Finally...an update!

Hey everyone!

Sorry we have not updated this thing in a month or so! Just with the holidays, moving, and everything else that has been going on the last month, we have not had any time! So we took a few pics last night to give you and idea on how everything is looking..

First of all I want to apologize that some of the pictures are a little skewed. I have to shrink them down and sometimes stretch them in order for them to fit this blog format.

What I want to show you first is the room that is closest to completion and we're probably the most proud of, which is the bathroom. Gotta love the new shower curtain, shower rod, and finished tile!

This is new cabinet and towel rack we installed.



The new mirror, sconces, and hand towel ring. Please excuse the missing outlet cover. We have to buy new ones for the whole house since they were alternating white and off white.



The tub which we painted black with silver feet (and apparently some set of instructions is under there, just now saw that, lol).




Next we will take you into the master bedroom. We havn't done a whole lot in here since we got in. We did purchase a new rug from Lowes with Christmas money we received (so now I need a new comforter set to match it, lol). Also we installed our new plantation blinds through out the whole house. You can also see the finished product on the floors, although I don't think these pics quite do them justice. (Loved the way they turned out!) Check it out....









Next we move on to the living room. Lilly and Adam are kicked back relaxing watching a movie. The living room is still pretty bare as far as decoration goes, but there are still a few things to do, like finishing the trim and polyurethaning the mantle (so that blue stripe is painters tape, not part of the decor, lol). But we do have our new couches and rug in, so that's a start!






The spare bedroom is still serving some what as a "catch all" so excuse the mess. The quilt that is laid across the bed is the wedding ring quilt my grandmother and great-grandmother put together for me many years ago. Once we have a comforter set to go on this bed we will put the quilt up in a safe place. But if you need a place to crash, we now have one!








Now we move along to the dining room. The pretty orchid arrangement that is currently on the table will be moved to the bedroom once the chandelier is installed.




We also have a beautiful hutch, that Adam's grandmother gave to us, in the dining room as well. This will serve as a place for all the silver and crystal wedding gifts that we received (some of which are still boxed up).



We also picked up plantation blinds for the french doors as well....



Last we have the kitchen. We still have to replace the cabinets, countertop, and sink. But the floors are completed and love the open shelving for the dishes. Also I think the bead board turned out very good in this room as well. Check it out....









So that's it! That's the update for now. There are still a couple rooms that were left off because they have served as storage for now while we are still in the moving in/organzing process or we have not begun any real work on them (aka the utility room). But I hope you have enjoyed looking at our progress so far!

Staining Floors

Well the end is soon approaching.... We have moved to the final stage before we move in: finishing the floors. This past weekend Adam & I stained all of the floors with Minwax Stain Dark Walnut.

Since we had a bad trial run with the poplar floors in the bedroom and living room, we prepped them first with a coat of wood conditioner. We used Minwax and Cabot brands for this.

Staining is a long, painstaking process. It is done on your hands and knees by ragging the stain onto the floor, and then wiping off with a clean rag. Poor Adam did the first coat of stain on all the floors all by himself. His hard work is pictured below:

The staining all went very well. Yet the foyer and dining room did not stain up quite dark enough on the first go around. So Tuesday night, while Adam worked late, I went back and put another coat of stain on the dining room and foyer floors. The second coat really gave us the color that we wanted.

Last night we put on the first coat of polyurethane. Adam insists that I go check it out on my lunch break because so far it had turned out beautiful! We used Minwax Polyurethane Clear Gloss.

We will apply the second coat tonight, and the third on Friday. The poly will have to set for at least 72 hours before moving any furniture on it. To check out all the pictures of staining and pre-staining, check out the latest pictures on our Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamandmariahshouse/

Drunk Driver Update, Up-Close Tile, and Kitchen BeadBoard

Well, we are still patiently waiting to straighten everything out with the truck situation. After receiving the police report, Adam followed up with the other driver's insurance company to get the ball rolling on the claim. After going through numerous questions and gathering of information, the insurance adjuster advised Adam to get the process started with our insurance company when it came to taking care of our vehicle because "this guy may not have insurance". Stunned by the woman's statement, Adam asked what she was basing this assumption off of, where she proceeded to tell him that the company sent him a cancellation letter for non-payment on Oct. 24. So the jerk was drinking and driving, with no insurance. Fantastic..... Thankfully we do have under insured/uninsured motorist coverage on our policy, we just pray it doesn't raise our rates. So we are still patiently waiting....

As far as the house, it is really starting to look like a home. We mentioned that the tile was finished in the last blog, so I thought I would include some close up shots and rooms shots of the finished tile with grout and sealing.

Here is the bathroom tile, we used a dark grey grout, which I think tied it altogether really well:

The hallway turned out really well as well. We went with a light colored grout, similar to the color of the tile. We had originally planned on a dark grout, but decided against that. Unfortunately, the old bag of grout was in the truck when the wreck happened and exploded on impact, so we did not get to return it to Lowes. Either way, we are much happier that we went with the lighter grout.

We plan to lay a piece of quarter-round down along the side of the hallway baseboard to clean up and finish the look of the tile.

Last night Adam and Darron nailed up the bead board in the kitchen. Some pieces have one coat of paint, while others are still unpainted. They all will be painted with the white glossy enamel paint that we have used in all of our trim work. Although it is far from the finished product, the bead board has really begun to tie the kitchen together to look like a real kitchen, and not just the room with the stove in it. Check it out:

Drunk Drivers and Tile work complete

Where to begin.....Friday night the two guys from church that have been so helpful with the tile work in our house came over and we finished laying the hallway and also grouted the bathroom. The bathroom turned out beautiful and we called it a night about 11:45 pm on Friday. Mariah and Lilly had stayed home from the house that night because there was laundry that had to be done and we were going to Louisville on Saturday for a birthday celebration with our friends John and Savannah. I left our house right at midnight and began my drive to Mariah's parents home where we've been staying while completing the restorations on our house. I was exactly two blocks from our house when I came upon a two way stop on the intersection on High Street and 13th Ave. I did not have to stop and was crossing the intersection when BAM I was hit on the driver's side of my vehicle and spun around.

It's funny how our human instincts take over when events like this happen in our lives. Once my truck stopped moving my first thought was, "Am I ok?" Once I determined that I had all my parts I then thought, "I have to get out of here!" My door was jammed from the impact, but I was able to hop over and get out the passenger side. Once outside I got my breath and call Mariah and told her about the accident and that I was ok and she needed to come get me. I then called 911 and they had units there in less than 2 minutes. After I made those phone calls I asked the guy, "Didn't you see that stop sign?" To which he replied, "My throttle got stuck on my vehicle." Rrrriiiiiight, I thought. The cops got my information and the EMT's and firefighter's made sure that I was ok and then I looked over and saw that the police were giving the guy that hit me a field sobriety test....then a breathlizer....then handcuffs and the backseat of the cop car. DUI. Unbelievable!! I have just become a statistic. I've been hit by a drunk driver! Mariah tooks some pics, which I've posted below, and we went home and I finally was able to fall asleep about 3:00am. The next day my hip and elbow were a little sore, but nothing major. I felt as though I had played in a highschool football game on Friday night but not mush worse than that.




Saturday we had a lot of help on the house from Mariah's grandparents, her mother, and step sister and her boyfriend. We got most all the trim painted and I finished the grout in the hallway. We didn't take any pictures, but we'll try to tonight and post sometime this week. Sunday, we took the Lord's advice and rested. Hopefully we'lll be able to get most all the trim finished up this week along with putting our bathroom back together and then we're thinking that we may get to move in next week or the following weekend. Keep your fingers crossed.

All Hallows Eve, Homecoming, Etc.

So this past weekend was quite eventful. Friday night was Halloween. Saturday was Western Kentucky Universities Homecoming and Sunday was a visit with my family in Springfield, TN and a birthday dinner for Mariah Step-Grandmother Sunday night. And we got a little work done on the house too.

First off lets talk about Halloween. Mariah and I had been invited to a costume party at a friend of ours house Friday night. Since WKU's Homecoming was the next day I knew that a lot of the poeple that I went to college with would be in attendence so we were pretty excited about it, but we had to find a costume. One night Mariah and I were talking about what we could be and it hit me.....I said "Let's be Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and all six of their kids!" Needless to say Mariah thought I was brilient and so that's what we went as. Mariah found a great wig and a dragon tattoo at the local Halloween costume tent and she also ordered this paper off the internet that you can print whatever you'd like on and it peels off and has an adhesive that sticks to your skin so it looks like a real tattoo. Genious! My outfit was pretty easy I just bought a hat like I've seen Brad wear, got some sunglasses and threw on a white sports coat. Oh yeah and I went to Wal-Mart and bought a baby carrier that goes on like a backwards back pack. See pictures below. We had a great time and won a trophy for "Best Costume!"

This next picture is of all the award winners that night. On the left is the winner for "Funniest Costume," Daisy and Donald Duck. On the right is the winner for "Scariest Costume," Gomez & Morticia Addams. And in the center is us Brad and Angelina.

The next day, Saturday, I went and worked on the house that morning and then we went tailgating and met up with a bunch of our college friends. That night we went to a bar where Mariah's cousin was playing and then called it an early night.

Great, great, fun weekend!!!

An update on the house:
We've got a little more tile to lay in the hallway, then we've got to finish some of the trim painting, put a little Bead Board in the kitchen and stain the floors before we move in. There are a few little projects that we're probably not going to get to before we move in, but we're so ready to be in the house that we'll just have to manage.

Hallway Tile & New Wall

While Adam and I were out celebrating, Harold and Scott were kind enough to work some more on the hallway tile. Adam and the guys were able to get about 1/4 done on Thursday night, and the guys got about half of the job complete on Friday night. We used a simple 12x12 travertine style tile for the hallway placed in a diamond pattern. So far it looks great!

Then my always thinking husband decided to take on another project. Since our living room had so many doorways (5 to be exact) he thought it would be a great idea to board up the door that leads into the hall (since it doesn't make a lot of sense anyways) and create more wall space. I was hesitent at first, since I just couldn't imagine taking on another huge, messy project. But he assured me the project would be quick, painless, and cheap. So Saturday morning he went to the house while I stayed behind and did laundry. He tore out the facing to the door, nailed up a 1x6 board as the stud, and purchased the 1/4 inch drywayll. Sunday and Monday he was was able to hang the drywall, mud, and tape the new wall. Check it out!

Bathroom Tile!!

Tuesday night, Adam and the 2 gentleman from church were able to lay the bathroom tile, which we are super pleased with! It took approximately 5 hours for them to complete this task, taking the first hour to plan out exactly where the tile would start and end. Laying tile (especially tile this small and intricate) I would definintely recommend having someone who knows what they are doing on hand. You don't realize how much planning goes into everything to make the tiles line up just right. We still need to lay the tile in the hall, and then grout and seal both rooms, but check out the progress so far!!