Category: projects

Room to Grow

Posted on by missystowell 3 Comments on Room to Grow

A few weeks ago, Jeff and I moved a bunch of stuff around and redecorated a couple of rooms in the basement.  I will post some before and after pictures later, but I did want to show a few photos of a project I just finished up in my new office.  When we painted the family room back in November, we had to paint over all the kids’ measurements that were on the wall at the top of the stairs.   I copied everything down before it was gone and have been meaning to find a new spot for keeping track.  Here’s what I came up with:

I decided to record the measurements on the door trim so that if we ever move, I can take it with me.  :)  I’m happy with how turned out and am now wishing that I chose a more visible spot for this project instead of somewhat hidden behind a door.  Oh well.  I still love it!

Thanksgiving Break

Posted on by missystowell 8 Comments on Thanksgiving Break

I love Jeff’s job.  I mean, how great is it that he has 3 months off in the Summer?  And if that weren’t enough, he gets a full week for Thanksgiving, another week for Spring Break, and at least 3 weeks for Christmas.  It’s the best I tell ya!  So what does he do with all this time?  Pretty much whatever I want him to do.  Yep.  My wish is his command.  Talk about feeling like a Princess!

I will mention in passing that Jeff started this year’s Thanksgiving break by painting the toyroom, which went from Kermit-the-frog-green to a warm beige; and the family room, which went from a really pale yellow to a beautiful sage green.  Both rooms look awesome even though the family room  turned out to be a bigger project than first anticipated!  But the project I’m most excited about is the dining room.  For a while now I’ve been frustrated by the state of our dining room.  I love our counter-height table and the huge window and especially the built in china hutch.  It has a lot of character.  But the dining room is also home to the main computer in our home.  I’m pretty adamant that the computer stay in a high-traffic area.  But it  is usually an eye-sore with all the papers/clutter/stuff that accumulates on a daily basis.  Here’s what you used to see to the right upon entering the dining room (the table is behind Soren).

And here’s what was on the wall to the immediate left of the entrance:

Frightening, eh?

So here’s what we came up with instead.  Drumroll please…

Isn’t it great?  We made the computer “desk” counter-height so we could use the extra chairs from our table.  It’s also the perfect height for standing when we need to look up something quick.  I organized my files to make a place for the papers that always seemed to be lying around.  And it’s amazing how much of the “stuff” we were able to throw away.  Hooray!!!  Here it is an entire 5 days later and the room is still clean!

You might notice my Mother’s Day gift from Jeff on the desk.  Yes, it’s a pink laptop.  And Jeff had to take it to a conference shortly after it arrived.  You know a man really loves his wife when he’ll buy her a pink laptop even while knowing he might have to be seen with it in public!  This Jeff, he’s a keeper!

Christmas break?  Bring it on!

Birthday Gift

Posted on by missystowell 3 Comments on Birthday Gift

Savannah attended a birthday party for one of her girlfriends last week.  Many of you know that a gift from us almost always has some vinyl lettering on it!  Savannah helped with this and I think what we came up with turned out very cute.  The birthday girl loved it and now Savannah wants one in her room, too!!

Another Week – Another Project

Posted on by missystowell 2 Comments on Another Week – Another Project

Jeff has been busy this week. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

MONDAY (in case you’re wondering what you’re looking at, these are the before pictures):

TUESDAY:

WEDNESDAY:

Not bad for 3 days work. And still three days left this week. I can’t wait to see what our yard looks like by Saturday! (No pressure, Jeff.)

The City guys came by on Tuesday for the final inspection on the garage. Needless to say, everything was fine and they were impressed with Jeff’s work. One of them said to me, “This guy does great work!” I told him that one thing I love about Jeff is that he finishes the projects he starts. He then jokingly said to Jeff, “You are out of the guy’s club!” I can’t say I blame them for that. What if their wives knew there were men like Jeff around? He’s giving them all a bad name. Hooray for me!

A Man and his Garage

Posted on by missystowell 2 Comments on A Man and his Garage

This is the relaxed, happy smile of a man who just built himself a garage in about 5 weeks, give or take.  Yes, Jeff has officially completed his major summer project and he has a few new tools and some big muscles to show for it.  He did the last of the finishing work – painting the doors and putting on the doorknobs – on June 17.  He started building around May 7 or 8.  He had help raising the walls and putting on the roof.  Otherwise, he was a one-man-show.  He did a fantastic job!  Now let’s see what other projects I can come up with to keep him busy for the next 8 weeks…

Here are some pictures to show the whole project from start to finish.

You can click on any of the pictures to get a better look, but here’s the last one for your viewing pleasure:

Didn’t he do a great job?  As you can see, we need to do something about the driveway and he’ll be building some steps for the door, but one thing at a time.  We love it!!

Barn Raising

Posted on by missystowell 4 Comments on Barn Raising

We’ve been saying for 8 years that someday we would build a new garage. The garage we had was built ca. 1920. It wasn’t even deep enough for our car, let alone our huge van. While it did a good job of keeping bikes, tools, and yard equipment dry, it had a dirt floor and leaned into one corner of the house.

I talk about this garage in past tense because it’s now history. It was demolished and hauled away earlier this Spring. After having the concrete poured for the floor, Jeff started building our new garage last week. WIthin a week he built 2 walls and several men from church generously volunteered to help him put them upright. Then over the following 3 days he built the next 2 walls. This is what the garage looked like (through a screened window) at 8:00 this morning:

By 9:00, with more help from our friends, the walls were all standing and secure:

It really helps when one of your friends brings a 40 foot lift that he just happened to be using on another job. So by 10:45, the trusses were up:

And by 2:15, the OSB and tar paper were secure and the shingles were lifted to the roof to make the finish job much easier this week:

Not bad for a day’s work! Sadie told me that Daddy was building a house. I asked her who was going to live in it. After thinking about that for a bit, she said, “The car and van!”

Meanwhile, Sterling and Spencer found a lifeless baby bird in the yard.

The bird is on the white slab they are looking at. They named it “Tweet Tweet” and surrounded it with grass for a little nest. Then Sterling made a headstone for the burial plot:

Rest in peace Tweet Tweet!