Monday, April 28, 2014

Making Some Progress

Hello everyone!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and worked outside in the yard.  We also hired a neighbor (who is a carpenter for a living) to replace some rotten wood on our house.  

Our house is aging and needs to have a lot of things fixed and replaced.  Ughh!  We've never lived in a house this long so it has been a learning experience to have to replace so many things.  We've lived in this house for over 18 yrs.  

The first thing was to fix up our back deck.  My husband cleaned it and then stained it.  He still needs to do one more coat though.  He ran out of stain. 


But, even with one coat, it's already looking so much better!  He will do the same thing to our front porch floor too.

Next, he planted our garden.  It's just a little one but plenty for our needs.


We're just growing some tomatoes, squash, bell peppers and cucumbers.  These should take off soon.

We also cleaned out our woods behind our house.  I love that we have these woods since it gives us more privacy, but it does become a dumping ground for lawn and bush clippings and sticks. So, we used our burn barrel to clean that up.  Still have more to do on that front too!  


Our neighbor and good friend has his own business as a "handy man" or carpenter (I guess you could call him).  He is so knowledgeable about everything construction related and we were thrilled to have him fit us in his very busy schedule.  

He replaced some of our rotten window sills with the kind that will never rot again.


We still have a few more that he will get to at another time.

And he replaced a piece of rotten wood on the back side of our porch.  Our builder did not add flashing above it so that's why the wood rotted.  Our neighbor made sure to do every thing the right way!


Of course, it needs to be painted, but we must pressure wash the house first.  It's always something!

He gave us some tips to improve some other things on our house, too, that we hope to get done on our own.

He told us that homes that were built in the 90's (which is ours) were not always built with the best materials compared to today.  Builders used bad siding (ours has been replaced), bad stucco (we dodged that one), bad plumbing (ours is good), bad septic tank field line set-ups (ours was improved), wooden window sills (ours are being replaced).  And on and on and on!  Whew!  No wonder we sometimes feel like we live in a money pit.  Even the water saver toilets of today are better than the ones that were installed in our home 18 yrs ago.  It's as if our home was the guinea pig for construction and now they're tweaking all the problems.  

So!  It has been a busy weekend, but a good learning experience about our house as well.  

Slowly,  we will make things better ....................and then we'll move!  Ha Ha.  Isn't that the way it normally goes?

Hope you all had a good weekend too.  And to all you fellow southerners, stay safe during the line of bad storms coming our way today!  My heart goes out to all those affected in Arkansas that experienced the deadly tornadoes. 

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Isn't it always something!!! Last week, I did the inside of the sunroom from top to bottom, and this weekend the Mr. pressure washed the outside ,all the windows and the back side of the house, the patio and the patio furniture. Have to depollen it all.
Happy new week.
Hugs, Gee

Lisa @ Fern Creek Cottage said...

The deck is looking so pretty! Keeping up on houses is a lot of work! But so worth it! It is sad when people just let their house get run down. Yours looks wonderful!

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

There is always something to be done to a home for sure. Yours is looking fabulous.

Olive said...

Hi Kelly, It is the same here in our 1970's house and do not get me started on the 1830's antebellum house in Middle Georgia because it is a real nightmare. You know I would love to meet you in Madison one day. I could show you around and most importantly we could go antiquing! xo, olive

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

We seem to move every two years after doing major remodeling, so we don't get to enjoy our hard work, lol.

Looks like you are getting everything whipped back in shape!

Katie Mansfield said...

It looks good. The joys of living in a 90s home.

Laura @ duke manor farm said...

We had a similar problem and had to replace some sills.. thank you very much mr.idiot builder. If I had to do it all over again we wouldn't even hire a builder and do everything ourselves. Sitting on your deck is going to v e that much more enjoyable now.

Lisa @ Texas Decor said...

Your deck is looking wonderful! I thought about planting a small garden too. There's nothing like the taste of homegrown tomatoes. You're lucky to have a friend who is a handy man because you know he won't steer you wrong. We totally need to pressure wash the back of our house too. That keeps getting moved to the bottom of the list. :)

Something Nice and Pretty said...

Looking good Kelly, this house was built in 1985 so you can imagine the DIY's that go on around here.
Love your deck and your garden too, we just get to many deer to even attempt a garden!

Judy said...

home ownership is wonderful but there's always something to tend to or take care of. right now my husband is up on the roof trying to find where there's a leak in the sunroom....hopefully it's just backed up leaves but we'll have to repair the ceiling where the damage is.

i've been in this house 29 years! wow...i can't believe it. fortunately, we've kept it up to date and it's in a good neighborhood.

i'm off to the beach wednesday for 4-5 days...i know the weather might not cooperate but i'm so ready for some R&R!

Stacey said...

To me you are describing the things we just do around the house to keep it up. I love doing those things. :)

NanaDiana said...

Oh- I hear you. It is wonderful to get those things done even though it is a lot of work and money. Everything is looking really good, Kelly. Once you get the "grub" stuff done you can do some fun stuff, I hope- xo Diana

cynthia lee designs said...

I know exactly what you are going thru. Our home was built in 1956 and we purchased it in 1992 and the sellers had updated the kitchen and the bathrooms. After us living here all these years...we updated the kitchen about 2 years ago and are planning on doing the bathrooms soon. We are wanting to move out of our tri-level to a one story home...plus we don't need this big of a house anymore with our girls both grown. Just more house than we really need.
~Cindy

ℳartina @ Northern Nesting said...

It's never ending when you own a home! It's great you have a neighbor helping you out!

Linda said...

YUP!! When you own a home you are constantly fixing or repairing...It's never ending. Hope the storms are not so bad.

Brenda Pruitt said...

I didn't even own my home, but was paying for most of the repairs, so now I don't have to worry about all that, thank goodness. But it is just a part of home ownership. The good and the bad.
Brenda

Linda said...

I have lived in my house since I was 18 years old. I'm 65 now. It has changed over the years and I have changed with it. I think houses have personalities and it pleases them when we take care of them. They WANT to look nice for us! No, I'm being silly.....a little bit.

Junkchiccottage said...

Everything looks good Kelly. It is always something when you own a house. The work never seems to end. Love the deck it is looking great.
Kris

Sherry @ Thrift My House said...

Love your wooded back yard! Everything looks great Kelly. We need to pressure wash the green off the house and fence. Yep, it's always something.

Moni - Zuhaus at Home said...

Love your deck looking out on the wooded backyard…such a pretty home and neighborhood!
Spring is a perfect time to tweak everything in and around the house…so nice of your neighbor to help.

Scribbler said...

We are experiencing the same problems with our house. We moved in 7 years ago, and I sometimes think these houses were put together with spit and chewing gum. We were told the house was built in '92, but a couple of neighbors say it was more like '88. That five years has made a difference in the lifespan of certain things. I was interested to see those window sills, because I think that might be the next thing we have to do in a few years. We had a lot of the wood ones repaired this past summer when the house was painted. The contractor we used was about to die to replace all the windows, but there is nothing wrong with our windows. At $800 a clip, we passed on that one.

We have drywall that is incredibly soft and crumbly, but I hope to move before that has to be done.

Your lot is beautiful. Such nice views all around.

ETS

Shirley@Housepitality Designs said...

Looks like you two have been very busy...yes, I know, when you get the house just the way you want it, then it is time to move...that has been our scenario!..we want to do the downsizing soon...love your garden...

Cynthia said...

Looks like you had a very productive weekend. We built our old house in the 90's and I agree with most things you said. Since then the materials and styling has come a long way and changed. Year 15 seems to be the year things start to need updating. For us it did and with a budget it too until before we sold, LOL.

Cynthia

Bliss said...

My garden is growing nicely, the problem is that it's in k-cups in my kitchen window. We've got to get a plot tilled up. Can I borrow Mr. Essence?

Anne said...

Looks great Kelly! Same here making progress!
xx
Anne

Amy at Ms. Toody Goo Shoes said...

You got so much done! That's a great feeling. We have so many things like that to do. Sometimes it feels like nothing gets done, and other times, we are zooming through projects!