Exciting times at the 'ole homestead

I have started this post many times over the last month or so, and yes I apologize for the delay on the "creepy bathroom reveal" I will post that next. It's mid October and the weather in Texas is getting cooler- well, as cool as the beginning of fall in Texas gets. I woke up yesterday at 4:30 am completely psyched about the house. I know, this realization almost knocked me over too; after so much bitching and complaining (and you haven't even heard the whole "Tom the contractor" story)  I realized something very important. We are on the downhill slope, it's incredibly overwhelming, and actually as I type this my eyes are filled with happy tears.

Preston and I bought this house thinking "we totally got this", it's not that bad", "we can get this done in about a year or so and be the baddest of them all". Luckily we were unaware of just how naive we were. Many people, including our realtor, said "I don't know guys, this is an awful big undertaking", "you guys are crazy" and my personal favorite, "dude, yall must be out of your damn minds. Do you even KNOW how to fix any of the problems this house has?!" None of it phased us in the slightest. You see, Preston and I are, oh what's the word......stubborn as hell. I am a Taurus, and fit it to a tee. T? T-ee? whatever, you know what I mean. Ask my mother, she'll tell you some awesome stubborn Bailey stories. Preston is stubborn too, and that, in this case is the best thing ever.

You see, we don't get hung up on the little things like, neither one of us had ever done any plumbing, tiling, drywall, foundation, electrical, you know, that kind of little thing. We just knew deep down, together we could do anything. And this still holds true. We are also just crazy enough to try anything, and if we can't do it ourselves, we'll think about hiring someone. One of our motto's during this renovation is: let's give it a try, because we can't mess it up any worse than it already is.

Something to keep in mind. At the time of buying/beginning to renovate our home there weren't really any TV shows about it, no Chip and Joanna Gaines, no Nicole Curtis. Nope, it wasn't "popular" yet. There was a show called Renovation Realities which is amazing, I strongly suggest you watch it. If I could only go back in time and tell HGTV, hey -  our renovation is something yall really need to film, I would. Those shows like Fixer Upper and whatnot are nice to watch, however it's not a true representation of a real renovation at all. Chip and Joanna get to go home at the end of the day to their gorgeous farmhouse, don't have to worry about sleeping in a different room with just a mattress on the floor because the room that was their "bedroom" last week has been demoed, and don't have to be stressed all week because their actual job is renovating - not a 9 - 5 job which means most of the renovation can only happen on the weekends. If I'm not mistaken, Chip and Jojo lived with her parents while renovating their farmhouse, so again, not actually living a renovation. I am way off track now, but I felt that was important to say.

So as I get back to my original point of the downhill slope, I think of our to-do list. The last really major thing is painting the exterior of the house. At first, we were like, cool! This shouldn't take long. Well, throughout this renovation we have learned something very important. Do it half ass or 90% and you'll find yourself doing it again but the right way in about a year. *cough* downstairs creepy bathroom. *cough*. So we began researching how to prep and paint an all wooden exterior - mad credit to Google and YouTube, thanks guys. Getting the siding ready for paint is the hardest part. The actual painting will be a walk in the freaking park in comparison.

Currently this weekend we are removing the nailed in metal strips along the outline of the windows. doors and corners of the house, (2nd story corners are super scary) that used to hold the old siding (most likely filled with asbestos) and figuring out just how much work the siding needs before we can paint. While we were on the roof taking care of all that, we figured why not go ahead and use the leaf blower to clean the gutters? You know, since we were already up there. Today we tackle the rest of the metal, blow the garage roof/gutters, and clean the siding on the garage. This is really exciting to me, hence why I have gotten up for the past two mornings at 4:30 am psyched and just too excited to sleep. It's finally time to see some real pretty changes and knowing this is the last big hurdle before just the little things, is truly more exciting to me than almost anything that comes to mind.

Metal hanging on for dear life

Grave yard of metal strips

Here's the point where I will ask for your help. Pretty please.

I will post a picture of our garage (as that is the starting point of the painting) we are trying to decide whether to:

1. Paint the house AND trim white as it was originally.
2. Paint the trim white and the house grey.
3. If the garage will look stupid with the white garage door, white trim and white siding.

So please, take a look at this picture, show it to your friends, family, co-workers, the mailman, grocery store checker and tell me your thoughts. I thank you in advance.

More to come soon!

<3 B

Well folks, its been a long while. We have come to the realization that we cannot do it all. As much as we think we are superheros we are not. To explain everything that has happened since my last blog post all at one time is just more than I can handle, I might spontaneously combust from the pain. So I'll start with our most recent undertaking: the downstairs bathroom.

Originally coined the "creepy bathroom" it has gone through many phases. From green, peeling up stick on tile, base board coming off the wall (where I killed the mouse by bashing it with a crowbar - they really do squeak by the way), black ooze coming from the sink, opossums living under the tub, the yearly flea outbreak, okay you get the point. To, when we hired our contractor and thought - finally! We'll have a functioning shower that we can feel good about. Unfortunately we hired a contractor who employed the saddest gaggle of rejects who should really find another form of work before someone clobbers them in the tukhus. The bathroom was gutted down to the studs, and I narrowed down my wishlist from my pintrest board.  Black and white bathroom with a sexy shower that looks like it's from this decade. Layout was stumping Preston and I, so during our pre-renovation party my wise Aunt Sally suggested we move the sink to the other wall opening up the shower/toilet area! Brilliant! So we told Tom, our contractor where we wanted everything and how we wanted it to look.

The plumbers went to work moving the water lines, setting the new shower drain (which was supposed be centered and is not, and we went to work getting light fixtures. This was about 6 months ago and I'm sad to say the beautiful light fixtures are still in their boxes waiting to sparkle in our bathroom. When the "bones" were done, our budget was running out and we needed other things done so we explained we'll do the tiling. Unfortunately we also got stuck doing the shower pan - If you ever get the chance to make your own shower pan, PASS on that one. Trust me. <---- Preston just exclaimed "it's the worse thing ever!!!!!"

We were getting down to the wire with the renovation to get it completed in the time the bank allowed. Preston and his dad worked really hard on the shower pan, Preston and I did the tiling and all we had left in there was to grout and paint.

***as a fun side note, during this renovation we spent 113 nights in a small hotel room with no kitchen which meant takeout for 113 days, about 25 minutes away from our house, and obviously just thrilling. More on that in another blog.

We had to do an extreme rush job on the finishing touches like grouting (not a good idea) and Tom had to throw up some crappy looking builder grade sad light fixtures. Everything got 'done' enough for the bank to pass our final appraisal and I've never been more relieved and angry at the same time. Why angry? That is a story for the next blog, it will be called "the worst 6 months of my life" so get your whiskey or other beverage of choice ready for that party train wreck.

So with the bathroom mostly done we were excited to use it. Unfortunately, getting the slope to a shower pan proved more difficult than anticipated and it didn't actually drain. There was also a sewer gas smell coming from the drain, and still some squirrel hair (another story for a later date)  so feeling so dejected we simply closed the door to the downstairs bathroom and pretended it didn't even exist.

In just a few days we'll be celebrating our 4th anniversary, and man has it been an incredibly wonderful, stressful, learning, trying, loving, funny, interesting 4 years. So we decided we deserved a vacation. A getaway to Austin/Gurene and forget about this crazy house. Mid day yesterday we were talking and getting ready to pack, when we came to the same conclusion. Instead of going on a trip to luxurious hotels, and the Gurene Mansion Inn, floating the river and eating chicken fried steak - we were going to redo the downstairs bathroom.  Who in their right minds do this? I'm not entirely sure because we are obviously out of our minds; "what's that Preston? Green Oaks is ready with their straight jackets to take us to our padded rooms? Cool." Just kidding. However, yes we forewent a vacation to make a more fiscally responsible decision of finally getting our bathroom right and enjoy it for years to come. Man, being an adult is not as much fun as it seems.

So this morning (Sunday) we got our supplies (we had to make 2 Home Depot runs, because, that's just how we roll) and started demoing the tile we had just laid 6 months ago.

What? You don't completely rip out your bathroom every 6 months just because? haha. loser.

Approximately 7 minutes into demo I cut my thumb. Awesome start. The rest of demo went pretty well and it was on to the dreaded shower pan. This time,  I did the sloping and fingers crossed it works/drains because I was talking mad shit to Preston about me being so much better at it. Let me just tell you the honest truth - shower pans are no joke and it's above your skill level. Trust me. You'll hate your self, life and everyone else with a functioning shower. My best advice is to either pay someone else to do it and blame them if it's all jacked up on mountain dew. OR burn the house down and get a new one. It's just not effing worth it. Trust me.

It's the end of day 1 of making the bathroom luxurious, and things are looking good. More to come tomorrow, stay tuned kids.

Preston's quote of the day "So many memories in this shower.....none of which include showering. "

Busted pipe=blessing in disguise. Also a new addition to our family!

This is a post I didn't publish last winter. I guess Preston having the Shingles in his eye kind of derailed us.

Enjoy:


Well folks. As you might have heard Texas has some pretty kookie weather. It kind of reminds me of a woman going through the menopause mixed with a pregnant woman's mood swings. So far we have had so many freezes I think we are on the verge of a record. This past weekend was the biggest mood swing, er, weather swing I have ever seen. Saturday it was 80 degrees, I was wearing shorts and a tank top. Sunday, the high was in the low teens. That's Texas for you.

Sadly for us, the Home Improvement Newlyweds we didn't drip the pipes as well as we should have and you guessed it, we got a busted pipe.

We thought giving the faucets a good drip was good, but the next day when we realized we had no water pressure we had a leak. When we went into the kitchen to regroup we heard something. A Fountain? We don't have a fountain........oh no!!!!  Umm....Preston! Look!!!! We have a fountain under the house!!!!! (the explanation points were sarcastic) After locating the location and fixing it (with the help of John, Preston's friend from work) we were able to thank God that it had happened because we had never had such good water pressure. It was such a blessing in disguise because after fixing that we had THE BEST water pressure!!!!!!  What we did for the fix:
                             Sand both sides of the copper pipe till shiny and push the "shark bite" in-it's a compression fitting.



Here's the finished product: (yes, under the cast iron main drain, but look folks-we aren't millionaires, just trying to get by)




Insert the Shark Bite plumbing fixing thing:

http://www.sharkbite.com/product/flexible-coupling-hoses/

we got ours at lowes. Literally saved our lives.

and voila!


Also, during this time I was having a brake problem in the  Bumblebee (1999 mustang, 35th anniversary edition) I took these pictures and sent them to
Preston while he was at work because I was annoyed because the Autozone boys were sassing me saying "you're going to change your own brakes?" and other nonsense like that.

Me working under the house on the busted pipe!





Our new kitty Waylon, he found us in our backyard right before a thunder storm-he was nearly dead when he warmed our hearts.











Preston and John working on fixing the busted pipe.






Oh yeah, during this menopausal Texas winter UTD cancelled my Bachelors Graduation because of the ICE! I was obviously not a happy camper. I spent all day in my cap & gown in my OWN celebration. F U ICE!

Maggots, demo and Cowboys!

Well folks, I would love to tell you that since my last post (almost a year ago) the house is finished. I would love to tell you that, but it would be a complete and udder lie and my mother told me never tell a lie. As the house stands we had gotten it to a level of "we-feel-pretty-good-walking-around-in-bear-feet-but-know-it-is-far-from-where-we-want-it-to-be". We started to realize that if we ever want to have kids (or lower blood pressure) we needed to kick this thing into high gear; the foundation, roof, HVAC units and electrical needed to be done. We knew if we wanted to spend a few more years we could probably do it all ourselves but thought it would be more worth it to get the house refinanced and tack on a renovation loan for those big items.

You would think getting contractors to give you bids would be easy! Well, it would have been 2 1/2 years ago when we bought the house (but our real estate lady didn't have much of a clue about the kind of loan we needed and royally effed us unknowingly)  Now apparently there is so much work to be done contractors don't even call you back! Oh well, we think we might have found someone great and hope it works out.

So knowing these HUGE projects are on the horizon we started to get excited about the house for the first time in a year. We decided on the floor plan, eventual Attic Master room, and other very exciting touches. We decided on a whim to take out the back of the wall between the current living room and dining room-





Then we decided to tear out the ugly upstairs bathroom vanity. Now, something I should mention; a few weeks ago I woke up to the sound of Preston banging a shoe around in the bathroom. Honestly I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking he was just killing wasps (because they had come back with a vengeance) After a few minutes of him banging his shoe and muffled curse words I came to see what in the world was happening. Maggots. Yes folks, slimy yucky icky maggots. hundreds of them. All over the bathroom floor. So currently we have dealt with opossums, fleas, spiders, squirrels, roach eggs, more opossums, random cats, mice, rats and now maggots. So there Preston is, in his boxers with a shoe in his hands giving me a look of horror and serial killer and said- "just go! I got this! save yourself!" So I went downstairs and waited. When he finally emerged from the- what we thought "the safe bathroom" he just said, we need to stop living in the upscale lap of poverty.

After that maggot morning, we decided we needed to let whatever had died get really dead before trying to find it. We bleached the bathroom and uneasily went about our business. Until today, at 11am on Sunday morning we were trying to decide if we wanted to watch TV, tear down a wall, or "find the brick" like one of our favorites Nicole Curtis on Rehab Addict. Finding the brick won, so we went to work upstairs. Very shortly into this venture Preston gagged and said "Oh Sh**!" I knew it had to be something dead. Me, being the loving wife I am sent him after the supplies we would need-gloves, trash bag, broom & dustpan,  and vodka. He came back minutes later and I disposed of the rat. After just getting back to normal I saw a tail. THANK THE LORD IT WASN'T MOVING! I told Preston to just go to the hall, it looked like the rat had a friend. He did, and they went into the same bag.

While demoing part of the bathroom, I got some great candid footage of Preston:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFVELNOL5kI&feature=youtu.be


















After cleaning up that mess we decided to watch the Cowboys!! More updates soon.

Valentines Magnolia and more yellow Jacket invasion

My sweet husband surprised me on Valentines day with a beautiful Magnolia tree! When he told me about the great lengths he and his friend John went to in order to get me and John's wife each a tree I though it was the absolute sweetest thing a man could do for a woman! They had decided to get their wives a magnolia tree and the search was on. It was Valentines day and they went on a search for 2 beautiful, big and not too expensive trees. After visiting many many many Home Depots and Lowes they found 2 that would work. Since neither of us wives knew about the surprise they were feverishly trying to get both trees to their homes without raising suspicion. They incredibly pulled it off! We were both surprised and thrilled!

The next day Preston and I started digging the massive hole for the tree and wouldn't you know, the exact place we wanted to put the tree had a huge stump that needed to be removed first, so after digging around the stump Preston got the chain, truck and magically the stump came out like melted butter. Once we got the tree in we cleaned up the driveway and while we were just about to call it a day our neighbors little dogs scared some young boy (who was skateboarding down our side of the street) he jumped off his board, ran over by us, and the dogs were relentlessly barking and growling. Now, keep in mind these little dogs are ugly, mean, and have come over to our house many times and scared the poo out of me. If I had the opportunity I would drop kick them into next week. The scared boy realized that when he lept off his board it kept rolling, and he went to get it back, at that precise time there was a car just about to hit the board. Luckily no one was hurt, but those dogs have pushed it a little bit too far. When an innocent boy is trying to play outside and almost gets run over because of some dogs it has pushed me to the edge. I'm taking it to the city. Wish me luck.

As a side note, we named our Magnolia tree Hazel. There is a wonderful wise woman I work with named Hazel and she has always been there for us to talk to and has supported Preston and I throughout all our journeys.

Now, we are going into the attic for the 3rd time to get after the yellow jacket invasion. I swear, I almost just want to rip off the whole roof, destroy their lives and put on a tin roof. Finances are keeping us from that. We also are having to get rid of the Yellow Jackets by ourselves because all of the quotes I got for a pro to do it were upwards of $1000 which we don't have. If anyone out there is a millionare and wants to donate to the cause let me know.

More on the yellow jackets after we get done with them.....time to be John Wayne and man up.

Hiding the Neighbor's Nasty...

So Saturday morning around 11:30 Preston said "what do you want to do today?" I said "oh, I dunno, how about you?" He said, "Let's build a fence to hide the neighbors nasty house!" I said, "Sounds like a plan!!!" This is how our best weekends typically get started. Let's just face it, when you have such a great time together already and you add the spontaneous home improvement to the list you just have a winning pair. Let me tell you.

We make a trip to Lowes, get the Posts at $11 a pop,  get concrete and get to work at the home front taking down the falling down and rotting existing fence. Boy did I have fun with that! It didn't take much force, but it was crazy fun tearing down something so ugly!
When we had finished with that we started digging holes for the posts and got a little kooky as we went!

 

Once we had finished doing holes, pouring concrete and one set of rails, we called it a night. Next morning we woke up had kolaches,  and got fence planks and more nails. As a side note, I think it is just the most saddest thing in the world that people outside of Texas can't get Texas Kolaches, I mean its just not right. 

Anyways, we really went along without a hitch, which is strange for us but we didn't really fight it. Well except when Preston had to take off about 4 boards and while he was doing that the hammer fell out of his hands and he did a weird move like a crazy sissy man, and our nice Mexican neighbors saw and started laughing saying "Crazy Gringos".  Throughout the day I kept telling Preston that "hammering is my calling" and "If I could just nail wood all day long I would be a happy girl. I feel as if I should mention this, we used a hammer and nails only, no nail gun or air compressor here, just good old fashioned bruit force.  I think I might need so make shirts with things we say from our blog to sell on here. Comment with your thoughts on that please-or anything else that pops into your mind. I see people read this but I never hear from you which makes me sad. 

 In the end we are exhausted, but have "The great wall of Ragsdale" as the fruits of our labors. Also, Preston just told me, "we may not do things that well, but at least we give it all we got!" 

More soon, gotta get the inside of the house beautiful for my cousins baby shower! 

 

That's me blogging!

 When we went inside to take a little Whiskey break we found our Willie Nelson Kitty like this.

Also, while we were building our Great Wall of Ragsdale, a girl scout was walking the street selling cookies and when she was walking up to our house she told her grandma "Wow, this house is huge!" Preston and I heard but didn't let her know that and when she was walking up the walkway we hollered to her saying "oh we're over here" she came running over and said your house is soooooo pretty! Needless to say we got a box of Tagalogs and ate the whole thing that night. lol

DIY Tips from the Newlywed Renovation Couple and Willie the Kitty

First, if you are wondering why I am still referring to us as a "newlywed couple" even though we've been married for a year and half, its for 2 reasons. #1. It's the name of the blog, get over it. #2. Someone very wise (Jim and Adelle) told me long before I was married to my soul mate, "it makes no difference how long you are married, you can always refer to yourselves as a 'newlywed couple' as long as you always act like you just got married and are that much in love." 

Second, if you are planning on doing ANYTHING to your house DIY style here is a list Preston and I have complied to save you time, energy and possibly your marriage.

1. Buy a miter saw. Even if you aren't doing trim work, like 90 degree cut, fancy bologna and whatnot you will make a perfect cut EVERYTIME! Get one, either at a garage sale, acution, pawn shop or Home Depot-of course brand new you will be paying 2X as much. For Preston and I we didn't care where it was from or what it looked like as long as it worked. We paid $40 for one that was originally around $300 at an auction and it had some paint and looked like it had been really used; but GUESS WHAT?? It works just wonderfully and we wouldn't trade it for anything!


2. GET A GOOD DRILL. I'm not kidding you at all on this one. It will save you headache, time, tension, annoying comments from your husband/wife, and a plethora of other things. Maybe this should have been #1.....oh well.


3. Gloves. I know it sounds nuts, but seriously.  When you are working on a house you need some good disposable gloves. Home Depot sells a bundle of like 10 for $9.99 and its worth it. Get some.

4. Reciprocating Saw AKA "Sawzaw"  or something like that. It will SAVE YOU! Trust me. Get it used at a pawn shop and buy new blades. While you are buying blades, just go ahead and get several different kinds of blades, because you'll eventually need them and the difference between making a Saturday mad dash to the liquor store and not JUST MIGHT be having those extra blades on hand. Just saying.

5. Ratcheting Screwdrivers. Lowes Kobalt brand is the #1 one pick for us on that. Seriously. Here is the link. Just buy about 4, don't question me, just do it. BUY THIS NOW. This model is a little different but you get the idea.

6. a taste for hard liquor. Sometimes when you are just almost at the end of your rope and you think the job is completely hopeless, have a shot of hard liquor. My favorites are : Wild Turkey 101 proof (for the real crazy jobs), Ezra Brooks Whiskey, Tobaritch! Vodka. Trust me. Don't go crazy or anything, but 1 shot can motivate a renovation like you wouldn't believe.

7. If you plan on doing any sanding, either TAPE EVERYTHING OFF, or RENT A SANDER THAT COLLECTS THE DUST like they have on TV. Trust me, unless you have a sick desire to clean your entire house of dust, do this.

8. Bandanas. We made them a staple before Duck Dynasty made it popular. They will protect your air intake during renovation, but it will also make you feel like "Hell yes we are about to get buck wild tearing apart this room and putting it back together in a better way". It takes a renovation from yeah, that's what we did, to "HELL FREAKING YES DID YOU SEE THAT??? I MEAN, DID-YOU-SEE-THAT-WITH-YOUR-EYES????" It also makes you memorable to the folks at Chipotle and Home Depot which it always fun.

9. Re-Store. Find your nearest Habitat for Humanity Resale Store. Trust me. They have supplies for painting for cheap, but they also have light fixtures, furniture, paint, tile, appliances, doors, trim, wood, nails, screws, rugs, weird crazy molester looking safety glasses,  and everything is less than the big box stores but like 1/2 off.

10. Check your local Auction houses and Garage Sales. Just do it.

You are welcome.

Oh one more tip of advise......


If someone tells you "it cant be done, or you cant do that" do it anyways. (unless it's with electrical work, get a professional for that if you aren't sure) "They" said we couldn't sand hardwood floors with a belt sander......you know what? We did. We're rebels, but you know what? We did our own thing, like always, and it looks incredible! just because they say you cant, should hire a pro, or you shouldn't doesn't mean YOU should listen....look at Lucille Ball. She was told "you'll never be an actress". Take that jerk-wad. If the number of people who were told "you can't" just had given up, some of our countries most brilliant minds would have never been discovered. There is a YOUTUBE video about it, and when I find it I'll post it.