Renovation Renovation Renovation!!!

Oh Hi! It's been kind of quiet around here lately, I know, but I've totally got a good excuse for it. We are just about to start on some renovations around here. I mean, since the real estate market is in the pooper these days and it'll be a while before we can go anywhere, we've decided to make our current house more livable. More us.

So, back in February, I started pulling up the tile in our master bathroom. . . the nasty, builder grade, 4x4 white porcelain tiles. But, we realized (and rightly so) this project was well beyond our abilities. Yes, I actually had visions of Peter retiling our master bath. Silly I know, because WE'VE NEVER TILED BEFORE! Ha! So, after I wisend up 4 months later, we have called in a contractor to finish the job for us because I am over dealing with the dust and disgust that is our current bathroom. Who knew picking out tile would be so difficult! 3 weeks after hiring the contractor, I finally have it all picked out and purchased. The folks at Floor & Decor have gotten to know me and just laugh when I walk through the doors . . . 2 kids in tow with a big ol' stroller begging and pleading for someone to please help me. It's been quite an experience of purchasing . . . returning . . . and purchasing again. But, I'm really hoping that the results will SO be worth all of the headaches!

Our other project is that of enlarging and enclosing our back deck. When we bought this house 5 years ago, our deck was rickety and unstable. We made the previous homeowners add additional supports, but it just wasn't enough. Not to mention we have lots of rotten boards that were NAILED in! Please, who in the world nails in deck boards? The builder of our house, apparently. Anyways, we knew when we bought the house that we would eventually end up having to redo our deck for safety reasons. And, when Peter added the lower deck about 2 years ago, we built it with plans of redoing our upper deck. And not to get all sappy and all, but it was 2 years ago that we stood outside envisioning all of this with my Grandfather. Well, folks, that day has come, and I couldn't be more excited to finish the plans that we planned together with Grandaddy! We are expanding and enclosing and all kinds of super cool stuff. Well, honestly, it's not much more than enlarging and enclosing, and it's probably only super cool to us, but I'm ok with that.

But all of this begins on MONDAY!!! These last couple of weeks have been incredibly overwhelming and stressful, but I am so excited. Afterall, since we're going to be here for a while, might as well enjoy it, right? Plus, with the real estate market being in the pooper and all (as I mentioned before), contractors are working for really cheap these days. I may not be able to afford furniture to put on my new screened in porch, but at least I will now have a screened in porch, right?!