Hudson & Grant's Bedroom

Back in the beginning of July I started on Hudson and Grants room. The first thing we did was take the closet doors OFF. They were always coming off their tracks and it was hard for both boys to get to their clothes, having to slide a door or two over, so I decided it would be better to just have them off for now. 

To make the closet feel more "done" I decided to paint it.. 

* I also painted the walls in their room, no during pictures...

When I couldn't find curtains I liked, I found fabric I liked and backed it with an old sheet to make them thicker. 

We didn't need to buy much for this room re-do, but we did buy some new green bed spreads. (Ikea)

This shelf has a special story. 

Back in the summer of 2011, Dave and I went to Carmel, CA for a get-a-way. The last morning we were there we decided to take a walk along the beach. We found this old board, might be a railroad tie, we aren't sure, but it was washed up on the beach and the PERFECT size for a shelf! I convinced Dave to help me carry it back to our car (Man, it was HEAVY!). We drove that water-logged board back to CO! It sat in our old garage, and then our new house's garage, for two years...waiting until we did the little boys bedroom.... I found a cool way to install it so it looks like it is floating (you can't see any brackets), and we love it! 

(Here is the board/shelf where we found it)

Ok, here you go, the final reveal of Hudson & Grant's bedroom. Pics aren't the best, I am not a photographer by any means, but you get the idea :)

This is the view when you walk in

Having the closet doors off is awesome. We have packed in a lot of stuff into that closet, but it is pretty organized and it works. 

The shelf above the clothes is a great place to display stuff. At the end of the shelf are two big file boxes. Someday I will show you what those are, but each boy has one and inside of them are files to organize their favorite bday cards, school projects, grades, pics etc from each year. 

Each boy has a container to keep their "treasures". This basket is Grants and Hudson's is the orange suitcase on the floating shelf. 

The reading nook. 

I made these a couple of years ago. (w/o the crossed out names)

 Each boy also has a bulletin board that they can display whatever they want on. I just wrapped the boards with wire and found tiny clothes pins for them to attach their stuff with. 

On top of the bookcase is a globe lamp

Hudson's dresser (Grant's is the one in the closet). 

Blue bin has his Lego's.

These airplanes have been in many rooms, starting with Andrew's nursery. 

The green bean bag is actually a bean bag cover that I made that they keep all of their stuffed animals in. 

Love their curtain rod! It is made from plumbing materials and isn't going anywhere! For those of you with boys, know how fast curtain rods get pulled on, ripped out of the walls etc. 

Each bed has a little shelf for the books they are reading. I also made the initial pillows for their beds. 

 (The letters are darker red than in the pictures below, they are the closer to the color of the picture above)

There you have it! 

Reason for MIA

Man, things have been dead on this blog for awhile!

We have been taking a break for a few months because baby #4 is on the way (arriving at the end of October)! I have been super sick, Dave has had to take over a lot of my normal "jobs", and neither of us had any energy or desire to work on our home. 

BUT

I have turned a corner and am excited to get working again!

The plan is to do the kitchen back splash this weekend. 

Wish us luck and I will post when it is done!

Quick Project=Big Impact

My closet came with a fluorescent light. Not just any florescent light but one with only one working bulb that would flicker constantly when turned on. I would literally get a headache if I had to be in there for more than a minute  which was daily since I couldn't see very well with the one bulb! 

The last working bulb finally burned out and we decided that it wasn't worth buying another florescent light bulb when we could put a cheap regular fixture in. 

This project happened so fast that I don't have any before pictures!

I sent Dave to the store and he bought a $11 double bulb fixture.  

(If you look close you can see the outline of the long and skinny florescent light)

Seriously, I can see every corner of my closet now. I am so happy! And no more headaches! 

It is the simple things sometimes that make the biggest difference. 

A New Roof

Last June there was a CRAZY hail storm. I have never experienced anything like it. It was so LOUD and it sounded like the windows and roof were going to break. This lead to a crazy summer and fall of new roofs for everyone we know. Having home insurance was a great thing for everyone around here.

We put our claim in, they came back with not enough money to cover even just the roof (there were other things the money was supposed to covered too- damage to the fence etc), and at that point we were in the middle of our craziness with the new floors, having no kitchen & banisters ordeal so it sat on our back burner. Fall came and the roofing company that we wanted to use (they did our new roof on our old house) said they would do the roof for less (off-season pricing I think). So we did all the back ground work and then waited for better weather and an opening in their schedule.

It snowed Monday February 25th.

Tuesday February 26th they dropped the roof tiles. Not the ideal weather for getting a new roof? But what do I know?

Wednesday February 27th the sun was out and some guys came over and scooped the snow off of the roof so the sun could dry out the rest. 

Thursday February 28th they put our new roof on. It took less than a day (7:30-4:30). Truly amazing how fast it can be done. We also had them blow a ton of insulation into our attic. There were many areas were completely bare and rooms in our house that were FREEZING. We could feel the difference immediately  Totally worth it. Can't wait to see how it changes our heating/cooling bills. 

The boys watched them after school. The roofing guys played a little game of soccer before taking off. (Hard to see, but the ones in the back are kicking a ball around).

Yay! Next up, fixing the front gutter. This is the one I blogged about when we first moved in and I painted to match the brick so it wouldn't stand out. It is the only gutter on the front of the house and it was too small to handle to amount of water that would drain off, SO.... new gutter. 

They took off the parts near the roof when they did the roof and we waited for the gutter guy to come.

When the gutter would fill up, water would run off of the edge of the gutter, onto the driveway in front of our walkway and then freeze, creating a layer of ice that wouldn't melt (with us being south facing).

Just a little dangerous???

The gutter guy put on a wider gutter, sloped it right and did a bunch of other stuff that I couldn't catch as he rambled off how he was going to fix the problem.

I also decided to have him put the drain down the side of the column rather than on the front.

Not looking great at first. 

Wasn't so sure I made the right decision when I saw the crazy white drains and all of the angles. 

Nothing a little sanding, chalk and paint won't fix :)

 Much better.

That one little curve between the brick and the column still bugged me, so I painted the brown a little higher.

 I think that is better. Once we get some bushes in there, no one will notice it and I am happy the brick stands out more and the front of the column or brick isn't covered.

Wider gutters :)

 So far so good, no sheet of ice or water dripping over the edge. Excited to see it in action/not have a problem anymore!