Thursday, February 11, 2021

Our new house...the updating.

 It was really hard to figure out exactly what I wanted because everything in the house was so blue. So we started by simply tearing things down and getting rid of stuff. The trim came off. The floors came out. The wallpaper came down. Countertops were removed. Appliances were taken out. There were multiple trips to the dump. 








Uncle Denny and Auntie Dar borrowed this trailer from their son Kevin...it made our trip to the dump much easier!




Pondering the new layout

We removed the jetted tub from the master bathroom (it had to be cut in half in order to get it out!) and took out the shower in the master bath as well.



Monday, February 8, 2021

Our new house...the way it was.

Back in August, we closed on a house in Lynden. It was on a perfect large, flat lot at the end of a cul-de-sac. However, it had floor-to-ceiling wallpaper, blue flooring, blue carpet, blue countertops, and a few blue bathroom appliances. We figured since we were living with Mom and Dad, it was the perfect opportunity to do some updates. We enlisted everyone's help and many many hours were spent removing wallpaper, pulling up flooring, painting, laying new floors, putting up new trim, and replacing fixtures. 


I have so many pictures of the process, so I will try to put them here in some sort of order so we can all make sense of it and also see the transformation that took place! The house is two stories; you walk in on the main level and can see all the way through to the backyard, through a set of doors leading onto the back porch. To the left, immediately inside the door, are the stairs and then a step down into the living room. To the right are a set of french doors leading into an office. Behind the living room is the dining room and behind the office is the kitchen. Through the kitchen (towards the garage) is the living room and a 3/4 bath. I struggled to get the pictures to upload in the order I wanted, so we are going to start our little tour at the garage entrance.


The door on the left side leads into the garage; the washer and dryer are to the right and there is a door leading to the backyard.

3/4 bath with two doors...one leading into the laundry space and one leading into the office. 

The kitchen. Lots of wallpaper. Lots of counter space. Huge cast iron sink with three compartments. Non-functioning dishwasher. 

Awkward doors leading to the backyard. Only the far right door actually opens.

Eating area; the door leads to a closet underneath the stairs.


Kyle is standing in the doorway that leads to the laundry room and then out to the garage.

Fully wallpapered dining room with orange-ish colored chandelier.

Living room with wood burning stove...looking into the dining room. 

Other side of the living room.

The office...note the wallpaper. 

Looking in from the front door...again, note the wallpaper. And the blue floor. 

And then there is the upstairs; at the top of the stairs is a nice landing area and then all four bedrooms. 
Hallway with large closet; the master bedroom is at the end on the right.

Small master shower with blue tile and 'cave-like' feeling.

Jetted blue tub, blue toilet, blue sink, lace curtains and brown flooring.

Main hallway bathroom; the tub and toilet are in their own little room to the right. 

Bedroom (or what we are using as Kyle's office because that is the closet!)

Fully wallpapered bedroom.

Carpeted stairs.

Looking back at the landing space.

Fully wallpapered master bedroom; the door to the left is the bathroom and the one next to it is the closet.

Other side of the master bedroom.

Fourth bedroom. 

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

January

 This month has flown by...and it's been filled with so many good things! Most notably, we are finally living in our new house and it has been so wonderful. More on that in a moment. But we've also had some sunshine-filled (but cold) days, some cousin playdates, another full month of school, and I've had the opportunity to get both doses of my Covid vaccine. As the year has started, I found myself not so much coming up with any specific personal goals, but instead thinking about how we are going to carry out our family theme: Adventure and Fun in 2021. We're starting a list of ways to do this...family game night. Cross-country skiing. Hiking. Biking. Hopefully getting together with friends. The Zoo. So Cheers to 2021!!

Covid Vaccine...done. 






Learning how to play Spoons!

Working on the Home Depot kids project...a tic-tac-toe game.

Sunday, January 3, 2021

Christmas

 Just like everything else this year, our Christmas was affected by Covid. After throwing out a few options, we decided to have a Christmas ham dinner with Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve, followed by our family gifts. 

We spent the afternoon decorating gingerbread houses. I bought each of the girls a little kit and it was an epic failure. The frosting was so hard to squeeze and it didn't stick to the gingerbread at all! Thankfully, the girls were pretty good sports about it. Before dinner, we decided to go check out this 'snow globe' light display that was set up at the ferry terminal. When we pulled up, the parking lot was empty and the building was dark. We decided to get out and walk around as anyways and found this 'snow globe.' Needless to say, we were all unimpressed and rather disappointed!

Haleigh's  started off looking good...but then it collapsed. 

Annaliese's looked like it wasn't going to stay together, but she was able to fix it and keep it standing!


Kyle and Lydia's turned out pretty nice!



The Snow Globe display


An outdoor Jenga game!


On Friday morning, after sticky buns and freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast, we headed over to Kim's house for the morning. We had each family in their own corner of the room, everyone wore masks, and we brought our own food. It was fun to see what everyone had asked for and a reminder of how blessed we are!!







Mid-afternoon we had a zoom call with Papa Jay, Grandma Kelley, G-Momma, Uncle Jon, Auntie Sarah, Reed, and Kieran. 
Photo credit: Lydia

We wrapped up our Christmas by watching Elf together.