Projects

We've been consumed with projects and visits from family for the past couple of months. There's nothing like an impending visit that motivates you to finish all those projects you've been meaning to get around to. We had a month after Christmas before my mom arrived and we literally tried to cram in as many projects as we possibly could. Our plan was to build a room, paint it, move Tanner in, paint Aravis's room and castle bed and paint and rearrange some furniture in my room. I gave us a week for each room and one week to clean up and get the house in order. Honestly, I'm amazed we pulled it off. I thought we'd have to give up something. 

First up was Tanner's room. Dominick has been dying to build a wall for years and Tanner has been dying to have her own room since we moved in. So both were thrilled. 

Studs

Drywall (Aravis was in charge of filling in the seams and screw holes) 

We stole the door from Aravis's closet

Some paint and laminate flooring and Tanner has a room. It's tiny and narrow but anything was better than nothing. She's still working on getting things in order so unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the finished project.

Next we moved on to Aravis's room. She was totally in charge of the design. She had to work with curtains and bedding we already had but she picked out the colors and designed the floor plan. 

She did a LOT of the painting too! She painted almost all of the walls with the roller, while I did the trim, and she helped with most of the trim in her sister's room too. 

I'd been meaning to repaint this since we bought it at a garage sale years ago but never got around to it. After sitting in the garage for a year and a half, it was in bad shape and really needed new paint. We were so happy with the end result. I'm sure the day is coming (too soon) when she won't want a play castle bed in her room anymore, but I'm glad that day is not today. 

Next, I had a week for painting this dresser and a small bookshelf. Somehow these two gave me the most trouble. They took 3 coats of paint only for me to discover it was not the shade I wanted. A few more coats of the right shade and forever later and all's well that ends well. 

(Sorry for all the lazy, bad, phone pictures)

We had practically back-to-back visits with my mom, a close friend who's like family and then my dad. It was so nice to be able to spend time with people we love and don't see often enough. 

After lots of cooler weather we're finally enjoying some gorgeous days.

So it's a perfect time for Dominick to start his latest project; a playhouse for his sisters.

Everybody wanted to help

He's so patient with younger friends and siblings who want to help.

And now we have a big purple playhouse!

Upstairs....

Downstairs.....

The scrap wood has gotten lots of use.

It still needs some finishing touches, like a swing and maybe a rock wall or a fireman's pole, but it's looking good for now and it's already getting lots of use. Where would we be without Dominick!