Extreme Makeover: (Byers) Home Edition

Friends,

This post has been a loooong time coming.  As you may know, there were some unexpected issues with our house when we moved in almost two years ago.  We've worked since the very first day we lived here to rectify and remedy these issues, and we are so thankful to finally be able to say we're done!  Yes, there will always be home improvement projects, but these were more necessary than cosmetic and more pressing than most.

The most recent renovation occurred in our bathroom.  We'd picked out and purchased many of the new elements in the room around the time we moved into this house, but they were banished to the storage room till we were able to tackle this project.  I was able to snap some before, in between, and after shots.  We're so pleased with the end result!

There's no "before" picture, but the shower head is a few inches higher than it was. 
If you've met my hubby, you probably understand why this was a necessary update. ☺

Found this sign at Hobby Lobby (with coupon, of course), but it didn't match the vanity, so...

...I stained it!

Long before the bathroom project could be completed, we needed to insure our basement would be usable in both sunshine and rain.  So, over the course of a year and a half, we completed several related projects both inside and outside.  So much credit goes to my amazingly handy hubby - from planning to executing and brain power to man power - he orchestrated and managed everything so well.  We're also so thankful for all those who helped us (finally) reach the finished product.  Whether they were paid by check or by cookies, we had some really wonderful help, all around.

These pictures don't really do the projects justice.  So, so much time and work went into them all!

Front step, bushes, tree, and lots of dirt out...

...drain tile in.

One surprise lead to another!  haha...

We had the tile professionally removed, but then, Bryant worked many long hours to put on the epoxy finish.
Turned out so great!

The long table/chair/carpet wasn't meant to be a permanent fixture, but it sure comes in handy! 
Glad to have plenty of space and flexibility!

Inherited some leftover landscaping pavers, so now, we have a firepit!

(This was a fall project, so these pics are old...and they're making a s'more sound extra good, right now...)

Not pictured: seemingly daily "medium," "small," and "tiny" updates/fixes/renovations including, but not limited to: purchasing and installing a new microwave within about 4 hours time beginning at 7 p.m. (this was definitely one of those "out of necessity" projects...), replacing light switches, fixing toilets and faucets, figuring out how to better heat the basement, adding hooks to the inside of the bathroom closet door, etc., etc. 

This may not have been a total home makeover, but some of it did seem fairly extreme.  We're excited for the promise of warmer weather allowing us to tackle some less-necessary-more-fun projects outside (garden, landscaping, etc.)!

As usual, thanks for reading and for your interest!

With dust in my hair and paint on my clothes (not really, but those both occurred over the course of the aforementioned projects, so it counts, right?),
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

concrete dust (NOT - oh man...definitely not a favorite...)

spontaneous day dates with my boys

freeze-dried pears (the ones I've had are from Aldi!)

this "busy board" we made for Jacob with things we had around the house:

Operation DIY: status update

Welp, it’s a good thing we bought a house in the summertime when most of our evening commitments/activities are on a break (points to those who are referencing Friends, right now), because it (the house) sure has kept us on our toes!

There have been several not-so-fun (and sometimes surprise) house (and car) projects, but there have also been some fun projects, so I thought I'd share a couple with you. ☺

Upon receiving an expert recommendation, we decided to put our bed in the corner of the master bedroom, rather than on a wall.  It looked fine, as it was, but we thought it would be even better with a headboard!  We happened to have one we hadn't used in a while in the basement, so decided to make use of it...and upholster it!  After doing some Pinterest and Google research, we had a plan, and after gathering the necessary materials (using coupons for everything, of course), we started to implement it.  

First, we pried the top piece off, so we'd have an even surface.

I nearly forgot to take a picture of the foam piece by itself, but caught a bit of it before we covered it with the batting.

Here's a scrap!  ☺

Padded front and soft edges ready to cover.

Guess what we covered it with...?
A curtain panel!

452 (or something like that) staples later, we had a finished product!

Installed.  ☺

So, the next challenge was night stands.  Long story short, we found the perfect solution(s) at IKEA: skinny, stackable storage "cabinets."  We unstacked them and mounted them on the wall.  They have just the right amount of surface space for the things we need access to and a ton of storage in the fold-out "pocket."  IKEA is so good at small spaces...and ingenuitive storage...and awesome stuff, in general!  And my husband is so good at installing all the things!

Before...

...after!

The other project I'd like to share with you is our bathroom door.  There was some unused space in the main bathroom that we want to fill with a double vanity, at some point, but the door situation didn't make that possible, as it was.  So, we decided to put on a sliding "barn" door.  We found plans to build one and had some truly amazing help with the process!

Unfortunately, this is as much of the building process I was able to capture...it was a busy day.

Here's the (almost) finished product, though!

We took it down so I could add a few coats of primer and paint, then we put the handle on and hung it for good!

(Some of you may be wondering what that little "nook" in the wall is, am I right?  As far as we know, it was built to hold a phone.  We left it on the wall, but had to cut off part of the ledge.  It's still functional as a cute little shelf, though!)

Despite all the discouraging discoveries in the house, it has been fun to continue to make it our home.  I'm so thankful for my handy husband and his ability to do (and/or figure out) pretty much anything.  He's pretty amazing.  ☺

With all fingers in tact,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

time with friends, new and old

the fact that I'm able to wear flip flops! 

(This has always been a "favorite," of course, but I'm especially thankful after my broken foot.)

ice cream

Rain, rain, go away. Actually...stay. We thank you today!

Hey, everyone!

Hope this finds you well and you're staying as cool as possible (no, I didn't say cool as a popsicle, but that wouldn't be terrible...) in this lovely summer weather.

I finally unpacked the computer - hooray!  Haha - just kidding...it's been out for a while.  But seriously - we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (kinda) as far as unpacking goes, so we're able to take time for other things, finally...like writing a blog post about our moving day/weekend!  ☺

I'll try to keep this a "nutshell" version - can explain more in person, if you'd like!  This is what memories are made of...or something like that:

The plan was to close the purchase of our new home the Thursday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend.  That all went as planned, but it had been raining most of the day and was expected to continue the rest of the afternoon, which wasn't ideal...nor was it the dry weather we'd been praying for.  

We had helpers (friends and family) lined up to come help move the piano and other large, heavy stuff that evening.  Bless their hearts, they all showed up, despite the rain and tornado warning!  I'd gone straight to the new house after closing to do some cleaning, so I wasn't there when they loaded the piano (there wasn't much "uncovered" ground to cover there, so the rain wasn't as much of an issue on that end).  They kept watching the radar and decided to take a half-loaded truck to the new house in hopes of catching a "dry" window to get the piano in (which was a much more extensive process on the other end - it was pretty amazing!  I'll show you the video sometime, if you'd like.  My husband is a piano-moving genius and knows some really strong, helpful people to assist in carrying out his plans!).  By the grace of God, they literally had just enough time to get it in while it was not raining.  We had some pizza, then, those saintly helpers offered to go get another load, despite the rain!  Truly can't thank them enough!

We'd planned to put the entertainment center, couch, and most of the extra boxes in the basement, but on Bryant's first trip down to do so, he stepped on the carpet and heard a "squish."  It was wet halfway into the basement - a lot of wet carpet.  We'd also gotten about 8 inches of rain in 36 hours, the front yard was completely saturated, and water was coming over/under/through the front wall of the house.  Luckily, my handy husband had already redirected some of the drainage on the sides of the house, so the two side rooms in the basement were not affected.  We had fans, wet shop vacs, etc. going in an effort to salvage the carpet in the main room, but alas, it was not in any shape to keep.  So, we (mostly my dad and some helpers - thank you!!) tore it up - pad, tack strips, and all - and found this underneath:

"Wow!" huh?  I'd say we'd keep it, since it's back in style after its debut in the '50's, but it's not really salvageable, either, after having carpet pad glued to it, then scraped off.

While this was very discouraging on our very first night in our new house, and staying up into the wee hours of the morning trying to prevent a completely flooded basement wasn't ideal after a full day of moving, this is the conclusion we came to:

The rain we were praying away all day was actually a blessing in disguise.  If we're going to live in this house, that was the best time to have water in the basement, because...

...we didn't have any of our things down there, yet (besides the piano, which was on the opposite wall and not affected, praise the Lord).
...we can ask the seller to pay for some of the necessary remedies, since these issues weren't disclosed to us (this is the short version of that...more details, upon request).

...upstairs is still comfortably livable with the downstairs things up there..
...our realtor is awesome and is still on board with us to keep taking care of the issues at hand - even post-sale.
...we had lots of help right away, so didn't feel totally on our own with this particular "joy" of homeownership.

In the days following, we continued to have several helpers show up in big ways.  From cleaning and unpacking to pulling up carpet and installing ceiling fans to building shelves and a sliding barn door!  All the projects were things we'd planned to do, at some point, and could've done on our own, but we were so very blessed to have lots of helpers to get so many of them knocked out right away.  What a blessing to feel so supported and what an encouragement after the discouragement of a wet basement!  We were nearly in tears most of the day as we realized in such a tangible way the time and effort people were willing to give us.  It was a beautiful day, and they got a TON done!  Huge thanks to those who were involved (or home watching kiddos!)!

Another big thank you for all the well-wishes, offers to help, and to those who have been so gracious to give us housewarming gifts!  From gutter guards to power tools and so many thoughtful things in between - we sure do appreciate it all!  Here are a few:

It's feeling more and more like home every day, and we're still very excited for the potential this new home holds for us.  Thanks for sharing the journey with us. ☺

Thankfully,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

generous friends who are willing to continue to allow their basement to serve as our storage unit till we can get our feet on the ground with the basement stuff

surprise flowers in the yard

pool time!

Avenue of Life

Hello, hello!

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying back-to-school season.  ☺

I promised to tell you about some of the new things going on in life here, so I'd like to share about one of them today:

A few months ago, I heard about a community center in the area called Avenue of Life.  A friend was tutoring there for the summer, and I thought it sounded like a pretty neat establishment.  It didn't occur to me till a few weeks later, however, that there might be opportunity for me to help out there, too.

Long story short, I am currently teaching piano lessons there on a volunteer basis!  I started a month or so ago, and for now, am teaching one afternoon a week, in order to continue to try to protect Bryant and my evenings together.  It was good to start in the summertime, because I was able to teach kiddos during the earlier afternoon hours.  I/we didn't know what my time there would look like once school started, but I just found out (as luck...actually, as God would have it) that the day I chose to teach lessons there happens to be the weekly district-wide early release day!

The clientele has varied a bit every week, but I've seen some students attend more and more regularly, as well as new ones coming each week.  It's a bit of a challenge to know what to be prepared for each time I'm there, but I just take as many books/resources as I can, and hope I can meet the needs of whoever shows up!  I enjoy the variety, and the "unknown" keeps it interesting and exciting.  (For example: A brother and sister who recently started lessons with me previously took lessons with a Spanish-speaking teacher and learned the notes not as letters, but as solfège syllables!  Their goal is to learn the "letter version" of the musical alphabet in addition to learning to read the actual notes on the staff, rather than intervals and patterns.)  

I'm confident this opportunity was an answer to my prayers for guidance in finding ways to use my time and share my gifts.  This season in my life is "wide open," at the moment, and I'm thankful for the ability to take advantage of this particular opportunity, especially.

I haven't shared a student story in quite a while, so here is a short one for you:
One of my adult students (who has Asperger's syndrome and suffers from other physical ailments) told me this past week that our piano lessons are the highlight of her week.  She is "obsessed" (her word, not mine) with the piano and absolutely loves to practice.  What more could a teacher ask for?  ☺

Thanks for reading!

Musically yours,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

date nights, courtesy of Groupon and my thoughtful husband

sunshine and pool time

exploring

Our Walls

I know, I know - I said we'd be going in order...which means this post should be about our honeymoon.  I'm just really excited to share all this, though...so, reminiscing about a beautiful, warm, wonderful tropical vacation will have to wait for a bit.

I am writing today to (proudly) say I've (finally) gone through/unpacked/found homes for every box/wedding gift/etc. etc.!  I alluded to this project in a previous post, and am just so glad to have it done.

For me, the last piece of the project was hanging pictures on the wall, and I thought I'd give you a glimpse of the finished product(s):

Here's the "entryway."  We really love the from-the-balcony shot of our wedding ceremony!

Our living room grouping - the tri-frame was a Christmas gift from Bryant's parents, and the gallery wrap was a "thank you for playing piano for our wedding" gift from our photographer.

The guest room!  This bed was at my grandparents' previous house in the room I always slept in - the "pink room."  The quilt was made/given to me by my great aunt for my college graduation.  The sheet music wreath was a gift from a student, and the frame was a wedding gift!

This project started at the coop years ago, and it has found a home in our guest room!  Be sure to make your addition when you come stay with us! ☺

Bryant had some beautiful pictures up before I moved in, and they found new homes on the walls of the office.

Yes, this one got to stay, too. ☺

The "New York Nook" in our bedroom.  So many great memories!

I'd gotten these large "floating" frames for free, and definitely wanted to put them to good use.  We couldn't choose just two favorite pics to put in them, though, so we used the "floating" space in other ways.  The "Love Lives Here" was a garage sale find, and we finished the grouping with a cross we found cheap on Amazon.
P.S. A special thanks to my husband for the "throw pillow shopping spree" Christmas gift!  I'd always dreamed of having a grown-up bed set, complete with throw pillows, and he helped make my dream come true. ☺

This might be my favorite wall.  The painted frames and B&W pics came from the shower Bryant's family threw us in OK - his sister painted and put them together...and she even took the pics!  I'd found the "Love" at a thrift store a while ago, and was glad to find a home for it on our bedroom wall.

Many of you had been asking how things were going, etc., and my answer was usually, "Well, I've got mostly everything unpacked and homes found for most of it, but we don't have things on the wall, yet."  I don't really know, much less can I explain, why "having things on the walls" was the final piece of my "settling in" puzzle.  I realize that's a pretty common "last item on the to-do list" after moving in somewhere, but for me, it was more than making sure the furniture was in its place before decorating.  Having pictures of us and our families and friends on the walls in our home just makes it all feel even more real, more like home, and more like the place where we are going to start our future together.  Not that it didn't before...but this helps...like I said - not sure I can adequately explain it, but maybe you can relate.  ☺

Thanks for reading.  Come see it in person sometime!

Settled-ly,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

new friends and relationships

Sprouts grocery store/farmers market

our "getaway" date last weekend