Yellow

Another holiday has come and gone and we are still chillin in limbo. But we are in the home stretch. We had a bank inspection on Monday and everything that was on the original budget/bank loan needed to be complete. We were nervous about this. Me especially. I've been nervous about all things bank related since July. But the inspector signed off on everything, so we are just praying that everything gets processed okay. It's at least a step in the right direction! We still have one final bank inspection/appraisal and then the final building inspection. We hope to have closure by the end of this week! Once the work to get the house ready for inspections is done, the work will begin to move in. That's a whole different animal I'm not quite ready to deal with. Didn't we JUST move?!

Things have been coming together quite well, I would have to say. It's scary waiting to see how things you picked out in October actually look in the house. I feel like my tastes have changed a little even in the past six months. Overall I think everything is working out and not displeasing to the eye. But there have also been some definite hiccups these past few weeks. Full disclosure: it's not all fun and games in the renovation business. 

- I previously mentioned that Ben and my dad had painted all of the new drywall/addition areas back in February. Then we had someone come in and paint the trim. He did, and it looks great, but he over-sprayed a lot in the process, not realizing that the walls were done. He assumed they needed the second coat yet. When we walked in one evening and saw this, our hearts just sank. We felt like we were in a good spot, and then it felt like we took two steps backwards. He made it right and fixed all of the walls over the course of the next few days, though there are still some spots where it looks like the wrong sheen or maybe even color was used. Not noticeable enough for us to address right now. In general, the walls, doors, trim, etc. all look great.

- Lighting fixtures turned out to be one of the bigger headaches to date in my opinion. I completely stressed over this. Anything I loved came at a steep price. We finally got to the point where I had waited too long to pull the trigger and the electricians needed fixtures. So we went to Home Depot one rainy Sunday on the way to a birthday party and got what we needed. We ended up just getting inexpensive fixtures that we didn't hate, knowing it was nothing a can of spray paint couldn't fix. My sister-in-law actually once called me the spray paint queen, so I'm always good for a project. Sometimes I just walk down that aisle at Menards to imagine what I can re-fresh next. Did I just say that out loud? Spoiler alert...I actually really like the lighting fixtures now that everything is in place. My favorite fixture might be the one over the kitchen sink that cost $13. Winning. 

- There was some major miscommunication around plumbing fixtures. I had picked everything out back in October for the downstairs bathroom, December for the master bath and January for the kitchen. I didn't give anything a second thought. Then Greg called last Friday morning when I was at a conference in Grand Rapids. Apparently about half of the fixtures were missing at the house and the plumbers were there waiting. I called the showroom and they only had part of the order. They were going to look into it. I never heard back, so when I was finally back in Holland I drove right there to see what was going on. I ended up taking several things back to the house with me and they ordered everything else to be delivered on Monday. Everything is now installed and looks great, but that was frustrating. When I filled Ben in he said "wow, bet you're mad huh?" and I said "yes, but I don't know at who! Seems like there's an unnecessary middle man here and I don't know who dropped the ball. I might actually just be mad at you." And Ben will concur that most of the anger and frustration does end up directed at him. Poor guy.

-I mentioned before that the boys wanted yellow bedrooms. They were also, for a time, arguing with each other and with me over who was getting which room. So my genius plan was to pick one "yellow that's not really yellow" and paint all three original bedrooms the same so that which boy ends up in which room could be a game time move-in decision and all would be happy (except Mom. Because yellow). I hemmed and hawed over swatches and narrowed it down to three. I took those along with three boys (I had our nephew Gavin, Colt's age, as well that day) back to Repcolite to make a decision. I told the lady there what my plan was and she said, "Let me show you 'Straw'..." and it seemed fine to me so I bought three gallons. No sample. Just three gallons. No risk no reward. In this case, minor risk, zero reward. I started painting that night and HATED it. Just hated it. Ben tried to make me feel better about it but I was not happy. I looked again the next morning and still hated it. It has now kind of grown on me. I wouldn't say I love it, but the boys do, so I guess I just need to get over it. They've also come to an agreement on who gets what room, but I give it about three nights before they want to share a room again anyways. Whatever. They've been sharing at the rental and it goes really well. In fact, the past few nights I've had to put Ellis back in his crib because he keeps trying to sleep in Colter's bed. Who am I kidding, it's kind of adorable.

- Most of the windows were replaced in December and January. There was one window that came in wrong, so we needed a new one. The new one was also wrong apparently, so there has just been this one window that hasn't been replaced. The opening was framed and covered with foam board and they were able to side around it. They were FINALLY able to get the last window in a few days ago! Yesssss...check that off the list. Only bummer is that the painter is done and gone and we don't have time to wait, so I just painted the trim myself. It doesn't look near as good as the professionally painted trim, but good enough for Ellis' room I guess. It's just going to end up covered with cars and Fruit Loops anyways. 

Most everything else has gone very smoothly. Plumbers are done, siding is done, electricians are done, HVAC is done, driveway/garage approach is poured...we are pretty much down to some interior things that need to be addressed before the inspections. One thing not covered by the bank but that we wanted done before we moved were the original bedrooms. My dad took charge of these, patching and repairing all of the water damage, crumbling plaster, etc. Then, they needed to be primed with oil-based primer, since we found remnants of wall paper and if there is any glue, it would just smear around if you tried to paint. The stuff you learn when you listen to your dad. My dad and I primed the rooms, including ceilings, one Friday morning. We were a little wobbly by the end. That stuff is nasty. At one point, Corey (Countryside) was on the roof right outside the bedroom window and he popped his head in to check on us to make sure we weren't going to pass out. Thankfully it was a nice day and we could open all the windows without freezing. 

Ben installed the yellow pine flooring upstairs this weekend, which was really the biggest thing left on the list. He got as far as he could before he ran out of wood. Somebody mis-measured. And it wasn't me. We still need a railing/banister at the top of the new staircase, which is built and just needs to be installed. A few door knobs need to be installed, a little painting needs to be done. Other than that, we should be in good shape for the bank. Then, before we move in, we need to clean. I've been tackling this a little the past week, with the help of our moms. It's amazing what a difference a few hours can make. So so good for my mental health. In one of these cleaning sessions, The Moms successfully talked me into trashing the monstrous sectional sofa we had been storing at the Farmhouse. We got it out of our basement in Zeeland and brought it right to the Farmhouse. There wasn't room in the PODS or at the rental, so this seemed logical. Maybe it would have been, if we had somehow covered and protected it. Instead, it ended up with months worth of drywall dust, insulation, maybe asbestos, maybe lead paint, embedded in the fibers. I was still planning to get it cleaned. Well, The Moms talked me out of it, I convinced Ben, and we tossed it in the dumpster. We bought it used from Ben's coworker about six years ago, and it was several years old by then already, so it had lived a good life. But old schmold, that thing was comfy. Oh well. Bye bye big guy

Biscuit jointing the downstairs bathroom vanity top. This was about 11:30pm on a Saturday. 

Dad patching the walls

He was on ceiling paint duty...what a guy.

Finishing up the siding. Looks safe.

Grouting the shower

Ready to make fast decisions on lighting

Luckily for me, the trip to Repcolite with three little buys included a stalled train across the street. Kept them occupied for minutes.

Ellis' legit reaction to the yellow rooms. Jumping for joy. This picture actually seems okay now that I look at it. Much different in person.

My poor Acadia has some hard miles on it from the past 8 months.

Concrete guys prepping for steps and driveway

The last window...I was so excited. Hank told me they charge extra for photos, so if this blog ever makes money I hereby promise to give him five dollars.

My man...working hard to give me the floor I never wanted. I actually do really like it a lot now that it's in. One might call it a leap of faith, since all of the professionals warned us against it and we never even saw a sample of the stuff we actually ordered. I do love those knots though...

Big helpers. Uncle Mike happened to bring over a bunch of hand-me-down toys that morning, including new tools. 

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Do Nothing Small

Ben came down with something last weekend, so I suggested he have some Thieves Tea. I drank this many nights this winter and generally stayed pretty healthy. If you know anything about essential oils, you probably know more than I do. But I do buy into the health benefits of Thieves. So anyways, the tea is hot water, a drop or two of Thieves oil, some lemon oil or fresh lemon, and honey. Ben knows this. I've made it for him before. I reminded him this was the recipe. What he did instead was to fill a glass with cold water, add four drops of Thieves (which is A LOT), lemon juice, and honey. I went crazy bug eyes on him when he told me four drops, and he replied, very seriously, “do nothing small”. Ain't that the truth. 

The plan is to be done by the end of March. In fact, the bank says we HAVE to be done by the end of March. “Done” means Phase I plus the kitchen will be complete. This doesn't include updates we want to do to the original rooms, the front porch, the barn, the landscaping...but done enough that the bank will sign off and give us the rest of our money, and we can move in. The way this loan has worked is that 10% of every draw is held back until final inspections, when the inspector, the contractor, and Ben and I all agree that the project is complete. So the 10% differential between what the bank gives us and what we owe the contractor is out of pocket for now. So move in day will technically be kind of lucrative, even if just replenishing the savings account. But four-ish weeks!! This is both incredibly exciting and daunting. In four weeks we might be living at the Farmhouse. But that also means that for four weeks there will be no sleep.

The bathroom floors are tiled, grouted and sealed. This was kind of a bummer for Ben, because it was very time consuming and he was very critical of his work. Apparently cute little hexagon tiles are kind of unforgiving when laid without spacers. Snobs. I still really like the floors and will probably spend the next 15 years convincing Ben of the same.

brand new master bath

downstairs remodel

The ceilings in the new family room upstairs and our bedroom are finished with tongue and groove pine paneling. There were a few reasons for this. First, Ben likes wood and didn't think he already had enough on his plate. But more seriously, installing these ourselves would save enough in drywalling costs to cover all of the new drywall in the kitchen which was an unanticipated expense right now. So, it seemed like a good idea. Ben's mom also pointed out that we still have an old house that will continue to settle, and wood ceilings won't crack like drywall will. Seems reasonable. We are going to paint these white, ultimately, but there was no space to do that right now before we hung them. We did prime all of the tongues and grooves so that once they are hung we can quickly (hopefully) run over them with a roller. Funny thing about the partially primed boards is that when up on the ceiling, they kind of look white washed and somewhat cool. Like...we might be so sick of projects that we might just leave them. We had a lot of help with these. My brother Matt helped paint one evening, my dad helped a lot with hanging, Ben's cousin Chris helped hang, and I helped hang. I asked Ben if I was the worst assistant and he said I definitely was. I think it's just because I panic sometimes when I'm afraid he's going to tumble down the stairs to serious injury. He did also say that I was the hottest. I will take it. 

Oh yeah, and Ellis helped too.

The tub/shower surround in the main floor bathroom is tiled and just needs to be grouted and sealed. This was a solid day's work and really, REALLY, displays the slope in the charming edifice. Old house problems. The bottom row and the top row are both pretty janky but the REST of the rows are perfectly level. I promise. This sloping issue is why Greg talked me out of kitchen cabinets going all the way up to the ceiling like I wanted. I should have applied the same reasoning here, but oh well. Guess I better keep my day job.

Speaking of kitchen cabinets, the uppers are in and look great even though they stop six inches below the ceiling. I'm over it, really. They need some crown molding and hardware yet, which we need to re-think a little. Ben was set on getting cup pulls, or half moon pulls, like a good old farmhouse should have. However, the top drawers don't have much space on them due to the shaker faces so I don't think those will work. It's alright, we'll (I'll) figure something out. It's about time I get to make a decision. I've started keeping track and right now, I think I've only won on the garage door. He has somehow weaseled agreement out of me on things I still think are a mistake. Like wood floors in the mudroom/laundry room and MORE pine flooring than we already have upstairs. Not only that, he talked me into natural yellow pine floors. I don't even know who I am anymore. I digress. The kitchen counters are also in and I love them. I guess I technically chose these too...at least going with polished side over the honed side. I'm so glad we were able to get past our little miss-communication on those and that the guys didn't strike us from their schedule. 

Delivering the counters. Nice bird's eye shot, Ben.

Countryside has been back the past few weeks and most of the interior doors and trim work is finished. We're having someone paint all of the doors, windows, and other new trim. This will save us a ton of time and will look a ton better, likely. They should also be finishing up siding next week. Things are really starting to wrap up! There's a bunch to do yet this month, including a ton of cleaning. Aside from the new stuff, we'd also really like to get the boys bedrooms painted, but they need a significant amount of patching first. Recall that Ben took the old radiator runs out so there are several inches of walls that haven't seen the light of day in maybe forever, and a bunch of plaster also came off with the runs. There's also water damage and other cracks in the plaster throughout. My dad has been working on patching the bedrooms this week, which we are so thankful for. He knows what he's doing, and it's one less thing to worry about. He's retired now, which works out pretty great for us.

Both of the bathrooms need some vanity work. Like any good dutch people, we can't pass up a good retro-fit project. For the downstairs we found some cool black cabinets at the Habitat for Humanity restore, and Ben is making a counter top out of reclaimed wall studs pulled from the house. For the upstairs bathroom, oh wow, I found a gem. I had wanted to find a dresser or buffet, something vintage to paint and drop a sink in for a unique and old feel. I found a few pieces at local thrift stores that I thought could work, but needed some color inspiration. So I went to R. Lucas Scott one day, a fine retailer of Annie Sloan chalk paint. And what to my wondering eyes should appear but a fabulous piece of Victorian gold. Sold. It was of course a nasty snowy day in December and Ben was too busy working on the house to help me. Normally something like that should fit in my Acadia, but not with car seats in the middle row and it was time to pick up the boys. So my dad came back with me and the boys and a trailer (I was too chicken to maneuver the trailer myself on an icy day) and we hauled it home, but not before the boys spent 15 minutes chasing around the shop dog. This thing is the perfect size, already painted and sealed, and adds a pop of color to the otherwise white and gray bathroom. Don't worry, Ben has watched the “This Old House” video of how to make a vanity out of a dresser about 8 times.

I don't know where the middle drawers are. If you've been in the house since we took over you understand why.

A few weekends ago the boys and I made work of cleaning out one of the bedrooms upstairs so that I could vacuum and they could have a safe space to play and hang. I put them to work collecting nails and screws and they were actually quite helpful. Also, they have their own Mickey Mouse work gloves thanks to Lowes and Ben. Having this space has worked out well for weekend afternoon rest time. We set up our laptop with DVDs, bring blankets and pillows and tons of snacks. They are happy to be at the house and we are happy to both be there getting work done.

Acid washed jeans went out of style in the 80s, right?  I don't know, I was only 5 at the turn of that decade.

We've got some sitters lined up for the weekend so we can keep working, thanks to nieces who live nearby and Grandpa and Grandma Reuschel. Last weekend they went to Tim and Tiff's. A few afternoons they've been by Grandma Stob. They've spent extra time at daycare. We've been trying to keep things as stable for the boys as we can, but we're kind of at the point where we just need to push through and finish. At least when we offload them on someone else they have lots of fun!

Ellis loves to pretend he's "working". But he has to look like Ben to do so.

We may or may not let the boys "drive" between the Farmhouse and the rental sometimes. Maybe. But don't tell the cops.

Now's the point in the HGTV show where everybody scrambles to get everything done in the last 5 minutes. But to us, 5 minutes will feel like 30 days. I think maybe we will be able to relax a little in April. That is after we take care of a diabetic dog for a neighbor/friend/co-worker that needs insulin shots twice a day. Why not.