"Skirting" the Issue

Hubby started on the skirting of the back porch.  What a difference!  Little by little we are transforming our cottage.  We still need to install railing, but before we do that, our yard needs a little TLC.

Remember when we took down the big Oak tree?  Well, that left us with a big humped up area in the backyard.  The tree company ground off what stump they could, but we were left with a hump.  Plus all that heavy equipment driving around killed what little grass we had.  See that bump in front of the play set?

This big ol' pile of dirt is going to help us level out the yard and hopefully make that hump a little less noticeable. 

One whole day of earth moving.....and voila.............

Now on to planting new grass.

Oops We Did It Again

What did we do?  We demolished something else in the house, again.  I use the term "we" loosely.  Hubs demolished, I took pictures and then used the shop vac (dirty work but someone has to do it).

Last April all of my boys started to prepare the basement stairs to be rebuilt and moved.  Little did we know it would be a year until we had a chance to actually tear the stairs out.

 

 

 

Here are some pictures from last April



 The kiddos removing a paneling wall.

 

 

 

 

A few "before" pictures from the basement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it looks now.

This is a view from the kitchen leading down to the basement.

And don't be jealous of my pantry.  OSB is so very versatile. 

 



One evening and a lot of noise later........

No stairs

 

 

To get to the basement to do laundry, we have to walk the plank... Arrrgh!

And scale down the ladder. 

 

This is a view of the bottom where the stairs used to be. 



Hubs had to add a few more joists to carry the weight of the house. 

 

 

 

Here you can see the outline of the stringers on the block wall.

The new stairs will be perpendicular to the block wall.   

 

Of course, my super heroes think this is the greatest improvement to the house ever!

They want to keep it this way!

I was told that adding a fireman's pole would make it way cooler!

We'll have to see about that!



 



Back Porch Progress

The back porch is coming along nicely. 

The exterior door has been installed. 

The gable has been sheeted and house wrapped. 

And the Trex decking is just about finished. 

 

 

 

Here's a little snap of my hubby taking time

to teach my oldest how to use the battery drill.

He helped screw several boards to the joists.  

 

 

Table and chairs finally make it out of the yard and onto a porch!

 

 

 

 

For now, we just laid some boards across

the stringers to make a set of stairs.

Eventually the Trex will make it to these stairs

to be just like the front porch steps.

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed my first cup of coffee on the back porch this afternoon. 

It was such a beautiful, mild day.  The boys were playing in the back yard and I had a chance to call my mom!

Can't ask for anything better!

Front Steps

Hubby is making progress on the front porch.  We chose Trex Composite Decking for the floor and white PVC boards for the risers.  I'm not sure how the PVC boards are going to hold up against two muddy little boys.........but I like the look ... so Que Sera Sera.

I always enjoy starting with a before pic.

And now

 

 

We are going to make a porch roof with railing.  But we have some other things to attend to first.
Like finishing up the back porch! 

Here's a little peek of what's going on with the addition and back porch.

 

 

 

Hippie-Dippie

Not much to show you in the way of construction.  The hubs is working on shingling the back of the house.  We need to frame in the kitchen expansion.  And then work on the back porch. 

But in the meantime, as promised, I have new car window decals.
Gone is the stick figure family.  In it's place a little peace and love.

I found these decals by Dan Morris.  I am in love with them.  I love the colors and the message. 
With all the terrifying things going on in the world, I just wanted to show some love and peace.
So either people passing by will give me a peace sign or tell me I'm number one!  We'll have to see.

 

No matter what angle I shot at, I couldn't stop the glare on the left side of my car.

 

 

 

 

Peace and love to all of you! 

Truss(t) me

We are setting trusses on the kitchen expansion

and back porch today. 

You can see that we moved the door up from

ground level to floor level of the house.

This last picture has nothing to do with improvements to our house.

Just improvements to my car.

I bought some new stickers (not a stick figure family this time) for the back of my vehicle.

I like to have something that identifies my vehicle as mine

because there are a lot of cars with the exact year, make, model

and color driving around.

I peeled the old stickers off this evening. 

I will put the new ones on tomorrow!



(Gotta love my expression in the reflection...the sun was really bright and made it hard to see!)

 

 

A little progress on the back of the house

Hellooooo!

Just a quick post to show you the progress we are making on the back of the house. 
My hubby has been working very hard on the expansion of the kitchen and boy's room.
Our neighbors have been a tremendous help with man power and borrowed machinery!

A "before" pic. 

This shows the old concrete slab that, at one time, housed a little screened in porch.

 

 

Foundation dug.

 

 

 

Cement poured.

 

Block laid.

 

 

 

 

Post holes dug



 

A little help from a little old furry lady.  Her name is Sheila (affectionately called She She). 

Sheila  loves to be around construction because
that's what her owner does.

She is the sweetest, kindest, most patient dog.



Joists installed.

 

 
 

The door was moved up last night, but I didn't get a picture because it was dark outside.   More pictures to come.  Yippee!