Progress thus far...

We have been making pretty steady progress on the house lately and I have pictures to prove it!

Garbage Removal

My dad is a truck driver and was able to borrow this humon-go (!) dumpster from the company he works for. They use these dumpsters for demolition jobs. We saved ourselves a pretty penny for the rental fee and are only going to have to pay for the disposal charges. We cannot be more thankful for this! It is so great to have these things available to us. We also cannot forget to be grateful for the great friends and family that we can count on. Our friends Mike Giegerich, John Harmon, Phil's brother Andrew, and our brother-in-law Steve came to help us on Saturday 1/10 even amidst the snow storm. Mike, John, and Andrew were able to get all of our garbage into the dumpster including tile, plaster, toilets, pipes, etc. It did not seem like an easy task since I can only imagine how much all of it weighed and we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude.

MORE Wallpaper Removal

Meanwhile, Steve helped me get some more wallpaper down in the master bedroom. Doing wallpaper removal is like dying a slow death, or at least like living in a temporary purgatory. Its dreadful! On the bright side, we got to have some good conversations. This picture is of the area that we worked on. The wallpaper up there is really stuck on! If it wasn't of cacti, cowboys, and Indians I would really consider keeping it to avoid all of this work. We still have some more to take down but as Phil put it "Removing wallpaper in our house is so depressing that we can't have our friends and family do it for us anymore." So now its up to Phil and I to get it down so... I'm taking suggestions on how to incorporate a caricature desert scene into classy bedroom decor.

Bathroom #1

This is the exact light I envisioned in this bathroom. Phil got it without me even showing him what I was thinking about.

Now that I think about it, I notice that it's pretty dark in there. Perhaps we'll have to upgrade the wattage on the lightbulb.

While Steve helped me and the guys worked on filling the dumpster, Phil was able to work in the downstairs bathroom. It is really coming together. Phil has primed the walls and the ceilings are going to be done eventually (we're counting on my Pops for this-- he used to work for a painting company and I hear he is super fast at painting ceilings and windows so we're going to put him up for a test). Our friend Greg Allen put in our light on Wednesday and it looks great! Thanks, Greg!

Indoor Painting

On Wednesday and Thursday Phil was able to take an hour or two in the morning before work to paint a couple of our walls. I walked into the house and felt pure joy at seeing the difference that a coat of (WHITE!) primer paint can make. It is really obvious in the second picture. I still smile when I see it! Just close your eyes for a minute and envision what all of our walls are going to look like eventually.

Now, don't you agree that we might not be in over our heads.