Two weeks ago we embarked on the finishing of our attic! Crazy– yes completely but after a lot of emotional ups, downs, and what was I thinking; we are on our way and the end is in sight.

First the Clean Out happened
We had to rip down all the paper covering the studs, pull all the nails, remove original linoleum sheets (5 different patterns stacked 6 deep in one area), and a whole lot of vacuuming!

Flooring
Nothing happens unless you have a nice stable floor to work on. We did have boards in the attic, but now subfloor, so down goes the 1/2 thick floor to smooth everything out. A very loud day.

Frame it up
This was a longer process because there were a lot of slanted walls due to the original architecture of the house. So squaring up was very important. This was when I had my wavering in the design. No longer did I have a nice open space to dream about what could be. We now had walls and less square feet due to framed up walls and the compensation needed for proper insulation. Yikes, but the project was under way and I just wanted to trust the direction it was going. There were a couple changes made, more depth to the closet area and a in wall cabinet in the bathroom area.

Electrical and Plumbing
We actually did the insulation at the same time, what a nightmare. Lets just say it would have been nice to have another foot of height to the attic. It all got figured out, but the dream of DIY Spray Foam is highly over rated and costs just as much if you hired a company to do it. In the end we decided to go with fiberglass insulation because the cost of foam with r value just didn’t make sense to us.
as for the plumbing and electrical, it was so nice being able to pick out where I wanted outlets, lights and everything else was really nice.

That is all the show and tell I have for now. I should have actual walls to share by next week. We shall see. In the next couple days I will be sharing my amazing finds for our new space.

Well after all the pancakes were eaten, we put on our snow gear and went out in the snow. Ella had been trying to escape outside any time the door opened to play in the snow so it was pretty easy getting her in to snow pants.

We have about 10-12 inches of snow on the ground and I helped out my neighbors with snow blowing driveways yesterday.

Some progress in the kitchen. We now are almost done with the tile back splash, just need to get a little more tile and put some curtains up. I am looking for some simple loose woven cotton or linen cafe curtains, but having some trouble finding them. Probably just going to attempt making them myself. Laughter in my head right now.
 

A lot has happened over the last 9 months. I almost don’t know where to begin. Biggest amazing news (at least for parents,) our baby girl is not only walking but talking too, full sentences! It’s positively amazing how big her vocabulary is. In just over a month she will be turning 2 1/2! Again WOW! And as with most kids we found out she loves to dig in the dirt, so I had a little helper when I was gardening. This past summer I think my garden was decent, but I am looking forward to next year and having a little more planning and practice from this year. But here are a few pictures of what I did.

It was so much fun to garden with Ella this year, and she had a great time picking peppers, carrots, herbs, and tomatoes for me.

Water Fun
Another big hit this summer was playing in the water! Didn’t matter if it was at the park on a splash pad, in Mom and Bob’s pool floating around, or at Nana and Papa’s wadding pool,  she loves water!

Ella also turned 2 this August
We had a big pool party for her at Mom and Bob’s house, it was extra special because extended family was able to come and join in the celebration too.

Biggest News of the Summer
I was able to become a stay at home mom! This was the most exciting decision that Jared and I made this past year. I am forever grateful for Judy (my mother in law) being able to watch Ella while I was working, and to my mom as well, but I missed my little girl so much it was hard to be 100% focused on my work. I felt like I was failing and letting everyone around me down. Of course it was difficult to settle into just being at home, but we love it and it’s one of the best decisions we’ve made as a family.

Hawaii!
At the beginning of October Jared and I went to Hawaii. Yes, just the two of us! We left Ella in the very capable hands of our parents and flew over the ocean to enjoy some sun, sand, and a wedding. I think it’s probably the best vacation we have taken together.

Halloween
Such a fun holiday with a little child. Ella is obsessed with horses, so of course I got her a pony costume for Halloween. She still wants to wear it all the time, and thankfully I got it big so she can. We had a great time trick-or-treating with her this year and she actually said “trick-or-treat” most of the time.

Thanksgiving
We had a pretty quite Thanksgiving this year since Jared’s family went to Vancouver and my family was with extended family. I took on making a Thanksgiving feast, and a feast is was. The turkey was amazing, (even though it may have taken an extra 2 hours to cook,) brined is best! Yummy stuffing and sides as well. That being said, I probably wont be so fancy next time since it takes forever and costs a ton of money, plus you have to clean it all up too. It was really nice being able to try out the full capacity of my fabulous kitchen though.

Christmas
It was such a wonderful Christmas this year. All of Jared’s family was in town, we had a little snow, and Ella was spoiled rotten be everyone (as it should be.) The biggest and most exciting news… my brother-in-law Evan and sister-in-law Lindsay are having a baby!!!! So excited for them!

A New Year
My resolutions.
Be more organized
Clean a little every day
Blog at least once a week
Get my kids and home designs up and going
To start me off with being more organized I am trying to de-clutter and finish projects that I start. I also am going to keep a menu calendar in an effort to keep grocery trips to a minimum and the “what’s for dinner” question from boggling my brain.
For everything else, stay tuned for more tips tricks and ideas.

More on the Home Front
We are looking into the attic! After a year of construction recovery we’ve decided to start a new crazy project… The attic. It’s going to be our master en-suite and will stay with the style of the house. I was a little overwhelmed back in December when Jared said that he would like to get the attic going, and then a week later said “ok the attic is scheduled to start on January 2.” But my short freak out was calmed by us pushing the start date a few weeks so I could get my head wrapped around the idea. It is now firmly wrapped and plans are underway. I’ll be taking pictures as we go and updating everyone here.

And after a very short nap I have to sign off as Ella has woken up.

Speaking of breath I am waiting for a breath of fresh spring air. I have had enough of the dreary weather, it’s time to get on with warm spring sunshine, sweet-smelling breezes, and cool crisps nights.
I have some new flower beds to plant in and I think this year I am going to try my hand at a small vegetable garden, hopefully by black thumb will be a little greener this year. (Please feel free to remind me to water the garden.)

Well I have may stories that I need to share, but for now I will just say that we are happy in our mostly finished phase 1 bungalow.

We cleaned on Saturday… all day, I did have to run a lot of errands though too. Finally picked out some window hardware so that we could hang the drapes. Saturday I had a Uhaul truck on reserve for Sunday morning, and 6 strong people to help. So Sunday morning I just decided it was now or never. We all met up at the house at 9:30 and by 2:30 we had rearranged the garage and brought stuff inside, unloaded the storage unit and delivered to the house, and finally got to the place we had been staying for the last few months and packed a good portion of it up. Many hands make light work.

Here are some pictures of how the house is looking with our stuff put in it.

Needless to say it’s been a little hard to keep things updated, but at long last, here is what I have for update pictures.

Track Light for the laundry area

Fan light for Ella’s room

Porch light is working!

More staining of the trim work

Working plumbing for the kitchen sink

Lights are up in the living room. We no longer have to use flood lights to work.

Check out the running water in my sink!!!

Here is the new toilet in the bathroom

One of the pendant lights in the kitchen, minus the shade

Tile floor being laid and spaced apart.

Tile floor grouted, only needs to be sealed.

Here is what the bathroom looks like now.

Now if we could just uncover those beautiful wood floors. Well soon enough we will be able to uncover the floors, for now they are safe and protected under the cardboard.