And the House is Finished!

Well, not really, not even close, but livable and one would think that as we approach our third year in this house, it would be finished.

Let's see, since I last posted, Rob finished the hall bathroom, got the flooring in the living room and dining room, and put in a beautiful entry way.

And sometime last summer Rob disappeared for a couple of weeks for work and I hired someone to finish the entryway walls. And to put in arches throughout the front of the house.

OH! And my parents had the entryway and dining room and living room painted. So it looks nice. REALLY nice.

But it's not finished.

I will get back to updating soon, I promise. But for now, a sneak peak of how my entryway looked at Christmas!

Carter's Sandbox

So after the floors had been put in most of the house and the drywall was up in the entry way, we rested. Rob still did some things....put up ceiling fans, patched up intercom holes, and we had the kitchen and bathrooms painted. Oh, that's right, one of the bathrooms was totally demolished instead of painted, but that's a whole 'nother post.

Outside we went. I wanted to get Carter a little sandbox to play in. One of those cute little plastic turtles or ladybugs, or better yet, a little wooden one with an umbrella.

"What?", said Super Papa, with his hands on his hips. "Why should we buy a sandbox when for a few hundred dollars and a few weekends of work I can make one?". Humph. So off Rob went and researched the topic and built one. A fabulous one. Beautifully built and stained, with two doors that protect the sandbox from critters and rain and bird poop. The neighbors thought we had built a bomb shelter.

A Bit of a Break

Um, I apparently took a bit of a break from this blog. In my defense I last posted in December 2008. Then came the holidays and then in early 2009, we found out we were going to have baby #2. And I'm not a very peaceful pregnant person. I get very wound up thinking about being pregnant and can't really do much else. And then the baby came in October 2009. And then the holidays rolled around again. So here I am, again, finally, to tell you what's new on New Ranch Road.

So, since it has been 14 months since my last post, the house must be finished, right? Well, remember, we had those pesky holidays. So, it isn't quite finished...but maybe closer to being finished.

Where to start? Ah yes, the entry way....

The entry way had been tore apart since last we met, dear reader. And it still sort of is. The drywall is up. The seams are getting sealed as we speak (hey, good work takes a bit of time) and then, we texture. So, we are right on schedule to finish the entryway by the time our 2 year old graduates from high school.

This part of our remodel wasn't without a few crazy moments. Like when I went into the pantry to get some sugar and found we had a rat visitor IN the sugar. I screamed, he jumped, the dog lunged, and a cartoon-like chase ensued. Dog chasing rat, rat circling my legs, dog barking, me screaming at the dog (deaf dog by the way). Finally the rat found his way into the wall and got away. Well, away from the dog. I think he camped out in the house for a while.

Rob threw the drywall up rather quickly at that point, needless to say.

And set a few traps. And told me that no, he hadn't caught any rats, that they had just moved out on their own. I don't believe him, but he knows I don't want to know. I'm okay with rats...just not in my sugar. It's kinda pricey. It's raw and organic.

Entry Way

Much of our house has wood panelling. It's not so pretty. And it's dark and has about a million holes in it. I think the previous owners just tried to cover the panelling with objects. I mean, why paint, when you could put in a few thousand nails and hang everything you own on the wall?

You think I'm kidding. My dad took it upon himself to remove the nails and patch the wall. It took him like 2 days. One of the rooms had 2.387 holes in it. Okay, not really, but he did count them and there were over 50 in one room alone!

My husband removed the panelling from the entryway and when you sit in the office now, you can see little nailholes of light streaming through the office wall. Its sort of pretty...like one of those universes you put on kids' ceilings.

So back to the entry way. My husband removed the panelling late one night and then after some thought tore out the ceiling too. For good measure, apparently. 'Cause after all, we had just cleared out the living room and I was keeping a handle on the dust, so why not? Now we are back to square one......debris in the driveway, piles of junk in the living room, and about 3 inches of dust all over.

It had to be done. The ceiling in the entry way was, for no apparent reason, 12 inches lower than the rest of the house and slanted kind of crazily at one end. Maybe that was the epitome of style in 1968. Then again, Rob found an empty beer can and empty bottles of Ripple and vodka in the attic. Might explain the ceiling.

But now we are living with an entry way that is really just studs and beams. I've posted a picture for your entertainment.

At least now I don't have to dust.

Laundry room

My laundry room is finally finished. Well, I have a few minor things to do to it, but it's almost there! And it's quite possibly the cutest room in the house. My uncle put in the floor, painted the walls, built my matching sink, and made the cutest shelf and valance box.

It's adorable! I vacuum it daily and clean the floor a few times a week. It's just so cute. My husband lost his mind briefly and put a dirty old shelf in there. My head almost exploded. Dirty old shelves don't belong in my laundry room. Doesn't he know that? Shame on him! I don't put Better Homes and Gardens magazines in his gym bag. That's sort of a given. An unspoken rule that I shouldn't have to enforce.

He'd better watch his step.

This is a "before" picture...I realy need to post the "after" picture!

A bedroom floor!

Yup, only 7 months after we moved in too! A bedroom floor. No more subflooring , real flooring. The kind that everyone has, but that we've only dreamed about. And it's beautiful too.

Rob installed it....only took him a few back- and knee-breaking days to do it. And the baby loves it. Seemed rather perplexed actually, as he's never actually been put down in the bedroom. The subflooring was gross.....all rough and plywoody, and covered in cat barf. Well, not really covered in it. The cat had barfed on it a few times, but I always picked it up immediately (ok, except for that time I didn't notice it and it hardened and sort of looked like that fake rubber barf one can buy. )

And this weekend we started unpacking the living room....we've cleared out about 1/5th of it so far. Looks good. We've made a lot of progress this weekend. We only have subflooring in part of the house now, not most of it.

Renovating a 1960's Classic

If there was anything charming, or even cool, about the 1960's and their influence on California ranches, well our house didn't have any of it! It is an oddly designed 5 bedroom, three bath, non-descript home that was probably quite stylish in 1968. Unfortunately, I am rather drawn to the bungalows of the 30's and 40's and appreciate the 1950's. My husband seems to prefer the updated look of granite and travertine. But here we are, the proud owners of a house that was designed at the tail end of groovy.

We will admit now, with a crawling 10-month old and the dull finish of plywood subflooring staring us in the face, that we may have bitten off more than we can chew (at least when trying to renovate the house ourselves and only on the 3rd weekend of every month). But we were drawn to the neighborhood, to the 1/2 acre lot with mature fruit trees, to the corner kiva-like fireplace, and to the enormous back porch. And of course, to the allure of doing it ourselves.

This is our story...the story of two thirty somethings, newlyweds, and new parents trying to make lemonade out of lemons, trying to make not-so-groovy into retro-fabulous, all on a tight budget (if you have no money to spend, does it still count as a budget?).

Here we go....wheeeeee!