Low Decking

For some reason we thought our one deck was not enough. 

To be fair it use to look like this

and now it looks like this

The internet is a great resource. Researching "how to build a low deck" we found a plethora of information. We started with 6 cement blocks with an attached beam joist. Those were dug and strategically placed to hold the base beams. This, Greg would say, was the hardest part. It required lots of adjusting and readjusting to get everything level. Shout out to Vincent Ching for helping us place the beams in place.

We then added hanging joists and 7 support beams into the interior. Then all we had to do is put the top boards on right? Anyone who has done some DIY will tell you that rarely does a well planned out project go smoothly. It does not help that Greg jinxed his own project by saying out loud "this is going a lot quicker then I thought it was going to take." Done. Jinxed. We learned to late that Home Depot did not carry anything 6 inch boards longer then 8 feet. Boo. We had planned for at least 9 feet. After much measuring and deliberating we ended up with cutting the boards in half for the ends and one single board for the middle. It does create a somewhat noticeable double line issue, but we figured it was not enough to bother us so we continued. 

Now Aiden has a wonderfully dry area to roast his marshmallows...

and we have to figure out what to do with all this excess wood.

Spring Flowers... and some bushes too

There are so few clear days in spring that we decided to spend a few of them planting some much needed color into our yard.

We also added some fresh bark. 

 Alternating purple and white

We also added two bushes, with three more to come.

Sorry for the break.

So I must again, apologize for the long pause in posts. With the introduction of our new little guy (and lack of sleep) it was difficult to drum up the motivation to not only blog but even do some DIYing. However, we are getting used to the little one and we are back to home improving and life improving :)

For more on what we have been doing since Jacob feel free to go to "The Good Life" above.

A Linen Organizing

We have a linen closet in our bedroom. Behind closed doors (out of sight out of mind kind of thing) was a really big mess. But every time I opened that door to get a towel or some toilet paper I would cringe. I really wish I would have had the forethought to actually take a picture of the "before," but alas I forgot. No joke, it was really awful we had just begun piling comforters, pillows and sheets on top of each other. 

This the mess it created in our bedroom before we got started on fixing things.

It was pretty simple really once we got started, but you know, getting started is the hard part. Greg cut some bracers, spaced out perfectly apart from each other and then screwed them into the wall. 

We bought some ready primed wood from the "Big Box" store (better known as Home Depot for those of you who have not seen the Ace Hardware store commercials), cut them to size and placed them in. 

See how nice organization can be?

Kitchen Redo

Before

Progress

One of the only things in the house that was remotely functional and wasn't in need of a massive upgrade when we purchased it was the kitchen. It was in need of appliances and flooring, but the cabinets were fairly new and though the countertops were plywood with a laminate cover top it was usable.

The projects inside the home are beginning to slow down so, it was only a matter of time before we began looking at the kitchen and building a wish list.... As I said in the previous post, since the pregnancy my husband has been indulging my little nesting periods of insanity. 

So three weeks before we are set to have a new addition to the family we decided to have at it.

The first thing on our long kitchen wish list was to get new countertops...

We could not justify any of the expensive stones so we decided on the pre-cut slabs from Ikea. Still laminate but at least they would be solid all the way through instead of plywood.

We were going to originally only do the PRAGEL black stone effect laminate countertops but because of the shape of our kitchen there was no way we were going to get a nice seamless look. We instead decided to embrace the none-seamless look and also add butcher block.

 So one destructive night after work Greg decides he is going to start. 

(We had already bought the countertop materials a week earlier)

So first, Greg removes the trim "backsplash." This was of course nailed in with 6 inch nails and glue, providing Aiden and I with a barrage of colorful "earmuff" words from the kitchen. Greg has a tendency to talk to himself when working and only escalates when he gets upset. When this occurs we mostly try to stay out of his way. 

Here is a nice wall casualty in his attempt to remove the trim.

After the trim, we begin removing countertops. 

With me being 8 months pregnant and only one husband this is a very difficult job, 

but I lift when necessary. (Don't tell my doctor. As Greg says, if women in Asia can give birth in rice paddies without any anesthesia, I can lift one side of a countertop/sink)

Thankfully, the cabinets are all pretty level which decreases the amount of shims we have to use

 Just to show you that we are not always so anally clean, here is all our kitchen stuff in our dining room.  We ate a lot of fast food that week.

We then had to begin cutting the slabs to fit our cabinets. Thank goodness for some standards in building material, so we really didn't have to cut too much. Mostly, just to length. 

Isn't my husband cute when he is doing "man" work?

 So this again is the sink I have been drooling over anytime we go to Ikea. I have always wanted a farmhouse sink. What better excuse to replace the sink when redoing countertops? See how big it is? I can not only give a baby a bath, I can give my 5-year-old one too!

 We had to do several cuts to make it fit, but with some help from my little brother to help lift it into place, it finally arrived to its new home! 

So one of the items on Greg's kitchen wish list was a fancy tile backsplash. So who am I to tell him no?

We used glass tile for behind the stove and ceramic subway tile for the sides.

Greg is a pro when it comes to tiling. The entire kitchen took two nights to tile.

After tiling was done all that was left was cleaning and putting everything in its place.

The white subway tile combined with the horizontal lines of the butcher block gives the effect that the kitchen is wider then it really is. 

Nice, right?

The Nursery

So views of Jacob's nursery have been in high demand and I have been a little reluctant to share because I keep feeling like it is not yet ready. However, since I feel it is very nearly close to the finish line here it is.

We used Christopher Robin Green for the base color. We had originally painted this room a nice dark sage green for Aiden, but felt it was too dark for the baby. Then we added some trees in blue and cream to make it sort of forest-y. 

I was sort of obsessed with trying to get this capiz shell shade in the room so we added it above the crib. We left the shelves left over from  when Aiden was in the room in their original location.

Here is one of my favorite things in the room, our collage of photo frames. J-R-S for Jacob Rudy Schlaich, a baby picture of me, a picture of an owl (the baby room's main theme), sonogram pictures of Jacob, and eventually/hopefully a baby picture of Greg.

Green, Grey, & Blue are the original color scheme we where going for, but when we found this owl picture in Pier 1 we just knew it would make sense in the room. 

  Greg has these orange Puma sneakers that he wears so when I was thinking about diaper bags for him I automatically got him an orange one. Now it will match the orange flowers on the owl canvas too!

Here is the closet side of the room. As you can see its not a very big room. I joke with Greg all the time with turning it into a very large walk-in closet when we are done having all our babies. He usually rolls his eyes and says, sure.....

Hope you like it. :)