Xmas

We had a very nice and hectic xmas!!!!! We traveled to Chicago from Wisconsin to visit family and friends. The kids had a great time!! Xmas day we stayed home and relaxed.It was a so peaceful until we realized we didn't have any groceries!!!!! We were so busy working up until Xmas Eve that we didn't have time to buy food for Xmas dinner.I went to three grocery stores in town (one of which is always open on holidays) but they were ALL closed!!! I wasn't the only person driving around town looking for a grocery store so i didn't feel so dumb!!!! Good old Walgreens was open!!!! So we had a lovely feast of frozen pizza and snacks!!!! The kids didn't seem to mind since we had a great dinner the night before and they were too busy playing with all their stuff!!!! It has been really hard for my husband and I to recoup since this is the busiest time of year in our industry(beauty business) luckily ,the economy has not affected our work.People still want to look good!!!! Here are photos from Xmas!!!

Living room

This is my living room at the moment.I loved how the sun was coming in through the window and shining on my xmas present!!!! Next year I will be reupholstering the Victorian sofa.I would like a chocolate brown velvet to cover it.The last thing to do to this room is to put up my chandelier !!!!!

Cold,cold,cold!!!!!

Today is bitter cold here in Wisconsin. Normally our house feels too warm because of the wood burning stove.Today I just can't seem to warm up.We have had the stove burning on high all day.It is negative 4 degrees and let me tell you it is miserable!!!!!! Friday we had our first snow blizzard and everyone called in to work but not Trent he was determined to go to work.We live an hour away so Friday it took an hour and forty five minutes to get there.I just can't wait for xmas to be over so we can relax!!!!! I feel stressed out !!! I still need to get a few more presents .I will be one of the crazies out on Xmas eve shopping!!!! Hope everyone is well and warm!!!!!!

Now you see it ,Now you don't!!!!!

We have collected so many supplies and tools to do all our projects but have no where to hide them!!!! In our laundry/shampoo room
there are very cool built in cabinets.My husband decided that is where all the tools should go.Sounds great,but one flaw to that plan is that they don't all fit!!!!! I think my teenage son said you should just put up a curtain so you don't freak out about the mess when clients come over.It gets old saying," excuse our construction zone!!!!!" This weekend hubby put up a pole (actually a conduit pole) and some hooks and now it is a custom curtain rod!!!! I temporarily put up some curtains that i made for my bedroom a few years ago.It is temporary.I will be buying some new curtains soon,but with xmas around the corner it will have to wait.This is the before and after.

Thankful!!!

I am very thankful for all my husband Trent has done for our family!!! He has put a lot of his time into fixing up our home.This house is really starting to shine!!!! The basement bathroom is just about done.We still have to install a door and finish up the subway tile. This weekend we will look for a door that will fit the space.Today I am thankful for having someone who loves his family enough to give us a beautiful home!!!!

xmas photos

Here is my pink tree and we still have a very traditional tree!!!! My mantel is holding my Santa collection,It is starting to feel like xmas!!!!

Subway tile!!!!!

I have loved subway tile forever even before it became trendy!!!! We just put up some in the basement bathroom.On the wall in the very back of the tub.The kids get water everywhere when they take a bath.That is why I am Loving having the basement bathroom.I don't have to worry about water on the tin ceiling that is under the upstairs main bathroom!!!!! I don't know how we lived before our second bathroom .It was 4 very long years of kids pounding on the door when you were trying to take a relaxing bath!!!!! Next year we are adding a master bathroom!!!!! It won't be huge but it will have a claw foot tub w/ brass feet. Here are photos of the subway tile wall,we ran out of tile when we where almost done(of course!!!!) So I will have to buy more next week!!!!

Basement update!!!!

We are about 90 percent done with our basement redo!!! The bathroom is just about done,we have one wall to tile in back of the claw foot tub.We are using subway tile.Hopefully we can finish that this weekend!!!! The middle hang out room still needs a floor and we decided to put in electric baseboard heat. I will be excited when I can put up a flat screen tv and throw the toys down there!!!! Here is a sneak peek!!!!

Thanksgiving Day

We had a very low key Thanksgiving dinner at home.Hubby did most of the cooking and I baked the pumpkin pies. We had our 6 year old son Julian as our assistant!!!! Also our son Trent turned eleven yesterday!!!!! We gave Trent our presents but we will have a party on a different day as well. It was definitely nice staying home.We usually go to Chicago to friends or family's houses but this year we didn't want to drive. My husband had to work today so that makes getting up harder when you drive late the night before.I actually dressed up yesterday . I am tired of being in paint splattered and drywall mud covered outfits!!!! Here are pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner !!!!

Re-mudding

I spent the day yesterday painting our middle section of the basement.When I was all done I decided I needed to re-mud a few spots!!!! UGGGH!!!!! I am feeling a little depressed about the state of our basement!!! It is an ongoing project. I am hoping to lightly sand the spots later today and pray they are done!!!! I only have a small amount of paint left so I probably will need to go to Lowes and buy more!!!! On the bright side I really like the color i picked out!!!! It is a grayish,slightly greenish blue. I also will re-mop the floor to try to get all the drywall dust off.We will be putting a laminate wood floor down but not right away .

Victorian sofa

I am so excited!!!! We finally found an antique Victorian sofa !!!!! I have been wanting one for years.The ones I saw were always outrages prices.Well,I found one on Craig's list for a really great price!!!! It will be reupholstered eventually but for now I am happy!!!!! It is pink!!!! I just put a faux- fur throw on the seat where the repairs are needed.The sofa is from the late 1800"s so it feels like it belongs in the house!!!! I bought batteries for camera so here are a few photos!!!

Not quite done!!!!

I have to say I got my hopes up too soon about painting.There was more sanding to be done and a few spots needed to be re-mudded.I am so over this basement project!!!! It just keeps lingering on!!! I was able to paint a closet and one wall, so that was cool!!! Now I have a cold and feel like crap but over all feel better than last week.I didn't write about it but I sliced my finger open with a knife.It was pretty nasty but it is healing nicely!!! I probably shouldn't be painting but this needs to get done and I go back to work on Sat. so I have to get used to using my thumb again.My camera ran out of batteries so I can't post photos until this weekend!!!

Painting,finally!!!!

Today,I will finally start painting the basement!!!! My daughters room is down there and we will start with her room.She picked out a really pretty pink .I am excited to get our house back in order.The last thing we have to do is put in the laminate wood floor but hubby thinks we will have to wait until after xmas (darn!!!) We also have to tile one wall in the bathroom w/ subway tile . I am in the process of picking out colors for the middle room in basement(hangout room).I am leaning toward an accent wall of gold/mustard and the other walls a grayish/blue.When we are all done I will repaint our laundry/shampoo room a slate blue also.So much painting so little time!!!!

Sneak peek!!!!

I have been looking for lockers to buy for a long time. Tuesday,hubby and I picked up lockers in Illinois that I found on Craig's list!!!!! I should of bought a second set but we really don't have room in our current house(darn!!!) .Originally I envisioned these lockers in the basement .That is where our hangout room will be.But,sadly hubby doesn't think they will fit down the narrow stairway.So,we put them in our living room.I absolutely love them.They will help with clutter.We are painting the doors different colors.Each kid gets to pick the color for their locker.My two youngest wanted to paint theirs so here is a photo of them painting with some help.There is a lot of prep taping involved so I have no idea when I will finish.I have 5 more to go!!!!

Halloween

In our town we trick or treated last Sunday in the afternoon.It was a cold miserable day!!!! I think we lasted an hour and a half. I love this time of year!!!!! While we were walking I took pictures of some of the houses I love!!!

Basement update

This past weekend was very busy.My hubby decided to work on rewiring the basement.We pulled old wires and put new ones in.He made a lot of new outlets(always needed) My teenage son helped with putting up some insulation.i am hoping we can start closing up some walls and then start the fun stuff!!!!! I love to paint so I am anxious!!!!!

Electric!!!(still working on it!!!!)

Sunday our electrician cancelled and my hubby and I decided we need to wrap this up.So,we started opening walls and added 3 new outlets and a light in our closet by ourselves!!!!! We had two locations that didn't work out ,not a problem!!! I stopped freaking out about holes in the walls .I know they will get patched up!!!! It is so good to finally see my clothes in the closet.My side was so dark and I forgot about a lot of clothes I had because I never saw them. I hope we can go into the basement today and work on the bathroom!!!!

Pictures of new electric!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of our new electric!!!! I tried not to follow the electrician around with my camera but I needed some photos to show you!!!! I poked my head thru the attic opening and snapped away!!!! For me having more outlets was the exciting part!!!! I think we have one more day of the electrician coming over.i hope we will be done ,I want to continue with the bathroom and basement.We stopped everything because we had to put our funds toward the electric.The first picture is of hubby (he is the junior electrician!!!!)The last picture is our old wiring!!!!

Back from weekend getaway!!!!

This weekend hubby and I went to Michigan for a retreat.We had a blast!!!! I thought I would come back rested but we ended up staying up half the night( every night) that I am exhausted!!!!! i was also sorry i booked clients for us to do on Monday but that is what pays the bills!!!! Today the electrician came back and was working on our upper level switching out old wires and adding new outlets!!!! I am excited about getting an outlet on my side of the room!!!! We basically ran extension cord to extension cord and it looked so ugly!!!! My pet peeve is wires from all the "stuff" (computers,tv's ,etc.) Hopefully when we are all done the rooms will look tidier!!!! I tried to sneak a few photos while they were working but I did not want to explain why I was taking pictures for my blog.I will post them tomorrow!!!!

New electric!!!!!

It has been an exciting time around our house.We are rewiring the whole house with "new electric"!!!! So far we only had to tear apart one wall!!!! It was one we just put up in the spring.Hubby sealed it up right away.It just needs more mud and sanding and then I will repaint. We have an electrician doing the job with hubby as his apprentice.Trent is learning so much (for our next house!!!!) There is probably one more day of work next week and we should be all good!!!! This house is from 1898 and we had an outlet per room so we had extension cords running all over. This will be much safer!!! Also they will add outlets outside and more lighting.

A good nights sleep!!!!!

Lately I have been super tired!!!We have been doing a lot of projects so I thought that my back hurting was due to over working.Every morning I woke up with a lower back ache.My husband starting complaining as well!!! Well we finally bought new mattresses for our bed!! Yeah!!!! They are Verlo pillow top and all I can say is that I LOVE THEM!!!!!! I finally have had a good nights sleep.

Basement walls

These are photos of the basement walls.We are studding to add dry wall.I put waterproofing cement on the brick in certain spots that had moisture and some just in case.I need to do a little more before we insulate and run more electric .