New Doors

Our big project for this summer was to replace all of our exterior doors. The old doors were drafty and not helping our electric bill one bit. So, we picked out a beautiful front door...a little more sophisticated than the old one...and a lot more privacy!

We also replaced the French doors out to our patio, and the sliding glass door out to our backyard. We decided to go with a French door out to the backyard as well. The doors are Low-E.

While we normally do everything ourselves, we decided to have a contractor come out and do this project- we knew it needed to be done right. I am so glad we did this as they ran into some problems. The supporting beam above the sliding glass door was rotted through and needed to be replaced along with some of the sub floor upstairs below the patio door. We would have been in over our heads a bit.

All we have left to do is paint them. Everything will be painted a nice crisp white, except of course for our front door. It took us 2 meetings and 12 colors, but our HOA finally approved a color that we like. What color you ask? You'll find out when we paint it! :)

Finishing up the deck

Well we power washed the deck several weeks ago. It rained nonstop after we did that...so we had been waiting for the rain to subside so we could stain and waterproof the deck. FINALLY we got a chance. Here is our beautiful deck now that its all done!

Adios tree!

Dear tree,

You have made it impossible to grow grass in our backyard. A few weeks ago you brought mold into our basement. We hope you move on to bigger and better things in life :) You'll keep someone warm in the winter, or
perhaps look nice as mulch in someone's yard. It's been good knowing you.

Sincerely,
Katrina & Joe

Goodbye brass, hello nickel!!!

Small project, but well worth it! We replaced all of the brass door knobs in the house with new, beautiful brushed nickel knobs. So much better!

Laundry room updates

So the laundry room wasn't really functioning well for us. We couldn't fit our freezer well, the dog food was taking up too much room, and the cabinets and countertop were simply in the way and not providing much storage. The room also had a small wall that was an attempt to separate the washer dryer area since it's unfinished.

We decided to take out that wall to create more room. We are hooking up an existing sink and will actually be able to get to it with that wall down! We also took out the bottom cabinets and countertop and added a ton of shelving cubes for storage! We redid the floor. This summer I'll do some finishing touches on the tile that's on the wall and maybe replace the hardware on the cabinets. We just about tripled our storage I think! We love the new look :)

Before pictures:

 
 
















After pictures:

So I decided today that, since there is no way we are going to frame and drywall behind the washer, I could at least soften the feel of the room a bit by hanging some white sheets that we have lying around. That way we at least don't have to stare at insulation :)

I also added all of my craft items to the storage bins and hung a couple of things up on the wall. I am loving doing laundry now! (kind of)   :)

The sink is now in service!

Power washing the deck

Our deck looks like it's never been cleaned! It's old, and grey and needs to be resealed.



Joe brought home  a power washer, and we went to town! We haven't stained it yet, but it already looks 10 times better!

Spring planting :)

Joe brought home some plants...the sky pencil in the center came from his course. We decided to go get some inexpensive pots and spruce up our deck a bit. We found some pots and spray painted them in our typical bright, fun colors! We also went to a local nursery and got the tall grasses to help with privacy from our neighbors. We love how it turned out!