Usable Space-Before & After

This empty space in our basement was not very usable and Dear had a plan to transform it from ugly to nice.

Dear set his plan into motion. After taking measurements he built the sides and back and shelves to fit.

After seeing if the pieces would actually fit he primed the wood and then painted the side and back pieces and stained the shelves. He set the pieces in using his fancy nail gun.

When the stain was totally dry he slid them in and they fit perfectly and firmly.

His work was level but the existing walls weren’t so he added trim to cover up the crooked space.

He primed the trim and installed it. He then gave the trim it’s final coat of paint.

All finished and ready to load up the shelves.

These shelves are sturdy and can hold lots of weight. Now I have a very useful, usable space.

U is for Usable, Useful space. From Ugly to Nice.

Linking up to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and continued by Roger and the ABC Team!

Maybe in the future I’ll show you what I decided to fill these shelves with.

I’ll leave you with one of my first Christmas items that is now on the wall and let you find the 2 words starting with U!

Twenty Six more days and if you read this tomorrow it is Twenty Five days till Christmas!!

Before and After

This is what the front of our house looked like when we moved in way back in October of 1998. This photo is from March of 2000. This next photo was taken this week and shows the changes we’ve made. I’ll be posting the different sides of the house and how they looked before and what we’ve done over the last fifteen years to update this old house.

Same door, new windows, and new siding. The planter is filled with new plants, too. I’ll be showing the process of Dear working around the house little by little to make more improvements over the years.

This part of our front walk used to lead to a porch that we enclosed to make a family room instead.

This was what the front walk and porch looked like before we enclosed the area.

The other side of the porch before we enclosed it.

This is what it looks like today.

The process of enclosing the porch/deck.

When we first moved we had signed a one year lease to rent and a month after we moved in the owner said he had to put the home on the market to sell it. We were tired of moving (long story) so we made an offer to buy the property and the rest is history.

I’m beginning to feel the “squeeze” of things I need to organize in my brain for the upcoming wedding and hosting some out of town family here at this old house. Posting and visiting might be a little random. I will be participating less in weekly memes until Julyish!

We are cooling down today in the Seattle area. That makes it nicer to work outside. My relaxing time these days is sitting with my feet up watching Women’s World Cup Soccer games. Watching soccer is my “happy place”.

We Survived!

Dear has been off of work for one week and we have survived nicely.

On Wednesday of last week we went downtown for Dear to drop off some donuts to his former workmates and I took care of some business. We decided since we were downtown and paying for parking we’d enjoy a meal at one of the Seattle iconic steak houses, Metropolitan Grill. Our lunch was delicious!

We have been working hard outdoors with some real nice weather. Dear re-stained the shingles on the patio side of our house and when he was done we were able to finally put the patio covers up!

We hauled out all the patio furniture. We are going to enjoy the shade those covers offer for the hot weekend we are promised. Soon I’ll share some of the details I’ve been adding to our patio deck!

How are things shaping up at your place?

Hello June!

Can you see the sweet little bird peeking out from one of the bird houses on our son’s property? Katie took this photo during our recent trip to Chewelah.

June will bring some change-up projects around this old house. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Now that Dear is not going into work each day I’m going to make a list of things that will be easier for us to do together when it’s raining outside. When it’s not raining he’ll be working on outdoor projects. I had the revelation that our bedroom furniture in our two guest rooms on the main floor need to be switched. The structure of the beds make better sense in the opposite rooms. The beds are both queens so we just need to move the bed frames. I have things to switch around in the living room, too. Nothing major but it just makes better visual sense. Do you get those revelations after living with something for a long time, that “aha” moment when you see the more logical arrangement?

June is the beginning of getting used to things being different daily while Dear is in between jobs. Good thing I’m in a de-fluffing time right now or I’d be tempted to suggest we go out for breakfast or for lunch or to the donut shop. The motivation to de-fluff is still with me and I plan to continue till the wedding. I’m happy to report that I’m down thirteen pounds. It feels good to have more room to breathe. June starts out with our new daily routine and ends with our son’s wedding.

What does June hold for you?

Hope I didn’t totally bore you with my little bit of this and that post. Here’s another photo before I go.

My peonies are opening up. I have one bush that has given us several blooms and the other only managed two!

Weekend Work and Play!

We have had some nice dry and warm weather a few days in a row and what does that mean at this old house? It means it’s time to continue our projects. Dear spent much of Saturday taking the old vertical siding off the back of the house. This side of the house is the last side that needs horizontal siding. See that huge Rosemary bush behind Dear?

My job on Saturday morning was to trim it way back so Dear could work around it. The Rosemary scent was so strong we both felt a little woozy from it.

I did a few more chores out in the yard while Dear worked on the prep work for the new siding.

Our kids arranged a meal out for Mother’s Day on Saturday evening. I’ve mentioned before that I’m de-fluffing right now for our son’s wedding the end of June but for Mother’s Day I threw away the calorie counter. It was time to feast. I enjoyed a beet salad and Dear enjoyed a Bleu Cheese salad.

The six of us enjoyed steak, chicken, and halibut with some tasty sides.

Better than the food was the time we had together talking about the recent events in our lives. We missed our son and his fiance who live in the eastern part of our state across the Cascade mountains. We will celebrate with them in a couple of weeks when Dear and I head east to wrap up some details for the wedding.

On Sunday (Mother’s Day) we went to church and then we loaded up the truck bed with things we needed to take to the dump. We dumped about 1400 pounds of old siding, stone pavers, old wood, etc. It was my first time at the dump and it was an interesting experience. I cracked up about my Mother’s Day experience and Dear commented that he is always ready to give me a new experience in life.

Bad news…tomorrow I get to have another fun dental event (sarcasm intended). I’m going to have a tooth extracted that is causing gum infection problems. It’s the same tooth that they put a crown on in January. What a waste. Now I get to decide if I want to go through the trauma (for me) of having an implant. Feel free to share your experiences with similar issues and your advice!

Good news… going back to my de-fluffing plan is that I have dropped 10 pounds! This success keeps me motivated to stay on track and continue losing for the wedding.

If you are a mother I hope you enjoyed the weekend and that you were celebrated. Here’s a prayer for Mothers that I shared on the MGCC blog on Sunday.

Mister B.

M is for Mister B., the marvelous man I’m married to.

Joining in with ABC Wednesday that was begun by Mrs. Nesbitt and is carried on by the ABC team!

My Dear is quite the man. Not only is he a professional in the workplace, giving out medical information but he’s the most handy of men in the home.

He’s outstanding in his field.

Dear with our oldest son.

Here is a photo series of one of his latest home projects. It’s taken months to get close to the end of this project but other projects and weather took precedence during this time period.

Before he started on the siding on this end of the house we decided to take down this tree that was serving as a ladder for varmints to get onto our roof.

He replaced the attic window.

With this old house there is always another project ready to start. The back side of the house will be the final side to get horizontal siding. We are hoping to get that done by July. The tar paper is up and ready for the first half of that project to start.

I will leave you with my Bible Verse Card for the letter M!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and Passover. We had a marvelous celebration. Have a good week!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: DIY House Project