Backyard Remodel!

Aaron and I have been wanting to re-do the backyard for a LONG time now...it was basically unusable space...it was just a mess back there that stored crap. Here is a before picture:
When we got our tax return money this year, we decided to take that money and fix the things on the house that we have wanted done for a long time...so that is why we were able to finally do it...and we are both so glad that it is done! Here is a picture of Aaron on "demolition day"...he had to break up and get rid of the old slab concrete....
Here is a picture of the leveled backyard before the new concrete poor (the concrete guys did this)
Here is a picture of the stamped concrete (this is before it is washed so you can't see the color it actually is...but you can see the stamp)
And finally, here is a picture of the stamped concrete (after being washed)...I LOVE IT!

Home Remodeling Wish List

Now that the HOA is painting the outside of our home, I have been getting the itch to fix more things in the house....Here is my wish list of things to do:

Stamped Concrete OR Wood Patio
I really like this stamped concrete and actually am leaning in the direction of the stamped concrete more than the wood patio because I think it may be cheaper and I just REALLY like the way it looks!

Double Pane Windows
We only have 4 windows....2 sliding glass door windows, a large picture window and a small window. New double pane windows would increase the value of our home, look better, and save us money on our electric bill.

Granite Countertops
This will probably be the first or second thing knocked off our list when we get to it....we know someone who works in the granite industry and would for sure cut us a deal....we want this in the Kitchen and the Master Bath.

New Bathroom Vanity and Vanity Bowl
We have been working on the bathroom for some time now...all we need to finish is the bathroom vanity (cabinet portion), granite counter top, vanity bowl and faucet....I love this look!

Those are my home improvement wish list ideas for now...and I am sure I will add to them regularly!

HOA Update

So Libby just got back from the meeting and she called me to tell me everything that was discussed....So here it is (correct me if I am wrong Libby!)

-No one likes the red doors so they are out!! WOOHOO! They are going to choose a color that fits with the new stucco colors better!

-Most everyone chose the burnt orange stucco paint color BUT many of the homeowners think it is too "orangey" so they are going to try and tone it down a bit with a slightly different color.

-The landscaping in the front of the house (our house and surrounding neighbors) will be repaired...either by the HOA or we may be responsible for it....really, I don't care if I am responsible for taking care of it...I just want it to look more welcoming...you know, like someone actually lives there!

-The dead rose bushes/trees?? They are contacting the owners of that townhome (renters are in it now), and asking them to either care for them so that they look better (which will do no help) or remove them.

-HOA fees are going up....I am betting we are looking at a $300/month bill...can you believe that?!?!?! Ugh....

But overall, we basically got everything we wanted....I am very glad I called to put in those complaints today...I had no idea they were having this meeting today when I called...the timing couldn't have been more perfect!

Complaints to Home Owners Association

So lately I have become very irritated with the Home Owners Association....our HOA fees are $285/mo...$285! And really, they don't do anything....no updates have been made in the 3 years I have been here....now, finally, they are repainting the stucco on the outside of the buildings....BUT they are keeping the ugly ass red doors we have...and they don't match the new paint colors AT ALL!

So today, I called the HOA to put in my complaints.

Complaint 1: Ugly red door with new paint colors (Agreeing Neighbors)
Complaint 2: Crappy landscaping in front of my townhome and my neighbors, but awesome, beautiful landscaping everywhere else....I pay the same $285 a month...wth! Here is a picture....a side by side comparison...let's see if you can guess which one is mine?
Seriously...just looking at the picture just pisses me off! The ugliness of this reduces the value of our home....just because of "curbside appeal"

Anyhow...so the HOA meeting is actually going on right now....and Libby is there "bitching" about it too...but you all know Libby really can't be bitchy! LoL! ;) So hopefully, something is done about this!

Oh...Oh yea!! And one of the neighbors across from us and right next to Libby, has fruit trees, rose bushes...really I don't know what they are...they are all DEAD....there are just a bunch of sticks in the air and dirt surrounding....SUPER UGLY! So I complained about them too! I guess I am the mean neighbor...

New Exterior Paint!

The HOA, finally, is doing something to improve our townhome complex!...First on the list, is new paint on the outside of the complex (each home)...we all get to vote! I have my favorite, but it doesn't really matter what I like, it matters what a buyer would like....so I took some pictures and I would like you all to vote for your favorite!
This is the current color of our townhomes....Blech...I HATE the red door!

BELOW ARE THE NEW CHOICES:

OPTION 1: So far this one isn't liked by many owners, mostly because it is almost like the paint color we already have.

OPTION 2: This is a brownish color with a dark brown trim....the concerns some owners have with this one, is when you stand close it is a beautiful rich brown, but when you are far away it has a dark olive tone which many don't like. (the second picture is from farther away so you can decide what you think).
OPTION 3: This is kind of like a burnt orange color....so far this is the one in the lead with the owners.

So which option do you like best? 1? 2? or 3?

We have A/C!

Our A/C has been broken ALL summer and we have been dying in this heat! Last week was rough...one day we got home, and it was 98 degrees in our house!!! YUCK!

But now, it is fixed!!! Even though we probably won't need to use it much longer, I don't care!! I am so glad it is fixed!! Raul, a friend and old employee of my dads came over and fixed it and seriously...as I am sitting in our house, writing this blog entry, I am in A/C heaven!

WOOHOO!

And we have a ceiling!

Yesterday my dad came over to help us repair the hole in the ceiling caused by the leak and water damage....and now....we have a ceiling again!! It is not done yet as we still have to sand it down, texture it, let it dry and repaint.....but here are some pictures of the work that was done yesterday!
Here my dad is ripping off the rest of the sheet rock that was damaged and cutting it in order to have a nice straight place to put in the new sheet rock.
Aaron screwing in a piece of sheet rock
And we have no hole in the ceiling anymore!

Can't catch a break!

We can't catch a freaking break!

I was just watching TV and out of the corner of my eye I see something fall from the ceiling....It fell to fast to be a bug of any sort so I looked closer and on the ceiling I saw what looked to be a water droplet....then I saw it fall down. I looked down at the floor and it is wet. CRAP!

The ceiling is bubbled out and looks like it is holding quite a bit of pressure....I get so afraid that the ceiling is going to come crashing down!

Here is our water catcher
See the water droplet?? That is where the leak is....super small but what is really scary is how the ceiling was bubbled out and looked like it was holding a ton of pressure.

Aaron's dad came over to check it out today and he ripped away the ceiling where the leak was because that whole part of the ceiling was wet and we needed to find where the leak was coming from. So now we have a huge hole in the ceiling that will only get bigger because we have to pull off that entire piece of sheet rock and replace it.
Our big hole!

The ceiling came down so easily because it was so wet...it was disgusting....the sheet rock was moldy..YUCK! That just freaks me out...I had to leave the house...I couldn't stand it...so I went and hung out with Libby to get out of there! They found where the leak was from...it was from the toilet...the little wax seal at the base of the toilet never sealed because it was too far from the toilet....It was too far from the toilet because when we replaced the flooring in the bathroom, the floor was lifted quite a bit because we added wonder board and tile and all that use to be there was lineoleum. So Aaron and his dad went to OSH and bought a new thicker gasket and wax seal to make up for the lifted floor...so now we are leak free!
Here is where the leak was...

Now all we have to do is leave the hole there for about a week to dry and then replace the sheet rock, paint and we are done!....Well until the next thing breaks!

Cleaning out the Closet.

Our closet was a MESS!! Here are some before pictures...


See!! Now you can understand my need to clean and organize this mess of a closet! The first step was gutting it...here is what happened when we gutted it...


Now the mess is in the living room! LoL! No worries though, it all found its way back into the closet or in a goodwill bag or trash can! Here is a shot of Aaron (my little handy man!) working on putting in the racks/shelves....


Now...check out the after photos!! Presenting our new and improved closet...

Whistle While You Fall

Today was the to be the beginning of Whistle While You Work (Day 7) since we were supposed to install the exhaust fan in the master bathroom, but apparently, God had a different plan.

Mark, my father in law, came over to help Aaron and I install the exhaust fan in the master bathroom that we are just about done remodeling; this was just about the last step involved! While Aaron and Mark were upstairs working on the exhaust fan, I am downstairs cleaning up. When I was downstairs, I found some work stuff and needed to put it in the car, so I left for like a minute, went outside and put it in my car. When I walk back in the door, the following conversation ensues between Aaron and I.

Aaron: Heather, are you deaf (with a smile on his face)

Me: I was outside

Aaron: My dad almost died! (half jokingly)

Me: Well, that's not good (I am thinking he shocked himself since he didn't turn off the power), what happened?

Aaron: Come upstairs and look what happened!

Me: I walk upstairs and look in the bathroom and say, Oh my GOD! What happened!?!?!

Well, apparently, in the minute or two while I was outside, Mark fell through our ceiling while he was in the attic! Either the beam wasn't stable or he lost his footing and he fell all the way to his hips and caught himself with his arms so he didn't land in the bathroom. His leg is banged up pretty good but he is alright.

But now there is a HUGE hole in our ceiling! Fortunately, in our complex, there is a guy that does drywall; we only know that because he has a drywall truck. So we guessed which townhome he lives in (and guessed right!) and asked him if he could fix it. He came over and checked it out and he is going to fix it on Monday or Tuesday night! Thank God!! I am just so ready for this project to be done!

Here is a picture of our bathroom ceiling!

Whistle While You Work (Day 6)

The bathroom project is finally reaching an end!!! When we got home from Disneyland today, we went straight home and started to install the toilet. Once we got the toilet in, it was time for dinner, so we went over to my parents house to have dinner. Oh and it was an AWESOME dinner!! My dad BBQ'd steak and chicken, and made an amazing spinach salad and sauteed aspargus. Mmmmmm Good! After dinner, we stayed and visited with my family and then we headed back home to work on our project some more.

We got home, and got straight to work. We applied the baseboards, caulking the toilet and other areas that needing sealing, sealed the grout, and hung up a picture. Here is a picture of our work! (Oh yes, and our new toilet...it has super powers because apparently it can't flush 2 dozen golf balls! LoL!)

Whistle While You Work (Day 5)

The project is finally heading toward the finish line!! Aaron and I finished taking out the grout last night so that this morning, I could just focus on putting in new grout and that is what I did. So, now the floor has all the grout in it, all smoothed out, and looking all snazzy! We are pretty sure the grout cracked last time because we walked on the tile before it was 100% set and we definitely won't have that same problem this time because Aaron and I are leaving for Disneyland today!! So the grout/adhesive will have 4 days to set. Here is a picture of todays finished work.

When we get home on Sunday, we are going to work on putting in the baseboard, putting in the toilet, and finishing up by putting in all the accessories (bath rug, garbage can, etc.). But for now, TaTa bathroom!! Aaron and I are going to Disneyland!! Hello Mickey!! Goodbye bathroom project! =)

Whistle While You Work (Day 4)

Alone again today. The task at hand today was painting. I thought it would take me quite some time since I was by myself, but I actually finished in pretty good time! The paint is Behr's Sapphireberry; it is like a light blue. It is a really pretty, cool, and calming color. We plan to use brown accents (brown towels, brown bath rug, etc.) to go with the blue. Here is a picture of the room after painting.

When Aaron got home from work, we tried installing the toilet, but one of the screw used to buckle the toilet down to the ground was slightly short, so it wouldn't work. I was mega bummed! And to top it off, we are going to have to take the grout out with a grout saw because of some cracks. I am a perfectionist and it needs to be perfect! But even if I wasn't a perfectionist, some of the cracks are way too noticeable and need to be repaired. Here are some pictures of the damaged grout.

The damaged grout was irritating me so much that I stated to remove the grout last night. And this morning, when I woke up, I removed some more grout and removed the painters tape. Here is a picture of the tile area with the grout removed. The grout saw was actually pretty easy to use, but it will take some time to get the rest of the floor done.

And finally, here are a couple of pictures of the room with the blue-ish paint now that it has dried. The true color is actually showing now. The first picture is what the color looks like when the lights are off and the second picture is what the color looks like when the lights are on.

Whistle While You Work (Day 3)

I was working alone today because Aaron had to work, but I have to say, I did a pretty good job! I had to spread the grout and wipe it up, making sure to have nice, smooth, clean lines and I did it!! Here is a picture of the floor with the grout spread all over "cracks" and me smoothing/cleaning it all out after.

Yeah, I know, it's not pretty!! But wait!! Look at it now that I have cleaned it up some...and then tell me what you think!

When Aaron got home from work, we decided we would primer the walls, so that's what we did and it hardly took us any time at all! But, I may have to re-grout tomorrow as I saw some of the spaces had cracks; I tried to go over it once more, but we will see it how it is tomorrow.

Now all that is left to do is put down the baseboards, paint, replace the light fixture and medicine cabinet and sand and refinish the vanity!

Whistle While You Work

Today marked the beginning of our master bathroom remodel. We have been talking about doing this for a long time, and today we finally took the first steps to get it underway. There is a lot we want to do, but for now, we are doing what we can afford which includes laying down wonderboard and tile, painting, and replacing the fan, and toilet. Eventually, we want to replace the tub and the vanity.

So, we get up and get going this morning and head off to Home Depot to get all our supplies. Now, seriously, I want to know who makes the decisions as how to categorize/organize this store!! It took us like 30 minutes to find a threshold!! And of course, there were no orange people to be found! Now, really, why would a threshold be down the same aisle as the nuts and bolts? I would think they would either be near the bath stuff or near the doors, but I guess I am just a nut for not thinking to check the nut and bolt aisle! Anyhow, so we grab all our supplies and head on home to get started!

So first things first, we must remove the toilet. So in order to do that we need to turn off the water. Aaron goes to turn off the valve to the toilet and come to find out...that is broken!! So we have to actually turn off the main water valve to shut off all the water in the house. We go out to the front yard, and go to turn it off and we can't turn it. So, I called my dad and he has a special tool to turn it, so I head over to my parents to borrow the special tool. While, I am gone getting the tool, Aaron goes back upstairs to start ripping out the linoleum. I get back, turn off the water, and we finish ripping up the linoleum and then remove the toilet. Really, this is turning out not to be has hard as I thought!

Next, we have to lay down the wonderboard (which Aaron mistakenly and humorously calls wonderboy and wonderbread). We get to working on putting down the board, and come to find out that we didn't buy enough. So we run back out to home depot to buy another piece and as we are in line and about to be rung up, Aaron says, "where's my wallet?" He forgot it! And I didn't have mine. So we put the board back and drove all the way back home, grabbed his wallet and went back to Home Depot to pick it up once again! We get home, measure what we need and oh my goodness, I must say, we are pretty great at measuring!! They fit perfectly flush. We placed them in and screwed down all the boards and then used a special adhesive to connect the boards where they met. WOOHOO!! We finished everything we had planned to today!

But now, we still have that water valve problem. We should be able to turn the valve off right at the hose near the toilet, but ours is broken, so we needed to replace it. Aaron went to OSH to pick up a replacement, gets home and and it was the wrong one. It didn't fit. We decided we didn't have enough time to go back to OSH before dinner, so we wrapped it up and went to dinner with my family at Kyoto Palace (yummy!). After dinner, we went back to OSH and picked up the right replacement valve and Aaron fixed it all up!!

So, now all that is left to do is paint and put down the tile! We have a big day ahead of us but I am really, really proud of us!! Usually we have a lot of help with these kinds of projects (my dad or Aaron's dad), but this time, we did it all by ourselves and we are doing great and it is not near as hard as I thought it would be! I feel pretty accomplished!!

Here are a couple of pictures of us and our hard work (granted, it's not pretty, but it will be when we are done!)