The very first thing I noticed when checking out the lake house was how the windows needed to be replaced just to see outside. All the windows and all the sliding door windows were in need of replacing. Most of them had lost the seal and had water or had fogged through enough that you could hardly see the amazing view. The house was built in the late 1980s which doesn’t seem that long ago but in reality it is. Houses need to be maintained and update periodically even when they are taken care of. Windows are one of those updates that people tend to avoid replacing. Everyone expects their house to have working windows but replacing windows tends to be one of those expenses that you don’t get your return on. It is maintenance that is expected to do and usually a very expensive endeavor. I have remodeled our previous home from top to bottom including windows. We replaced windows in the entire backside of our current home and as we finish the rest we intend to do each window. Let me start by saying that each window or door we have replaced have all been rectangle standard doors or windows and no higher than a normal second story. Although we took out a couple sliding doors in our current home and replaced them with windows we have never once had to replace windows this high or oddly shaped. One more note, we always replace with new construction windows so we maintain the large look of the glass instead of just replacing the windows in the current sash. This usually needs more work upfront, such as removing the window molding, possibly some replacing of rotten wood around the window frame and then finally removing the entire widow including sashes before putting in the new.

Replacing windows in Germantown is an entirely different project than it is in Pickwick. Most of the towns around our cabin are small and do not have a huge number of places to choose from to complete a project like this. I spent almost a year making phone calls, leaving messages and making appointments to only have two people call back and bid out the job. I have never been so discouraged. I think people expect me to be some house wife who is spending my husbands hard earned money without thinking about the price of the project. I have legit tackled this problem before, and I refuse to spend the outrageous amounts I was quoted. I understand that between covid, inflation, and the lack of people available to do the job I should expected some increases but this was way outside of the budgeted amount. Finally looking outside of the area I contacted the gentleman who put the windows in out previous house. Tommy replaced the windows in the first floor of our previous home and we knew he did good work. A contact my uncle originally gave us ( thank you uncle Steve), Tommy moonlights and does weekend work on his own with a few helping hands. It took several phone calls, a couple trips to measure, and some reassurance to get it done. Part two out soon to actually document the work done.

While looking for a lake house my husband and I had several things on the want list. We wanted a good view, a location that wasn’t very busy so our kids could play out in the water, some minor work that we could hire out, and a dock. Our fixer upper hands are currently full so wanted to hire out as much of this as we could.

Well three of those boxes were checked. We are not water front but do have a view. Although it is better in the fall, winter, and early spring it has a view the entire year. It needed some minor work, some of which we are hiring out and others we are doing slowly. It needs to be updated but that can wait several years before we get to that. The location on the lake was not our favorite as the area is very busy with one of the more popular coves near by. As much as we wanted an area that wasn’t busy, as our kids get older they will love being in the place where everyone will be.

One of the most important details is that it has a dock. If you are friends with me on social media and you have seen my pictures of the lake, most of those are taken from our dock. The lake has some of the best sunsets I have ever seen. Now I should start by saying we only have 30 feet of water front property, although small, it suits our purpose. Most of our neighbors have beautiful docks maintained properly. It is clear that, like the house, our dock had been long forgotten about. Our dock is stationary so it doesn’t bob up and down with the water change. As the water goes up and down it will in some instances get very high and overtake parts or all of our dock. We have literally seen all the wood on the dock float above the metal platform while the water was high. The metal railing on the dock was some ugly green color but rusted in most parts and the swim platform was completely missing. While the water was low we could see that structurally our dock was strong but it needed some maintenance.

Originally, last year we had intended to do this part ourselves as it didn’t look that difficult and we only intend to fill in the swim dock, but we were lacking on time before the busy season and asked if Kenley Patterson would be able to do this. So thankful for him because this project took on a life of its own. After getting the swim dock replaced we loved the look so much, we had Kenley replace the large platform, then the walkway and stairs, had him clean and repaint the metal rails and finally replace the roof. Our neighbors were texting and complementing the work being done all the while we were stuck in town. When we were finally able to get a weekend back at the lake I was astounded at the change. It is clear we made the right choice giving the dock a huge facelift.

This past winter the water level was so low we were able to get a good look at all the structural supports. Although almost all were still strong and in good shape there were two that needed some minor work and many of the smaller cross braces were rusted through and needed replacing. We once again called Kenley who was able to handle all the work. He legit brought out a welder on a boat and fixed all of it. I can not imagine how long we would have been on a waitlist to get this fixed and thankful he was able to once again jump in and help.

Christina

Our home was on a very treed lot. I absolutely love having trees around. I have somewhat of a black thumb and don’t do well with growing plants, so being able to have trees allows for having some plant life without much needed from me. Trees add a lot of character to a lot as well. I know others would disagree, but a home on a lot with no trees just looks bare to me. Taking all that in mind, our lot had a LOT of trees. And some of the trees were causing actual problems. We had one that was very close to our front door and its roots kept breaking into the sewage drain. Two other trees were destroying our driveway with their roots. Taking down those 3 trees would have left an oddly placed tree in the front yard. It would also be in the way for the removal of the tree close to our front door so we had it removed as well. In the backyard we had a tree that was mostly dead and another tree that the tree company called a toothpick. It was exactly what you would expect a tree that is called a toothpick to be. It was all trunk and nothing else. It didn’t have a single branch or leaf. With all the issues we had with the trees we knew we would have to get some tree work done at some point. We also knew it would not be cheap. We called out 3 different companies for estimates. One company gave us the estimate for everything all rolled into 1 price. It wasn’t the cheapest price and with it all being rolled into one number we didn’t do anything with that one. The other 2 broke down the estimates by the tree. We were having 6 trees taken down total. One of the 2 companies priced the 3 biggest trees for cheaper than the other company and the second company priced the 3 smallest trees cheaper than the first company. I reached out to the company that was overall cheaper. I asked the representative if they only did the 3 trees they priced out as cheaper would the quote for those 3 trees stay the same. He, being a good salesman, questioned why I was asking and I explained that I was considering having them do 3 trees and another company do 3 trees to get the cheapest price. He said he would keep his 3 cheaper trees at the same price and match the price for the other 3 trees from the other company. So that meant I was able to use one company and combine the 2 cheapest quotes. Not only that but I ended up being very happy with the communication and the work of the company. Once done we still had a treed lot and I think it improved the look of our home greatly.

Until next time,

Leslie

When we bought our house and had the closets moved around and the office created it messed up the carpet. We lived with the messed up carpet for a while, but eventually were able to get the carpets replaced with hardwood (well bamboo). I picked a very dark finish. I 100% wish I had gone with a lighter color, but flooring is expensive and there was no way we were going to redo them. I will for sure do a lighter floor from now on. We only had this flooring installed upstairs and on the stairs.

While we love being able to do stuff ourselves, we did pay a company to put our floors in for us. Before they came, we pulled up all of the carpets. We fixed the soft spots in the subfloor and most importantly we removed all of the nails (they squeaked like crazy) and screwed down the boards instead. This process took a hot minute, but was so very worth it.

Even though I would not pick such a dark floor again, the floors do look nice – they just show every bit of dirt and dog hair and that is just not something I have time to deal with.

Until next time,

Leslie

Some projects are small but mighty. The door to our master bedroom was an olive green when we bought out house. It definitely did not go with our walls or the look we were going for. So out came the paint can. I have to say painting doors is NOT my favorite. There are so many details to make sure get covered. Also, at least the doors I have painted, need a primer which is stinky and a pain to deal with. But the look of a freshly painted door is very much worth it!

This blog is 100% a disclaimer. Just like the shows on HGTV (and similar platforms), my posts are severely behind. In fact, we have actually moved and are now working on our next project home. I still plan to lay out all the projects we did in the house I have been posting about and will then move on to posting about projects in our new home. Just for fun I will post a couple pictures here. One of each of the houses.

Until next time,

Leslie

Our dining room had previously been used as an office space. The walls were dark and the light fixture was a ceiling fan. Also the bottom half of the walls had a dated design that I was just not a fan of. In theory it was not a bad design, but when installed the outlets were not accounted for and therefore one of the outlet covers had to be cut strangely. The dining room took several steps to go from where it started to where it ended up. Our first step was to paint the walls. Changing from dark red to a light and airy blue made a HUGE difference! I also painted the dentil molding. That was NOT an easy job, but I just couldn’t get rid of the molding and it had yellowed greatly so I couldn’t leave it as it was.

Time to pause here and move onto other projects, but the dining room will get more love later.

Until next time,

Leslie

At some point, some years ago I went to an estate sell with a friend. I found a piece of furniture I loved the general idea of, but had never been in love with the color. The color had, however, worked okay with our previous home though and so I left it. Also I had never refinished furniture and I tend to move slowly with starting things when I don’t feel confident about them. I have a friend that had redone furniture before and suggested I use chalk paint. She assured me it was super easy and even offered to come help me! So I took her up on it. It was a fun time and I really love the way it turned out. I used a color that goes with the same sea blue I used for the kitchen backsplash. I also added feet to make it a better height. I had 2 mirrors that had originally been the same color as each other so then I picked one of them to hang above it. It took some considering but ended up going with the gold one and am glad I did, it goes great with the pulls. The last picture was taken months later, but I love how the piece looks decorated with my nativity scene for Christmas!

Until next time…
Leslie

In our previous home, we had painted our bedroom a beautiful blue with a hint of gray. It went really well with our bedding and since the same bedding was coming to our new home I decided I would just do the same color on the walls. The ceilings are lower in our current home than our last home, so I thought if nothing else the color would look darker. I was wrong. Our room is not huge, but it was a lot of painting. And as soon as I was done I was not pleased with how bright the blue was. However, I was NOT about to redo it! I was happy to have moved away from the dark brown. I know chocolate brown had been very popular at one point, but I just didn’t like it for my master bedroom. The room seemed so dark and cave like. There are several projects still to come for this room, but lightening it up was a good place to start.

Until next time….
Leslie