August 2020 Storm Damage

In August 2020 a storm blew through and we got storm damage on the house.  The shingles and siding was approved to be replaced by the insurance company.  Our plan when we bought this house was always to add on a front porch.  Now that the siding and roof are going to be replaced, we decided it was time to put on the porch! 

Over the winter we worked on a design and had plans drawn up:

Before

Proposed After

Comparison

What We've Been Up To

 Here's a little update on what we've done to the house since the last time I posted.  

We remodeled Kate's bathroom!  We took out the shower and vanity, put in a tub, vanity, and flooring:

Before

We removed the shower stall

And added a tub

After

We put in new flooring in Kate's bedroom:

Before

After

We put in new carpet in the rest of the upstairs and on the steps:

Evan's Room Before

Evan's Room After

Jonah's Room Before

Jonah's Room After

Landing Before

Landing After

Steps After (they were the same as the carpet before)

Then COVID struck!  Suddenly we had a lot more time at home and Mike had a few weeks off of work here and there because he was quarantined.  So we got some projects done outside.  We removed the old pool setup and built a deck for the pool to sit on:

Before

There was a snow storm on the way so he had to work in the dark to finish it, we woke up to it covered in snow!

After

We did some landscaping around the new pool deck:

We picked out a rock!

After

We planted a new apple tree.  It's twisted with 2 different types of apples in one tree!

We redid the landscape at the other end off the patio:

Before

After

The sidewalk and garage apron behind the house had sunk a lot so Mike poured a new sidewalk and made the back apron a lot bigger:

Before

After

After

We painted the shed:

Mike added in recessed lighting into my office:

I painted the cabinets in the mudroom white:

Before

After

Second House-iversary!

Friday marks 2 years since we moved in.  Still the best decision we've made, we just love it here!

The biggest change over the last year was my mom and sister moving into the neighborhood!  They moved to a house on 63rd Street.  So its just down the street, around the corner and down to the end of the street.  It's been really great for the kids, they are able to ride their bikes down there - there's a sidewalk all the way down 63rd they can ride on.  My mom got a keypad on her front door so they drop in whenever, put the code in, and hang out.  It's pretty much daily that they ask to go down there.  Daylight savings has put a big damper on it because I don't want them riding back in the dark and we actually just put their bikes away for the season because we got a huge snowfall last night.  But up to this point they still didn't have a problem riding down there in the cold.  Our walks have turned into getting just to Gramma's, getting sidetracked there for a long time, and then heading back home. It's pretty great!

My mom and sister have done a lot of work on their house over the past year too!  There was a hot tub in the living room/sun room.  Mike removed that....such a weird idea to have in the house! They've painted, decorated, got a new sliding glass door, new lights....I can't even think of all the things but they always have some project going to keep them busy.

Epic New Years at Gram's before hot tub was removed

Some things we've done around our place....

We added some new lighting to the kitchen and dining room.

I painted all the doors white and last year we put in some new windows so we put up new trim around them.

We redid the boys bathroom and have started on Kate's.  The plan is to get new carpet upstairs.  Kate has a wood floor in her room and still wants wood, so we will replace that with something new.  Then put something more durable on the steps and redo the railing.

Before

After

Kate got a barn door in her bedroom for the closet door.  I felt like it was tight going into her closet as we added a dresser in there, so this opened the space up more.  

Before

After

All the kids got new ceiling fans in their bedrooms too.

In the spring we did some landscaping out front.  We put in a tree in the spot that we took the pine tree down last year and added some bushes by the house.  

Haha the only pic I could find that we took in the summer

We repainted the main floor bathroom and put down a new floor.

I painted the back splash in the kitchen white.

Before

Before

After

After

Mike did some work out in the garage and it has turned into a really fun hang out place for us!  He hung up a TV, we got a ping pong table, and he started a new hobby of brewing beer!  So he has a keezer system out there and has 6 beers on tap and also a rootbeer for the kids.  We just love our garage, it's such a difference to have it heated and attached and 3 stalls!  

We did a wainscoting accent wall in the dining area. 

We are enjoying doing little projects here and there and not a whole huge renovation like we did at our last house.  There's lots of things we still want to do here but it will all come in time. Looking forward to what this next year brings to us.