Projects and Catchphrases

We are home early on Sunday, and so super ecstatic. Why? We are finished hanging drywall!

DONE!

This is awesome, because we can see the floors again. And we can't see any insulation OR studs in the walls. It looks like a real house now! My favorite transformation is the kitchen.

Before and Now

The weird slanted wall is gone, we'll get to raise the cabinets, the bar looks awesome, and we have enough outlets now. We also took out all of the back splash above those cabinets, so that we can continue it throughout the kitchen. If having the drywall up makes me this excited, I can't imagine what painting will do. 

The other exciting project was the pocket door that we put in the foyer closet. Phillip came to help us with this, thank goodness. It was awfully confusing. The first time, we put it in upside down.

. 

Oops.

There's a sticker on one of those boards. We just thought that the people at the pocket door factory put it on upside down. We laughed at ourselves for a bit, took the whole thing out, and put it back...rightside up.

It really works!

So, the week has been productive. One thing that I've noticed through this entire process, is that as we work on these projects, we start to use the same phrases over and over. I wanted to make a glossary of these phrases and their meanings, because they make me laugh. Here it is:

Alright, alright! means "We're going to get started now," use in the morning or when you just arrive.

Aaaalriiiight similar to the above, means "This step is complete, moving on to the next one."

Let's do something, even if it's wrong. means "We've been talking about this for ten minutes. Let's just do it." Use after taking a break.

Boy, you are just like lightening! Never hit the same place twice. A classic Phillip phrase to use when someone is using a hammer.

Slow down, gunpowder! also a classic Phillip phrase for when someone is moving too fast, or is in a hurry for no reason.

That's good and straight. means "That's not straight. At all."

This is going to be fun. means "This is going to be really difficult," or "I don't have any idea how to start this."

You going to measure that, or were you just going to guess? use when someone is skipping an obvious step.

You sure you have enough screws in that? use when someone put in way too many screws in a something. Example below.

That'll hold it. Probably.

One more phrase we use ALL the time (and it's kind of my favorite):

How awesome will this be when we're done?! means exactly what it sounds like. Use when you feel especially proud, or just need a reminder that it's all worth it.

The Best Spring Break I've Ever Had

I'm 27 years old, so I've had approximately 22 spring breaks in my lifetime. This, by far, has been the most eventful, rewarding, and exciting. Here are the details.

It started with a great visit home. I haven't been to my hometown since Christmas, so it was really nice to visit everyone at home and spend a wonderful Easter Sunday with family. We got to celebrate a dear friend's birthday and spend some quality time with people we love. When we came back to Louisville, we found a good surprise:

Had no idea this was happening...Cody's family is awfully sneaky!

This adorable setup came in handy this week, since we decided to spend four nights camping out at the house. With my spring break and Cody's vacation days, we were able to have some extra time at the house. We packed work clothes, an air mattress, and a cooler full of essentials (water, iced coffee, lunch meat, and beer), and started our Spring Break '15 adventure.

Height of Luxury, right?

With all of the electric work (see earlier post), we needed to put some things back together. As much fun as tearing down walls is (see even earlier post), putting them back up is just as satisfying. To see things come together is the best feeling. For example, ceilings are a good thing to have. I think most people would agree. We're all pro-ceilings, yes?

Before and after. We love ceilings! (And door headers. Those are nice too.)

So, in the middle of hanging all this drywall, Cody decided that he wanted to build a swing. I wasn't sure why he thought this was the time to do that. But, we put it together, albeit the confusing directions that came with it.

What? Why? HOW?

I spent two hours trying to pronounce "GJKI," so that I could refer to that bag. 

"No, that part is in the "jeck-ey" bag!" I think I said that a couple times during the process.

Little did I know that Cody had ulterior motives. 

The next day, we hung drywall, put up the swing, cleaned, and marveled at the fact that the place was starting to look like a house. I can't believe how many walls we have now!

"Walls are good to have!" - My Dad.

We continued to live out of our cooler and ate Lunchables for dinner. After working at summer camps and public schools, I've been super nostalgic for Lunchables for a while now.

Fine dining - cold pizza never tasted so good!

I wasn't expecting it, at all. I was expecting to finish our pizza Lunchables, chill for a bit, and then get back to work on the drywall. But, sitting on the newly hung front porch swing, Cody got down to one knee and asked me to marry him.

When I took this picture, I had no idea.

Honestly, I was just proud of putting the swing together.

I understood why he was so adamant on putting that swing together. I understood why he wanted to hang the swing before hanging all of the drywall. I understood why he went to his truck for a head lamp and came back empty-handed. I understood why I was so giddy to say, "yes," to the person that I had spent two years loving.

He proposed to me with my Nanny's ring. It was sneaky and sweet and so perfect. I can't imagine a better way to start our lives together. Some would scoff at the fact that I was wearing old blue jeans, work boots, and covered in drywall dust. Maybe some people wouldn't want to hang drywall and eat Lunchables on the night they get engaged. I'm not those people. This was perfect.

I think Nanny would have been proud of the work that we have done on this house. She cared for so many people: children, grandchildren, Papaw. I've inherited so much of her. I've been told that I walk like her, that I am frugal like her, and that I have the personality. I love that. I love that I have part of her in me. I love that I have some piece of her with me forever. I love that the night we were putting up the walls of our home, he decided to frame up our life. I love that the man that I love entirely gave me her ring. 

I love him.

I love that we will have a home we built, a ton of memories to share, and a swing to prove it.

We will build our home, our life, and our love. 

I think Nanny would be proud.

It's Electrifying!

Don't worry, no one gets electrocuted in this post! We have been doing some electrical work, but we were really careful, because getting shocked does not sound fun.

This was not us.

We decided to run some new lights in the house for so many reasons. The first was that the living room had no lights. So, that would be pretty gloomy since I don't own very many lamps, and I like using light switches. Secondly, since we made the master bedroom bigger and framed a closet, we were short on lights in that room as well. Thirdly, we thought we could do it.

The only problem is that electrical work is the most confusing project I can think of. Imagine a thousand iPhones plugged in with extra long cords, but all those cords are tangled up into a ball before connecting to the thousands of phones. Then, try to figure out which cord goes to this phone, or that one, or any of them. Confusing, right?

I have no idea what is going on here.

Luckily, it was Phillip to the rescue again! With his expertise, we were able to figure things out and get things done. Cody learned a ton about electric and houses. I learned a little, but I'm definitely not going to quit my day job to go be an electrician.

Still no idea. But I follow directions well.

 Our fixture of choice: Recessed can lights. We quickly became obsessed with recessed lighting after we fixed up the closet/dressing area.

Oh, and we put up a closet wall. No big deal.

Those lights were pretty easy to put in, not very expensive, and look really, really classy (at least we think so!). Plus, cutting out all those circles in the ceiling built up my arm muscles. So...we put them everywhere.

Bathrooms: Recessed!

Hallway: Recessed!

Living Room: Recessed! 

Not pictured: above the kitchen sink and stairs leading to basement - also recessed!

Of course, we'll have other normal lights too. Ceiling fans and a dining room fixture are to come. But for right now, we are just happy to see some things start to look the way we want. How happy? This much:

That will be there forever. You're welcome, house.

Supported

It's been a long week! My drama club had its first performance at school, and we've been busy little worker bees at the house. I'm exhausted. But, spring break is just around the corner. I think I am looking more forward to it than my students!

Our first project, after tearing out the unwanted drywall, was to find a way to support the house without load bearing walls. Turns out, when we choose walls to tear down, we only pick the ones that are necessary to keep the house standing.

Apparently, those studs are super important.

Like, holding-up-the-roof important.

So, we built support beams that would have to be lifted up into the ceiling to help hold up the house. Never having done that before, I was thinking that I was a bit inexperienced to be making things that help hold up an entire structure. I literally pictured us sitting on the couch, watching TV, and then the roof falls in - not only ruining the entire house, but keeping us from seeing who wins Master Chef.

That's not going to happen, though, because the beams are up, and they are holding!

Boom! Supported.

This is the bedroom. It will eventually have drywall, and kind of work as a separator between a sleeping and a "getting ready" area. We're pretty proud of our job. 

"This house may blow over, but it won't blow apart." - Typical Cody-ism

And here's the living room. We're considering keeping this beam exposed, but with a stain. The whole rustic, shabby-chic look is kind of our thing. Mostly because we are really good at sanding things. Nonetheless, it would match well.

It's not just the house that is supported, however. Our families and friends have been so reassuring and helpful since the beginnings of this project. All of our parents have now seen the house in person, and are very hopeful! But, the biggest shout-out must go to Cody's dad, Phillip. He has spent so much time with us - helping us with both manual labor and guidance. I can't imagine how lost we would be without him! Not only does he drive an hour, stay late, and work extremely hard, but he is always ready with advice any time we call. I feel extremely lucky to know someone who is so generous, caring, and knowledgeable.

Thanks, Phillip!

If you're reading this blog, know that you are supporting us too and that we thank you! Stay tuned for the next post when we conquer lighting, wires, and makeshift closets.

Bustin' Walls

The final inspection is complete. The appraiser is satisfied with our wall repairs. Now it's time. Time for the real deal. The whole nine yards...or some amount of inches. 

We took out part of the wall in the kitchen! Eventually, it will be a bar area to open up the living/dining room. This way, we can be in two separate rooms and still hang out. Oh, and it would be good for guests.

But that's not all. There's more walls to be busted here.

I came into the house on Monday, knowing that I would be ready to take out the wall between two bedrooms. I had never done that before. But, I have always seen pretty little ladies on HGTV with safety glasses and sledge hammers pretending to take down a section of a house; and they would giggle so cutely the entire time. Then, other people would probably come to clean up the debris. That looked easy enough. 

Obviously, I was not qualified.

I held my hammer, looking at the wall. I had no idea where to start. Cody told me where the studs were, and that I shouldn't hit them. (I also know what studs are. Go me!)

"Just hit it anywhere between those two spots," he told me. Still, how do you just take a weapon to a clean wall? 

I stood there with my arm ready to swing, hammer in hand. I must have second guessed myself too many times, because Cody took the shot. 

"You just have to go for it," he said.

"Okay," I replied, probably timidly, "I can do that." No big deal, right?

So. I spent the next few hours getting over my nervousness and we took out the entire wall. Just in case you need proof, here's the before and after:

Before

After

 

Impressive, right? AND, the results still look like some kind of HGTV project. 

Despite the hesitation, I loved it. Here are the things I learned about knocking out walls:

• Hitting a wall with a hammer can be pretty relaxing.
• The relief of hitting things lasts for a short while. After 15 minutes, it's just work.
• But, ripping out a really huge piece of the drywall all at once is very satisfying.
• Drywall clings to nails around the studs. Those pieces that stay behind are really annoying.
• Anticipating cleanup after taking out walls will give a person anxiety.

And most important...

• After all of that work, knowing what was there before, and seeing the entire open room will give you the best feeling.

First Steps, First Mistake

It's been one week since we closed on the house, and progress is happening! We began by repairing drywall and putting primer on the walls. It already feels like a new place - mostly because we don't have to walk in and see these cringe-worthy paint colors:

Before Picture: Living Room

Before Picture: Second Bedroom

(future half of master)

Before Picture: Closet

(future nothing. It will be gone)

We collectively decided that the people who lived here before had hundreds of pictures/posters/wall decorations. And, someone may have punched a few walls in the process of hanging them up. Regardless, I learned how to use drywall mud, spackle, and all the tools that go with them. I also became proficient at sanding. I think before I was just apprentice, but I'm meeting that benchmark now (teacher talk!). I came home each night covered in dust, mud, and primer paint, but I'm pretty sure the walls took some of it.

New work boots - not so new anymore.

Cody: actually doing things

Maegan: learning how to drywall/taking pictures

On Sunday night, things were starting to look better. The living room had its second coat of primer, and the ugly brown/green color was nowhere to be found. As we were packing up to leave, however, we noticed something odd:

Chicken Pox?

Our living room wall was either going through puberty and dealing with acne, or it had some kind of disease. Of course, we acted completely normal and decided to see what it would look like the next day. 

No. That's not at all what we did.

What would any normal person do when they see a weird air bubble in a fresh coat of paint? Pop it. We popped every single one. Okay, maybe a normal person wouldn't do that, but they would definitely be tempted. 

So, we popped all of these bubbles and everything came up: both coats of primer, ugly brown paint, and probably some other things in between. With one particularly big air bubble, the paint started peeling. So, what did we do? We peeled it - hoping it wouldn't last the whole wall. It didn't. But we ended up with this huge ugly spot and a ridiculous amount of regret. After a stressful conversation of what could have caused this, we decided the best thing to blame would be the ugly brown paint. 

The ugly brown paint had leprosy. (Completely normal conclusion - right?)

Wrong. A quick conversation with a painting expert (AKA Cody's Mom), assured us that we just needed to wait until the paint dries, and those air bubbles might go away. 

Oh.

So, that's this week: our first projects and our first mistake. It's gotta go up from here, yeah? I think so. I'll end this post with a picture of the ceiling fan we found in the hallway. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

Look at those tiny little blades! WHO MAKES THESE?

Closing Time

We did it! We signed all the papers, listened to all the people, and took a picture:

We bought a house!

This is us and our lovely Realtor. She has been so amazing and helpful through this entire process. Let's give a shout out to Delaine! Even though she had to drive an hour away, she was there (and arrived earlier than we did). "I don't miss a closing." - Words from the best. We love ya!

Side note: I took that pen. I don't feel bad about that.

Work starts tomorrow. We've been talking about this for months, and now it's real.

Since I have to go to an English Teacher Conference for part of the weekend, Cody will have his hands full. I'll be missing the first few steps, but, rest assured: I will come back from TeacherWorld as the best little helper you can find. I will have to, since we only have 20 days to finish the drywall work. 

Obviously, we had to prep for tomorrow with our first trip to Home Depot.

I think we're ready to fix some walls.

So. We have a house. We're homeowners. I think the best way to end this post is with a list of what is most exciting.

Maegan and Cody's Favorite Things About Our New Home

• There's a basement. We will finish it.
• On that note, it's a walkout!
• The breakfast/hangout bar idea we have for the kitchen
• The hardwood floors under the terrible carpet
• The porch is already set up for a swing. (Cue: Just a Swingin' by John Anderson)
• Cody has a garage.
• Maegan will have an awesome closet.

and lastly...

• We own it! It's ours!