Saturday, April 14, 2012

happenings in April

a few pics from the first weeks in April....

We visited two of Britt's old roommates while we were in Utah for Conference -- Charity (Holliday) Mecham and Caitlin (Blake) Bradshaw. It was especially fun to get all of our little ones together for the first time! Charity's baby Malek is on the right and Caitlin's baby Jane is on the left -- Gracie is the monster in the middle :) 
We bought Gracie a little potty to hopefully instill a desire in her....nothing "productive" has really happened other than getting the occasional picture book read ;) 
Hot flashes already, Gracie? 
Gracie's Great Grandma Brown came to visit and we lucked out having her for an afternoon -- Gracie LOVED reading with her Great Grandma Brown. We miss her!
Gracie getting a shower in our basement apartment shower....we have no bath down here so she is becoming an almost 2 year old shower pro!





Monday, April 2, 2012

all moved into our house (FINALLY!!)

We moved into our home after almost a year of working on things (it takes LOTS of time when you are doing the remodeling yourself, when you are in school AND working). We were fortunate and blessed to live with mom and dad Hofman during the last 9 months of the remodel :) (Lets be honest though -- if it weren't for Gracie, we would not have been able to live there -- good thing she's cute or else, I'm wondering where we would have set up camp during the remodel!) They were good to us and we are grateful for the time we spent there, however, we are also SUPER happy to be in our own place! We took pictures when we first bought the house. It was a forclosure/triplex....the basement was the WORST! It had been very neglected by previous owners. There had been a flood in the basement and we pretty much had to rip up all carpet and other flooring, rip down walls, frame in new walls, sheetrock, mud, tape, paint, etc. etc. etc.!  It was a big project, but we are SO happy with the results! There are still a few minor things that need to be done (as you'll notice in the pictures) but those things are coming along here and there! We are just happy to be in our basement until our little family outgrows it and then we'll move upstairs (where we currently have renters). For now, being in the basement and renting out the upstairs two apartments pays the entire mortgage which is AWESOME! Justin thinks we'll be down here with 3 kids....HA! My bet is as soon as we get pregnant with a third (or ready to deliver a third baby) we'll be making the move upstairs! It's a functional but VERY COZY basement apartment! 

Master Bedroom BEFORE 

 Master Bedroom AFTER
We still have minor things to finish, like window treatments over the window above the bed (that used to be a functioning window until an a room was added upstairs, turning the window opening into a crawl space under the room). Egress window will be a little down the road.
 Master Bedroom BEFORE

Master Bedroom AFTER

Master Bedroom (closet door) BEFORE
 

Master Bedroom (closet view) AFTER

Master Bedroom Closet (shared with Gracie's room) AFTER
The closet has a pocket door that goes into Gracie's room -- so once we rent the basement out,
 the two bedrooms have a walk in closet to share.
  Master Bedroom AFTER

Master Bedroom AFTER

Bathroom BEFORE

Bathroom AFTER

Bathroom AFTER
the mirror leaning against the wall (which still needs to be hung) is where the window once was. Because there was no decent ventilation in the bathroom before, we nixed spending money on a new window and instead installed a fan where the bathroom window used to be.

Gracie's room BEFORE 
This is the view from the front door. The closet behind it (and the closet behind THAT closet) are now where Gracie's bedroom are. Before, this used to be a weird arrangement/NOT functional use of space with closets. The door on the right of this picture leads to the master bedroom. It is no longer there. We tore it out and filed in the wall right there. In looking at the "After" pictures, it's kind of hard to imagine how it used to be, but you get the idea.
Gracie's room AFTER 
I am in the process of painting her little toddler bed as we speak!
 For now, she gets the mattress on the floor....she's a trooper!

As mentioned -- there are still things that need to  be done such as painting the door! ahh.....joy :)

Entry Way BEFORE





 Entry Way AFTER


Entry Way/Gracie's Bedroom Door AFTER 
Another view of what USED to be a conglomeration of odd closets -- now, that is the door leading
 into Gracie's room.
Kitchen BEFORE


Kitchen AFTER
I would say the kitchen is the most different (and probably my favorite...but I'm partial
 to my Tiffany blue-ish cabinets!!)







View into kitchen and laundry room BEFORE

View looking into kitchen/laundry room AFTER
The door on the right is a little pantry. The door on the left leads into the laundry room (on the previos picture, the laundry room is on the right hand side with with gray paneling)

Living Room BEFORE

basement living room....again, we'll be moving some walls to maximize space. The nasty carpet
has been ripped out...the post will be moved to the other side of the wall
View into Kitchen/Living Room AFTER
The beam from the previous picture was moved behind the wall where the TV sits.
Living Room AFTER
The doors on the previous picture lead to the furnace and water heater room. We were able to use the space better behind that wall and create a decent storage closet back there.
  Living Room BEFORE
basement living room -- the closet in the back will be taken out -- we'll be opening that up and putting an egress window in the living room to bring in more light...painting and laying a new floor covering
Living Room AFTER 

Living Room BEFORE 

 Living Room AFTER
In the previous picture, the closet was knocked out and an egress window was cut. The wall on the right was also moved to the left a little to allow the framing of a little bit bigger room for Gracie as well as the walk in closet behind the bedrooms.
 Living Room BEFORE

Living Room AFTER