Today Samantha and I were able to spend all day painting, with the help of my mom and Phil's mom. We are so appreciative for their help. The guys spent the majority of the day moving cows, so Phil wasn't able to spend much time at the house. However, he did do some mudding in the upstairs bathroom. He also taught Blake a little about mudding, and was able to get some assistance from him! As for painting progress, we painted the north and east walls in the living room. The east wall was everyone's least favorite...it's a big one! We also painted the sitting room, office, and hallways. I need to get one more coat of paint on the hallway to our master bedroom, and one more coat on the hallway to the garage, but at least the trimming is done! It may not sound like much, but it seemed like a very productive day; we went through 4 gallons of paint today. As promised, here are up-to-date pictures of the house that were taken by Samantha today: 1/8/17--Garage 1/8/17--today's paiting crew: Mom (Linda), Samantha, and Carolyn (Phil's mom) 1/8/17--Our "reward" at the end of the day
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As I sit down to write this tonight, I am thankful for the opportunity to spend the day at my grandma and grandpa Himmelberg's to celebrate Christmas today. We have now celebrated at 5 different gatherings, with one more to go next weekend! The last month has been hectic, as is probably the case for most people with the holidays. The house has really changed since my last post, though I realize now that I haven't taken the most recent pictures. As of this week, all of the sheetrock is hung throughout all three floors of the house, except for the spare bedroom downstairs. The main floor is completely mudded & sanded with primer on all of the walls, except for a couple high spots that remain. Chris texturized all of the ceilings on the main floor also. Currently, he is revamping the closet underneath the open staircase, but is almost finished with that. The kitchen and our master bedroom are the only rooms that are completely painted. The painting started a little over a week ago, which was perfect timing with Christmas break. The kids and I started on December 28, and then Monday (January 2) I was so grateful to have help from both of our moms, and Phil's aunt Brenda. These ladies get the job done! Phil is working on mudding and sanding the upstairs. I have offered to try to help, but I think we both know that my "help" would only hinder the process! The basement's sheetrock just went up this week by Chris and his crew, so once Phil gets done upstairs, he'll start on the basement. We are doing false ceilings downstairs, so that will make the task of taping and mudding a little easier. Our heating system was installed this Fall, but we have been using two temporary heaters to keep the drywall dust out of our new ductwork. Yesterday Faimon Electric charged our "real" geothermal heater, and are going to use some extra filters to preserve the system. I'm not sure why, but this is not my department! Today the system is not working, so hopefully that gets figured out soon! As for decisions, we have accomplished quite a few of these. We chose our stain colors for our vanities that are already built by Brent Rempel. He also has our kitchen cupboards built and stained, and is just waiting for the greenlight to install them. He is so patient and helpful. Two trips to Lumber Liquidators in Lincoln finally lead to a decision on flooring for the main level. We are going to try to preserve the hardwood floors in the two front rooms and hallways. That's the plan for now, anyways. We chose bamboo flooring for the dining room, kitchen, and hallways. My goal is to get carpet picked out and ordered this week for the living room, and a couple bedrooms/closets. We chose our laminate countertops for the kitchen. All along I've been thinking that I wanted really light, almost white countertops, but I ended up with about the complete opposite. :) It was not easy for me to choose, and I am anxious to see the entire kitchen put together. Choosing paint colors has been time consuming, also. I've decided to do the opposite of what is characteristic of me, and go very neutral, and mostly the same throughout the house. With the open layout of the house, I think this will look best. Of course I can't have all the walls the same color, and will have some accent walls, and perhaps will throw in a spash of color in the laundry room, bathrooms, and kids' rooms. So, our closing date on our current home is just shy of 2 weeks away. We have a home we can move into temporarily, but the buyers of our home are being very flexible, so we aren't sure if we're moving by the closing date or not. The closing date will remain, but we may have the option to rent from the new buyers. This is something we obviously need to get figured out this week also! Samantha and I have started packing. We have a pile of empty boxes in the garage, but nowhere near enough yet. Our front room has a combination of filled and empty boxes. Some have already made the move to the farm, because regardless of how long it takes to get moved there, we can live without their contents. Here are a few pictures that I have, but they aren't a true indication of the most recent progress. I'll try to post more soon! 12/26/16-looking down basement stairs from living room 1/2/17--Painting Crew: Brenda, Carolyn (Phil's mom), & Linda (my mom) 1/5/17 Getting ready to moveWith it being the second week in December, Christmas is right around the corner, and the weather the last week is reflecting that. Brrr! Speaking of weather...2 weeks ago, on Sunday, November 25 Phil was working at the house. The kids and I spent the day at home. It was a cold day, yet there was thunder. Phil called to tell us to watch the weather, and that he had just left our home, to head back to us and try to beat the storm. I don't think anyone was really taking the thunderstorm seriously, as it was the end of November...never heard of those in Nov.! As soon as I hung up, the kids heard on the TV that Lawrence was in a tornado warning. Long story short, Phil was stranded on the highway, due to the downpour/hail, getting in the way of visibility. He saw two different tornadoes that day, but luckily was able to avoid them! As typical weather here would have it, the next weekend it was snowing! Phil has been spending a lot of time at the house, insulating the house and hanging sheetrock upstairs. Chris and his crew have been back a few days to put on more siding outside, help with the insulating, sheetrock the main floor, and add the white railing and poles to the front porch. It is nice to see things that we tore down, coming back together. I have spent some time trying to strip the open staircase...this is no easy task, and quite time-consuming. I've experimented with both a spray and gel paint stripper. Phil also picked up a cheap heat gun, that I tried also. My painting time has been extremely limited, due to the cold temps.; I don't expect to finish that until Spring at this point. Our current home has sold, as long as things continue to go smoothly with everything involved in that process. We are looking to close on it the middle of January. Obviously, our new home is not going to be ready, so we are likely going to have to rent a home temporarily. Definitely not what we were hoping for, but just thankful that our house sold. Stripping the banister...tried a heatgun in the right picture... (11/26/16) Blake's room--looking southeast (11/26/16) A week after the tornadoes, we had snow! 12/3/16 Blake's closet, taken from hallway. 12/4/16 Connor's bedroom...Phil moved out some stuff 12/4/16 Dining/Living Room (12/4/16) Phil & Blake in kitchen/dining room 12/7/16 Connor's signature and our height marks before they're covered with sheetrock
Every month comes and goes so quickly! The nice weather we have had all month certainly has not resembled October and now November. I should probably update more often, as I get to the end of the month and when I try to recall the month that just ended, it all seems like a blur! Basically this month, Phil has continued to work on the wiring with my dad. I believe it is finished, and they are waiting on it to be inspected. Plumbing started yesterday, and the ductwork is at least partially installed. These are definitely not my areas of expertise, so I'm not sure exactly where we're at with all of that. Samantha and I have been working on painting the windows. We can now say that the living and dining room windows are completely done! Every other window on the main floor and upstairs is at least primed, which means they get three more coats of paint. It's getting a little "old", but I'd take painting over tearing out plaster any day! In addition to the progress that's been made on the house, we've also acquired 4 kittens from Phil's mom for our place: Patch, Moon, Star, and Spot. :) The kids love them, and enjoy playing with them when we spend time at the farm. Connor even put his carpentry skills to work by making a cat tower for them in the barn. Front entry Kitchen Blake helping with the wiring Addie & Lauren getting their heights marked on the wall by Uncle Phil Connor's cat tower he made for his kittens
September has come and gone in a flash. With school well underway, our kids have been extremely busy with homework and activities (football, soccer, and volleyball). Any opportunity Phil can get, has been spent at the house this month. The wiring is very close to being done. The beginning of the month, I dug up portions of my flowers from our home in Clay Center, and transplanted them to our new home. Hopefully they survive the winter! I spent quite a few hours painting the interior of our windows. A few times, I was lucky enough to get Samantha's help with this. It sure does make a difference! We are far from done...slowly, but surely...
When Phil wasn't working on the inside of the house, he was busy moving dirt and smoothing out the yard in places. Chris and his guys put up some trim around the windows, and put on some siding on the northwest corner of the house/garage. The garage doors are installed now... The small upstairs window is also now in place. Yay! Now it won't be so dark up there!
You know you have this picture in your head of what you think things are going to look like. There are plenty of times when you allow yourself to doubt yourself and your ideas, and let the naysayers get to you. You even begin to ask yourself what in the world you've gotten yourself into. Then that picture you've had in your head for the last year begins to transform into reality. It is almost as though it's quite the opposite...not even real. August has come and gone in a blink of an eye, yet our house has gone from a lonely house needing an abundance of TLC, to the beginning of our dream home in just a few short weeks. The open staircase, spacious entryway, open floor plan, transformation of the upstairs into two bedrooms and a bathroom, etc. are all of sudden visible...no longer just pictures in our heads, but finally visible to anyone who visits. We currently have some duct work in the house, walls are framed up on all three levels, windows are in, soffits are on, driveway, sidewalk, and porch are poured. We are still waiting on our doors to arrive, and then siding will be put up. We are also waiting on a window that we ordered late, to go on the south wall of the 2nd floor (front of the house). I hope you enjoy the photos. It's always fun to reflect on the progress! August 3, 2016
Blake & Phil standing in new living room. Samantha, Blake, Michelle, & Connor looking out north window of dining room. August 6, 2016 Basement staircase...would like to preserve the original wood siding...pretty! August 7, 2016 We had several stumps removed around our house. August 9, 2016 August 13, 2016 August 15, 2016 Tree stumps removed August 21, 2016 Decided on white woodwork...priming our windows Blake wanted a seat, so he made one! Blake & Samantha August 24, 2016 August 28, 2016 August 29, 2016: We didn't go to the house tonight. Stayed home and celebrated my birthday instead. :) Flowers from Phil and the kids and a homemade cake with delicious frosting made by Phil.
July has zipped on by, but it sure has brought a lot of progress on the construction of the house. Chris and his crew (Garrett and Brad) started working on the additions to the house approximately the second week in July. They started by preparing the ground to pour concrete for our garage. In the last couple weeks they have built the additions, framed up the additions, put up rafters, installed beams where necessary, framed up rooms in the basement, extended the eaves on the original home to match the new, and sheeted the outside walls and roof. Phil has been on vacation for the last two weeks. His first week he spent every day at the farm removing more trees, tearing off the remaining siding, cleaning out the attic, and he started filling in the front ditch with dirt. The kids and I removed some remaining nails that were left from when we tore out the plaster walls. We also invested in a large shop vac to do some much-needed cleaning! The dirt was quite thick in the house! I don't think I've ever enjoyed cleaning so much! I have included photos from July's progress below. July 17, 2016 (East side of house) Blake & Connor helping to remove siding! Upper 90's weather...HOT! (Samantha, Blake, Connor, Phil) Northeast corner of the house. Living/Dining Room addition on the east. Master bedroom, closet, & bathroom on the north. This corner outside will be our patio. July 18-July 22 Looking south, viewing the north side of house and the east addition also. Garage July 22, 2016 July 23, 2016 Vacation to K.C. & Branson--a BREAK!! Kansas City Royals Baseball Game-- Last year's World Series Champs Christmas in July at the ballpark (July 25, 2016) Moses theater production at Sights and Sounds Theater Picked up Miley from my parents, and headed home! Progress made the week we were gone on vacation, July 25- July 29, 2016 On Tuesday, June 28, the Hornbacher moving crew from York arrived back at our place to begin the process of moving the house over the new basement. They spent the whole day preparing for the move. This involved building "Jenga-like" foundation stacks and hydraulic jacks under the house and in the basement. They also placed huge transport beams under the house that stretched across the basement too. On Wednesday, June 29, Connor and I were able to go down to watch them actually move the house. Samantha and Blake were busy with a basketball camp and Phil was at work. Once we arrived, we were told that they would roll the house over in 30-40 minutes. I quickly called Phil, Uncle Gene, and some grandparents. However, it was actually only about 15-20 minutes before the roll began. Grandma & Grandpa Himmelberg & Grandma Betty were able to catch the tail end of the roll. Phil, Gene, & Linda missed it. The moving crew consisted of 3 guys. Two were under the house hammering on the rollers to keep them going down the transport beams. The third guy was in the skid steer that had a large arm/boom sticking out of the front of it that he pushed the house with. Tuesday's photos (prep day): Connor-"Jenga" block foundation in basement. Samantha-"Jenga block" foundations placed under the house with jacks and rolling beams. Wednesday's photos (moving day):
The rolling of the house only took about 5 minutes. After this, the movers began preparing for the lowering of the house. We all took a lunch break. After lunch, Grandma and Grandpa Himmelberg returned for awhile to watch. Grandma spent the entire afternoon with us. Del Hornbacher, the owner of the moving business arrived after lunch to oversee the rest of the move. The crew had to take out the transport beams. This was neat to watch; they have the whole process down to a science. I lost track of time, but I suppose it was around 4:00 when they began setting the house down on the foundation/basement. Connor & I played catch throughout the day and visited with Grandma H. It was hot, but luckily we had some shade and periodically a cool breeze. Del Hornbacher was kind enough to come over and ask Connor if he would like to set his house down. This was exciting! Connor was told that he was the strongest kid at school now! ;) He also got a new ball cap from Del. Removing the beams and transporting them to the semi. Connor & I before the house set down. Connor "Strongest Kid in School" setting the house down! Crew in the basement...down there all afternoon in preparation for setting the house down...(north side of house) Grandma Himmelberg & Connor
Last weekend (June 4th and 5th, 2016), we were able to spend some time working on our place. Saturday was strictly spent cleaning up. A junk pile had been established next to the well house, and the well house itself was junked up as well. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but I did snap an "after". On Sunday Phil removed the remaining siding from the south and west sides that was within his reach. He worked after lunch for a few hours, then took a break to attend our nieces' birthday party (my brother's two girls). The kids and I were the clean up crew after attending the party. Our job was to pick up the siding from the ground that Phil removed. Phil noticed the initials "LB" had been revealed after removing the top layer of siding. It looks as though someone put their finger in wet paint to "write" their initials several times on the northwest corner of the house. The only "LB" we could think of, is my grandma (Lavonne Buescher)! I showed her the pictures and she figured it was probably her. However, she doesn't remember doing it. It was also a fun surprise on Sunday to find that the peak on the south side of the house had decorative siding pieces underneath the outside layer of siding. Each shape is an individual piece nailed on. Phil got all of the outer layer of siding removed that is currently within his reach. He doesn't want to remove the remaining layer until we get closer to replacing it with new. There is a small section of the top layer remaining on the south side that you can see in the pictures. This is only there because there is a pile of bricks on the ground that don't allow us to set up our ladder. We just need to get those moved and then we can finish. Last I heard, the house still won't get moved back onto the basement this week. Last week the mover said he was doing a 100-mile move. Yesterday Phil talked to him, and he said they are working on something for LPS this week, so hopefully next week they will get to ours.
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AuthorI'm just your ordinary small-town type of gal. My family is my world. Gardening, running, camping, and boating are my hobbies. Teaching youngsters is my career. Archives
July 2017
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