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It’s been two month since we bought our little house on 12 acres. Here’s where we are today with entirely too many pictures. (click here to see last months recap) I think one of the most helpful things when you are involved in a long, ongoing project is to constantly remind yourself how far you’ve come. It’s what helped us through when we were paying off our six figures worth of debt and it is encouraging to me simply to write this post. It’s an uncomplified way to motivate yourself!

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Let’s start with the kitchen. I’m planning on some real kitchen posts in the future, right now, there just isn’t anything all that exciting to talk about.

And this is the part where I talk for 300 words just about the kitchen…

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Wes Priddy, Contractor and his team have been working on all of those things that you never see once the kitchen is done. (Local and need a contractor, email me and I’m happy to share our experience.) We (meaning I decided and then took a picture and posted it on instagram and they did all the days and days of work) moved the sink, refrigerator, stove and dishwasher and electrical stuff for two walls. Plus, I’m getting a big huge Thermador Hood (used!) which requires a lot of new duct work, add to that new plumbing, water lines for the fridge and lighting–there was a lot of boring (compared to picking out fabric) work to be done. At this point, the kitchen is about ready to be inspected so we can move on to phase two.

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Floors!  My boots are standing on what used to be a closet. With a wall to the right and a pantry where the linoleum is.

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Chad and my dad took down a few walls worth of wood from our mudroom (the same stuff that’s on our floors–pine from our property made into floors here at the sawmill they use to run on our property.

mudroom

wood floors

Here’s some of the wood from the walls sitting on the floor just so we can look at it. It’s going to be a little crazy, there are 2 or 3 different widths of wood and not a whole lot to choose from plus, we are filling in just the kitchen floor–there is already wood on both sides of it. Lucky for me I’m not a perfectionist.

before kitchen

Here’s the back wall of the kitchen before….

torn out kitchen

Back kitchen wall last month…

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And now. Double ductwork for the hood on the back wall that I’ll probably forget to ever turn on. The craigslist Viking range will go under the hood obviously. And look, plumbing for my sink!  We bought the double farmhouse sink from Ikea. I taped off the size on the pretend counter so I could get a feel for it. And right now we just have some white wood sitting for the counter, the counter will be about 12 inches deeper (wider?) than the back of the island. It’ll all make sense later. And? I picked white quartz. I’ve always loved quartz. And I’ve yet to regret anything white. And I did a lot of research. Do you have pure white quartz? Do you hate it? Love it? Don’t tell me. Yes, PLEASE TELL ME! Only if it’s good. No really, I want to know….

fireplace

We got a new pair of leather chairs (I got my husband an ottoman so he can put his feet up). And finished painting the fireplace and actually hung something on the wall!

family room

I shall never let you forget this before picture.

family room

I made an inspiration board thing whatever they call it for our family room.

black window frames

I painted the window frames black. Super easy. Even more rewarding.

ikea drapes

I bought one light grey pair of drapes from Ikea and liked it.

ikea drapes

So then I bought another one. Y’all, our tiny family room is packed FULL with this kitchen reno. Don’t you love the dueling dressers? I should get another white dresser for the left side of the room.

upstairs bath

I also finished priming the upstairs bathroom.

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Here’s the before.

rental

We finally moved everything out of the rental. October 5th was our last day with it. Don’t worry, we took that chandy down and put back the boob light.

porch

Chad pressure washed the porch. Actually still only half. The pressure washer is now in the shop. Fun times.

home front

Our oldest son took the shutters off the house. Anyone want my knockout roses? I think we have 8-10, you can have them if you’ll come pull them out!

dumpster

Also, our dumpster got all filled up and is now gone! I’m kind of sad to see it go.

mom and dad on the tractor

We went in with mom and dad and rented a tractor because we are still city folk and don’t have a tractor. Also, tractors are expensive. And we have acres of field that has been neglected for over a year and needed to be cut.

bush hog

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Whoops, at least we found the drain for the pond. That was exciting.

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We also had a little event. Let’s just say it involved mud, water from the pond, water from a spring we didn’t know about, Mr. Kent and Jake and Mr. Tom and his huge tractor (he used to own this property two owners ago). Oh and it also involved six hours. We are so grateful for Kent and Jake who stopped working on our kitchen to drive a tractor and stand in mud for hours to help rescue a little green rental tractor. And of course for Mr. Tom who saved the day with his big huge tractor.

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Soon he was at it again.

after

And here’s the after.

saw mill sign

Chad unearthed this. How fun is that?! And here’s a tiny fast little video of the saw mill from the back of a 4 wheeler if you want to watch it on our instagram. And yes, we are talking about Atz Lee. If you know who that is, then enough said, if you don’t you won’t understand.

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Also, I got internet. And the biggest, tallest, ugliest dish right outside my back door. I can’t stream Pandora or watch Netflix, but I can get online!!!

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grasshopper

fishing

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