I spy with my little eye....

What? A 5-panel door with original hardware in decent condition. Oh yeah, and it's also almost the right size...just needs to lose a few inches in height (it's 83.5 inches tall!). The BEST part...it was only 20 bucks. Habitat for Humanity Re-store in Elgin is our new fav store. I feel that I will spend many Saturday mornings scouring all their inventory! We also nabbed a white marble slab for topping the dining room radiator for 5 bucks.


I have to applaud the volunteer staff at the Re-store. They are most accomodating. I was waiting for Chris to pull the Focus up to the loading area and one of the volunteers asked me if I had a truck...or a car. I smiled and said "A car" to which his response was "That little one right there?" Me, "Uh huh." He chuckled and then demonstrated his expert twine-tying skills as we got most of the door into the actual car/trunk. My favorite part...the "peligro" ("danger" in Espanol) red tape we used as a red flag on the end of the door hanging out of the trunk. Very chic.

This is a story of a door...

So... on a Labor Day trip to Lowes, I drooled over new wood front doors to replace the steel front door that is definitely not right for the house. But at $650-800+ for an unfinished door, I put it on my ever-growing wish list.

Later that afternoon, I was sitting on the front porch when my neighbor walked up, tape measure in hand. He said "Hey, you said you wanted a different front door, right?" My ears perked right up. "Yes, why?" He explained that in cleaning out his basement he had uncovered a wood front door that I was welcome too but it was in need of refinishing. (Apparently, the previous owner had left some doors in his basement.) It was a perfect fit! He also had a painted 5 panel door that is in rough shape- but I feel it is my Calvinistic-duty to reform it :)

I am determined to become an expert wood door refinisher...and I think I'll have plenty of practice to craft my skills.

No mower, no problem

So, Chris and I don't currently own a lawn mower. You'd think this may be a bit of a problem, you know, to cut the few patches of grass amidst the weeds that make up our "lawn". Nope. Just move in to the house where the neighbor is so used to cutting the lawn for *grandma* (the 98 year old lady who lived in our house) that he will continue to mow it out of habit. True story. He just keeps going from his yard to ours. Awww, neighbors that take pity on us newbies to the home-owning game. IT'S GREAT! We had a cook-out with our neighbors last Saturday and their 18 month old son, playing with his toy lawn mower/bubble blower, starting walking it right across our yard.

After: Living/Dining Room

We absolutely love our *new* old floors! They make the space look so big and light! It reminds me of a dance studio floor. My dad was dancing the waltz on it in his floor-protecting booties on Monday!

Hmm, now all it needs is some furniture. But I was just getting used to the dresser as a make-shift kitchen island. And the main floor bedroom, dubbed the *tool shed & furniture barn*, now lives up to its nickname.

Flietstra Family Bonding...

Labor Day weekend is supposed to be a relaxing time, right? Hah. Not around our house! My parents drove down by 7:30am Saturday morning to meet us at Home Depot to rent our hefty floor sanders. Amazingly those don't fit in the *Focus.* Andy and Alysha (round 2 of reinforcements) arrived not long after we got back home!

Major thanks to Jack, Chris and Andy for the Saturday Sanding-fest. Floor sanding with the big rigs took up the majority of Saturday.... they stopped to eat dinner at the cook-out with our neighbors...then back to work till about midnight Saturday. Don't have any pictures of this (sad) but it was too dusty to really see anything.

Sunday was another Sanding Bonanza. More sanding with the smaller sanders. This was more of a collaborative effort- Andy, Alysha, Carolyn, Jack, Chris & me- all inhaling the dust together! We started around 8ish in the morning and it wasn't until Sunday evening that we were able to start the *Bona* flooring finale. My dad and I put the sealer down about 5 pm. Then we grabbed a bite to eat at restaurant in dowtown Batavia - where, between my mom and I, we managed to break a ramekin and spill 2 glasses of water. Around 9-10pm, Jack, Chris and Andy put the first coat of finish down followed by the second around 1:30am.

Everyone worked SO HARD! We really appreciated all the help! It would have never gotten done without all of the fam!

A quick note on shelving.....

I was convinced the first thing I was going to do was rip out all the *knick knack* shelves in the house. Wrong. They came in handy as very nice tool storage for a few days.

Before: Living/Dining Room

Asta la pasta, carpet! Chris and I ripped out the carpet within 24 hours of closing on the house! (see pictures of the fun times below)

This is the dining room/living room as seen from the kitchen. The original oak floor is laid in such a way that it looks like there are two wood "rugs" differentiating the two spaces. We found where some of the flooring was replaced which means originally there was some sort of archway or divider between the living and dining rooms. The dark areas are some sort of adhesive possibly from a large area rug. Let's just say...the flooring I saw when I pulled up the corners was slightly misleading....