Showing posts with label midwest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label midwest. Show all posts

A Work In Progress - part 1

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Now that the holidays are over and everything is a little bit back to normal we have made to over to The Kamps house to start on some renovations. This is the part that I enjoy the most!!! We started with the upstairs. This is where the kids' bedrooms will be. There is also a bathroom, which is so awesome, since we have 5 people sharing one small bathroom (and a half makeshift in the basement) at the current home. Saying it's cramped is a huge understatement. 

I think that the reason I love the renovation part so much is because with a few weeks of hard work the entire space is transformed into something completely different.

We started by going up there and looking at what worked and what needed to be changed.

What worked........
  • overall layout
  • pluming 
  • windows (well one needed to be replaced)
  • storage (let me tell you, there is a lot)
What didn't work/needed fixing......
  • drywall
  • girls closet
  • no lights in closets
  • everything in the bathroom
  • carpet
  • paint, paint, paint
Other than demolishing the girls closet and bathroom there wasn't anything else that needed to be demoed. The kids closets were so ineffective, they were long and very narrow and did not have lights in them......Really!?!? How did they not put lights in these closets? Caden's closet we just added a light because, well, lets face it he's a boy and will have a dresser . The girls, on the other hand, needed more space. We moved their closet wall out about 12 inches. Believe me that 12 inches made a huge difference!!! And, of course, we added a much needed light. 

This house was built in the early 90's, so all the trim was a little dated and the paint colors, well, they speak for themselves.....My style and philosophy on walls and paint is that the wall color should blend in and the decor on the walls, whatever it may be, should stand out. Yes, there are times that paint is your stand out, but generally paint is not your entire rooms standout. With that being said, I love, love fresh white trim and doors. Using a paint sprayer for the trim, doors and hardware was awesome and such a time saver.


The Before.......
    
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 Like I said, the paint color speaks for itself!!!


 This is what the girls closet was like before...without all the stuff in it, it still was just not going to cut it for a shared girls room.
The landing

Stairwell

 The bathroom lots of potential with a few updates  
 Wine is a must then you are doing a job this big. :)


 Caden's room 
 Just removing all the stuff made a big difference....
 The little door is to a small attic space that we will make into a storage/play room for the girls. Having the door there really limited what I could use the dormer for, so when we moved the closet wall out we put the attic door in the new closet. :) It works much better and the girls think it's the coolest thing ever!!!

 The start for the closet


 Bathroom with new paint.
 My little trooper...She was such a help when the other kids were at school and we had to go paint. A big thanks to Aunt Ellie for letting her hang out when it was just too much :)
 Girls room repainted....Mint may be a trend but I love it ;)
 No more door
 And there was light!!!
I didn't run out of paint on the back wall I'm waiting for my wallpaper to come in.....so excited!!!!
 New bathroom color
 Caden's room repainted 
 Caden's room is a hodgepodge (is that a word?) of a few different grays that I had and wanted to use up. I think it turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself.

After doing this post Its apparent that I will have to make this a 2 or 3 part series. There is a lot more to do but this was all done in about 2 weeks, and I can honestly say I'm impressed. Hope you all like it, and let me know what you think or if you have any ideas and don't forget to follow us :)  

Mini Christmas House Tour

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Christmas time means so may things to us, of course family, friends, food, and some decorating!!!!! I thought that I would share what my house looks like during Christmas time. 

I also do a few things outside. This I have only been doing for two years but its becoming my favorite. My sweet Grandma goes out and drives around to find the red branched, berries, holly, and greens for me to put in my plants. Bless her heart she loves to see what I come up with. I try to get them done before she leaves for Florida so she can see them. 

Budget.......Well as I've said before I'm dutch. So most all of my Christmas decor comes from you guessed it the Dollar Tree. They really have some awesome stuff but I have learned that you need to go when they get it in (late oct) if not its picked through or they don't have enough of what you may need. Using things that you can find in nature is always cost effective. 

 I love this planter!!! It turned out so cute. It started as an old mail box :) All I did was spray paint it and add my decorations. I also did put a few larger rocks in the bottom so it would weight it down. 
 Of course Pinterest had to come to play this year...tomato cage trees. I looked to find some different ideas and there's a endless amount out there with is what I came up with.  



 I think that I can finely say that I'm done adding stuff to the front yard...but there's always room for more. 
 The Tree
 I love putting up my tree. I may reason is because we get to look through all the ornaments for years past. I have always told people that if there was a fire I'd save my kids first and then my ornaments. We get an ornament from a few different people during the season and it so much fun to look at all of them each year :)


 My entryway....maybe my favorite.

 DIY Wreath
 The kitchen shelves

Well that's a little look into my house during Christmas. Hope you enjoyed it. 

Marry Chirstmas 
and 
Happy New Year

Jennifer 

The Kamps House

Saturday, November 9, 2013

It's been way to long since my last post. We have lots of new things happening around here and are very excited to share them.

First and for most....WE FINALLY CLOSED ON THE KAMPS HOUSE!!!!!! YAY!!!! :) :). Can you tell I'm excited? It was a very long and sometimes dramatic few months getting this closing done but we now have closed and own two houses.....yay?!?!? 

Second....This now means that we get to start remodeling The Kamps House. There's an endless list of things that need to be done before we can move in. Good thing making lists is one of my favorite things to do ;). 

Third......It will soon be time to say goodbye to my Hudsonville house :(. This is the house that my son has lived in since he was two. It's where I brought both of my girls home, from the hospital, to. I bought this house when I was 19 years old!!! Crazy right?? I have put my blood, sweat, and many tears into this house....I love this house and will be very sad to say goodbye. 

Four.....The main reason that I started this blog was to document our journey in Setting Up the Kamps house, all of our DIY projects, thrifting, Decoration, and Homesteading.It is my hope that it  help you out in some part of your life and inspire you to create something of your own.     

Thank you in advance to all the people that will be helping us in this adventure we love you and couldn't do it without you.  





Before





The first thing that we did was start our orchard. The Outlaw got a killer deal on peach and apricot trees at TSC so this is the start of our orchard.



Everyone pitched in and help plant their own tree.


We had a trick-or-treat event before we did this, and there was no way we were getting her to take that off :)










This picture was taken by an 10 year old..... not bad!
The Kamps House 
 

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