Master Bathroom

When we bought this house the only room that really had me stumped was the master bathroom.  I couldn't possibly imagine what to do with a bathtub that was as odd as that one was.  We eventually named her Betty and I am happy to announce that Betty was never in working order and was never used by anyone in the Cutler house! :) 

Before we bought the house the bank made us put some sort of flooring down because all that was exposed was rotting sub floor.  While we were in the process of doing some temporary flooring, I made Drew replace that black toilet and we put on a new counter top and sink.  I am pretty good at going with the flow and making due with what I have, but i did have to draw the line somewhere!!!  

 In this picture I am standing in the doorway from the master bedroom.  To the right was a wall of closets and to the left is the giant bathtub.

Don't miss out on the silver wallpaper.  That was something else! :)  It took me a long time to figure out the design for this bathroom.  Our bedroom is a nice size, but the bathroom area isn't as spacious.  I didn't want to lose any bedroom sq footage and finally decided that a really nice walk in closet with a very nice bathroom was a better choice than a big bathroom with a tiny closet.  Unfortunately,  I didn't get pictures of the removal of Betty- but she was a beast!

 We had to tear almost everything down to the studs and build a few new walls.

 I bought our bathtub online and was VERY happy when we got it and I saw just how big and perfect it is! I didn't have the space or want a whirlpool tub so we got an oversized soaker tub.

 Drew is standing in the space that used to be the Betty.  It is now my walk in closet.

 A family tradition we have is to leave our mark on every house we live in.  This house is extra awesome because we actually tear walls down and leave our print before we put new drywall up.  I just imagine in 3o years someone tearing that wall down and seeing that there was a family here that lived and loved!  We have found lots of really funny things in the walls of this house.  My favorite was a 3o year old Salted Nut Roll :)

Because of the lay out of the bathroom its hard for me to get a great picture to show how it is all layed out so I hope you can use your imagination.  The Bathtub is straight ahead when looking into the bathroom where the sink once was.  We tore out the closet that is now the vanity and Betty is now the closet.  The toilet remained in the same location.

This is not the greatest picture into what is my closet- but it is amazingly big and spacious for all my clothes.  Drew is still working on shelves, but those will be finished soon.  :)

All in all, we love our bathroom! It is the perfect mix of functionality and beauty.  As I was thinking about all the work we've done on our home and all the work we have left to do- I was thinking about all the things I wish I knew when I started and what I have learned a long the way.  

1. Don't buy a house the needs to be completely remodeled :)

2. Decide on your budget and time frame.  Then immediately add several thousand more dollars and a few more weeks of time.  We budgeted fpr a frameless shower sliding door, but because the plumbing cost more than expected, I am enjoying my walmart curtain! You have to go with the flow and make changes as needed. 

3. Decide if this is your forever house or right now house.  It is easier to make decisions when you keep that in mind.

4.  Spend your money on the things that matter most - although it isn't anything you see and is beautiful to look at be sure to do your plumbing, electrical, framing correctly.  They may not be the fun things to do, but are most important.  

5. When buying materials, buy what you can afford.  It is very easy to WANT WANT WANT when you start looking on Pinterest and seeing all of the gorgeous fixtures and lighting and tile.  It might be gorgeous, but it might not be affordable.  I spent more on my vanity by having it custom made to my exact specs and in doing so, I spent less on my faucets.  They can always be changed down the road- the vanity can't. 

6. Teach yourself something new!  I taped and textured the entire bathroom all by myself.  It may not be professional, but I am really happy with how it turned out and also with the skill that I learned.  I also learned that when we do our main bathroom I WILL NOT BE DOING ANY DRYWALL or TEXTURING.  That is now being budgeted for someone else to do!!! 

7.  MOST IMPORTANT!!! Do what you love.  Don't worry about what other people say or what you see on Pinterest or on HGTV.  I was making myself crazy looking at everything under the sun trying to put this bathroom together.  It wasn't until I just decided what I liked and what we could live with that it all came together.  

There are a few things that I might have changed now that it is done, but I am one lucky lady to be able to do what I love in this crazy house that is

finally feeling like my own.  

Family Room

This room has been a labor of love to say the least.  I saw those popcorn ceilings when we walked in here and I was already dreading the amount of work that would take to change.  I was already thinking of ways to possibly cover it up and then Pinterest happened and basically changed my life!!! :)

We were so excited to finally move into our house that we all slept on the floor the first night.  I told Drew I couldn't go to bed without demolishing something! So, first on the list was the cabinet doors on the tv area.  It was so fun and amazing at what a difference taking down a few doors can make. 

Drew filled in the spots in the walls where they had speaker boxes and a fancy little mirror! That part took the longest because Drew was trying to convince me to keep them.  After a good long battle- I won! :) In the process of redoing this room, I taught myself how to texture and have the assigned job of doing all the texturing in the house.  So far I have done the kids bedrooms and the bathroom also!

I still have some work to do on the TV area with a shelf and bead board behind the TV but the difference is AMAZING compared to what was there. 

Then there is the fireplace area.  We installed a new insert right when we moved in to help the house stay warmer.  That entire area needs some serious work and will be our final project in this house because of how extensive it will be.  For now, I just painted the pink rock and Drew made me a nice mantle to help spruce it up.

 This house was built in 1957 and after the flood in 1976 the house was built on too- which created what I call the "weird room".  It is kind of an odd space and part of the issue was how thick the walls were going from one room to the next.  Since it used to be exterior wall, it is really thick.  I came up with the idea for some columns and I LOVE THEM.  They were a little tricky for Drew considering the walls were in no way shape or form square.  He did an amazing job on them and helped to create a beautiful transition from the family room to the "weird room". 

I still have a little painting here and there to finish up, but we love this space.  It's so inviting and having this area done really makes me feel like this old scary house is turning into a beautiful home. 

 

 

My Favorite Room

 

This is what I saw when I walked into this room. Isn't it amazing? The space measures over 350 sq ft so it's a big room. Can't you see Home Teachers in here?! :) There was wallpaper glue and wallpaper still on the walls and Drew was enjoying ripping it down each time we came to look at the house.

Our plan for this room includes:

New Floors

Texture walls

Knock out opening on wall sharing the hallway

Fireplace makeover

Get rid of spindles

Baseboards

Paint

Replace big window with 3 smaller windows

Enjoy!

This room ended up being one of the first things along with the kitchen because I was having the McClintock clan to my house for Thanksgiving.  The inspiration came from the curtains. I had bought that fabric and was using it in my old house for curtains. They felt a little "granny" at first but I figured my taste was EVOLVING if you will. :) Anyways- one thing leads to another and a vision was born!

I am in love with this room. You can hate it, I will think you are crazy because this room is a very tranquil space that you can't help but want to hang out in. (Even though you aren't allowed in there!)

My kids and myself have deemed it the "come apart" room. When you're having a bad day. Go sit in there. You will feel better.

It's amazing the transformation that can happen when you remove old spindles or throw a little paint on the wall. The fireplace doesn't stick out as being so ugly anymore.

And to my favorite thing ever... the china. When I was growing up my best friend was my Great Grandma Dimp. She lived in Iowa and I loved her more than anything. When she passed away she wanted me to have her china. My mom would never give it to me because she was afraid I would break it because I didn't have the space for it. When we moved I was so excited to finally have the china and a hutch to put it in. The best part was it matches my room! It's as if the colors, fabric and style were all meant to be.

 

I feel a real connection to her in that room and have been slowly turning it into a room all about my ancestors. I have old photos on a "family tree" on the table and there is a collage of pictures going above the couch. (one day) I especially love that room because I have a place where I can honor our family whom we love so much!

 

Before

After

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

                            This room has more work to be done. However, it is still a great space!

Our house!

This house has been a project times 10 million. I knew when we bought it that we had a lot of work ahead of us. Everyone who saw the house secretly felt sorry for us... I'm sure! There were lots of laughs about the "black wading pool" and Drew is still trying to get me to use it. I REFUSE. I have to draw the line somewhere people!

We bought our house as a foreclosure. It had not been taken care of and had not been updated since the flood. That's a long time. There was mold growing down walls, on floors, in sinks. The hobo's had made this their mansion. There were no floors in the bathrooms, just rotted sub floor. We had no appliances except a dishwasher with mold growing inside it. The lawn was completely dead. The list goes on and on and on and on. Doesn't it seem like a house you couldn't pass up?! HA

 It was in April 2011 that Drew and I took a drive and decided that we wanted to be out in the country. That was our dream. Acres. Horses. Land. Pigs. The whole shebang. So we listed our house and a few short weeks later it SOLD! We were shocked! I started packing everything up and we started shopping. We went to houses. We looked online. I was open to pretty much anything. One day when driving my kids to school I had my GPS take me to a house that was listed as a foreclosure. I wasn't sure of the address but I knew it was close. When I realized the house I laughed out loud. It was about 2 blocks from our other house BUT was still further North (that was Drew's one requirement). I came home and told Drew about it and he said HECK NO! There was no way. Well the next day we drove by and there were workers here putting a brand new roof on! That definitely sparked Drew's curiosity. A new roof costs a lot of money!

So we called up our Realtor and we met at the house later that day. When we walked inside WE WERE SHOCKED!!!!!!!! The house was so bad. So so so bad. SO bad. REALLY BAD. Get the hint?! It was bad.  Mold. No floors. Pink tile. Blue tile. Mold. Mold. Mold. More blue tile. Earwigs EVERYWHERE.  It was dark. Lots of closed off rooms. We took one look in here and Drew said... UM... NO LADY. This is not happening. So, I let it go. We had a good laugh. Wondered how long it would be on the market for the asking price and left.

Later that night, I started thinking about all the space. I started dreaming about the CENTRAL AIR and the possibilities of the dining room. It had beautiful crown molding and wainscoting already done and it needed a little TLC but I started to envision it. I actually dreamt that night about the main bath and having a "toilet room" just like I have always wanted. Oh, it was old and stinky though. It wasn't anything to brag about... that's for sure. The other "meant to be" was the lockers in the mud room. 7 of them. How perfect for our family of 7. :)

Long story short, we moved out of our house and then made an offer on this beauty. The bank rejected it. SERIOUSLY! So we made another offer and went back and forth a few times and finally they had accepted our offer.  On August 1, 2011 we closed on our house and that night we slept on the floor! It was so fun! I was deathly afraid of hobo's or earwigs crawling on me. After a long summer of living in boxes and working with the bank and dump appraisers we finally had our place.


There is lots and lots of work to do. Most rooms have phases because there is just so very much. The first thing to get worked on was putting in a new bathtub and then the kitchen get phase 1 done. Lots of work. Lots of arguing with Drew. Lots of learning and growing. Lots of dust. Lots of vacuuming. Lots and lots of help. Lots of enjoying and lots and lots of love going into this home! I sure do love my house. Even if it isn't a beautiful new home, we are loving making it our own and feeling awesome about all we have accomplished.

                                                Dark scary kitchen!

Built ins on both sides of a door to the left

 

 

I tore out this built in while Drew was at work! Kenzie called him to tattle on me! :)

 

 
                   Tore out the door and 3 ft of wall

            

  Phase 1 of kitchen complete... cabinets, ceiling, tearing  out wall and door. Got new appliances. Found a lots of spiders and the skeletal remains of a mouse.

                                                                   BEFORE




                                                                   AFTER

 

Back to School 2012

It's been a long summer. In fact, it's been a long year.  There have been many changes going on around our place! The most obvious (besides the dust from constant remodeling) is the growth of these 3 beauties. It's hard to believe that my baby is now 11 and going into 6th grade. The time goes so fast!!

                                                      Kenzie (11), Tate (6), Logan (9)
 On Monday, I decided that we should have a "FAMILY FUN DAY" and boy was it fun! :) It began with a few kids crying and a few kids having to go to their room with the threat of FAMILY FUN DAY being cancelled. After some tears, apologies and some good heart to hearts we were back on to the day of fun. So what comes next... mowing the lawn of course! Logan was not sure this day would be fun at all! In all seriousness we did do whatever they wanted. They chose McDonalds for lunch and then we spent a few hours at the pool and we even got slide passes! Next was shooting our new guns up by the dam. Logan and Tate enjoyed this the most, but Kenzie is enjoying her new gun that she got for her birthday. Not every girl whose favorite color is lime green gets a lime green gun! After shooting guns we enjoyed some dinner at "Little Mexico". The kids love it when we bring leftovers home but haven't actually been there themselves so that was a nice surprise.  The day was very long but I think overall we all had a good time and were able to make some good memories.

                                                                                         

There aren't enough words that I can come up with to say how much I love my kiddos. They are crazy, wild, naughty, spoiled, special, silly, cute, funny, stinky, smart, loving, adventurous, obnoxious, talented, independent, healthy, happy, curious, devilish, awesome, brave, handy little things and most importantly they are mine! It's going to be a good year and we've all committed to trying new things, making new friends, pushing ourselves to be better than we were before. As happy as I am that my kids go to school during the day, I can't help but be a little sad today as I see them grow up a little more. I get so caught up in my everyday routine that I don't always take a time out to enjoy them right here and now and before I know it, they will be gone and all I will be left with is DREW! :) (Even though I tease, I love that guy so much that that thought isn't half bad either!)

Here is to a new school year!

Making memories...

These past few months have been wild to say the least! It all started back in April when Drew and I went for a drive one Sunday afternoon. Out of the blue we decided... HEY- let's put our house up for sale.... SO WE DID! The end of April we put the sign in the yard and 3 1/2 weeks later we accepted an offer and I started packing. It has been an exciting and crazy process all at the same time. I have learned so many things over the last few weeks that are truly invaluable lessons. The first and most important being to have faith!  The last few weeks while our house has been under contract has been STRESSFUL and BUSY! We have had Logan's birthday. Lagoon trip. Logan's baptism. Memorial Weekend ( WHICH IS ALWAYS THE BUSIEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR IN ISLAND PARK!!) and of course just life of being mommy with 5 kids.

I can honestly say that through the past 3 weeks we have had more fun than we have had in a long time. Our life feels so crazy and insane but so comfortable all at the same time. McKenzie has been such a huge help. I don't know how I would live this life without her.  This past weekend was AWESOME! Logan chose to be baptized and it was a wonderful day. I was giggling the entire time because he is soooo shy.  He wouldn't look at anyone and was acting so nervous. It was a really special day and the feelings there were wonderful!! We were so lucky to have Jennifer and Jeremy and Brady and Rachael come for the weekend. We always love to be with family and it meant so much to us and to Logan to have people come JUST for him. We have such good friends who always support us and love us also.

Oh isn't he so handsome?! I love this picture. I could go on and on about Logan. First of all, Logan is handsome with a capitol H! I love his big brown eyes and I love how much he loves his mommy. He is always making sure to give me hugs, tell me he loves me and is constantly walking in a room and gives me a little scratch on my back. I was thinking today what it will be like when he is a grown man and hopefully still doing those things.  A funny fact about Logan : he gets very concerned about funny things. Once he gets his mind wandering it is hard for him to slow it down. HE IS SOOOO MUCH LIKE ME THAT WAY. His recent concern has been our house flooding and wondering if we will be okay. :)

                                            MY HANDSOME FUTURE MISSIONARIES!

While we had Rachael here I asked her to take some family pictures of us. Of course, she did a wonderful job and we love her for her hard work!

These next few months are going to be an adventure. I just keep telling myself and Drew that we are making memories! Wherever we go or wherever we live, I am sooo happy because I have Drew and my kids with me.  Homeless or not! :)