Re-finishing the Deck

In March, we started on a project to re-finish the deck which was peeling and in need of some attention before the elements completely ruined it, and made for an even bigger and more expensive project.  

Chris had the vision so I cannot take credit for anything except some of the labor. 

The pictures below are BEFORE when it was brown and peeling.  

 

The first step in Chris' vision was painting the railings white. 

 

The next step was to begin stripping all the paint and to sand a small section to test stains.  Unfortunately as we began the process and just after we chose this lovely stain in which you can see the wood so lovely still....we discovered that they had made the deck of two different types of wood.  This meant it would be obvious with a stain like that one that there were two different woods, so we had to go with a different stain that was not our top pick.  Oh well.  Still better than the brown paint...scroll on to see what we went with in the end. 

Paint stripping...

 

Sanding and more paint stripping (which became my full time job so Chris could sand it after me)

 

Progress! The picture below on the left shows different stages.  The brown paint at the bottom, the paint stripped in the middle, and the wood sanded at the top.  

 

Chris was incredible.  He did so much work on this project.  A bit of paint stripping, all the sanding, some of the rail painting, and then we realized that a few of the boards simply HAD to be replaced, so he did that too.  

 

All sanded and ready!  I kept kiddos out of the way so Chris could apply the stain....

 

And we finished with just enough time for it to dry before it snowed again.  

 

AFTER!  

The re-finished deck with white railing and a reddish wood stain.  

 

I'm proud of us.  

It was a TON of work, but it looks lovely.  

We are so excited for sunshine and drinks and relaxing and hanging out on our re-finished deck.  

Have I mentioned I married the best guy in the world?

Our Home- Part 1- The Main Floor

 

So now we have a little picture tour of the front and back yards and the main floor of our home.  It's hard to tell in the picture below (on the left) but Chris planted flowers.  The soil was very dry, so it's taking some time for them to really blossom fully, but in a year or two this should look so much more full and warm and inviting.  

 

The front porch which currently has only one chair because the set had a bum chair and we are waiting for the replacement to be delivered.  And our stroller is sitting here because we just went on a walk the other evening to our new "close park" and to explore some of the nearby "trails" that connect the neighborhoods and parks in this part of town.  

The entry way on move-in day.  Those orange buckets held our fish while we waited to move and put the fish tank in. 

From the stair landing.  

 

We have unpacked most of the house at this point.  The basement and some of the bedrooms still need some unpacking, but most of the the main floor is unpacked at this point and many empty boxes have been broken down and put in the crawl space.  There is something so satisfying about so many empty boxes.  Progress is being made!  

The kitchen.  This is how it looked just before we moved in...now it's messier because I have unpacked a lot but there is still a lot of odds and ends that end up on the kitchen counter while I figure out where they should ultimately go. 

A tiny bit of kitchen decorating has taken place.  

Living room.  

Living room before we moved in and living room after we moved in.  

Our new neighbors gave us a lovely orchid to welcome us.  I love it. 

The main floor also has a laundry room, a 1/2 bath, and a pantry and coat closet that aren't seen in any of these pictures.  

The garage is nearly unpacked and the car fits in it again!   

A view of the back deck with our new patio furniture!

Back patio and some yard and one side of the house. 

Back yard.  

The deck is mostly covered which we love!  

A view of a lovely tree in our yard that offers some wonderful shade.  As you can see our next door neighbors have a trampoline (and twin 9 year old boys and an almost 7 year old daughter whom the girls already love to play with), so that's fun.  Yay for great neighbors.  

The {10th} Move and our Second Home

In the 8.75 years that we have been married, Chris and I have moved 10 times.  We moved into an apartment in Reston and lived there a year.  We moved out just after Kayla was born.  We lived in Herndon for 6 months before moving across the country to live with my grandma briefly.  Then we moved into an apartment in Roseville (Elise was born during that time).  We moved back up to the foothills into a duplex for awhile before buying a house in Rocklin which we moved into less than a month after Ava was born.  Next stop was Southern California.  We lived in a condo for a year and then moved into a town home for another year before moving into our rental home here in Colorado.  And now we are finally, finally in a place that is ours again.  

We've done short moves, we've done long moves.  And though we are getting pretty savvy at it all, it doesn't lessen the workload a whole lot.  You still have to pack up all your belongings and move them each time.  What gets easier is knowing the best and most efficient ways to do so.  But the work is still a lot of work.  And there's always a deadline (moving day!) so there's stress and pressure.  

We did a lot of planning and learned from many varied mistakes we've made in past moves, so this move went fairly smoothly, but with 5 kids (one of them a little 10 month old who doesn't nap well) this was a very tiring move for us.  

That being said, it was also a move where we had help!  Our move from SoCal to Colorado was the only other move where we received a good amount of assistance.  Most of the other moves we had either just the two of us, or another person or two who helped out.  This move our community was incredible. Here's how it all went down.  

We closed on our lovely new home on May 2.  

That week I packed up boxes of stuff we wouldn't need to use in the next two months until our July 1 move in date.  

Then we had a lot of stuff happen in May and early June so we kind-of took a break from all things move related.  

The last two weeks of June, we jumped back into packing, and I spent the majority of my days packing, packing, packing, and packing.  

 My friend, Megan, came over to assist me in packing and/or Kolbe-holding for an hour or two several afternoons before the move because Kolbe's inability to nap much was a problem as he was constantly underfoot.  

The Wednesday before our move, Chris' friend came over and helped him move our fish tank and TV to Megan and Peter's to store it for a few days.  

The following evening Megan watched our kids, and we bribed several of Chris' buddies with pizza and beer and they packed the moving truck.  Chris and I had prepped for the move by getting all the furniture taken apart and everything was in the front room of the house or the garage which made for a smooth move into the truck.  The challenge, though, was getting everything to fit into the truck (we got the largest size they rent out).  The guys played a game of real life Tetris getting our stuff to fit in the truck, and it was truly amazing.   

 

And then we parked it by Peter and Megan's for a day and a half.  Our friends, Matt and Dannielle hosted us for a couple nights since we were not homeless.  And Dannielle watched Sophie and Kolbe on Friday morning while the other 3 were at VBS so Chris and I could clean out the old place and have the carpets cleaned.  

 

This is us saying goodbye to the old place and so glad to be done with cleaning and off to our new place!

 

(The kids loved these cool magnet things our friends had- I totally want some!  They are fun for all, even the adults!)

Friday was also Kaya's birthday, so that evening Dannielle made a big taco dinner for us all and after that we went to Megan and Peter's where they had planned a sweet little party and an ice cream cake for Kayla (more in another post).  We left Kayla for a birthday sleepover with their daughter and headed back for another night at Matt and Dannielle's.  

 

And then came move-in day!

 

We even took a few pictures before the chaos began.  

Peter wasted no time in putting this scarecrow up in the front window to say hello to all our new neighbors and warn them about what weirdos we are.  

Megan watched the kids again (thank you!!!!) and Chris had another crew of guys who came (some the same, some different than Thursday) to help move everything into the new place.  More food, more beer.  

Peter and Ryan even stayed after the truck was returned and helped put all the beds together.  And then they also helped put together our patio set (Chris had surprised me with the set for Mother's Day).  It was still in these gi-normous boxes....

And then we were home.  

It was a long, tiring, busy, crazy move, but we are so grateful for the help and support of friends in the area who really pulled through in our time of need.  There is no way we could have done this move with so many kids and so much going on surrounding the move without all of you.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  

We are so glad to finally be in a place that is OURS again and we are thrilled to be putting down roots in lovely Colorado.  Cheers to many years of memories and love in our beautiful new home.