pictures of the process. and fantasies fulfilled.

turns out it isn't as bad as i thought it would be. the computer is still hooked up in the kitchen. hallelujah. downside is i have no time to post or comment all day. the computer was covered all day with protective covering. and now i have either time to post or time to comment. not both. which kinda bites. but you are getting a post. i'll be around to comment when i can. if it gets too out of hand i may just mark all as read in the reader. and start fresh. i hate to miss out on reading every post . but MAN they add up so fast if i don't keep up on it.

so today's progress? with some befores and in renovation mode. with commentary, and exciting news. exciting for me anyway.


the arch looked like this. decorated. with my spring garland.
and the spring wreath. (it isn't a heart it's just lopsided)

so they took down the decorations, that i just barely put up last month. and started making holes in the arch! ACK! i have to take before pictures. here we are uncle TONY in the picture even. looking at the arch, starting demolition. yay? this was before 9 am . i was getting Hope ready for school. and they started pounding on the wall. i had to rush in there to get a picture. after Pierce saw the hammering he went and started pounding on the wall with his paddle ball handle. HA! that is how we get holes in the wall. we teach them young. leave tools around and WHALAH. holy walls. TONY even uses drop cloths. to avoid making a mess. fabulous!

and i took this at noon. the arch is gone. Hope just got off the bus(see her school bag?) the guys were at lunch. so i snapped a picture.


so after the arch. they scraped the texture off the ceiling. yay! took down a spare vent from the old long gone swamp cooler and cleaned up.

and then they started on the project in the play room.

can you guess which fantasy project is actually happening to the play room?

any long time readers or real life friends know about my fantasy FAMILY CLOSET. yeah a room dedicated to clean clothes, where i can sort, fold, hang and store clothes. no more running up and down stairs, to put stuff in closets, and then back up and down to get clean clothes so i can lay them out for the kids. OR my least fave thing? when Lance sends the kids with armfuls of clean clothes on hangers to the kids rooms to be hung up and put away. and the kids ditching them not hanging them up and a week later "dirty clothes" coming back upstairs on hangers? WTH? and they are dirty then because they have been on the floor, walked on for a week. DAMN IT! seriously i hate hate that. SO yeah the family closet will be a dream come true.

and the playroom? I'm not sad to see it go. it is a nasty pit. the kids eat in there, leave stuff around, dump toys all over. and never pick up. and it gets disgusting so fast. i hate it. Lance had it clean how many weeks ago? 2? yeah and it was back to disgusting in a week. so what will i do with the toys? i plan on purging alot of them. and the rest can be sorted into age appropriate categories, and put in the empty closets. to be played with by the age appropriate users in their bedrooms. I'm sorting books that way too. the play room shelves will be a giant family dresser. where really it's just for all the kids. BUT they will each have an assigned row. and they will have a basket each for socks, underwear, shorts/skirts , jeans, and PJ's . shirts get hung up here. and i'm labeling them so they will be able to help sort and put away, OR get stuff out for themselves, no more, "i don't know where they are" crap.

So here we are- a before picture of the playroom shelves (from Ikea)


the TV will stay, to make my time in the family closet more enjoyable. and on this wall there will be a 10 ft. counter with a hanging rack above it. for sorting, folding, hanging up or just dumping clean clothes until i can sort and fold or hang them.
fabulous! no more Lance dumping loads of clothes for me to put away, on the front room couch.
and under the counter? space for 6 baskets ! i'm thinking only clean baskets, but who knows. maybe we'll have sorting baskets to strip and drop dirty clothes into. we'll see.


here is the empty wall(the shelves were here) where the clothes bars will go. 2. with a space underneath for who knows what. i'm thinking a bench?
and hanging bars will be above the real closet where i store things, like craft stuff and holiday goodies. and other assorted crap.

here is the shelf moved to the short wall in the room and make the bin labels. for the clothes. sorting process.

Tomorrow Tony is coming to finish the playroom conversion. we are taking out the carpet. doing tile in here to match the rest of the main floor. and he's building the counters and putting up the hanging racks. WHOOHOO! this is the best part of the whole thing.

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this is the tile we currently have. Lance calls it pillow top or marshmallow tile. it is kinda pinky white and shows everything. it is 12" and UGLY! not to mention always filthy. even if it's freshly mopped it looks like CRAP in 5 minutes or less. and it isn't just the kids. it is anyone living on it.

what are we getting instead? the largest dirty looking brown tile we can find.
yeah 16" or 18 " and brown with brown spots. i used to refuse to have tile. i never wanted tile we would never have tile, i hated tile , hated the look, the feel, the everything. and i wanted WOOD, would only have wood, or laminate or whatever, and we've had wood, it is more maintenance than i can keep up with, our real maple floors were ruined, our laminate separated, and chipped, and i couldn't mop with a mop bucket, and rag mop. i was going to compromise with wood looking tile but its special order , and i didn't love the look of the sample i saw, and it's not cheap, so i decided brown dirty looking tile is the way to go. i never wanted brown tile, it was ugly, and dark and so when we remodeled the basement bathroom, i did white tile, with whitish grout. and it looks like A$$ now , it needs redone, and is only 4 years old, so not good. SO i have accepted tile is the way to go. it wears better,lasts longer, and if i get one that looks like dirty floors, it hides that the floor is actually dirty longer, hello, sounds like the answer for us.

LANCE IS MOCKING! haha you said you'd never want tile blah blah blah you NEVER wanted brown tile that looks dirty (hides dirt) hahaha! i was right, you were wrong about the white tile, i told you so etc etc. so finally i decide on brown looking large tile throughout. finally. 11 years that i was against it. and here we are. on the verge of it now. all i have to say to Lance is...
yeah i converted , got practical. and learned to never say never. what of it? you want a piece of me? you know you do! wink, wink!

and while all this was going on. Pierce hung out and watched the demolition of the arch, napped ,and hung out with me. Hope was at school and then wanted to watch TONY work and talk his ear off. jump on the couch. and hmmm watched tv in my room. while i worked like a dog hauling stuff around. putting stuff away, hiding decorations, out of the way. i made my bed, folded laundry, cleaned the mirrors in the bathrooms, and read my book. i took down Valentines day decorations finally. and put them away, along with the tubs of Christmas decorations that were hanging out in the playroom. finally in the attic again.

tomorrow? drywall, closet counter building, and texture i think. after that i think we start on the tile. oooohlala.
the biggest draw back is there is no place to hide the crap i need to put away. it is all involved. so i've got storage tubs of craft stuff int eh little girls room upstairs, and in Pierces room. living room and kitchen decor my bedroom. and the kids rooms. i'm not sure where i can hide the playroom stuff. pierces room is pretty packed. and i don't have time or space to sort it all out. well i do but i'm posting instead. anyway. more pictures as the week goes on.

TOMORROW night? BUNKO! whoohoo! yay! Wednesday lunch with friends. Friday lunch with the fave friends and who knows what i'm forgetting. i'm not sure. anyway.

have a fabulous Tuesday!