Old House by the River

This old house certainly is keeping us on our toes! A few days ago Nick went into the basement to see if he could get the central air conditioner working and discovered that our basement floor was covered in standing water. The water heater had sprung a leak and it wasn't savable, so several hundred dollars later we have a new water heater, sigh..... Nick and his dad, Don, had to do some hard core demolition to make a concrete wall accommodate the new, larger sized vent that went along with the new heater. This got us up to current code. The draining of the old heater was a big hassle and we still have to drag the buckets of water out of the basement. We also discovered that the old heater was full of sand. There's a water filtration system in place for the house, but the filter looks like it hasn't been changed in years. Come to find out you're supposed to change it every 3 months! We have filters on the way from Amazon and hopefully we'll get that under control....

It's been a busy time over here, as Nick has continued to work on the roof and all the other things that go along with this large project. He's completely rebuilt our back porch and the new windows, door and siding are now up! The new siding is almost the same color as the painted siding on the rest of the house, it's crazy how close it matches! It looks a lot cleaner though, without the spots of peeling paint and fading. The new white edging really looks sharp as well. We'll be slowly replacing all the siding and trim on the house, and the similar colors will make the transition period less awkward. The roof is pretty much done, except for a bit of flashing that needs to be completed this weekend. Nick has also started installing fascia lighting by the back porch/back of house. This will really modernize things and make our back yard more accessible after dark. As Nick's working on these projects Alora's been hard at work planting flowers and making things ...

Wow! That's all I can say about everything that's been happening over here! Nick and his dad have been working almost non-stop on our big roofing project this week, (while still working their full time jobs as well!), and things are progressing nicely. Earlier in the week the back porch was completely ripped down and then framed in. Thursday they started prepping the roof and realized things were in worse condition than we had originally thought. This led to an unexpected trip to Lowes for sheeting and then a mad scramble to get shingles ripped out and the new sheeting put in place. Potluck dropped off the roll-away we rented Thursday night and our yard really started looking like a construction site! Friday morning things got kicked off with a pancake breakfast and then it was work time with getting fascia up. We are so blessed to have friends and family who showed up at 8am and stayed ALL day helping us out! And then some who came after work, ready to help out into the ev...

As spring settles in we've begun our first big project. The roof over the main part of the house is newer and in good shape but the two wings, 3-season porch and back porch all had roofing issues that needed to be fixed. The wings include the kitchen, office, master bedroom and master bathroom. When it rains hard it actually rains in the office! But a house as old as ours always comes with extra complications and it became obvious very quickly that one of our biggest challenges would be addressing sagging roof-lines. Nick discovered that the 3-season porch roof had sections that sagged 6 inches; the back porch sagged 4 and 5 inches in spots. All of that had to be fixed before the new roof shingles could be put on. As Nick and his dad, Don, started working on shoring up the 3-season porch they realized that the office ceiling really needed to be re-done as well. As they started tearing into that they discovered the water damage was worse than we originally had thought, and we also...

April is one of my favorite months. Easter usually falls at the beginning of the month, and besides celebrating the Resurrection, it's also a time for family and fellowship, (oh how I miss the days when I could get away with bonnets for the girls and a tie for the Dude!). The weather begins changing and I greatly appreciate those first few warmer days of spring, after a dreary and sun-deprived winter. April also means the start of the home stretch for the kid's schooling, as Spring Break happens and then prepping for M-Step starts, as well as the beginning of the countdown for days left in the school year. And on a more personal note-this April marks my 4 year weight-loss maintenance anniversary. With something like a 90 percent failure rate for weight loss adherence beyond 2 years, I continue to be humbled by the fact that I'm one of the very few people who are successfully maintaining their weight loss, long term. This time of year is always one of reflection for me, as I...

We've now been in our new home for almost two months and time has flown by! Almost all the moving boxes have been unpacked, and we're slowly starting to collect the stuff we stored at the in-laws. My father-in-law dropped off the kids' basketball hoop earlier this week and I hope our neighbors haven't minded the 'thunk-thunk' of basketballs at 8am! One thing I've noticed, now that the weather is turning mild, is that it's so noisy here from all the birds! The river really attracts them and they're a pretty vocal group. It's a much nicer sound though, than all the traffic noise we used to hear from Lake Michigan Dr. Don't miss that sound at all! Another neat thing we've discovered is that the GVSU Crew team practices on the Grand River and we've seen them several times as they've rowed by our property! The kids enjoy 'chasing' them as far as they can go, before the boats slip around the bend. As far as projects go-we...

Nick had work training in Virginia last week, so I used that time to do a few things to the back entrance way/laundry room. This room probably won't have much done to it as far as remodeling goes, but it needed a few cosmetic updates. I freshened up the paint on the cupboards, changed out the knobs and spray painted the handles; painted the walls a light green, added a valance to the window and then Nick put in a new light fixture before he headed out, (before it just had an exposed bulb). For under $100, and a few hours of elbow grease, it came together nicely! BEFORE AFTER