before and after :: mudroom

The first major project of 2019 is in the books...lockers for the mudroom! When we were renovating in 2016 we opted to hold on any built-in solution here because we were tired of making decisions. We found an old TV cabinet-turned-armoire at a second hand store for twenty bucks, hung some hooks and a shelf, and brought over the cubby/bench Ben had built at our old house. This suited our needs for nearly three years, but we were beyond ready to move on a permanent solution. Side note...It's hard to believe we've been living here for three years. It's also hard to look at our to-do list as there is so much we haven't gotten to. Because life/two jobs/three kids/four pets. But those kids and pets are loved, and those jobs are good, and we cannot complain.

finished!

before: dark, cluttered, nobody knew where anything was.

We went back and forth on the design of the lockers many times, but ultimately knew a few key things. 1) we did not want drawers on the bottom because we knew we would not take the time to open them to put shoes in and we would just end up with shoes all over the floor. still. 2) we did want some level of hidden space for seasonal storage. 3) we wanted lots of hooks. 4) we wanted the lockers to be wide enough so we could actually sit on the bench as needed to put shoes on.

Top picture is the end result. The bench is made from reclaimed 2x4s that we pulled from our house during demo. It so SO COOL...the woodgrain is awesome. Ben put a ton of effort into planing down those boards and piecing them together to create the bench. 

the unfinished living room serves as a wonderful work area! spilled paint? who cares?! true story. I spilled a bunch of paint in here.

The back of the lockers was designed to mimic the opposite wall in the mudroom, which is original to the house. This wall was the exterior before we put the addition on and we found these boards under many layers of siding. I loved them and had no desire to drywall over them.

A "someday" project is to use the rest of the wood from the lockers to fill in the west wall here so it appears to be seamless. Purely aesthetic, which we have little time for these days. 

The process of building and installing the lockers was interesting. Ben mainly built the system in the garage and installed bit by bit. The first part to go in was the overhead cabinets, which he only had me to help him with. We were able to use the old TV cabinet as leverage and somehow managed to hang it. Super stressful. The next piece to go in was the open locker part, which Ben happened to finish in the garage on New Years Eve, a few hours before we were having friends over. Conveniently, our friends agreed to help Ben install this and yes, it took five grown men. Ben does not under-build anything!

After this things got a little squirrely because Ben broke his right hand on January 2, 2019. This meant he could not work for two months, giving him plenty of time at home, but he still had a bum hand and lots of kids around thanks to Mother Nature and her many, many snow days. Regardless, he was able to finish and install the bench and get a few hooks hung so that we could start using the lockers. 

oh babe.

our street was a parking lot for the better part of two days. even a county snow plow got stuck for a while.

Ben, tired of digging people out, fashioned a warning sign. this still makes me laugh! looks like the plot of a horror film.

4th snow day in a row called for some creativity.

Ben went back to work in March and that month was a blur. March ended with Colter and Ellis being sick for an entire week, missing the last four days of school before Spring Break. But fortunately they were okay for our short trip to Kentucky. It was so good to get away as a family! 

that's Ellis pushing Clifford in the baby swing, if that wasn't clear.

When we got home from SB19 we got serious about finishing the lockers, which basically meant painting the doors Ben had already made, filling nail holes/sanding/final coat of paint on the lockers, and hanging the rest of the hooks. Once we powered through those less than fun tasks, the project was complete and we couldn't be happier. Feels like a breath of fresh air walking through there now with tools picked up and everyone's stuff organized. The biggest drama revolved around who got which locker. Colter and Ellis both wanted to be by Ben and Jameson. We finally convinced Colter that it wasn't the worst thing to be by me (yes, CONVINCED), and so the order goes Car, Colt, Jay, Ellis, Ben. Good thing mama bear has some thick skin.

genius spray paint set up by Ben allowed me to spray both sides of the doors at the same time. 

That's it from inside the Reuschel house for a while...I think...we try to keep spring and summer projects outside if we can! Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don't. We'll just see what the next months bring. We asked Colter and Ellis if they wanted to play baseball and t-ball this spring and they both said no. We high-fived when they weren't looking. We're all for experiences for our kids, but man...it's also nice to be home in the evenings. Maybe next year we'll push them a little harder :)

"hey dad, buildin' a barn, huh?"

I just realized that I only did one blog post in 2018. It completely got away from me. Two kids in school full time at different locations for this year means keeping track of two sets of schedules, bus routes, and activities. Both big boys played soccer this fall. Ben went to day shift in October which prompted me to change my hours for this school year to work five shorter days instead of four normal days. This allows us to fully manage before and after school care with just a little help here and there from a grandparent. It was tricky both changing schedules at the same time, but we sort of figured it out. In December we both got new vehicles within a few days of each other. We'd been putting off replacing the Fusion for a while but finally decided to just do it. We needed something that fit our family of five a little better. As I was signing the paperwork for a minivan (I'm a real mom now) on December 27, we got a death sentence for the Acadia. It needed far more work than we were willing to put into it. So our car guy, neighbor, and small group member Tony found Ben an old 4Runner with a ton of miles on it. It's perfect for him and he loves it almost as much as I love my Sienna (something I never thought I would say). So 2018 went out with a bang, and we're off to an interesting start to 2019 as Ben broke his hand on January 2 and hasn't worked since. Super Dad has instead been home to manage sick days (Jameson) and snow days (all). Works out great for me during year-end, but we are still ready for health and some less angry weather! Stay safe and warm out there, hopefully warmer than the 55 degrees we woke up to yesterday. Furnace vent issue which Ben took care of. We're back in business...

The first major snowfall of the year has me thinking about how the old corn crib we inherited with our property could collapse any day. It's being held up by a row of trees to the east, and the holes in the roof grow larger with each storm. 2019 might be the year we have to say goodbye to it. Which leads me to post about Ben's best year, 2018, the year he got a new barn. He would say better than the year he gained a wife. Emil is a close second if not actually the best thing that's ever happened to him. Kids are negotiable, depending on the day. I'm basing this ordering solely on the content of his camera roll. I still know he loves me the best sometimes.

the leaning corn crib of Fillmore

Back when we lived at our old house on Huizenga, Ben upgraded the 8x12 shed that came with it to a 12x16 barn. Our timing has always been a little 'off' and this was no different. We had a fall weekend camping trip scheduled at Triponds for the four (at the time) of us, but before we headed out Ben just HAD to get the cement poured for the barn floor. So instead of leisurely leaving for a weekend away on Friday afternoon, we had a house full of cops and family to help get the cement poured. I packed up by myself, and we finally arrived at Triponds around 7:00 PM after the flatwork was done. After we ate, unpacked, and explored a little, we tried to get the kids (2 and a half and almost 1) asleep. While Ben was laying with Colter, he out of the blue said "hey dad, buildin' a barn, huh?" like he was an adult making conversation with his best friend. So blasted cute...we still laugh about it.

September 2014

Well, dad went and built an even bigger barn this time. 30x40 with a 10 foot leanto off the back and a full loft. And we couldn't be more happy with how it turned out and the space it provides us to live more comfortably. After Ben built the dog kennels in the garage and started taking his work vehicle home every day, we quickly ran out of space. It was time to build a new barn to prepare for someday (read: any day) taking down the corn crib that was original to the Farmhouse. I'd like to point out that day will be really sad. It's a cool old thing and the romanticists in us considered rebuilding it rather than tearing it down, but it just wasn't feasible.

Anyways, Ben started drawing plans and getting quotes from builders back in January of 2018. We ended up going with B&E Builders based on a recommendation from my sister-in-law, Lena, and they broke ground in May. Before they could do that though, Ben had to take a tree down. This isn't anything new...he lives for this stuff. His brother-in-law Mike and my dad came over on a chilly Saturday in April and notched and knocked that thing down. As it was falling, Tim and Tiffany (my brother and sister-in-law) drove up to drop their kids off for the weekend so they could take off on a work trip. Have I said before that we have awesome timing with projects? Extra kids for the weekend of tree removal? So typical. Oh also, it was Spring Break and we had two extra K9s for the weekend. C R A Z Y.

Saro, Flynn and Emil

I digress. Tree came down, got cleared away, and B&E came to excavate in mid-May. We ended up with a 30x50 sandbox for a few weeks until they started building, which we all loved quite honestly. The kids played out there a lot, and Ben and I may have enjoyed a cocktail or two in our bathing suits pretending we were at a real beach. Embracing the here and now is what we call that. By June they were rolling on the building process and I was stressing out about siding color. I didn't sleep for two nights and I'm not kidding. Jason at Overisel Lumber, my dad, my mom, Ben, his mom, his dad, and probably some others can attest to my indecision. We wanted a red barn but not TOO red and not brown...and ultimately went with Autumn Red and we are quite happy with it. I must say though that the vinyl sample didn't do it justice. When choosing a high price, not going to return it, too expensive to replace item, trust your gut and then take some NyQuil and get some sleep. You're welcome for the PSA.

photo cred: Ellis

another view of the leaning wonder

funny story, the gray shed next to the corn crib is the original 8x12 shed from the Huizenga house. it lived at Mike's house for a while but came back to us when he built his barn. it will be my she shed someday, supposedly. 

taking the neighbor kids for a ride!

terrifying for their mom, I'm sure.

While B&E was building the structure, Ben was busy designing and building the cupola, the crown jewel of this barn. It turned out awesome, and he got some street cred from the builders when they saw it. Ben talked me into getting on the roof one Friday night to help him install it. Once I was up there it was kind of fun I guess, but also super scary and I literally didn't move for about 10 minutes. The next Monday they came back and said, "Do you have some craftsman experience?" He still beams when I repeat this, many months later.

Roof went on, siding went on, we left for our annual Big Star vacation in July, and when we came home it was done! So much fun to empty out the garage and corn crib and start filling up the barn. It got pretty full pretty quick, but Ben has plans to organize this year. First priority was getting the garage cleaned out so we could park in there again. Second was getting valuable items out of the leaky corn crib. Ben also spent the better part of September and October digging trenches and running electrical to the barn, and it's officially got power. The barn still needs a few things, like a garage door opener, insulation, shelving, poly on the loft floor, a railing for the stairs, exterior lights, garage door hardware, a good 'finished' picture, etc. But I'm calling it a wrap for blog purposes.