Landscaping!

We've finally had a chance to put some work, sweat, and blood (it may sound dramatic, but it was!) into our front yard. Boy oh boy was it a beast!! We didn't realize how much the weeds had overtaken the place. Even after blasting them with weed killer three times over the past couple weeks there were still tons of them. Thankfully our neighbor let us borrow their tiller and that helped immensely! And now two days later, sore bodies and all, we are so excited to have a much nicer looking front yard!

Here are some of the before, during, and after pictures of our landscaping adventure from different views!

~View from the garage side~

BEFORE

DURING
AFTER

We're also very excited about the oak whiskey barrels we got to use as planters in the front! I can't wait to plant some fun things in them hopefully this week! (Derek also got to get a chainsaw to take down all the unruly bushes in the front...very exciting!) :)

BEFORE
DURING
AFTER

~The difficult chunk of work (with a lot of "during" pics!)~
BEFORE
DURING

Getting all these bricks out was one of the most tedious jobs I've ever done! And they lined almost the entire front yard! It was pretty painful and I've never seen so many gigantic worms!!

AFTER

~Up against the front of the house~
BEFORE
AFTER

~The whole front from the left~

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

We are so very thankful for this house, yard and all the improvements we've been blessed to make on them. And we feel especially blessed that we have each other, family and friends to share it with!

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything."
~Hebrews 3:4

The Main Event

Those of you who know me well know that I pretty much LOVE the color green. So much in fact, that in college, Janelle threw me a surprise "Green" birthday party (for my 20th birthday!). Everyone dressed up in green, decorated the house in green, and had lots of other fun green things. To date, it is still one of my most favorite birthdays ever!

So when we were discussing paint colors for the house (to cover the baby yellow color) and Derek suggested green, it didn't take me even a second to agree!

Last week we were fortunate enough to have a break in the weather so they could come paint the house. It ended up taking a bit longer since it was still so cold and the paint took much longer to dry. But after about 5 days it was done and the house no longer looked like one out of an abandoned scary movie! Whoohoo!!

So here they are....the complete outside change pictures! We'll attempt the landscaping in the spring. Until then this is the finished product...

One of the first outside changes (and one of my favorites!) we made was to get a new mailbox since the "before" one didn't have all the address numbers on it, didn't close, filled with water when it rained, and was covered in moss!

Before....


After...


I was (and still am) very excited about having a mailbox with our name on it! Tif was cute enough to take a picture of me with it when she was here. Even though it's taped off for the plumbers in this picture I still love it! :)


Next up we have the front door. We decided the mustard yellow beer bottle glass door needed to go! We replaced it with a much nicer one!

Before...

After...


Here we have the garage doors...Before....

After...

And finally the WHOLE front of the house!!!
Before....


And AFTER....

So that is the majority of the "before & after" pictures. There may be a few more to come but those are the main events! :)

It's so amazing to me that we own this (GREEN!) house and have been so blessed to be able to make so many wonderful changes and upgrades to it. We have been blown away by God's goodness through this house and this whole experience. We are also especially grateful to our families who helped make this possible as well. Without their generosity and help emotionally, mentally, financially, and physically we wouldn't have been able to do what we have with this house and FINALLY have a HOME to call our own! We are also so thankful for all the support and prayers from our family and friends as well. We know we could not have done this without all of you and we are so grateful for each and every person in our lives and the special role each of you have played in making this house our home.

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy." -Philippians 1:3-4

*A special thank you to our parents Jim & Jane Clark, and Craig & Michele Wollitz. Without all of you our dream would not have become a reality. We love you and will be forever grateful for all of your help involved in this home!

Chimney Sweep Specialist

I have meant to write about our chimney cleaning experience since it was done last month but somehow time continues to escape me!

Once we closed on our house and realized that the fireplace we hoped to be using in the near future probably hadn't been cleaned since the house was built in 1963, we decided to find a chimney cleaner. I researched a few and found out that there are actually companies out there that will charge a little less but not do a complete job leaving behind harmful and flammable substances that can still be a fire hazard. Knowing how old our house was and guessing how dirty the chimney was simply by how dirty the fireplace was, we figured ours would be a big job. I ended up contacting two different companies. The first told me they clean the chimney but not the fireplace. (What?!) So I would have to shovel out the massive pile of who knows what in the fireplace, not to mention the huge heatilator blocking the entrance and then they would come and clean the chimney. Um...that didn't sound so great especially coupled with their expensive price.

The second company I found (Chimney Sweep Specialist) responded much more quickly to me, were incredibly friendly, and told me they include cleaning the fireplace. I knew right away they were a much better option. And I couldn't have been more pleased. They were extremely friendly, professional, quick to respond, and did an excellent job. They even helped take the heatilator out of our fireplace AND kept everything clean in our house! They went above and beyond and we were pleased to use them to replace our damaged damper as well. This is really an excellent company and if we ever need anything done again or fixed on our chimney we will no doubt call them. I highly recommend calling them if you haven't had your chimney cleaned recently. It sure is getting to be lovely "fire in the fireplace" weather!
p.s. They also do lots of other things such as duct, roof, window & gutter cleaning as well as others! Check out their website for more.

Master Bathroom

Here's a fun "before and after" of our master bathroom!!! This is one of my very favorite comparisons!! Enjoy! :)

Before...


After...

Before and After Pictures!

Here are finally some before and after pictures!!!!! Hope you enjoy them even half as much as I do!!!

Here are some of the beautiful "before" lights that were up in the house.

Here are the "after" lights that Derek worked hard at installing! We did all eight ceiling lights all the same.


These are all the pretty "before" outlets and light switches...

Thirty five outlets and 17 light switches later, Derek and I consider ourselves electricians now...

This is one of my favorites....the living room "before."...

In progress....

And the living room "after."....

There are lots more to come!!!

But for now, I'm off to help Derek install a new garage door...