Barn Remodel Update 2

Whew, it's been a while! I thought it would be a good time to update everyone on the progress being made in the barn.

Last update, I showed you the stairs that they put in. Here's a shot of the storage closet under the stairs.

And here's what the stairs look like from the hayloft now! They've insulated the walls and hung up the paneling. It will still get a wainscoat of tin (I think). The opening on the right is the small storage closet up here.  

I'm finally helping! I've kinda been slacking in the help department, but they've been doing a lot of cutting and the dust and my asthma don't mix. I'm excited I can finally help out by staining and putting polyurethane on the paneling. 

And here's Theresa and Eric working on the doors! They are staining a wood grain to a metal door. It is actually really cool and I'm excited to see what they look like finished. 

That's all for now! I'll keep you updated as we keep working!

Barn Remodel

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! Eric's been a busy bee working on the barn, more on that soon, and I've been busy with my photography business, so I guess you could say things are going well.

Eric and I had this crazy idea to remodel one of the barns on our property, and I have to say we are going to have the coolest barn on the block! Eric and his dad and mom have done most of the work, with a little help from my dad and myself (my asthma plus all that dust is not a good combination). Eric's uncle Mike has also helped, and was a huge help in putting in the staircase! We still have a long way to go- some of the bricks are cracked and need replaced, and a footing and surrounding concrete need replaced on the East wall. But, it has come a long, LONG way since they started.

Here's some pictures of the progress being made:

Before.

Dan putting up studs to make a wall, closing off the door. 

Stair case is up! Yay for no more climbing up a ladder and opening a hatch to get to the hayloft.

 

Here's the view facing the same East wall as the first picture.

Looking down the stairs from the hayloft, before the walls were put up to enclose the staircase.

And here's a view from the hayloft. You can see the wall studs that enclose the staircase. Eric is inside the storage area they built in the empty space above the stair opening. 

And a little before and after of where the bathroom will be!

Those wall studs will enclose the bathroom and then a small storage closet.

In addition to all the awesome things already done, everything has brand new wiring and outlets. All the interior walls that don't touch the brick exterior of the barn are studded and insulated. And almost everywhere has light fixtures in place. I'll keep updating as we get farther and farther along!

Patience

Whew, it's been a while blog! I haven't forgotten about you over here, there just hasn't been much to say the past few weeks. Except for now!

No, this isn't our house, in fact it's our soon to be neighbors' house!! In case you didn't know, we are buying our house from Eric's parents. The only dilemma- they have been renting it to the Zumbahlen family for years. 

When we decided to move back home, we set things in motion to buy the house. The Zumbahlens were ready to have their own house, and were put on the construction list. Months and months went by and no progress was being made. Until finally, a few weeks ago, Eric drove by the lot they were building on and saw that there was a HUGE hole in the ground! The construction on their house was finally started. I don't know who was more excited, them or us :)

Luckily for us, they aren't building their house from the ground up. They are getting a basement poured and then a pre-built house set on top. Currently, they're in the waiting phase for the concrete to cure so the house can be brought in. Only a little over a month or so to go (hopefully) until we finally have our own HOME, and the Zumbahlens do too. 

Final Shouse Update

The time has finally come- Dan and Theresa's shouse is done!! It's been done for a few weeks now, but I just made it over there to take some pictures of the finished product. Ok, it's not completely finished- there are a few baseboards that still need to be put on, the blinds are ordered and are on their way, and there will be a concrete pad and sidewalk leading up to the front door, but it's close enough to being done and I haven't put an update up in awhile. 

This may not be the best picture of the house, but it shows the grass that we planted on the hill down to the road a few weekends ago. The rest of the yard is seeded, so we are just waiting on the grass to start popping up there too. 

Here's the first thing you see when you walk in. It's a beautiful picture of a tree near their old house with a wonderful quote on it. Side note-I'm not sure why the walls look lime greenish, I swear they are tan (after all, I helped paint them)!

The living room. Don't mind the Illini blanket, those blinds can't come soon enough. 

And here's the kitchen. The countertop near the stove still needs fixed, as well as a backing put up on the island, but it is looking good!

 The bathroom with an accent wall. 

The pantry, office, and laundry room. Talk about utilizing space efficiently!

Dan and Theresa's bedroom.

  

And finally, the garage. Yes, it is as big as all the rooms in the rest of their house combined. But have you seen how much this room can hold!

It's hard to believe that the shouse is finally built and they are out of their old house. We all worked our butts off to get this thing done. There were tears, laughs, fights, teamwork, smiles. But most of all, there was love. Love for each other, love for the family, love for this house and love for what is to come. Let's not rush into things too quickly, though. I'm ready to relax a few years before construction on their real house begins! 

Shouse Update

In my last post I made a remark about how our Lake Shelbyville trip was a much needed mini-vacation, and here's why! 

My last update on Dan and Theresa's shouse showed that the insulation was up and the ceilings in the garage and house portion were hung. Since then, the roof was completed and the drywall in the house portion was put up.

Fast forward to last week. On the third of July, Dan, Theresa, Eric, my mom, and I primed the walls and ceilings in the house portion (Thank you mom for all your help!!). The morning of the fourth, we gave the ceilings one coat of paint. Since then, the walls and ceiling have all had two coats of paint (thanks Charlotte for your help on Monday!), the front door is in, the floors are stained, and the majority of the siding is up. 

Talk about a productive week! Good thing too, since we have to be moved in in a little over a month!

 

Work, Work, Work

Have I ever mentioned that my in-laws are crazy slightly crazy? They wanted to build a house in the next few years that was smaller and had less stairs than their current house. Well, they recently sold their house (much MUCH faster than they had planned) and had no where to move to! To make things worse, they have to be out of their house by August 15th. Commence the craziness that has been our live since we've moved home!

Since they were on such a tight timeline, they knew that they couldn't get the house built before they needed to be out of their current house. So they designed a shed with living quarters. Extremely tiny living quarters. Which both Eric and I and them will live in for at least a few months. We'll see how that goes later....

The "shouse" (shed house), or as Eric and I like to call it, the Guest House, has come a long way in a very short time! I failed at taking pictures of the early stages of the building process, but here are a few pictures of the finished product from our weekend project-hanging insulation and the ceilings.

Here's a view from the outside! Not too bad for being framed only two weeks ago.

This next picture is a view of the garage portion of the shouse. We hung the insulation in here on Friday night. The ceilings and attic ladder went in on Saturday. HUGE thank you to Ray, Kenny and Josh Flood, Mark Hemmen, and Connor Walters for helping hang the ceilings. If it wasn't for you guys, this 12 hour project would have taken all weekend. 

And here's a view of the really awesome insulation job (can you tell I helped hang the insulation in this part of the shouse?) and the ceilings. If you're curious as to what's what in here, I'm standing in front of the double windows you can see in the first picture, which is the living room. The doorway to the left is the bathroom, and the second doorway is the laundry room. The open space to the right is the kitchen, and the bedroom and a closet makes up the back portion of the shouse. Did I mention it was tiny? 

We're all hoping and praying we can get it done by our August 15 deadline. Then we'll be doing it all again (thankfully without a timeline) in about two years when we build their actual house, and then again in another two years or so when Eric and I build our own house. At least we'll have plenty of practice by then, right?

But you can't work this hard without having a little fun! Below is one of the many reasons I love being home- getting to see one of my best friends Ashley (and her hubby Doug. And baby Emery. I just love them all.)! They have been living up by Peoria for the past couple of years, and with us living down in Pinckneyville, we haven't seen much of them. Now that we are in Newton and they are in T-Town, we should be seeing much more of each other. And I'm completely fine with that.

Eric and I are also enjoying doing some target practice with the bows we got each other for our first anniversary. Gotta get practiced up before deer season gets here!

And to top it all off, we get to spend the whole upcoming weekend on the lake with some of our closest friends. Life doesn't get much better than this, folks.