This Old House

It seems they don't make houses like they used to. We moved here to our first brand new home 4 1/2 years ago. Last month the A/C went out and we had to have 4 different service guys out to fix it. Thankfully the kids and I were still in OR, so Ben was able to get it working again before we arrived home. Next in line were the dryer and dishwasher. Luckily one service call covered both appliances and they were quick, easy, & relatively inexpensive fixes. (BTW...my handyman recommends running your dishwasher empty with CLR once every 3 or 4 months to keep the jets from getting clogged up.) It was an expensive July.

A few years into our time here, we had our carpets cleaned professionally. Since that time, it was never really clean again. I think it was treated with some type of scotch guard, and instead of helping stains come out, it attracted more dirt to those areas making it worse. It also bubbled around the edges and since we spend the majority of our time here, it made my life miserable. I could vaccuum, steam clean, spot clean, you name it, and nothing made a difference. I HATED IT! Don't even get me started on the wear pattern.

BEFORE

The reason we had kids. ;)

Kaleb's handiwork

Hard at work, or hardly working?

This was their favorite part!

Leaving our mark!

My last birthday (in Jan.) I was granted the wish to redo the family room flooring. It took me several months to figure out I wanted wood, and several more to choose a color & type. (I may have a little more of my parents in me than I'd like to admit!) We ended up putting in a laminate wood floor by ourselves. It was truly a team effort, though Ben did most of the handiwork. I'm so proud of him for doing such an amazing job & love, love, love that I now have a beautiful, clean floor for baby girl to army crawl all over.

AFTER!

Ruby taking her first face plant on the new floor. :( She pulled herself to standing at the ottoman, so I whipped out the camera, just as she let go!