Exterior Painting Update: Bye, Bye Brown House!

Do you ever go into a project knowing that it's going to be a big time and money suck...but hoping it's worth it in the end?

Maybe that describes most all house projects.

We endeavored on one such project this summer:  painting the exterior of our house.

Last summer we had a hail storm that reeked havoc all over the neighborhood.  Our house fared well, but the siding and paint got dinged up.  We were never in love with the color of our house to begin with, so we decided to dive in and switch it all up!  

We knew it would take a lot of time, so the first thing we did was get some estimates to hire it out.

After getting two bids that both far exceeded what we wanted to spend, we stopped doing that.  Then we started looking into doing the work ourselves.  Since our house is on a hill and two-stories tall, there were a few challenges.  We would need to rent some taller ladders and/or scaffolding, and there was also the danger of falling.  We both knew full well that I would not be going up a 30-foot ladder, and even though Matt is confident with heights, it certainly wasn't ideal to have his ladder on a hill with only his scaredy-cat wife as a spotter.

So, we opted for what we hoped was the best of both worlds: hire out the difficult stuff and paint the rest ourselves.

Now that it's finished it doesn't seem so bad, but I will admit that it took us three months from start to finish (July-October), and there were many days when I felt like every free moment went to painting.  I would get up and paint an hour before the kids woke.  Then in the afternoon I would paint an hour while they had quiet time.  Then Matt would come home and we'd try to get a few hours in after dinner.  Thankfully the weather was great (not too hot or humid) and the days were long!

So, let's get to it.  

Here is the "before" of our house, what Nathan affectionately described as a "big, ugly brown box".

(I still remember taking this photo from the van while driving by before closing)

Brown siding, brown doors, brown roof...brown, brown, brown.

Here is the "after":

Improvement?

It's not completely finished, because I still intend to add some shutters and a window box to our puny front window to beef it up a little.  We also plan on redoing the landscaping next Spring.  (We're sick of caging all of our plants, so we're going fully deer resistant...hopefully). And, what to do with that front door?

I do however, love that it's so much lighter! No more blah brown (well, except the roof).  

We even painted the garage doors, which Matt was hesitant about, but I'm so glad we did.  At one point, Addie told me to quite painting everything white...but if just felt so good!

Since we had all the light fixtures down, we replaced those as well.  Bye-bye 1980s brass!

I found this light for the front door at Menards of all places.

(...and we still have an ugly doorbell)

For the garage, I bought two barn style lights on super sale at a local lighting store down town.

 

 This is the west side of our house.  We hired out the just the upper half of this side.

Finally, here is the rear of our house.  

We also hired out the upper story back here.  I took this late in the afternoon, so excuse the crazy shadows! Part of the reason, it took so long is because we waited to do the left side of the back until after the garden was done for the season.  So, there was about a month where we mentally checked out of the painting project and didn't do anything.

These lights on the back are not new, but show evidence of the Asian invasion.  Asian beetles were everywhere, ugh!

 I should also mention that Matt replaced a dozen or so of the siding boards which were damaged or just in need of replacement.

So, for better or worse the painting project is now over!

We are still negotiating a few things with the painting company we hired (unfortunately we did not have a positive experience), but in all we saved about $2,000 by doing some of the work...no small amount of changed!  Granted, we could've saved even more by painting it all, but you have to pick your battles!

Now, excuse me while I go off and finish our basement!

Christmas & Advent traditions 2014:: Part 1

I was blessed last night by a ladies' outreach event at our church featuring beautiful decorations, music, and most importantly a beautiful message.  The speaker was Noel Piper, a woman who has influenced me though we've never met.  We used to attend her husband's church (John Piper) in Minneapolis, and because of this I was introduced to her book, Treasuring God in our Traditions.  It's honestly a book you could read over and over as she talks about the importance of tradition in different seasons.  I set my copy out last night so I could reread the Christmas chapter.  I haven't done so yet, and I honestly haven't looked at the book in about three years, but seeing her did remind me of the importance of traditions and recording those of our family.

I should also add a quick disclaimer that I have not mastered this.   This is by no means a post stating the way things should be done.  It's simply a way for me to remember and remain accountable to myself.

One fun tradition we do, as do most Americans, is a Christmas tree.  We have happy memories from the Twin Cities of cutting down our own tree at a tree farm or choosing a tree from a local nursery where Matt's aunt worked.  However, we have not made the efforts to do this in Sioux Falls.  I think tree farms are around, but expensive and not hugely popular.  So, since moving our trees have come from Lewis, Menards, and now Costco.  Not super fun.  However, what we do is Matt goes out and picks the tree by himself.  We try to make it a surprise.  This year the kids were all upstairs and he came in singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" while carrying in the tree.  The kids ran down the steps and were super excited to see him with the tree.  It admittedly wasn't a huge surprise this year (I set up the tree stand before he got home), but there was still squealing and laughter nonetheless.

We typically set it up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year we were too busy (or maybe just too tired) to make it work.  Since we are also busy every weekend in December, ('tis the season), Matt brought the tree home on a Tuesday night after a church meeting.  The kids and I decorated it Wednesday after school.

It's always fun to dig out old ornaments.  I do love fancy trees with a theme or uniform color.  However we have so many meaningful ornaments from Matt and I's childhood (and some from adulthood).  We even have a few ornaments of Matt's grandma's.  So our tree is more of a mix of nostalgia with red and silver balls.  

I'm glad that all the kids still get excited about decorating the tree each year.  It's not a big thing, but I'm sure Nathan will be "too cool" too soon.  This year however he made sure we waited until he got home from school.

This photo is the closest I've come to taking a selfie...though not intentionally.

 

Looking back at the photos our tree looks a little like it was decorated by children...but it was!

I'm also not good at taking photos in the dark.  I was trying to get the glow of the tree, but it's a little grainy.

So far the tree has just been a fun tradition.  I know of people who make even this a Christ-centered event.  I love the idea of putting names of God on ball ornaments and talking about them as you put them on the tree.  I haven't done any as such yet though.

   What have however made efforts to make sure this season is focused on Christ.  We talk a lot of Advent, what it meant before Christ was born and what it means now. 

The word advent derives from the Latin word for coming.  Before Christ humbled Himself and came to this earth as a Babe, people were waiting for their Savior to come.  They were in a season of advent if you will.  We are still in a season of advent...we are still waiting.  Christ has promised to come back.  Not as a helpless baby this time but as a mighty King.  We discuss each day how the people counted down the days (years) for Christ to come the first time, and we are still doing the same.

A simple way we've done is through this Advent countdown.  There are 25 envelopes, one for each day of December until Christmas.  Each one has a Bible verse, starting with Messianic prophesy and continuing through the birth of Christ.   

There are so many great Advent ideas out there, this one works for us for now.  The kids would probably improve it with some sort of chocolate.  I could change it out with bigger envelopes or burlap bags if wanted.  My friend has a great one with stockings her mom made (I think).  My complaint is that those little clothes pins break if you look at them funny.  This is our third year with the envelopes, and I need to run to Hobby Lobby because we've used all our extra pins.

We also have Advent candles on our dining table to celebrate and focus this season on Christ.

There are four white candles for each week of Advent as well as a glittery-gold candle in the middle for Christmas (or whatever day our family celebrates Christmas).

 This year I failed to locate my wreath hanger, so the wreath got put on centerpiece duty instead.  Each night we light the appropriate number of candles.  We use this to build up to Christmas.  We discuss the Light of the World, and the Light that shines, and overcomes, the darkness.  We also get a month of candle lit dinners.

Finally, one very simple activity to remind our children of the reason for Christmas is our Fischer Price Little People Nativity set.  We've had it since Ella's first Christmas, and I love it.  The kids love to play with the figures, sometimes in Christmas appropriate ways and sometimes not!  Evelyn didn't remember it, and it's most suited for her age, so she has enjoyed it the most this year.  However it has to be put away under the tree, and is put in storage eleven months of the year, so it's still kind of special to even Nathan.

Granted no one at the First Christmas had pale skin or chubby cheeks. :)  I also decided to not set it up, but just take the photo "as is".  It looks like there was a tornado outside, but all is well in the manger.

We also try to incorporate several traditions for giving and serving at Christmas...but that's for another post to come!

Hoops

Recently Nathan's basketball hoop was resurrected from the (unfinished) basement. Nathan loves to shoot hoops, and often asks us to come and tell him "good shot". Daddy has been working on his form, and this spring they will start ball-handling and rebounding drills. Ella gets excited about it too, just as she does for all things Nathan is excited about. Right now she is working on fitting the entire basketball in her mouth.

Bed Buds.

As of late there's been a new bed time ritual. Ordinarily, Ella goes to bed around 7:45 p.m., and once she's asleep Nathan follows around 8:15 p.m. Nathan may or may not talk to himself for a while, but he stays in bed and eventually falls asleep. Well, the past three nights things have not gone as smoothly! We still say our Good Nights at the same time. Matt prays with Nathan, says "I love you" and shuts the door. But before he makes it to the end of the hallway the sound of precious little giggles fills the house. Ella is awake, Nathan is up, and they are both having a laughing contest. The first night it was cute, ok really cute. We enjoyed listening to them interact and laugh together. They are quickly becoming good friends! The second night we let it continue for a short while when the laughing changed just a little bit. I went to the room to see what was going on and I found this...

Nathan had climbed into Ella's crib. They were both hanging on to the rail and bouncing up and down! Unfortunately, laughter turned to crying once Nathan thought it would be a good idea to tackle Ella. This new ritual is still taking place. Somehow Ella wakes up every time Nathan comes in, quickly stands up to get his attention, and the laughter ensues. It's truly adorable...but hopefully will end soon! (Babies need to sleep!)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

The weather is reporting today to be the coldest in five years. Actual temps are in the negative 20s, with windchills in the negative 40s. Therefore...pajamas, movies, and pancakes!

ella embraced the day with her granpa-style cloud jammies.

nathan doing his 2 fav things: snacking & watching a video.


the movie: jonah: a veggietales movie.


mmm, pancakes!



ella liked them too!