PATIO WOES

Our patio doubled as a large puddle every time the snow melted and each time it rained, and during the winter, that puddle would freeze and turn into an ice skating rink that visitors would always slip on. We decided it was time to take up the stones and put sand under them for drainage and leveling. So we did.

Here are the before and after photos of the patio transformation.

Before we bought the place, and before the winter salt had killed the grass around the walkways:

Before we started the project (note the puddles):

During the project:

After:

And the best part is, it drains!!!! No more icy, wet patio.

KITCHEN REMODEL

I loved one thing about this kitchen previously. It had a ton of cabinet space, especially for a trailer.

I HATED tons of things about this kitchen before:

• the color of the cabinets
• the oak grain
• the NASTY gold handles and hinges
• the fake panels slapped on thin boards with particle board construction
• the sloppy manner in which broken things were fixed
• that some broken parts remained broken
• the nasty ugly countertops with the scars and gold geometric pattern
• the hideous blue ceramic tile backsplash
• the bad patch job on the wall seams
• the ugly oak laminate on the floor
• the grotesque choice of glass in the glass doors
• the round porcupine lights and ugly fan

I could go on...

But I won't.

Instead, I'll show you what I did to make it bearable to work in this kitchen. You see, I've been spoiled. Since Hyrum worked with cabinets, for the past 5 years I've had excellent kitchen cabinets, so it's hard to go back to crap.


Here's what we did with our first kitchen.
Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Our second kitchen (in the small apartment we lived in just recently).
Before:

After (I realize it's a mess, but I was rearranging the house):

And now our Rexburg kitchen:

I couldn't afford new cabinets or countertops, so the only way I could think of to make the old countertops look halfway decent was to paint the cabinets really dark in order to make the dingy gold-white countertops look clean white (from a distance anyway).
Cost: $20 for a gallon of paint.

I had to redo the backsplash since our stove was a slide in rather than the traditional style that was there previously. I just asked the gal at Lowe's to pull out her calculator and help me figure out the cheapest tile solution.
Cost: $100 (including tools I had to purchase).

I painted the hood and hinges silver.
Cost: $5 for spray paint.

I replaced the hideous handles and knobs (worst I've seen in a long time...not even paint worthy).
Cost: $75 for knobs and handles (cheapest ones I could find, choosing the bulk options)

I replaced the porcupine lights with new (boob) lights since they're cheap, and a pendant light over the sink.
Cost: $30 for the 3 lights

I put pegboard and pegs behind my baking area so that I could have easy access to all my baking tools (Julia Child style).
Cost: about $20

Total transformation cost: roughly $250, not including the flooring. (I replaced the flooring throughout the house, so I'm not sure how much the kitchen portion totalled up to.) A huge improvement for a small price, I'd say.

Before:

During:

After:

Before:

During (ignore the storage on top of the cabinets, it's my only option):

After (note my raised dishwasher, which I highly recommend):

Hyrum caught me in the act of tiling. It was my first attempt, and was so much easier than I expected.

Now, keep in mind, this isn't my dream kitchen. I would have done a lot of things differently if I'd had an unlimited budget, but since it is just a single-wide trailer and I'm on a strapped budget, this is the best I could think to do.

What I love now:

• The dark brown hides all the flaws of the cabinets!
• I have pegboard for my baking area tools (though I still need more pegs so I can organize my stuff)!
• The tiles aren't the ugly blue!!
• The countertops look white rather than gold-white!
• The handles aren't hideous!
• I have something on the wall behind the stove!
• The floor is a much more appealing laminate (dark cherry rather than oak)

What I'm not sure about:

• I love the turquoise accents, but I'm not sure about the picture frames being turquoise. I might paint them the dark brown also.

On my wish list:

• new faucet
• new sink, maybe (it's just so shallow!)
• garbage disposal, maybe (sometimes they're more trouble than they're worth)
• Hyrum would like a stainless fridge so it will match, but I'm not ready for the cleaning upkeep yet.
• something to replace the ugly glass that I removed in the glass doors.
• new curtains for the kitchen and dining room

SHAKE YOUR BOOTY

Yes, we ARE huge fans of Bill Nye the science guy,

and yes, Kiersa shakes her booty when she dances,

and yes, the theme song for Bill Nye gets her in the mood to groove.

MOUNTAIN MAN RENDEZVOUS

We saw that there was a mountain man rendezvous up in West Yellowstone, so we ran up there to see what it was like.

I felt like I was walking around the movie extras from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. They were shooting candy out of cannons even!

The men and women were clad in leather and furs and they were selling everything from skins to whistles and jewelry to jaw harps. There was music, ax throwing and food. Just our redneck kind of place to visit! Once Hyrum caught sight of the jaw harps (also known as Jew's harps), he knew he had to have one. It takes a lot of practice to learn how to play one correctly, but Hy picked it up quickly!



The kids' favorite part was collecting the candy that the cannon shot, even if it was a little black-powder-flavored.

 But then again, the ax throwing was pretty high on their list of favorites. Of course, Talea spent most of her time catching grasshoppers too.

 Hyatt was so good with the ax he actually got it to stick in the stump!

 Paisli, being too little to get in on most of the fun, stayed in her stroller to keep out of trouble with the vendors. Next year, Lilly.

What were the highlights for Hy and me? Hy got a jaw harp and a derby hat, like he's always wanted. I got a sun hat to prevent premature wrinkling while working in the yard, like I've always wanted.

CURTAIN REVAMP

I hated the used and abused vertical blinds that came with this house. They constantly fell and didn't function properly. I saw an inexpensive solution online (at knock-offwood.com), so I tried it, and have to say I love it!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I just used canvas drop cloths (for painting), some clips and a curtain rod. Total cost: approximately $120. Best curtains I've had yet!

PATCHED!

After 8 months in this place, we finally patched the wall!! Yeah! We took out some cabinets when we moved in (the ones on the left and the right in this picture),

and the ones on the left created a hole in the drywall which was put up "after market". I scrounged for some free drywall pieces, then I put it up and taped it (I even managed to cut out accurate holes for the plug and phone jack!),

patched the crown,

had to paint the crown so it would stop driving me nuts to look at it, then mudded the wall,

sanded,

and repainted. The sanding was a nightmare and created a massive dust cloud that settled over my entire house (I forgot to turn off the ceiling fan, oops!).

It's not a pretty job, but it's just as good as the rest of the drywall job, since it wasn't that good to begin with.

SAY CHEESE

Sometimes it's just fun to mess around and take random pictures with the kids. They're not too shabby as photographers, considering they're all under the age of 6.

Tilly

Hyatt

Kiersa

Paisli