Settling In To The Settlement: The Return Home

We are finally home.

 

On May 31 we moved into our new house. We had been away from home for almost exactly a year and a half (May 29). We are so glad to be back out here, enjoying the quiet and solitude of our 25 acres.

 

We have been slowly working on getting the house set up, but there is much left to do. Nick's job has hit it's busiest season, so he's been unable to work on extra projects around the house. Our garden has also started it's busy time, and I've been swamped with tasks involving our homegrown produce. We've also made trips to the local peach orchards and blueberry fields.

 

Here are a few pictures from around the house. I haven't included a lot of great details partly because things aren't finished and partly because I'd rather people come visit me than give a virtual tour. I'll post more specifics as projects are completed.

 

 

Our living room ceiling. The tin turned out perfect.

 

 

Sorry the picture is fuzzy. I've never claimed to be a photographer.

 

 

Our master bathroom. One of the most completed rooms.

 

 

Our closet. I filled it up just fine, ha ha!

 

 

Our least finished room: the studio. Just needs some paint and baseboards. Hopefully I'll get to it soon because I'm going to need it!

 

 

The kids playing in Ryder's room. I'll be doing a post on the racing stripes on his wall later. Sabrina's room is still needing to be set up, so she's not sleeping in it yet.

 

 

Eating our first dinner: Nachos.

 

 

Roughhousing.

 

 

Eating our first breakfast.

 

 

Ridin' trikes.

 

 

Bathtime! They love their new bathroom.

 

 

We've enjoyed some fun times too in between all the craziness.

 

 

 

The twins came to visit here recently. All the kids had fun together and loved sportin' their new shades!

 

 

We went up to the peach orchards to enjoy some scenery and ice cream. Here the kids are checking out the tractor fountains.

 

 

They have all kinds of cool vehicles sitting around. Ryder loved the fire truck.

 

 

My little Brina. The sign says, "Watch for gators." Eeesh.

 

 

Sabrina loves her some ice cream.

 

 

Ryder gets serious about his ice cream.

 

Taking a break in the wagon at the blueberry fields.

 

 

Sweaty but successful.

 

 

Ryder got a special opportunity to fly in some airplanes again. He and Nick had a great time. Thanks Aunt Jessie!

 

 

We are settling in well and loving the new house. It is busy now, but we'll get to enjoy some great times here.

 

 



Making Things Concrete

This is a post I should really be consulting with Nick on, but if I wait till he's ready to do this it could be a while. Needless to say he's got some things going on.

 

 

We decided that we wanted to try to do our own concrete countertops. Let me rephrase that: we decided that Nick will make our concrete countertops. With some online research and savvy shopping we came up with the plan and Nick executed it beautifully.

 

 

This is the concrete mix we chose. There is a concrete countertop mix, but the price is more than double the price of this stuff, which is about $6 a bag. This has the strengthening fibers in it that the countertop mix has, and is, as the bag says, crack resistant. And we definitely don't want cracks.

 

 

We decided to pour the concrete upside down, so Nick built forms out of melamine to give it a smooth surface.

 

 

Once the form is built, you have to caulk the cracks to keep from having too sharp of an edge.

 

 

Time to pour the concrete! Now I'm not familiar with all the details that go along with this process, but maybe someday Nick will comment or edit this post to help anyone out. I do know that he used some metal mesh to help give it strength but I'm not sure when in the process he added it.

 

 

As you can see, the color is different from regular gray concrete. That's because we added a brown dye to the mix. They have a few colors, but that's the color we chose. Also, Nick wanted to undermount our sinks, so he found a really smooth bucket the right circumference and cut it the height he needed, about 2 inches I believe. If you need to have a sink cut out, you need to make the form accordingly. If you don't do an undermount sink, you can use foam insulation as your sink form. Also you have to have the form cut outs for the sink pipe.

 

 

Time to dry. We let ours dry a little over a week.

 

 

This is what the bottom side looks like in the form. Time to open them up!

 

 

Cool! It looks like a real countertop!

We added an acid stain to give it more depth of color. We used a color called "red cayenne" and I think looks great against the brown rock. That stain is steep, but it makes a difference and goes a long way.

 

 

We ended up having a lot of little air pockets, but it gave it a real cool look.

 

 

These suckers are heavy! Time to seal them up.

 

 

Bam! Three coats of epoxy and they are smooth as glass!

( A little dusty, but beautiful!)

This is the guest bathroom.

 

 

A close up of our master bath. Gorgeous coloring.

 

 

The kids' bathroom. Thankfully the epoxy filled most of the air pockets so they are so smooth.

 

This was a bit a of a process, but Nick did an amazing job of getting these countertops smooth and beautiful!

 

 



Punching It Out - Working Toward The Big Move

Okay I might have exaggerated the near-ness of our move, but we are getting tantalizingly close to being in! My lack of updates has not been for lack of progress, just so many things have been worked on that it was hard to choose when to actually do an update. But looking at my last post I can see now that there is a lot to show.

 

 

Here's Dad and I working on painting the door trim and baseboards.

-Proof that I have been out there working not just taking pictures!

 

 

We had a really cool system down, and lots and lots of boards to paint.

 

 

That's a pile of boards.

 

 

Lookin' good!

 

 

Finally got the doors and door jams painted and they are installed and working!

 

 

Window seats are in and painted.

 

 

Nick uncovered the beams.

 

 

They need some sanding and poly but they're going to look fabulous!

 

 

Love them!

 

 

Closet shelves are in, needing poly. Oooo it's a nice closet!

 

 

Cabinets!!!! We now have a kitchen! Sort of. At least it looks like one.

 

 

Lazy susans all the way up in the corner cabinets.

 

 

Pantry.

 

 

Cabinet doors!

 

 

I love the color on the drawers fronts.

Everything is going to be clear coated. That is one of the biggest jobs ahead.

 

 

Here's a sneak peek at the backsplash tiles.

 

We also have the bathroom countertops completed but I wanted to do a separate post on that.

 

We're working on getting in, trying very hard to be in before Nick's job picks up too much more. We've still got a few things to do, but it won't be too long before we're making out way back to home.

 

 



Color My World

We're in the midst of my favorite part of the building process -

 

Paint!

 

We've been working regularly and chipping away at all the many rooms and coats that have to be done. It's finally starting to feel like the house has our own personal stamp on it, and we can really see the light at the end of the tunnel. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty left to do before we can move in, but that time is finally within reach.

 

 

Looking out through the living room windows. Keep in mind, the ceiling is going to be covered in rusty barn metal, so that's why we haven't painted it.

 

 

Standing in the living room, looking toward the dining room and kitchen. The wall color is a deep red orange. Lee is here painting the yellow. The two beams that are covered in plastic have never been opened - we don't have any idea what they look like! I guess we'll get to see them when we're finished painting.

 

 

Marilyn painting the kids' bathroom. She has been such a hard worker and is excellent at cutting in those crazy colors.

 

 

The kids' bathroom, yellow ceiling and light blue walls.

 

 

The guest bathroom. The lighting makes it difficult to see the colors clearly, but the ceiling is yellow and the walls are a light orange.

 

 

Sabrina's room. I never thought I would paint my girl's wall pink, but here it is being pink!

 

 

Ryder's room. We had to set up shop in there when it came time to paint in the laundry room. We will be painting some racing stripes around the wall.

 

 

The master bedroom, looking in from the living room.

 

 

The master bedroom.

 

 

The master bath. In this picture the colors look like the kids' bath but they are actually very different colors. The teal is the same as the bedroom ceiling and the bath ceiling is the same light green from the master bedroom.

 

 

The master closet. Dad was busy doing all the cut in work around the ceiling.

 

 

The laundry room.

 

 

The only room yet to be painted - the play room/craft room. Nick set it up as his clear coat room. He's working on clear coating the cabinets as they are completed. Here he's also been working on the closet shelves.

 

 

Ice was coming down while we were working today, so slipped out to take a few pictures.

 

 

The first time for us to have winter weather on our new house.

 

There are still a few coats left to be done on the walls, then we'll be painting trim and doors. Cabinets will be going in as they are finished and plumbing for sinks, toilets, etc. will come as that happens too. Things are coming together and our move won't be too far in the distance!