House Updates

So, for those of you that know me, I moved into this house here in October of 2006.  And it was a fixer-upper.  Well, we have done so much.  I thought I would give you all an update for those of you that don’t get to be here very often.  Here are some of the things that needed fixing and what we have been able to do to fix them!

• Tiling – When I moved in the kitchen, master bath, second bath, and utility room were either vinyl or carpet.  We have replaced all that with tile!  (thanks to those of you that were amazing help in all of that!) 
• Paint – When I moved in the house was totally builder’s white.  They didn’t do anything at all to the walls.  Good times.  With plenty of help, the walls in every room have been painted!
• Utility Room – Apparently the utility room needs paint too.  I had no idea.  Well my wife has done an incredible job fixing it up!

• Rose bushes – Throughout the yard (front and back) the owners before me had planted rose bushes and they were VERY over grown.  Gross.  So those have all been pulled out and tossed.  A total of at least 18 bushes.  GONE!

• Trees – Yes mom, I have removed 4 trees from the back yard.  One of them was a thorny tree that you basically walked into as you walked out the back into the yard.  Fun.
• Pond – My wonderful predecessors thought it would be an outstanding idea to install a “pond” in the backyard.  Fun.  Oh, and they didn’t take care of it.  The firewood that the placed around the black plastic tub…I mean pond was completely rotten.  The tub was dug down into the ground about 3 feet.  That was difficult by myself.  They even added in what I call the Narnia lamppost.  Thankfully that is aaaaaaaaaaaaall gone!  That was a rough couple days!

• Grass – There were plenty of places in the yard (front and back) that needed some grass.  That’s still a work in progress, but the places that need grass are much smaller and further between!
• Garden – As if the pond wasn’t enough, they wanted to plant a garden.  Yippee!  Well, their garden consisted of a large section of the yard with cement blocks half buried in the ground and with more cement poured over the top.  Yeah.  That took a sledgehammer and several hours.
• Back Porch – There is a back porch that has a “roof” and other things built onto it.  The last couple days my wife and I have spent several hours tearing it apart!  You should see it!  We have a brick wall!