The Demolition Derby

I chuckle to myself when I think back to my Spring Break plan: Remove all the flooring and cabinetry throughout the week and then install new floors. Then, (our job is done) new cabinets and counter tops are installed. Boom, we have a new main level to start out summer~ at the very least before Girls Camp. Ha!

Needles to say, we were not ready by Spring Break. Jon really wasn't even 100% on board yet with the (mini) remodel because we didn't have all the bids in and we weren't even sure if we had saved enough. (Note to self: it is never enough.) While I am one to want to just dive in and figure it out along the way, he likes to have a plan set in place and follow it. We make a great team!
Jon started by removing and labeling all of the baseboard around the downstairs. Heeeere we gooooo!

The Point of No Return.

After much planning and decision making, we told the kids we would start removing the tile over Labor Day weekend. We were all so excited, and Paisley and Zeke started right after church in the front room! We are officially at the point of no return! We all got up bright and early Monday morning, on Memorial Day. The kids knew this was a "All hands on deck" kind of day. We opened all the windows, Jon cranked some good tunes and we all just grabbed tools, safety glasses and started pounding away.

 

We were loud. Friends started showing up because they could hear us a block away. It was plain to see what needed to be done: Pound tile until it cracks, slide tools underneath to lift them, sweep up broken tiles and debris into giant snow shovels and dump in the bed of the truck out in the garage. Everyone sort of found a corner and got to work. It was amazing!
I ran and got a couple buckets of chicken to sustain our energy.

Friends have worked their way over- and are fed and put to work!

We were amazed at the amount of demolition we were able to do in just a few hours. Demolition is the hard but brainless work. Anyone can do it!

We about filled the bed of the truck by late afternoon.

Uh Oh. Rot. Water has been seeping under the tile from the door threshold for years. We have a concrete situation.

This was real back breaking work! I was grateful for the mild weather so we could have all the windows open and be quite comfortable. 
Day #2~ Jon is off to work, and we are hard at work at home! We agonized a bit over all that backer board we remembered cementing down- and then securing with screws. Thousands and thousands of screws. It had to come up, however, because we knew there was no way to get them completely smooth for new flooring- and there was the matter of that rot. So, we felt like it was starting all over again, but we removed all that backer board, thin-set and screws. 

 Our favorite tool proved to be this heavy, iron staff- Jon said it is a sprinkler tool I think? (I called it the Lord of the Rings Staff) We could ram it over and over again under the backer board- screws would either fly out of the floor, or you'd hit one dead on and it would vibrate up your bone to the elbow. Bone vibrating work.

 We are now living in total mayhem.

It is now time to remove that panel of sub floor that has rotted. We will live like this for over a month. We have to knock out the cement stoop outside the door and re-pour the concrete the correct way, which means we need to remove the door and rotted door frame. Door's on order, hole will stay in the floor until that comes. Hey~ New surprise back door!

We have started to remove the cabinets. They are a beast! Those things were so attached, they were never going anywhere. We were wishing they weren't sold to someone else because we were tempted to take a sledgehammer to them to get them to loosen away from the wall. I would have hated to that though. We were very careful, and somehow removed them all in-tact. They really have been great cabinets!
We have now created little mini kitchen areas around the room, like this toaster situation:

Zeke waiting for breakfast to pop up.

Cabinets waiting for pick up.

The microwave, kettle and toaster would be perched on these TV tables through the end of summer.

 Here is our "makeshift" kitchen. The folding table held cleaning supplies, going in to paper products, going in to food items. Everyone was free to make all their own meals at their leisure. Cold cereal, fruit, sandwiches, microwaveable items. It was quite a lovely beak for meeeee!!!

The countertop end is rigged with a chair holding it in place.

Next item of business: Getting the floor leveled and patched for the engineered hardwood. Adren spray painted off sections on the floor with peoples initials. It was their job  to get that section smooth~ but It was rough. I was done with the LOTR staff. Just holding it in place, my palms ached from the bruising. I spent a morning on my hands and knees using the grinder. At one point it was so dusty I couldn't even see where to grind but for random sparks when I knew there was a dern screw.

 But we've got smooth floors!!!

After a thorough vacuuming, that sub floor was a beautiful, clean sight to behold!
I had some basic rules I set in place (mainly for myself) before we started:
1) No eating junk/ eating out. Just because we didn't have a working kitchen would be no excuse. I knew we all needed to keep our energy up and feeling good! There's nothing worse than doing back breaking work with a quarter pounder in your gut.
2) Enjoy the Process! By not rushing through and choosing to focus on being thorough, it would keep us from cutting corners. It was fun to teach the kids how to do many home repairs. I love our home! All this work is done out of love. I just couldn't believe we were at this point! We are actually doing it instead of talking about doing it! I've dreamed of this for sooooo long and feel so giddy inside that it is actually happening! There were many times where I was so full of happiness I was tearing up while working. I started each day viewing the progress full of gratitude that we can do this! I really enjoyed this process, it was a TRUE labor of love!
3) Clean up through out the day (like at lunch time) and end the day with clean up. We'd gather tools and get them organized and sweep up and vacuum everywhere. Take out garbage, wind up extension cords, wipe down food table and straighten up. It was nice to come down each morning and start the day to tidy chaos.
4) No matter how achy and exhausted I am, I will wash my face every night. I hate waking up to an unwashed face- especially covered in sweat and dust, and I knew it would be tempting to just hit the pillow at night. But I didn't want to look extra haggard on top of normal haggard all summer.

Jon has to work late into the night so we can stay on schedule- We've cut the power in the kitchen so we work by lamplight.

The kids having breakfast together on the day we removed the Family Room carpet.

 I always said there was a wheelbarrow full of sand under the carpet in this room. I was very surprised that there was not. It wasn't too bad, actually. Go Dyson.

 It's interesting how the rooms shrunk the more empty they got.

We had a makeshift "office" area above the fireplace because I was still the Stake YW Secretary and Girls Camp is right around the corner! Soooo many forms to print out and spreadsheets to stay on top of!

 We are now prepping to start the flooring! This is so exciting!

 While the sub floor panel is not secured, I had to lay it over the hole because I just knew I was going to fall in that hole at some point. The kids chuckled at how carefully I would cross over it.

 I painted the front room the gorgeous Night Shade. Abby used it in a room in her house and I fell in love. (It's the color of the year, ya know.) Great color. I actually wiped down, puttied, sanded and re-painted every square inch of the downstairs: Ceilings, crown, walls, windowsills, doors etc. Everything has a fresh coat of paint.
And look at those floors acclimating! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

 I painted my family room wall this great sage-y green/ grey color. It's nice and soothing. I tested out some new drapes I ordered. They were too busy and went back.

 I started going through stuff in our packed garage and got rid of things I just couldn't bring back in the house. They've been great, I'm just done looking at them, ya know?

 We took a little Father's Day break up at Grandma and Grandpa Geertsen's house. They are in the process of selling their house, so they are in deep projects themselves. This would be the last gathering at this house.

 Eli in the tree he's climbed for years.

Dad's on Dad's Day

Project Book

Paisley chillin' on a Summer's Day. It was nice to have a somewhat comfortable place to sit, sans cushions.

 The day has come to knock out the stoop! More Back Breaking!

 Owning a home is no joke.

Ashley texted one morning in June to see if we wanted to join them at the Lake for a day of Kayaking. My initial response was- NO! I'm BUSSSSSY. But you know what? It's summer and the kids would love it. I would love a break, too! So we went and I'm so glad we did!

...Because the next day it was back at it.
FLOORS!!! There was a bit of a dilemma to start or not to start. I had girls camp coming up in days. It was taking up half my day. I knew I couldn't finish before girls camp. But there is concern having half-laid floors down for a week as well. (We chose the click in place method, opposed to the glue down or nail down, so there could be some movement.) I decided to just get started and I'm glad I did. We laid paper down for a walking path, and the kids did real good taking care and only walking when necessary. We even had Graham and Callie come stay with us and I'm sure they were bewildered at the chaos, but caught on to the food situation real quick. While I was working Graham skittered past to the banquet table to fix himself a snack. Everyone did great.

I could not be more in love with these gorgeous floors! Lay a row, squeal- Lay a row, squeal!

 We're all still smiling!

And then frowning. One night getting ready for bed I wondered why my ring kept snagging on fabric. I'm not sure when the diamond fell out but I like to think it's nestled under the floorboards, to be found with delight by someone renovating a well loved home in 200 years. ~Or, it's in the shop-vac.

A quick intermission for GIRLS CAMP! I was with the Stake this year, which felt so different! The weeks leading up to camp were quite bonkers with meetings and my job of collecting all the medical/ release forms from all the wards and passing them on to the stake nurse. I also had to organize all the buses, assign wards per bus and create rolls for the stake YCL's to help load. It was a crazy time, answering the door every 15 min. with knee pads on and covered in saw dust. But soon enough, I found myself on the bus next to Paisley, her first year at Girls Camp! (the doll saved me a seat!) Off  to Mia Shalom!
My other job at camp was to lead the 4th year overnight hike! Yikes! I was quite nervous about this- I don't love pack hiking, and sleeping in a little tent on the ground in the cold at the top of the mountain really sounded miserable. I was grateful it was the first night of the week to get it out of the way. (and while I still had energy!) Luckily another stake leader came along who knows the area well. The hike was so gorgeous! Everything was so green- we even had to trudge through snow at some points. I bonded with gals from the stake as we hiked and chatted in the mild weather. Our camp was a cozy little clearing, it was all green and lovely. The men brought up hot soup and rolls for dinner that was so delicious and the girls lead a great fireside. I ended up staying up quite late, chatting with the other stake leader. She was so great! It was so good to get to know her. I slept like a rock that night, so who knows if my pad was hard or if it was cold. The next morning we woke early to hike and see the sunrise. It was such a beautiful morning! It was so fun to arrive back to camp, where the rest of the stake lines the trail and cheers and high-fives and hugs us back in to camp.
I had a little time and chose to put in my ear plugs, put on my sunglasses and curl up on my bed in the cabin for a couple hour nap, get cleaned up and press on with the day and week. It felt so different and was so nice for me to not be in charge, not speak at anything, not make any decisions and have no clue what the drama was happening from other wards. I mainly busied myself in the kitchen, helping the stake cook prep, serve and clean up meals. She called me her Sioux chef. Our service project was tying looms making sleeping mats out of plastic grocery bags for 3rd world countries. It was so nice to work on those in the peaceful pavilion, chatting with the other leaders. It was a real different camp experience working hard behind the scenes. It was lovely!

These cute gals are Adren's friends and wanted me to take a bunch of pictures of them to show him how camp is. They asked if I had any pictures of him in my phone because it had been a "long week" and they needed to look at a cute boy. Ha!

On the bus ride home (next to Paisley) I filled her in on my little after- camp tradition: A BLT from Rocky Mountain Drive- Inn. She was in to it!  Camp was great- and it was really great to have it over!

The mild weather in Provo turned to Hot after Girls Camp.

 Back from Camp, before we dive back in to the Construction Zone, there are a few things we need to take care of. Like Paisley's 7th grade shots. Gulp.

 She hated it, but did just fine. Look how nervous she looks. Paisley is going in to 7th Grade!!!
Also- look at my cute kids hanging out together enjoying a Popsicle on a summer day.

I've hung shelves and started moving things back in to the Family Room. It is so delightful to have a room somewhat put back together!

 Paisley's Fourth of July outfit:

 I have a fond memory of this Fourth of July. We opted to stay home that day to work on the house. By evening Jon convinced me to stop working and walk down to the neighbors annual outdoor party (that all of our kids were at, anyway.) We've never been able to go, we've always had other plans. I was just going to stay for a moment, but ended up chatting with a group of my Laurels all night. It was so good to catch up with them. I finally walked home, sat in our "Getting-There" dark, power-less family room, full of gratitude and joy while the Stadium fireworks and neighborhood fireworks blasted all around me through curtain-less windows and I munched on a Crumble cookie. It was glorious.


 Ok but these floors!

I finally unwrapped the rug I purchased in April. It's 8x11 but looks tiny here. It will work and I love it!

 I need a new kitchen table. You may remember the long story of tracking down a table off of KSL, Adren and I picking it up from a little blond gal and her tea cup doggie- I took off the legs and added hairpin legs, which never worked out because they were too wobbly to support the weight- And now it has been moved to the garage, used as a table saw, staining table- supporting all the projects. It's been real handy out there- but is now a mess. Blah-Blah~ Anyway, I found this beaut at Saver's and I think with a bit of sanding it will work great! The rounded corners will make it easier to get around. I'll take it!

 Another project I have on my list is adding brick detail above my fireplace. Years ago I built this big mantle. It's great- but a large space to fill! This brick will take up some of that space as well as add some texture. I started by cutting out the crown molding. Scary!

 I built a simple frame out of 2x4's I found out in the garage, and covered that in Sheetrock scraps I'm pretty sure Jon doesn't need. It's quite unsettling cutting in to trim and hoping for the best! I kept saying to myself during all of this, "Eliza built an entire ROOM!" Did you know that? She did.

 Then, I started adding the brick!

 Can you believe I was 2 short and had to drive all the way back up to Draper to buy them? Dumb.

 I kept my spacers big because I wanted big grout lines.

 It was a real messy job and not fun at all. Ugh. But, done!

Now, to paint it white. I painted the fireplace back to white, you may notice. She's happiest this color. It's so nice that everything is free of dust and has a fresh coat instead of a layer of debris.

But what to do about countertops??? Decisions... I even drove up to warehouses in SLC to look at samples that weren't in the showrooms down here. I need durable and long-lasting, something to disguise family living mess.Such a big decision! Such a lot of money!

But, you guys! It's coming together! We can walk around without shoes! We have no running water, except for the half bath downstairs, but it's getting there! I come down each morning and fill the kettle from the bathroom sink, balance it on the TV tray, unplug extension cords and saws and sanders, and plug in the kettle... It's not ideal.

 I am so in love with my floors!

 It's a shame to cover these up with an island and cabinets.

The cabinets are here!

And I've decided on a counter top!

I actually took the kids with me all day to shop warehouses of countertops all over the valley. I didn't want them here in the way of the cabinet guys, so they had to come with me. When we got home, Adren walked in before me. He just turned and smiled so big and said, "Mom, you're going to love it!" We just stood and hugged and both got teary-eyed looking at our beautiful kitchen. We have a beautiful kitchen!

I am in love with every inch and every detail. I just can't believe it!

Since Jon is a window and door guy, he says we need a new front door. I liked my door- you'll remember I just painted it that great color, with the fresh wreath... I wasn't totally sure about a full window door, but it lets in so much light, and is so pretty!

We had to knock out that concrete stoop and re-pour it as well. And repair the stucco around the door. Never. Ending.

Time for a break! ~It is summer break, after-all. We've had this planned since spring, thanks to Ashley for securing cabins at Palisades Park. A refreshing lake with air conditioned cabins within walking distance. We divided all the cousins into two cabins, moms in the third. The first day the kids spent the entire day out on the water, on the dock, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, swimming, you name it. Even us moms dived in and swam to the floating doc for some refreshment. We were all crispy critters by nightfall. Blisters and everything. My kids really have never sunburned in their lives ~ they did this day.

 It was so nice to all be together and create this fun memory for the cousins. And laughing with my sisters together in our Mom cabin until my sides hurt and I feel like I will pass out is the best!

Hooray for summer 2019 at Palisades!

Back to work.
I'm getting a little tired. But it is also so exciting! The house has such a different feel to it! Having continuous floors in the same material throughout makes it feel much larger. I didn't know that trick the first time around.

 I love this lighter green looking in to the darker green room.

 Can you believe we ran out of flooring with this much left and had to order one more box. But we finished the flooring!!!

I let Eli put in the very last piece. Let him always remember that...

 I also brought in these shelves that used to be in the front room and put them in the Family Room. I like them here! It gives the room a homey~cozy vibe.

In-between all of this is so many meetings! It's hard to be sweaty and dirty from projects while you nervously watch the clock so you can stop to get presentable for a meeting. No one i serve with really knows what I've been up to all day, but I have paint streaks on my arms and stain in the corners of my nails and sawdust in my hair. I was trying to quickly finish spraying the new computer desk I ordered (and realized it needed to be black.) While spraying, the tip came off and exploded in my hands. There is something permanent about spray paint- it is oily and so sticky and you cannot scrub it off. I tried so many things, but had to run to my meeting with sticky, black hands, staining my papers. It was so awful!
Lately we are finalizing Stake Youth Conference- with the Laurel High Adventure on the near horizon. One night, two full days up at Camp Williams. Lot's of forms to collect again.

There goes cute Adren and Eli to catch a ride with our ward.

 I went to Camp Williams myself as a youth, and I remember it to be one of the funnest Youth Conferences. This one was also a hit. They really loved the army course the most! This is the only picture I took- it's of Zion and Clive, kids from my ward saving a baby bird that fell out of it's nest. I texted this pic to their mom, my friend, Mindy. I thought it was sweet because that is a brother supporting his big sister putting the bird back. Good kids.

Here's a few more random pictures from this crazy summer:

 Zeke and friend, Andrew dressing up and being silly. On fabulous new floors!

 Paisley loving on her Sookie.

 I made Sookie's annual shaving appointment for summer but never made one to update her shots, so she lost out. Her knots were so bad, I held her down outside and took the clippers to her. She hated it, and ran off before I could blend. Silly goose.

 Eli, just hangin' in the new kitchen.

The countertops have been measured and ordered. But they will not be installed before Jon and I leave on an Alaskan Cruise for our 20th Wedding Anniversary!!! Sorry, Sharon. No working kitchen.
Speaking of getting ready for a cruise, I'm loving getting cleaned up and imagining a week of daily showers, outfits and makeup!

 The bubbles in my foot bath got a bit out of control.

Here we come, Alaska!