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| Trying to De-Chaos Our Family Life |
I don't live in chaos well; just ask my family. I thrive on order and the opposite stresses me to the max. Living - as in meals, cleaning, laundry, entertaining, homework, family time, holidays, etc. - in a home in various stages of demo and construction is not order; it's chaos. I try to de-chaos it but it still remains chaos. Because I had been so gung-ho about the demo at the onset, demo is where we currently live. I have begged, pleaded, cried, and bartered to have the rooms completed but Mark's motivation is nearly non-existent because it is such a daunting undertaking in its current state. On one hand, I don't blame him; on the other, I also see how much "self-time" is enjoyed by my guy. Just the same, I cannot change his choices, only make good ones of my own and teach our children to make good choices. I have chosen to keep moving forward with updating, upgrading, and improving; despite the lack of motivation and help at times. I know the only way out of the chaos is forward motion so I keep moving and often dragging the kids along in that current. lol.
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| Temporary Barn |
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| Our First Garden & Pig Barn |
Within two months of us moving, we started thinking Spring in the new house. The place didn't come with any outbuildings of value. (A falling down old chicken coop and dog house didn't count to us.) Now that we had the property to do so, our intent was to get pigs for the kids to show at fair. No barn so Mark set to work planning a temporary structure for our pigs. With a combination of pallets, fence posts, sheet steel, and pig panel, he cobbled together a "good enough" barn for our first year showing pigs. We also put our first authentic garden plot next to the pigs for easier fertilization. The pigs were happy and I was too.
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| Former Chicken Coop |
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| New Play Fort |
While outdoors, the kids and I tackled transforming the old chicken coop as well. We'd toyed with the idea of chickens but decided to back burner the idea. I didn't want a ramshackle chicken coop impeding my view of our lake so it either had to go or improve. We turned it into a play space for the kids and a storage space for their outdoor toys. It's since been sided with the leftover siding left in the basement and we used the roof from the temporary pig barn to cover the new "shed."
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| Progress Towards a Master Bedroom |
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| Master Suite Construction Dump |
Within that same couple of months, the kids and I cleared the construction mess to one side of the master suite and Mark and I moved into our bedroom. No closet but we had a door between us and our herd. Yay privacy!
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| King Bed with Matching Comforter & Curtains |
We've since found a better home for most of the construction mess in the master. With an inefficient furnace, a friend gave us an unwanted electric fireplace (that I painted and gel stained). We overworked it beyond the point of safely using it so now we just have a pretty fireplace for me to accessorize. I hung some pictures and art on the unfinished walls above it just to give me some sense of "bedroom retreat." We hired Ashland Construction Services to finish the drywall in the master closet and Mark and I set up the closet units and FINALLY had a closet. The master suite in the house is a third of the main floor square footage. It has his and hers bathrooms; one with a stand up shower, the other with a jacuzzi garden tub. Between the two bathrooms is the adjoining master closets for each of us. Now that the space warrants it, Mark and I upgraded from the full sized bed I had when he married me to a king sized bed. Of course all new bedding was required but after a ton of shopping I found a steal of a deal on a stylish beige comforter and curtains. It's just a room but some days I need it to be an escape so I'm working toward making it that.
Even with a huge shared bedroom for the girls, I still felt there wasn't enough room for all the toys. That and sending kids to their room as punishment is only effective if they can't play or read the entire time. lol. The kids and I set to work creating a play space in the basement for all their "stuff" similar to what we had in our old home. It's moved and expanded several times, we have added shelving and drawers, and we're constantly cleaning up the "garage items" that tend to move around the basement, but it's provided a functional space for the kids.
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| Peeling Doors - Verb |
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| Peeling Doors - Noun |
When we bought the house, the plastic oak colored finish was peeling off many of the doors so we went to work peeling all of the doors down to primer. Some came off in chunks; others the complete door peeled easily (go mom!); still others required patience, a utility knife, and a gentle hand. We found that peeling the finish was easiest with the doors off the hinges and I wanted to update the color of the hardware anyway so win-win. I didn't yet know what I wanted to do with the doors but I knew the peeling oak look had to go. I hated the golden oak and brass finishes the house came with and the house had been smoked in so I set to work painting EVERYTHING to solve both problems.
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| Spray Painting Hardware & Accessories |
I went with Oil Rubbed Bronze for updating all of the metal - fixtures, hardware, registers, faded plastic, etc. During the winter, I used drop cloths in an unfinished space in the house. When I discovered the overspray was getting on my new carpet, I resigned myself to the fact that spray painting hardware and accessories was an outdoor project for summer. Lesson learned.
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| Shared Girls Room - Painted Pre-Move |
Zinsser Cover Stain is an amazing oil based primer that we chose for the walls, cabinets, and ceilings. My wonderful mother in law spent hours priming and painting with me. I chose a greige color as the primary color throughout the house and chose accent wall colors for each room. The kids rooms actually both sport the same accent color and the kitchen, living, and dining will also have a common accent
One of the first projects we actually completed (I say that loosely because the space still needs a door and I've since decided to change the color of the shelves) was the walk in pantry. Mark did the drywall work, replaced a dead light switch, and I reconfigured and rebuilt the shelving. I love the space just because there is so much space! I can stock up on seasonal sales, can and preserve to my hearts content, and it also offers a great additional storage space. The space available in the reconfigured pantry now matches the spacious kitchen and its generous cabinets. Since I was a girl, drawing my endless home floor plans, I've always dreamed of a walk in pantry. Despite the drawbacks of manufactured home living, this house provides for one of my simplest home dreams. See, the place truly has it's perks.
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| 1st Coat of Gel Stain |
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| Peeled, Primed Door |
Back to the doors, I love the look of dark doors and light trim so I did my research and stumbled upon a product called Gel Stain that could transform already stained or painted surfaces. More research determined that General Finishes Antique Walnut was what I wanted. I started on that project this past spring. Quite the undertaking as painting the gel stain onto primed surfaces requires 72 hours between coats. I still have 1 final coat of sealer to put on all of the doors but otherwise, they are done.
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| Dylan's Room - Painted Pre-Move |
At the beginning of 2018, Mark agreed that he would tackle one room at a time for completion. Whatever makes it more manageable for him to stay motivated - count me in. Don't get me wrong; I would love my kitchen finished or the gorgeous master suite I dream of but logic won out and we picked our starter room as the one closest to completion. The girls' room is good enough until we are ready to rip down the paneling and re-drywall the room so we chose Dylan's room.
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| Building The Tailgate Frame |
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| Apple Crate Dresser & New Quilt |
We went with an antique Ford theme for Dylan's room. The focal point of the room is to be an antique tailgate attached to the wall above his bed. I found a good deal on old apple crates and stained them a dark walnut and they replaced his bedside table and dresser. We built a frame for the tailgate and stained that to match the crates. We installed trim and baseboard throughout and hung old Ford emblems, license plates, and paraphernalia on the walls. Recently I hung his stained and sealed doors and installed the hardware. I am excited for the progress but it has been a hard fought battle. To date we still have a list of projects within his room but it's a short list. We are in the home stretch and I'm ready to move on; whichever room that may be. I'm even considering not fixing the trim caulk or painting the trim and just calling it good when the tailgate is hung. Not permanently but done enough to move on. Then again, maybe I'll suck it up and finish the whole dang room before moving on to the next space for completion. lol.
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| Stairway to Main Floor |
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| There's A Hole In The Floor |
After we chose Dylan's room to tackle, life determined other projects were higher priority. This spring dad and Mark (and my father in law) built stairs connecting the basement to the main level of the house. Yes, seriously. When we bought the house, the only way to get from the basement to the main floor was to go outside, across the back deck, down the stairs, across the patio, and thru the slider. We all got rubber soled slippers for this purpose but it was past time to correct that. New stairs means a hole in the floor - now requiring a guard rail above for safety and enclosure below to keep the cold air from coming up from the unheated basement.
They recently completed replacement of our 3 leaking skylights. At some point, there will be another project that involves removing damaged paint/stomping/drywall and repair and replacement of it - all due to the leaks we let linger. For now, we just pretend to not notice the chunks of stomped ceiling that fall to the floor from time to time or the nasty hiding underneath. It'll be fine, as Mark always says.
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| Digging the Electric & Water Trench |
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| Wet Concrete |
We've also run water and electric to our barn and poured concrete as well. Yep, somewhere in the last nearly 3 years we also built a real barn for our pigs. Mark dreamed it up with my dad's help and did most of the construction on his own. I'm incredibly proud of my guy and the way his barn turned out. As always a few unfinished projects that need attention but it's functional and looks amazing with the rough sawn lumber. In the spring our barn houses the kids' fair pigs and a spare or two but we've also started raising pigs and selling them for profit. We currently have 21 really close to butcher size. Pigs stink and draw houseflies so I'm looking forward to them disappearing. I'm also looking forward to a healthy garden next year with all the fertilizer the excess of hogs has created. There are perks to biting off more than you can chew. lol. Below are some other progress photos of the barn.
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| Starting to Take Shape |
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| Nearly Done |
I still miss the doneness of my prior home, as well as the character and charm of the old gal. My old house got me through what seemed the worst heartbreak, it taught me alot about who and Whose I was, and it restored my confidence in my own abilities. Because of that, I know that it will always be more an emotional thing to me than a tangible one. We're making a home of this house though; one step at a time. Just the same way I/we did with the last one. We're not there, and probably won't be for a long time. It will continue transforming and current projects will eventually become former projects. I'm trying to document it all in pictures but some days I get downright discouraged and just don't have the heart. I've learned that when I am the most discouraged and stressed, tackling a house project sets me right. Even more than a therapist - lol. I cannot flip a switch and finish the house or make it something other than a manufactured home. It just is what it is. I can take steps, albeit sometimes very small ones, to make the house my home. That's what I'm doing; every day, a little bit more. For now, this is our project house and I'm determined to make it our home.
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| Summer On The Lake |
Even with a huge shared bedroom for the girls, I still felt there wasn't enough room for all the toys. That and sending kids to their room as punishment is only effective if they can't play or read the entire time. lol. The kids and I set to work creating a play space in the basement for all their "stuff" similar to what we had in our old home. It's moved and expanded several times, we have added shelving and drawers, and we're constantly cleaning up the "garage items" that tend to move around the basement, but it's provided a functional space for the kids.
