Our New (Old) House

As many of you know, the Storrs family has been living in a construction zone for the past 6 months. Basically, every room in our house has been torn up at some point. If you don't live close to us (and haven't been able to experience the craziness in person), here's what we've been up to...

About a year & a half ago, when Mike & I were thinking about having a baby (Cohen), we played with the idea of selling our house & building a new one. As soon as we started talking about it, both of us immediately did NOT feel good about moving. We felt like (and still feel like) this is where we need to be right now for whatever reason. So, we decided that instead of building a new house, we would just finish the basement & remodel some of the upstairs to make our old house feel like a new one. Mike said he could do most the work himself to keep costs down...but he says that about everything! Silly man! I can't tell you how many times I have seen something I wanted to buy, only to have him say, "I could make that for 5 dollars!" Can't a girl just BUY something every once in awhile?

Anyway, fast forward a few months to last winter...my sister's husband was working as the manager of a tile store in Salt Lake, but had decided that he wanted to move on to something else. We decided that we might as well buy some tile for the basement (even though we wouldn't need it for awhile) while he was working there because he could get us such a good deal. So, we went and picked out some beautiful tile. Greg ended up getting us SUCH a good deal that we decided to tile the upstairs kitchen, entry & bathrooms too (to replace the pergo & vinyl we originally put in) so that everything would match!! We also decided (and this is my favorite part) to HEAT the tile too. I love tile, but I HATE how cold it can be in the winter. I swear I am cold blooded...my toes are always freezing...so the thought of warm tile sounded like a fabulous idea to me! Anyway, a huge "Thank You" goes out to Greg for getting us such a great deal!!

When the tile & everything came in a few weeks later, Mike got to work. First, he decided to tear apart the boys' bathroom & start there. This is what it looked like for several weeks... (Yes, the toilet really IS in the bathtub)

Mike had never done tile work before, but he paid a guy to come teach him how to do it & then he took off on his own after that. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE having a handy...and hot...husband?) Anyway, here's the finished product...

Mike did a great job & he picked up the art of tile work very quickly...although there WERE a few mishaps along the way...

After the boys bathroom was finished, Mike decided to tackle the entryway & then our master bathroom. Here's a picture of the master bath before it was grouted...

And then, he got up the courage to tackle the kitchen...which was quite the feat because it was so much bigger than the other rooms he had done previously. Here's a picture of it halfway done. I took it so you could see the heating element. It's those little silver cords that you see running from left to right across the picture...

Everything ended up looking great when it was done! It ended up looking so good, that it made our original carpet look like CRAP next to it! Mike got the "let's re-carpet the house bug". The original plan was to re-carpet the house at the same time we put carpet in the basement, so that it could all match. But, Mike convinced me that it could be YEARS before it was time to carpet the basement & that we couldn't live with our crappy carpet sitting next to our beautiful tile for that long. He DID have a good point... So, yes, we ended up re-carpeting the upstairs (and bought all the carpet for the basement too, so that it can all match someday...it's now out in the garage...where my car is supposed to be...oh well).

There is a guy who lives in our neighborhood that owns his own carpet business. Mike told him we were interested in re-carpeting & he told us he could get us a good deal....and he wasn't kidding! We picked out the carpet that we liked & he ordered it. Then, we actually went to another carpet store to see how much a similar carpet was selling for there. It was $45 per square yard!!! We got it for less than HALF that much! Holy cow!!! I love paying half price! Yes, we're cheap & we know it...and LOVE it! So, here's a big thank you & plug for James Carmon! If you need carpet, he's your man!

Anyway, so this past week, the carpet came in & our life has been complete craziness since! We (and by "we", I mean Mike) had to move all the furniture from one side of the house to the other side & into the kitchen area. This is what it looked like...

The old carpet was ripped up...

And then, the pad was laid (James was able to get us the memory foad pad for just a little bit more than a regular pad! It's delicious!!!)...

And, then the carpet was laid...

After that side of the house was done, we (again, meaning Mike) had to move everything from the bedrooms (including the furniture that had previously been moved in there the day before) back to the other side...

Including our beds...so we had a campout in the family room one night...

Here's the finished product in our master bedroom. I wish there was a way to take a picture of carpet & have it actually look the way it does in person...

It's the prettiest carpet! It's a warm brownish-gold color. The strands are different widths...some are fat/others are skinny, so it has a textured-look to it. And, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO thick & soft. Here's a picture of it in my little sitting room. I think this is a better picture of it...

And, here's a picture of the carpet up next to the tile...

Again, the pics don't do it justice...wish they did, but they don't! The color isn't as warm as it is in person. I am sooooooooo in love with my new (old) house right now...and my wonderful husband too (Mike made me put that in)! --Lindsay