This Is Us

We built the bathroom in the basement several years ago.  It leaked and we could never figure out why, so we decided to re-do it.  A couple days ago Nick took off the glass door and ripped out the old tile.  Today he started installing the new tile.  We picked a lighter glossy tile because that bathroom doesn't have a window and I thought it would help make the room brighter. It looks so good so far and I'm excited to have it finished.

  My aunt and uncle have lived in their home awhile, but we didn't even think about putting a railing in for them.  I guess we didn't think about it for 1, it never came up.  They just use the side door to get to their cars, and it never came up. Well, that changed.  My uncle fell and we thought it was because there wasn't a railing.  He actually just tripped on the sidewalk, but if there had been a railing he might not have fallen.   Anyway... we bought the stuff and went over so Nick could put a railing on the front steps. He did a wonderful job! My aunt and uncle love it!! I’m so happy that Nick is able to do these things!

Today is National Organize Your Home Day. So, in honor of that (and because I love to organize) I am going to be straightening our house, organizing things that aren’t, and decluttering! Wish us luck. 🤣 I have some stuff already organized, but I want to do more.  Here is some stuff already done… Pantry Spices Sink New Sink Chore Chart Plastic Storage Containers Food Storage Bedroom Shelves We have under the kitchen sink organized, but I would love to do more with it! Under Kitchen Sink Our fridge is somewhat organized, but I wish there was more I could do to it. We need some baskets for our linen closet for the sheets and pillowcases.  The towels are pretty well organized just being stacked. I would love to go through the kid's rooms and declutter. Here are just a few photos of places I'd like to organize: This is our craft corner. I need to figure out how to put something in the corner, but still be able to get to it. This spot is in the basement under the stairs. Nick put a...

  In our kitchen and entry way we had tile, and then in our living room we had replaced the gross carpet with wood/vinyl flooring.  We thought it would be nice to have it all match, since it connects.  A little bit ago Xander’s room had water leaking in and we found that the line to our fridge was leaking. We thought it was all taken care of. Then we tore up the floor. Mice had chewed through the line in the floor and it was still leaking. The wood was moldy on top. We had to replace the tubing, but we put a think plastic tube in the floor first and then put a new fridge tubing through it. That way it’s protected. We replaced the wood on the floor and also painted with a mold/mildew paint. We put the new flooring down and new molding. It looks so nice and we really like it. We wanted to replace the floor with tile, but the cheapest we could find was $3.99/sq ft and this was a little before Christmas and we didn’t want to spend that much. So we found the same vinyl floorin...

  As I mention in this post  Electric Fireplace  Nick built an entertainment center in our family room at least 5 years ago. It has lots of shelves, and openings in the bottom for our gaming boxes, and blankets. I painted the back wall with flat black paint so everything on the shelves would stand out more. Then I hung picture frames and decor on the wall and added things on the shelves. It’s so fun to have the lights across the top and the fire place. Movie nights are epic! 

For the whole time Nick and I have been married I’ve wanted a house with a fireplace. When we lived with Dieter and Colleen we had one, and I loved it! Every home we’ve had (an apartment and two houses) we haven’t had a fireplace. I thought I’d never get one. Well... I’ve seen several people have electric fireplaces, including Troy and Marchezt, and knew one was possible! Several years ago (a year maybe two years after we moved into this house) Nick built an entertainment center in our family room. Oh my, I love it so much! We just built it on the existing wall because I was planning on putting a dark wallpaper on each shelf wall. Well, so far I never have because I couldn’t find what I was wanting. So we just ended up buying black paint and painting the wall. Anyway, back to the fireplace... At the bottom Nick built shelves for our DVD holders, DVD player, stereo system, and gaming consoles. I didn’t want to tear out our whole entertainment center and rebuild it around the fireplace. ...

I needed a place to put my sewing machines, our cameras, and some other things. So Nick built shelves for our bedroom. We just bought unfinished 1X2. Then we bought the finished shelving in black. We also bought black stain. He cut the wood to the size we wanted and then I stained it. He then cut a notch out of the shelves to attached the wood to. Then he used screws and attached it all together. It’s so nice! I just love it!

  We could all use more places to store stuff right? Right! So in 2017 we decided to build a big shelf in the garage for all our decorations.  Obviously Nicolas is great at building things and knows what needs to be done to support the weight. He did a really great job (as he always does) and had some help too (from our kids).  It's really nice to have this storage.  It's out of the way, but not so much that we can't get to everything. He also put a couple of lights up there so we can see. Here it is with all our storage!