Familes are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts







Yes, my remodeling is finally finished! (almost)

Todd reminded me I had never posted photos of my finished remodel. Actually, we only got the kitchen wall tiled last week so I guess I'm not that slow. I love my new family room, dining room and kitchen! Now I just have the master bedroom and bath to go ;-)
Enjoy the photos
New kitchen sink and faucet, new appliance garage, tile behind the stove is also new, and new countertops

This is how I solved the dilemma of where to put photos of all my grand kids. They fit nicely on the dining room wall - and I have room for 10 more!

My new hutch is perfect. The back is all mirrors and it makes the room seem airier. Todd's pottery Christmas gift looks wonderful here. You can also see the new wainscot and the new floor. The green wall color is much brighter than the photos indicate. I love color and it turned out very very nice!

This shot shows the new deck door. The blinds are inside the glass which is very convenient. However, they forgot to put in the screen door and we are still waiting to have that done. This is a problem now the bugs are out and we can't open the door to get a breeze through the house.

The family room looking north shows the piano and new entertainment center. David finally gave up his humungous stereo speakers and let me replace them with little ones - I like it this way. Todd's and Brett's paintings look very nice on this wall.  You can also see my new end table in the foreground.

The family room looking south shows my new sofa and chairs. Notice the Clock Grandma and Doug made for me years ago. It looks very nice here. You can also see the quilt grandma made in the forground - the colors are perfect for this room. The carpet is very soft and comfortable; no problem letting Andrew roll all around on it.
The only things left to do eventually are: replace the light fixtures in the family room and take out the fan which doesn't work, perhaps a window treatment around or above the bay window to soften and add color to the room, and I think I should get to work and paint some pictures to go on the wall on either side of the hutch. (Who wants to take bets on if that ever gets done?)
Anyway, I love how it all turned out. I could not be happier and I feel all happy inside every time I enter the room. It is just so fun to plan and create something and have it turn out so nicely!

We are making great progress!

I now have new carpet and new furniture. All we have left is all the little details, like - new cabinet hardware, finshing up the trim boards, fixing the electrical outlet covers, buying a new end table and maybe new trash cans and light fixtures, putting on door knobs, paint touch ups, hanging things on the walls, and the BIG one - cleaning everything. It looks so nice and I feel so spoiled and I absolutely love it!!!
bran new carpet!

my new sofa and chairs - so fun!

I have ALWAYS wanted a hutch!

It looks so different now - I like it a lot
THANK YOU DAVID and everyone who has helped!

When it is totally finished I'll post some nice photos of everything - the new door and the new cabinets and the new furniture, etc.

remodel update

Well, it is almost the end of February and the house remodel is not done - but it is close!!!
The painting is finished except a few touchup spots and some molding, and this past weekend David, Kyle and Josh put down the kitchen diningroom floor. It looks great! Tomorrow they will install my carpet. Then I can bring in my new furniture. I am sooooooo excited!
I decided to go with the green. I know it has always been some shade of green, but I'm just a green person I guess.

The guys did a great job!

My house is a mess!

Okay. We've been remodeling since the week after Christmas. It is going slow but it is great fun. (I can say that because I just do the desgin work and David (and the kids) do the real work).  We started by pulling off the wall paper in the dining and family rooms. Then we pulled up the carpet which of course means that all that furniture is now in other rooms of the house. So, though the remodel is in the kitchen, family and dining room, the mess is throughout the entire house!  I love it!  Change is fun.

I removed everything from the walls and we pulled out the furniture to get to the wallpaper. 
David removing wallpaper



When we got the paper off the wall we could see the paint underneath. You can't see it in the photo, but there was even a little of the original bright lime green. Do you remember my lime green kitchen? It was so bright and fun!!!

 Under the Familyroom wallpaper the walls had never been prepared for painting so that presented a new problem.

 
The boys removing the carpet

Todd helped Dad put up the new moldings and wainscotting
It took Dad and I a lot of internet research and trips to building stores to decide what wainscot I wanted and how to do it. It looks very simple (which I really like) but it was anything but simple to do. I think Dad and Todd did a wonderful job. I kept the simple lines around the windows and doors too.
 After the wainscot was done we textured the walls above the wainscot. Josh and Shanalee helped with this job. Josh also painted all the ceilings.
 
 Right now our hold up is the back door. It needs to be replaced because it is so dented and rusted, but because it is 24 years old all the "standard" sizes have changed and it is now a "custom made" door. It has been on order for 4 weeks. We can't finish the waiscot or framing until the door is in!

The other hold up is that I can't decide what color paint I want. Starting with 25 colors, I have narrowed it to these two (I think).
I know I want the wainscot painted off white so Dad and Josh put on the first coat of paint in the Dining room a week ago. I have to decide my other paint color by this Friday. 
My old kitchen counters and sink
After a huge fiasco involving a bad case of the flu, glue that was not delivered on time, a dead horse and a snowed in trailer, I finally got my new counters installed last week. I also got a new sink and faucet. I like it all but it will take some getting used to.  (In case you were wondering, it was not our dead horse)
my new sink and counters!
I'll post more photos as we get more done. Hopefully it will be done by the end of February!!!

January fun

I spent a weekend at Nancy's cabin with friends.  I got to ski again - on a "ski-do". It was great fun. Then we celebrated Todd's birthday - He's 25! How could my baby get so old?

Nancy, Heidi and Alesia


Heidi and I

Wheeee!!

We didn't get snowed in - but we tried

I made a snow angel for the first time in years. I made it in the side of a snow bank so I didn't have to lay down on the ground.


Bethany made a wonderful carrot cake

Bethany, Taylor and Todd

Picture a Christmas

Since this Christmas did not get blogged I decided instead to share a sprinkling of the fun times we had this holiday season. (I especially like the "kids" playing with the legos.)
Not too big for Santa

Wiseman with his camel

Mary, Joseph and the Donkey



to the rescue

10 "kids" playing with legos

beautiful!

Santa Came!
Christmas morning
Christmas smiles
You can't find me

Modeling our Christmas PJs

We loved have the Flamm family here!

One imporant event and one fun event

So, with Shanalee's help I am back on the blog. Here are two events I thought should be documented. 1. Todd graduated from BYU Idaho in December. CONGRATULATIONS!!! (We really are very proud of you) 2. Shanalee was crowned "Game Champion of the World" at our annual New Year's Eve championship game night. MiKell, last year's champion, was here to crown her. What excitment!