Unplanned Closet Remodel

So, last Friday (the last day of school), I was out at our school's End of the Year party and Ron called me to tell me that our hallway pantry just collapsed (it's an overflow pantry, since I buy a lot of items in bulk and stock up during BOGO events). Then he sends me these pictures....

yeah....so that's fun. 

and of course, my workout room always gets the shaft whenever we need to store things. So those were fun mornings to workout - among the clutter, which totally gives me anxiety, which is one of the reasons I workout - to NOT have anxiety haha. 

See the irony??

anyway.. this is KIND of what the closet looked like before.

So we hemmed and hawed and totally couldn't make up our minds on what to do. We had things in our cart at Lowes/Home Depot... took it out, put something else in... took it out and put something else in, only to take that out and leave empty handed. lol 

The girls were actually having a fun time during our shopping, despite what this picture looks like. haha!

FINALLY, we came up with a plan. And it was NOTHING like what we had started with.

So Caroline and I got to caulking and painting...

And Ron put in the baseboards (that were 8 years in the waiting) Just the paint job and baseboards made it look so good already!

Now, Ron is a pefectionist, but he's not a builder (I grew up with my dad being a builder, so I feel bad for Ron - because I'm always like "can't you just....." lol He's like, "No, Jen. I can't just whip this up."

But guys... I'm so impressed with what Ron did! This pantry is so beautiful! And I have so much more room than before! 

That open space on the right is for all of our vacuums lol Yes, we have three vacuums.  A carpet cleaner, a regular vacuum, and a battery one that we can do quick daily vacuums. 

I love it! And now I want to make something else! haha!

More Kitchen!

We are this close to being finished with the kitchen!! Check out the before and after {HERE}

We just need to paint, put in the backsplash, and do the floor.

So on this day, we dropped off the 2 older kids at the sitter's and it was our day to get it done.

But, here's the thing...Ron doesn't actually like my painting, so I usually don't do too much painting. lol. Fine by me!

He still has to do the ceiling and wall where we redid the pantry.

And I got to play with the drill... I always love working with the drill... but not as much as a jack-hammer...haha!

See the difference!?  It's already so much more open and "airy!" I love it!

we didn't finish because we got distracted by getting ready for the pool....with the jack-hammer! But hopefully soon we'll get the backsplash and get that up...

In other news... we finally bought the backsplash!  I'm not sure Ron much favored the one I picked out, but at this point, I don't think he much cares. haha!

Here we are at our favorite store these days...

Then after so long, this happens...

But sweet Caroline was doing just fine!  Look at that happy girl. She is such a happy baby, always smiling and laughing and talking

Then it's on to the floor! 

We have been searching for the perfect tile...and I found it! But then I didn't....

Let me get a little closer for you... do you see that?!  It says "SOLD OUT!"  Boo! 

And the actual manufacturer doesn't make it anymore.

Ugh. AND...do you see the price they had it at!? Seriously. I mean, c'mon!

oh well.  We'll just keep on looking I guess.

And my next problem... what to do with this space.  It's not big enough for a eat-in-nook...and we don't need a table and chairs since we have one in the dining room. It's really not even wide enough for a table over a window bench. Do you see how the table is pushed all the way to the windows?? There definitely wouldn't be any room if it was out to let people sit at it. 

So...what do I do!?

Pool Update- Sod Removal and Pool Colors!

More pool update!

The pool company sent their sod-remover to do the first step....removing sod. lol

We weren't sure how we were going to get all that slab to the dump? Well, he solved that problem for us! Yes!  He took the slab for us...in his dump truck. What a life saver - and that little bobcat thingy?? That's so much easier than us picking it up and putting it in the back of Ron's truck. It took him like 5 minutes to get rid of all that slab.

Then it was time for him to get digging on the sod.  The girls and I left for the beach at this point, so we didn't get to see the magic happen.

But when we came home, this is what our backyard looks like.

Remember that little problem I have with keeping my house clean???

Yeah.

Now there's a BIG dirt backyard...and 2 kids and 2 dogs to bring the dirt back in my house. Awesome.

Oh well...it's for the greater good, right!?




Also on this day, we went back up to the pool place to pick out our "colors."

It's really hard to see the actual colors, but the tile I picked was something like "Island tile" which was fitting because the whole time, I was saying "I really want the blue to pop like the Caribbean colors. I want to feel like the water is a whole kind of get-away."

The bottom of the pool is called "Miami Blue." The speckles in the finish are sapphire like the water-line tile. It's going to be so blue! I love it! I can't wait!

Today they came out to measure and "draw" the pool. Brooklynn pulled herself up a chair and watched them. ha!

You can see the orange spray on the ground. That's the pool outline. And the wood is where the patio is going to be.

Since we have small kids, we decided it was best to fence off the back door because there are a lot of metal stakes sticking out of the ground. So now all the dogs have to go out front. 

Bright side? At least the dirt won't be coming in through the house!

Monday they are coming to dig for the actual pool! 

POOL update!

Our pool is finally moving and grooving!   Which means we had to get going on some things that needed to be taken care of before they start digging!

First up.... trees.

It really saddens me to cut down trees, but some of them just have to go. Since we're not screening in the pool (I'm a FL girl...I don't do screen in pools! ha!), most Pine trees have to go and then the tree with the yellow bucket had to go.Which is a shame because that's the girls' climbing tree.

Oh well... a pool is on the line here!  So here is the backyard before they cut down the trees.

Then, on Tuesday, Ron's friends from work came and did the cutting.

Timmmmmbeeeerrrr!

That's all we saw, because then we left for Disney - haa!


We came home at night, so I couldn't really see the difference. But the next day, there was a nice big opening in our backyard...perfect for a pool!

I am keeping the palm trees...because what goes with a pool better than palm trees!?  My plan is to keep the Oak tree, but I have been warned that it might have to go too...but we're going to try to keep it!

And here is the nice big opening for the pool!

So the next item on the list.... sprinklers.  Which ones stay and which ones go??  We have to cap off the ones that are going but somehow keep the line going to the ones that are connected to it that we still need. Oy!

Looks like fun, doesn't it!?

Can we just talk about the mess that I can not keep out of my house right now!?

Between Wonder Woman tracking in wet dirt (that's what it is...it's not mud. We don't have mud in FL)

The dogs needing a bath every day because they love to play outside in all the dirt holes/piles.

And sassy little girls who love to play in the "mud"....I just can't keep my house clean!

Problem!! We found that a lot of the sprinkler lines go under the concrete slab. Awesome. oh well. we have to bust that out anyway.

Enter...jack-hammering fun!

Seriously...look at how thick that slab is!

I'm not going to lie. Jack-hammering is kind of fun! lol

While the actual break-up process didn't take that long...it's probably going to take about 8-10 trips to the dump to get rid of the couple thousand pounds of concrete.

BUT at least the slab is all busted up!

Tomorrow the pool company is coming to take out the sod...and then Monday they are digging! yay!