We live in a really old ass house, I’m talking 103 years old. Marcus bought the house prior to our relationship and when I first saw it, hello grandma bachelor pad. I’m talking layers of wall paper, old carpet, college furniture and boxes of his ex-girlfriend’s shit. When I marched in, I started going to town! The garbage can was full week after week for a long time. The coolest part about our house is, seriously, my late grandpa’s great grandfather built it! We have the original photos of the house and, on a freaky note, I’ve seen a few photos of “wakes” being held in our home prior to hosting at funeral home. So, you know it’s old! And it’s filled with history. I’m really attached to it and l love our location.

Built in 1915

Over the past almost-decade we’ve been creating a home, slowly checking projects off. My honey-do list is long and, if Marcus would get going, we’d be almost done. But, Tevi hates most of my ideas. Trust me, I have a lot of them – including bulldoze it and start over, build onto the existing house, contact “List It or Love It”, or I toss out just a random comment here and there about little stuff. My latest comment, “How about a new fridge?” got a winning reaction. We are about to start a kitchen upgrade!

We tackled a bathroom remodel when pregnant with Ruby. Holy shit, did we fight. It was terrible but the memories are still some of our favorites. I took a bath at 7 months pregnant in a gutted bathroom because I had to test it out, the walls weren’t even sheet rocked. We laughed the entire time, mostly because Marcus watched me and set the mood with a lit candle! As much as we hated the project, the satisfaction of completing a DIY home improvement remodels was worth it. The bathroom is the star of our usual evening routine, which is bath time for Ruby!

I’m really excited about getting my hands dirty again. I can’t wait to share the project on my IG story, and show you some before and after photos! This should keep us busy until ice fishing season starts!

Here are a few other details about what’s going on during trimester two:

1. I will not be getting a minivan (sorry to the Moms rocking the power doors and extra room to breastfeed, rearrange kids and all that storage, but I’m going to skip it). I don’t mind my current hot rod; however I do think I should upgrade. Any suggestions?2. As sad as I am to stop researching twin gear, I feel happy to have had the opportunity to learn about the process. Mad props to every momma out there who has done the multiple thing. We plan to use all of our original things – including our Doona Car Seat Stroller (top fav), Dockatot (totally worth it), Spectra breast pump (it’s hands-free and awesome) and a bunch of other baby shit in the attic.

3. We will be finding out the gender and, of course, having a Reveal Party Round 2 at SIU! Any guesses?

4. I’m trying to talk Tevi into a Babymoon. Fingers crossed the lake doesn’t freeze super early and he gets antsy to vacay with me!

5. Sweat. Build a business. Run a business. Cook. Eat. Sleep. Live It Up. Repeat.

What are your plans this Fall? Comment so I have something to read!

9 comments

  1. Home DYIs are the bomb! We have been slowly updating out place. We have painted our kitchen cabinets, painted our living room/dining room, updated some trim and had a bathroom reno. (I give thanks to my 4 year old for dropping fingernail polish! It was a mess so we redid the bathroom!) Hoping this fall to tackle some more trim work and get new interior bedroom doors. I also have to prep my brother in laws garden for winter, which I have no idea how to do. Lots of research time is ahead of me! Thanks for sharing ! Always enjoy reading the blog!

  2. We finished our Kitchen re-do earlier this summer, so now are getting into the decor part and I think that is harder then the re-do decisions. Agreed on the honey do list fighting. Once when we tried to pick tile for the basement bathroom we left Home Depot almost divorced regarding our difference in opinion. Eventually we found one we both loved and bought it 5 mins later to avoid more fights. Our next project is to turn the front sitting room/formal family room (I hate them) into an office for me for when I work from home so I don’t have to sit at the Kitchen table. I want built ins on one wall, and a desk, some cute patterned chairs and a coffee table. Matt wants comfy chairs….I still have told him this will be a room that he and the kids are not allowed in still! HAHAHAHAHA (evil witch laugh) I would love to make my laundry room cuter and more functional with a folding platform as I feel I spend a lot of time in there, but that is still undecided.
    Fall plans – Apple Orchard, hopefully squeezing in some family pictures and then hockey starts!

    1. I don’t think the hubby should have a say about your office space!!! Love that you told him he and the kids aren’t allowed!!! Can’t wait to see the family pics!

  3. I’m going to live vicariously through your home improvement! What a cool story and the fun of making it your own! That is exciting! We’ve been in our house for 13 years and not a fan of the layout now with two young boys and 2 dogs but for now it’s what we got. I’m sort of with you with bulldozing as we like our corner lot and location but just not loving the insides so much. We have a great outdoor patio area my husband has landscaped so that would be hard to give up as well. So for now I try and focus on smaller areas – my closet, kitchen counter tops/back splash, large wall redo’s (master bedroom is first on the list for this fall) and actually having matching furniture or a room that looks just put together, if only all the trees in our yard grew money!!! Lol Love reading the blog and your classes!

  4. Love the blog…

    I’m totally with you on the non minivans. SUV worked really well and better can be 4wheel drive in winter.

    Good luck on the kitchen remodel. It took me 3 weeks to replace my double ovens. Add a warming oven if you can and a hanging pot rack. Both help make life easier and save time.

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