Top 10 Favorite Reno's - #8 Hardwood floors

It's hard to beat the timelessness of hardwood floors. No matter what shape they're in, a little TLC can go a long way for beautiful long lasting floors. I was super fortunate to have the classic red oak hardwoods at Mulberry Forest. It's one of the reasons I bought the house - despite all of it's flaws it had great bones, hardwoods being one of them. Years of neglect had left the flooring dull and covered in scratches, even stains in certain areas - but nothing that couldn't be repaired. I contracted a local hardwood re-finisher to do the work (power tools don't scare me, floor sanders do). I removed the trim to prep the floors, giving him a clean slate to work with. Just sanding alone livened the floors up instantly - I call this phase naked floors. I was going for a dark look so before sealing the floors I tested three stains, choosing a rich color that wouldn't be too dark or too red and also asked for two layers of top coat/sealant. The end result was beautiful. Talk about instant impact. With the exception of the kitchen and bathroom the whole house was transformed in a matter of two days. Fast forward two years and the addition of my sweet but ginormous, playful, clumsy English Mastiff Sweet Lucy - they floors were still in mint condition. For $2.85 a square foot this project transformed the entire home and was an investment I saw a HUGE return on when I sold.

Naked floors.

When touring my next house, 10th and Wash, I hoped and prayed for hardwoods under the carpets - not so lucky. When I created my list of to-do's, hardwoods were a must considering this house was 145 years old. Unfortunately given the massive project in the kitchen, installing solid hardwoods was not in my budget. It was important that the hardwoods help to create an increased sense of space within this small house, so after tearing down the wall between the kitchen and living room, I needed wider plank hardwoods going the length of the house including the hallway. Thus creating a seamless transition from the dining to the living to the kitchen. I settled on the Distressed Kinsley Hickory 4 3/4" wide floating floor. Admittedly I couldn't get the name out of my head, my first niece is Kinsleigh so it had to be - these planks just had so much character, just like her! The color, varied wood grain and hand scrape marks made it feel like the perfect balance between a house built in 1869 and a modern 2014 home. AND I got to use my brand new Kobalt Compound Miter Saw. Win. While the floors are floating, I ended up gluing each plank and nailing every third row to ensure these would last a long time. The hardwoods were the icing on the cake after updating the house and creating the open concept floor plan - they tied it all together.

Before the dining room was used as a living room. It made more sense to swap the living in dining to create an open concept floor plan. 

On our most recent remodel project, the kitchen at the Lakehouse, I suggested to Tommy Thompson that we re-finish the hardwoods in the dining room at the same time. Not wanting to add on to the budget we initially said no, however after seeing the kitchen looking so awesome, we couldn't help but re-do the floors. Not to mention it made sense since the house was already in re-model mode, just knock it out. So we did. Our fabulous contractor brought in his hardwood team and in one day, they sanded it, repaired an area that previously held a doorway and stained and sealed it with a water based sealant to keep the fumes down. We added the same tall trim with no reveal as we used on 10th and Wash to give the feel of taller walls, painting these bright white to contract the deep color of the floors. A minor inconvenience to clear the room of furniture and stay out of the house for a day in trade for beautiful long lasting hardwood floors that will hold up to our family for years to come.

Tommy Thompson and Sweet Lucy taking advantage of the large open room to wrestle. 

If they won't give me one I'll buy one!

Lou Lou Belle, Loose-Ma-Goose, our Sweet Lucy girl turned 3 yesterday. 1,095 days young - 21 if we're counting dog years but we won't, Sweet Lucy will never be anything other than a puppy to me. She came in to my life at a time I needed her more than anything - that old adage "Who rescued who" rings so true (who cares if by rescue I mean traded hundreds of dollars for... we needed each other).

I told my mother I wanted a puppy for Christmas (28 year olds can still ask for puppies from Santa...) - she agreed until I told her I had my eye on an English Mastiff. A what? You mean one of those Shetland pony size dogs?!?! I had done a lot of research on the breed and just knew this was the dog for me. I grew up with Dachshunds, which are awesome too, but I wanted a DOG. A big, protective, loud, human sized dog. I waited to even consider getting a dog until I had a house with a fenced in yard so they could have lots of room... and so I could install a dog door so I could sleep in (haha). A Mastiff it was - I considered nothing else.

I found a few Mastiff's at shelters in the area but since I had no experience with a dog weighing more than 10 pounds - ever, I was not a feasible candidate to adopt one. 

Well, if they won't give me one I'll buy one. I found a breeder in the area who had 4 week old puppies and invited my mom to... you know... just look, not buy on a December Christmas shopping day. She knew exactly what would happen. I would leave a poorer person after putting down a deposit. 

She was right. She usually is. 

When we got there Lucy's dad, all 200 pounds of him, greeted mom and I at the car. As we walked towards the puppies he ran around us, his tail spanking mom on the butt - she fell onto all fours. She looked back at me with shocked eyes and asked what I was doing to her. Poor mama. 

Until we went into that tiny smelly poor excuse for a puppy room and laid eyes on the cutest squeakiest balls of puppy ever. Mom and I each grabbed one, little Lucy looked up at me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and I was done. She was mine. For all of one minute mom tried to talk me into the other but I knew, the one in my hand was my Sweet Lucy. 

Mama holding Lucy (her left hand) and Lucy's sister

After four weeks of waiting, shopping for, planning, researching and waiting (yes I said it twice, I waited) I brought her home. She and her 10 litter mates were very small for eight weeks, too small in fact. The breeder had not done a great job of keeping them clean and he didn't de-worm them as early as he should've so Lucy and I had work to do when she came home. Whereas a healthy English Mastiff female should weigh 24 pounds at eight weeks she weighed just over four. After a trip to the vet, getting fully de-wormed (if that didn't prep me for having a baby I don't know what will) and some good quality food my girl started growing. Like.A.Weed. 

Lucy the day she came home. I left the tree up so she could have Christmas too. 

My Lucy. She is a drama queen and will baby the tiniest injury like she lost a limb. She is a mama's girl through and through, preferring to be near me at all times. She is the laziest dog ever - as in I have to pull her out of bed some mornings so she can run outside to potty before we go - akin to a teenager in bed. She still loves her Kong pacifier and is utterly adorable carrying it around the house like a baby. Spinning, aka Spinny Spins, are her favorite and after three years I still have yet to get one of her famous spins on video. Her protectiveness is appreciated and scary at the same time - she needs to know you won't hurt her or us and then you're a welcome friend. I fear for the person that comes between her and her family un-invited. She enjoys doggy daycare, aka The Place Where Puppies Play, but prefers to visit the humans while there and is ALWAYS waiting by the gate for us to pick her up at the end of the day. She loves forts - under the bed forts, under the coffee table forts, all kinds of forts. She'll do anything you ask her to do for a cookie - which is anything edible. The way she can get her back legs folded up and front legs folded down or how she lays with her back legs splayed out flat make her the envy of any yogi. And try to step foot onto the lawn without playing. I dare you. 

She loves us unconditionally and the pure joy she has every morning when we wake and evening when we come home melts my heart. While I no longer can pick you up your hugs are still the best. Happiest of birthdays to you Sweet Lucy Girl. You have taught me patience and understanding - thank you. 

Billy Bob, the Two Amigo's and The Princess

Halloween was a few days ago and it was one for the books. Lucky for us it was on a Friday AND we had the little one this year. Seeing Halloween through a ten year old is awesome and seeing it as an adult with a ten year old around is even more awesome.

A few months ago the little one declared to Tommy Thompson and I that he was dressing up as a princess. Wait... what? The kid that runs around the farm with a BB gun, slides down the fireman pole on Castle Gray skull (more on that later) as often as he can, all around boy wants to dress as a princess? Yep. He and some buddies at school had formed a team for their school fundraiser and named it 'Billy Bob, the Two Amigo's and The Princess'. There were five boys all together:

1. Boy One as Billy
2. Boy Two as Bob
3. Boy Three as Amigo one
4. Boy Four as Amigo two
5. Boy Five, aka The Little One, as the Princess

After a brief discussion on how typically 'Billy Bob' was a single individual and that typically there are THREE Amigo's - we still had no clue how they all fit together, least of all the princess and even less so how the little one decided on said princess. We were quickly reminded that at ten year's old logic was of little importance.

You'll remember from our recent shopping trip to Target the guys were found in the Halloween aisle. Tommy Thompson took the opportunity to test the little one's commitment to the princess decision. After a few failed dress fittings, the threat of wearing my heels and one embarrassing moment for any ten year old when I belted out his least favorite song, 'Let it Go', in the middle of the store, he decided to change his direction.  

He morphed. The little one came home a few weeks later as the proud owner of his very own morph suit, crash test dummy style. A morph suit, for those you who aren't cool enough to know (just like Tommy Thompson and I weren't) is a full piece body suit covering you top to bottom, even your face. With a little guidance from Dad on how to 'crash test dummy' and some trial by error on how best to see while wearing his morph suit, the little one was ready for his first of four Halloween parties. 

With two school parties under his belt by 5:00 pm on Friday the 31st we got dressed for the annual VanRooy's Halloween party. After a quick stop to my mother's for way too much candy, a cupcake before dinner (what are grandparents for?) and more glow sticks than any ten year old can possibly carry including a giant green glowing alien balloon that is still slowly dying in the back of my car, we were on way to the party. 

One of my best girlfriends and her husband (the VanRooy's) go all out for Halloween. We're talking outside decorations that can be seen from a mile away, transforming their interior decor to the year's theme, even the dinner they serve - over.the.top. This year's theme was Freak Show Circus. They served pretzel bread wrapped hot dogs, corn dogs, pumpkin queso nachos and more. Our contribution was Oreo popcorn - aka crack. The little one helped me make it the night before and I had to threaten bodily injury to keep the guys off of it. You can find the too simple three ingredient recipe here. 

After dinner Tommy Thompson and the little one headed out for trick-or-treating. While cute in his morph costume... I was making bets on how long he'd make it in the barely there costume. Let's face it, Halloween in Colorado is always cold and that costume did not lend itself to layers. After nearly an hour they came back with loads of candy and stories about all the houses they stopped at. It was so fun to hear about the decorations, what was scary, kids costumes, all of it (since I was too chicken to brave the cold). To cap off his fabulous night of trick-or-treating the VanRooy's unloaded ALL their leftover candy, pencils and tricks into his bag. You would've thought Santa himself showed up at that moment. I love having a ten year old around!

On the way home he crashed in the backseat... looking more like a crash test dummy than ever. I couldn't resist a picture. Once in bed Tommy Thompson stole his bag of goodies and we thoroughly inspected each and every piece testing what he HAD to. Of course, that's our responsibility. Now I know why my parents enjoyed the trick-or-treating as much as I did...

The next morning after sleeping in until nearly 10:00 am from his sugar coma, the little one awoke and immediately inventoried the contents of his bag, covering nearly all of our 10-person dining room table with his loot. I knew it before it happened, we.were.busted. He recalled from memory nearly every piece that was missing, gone to Dad for 'testing' and even still left us a giant pile of candy to share. Pretty awesome kid. 

I FINALLY bought a waffle maker after talking about it for months. 

We broke it in with pumpkin chocolate chip waffles on Halloween morning.

I dressed as a broken wind up doll, Tommy Thompson as a lumberjack post AXident, the little one as a Crash Test Dummy Morph and my great niece here is a witch.

The Little One showing Sweet Lucy some of his 'tricks' from the night before

Tommy Thompson and I at a Nov. 1 party as a 1960's couple. He misbehaved and took a frying pan to the face. 

Family Pictures - How do I choose??!!

You might remember in my very first post that I give nicknames to things, people, places - everything. A few of my favorites:

TK - The Kid

This was the nickname I gave to one of my best friends' unborn baby since we didn't know the gender. 

Clara Mae Shannon

Another nickname for one of my best friends' unborn baby girl. She will always be Clara Mae Shannon to me!

Tommy Thompson

My Mr., AKA The Big One. When we started dating we didn't want anyone to know. The guys at work could tell something was up and started asking questions... put on the spot I had to come up with a fake name and fast. Alas... Tommy Thompson. They saw right through it. 

So from here forward The Big One will be referred to as Tommy Thompson. 

                                            ..............................................................................

I wish there were more pictures of my family and me over the years so Tommy Thompson and I made a commitment to get family photos taken every year and the Fall seems to be the perfect time to do so. It's my favorite time of year, the farm looks gorgeous with bright colors (actually all year) and Christmas is right around the corner (can you say slam dunk for gifts and Christmas cards?!?).

So this last weekend we invited my good friend Patrick to the farm to take family pictures. I met Patrick years ago at a friends wedding in Deadwood, South Dakota - lucky for me he lives in Ft. Collins. I love the way he worked with the bride and groom, directed the wedding party, captured amazing candid moments - not to mention the pictures were fabulous. I hired him almost immediately to take photos of all the events I directed at my old job and always enjoyed his work. And I always found it hard to just pick a few...

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early for our 9 am shoot (Patrick - what were we thinking???), laid two outfits out for each of us and made myself a ginormous mimosa. The little one and I had gone shopping the day before and picked out his two outfits - the first was a 'nice' outfit, nice jeans, button down shirt - just like his Dad. The second I told him to pick out his favorite outfit in the world. Never mind the shirt he picked out was a CU shirt (Gahhh! Yep - I said it. We're working on it...) I love the idea of a family picture each year of us in our 'nice' outfit and in the clothes we love most at that moment in time. Once everyone was in their 'nice' outfit the little one helped Tommy Thompson gather props. Most photo shoot props include flowers, maybe a blanket, a pile of leaves. In our house they are guns. I distinctly remember yelling for them to not forget my favorites... the gold one (obviously) and the mega. Tommy knows me well and already had them pulled. 

As soon as Patrick arrived Sweet Lucy and I walked him around the farm and discussed the best places to shoot, my favorite spots and what it was we were looking for - and the props. Tommy Thompson makes the farm look like a park so there were more options than not. Of course I picked the one spot he had just moved all the 'junk' to... the rusted oil drum, the rotting wood - Perfect! I so appreciate Patrick's demeanor and willingness to listen to what we wanted yet give direction. (Let's face it - I'm no model...)

Within minutes he was snapping photos, we were laughing - he even got Sweet Lucy to look AND smile at the camera! It felt like just another day on the farm with an old friend. After wrapping up the 'nice' outfit pictures with our rendition of American Gothic we had a race to see who could change into their favorite outfit the fastest. The last one had to make pancakes... wouldn't you know I lost. We wrapped up our shoot in our comfy clothes playing on the lawn which is how we wrap up nearly every weekend. It was a perfect start to our Sunday and our family photo tradition. 

We got the pictures back yesterday and I could not be happier with them. Patrick captured everything and more that I had hoped for. If I could move him into the basement to take pictures of us everyday I would. Now for the hard part... which ones do I keep? Hardest. Job. Yet. 

Thanks again Patrick! If you're in the market for a fabulous photographer check his work out at PhoCo .

2014 Family Pictures