Man Cove: Before and After

                      Before                                                        After

Who would have it would take 4 years to make this transformation.  We ripped out the cabinets a long time ago because they really weren't function...imagine that.  The top had doors on them which didn't even open up the whole way.

Then my parents gave us the work bench and we added the shelf using the shelves from the cabinets we took down...man I'm thrifty!

Then just a few months ago and finally told Stephen "our weekend project is buying pegboard and organizing all your tools.  I'm tired of going out there needing the tape measure, utility blade, or pliers and not being able to find them"

Behold awesomeness....

Off to the right side of the garage we also have this little station for painting supplies, buckets, and clear bins for nails, screws, glue, electrical and misc "stuff"

We have plenty of scrap peg board so if you want some.....

Every time I go to write up a post I have to look through my photos and my calendar

I've lived in Oklahoma about 19 years now and I've never been to a rodeo.  The country thing to do around these parts at the state fair.

A few weeks ago I saw a Groupon for tickets to the National Circuit Rodeo at the state fair and thought thats a really good excuse to go see what it's all about.  Well, I forgot to buy the groupon so I called to inquire about buying tickets over the phone or online.  Did you know they were going to charge me $4.50 per ticket for a "convenience" fee.  That's a load of crock!  So the kind man gave me the number to the box office.  I called them and asked if they were going to charge me a fee for buying the tickets at the arena and they said no.  Thank goodness!  Luckily I work pretty close so I just drove over during lunch one day and picked them up.

Long side story, but I don't understand the large fee for a ticket I'm going to buy online and print at home.  Why charge me more for my convenience and yours because I'm not bothering you!

Sheesh.

Anyway, we went to the rodeo and it was quite fun actually.  It was about 2.5 hours long and action packed.  They had full rounds of bull riding, bareback bronco riding, barrel racing, calf roping, steer wresting, saddle bronco riding,  and trick horse riding.

 We did see one guy get bucked off a bull kinda funny and was knocked unconscious for a few minutes.  Other than that people either had a good ride or they didn't.

bareback bronco riding

barback bronco riding

Clydesdales...I think

Calf roping

I didn't take any pictures of the attire of the spectators, but I should have.  I now know what I should wear to the next one I go to so I can really blend in!!!! 

You need a belt like this

                 

embellished jeans with lots of sparkle and white stitching

And either a button down shirt or something with floral.  like this

and of course....authentic cowgirl boots

Attic work

So I mentioned the first step of our kitchen overhaul was moving the insulation out of the soffits in the attic.

We spent 5.5 hours doing just that this past weekend.  It was really annoying work, but it had to be done before it got too hot.  We had to first remove some of the flat boards that were covering up the soffit so we could get to them.  Then we basically worked in stages and piled the insulation into the middle.  Then we'd cover whatever we just uncovered with plastic, staple it down and put some of the insulation back so we'd have some room to work with.

 We were all about being safe and wore a respirator mask, knee pads, and taped our gloves shut.  Stephen taped his pants closed too because he was doing most of the work.  hehe.  And in case you're wondering how we moved that all around, we used a dust pan.  It worked great.

Somehow, the fiberglass still got through my gloves, because my left hand felt all tingly and numb for about 2 hours after we were done.  Its a really weird feeling.

Next step is to demo the soffit from inside the kitchen.  Which is still going to create such a mess.

The kitchen overhaul - Prep work

Our next project is going to be our kitchen.  The whole area right now, lighting, cabinets and floor, sort of give off a yellowish tinge and I can't stand it anymore. We would absolutely love to just rip it all out and start over, but that is just not feasible.  So, we are just going to work with what we have for now and make some changes that will still make an impact all for the DIY price.


Here is what we'd like to do.
- Retexture the dining walls
- paint the dining walls
- perhaps install some board and batten to bring some nice detail to the dining area
- Rip out all the soffits so we have one ceiling height across the whole area.
- Get rid of the fan and install a nice light that is centered in the dining area
- install recessed lighting in the kitchen.
- take out the blinds and make a nicer roman shade or something like that
- replace the stove top with an oven, thereby turning the oven into a pantry
- paint all the cabinets a creamy white


At first all I wanted to do was start small. Paint the dining room.  At that was all, just a small little upgrade. But no, nothing could be that simple.

The first step in all of this is sanding down the walls to get rid of the texture that is currently on them.  I'd hardly call it a texture now...it's just a lot of bumps that you can easily get scraped on.  I've started some already.  The left side has been sanded and the right side hasn't.  We now own a power sander just for this job.  After it's all sanded we can apply a smooth texture first, and then texture it again to give it some depth, then we can paint.

A couple of weeks ago we went ahead and scraped off the popcorn ceiling and the wallpaper.  It made a world of difference, but it also now just looks REALLY bare.  For anyone that may be coming over in the next few months...please excuse our mess!

                                       

The next step, and the one we are currently working on, is removing the soffit.  At first we thought we could just start to demo it from the inside, put up some drywall and be done with it.  Well, Stephen had the forethought to cut a hole inside one of the cabinets to see if it was just empty space or if there was was insulation.  To my dismay, there was insulation. As in, the entire soffit was full of it.   That basically means, if we had just demoed it, all the insulation from the attic (where the soffit was) would just fall into our kitchen.  Picture me throwing a major fit.  It wasn't pretty and I'm not proud of it.

So now, this seemingly easy project turned into a 5 step ordeal.  We have to go into the attic and move all the insulation out of the way (and it's a lot by the way), then we have to cover the area with some plastic and put the insulation back (temporarily).  Then we can demo the soffits out, put up some drywall to close it off to the attic and then move all the insulation back in place.

Oh but wait...there a wires everywhere, and we will be needing come recessed lights.  So, we will have a really bare, really open to our attic, mess of a kitchen until after the electrician does his thing and takes all our money.

Yippie!!!!!

The functional master bathroom

We finally finished the bathroom so that it is useable!!!!!!  I actually started this post in November and we still had some finishing touches to do.  Well, we've finished it all so I can really finally show you our completed bathroom.

Okay, technically we haven't finished the vanity because that'll be expensive and we can't decide if we just want to replace the top, or raise the existing vanity up 4 inches and replace the top, or replace the whole vanity all together.   Stephen and I seriously just can't seem to compromise on the issue....so it's just staying like it is until who knows when.

But who cares about all that...we can finally use our shower!  It's really beautiful with just the right amount of custom touches.  Like a shaving step. And the cubbies.

This project was definitely a love/hate one. Even though all we did was rip the shower out to the studs and retiled it, we ran into more snafus that I care to reminisce about.  In the end, we really do like it.  It is so much better than the before.

Let there be light

We had two Solatubes installed in our house on Friday.  They bring diffused daylight into our cave of a living room and entry.  It is really nice to have a lit up room without having to turn on all the lights, but it is still going to take some getting used to.  Because they block all ultraviolet light, the daylight that comes through is kinda "blue".  Anyway, this weekend has been a little overcast so I haven't seen how it looks in full sunlight yet.  

  

Before living room with no flash.  This is no exaggeration, there are no lights on and no doors or window blinds open.

After living room with no flash, no lights on and the window blinds shut.

Before entry with no flash

After entry with no flash.  We installed a light kit in the entry, so at night we can still turn the light on if we need to.

A list

Not much to really blog about lately...I should probably do a post about Christmas.  If it gets to February and I still haven't done it, then just know that it was once again a great Christmas for everyone!  Here is a list of some stuff that's going on around here.

1. It's really cold.  We've actually put a dent in our firewood stack outside by having a few fires these past few weeks.  I've also started up my car in the mornings about 5 minutes before I leave for work which I haven't done in years.

2. I'm so close to finishing my digital South Africa book.  Stephen is going to do some editing for me and then it's getting uploaded and sent to the printers.  

3. We ran into another hiccup with the bathroom remodel.  It's been such a love/hate relationship with this bathroom.  We had to take down some crown molding, so when we went to Home Depot and Lowes to get some more, the don't carry it in the correct size. Luckily, we went to a building material supplier and they had the correct shape and size.  Now the issue is that we have to paint it.  And I have no idea what color white to paint it to match the rest of the molding in the room.  Do I try and match it? It is just painted ceiling white?  Do I just paint all the molding ceiling white and not worry about matching?  Are you supposed to paint your molding ceiling white or just a bright white?

4. Stephen started his 2nd term of his Masters last week.  I think this time is going to be much smoother for us because now I know how we both have to adjust to each other so we don't get on each others nerves. However, we did realize that he has 5 terms to go and he only has a week off between each one (each term is 7 weeks long).  It's going to be a long, tough year!  But he's really smart and really awesome at achieving his goals!

5. I changed dentists after 18 years of seeing the same one.  I'm really happy with my new dentist, but the transition was oddly weird.

6. We are selling Stephen's 1999 Honda Civic and it is officially on the market.  If you, or anyone you know, need a little reliable car, we have just the one for you!

7. I'm glad my shows, Downton Abbey and The Bachelor, are back on.  New Girl is pretty awesome too.

8. I think we're going to get a Solatube in our living.  We have our consultation this weekend and I could not be more excited about the potential for some daylight in my cave of a living room!!!!

9.  That's about it folks, not much going on.....