Inspiration for our new spaces...

Possible master bedroom headboard...

Source: sara--elizabeth.tumblr.com via Christina on Pinterest

Paint the clawfoot blue?

Source: artistswhoblog.blogspot.com via Christina on Pinterest

I love the idea of a built in bench with our dining room table.

Source: google.com via Christina on Pinterest

Just some thoughts for now...

Schedules

The start of the school year is nearly upon us and we are working hard in order to get everything done and signed off before the start of the school year. We have roughly two weeks and still need a bunch of inspections. The plan is to complete framing today and tomorrow, finish plumbing this weekend, start electrical early next week, followed by A/C. We are hoping to have ALL inspections done by August 12th, since we return to work August 15th. Once we get everything signed off by the county we can take our time with drywall, paint, flooring, ect...

We have submitted plans to build a second story deck and we are thinking that we will work on that over Thanksgiving break, seeing as we will have a week off of school and the weather will be MUCH cooler than it is now.

The most exciting thing for me is that we are working to finish some claw foot tubs we purchased. Here is the before picture:
The guy said he would give us a deal if we took all three, but we only need two. It was the last of what was left from the storage auction he bought, and needed them out.




Another great purchase was this bench from a garage sale for FIVE dollars. It is all wood and I am going to sand and paint white, and we are going to put it in the new entry way, maybe with some new baskets underneath? A shelf on top? Still things to be decided :)

Life is Good

enough said.

Snakes are good at hiding

So, last night the mister went downstairs to find some tools for our mini projects upstairs (more on that in posts to come). He was also checking the concrete to make sure it was drying correctly. All of a sudden I hear from downstairs "can you check and see what color are some of the poisonous snakes in Florida?" To which I responded "is there one in the house or outside?" And he replied, "I would rather not tell you". I remember hearing the rhyme "red touch yellow, kill a fellow, red touch black, friend of Jack" Turns out he was a friend, but I am sorry I do not consider any snakes friends. He was a scarlet kings snake, and looked tiny, but was still very frightening as he tried to bite us and we tried to corral him back outside.

He came through the only crack left downstairs, which is underneath the threshold of the back door. Guess what was at the top of our Home Depot list for today? Yes, a brand new threshold.

Here are some pics of him. He was hiding under our framing in one of the pictures.

What is all of that noise???

The dogs' typical day is lounging around the house all day, napping, sitting on the window bench and sleeping some more. We have been really messing with their normal schedule with all of this construction. Now that we have interior stairs they are constantly checking on us to make sure everything is going alright...or to tell us to keep it down, we are not sure which.

Here they are...




It seems as if Lita is in charge of the doggie support, as she is the one who is ALWAYS watching us. The mister seems to think she will be the first to attempt the voyage down the stairs...we shall see...

Concrete...

We did some quick math and realized that we dug up roughly 2,000 pounds of concrete and are now in the process of putting it all back in to fill the holes. We caved and made our first splurge purchase of the summer which is a concrete mixer. We were able to mix three or four batches of concrete in the amount of time it would have taken us to mix one by hand. Plus we will be able to use it when we do stucco and drywall. It is amazing. Here is it in all its glory...


We have been going back and fourth about what type of flooring to do downstairs. We considered all possible choices but seem to find a flaw with all of them. We have been considering "stamping" our concrete floor with a stamp that looks like wood planks and then painting them to look similar. The price is considerably lower than real wood floor and it will last longer, plus we will be able to paint and repaint whatever colors we want. We are also considering the same thing for our patio outside which would give a cohesive look to the whole house. We found a sample on pinterest of what it would look like...

Source: decathlonconstruction.com via Christina on Pinterest

We also considered a pattern painted floor like this one from SouthernLiving.com

Source: southernliving.com via Christina on Pinterest

The verdict is still out on the final decision...


Here are some up-to-date pics of the concrete process.

First inspection PASSED!

We had our first inspection which was concrete slab. We have been cutting and laying pipes for the two new bathrooms for a couple weeks and we were both worried about what would happen at our first inspection. Everything went smoothly and we PASSED our first one! Hopefully they will all go as smoothly.

We had this sunset that night off of the balcony. It allowed us to both think about how great of a summer it has been so far!

The Fridge Checklist

So I joined Pinterest a couple weeks ago, which is a WONDERFUL site that allows you to bookmark photos and crafts that you like to remember them (imagine bookmarking on a computer, but on one site instead). I found a picture of a menu board and used it as inspiration:

Source: thirtyhandmadedays.com via Christina on Pinterest

Next was breaking out the trusty Criket (man do I love that thing!)

After cutting out everything I ran it through the laminator and viola! We now plan our weekly dinners using the magnets (I pre-made magnets for meals we cook most often). I also made a list of our weekly and monthly chores that we do around the house which can be moved using the magnets when we have completed them. It sure beats my checklists!
Here is the finished product:

The Never Ending Sandcastle Project

Okay, I like the beach. I love our beach themed house. That being said, I really dislike the job of digging the trenches. The sand is neverending and just when I thought we may be done, we have to dig more. The worst was digging the 30 inch hole for the sump pump. It took us three days to dig it out since a lot of it was concrete and large rocks. Here are some pictures of the progress.



On top of that, we had to separate the sand from the big chunks of rock and debris. Jeff made a very nifty sifter to separate the two. I felt like I was mining for gold, only it wasn't quite as fun.


We were both getting very anxious with how long the process was taking. At one point I took a break to let the dogs out. I heard Elvis enter the first floor and start barking. I walked in to find this:


How lucky am I? We seem to be laughing at each other (and the process) every step of the way.

A break from renovations...

Ok, so we took a couple days off from home renovations to celebrate my 25th birthday. It allowed me to reflect back on how truly lucky we are for all that we have. We have this beautiful house as our canvas, we both have careers which we love (the mister actually took a promotion at the end of last year!), we have our health, and most of all we have the endless true love we have found in one another.

On the morning the day before my birthday the mister woke me up at 6:30 am and told me we were going somewhere for a birthday surprise. He did surprise me, it was a day early! We got in the car and as we started driving I kept guessing what it could be... Finally once I realized we were heading to the east coast he informed me that we were going to Miami to hit all of the flea markets, antique stores, and thrift stores over there, and also stopping at Ikea. He then gave me a list of all of the stores he found and told me he pre-programmed all of them in the GPS. My reply, OMG Really? Those who know me know that I LOVE resale shopping and love browsing and looking for something to paint or fix up for our beach house.

To make the deal even better we went to Krispy Kreme for breakfast (YUM)!





At night the hubby told me we were having a surprise dinner. He took me to our favorite hibachi restaurant. When we got in the door the hostess asked how many and I said two, to which the mister replied, "actually we are meeting people here". My jaw dropped, as he had planned a surprise dinner with all of my friends already there. I was completely stunned, as he is not a good secret keeper ;) It was a completely wonderful day. The best thing was that my friends are taking me to a painting class with a beach theme so that we can create some art for the first floor. They are so thoughtful! (the wonderful life size balloons were also from them! When we got to the restaurant the server said "ok 25, not 52, I wasn't sure....)
Here are some pics from our day.






Best find of the day, nine pairs of shoes for $45! (I think Crash stole one of the silver flops, I will need to find that one...)




The day of my birthday we woke up, went to lunch, caught a movie, and went mini-golfing (I shot lefty, which I think actually helped my normally horrible swing :)) We got home and watched a movie on Netflix and had a puppy pile. The perfect ending to the perfect birthday.

Here are some pics of the mini-golf. We had so much fun! I think Mr. Nelson was even saw shooting off of the stairs!






I got my golf ball stuck in the grass and was determined to get it back on the green...

Coco the BEAST

Ok, ok, when I first tell people Coco runs the roost no one believes me. The mister took this video of her in action. She likes to be the first one out the door ALWAYS but then doesn't like to go down the stairs. "Carry me!" Here she is in action...

Our own lovely critters

Ok, so we have five wonderful pups whom we love VERY much. They make our life whole and are always there to create what we call our "puppy pile". They all have a very distinct personalities and have cute mannerisms. I figured I took the time to write a post about our wildlife, I would take the time to introduce our four footed friends.

Crash. He is a white terrier, our oldest, and is about six years old. We adopted him from the humane society and fell in love with him right away. Funny story behind the name. When I first met Mr. Nelson he told me that he wanted to name his first born son Crash. When we adopted a male dog I said take it or leave it, so Crash was then named. He also slept 24/7 when we first got him after his surgeries. He was kind of lonely, which lead us to get....

Elvis. Our second. He was the runt of the litter and was (and is) a very energetic booger. We got him to keep Crash active, but Crash just looked at us like "really, when will he leave and I can get back to sleep?" Over time he has become more of a cuddler and a loving part of the family.

The boys sleeping.


Coco. Our little girl and the youngest of our original clan. We fell in love with her at a pet store and could not leave without her. She was less than one pound when we took her home. Don't let her size fool you, she is and will always be the head of the household. Here she is helping me with crafts-or messing them up! :)


Bella & Lita. Our newest members and joined our family through friends of ours. They fit in so well and it seems we do not remember a time without them in our lives. Lita is full of spunk and my sidekick. She follows me everywhere and always needs to sleep next to me every night. She can sometimes fight for attention, but she deserves it too. :) Bella is the quieter half of this duo. Bella enjoys lounging and sleeping (she gets along great with Crash). Bella hates storms and likes to eat (or try to eat) bugs.



Bella & Crash cuddling...


Coco in her "spot" on the living room table.


Me with my puppy pile.