Step 15...sand & stain & paint

I agreed to stain & paint all the base boards, trim, various other boards & the doors. Wow did I have my work cut out for me. We decided to paint all the boards for Alexis' room in white and stain the ones for Nolen's room. After 3 days I had everything done except for the doors. We then decided to go ahead and have the guys hang the doors before they were stained.

She looks like she is sanding, but really she just wanted her photo taken.

Me sanding away.

Base boards for the rooms.

We just loved the rainbow last night. The pot of gold was definitely in my field, but no one went to get it.

Step 13 & 14...paint & brick

I started painting the day after they primed the walls. Took me 2 1/2 days to finish it, but it was worth it. Painting a new room was so easy because I didn't have to tape off since the trim is not up yet. Each kid has two colors on their walls. We are going to put borders up between the colors. Alexis' borders arrived today and Nolen's was out of stock, so we will have to pick another one for him soon. My next step is to stain 3 doors & 1 folding closet door, all the trim & other various boards that will be used. Since they took a window out of my room & the kids room to put on the south end of the house, I now have holes to fill. I decided to make them built in bookshelves, which will be so much easier than putting up dry wall & painting to match the rest of the room.

So you might be asking where the pictures are of the painting. We'll I'm not posting them until the borders are on, so stay tuned to future posts.

On Friday, four guys bricked the whole west side of the house. We were able to keep about 900 bricks from the original south end of the house & were hoping to re-use them. When we received a few brick samples, the bricks were a lot shorter. So we were told that they wouldn't be able to mix them in. So we ordered @4,000 bricks. When the bricks arrived they were a tad bit longer than the samples, but still a little bit shorter than the original bricks. Pete talked with the brick layers & they thought they could go ahead and use the 900 we saved. We decided to mix the old in with the new on all 3 sides. The new wall is a little bit lighter than the original, but over time I think they will match better. Actually if we throw some dirt on the new, they would match better. lol Today we got out the power washer & sprayed some of the original bricks to see if we could lighten them up. We did see a change since some of the bricks had green gunk growing on them. Though it's not a perfect match, it's still better than siding in my opinion. I really think after a few years, you won't even notice the difference. I'll have to plant some landscaping bushes in front of it as well.

Nolen helping move original bricks in place for the workers.

The complete wall. Took them 8 hours. I was just expecting them to get 1/2 of it done. They worked very fast.

I almost had to stand in the road to get the whole house in the photo. House looks so much longer now. I just realized that I now have 2 more rooms to clean. Now is the time I teach my kids to clean up their own rooms!

Step 11 & 12...Dry wall and connect the new part with the old part

This is the hole that they cut going from the kids room into the two new rooms. Window was removed & placed in Alexis' new room.

Dry wall is up. Nolen's closet & doorway.

Walk in closet for Alexis. I figure she will have a lot more clothes being a girl & all.

Various Summer Photos

We have been busy this summer. Thought I'd post some pictures of what we have been doing besides adding onto the house.

I think these two could pass for sisters. They are only a few months apart in age. Katie visited us several times while she was here visiting her grandma. We just love her Alabama accent.

I had another birthday & Pete took me to Evansville for 1 night WITHOUT KIDS. I normally have a DQ ice cream cake for my birthday, but decided to just have my favorite M&M Blizzard since we were on the road.

Pete's brother, Dave, has been here for a few weeks. His daughter Courtnie caught a fish while fishing at East Fork Lake. (Love the boots girl!)

I'm really not for sure what to say about this photo, just that Pete probably won't like it. I'm saving this to show Nolen's first girlfriend.

Something happened to our garden this year. I think the chicken poop made everything go crazy. (Thanks Doug) Pete planted 8 tomato plants and we found out he planted them way too close. They have grown together and are as tall as Pete. It's impossible to get to the middle of them. We have been eating corn from the garden, though the coon ate the first of it. Pete took care of him, if you know what I mean. We still have plenty more & some that hasn't tasseled yet. We also planted giant sunflowers for Alexis. I'll have to get a good photo soon since they just started blooming.

Fourth of July in their red, white & blue. These two just love the tire swing. I can stand and push Nolen for over an hour & he doesn't get tired of it. He just loves it when I push him high enough to hit the tree.


VBS started this week. We have an Egyptian theme and Alexis fell in love with this hair piece.

Dave & his son Ethan caught 50 blue gill in one morning! They cut them all up and I guess a fish fry is in the future.

Pete caught several bass on the lake & they were cut up as well.

Step 9 & 10....Inside walls & insulation

The inside walls have been studded up & now it is looking like two rooms. This shot was taken while standing in Alexis's room looking into Nolen's room.

Alexis posing in her future bedroom.

Alexis stands in the doorway of her walk in closet. We decided to give her a big closet for all her stuff & future stuff. Note: The window in the back of the closet will soon be moved to the south end of the house.

I think it was 90 some degrees when Pete & his dad installed the insulation. I went to get a fan for them because there was hardly any air flow in the rooms.

They have left out one window in order to gain access into the rooms for now. They haven't cut the door into the rest of the house yet. Next week the south end will be sealed up & dry wall will begin to go up. Painting day seems to be getting closer & closer. I still need to pick out carpet for the bedrooms.

Step 8...Shingles, off with the old & on with the new

Since it was going to be a big job to tear off the shingles, Pete called in some extra help. It just so happened that his brother is visiting for a few weeks and helped us out. We also had help from a neighbor & Pete's dad.

The new shingles were delivered by this neat truck. Nolen enjoyed watching the unloading process.

On go the new shingles. Did we pick the right color honey? Why yes we did because I picked my choice & didn't tell Pete which ones I picked and asked him to pick. He picked the same ones I did. So yes we picked the right ones!

After day 2, only a few more need to be put on the north side before they are finished.

Katie brought over her slip & slide and the kids had fun playing in the water. This kept them away from the construction for a while.

Step 7...Roof

We now have a roof on our addition. The house is looking so much longer now. Monday they will start tearing off the shingles on the other part of the house. The whole house will get new shingles so it will all match.

This is a piece of our gas line they replaced because a tree root grew around it. I think we will keep this.