Wednesday

We are making subway tile cool again.

Brushed nickel theme.

Bathroom walls got wainscoting.

Entry way coat closet got a door and trim today, and will get a white paint job later this week

Bedroom walls got a fresh coat of gray - with one dark gray accent wall.

Tub and toilet area got wainscoting.

Bathroom cabinet in its place.

A Rita Weekend

Rita, the slave driver, was in town for the weekend and we had a very, very productive weekend. Saturday mom and I picked out and purchased bathroom tile, paint colors for all the new addition, and looked at hard wood floor for the entryway. Dad and Chris insulated the crawl space while we were gone, and when we got home, we all worked to prime the entire 700 sq. foot new addition. Sunday we started in with the painting and successfully finished painting the walls and ceilings in the bathroom, entry way, coat closet, bookshelf and bedroom closet, plus all the window trim. Whew! Big weekend!

This week, Dad will be working on some electrical in the crawl space and installing light fixtures in the addition, plus tile and wainscoting in the bathroom, and some odds and ends that must be completed for the certificate of occupancy inspection. I'm going to be painting the double vanity and linen closet in the bathroom, then eventually painting the bedroom. It's going to be a big week! Chris is working in Colorado Springs this week so he won't be around quite as much this week.

Priming

Painting - Entry way walls match living room walls

Bathroom is Restoration Hardware "Sycamore Green" (you may recognize this as mom and dad's kitchen color - it looks mint in this picture but it's more of a subtle gray-green in person) There will be white wainscoting around the toilet (on the left, first picture) and also between the shower and vanity. There will be white subway tile above the bath and shower.

Hilary helped today by priming and painting all of the window trim!

All of the walls and ceilings in he old house are textured (yuck!) so dad had to texture the area in the old bedroom that once was a window on the front of our old house, and he also had to texture the wall and ceiling where the old meets the new - none of the now addition is textured though. We're looking into hiring our sheetrock guy to do a smooth coat over all our walls and un-texture them.... maybe someday after this little addition project is over :)

Fresh Mud

Sheetrock now has a fresh coat of mud, another coat tomorrow, then sanding on Saturday. Dad added the trim to the windows today - looking good! This is a view of the bedroom from the entryway.

Bathroom - shower on the left, double vanity on the right.

Bathtub

This is whats left of our (2nd) bedroom window. It's officially sheetrocked in. Making progress!

Front entry way - front door on left, coat closet on left, bookshelf on right - view from the existing living room in the old house.

We have walls!

Front entryway (front door is on the left), coat closet straight ahead on the left, space to the right of the coat closet will be a built in bookshelf, to the right of the bookshelf is the doorway for the new bedroom.

Looking into the bedroom from the doorway (cabinet in the middle of the room actually belongs in the bathroom)

Sarah's handywork to protect the bathtub during sheetrock installation. The sheetrock in the bathroom is a different color because it is a different kind so that tile will adhere to the surface.

Shower in the bathroom and on the right is the double vanity.

                      

Bathtub and halfwall between tub and toilet. The holes for the windows (above the tub) have not been cut in the sheetrock yet.

What do winemaking and sheetrocking have in common?

What do winemaking and sheet-rocking have in common? They both are happening at the  Gilstrap home this week! Chris has been reading online "how to" manuals all week on winemaking and is making progress, meanwhile, a mere 30 feet away, our hired workers are sheet-rocking the new addition! What an exciting week! (You may want to avoid this first batch of wine for concern for your health - there may be remnants of sheetrock dust.) Idea names for the first batch: "Sheetrock Dust Blend" or "Alleyhouse Vineyards"

Sheetrock goes up tomorrow!

Weekend Company

We were thrilled to have Katie and Jessica join us in Colorado for a fall-break visit! It's always nice to see family :)

Walk This Way

Chris and Dad built the new sidewalk in a Saturday - a big improvement from what we had! The front loader that parked in our front lawn when digging the hole for the foundation, annihilated our old sidewalk, giving us the opportunity to improve on what once was.

Before sidewalk - very awkwardly positioned down the middle of our front yard...

After sidewalk, down the side...

New Paint Job

Dad painted the house this week (in addition to lots of other things!!) and we want to show off our new paint job! On the addition, the bottom stucco is now a soft evergreen color, and the old house is stucco and painted this same color. The lap siding is still the khaki primer color, but we're going to get paint mixed in this color. What do you think?! It really pops from the street! He finished up paiting the white trim too about two weeks ago.

This big tree is killing the composition of my photography..... We're thinking about doing some landscaping on both sides of the deck, probably next spring. I like the idea of the tall whispy grass, or maybe some flowering bushes or something along those lines. Fortunately, we have a semi-professional landscaper in the family and I'm sure Mom will have a master plan drawn up in no time :)

Dad finished the insulation this week.... what do you think about keeping the pink walls?

Grandma J

My Grandma Jiles passed away last week. She lived a long, very full life with many happy memories with family and loved ones. She was a teacher for the majority of her life, and impacted the lives of many. We all went to Michigan for the funeral in celebration of her life. 

It's incredible the way that death gives you new perspective on life, and I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my life, and our life as a family. We've been talking about what our priorities are in life and what means the most to us. All of these thoughts and conversations are good things, just a lot to process and at times difficult to continue on with daily life when your heart is so heavy processing the bigger picture. It's incredible to think how short life really is, and how important it is to cherish every day, every moment, every memory.

While in Michigan we grieved and mourned, celebrated and reminisced, smiled and enjoyed time with family and friends.

This is a photo of my mom and her two sisters, with their husbands. I like this photo because mom is looking up smiling at dad :)  37 years later, they are still in love!

Our family - we haven't done a family photo since our wedding 2 years ago!

Photo of the 13 grand children and 4 great grand children. My grandparents had 5 children (3 daughters and 2 sons). It was great to have all the grandchildren together, we haven't had everyone together in a long time! Before my grandma died, Mollie asked her what her favorite thing in life was. She said it was to have the entire family together. I can't help but to think she was smiling down on us from heaven, seeing her family together.

Alayna (my youngest niece) asked someone at the reception to get her Coke, and sure enough someone gave her some (without my sister knowing!). As you can see from the photos below, she was pretty excited about getting Coke!