Settled In!

Well just a warning this post might be very long!  A LOT has happened since I updated in February.  It is hard to beleive that we are finially in our new house.  All of us are so happy to be here!  Trista loves being able to see outside through the big window in the porch and shortly after we moved in she decided to learn to walk and climb stairs!  Marcel is happy to have the garage mostly cleaned out so that he can do some work in there.  I could not be happier with my new house all around.  I love the kitchen :) (more details on that later).  My favourite part of living here is being able to work outside in my very own yard!  

Here is a condensed version of what happened after my last update.  Marcel finished insulating the house and building the new stairs.  We had a contractor install the new drywall.  The mudder and taper came and made very quick work of the downstairs while mom and I (and a few other awesome helpers) finished painting the upstairs.  Then mom and I made excellent time painting the downstairs because the flooring was being installed in only 3 days.  The flooring guy came and installed the linolium and the carpeting while Marcel installed the tile and heated floor in the bathroom.  (Marcel and I did the hardwood floor in the Living Room a few weeks later.)  Then Marcel got hard at work and installed the kitchen.  The plumbers came in and installed the ductwork and replaced all the pluming.  (Yay we had running water!!!!! :))  Then Marcel unfortunatly was taken out of commission for a few weeks due to some surgury. Due to that we had a contractor come and install the interior doors and the window jams.  The fixtures also got installed in the bathroom.  (I LOVE THEM!)  We were ready to move in!  

We had to move back our moving date because of the weather but Easter Long Weekend our dream of moving into our very own house became a reality!  A huge thanks to all who helped us move!  I hope I never have to move again as I did not really enjoy that experiance :P.  I think we have pretty much finished unpacking as of last week!  

There is still lots to do around here (which is why it took me so long to post) but we are just doing one thing at a time.  We have cleaned up most of the garbage and scrap metal around the yard and I am working on expanding the mowing area.  I am currently push mowing though so that is quite a task.  Dont take that as complaining  though because I love every minute of it.  This week I planted a very small perenial garden thanks to my mom who gave me a bunch of stuff she did not want anymore.  I think I found an apple tree in the backyard which makes me super duper excited!  We hope to get the siding done on the outside of the house as well as a veranda on the front within the next month or two.  This will put us at the complete mark!  YAY!  

Well I guess I had better get to the photos I know some of you are eagerly waiting on!  Those of you who live  in the area I think you should just come and see it yourself :)  Feel free to invite yourself over for coffee!  

 Here is my beloved Kitchen!  See how much space I have!  I can also see the driveway from the sink which is really nice.  I have so many cupboards as well!  :)

I am very glad that we have the stairs open on the one side.  It opens everthing up very nicely!  (the railing is temporary we are still decideding how to build the permenant one)

 The dining room is really quite large and our table seats 8 comfortably.  I love the garden door and all the light that comes in from it and the window.

 Tristas playroom is right beside the living room and it works well.  I hope to get a proper desk some day and maybe build some kind of built in storage/bookshelf.

 The living room is quite small but it works well for us for now.  Again I love all the natural light!

 The mudroom also double as the laundry area.  It works very well for us.

 The Cabinets were built by Pete Wall Carpentry in Morden and I LOVE them!

Sorry there are no pictures of the bedrooms but there are three of them :) 

We are very thankful for all the help we recieved on this project!  We had no idea what were were in for when we bought this house but we also could not be happier with the end result!  We could not have done it without the help of all our family and friends!  You know who you are!  

Busy Busy Busy!

I was supposed to be painting this morning but I cant get in the driveway so I figurd I may as well update the blog instead!  I finially have some (pretty much) up to date pictures for you all.  Things are really starting to fall into place now.  All the flooring is ordered and should be installed on March 13 and 14th so we have to get our butts in gear to be ready for that!  I am just about half way with the painting upstairs so that is just wonderful!  I am also working on staining all the doors and trim at home.  Marcel is busy framing everything in downstairs as well as finishing up the electrical and building a new set of stairs.  Once all of that is done we will be ready to drywall! YAY we are in the home streatch!

We are beyond excited to be gettting close to done!  Our hope is still to move in at the very end of March.

You can see spay foam isulation at the top of the wall.  That was quite an interesting experiment :P  We had lots of fun getting it to mix properly and to fill the joist spaces.   (Above is a photo of the kitchen walls) Everying is covered in Poly now.

 Above is our play area/office (conected to the living room)

 We were so blessed to be able to purchase all new windows and to put in a patio door in our dining room.  We are looking forward to a deck off of the back of the house :)

This will be Tristas bedroom (will be painted a bright yellow/orange)

 My big bathroom :)  Cant wait to see the vanity installed.  We are painting this room green.

This is a picture of the stairs that will be coming out.  The new ones will go straight up out of the porch.
Below is a dark picture of the master bedroom.  It will be painted a brown-grey

Big Changes!

Well I guess it has been months since I updated.  It is about time to fill you all in on what has been going on.  Since last time we have ripped off the old roof and added a full second story.  Planning where all the rooms would go was an exciting challenge for me.  Now that all the rooms are built I am very happy with the layout. We managed to fit 3 bedrooms a bathroom and a linen closet upstairs.

As far as I know the drywall should be being taped as I type.  The plumbers are also busy installing all new plumbing and heating right now.  I could very well be painting the upstairs by this time next week!  It is so exciting!  That being said I still have to choose all the paint colors!  YIKES!  I am also in the middle of choosing flooring.  I never imagined having to make so many decisions!

The main floor is also coming along quite nicely.  The main beam in the house is now replaced allowing us to remove a couple of walls.  We were not planning to replace the kitchen but unfortunatly the floor was rotten under the cupboards so they all came out as well.  I am not complaining though because I found a very affordable kitchen on Kijiji that is much more functional than the one that we ripped out.  :)

Our hope is to move in at the end of March so we are working away like crazy!  I dont see Marcel that much as he heads straight to the house after work almost every day.  I am getting VERY excited to move into our very own home!

Sorry the pictures are a bit out of date but at least it shows some of the progress :)

Big Plans

Since I updated last we have changed our minds about a few things... I think that is bound to happen when you do a major scale renovation.  The second floor of the house is coming off!  We will be adding a full second story so that we can have 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.  I am quite excited about this because it will take the pressure off to add on to the house if the Lord blesses us with more children in the future.  Though adding on some day does remain in our dreams.

Marcel has been busy ripping a tearing there and has replaced the floor upstairs already.  Next weekend we hope to rip off the existing wall and roof and add the new ones.  We shall see if the weather will permit it.  :)

I am very excited for when that is done because then the work can begin to really start making this shell into our home.

The big jobs for me have been choosing windows and deciding where they will go and choosing a tub/shower for the bathroom upstairs.  I would never have guessed how hard this would be :)  It is a fun and I am sure in the end... a rewarding challenge.

Have a blessed week!

Thanksgiving Weekend!

Thanksgiving weekend was a very busy one for our little family!  We put weeping tile around our new house on Saturday, hung out with my mom on Sunday because my dad was visiting litte Maverick and Pete and Kristy, and then had a fantastic Thanksgiving Diner with Marcels family in Winnipeg. 

We are so thankful!  We were blessed with people to help us put in the weeping tile.  A neighbour (in country peoples terms lol) dug out around the basement with his mini excavator and then my brother in law came to help for the morning.  Once the hole was finished a couple of friends and my mother came to help finish the job.  We started at ten and were finished by six!  But wow were we tired!  That was a pile of digging. 

This house needs a lot of work and with that comes a ton of decisions!  We have been busy deciding on floor plans, bathroom fixtures and many other small details.  It is all worth it though because the more time I spend there the more in LOVE with it I fall!  I think the view is what really made it love at first sight... the quiet and the fact that we can make it our own has sealed the deal! 

The New House!

Hello All!

Our little family is very excited to be starting a new chapter in our lives!  We have purchased our first home!  It is a humble house on six acres of land and we are in love!  We see endless possibilities with the House and Yard.

It will be a few months before we will move in because we need some time to do a few upgrades.  We will be putting in two bedrooms and a bathroom on the upper floor as well as installing a furnace, septic field and weeping tile. 

The yard is a completely clean slate with no gardens so I get to allow my imagination to go wild!  I have to keep telling myself to take it one step at a time!  I am planning a large vegetable garden, an herb garden and a couple of small perenial gardens to start off with next year. 

It is also lots of fun designing the bedrooms and bathroom.  I promise to post some before pictures soon!  I will also try to keep you updated as we go!