My youngest sister Jill came over and tiled the backsplash in my kitchen for me.

My husband was somewhat skeptical about the tiles I had chosen. To be honest, he was skeptical about my 23 year old sister and I doing such a big project at all.

So, here are the results of all of our labors:

What do you think? When we were all done, my hubby just stood there looking at the finished project and said, "I never would have dreamed that those tiles would look that good in this kitchen!" He was truly impressed. So impressed that the regular outlet covers were not good enough for our new tiles and so he went and picked out these black and copper ones. I LOVE them and think they look great.

Over all, the tiles cost about $130, the other materials we needed like grout and trowels came to about $50 and I paid my sister $150 for doing the job. She did most of the work - I was merely the assistant tile-er ..... lol. So that makes the whole project about just over $300, which I think is money well spent!

Thanks Jill!

It took 67 days and a pretty good chunk of change, but we are finally finished with our new add on. I am relieved and thrilled at the same time. I have built several houses in my married life, but have never done an add on or a remodel. This was not a remodel, unless you count the replaced light fixtures in the kitchen. This was straight new construction addition. I have to say, now that I am on the other side of this project, I cannot imagine how people deal with remodel projects. I know people – families with small children – do remodels while they are living in the house. I cannot see how they do it and I have a renewed respect for people who flip houses. Home improvement is darn hard work, but home improvement with children on the premises is down right tough.

I wanted to do more than I actually got to on this project. The parts that I did get to do saved us about $5,000.00. I worked *really hard* and the phrase ‘sweat equity’ is totally appropriate here. I got to be the accountant and pay all the bills and co-ordinate with the electrical and flooring sub-contractors for scheduling purposes. I also got to paint all of the interior and stain the exterior. All of it. Every single square inch – even the stuff up under the eaves. All by myself.

So, here is how I am going to cash in my ‘sweat equity’. I am going to spend $4,950 on furniture, $50 on a manicure and use the gift certificate that my good and dear friend gave me for Christmas on a pedicure. Yes, I still have a gift certificate from Christmastime that I have not used yet! See how often I really get off this mountain? Hahahaahaaa!

Only $4950 for furniture will be tough. I saw a chest the other day that I would have loved to buy, but it was $3995. That does not leave much for a sofa, end tables, rugs, lamps and a media cabinet. Oh, a some bookshelves as well. It was a beautiful chest though. I could buy it, set in the center of the room and rub it with a diaper I guess. Sigh…….I hate it when things are beyond my means.

I have a hard time shopping for furniture. I like so many different styles and have an eye for very expensive pieces. Needless to say, I cannot just go to a store and buy a whole room of matching pieces of furniture. That would be crazy and way to ‘cookie cutter’ for me. I cannot possibly have the same stuff that someone else has. At present, my dilemma is whether to buy a sectional sofa or a more traditional sofa. Thanks to my husband and the General Contactor, the room is huge – 900 square feet huge – and so I have plenty of room to put what ever I want out there. I could park my car out there and still have plenty of room to put all kinds of stuff in there! So, any opinions? Traditional sofa or sectional? Ugh. The only way for me to decide is to go shopping, sit and lay on every single sofa in the store – which usually ticks off the salesperson ‘helping’ me – and then decide. I think furniture shopping will be the hardest part of the whole job and it will likely take me a while.

In the meantime, my family and I are headed to Disneyland next week. As luck and fortune would have it, my dear friend Sharon Lathan and her family will be visiting the Magic Kingdom at almost the same time. Hopefully, our paths will cross on Thursday night and she and I will be able to meet! It is so strange to have the prospect of meeting someone you have only chatted with through e-mail, but I am looking forward to meeting Sharon. She and I are very alike I think and I would be honored to actually meet her face to face!

I am also really excited because we will be staying at a 4 star hotel and I will not have to cook or clean – or stain – a single thing for 4 days! Room service and maid service! Whoo Hoo!!! I promise to take plenty of pictures and update soon! Until then, you all take care and God Bless!

Sick

I do not want to use my blog as an outlet for whining, but I have been *so sick* for the whole past week! My hubby and kids have also been afflicted with this crud - and so we are all grouchy and tired. And, to make matters just that much more peachy, we started our house addition on Friday! You gotta laugh. When it rains, it pours it seems.

The room add on was all my idea and while my husband agreed that we ought to do it and really needed to do it, he does not really want to do it. Neither do I for that matter. Construction is messy and noisy, not to mention expensive and time consuming. I am sure most of you have gone through a construction or a remodel - maybe even built your own home and know what goes into it. This house is the third house Bill and I have built together. Yep, that's right, the third one and hopefully it will be the last one. I have seen couples almost divorce over building a new house. While Bill and I do not fight, it is still an annoyance for the both of us. Truth be told, we did not plan to have Owen and now find ourselves in need of a bit more living space and so an add on is necessary.

I will keep you posted on the progress. I actually get to do some of the interior work myself this time and I am so excited! I love to do tiling and painting. The whole project is my design with only one tweek from the contractor and so the designer wanna-be in me is super pumped about this whole project. If only I could snap my fingers and have the construction part done!