We Have A Beam!

One month down!  Actually tomorrow marks one month since we received our keys.  It doesn't feel like that long ago, but at the same time it feels like I don't remember anything but living in the basement!  This past week we did some heavy lifting... well Chris and some of our friends did heavy lifting.  My friend Carley and I helped by directing... "pivot!"  We were able to get our beam and posts up in the great room.  It's getting easier to visualize the room with the living room floor filled in and the beams up.  I am so excited for the next few weeks.  We will be framing the ceiling rafters and getting the drywall installed.  Once that is done we can take the temporary support beams down and we will be able to see the room completely open.  This week we took advantage of the Black Friday deals and purchased our appliances.  I can't wait to see them in the kitchen... I can't wait to cook again!

Here are some photo highlights of this past week!

Below:  Chris and Kyle get the posts in place.

Below:  More help is called in to lift the beams.

And they are UP!

Below: I am STILL working on getting the never-ending wall paper down.  This is the laundry room.  We were able to hook up our washer and dryer this week. YAY!!!

Below:  Thanksgiving was spent with our boys and friends.  

Below:  I also got the chance to help take some pictures of sweet Piper

Below: And we completed our first neighbor-pet-watching-duty this week.  We took care of chickens and got to watch them lay eggs!

3 Weeks, More Demo, Shopping, and Celebrations

Week 3 was CRAZY busy.  I am so glad it is over!!!  We shopped, we continued to demo, and we celebrated Jackson's 5th Birthday!!!  It was a super busy week but I am so thankful for all the fun things we got to do during it. 

Below- We went to the Junk in the Trunk Vintage Marketplace and found an AWESOME vendor who has a yard full of old barn wood beams and old windows.  We purchased the beam (on the bottom) below for a mantle for our fireplace.  We also visited Porter Barn Wood at its location in Phoenix and purchased 4 more beams to use in the great room.

Below- We found our kitchen island at FOUND in downtown Mesa.  I think this is the piece that I am most excited for the house!

Below- On Saturday we had the sunken living room filled in.

Below- We also celebrated Jackson's 5th Birthday with a pirate party.  My parents came in town and Jackson was thrilled to see them dressed as pirates. (Yes that is a large red dumpster being disguised as a pirate ship in the background) 

Two Weeks Down

Two Weeks Down.... YAY! That means we are two weeks closer to being finished!  Here are some highlights and happenings from this week...

LOTS AND LOTS OF DEMO

Above- Toni and Carley scraping wallpaper (We ended up giving up on that wall and will just re-drywall it, but scraped two other rooms covered in flowery-awfulness)

Below- Some before pictures of the large dividing wall, formal living/dining rooms.

Below- The guys had fun tearing out the kitchen and demolishing the large wall that divided the formal living/dining room from the kitchen and family room)

And some more highlights!  

Below- Carley and I took a break from demo one night to visit Katelyn and meet sweet Piper Sophia! 

Below- "Hope" the horse moved in next door and Kai could not be more excited!  We also irrigated for the first time and the boys loved "the flood".

One Week In... The Basement

Well, it's been a week.  We have been living, camping in our new house for a week now, all while starting a MAJOR renovation.  I am so excited to see the progress, and even though it doesn't go quite as fast as it does on HGTV I am super pleased with how much has been done.

So far we have focused mainly on the basement.  LOTS AND LOTS of demo.  New floors, fresh paint... starting to feel more at home.  Here are some before and after pictures.

Above- Our "kitchen" on top of the locker!

Above- An extremely large pantry

Below- Taking it out!

Below- The first hole I made... It was fun!

Above- Do you see the brick patterned concrete behind that ugly wall paper?  Instead of scraping all the wallpaper we decided to just leave the "brick" concrete!

We still have some "touch up" to do.  Paint, crown, baseboards, window casings.  Either way I am super excited for how far along we have come.  All four of us are living down here now.  The boys in the room which will remain their room, and Chris and I in the guest/craft room.  Hopefully I will get some before and after pictures soon.