means things may not get done as quickly as we like, we have at least been able to live in the moment and not be focused on the house 24/7, which I think is what you should do to stay sane!

So, what does the future hold for our little house? Maybe a few small house projects before the year ends, maybe a big project..we're not quite sure yet. I've been itching to start another big reno project, though. I just need to get Trent on board. ;)

Rug Cleaning Adventures

Hi all! I know I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks, but today it's Saturday and I'm home watching Netflix, so thought I would share a recent adventure we had involving rug cleaning. I know, it sounds super exciting. But it actually was a pretty exciting day in our household.

First off, our living room rug has seen better days. I bought it back in 2013 (remember this post?), and Saleen likes to rub and lick on it because of her allergies. In short, it's gotten pretty disgusting for that reason. Yep, having a dog has made us learn "we can't have nice things." I'll spare you the "before cleaning" pictures.

We had gone a while without cleaning the rug, so we decided to rent a Rug Doctor at our local Dollar General. You can rent it for $30, along with buying the solution that goes in it for about $5.

We gave it a good vacuum first. Then Trent filled it with a mix of water and the solution, and I held the edges of the rug in place while he ran the Rug Doctor over it.

While you run it over the rug, it releases the mixture of solution and water, and also has brushes underneath that vibrate while it runs.

We had to continuously refill it with more solution, since it goes through it pretty quickly. And we ran it over the rug row by row, several times to make sure we got the dirt out the best we could.

Once we were done, instead of letting it dry in the living room, we took the rug and the rug pad underneath, outside and hung them on the fence for a little over a day to fully dry out.

We didn't want it to hold onto any water between the rug and the rug pad, since that might leave a little "mustiness" in the air, and no one wants that.. Eww!

I think leaving it out in the sun probably helped bleach the stains a little bit, too. At least we like to think so. So here's the "after":

It's not perfect, but it looks visibly cleaner, for sure! I'd say renting the Rug Doctor was worth it, not to do all the time, but I'd maybe do it once a year or so.

At first I was really hesitant to let Saleen into the living room again, and wiped off every stain she left. Haha. But now I've come to the conclusion that it's inevitable that the rug WILL get dirty again.

So, moral of the story, having a nice rug + a dog with allergies, do not mix! But a good rug cleaning every now and then makes things a little nicer, at least for the time being.

New Dishwasher

We got our new dishwasher! Yesterday I shared how we ordered our new dishwasher online and were going to get it delivered, but decided to pick it up instead. It just happened to be raining cats and dogs yesterday with 20 mph winds when we wanted to pick it up, so we had to wait for the rain to clear.

Well, we kept checking the weather, and at around 6:30 pm or so, it looked like the rain was going to slow down. So we loaded the old one up into the truck and got ready to go to town.

After we got a few groceries, we went to Lowe's and got the old one dropped off (They take your old appliance to recycle at no extra charge). Then we loaded up the new one in the truck, and brought it home!

We were lucky that the rain completely stopped when we got to Lowe's, so we were all clear and dry for the drive home.

Trent got it out of the box and brought it inside. It's nothing too fancy, another portable dishwasher, since we don't have a hook-up for one in our kitchen yet.

But, it's brand new and it hasn't leaked at all yet, which is an improvement! It's very similar in style to our old one, but I think it looks a little better since it's new. It's all white, too, so it also makes the kitchen look a little brighter, I think.

I even took Before and After pictures to compare:

Before:

After:

Better, right?

I stayed home today and got some laundry and dishes done, then ran the first full load with the new dishwasher today. So far, so good! 

Eventually we hope to redo the kitchen and get all set up for a built-in one (preferably stainless), but until then this should serve us just fine. We are just glad that's all done, and we don't have to worry about the old one leaking anymore.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Rainy Days and Mondays

So it's not Monday - It's Saturday, but it's a rainy one today! April showers bring May flowers though, right? I'm just popping in while we're at home watching the Cubs game. We were supposed to get our new dishwasher delivered today (I ordered it online from Lowe's a couple of weeks ago, and it just came in), but they weren't able to deliver it until Wednesday. That didn't work for us, because we are both gone during the week working. SO..the plan was to go to town today to pick it up instead.

So right now we're still at home, waiting for the rain to slow down so we can finally pick up our dishwasher. (It's been pouring for hours now) I'm ready to get a new one, since our current one has been leaking every time we run it. It gets the kitchen floor soaking wet, so we have to put a bazillion towels down in order to run it! It's a rollaway dishwasher, too, as is the new one, since we don't yet have a hook-up in our kitchen for one.

Meanwhile, I've also been waiting for a nice day to plant these wildflowers that I got in the mail recently:

Did anyone else sign up on the Cheerios website to get wildflower seeds? It's part of their Bring Back the Bees promotion. I thought it would be fun to do!

Trent's dad just tilled up the garden last weekend for us, but since then it's been pretty rainy and chilly, so we haven't been able to plant them back there yet. I'm still itching to get some flowers for my pots, too. 

Next week, we leave for Ohio on Thursday! Trent will be a groomsman in his cousin Aaron's wedding. We are super excited to see everyone again and hang out for a few days. 

Ok, continuing to wait for the rain to slow... will keep you updated!

Hall Closet Work Continues

Happy Sunday, folks! This morning, after a pretty busy Saturday (which I'll blog about soon), we went into town to pick up a few more things for our hall closet project at Lowe's. 

One thing we needed was a transition piece for the doorway of the closet, where the closet flooring meets with the hallway floor. Both floors are wood, and pretty similar colors, so we knew we wanted a wooden transition piece, but it wasn't easy choosing the right one!

There were so many different styles, and our space is kind of tricky, because the floors are unlevel, so we think it will be a little difficult fitting the transition piece into the space. We chose one we think will work well, though.

While we were at Lowe's, we also picked up the last sheet of drywall we needed to finish the walls of the closet. We used a thinner drywall for the closet walls - 3/8 inch, to get the most room we could out of the small space. 

Trent worked on finishing the walls this afternoon, and we now have all of the drywall up and are ready to start mudding!

It took not quite 2 sheets of drywall to finish the walls. Now the next step is mudding over all of the screws and the cracks where the pieces of drywall meet. Then sanding it all to perfection!

We'll also try to fit that transition piece we got into the doorway where the 2 floors meet. You can see from the photos that it's pretty unlevel, so we'll see how that goes! And then we'll need some small trim for the inside of the closet just to create a seamless transition between the floor and walls.

Another thing we've done is changed the door hinges out. Before, they were the gold hinges that came with the door, and Trent switched them to white ones to blend in more with the door and trim.

It's just a little detail, but I feel like these hinges are a little more "low profile." They don't stick out like sore thumbs anymore!  

So, that's where we're at with the hall closet now that we were finally able to pick up some more supplies. Hoping to share a little about what else we did over the weekend, as well as how we're spending our Valentine's Day soon! Have a great night y'all!

Four-Year Blogiversary

Today marks FOUR YEARS since I started blogging regularly on this little space on the web. In January of 2013, I decided to regularly document our progress with our century-old home, and from there, it turned into so much more than just a home renovation blog.

I've not just documented home improvement projects on here, but I've been able to document our lives. This blog has allowed me to share my thoughts on decor, along with some fun, inspirational and photo-filled posts, too. From travel posts to recipes, and even wedding planning - this is like my little creative exploration space, and I thank each and every person who has stopped by and checked this blog out or featured it on their own site.

I've had fun writing and putting posts together, but I think it's been the most fun being able to capture moments from our lives that we can now look back on and remember like they were yesterday.

I hope I can continue documenting our home and our lives for years to come! And maybe provide inspiration for someone else's next home project, craft, or future travel plans! So thanks everyone for reading and for your continued support. It's been a great four years. :)

Hall Closet: Getting a Floor and Walls

Yesterday, we started working on our hall closet again. We're hoping to get it finished soon! It only had a subfloor and some framework when we started yesterday afternoon, and then Trent laid the wooden floor:

It's a floating floor, so no nails required. The wood panels "lock" together. We got a set from the Habitat ReStore a few years ago and finally got to put them in! It didn't take too long for Trent to get the floor down, since the space is super small.

Then he started on cutting the drywall and screwing it into the studs. He got the walls about halfway up before he stopped for the night.

I think he did a pretty good job so far. It feels like some good progress for just one day!

It's cool to see this little hall closet coming together. And after taking a break from working on the house for a while, it's also pretty satisfying to start another reno project and see the space taking shape.

So what's next? Well, after the walls are all up, then the cracks and nails will need mudded and sanded. We'll also need floor trim and a threshold put down in the doorway. Then we'll prime and paint the walls and ceiling, and install some shelves.

I can't wait to store my towels, vacuum, and cleaning supplies in an efficient manner for once! Progress is nice. :)