Where in the World are the Dobsons?

We have actually been pretty lazy lately.  I also lost my job so that is the main reason we've had to cut back on the home remodel front - Major Bummer. :(

After about a month of not doing much around the casa and cabin fever, I woke up Monday morning feeling extremely motivated and ready to get. stuff. done. What helps is knowing were having an open house this Saturday, it's providing the hot fire under our arses to finish the first floor 100%, clean, organize and create a rather LARGE giveaway pile.

We have lots of leftover paint and lots of touching up to do around the house.  All these little things we have been putting off will now become complete - YAY!

Justin went around and spackeled a bunch of areas that have been screaming for TLC.  Now I will just go around, paint them and make the house look all shiny and new.

I finally got to those ottoman covers, purchased a new rug and brought life to an old, retro forgotten lamp. More on all that later :)

We went through all our clothes and shoes and got rid of lots and lots.

We added a range hood and we love it! It really completes the look of the kitchen!

The last thing to do this week is a doozy.  I will need reinforcements, I will need moral support and most of all, I will need a stiff drink upon completion.

This is all the crud that has accumulated in our basement.  We still have a lot of house to fill so we probably wont get rid of a ton but it definitely needs to be sorted and organized.  NOT looking forward to this.

Anywho.  That's what we've been doing.  More to come!

Dobson Den

Now that the Patio Doors are in place, it is time to fill this empty space.  

(Rhyming... ya like that?)

Anyways... this room is going be a multipurpose room and it has a lot of needs to live up to.

First, this room is going to be our home office.  It will need to house our computer and have storage for whatever we need to stash.  I would really like to get this desk.  I think it will provide enough workspace and storage and would fit our needs perfectly. My cousin has a few of the shelves in her home and they are awesome!

For all our storage needs, IKEA makes bins and baskets that fit perfectly into each cubby. A few of those will hide clutter nicely and will add contrast and texture to the room.

Along with being our "office" and having storage.  I would also like this room to be able to be turned into another guest room should we need it.

My parents are giving us a sleeper sofa they have that is in great condition! YAY FOR FREE! I will most likely purchase a couch cover to place over it. 

As far as the decor goes, I posted this "Inspiration Alert" a while back and it is still something that I want to do and will do in this room!

If you don't feel like clicking the link, I found these. They have the "old explorer" look I'm going for and are a cool tribute to one of my favorite places.

The room will have lots of bold colors and will be deemed the vacation room.  Hubs and I have visited Disneyland/World many times and will hang personal photos our times there.  I also just found old photos of my mom and grandparents there in the 60's. Totally framing those!

It sounds like a little much, but I think it will look really cool!  I have older accessories that I am going to put into the space that will add to the "old explorer" look and bolder color choices in the accessories, rug and dress pillows will bring everything together.  Can't wait!

Now we just need to get that darned up stairs finished!!

Paved Driveway.

When buying an older home, don't let the driveway, garage etc be a selling point.  They are usually extremely small and narrow and usually only serve as a great storage unit.

When we purchase the home, the driveway had two strips on concrete framing out an ugly, barren, dead strip of grass.  It was a cute idea but was NOT working and added nothing to the already lacking curb appeal.

As a quick solution, we dug out the grass that "lived" there and just let it be dirt for a while.

(This picture was taken a LONG time ago, before we painted the house)

Anyways, it was decided that the time was now to fix this ugly thing and provide a nice driveway for our little cars to park.

This was another project completed with the parents in town :]

Justin had to dig down 12 inches to allow space for rock sand and pavers to rest.

Once all the digging was complete, they added a 8 inch layer of gravel and a 1 inch layer of sand.

Leaving just enough room for the 3 inch pavers, the new addition to our driveway sat perfectly flush to the old concrete strips.

The project went from this...

To this...

And still isn't quite finished. We need to make the cuts to fill in the inch gap on the right hand side.  It already looks great and is just about finished!

Gateway to Bliss...

Another project that went underway while the parents were in town, is something that I am SO thankful for - almost as thankful as I am for the French Doors...

Our backyard is a big blank slate.  It needs a lot of things but the most important need it MUST fulfill is for our pups to have a place to run about with out mom and dad having to worry.

Luckily it is fenced in.  Three different style fences, but fenced none the less.  We can worry about the visual appeal later.

Justin and Roger built a gate for each side opening to our backyard.  Now the Ace and Abu can prance about out of harms way and we can get some much needed chores done around the house :)

Ain't she purty :]

They LOVE it!  (And yes, that is our dried up Christmas Tree - It is one of their favorite toys)

I Can See Clearly Now...

Into the back yard...

The French Doors are in and they look AMAZING!  I love them and it makes taking the pups out to potty so much easier!

In this post, I showed you my amazing artistic abilities and plans for the new french door that will be in our current bedroom/future office :]

Here is the photo rundown on the Dobson French Door Installation.

Here is the before with all the furniture moved away from the wall.

Step 1: Take out window.  The window is in great shape, so maybe we could use it elsewhere?

The pups like it :]

Step 2:  Measure out 5ft opening and start ripping out the lath and plaster and exterior wall.

Step 3: Insert new door and secure into place with shims and screws.

Steps 3&4:  I forgot to take pictures but we used the spraying, expanding insulation foam around the edges and finished everything out with interior and exterior molding.

Now with just a little patching, paint and moving the curtain rod hardware, our door will look like it has always been there :]

Apologies

vacaSo sorry about not posting for over a week.  Things have been busy busy around here.  The in-laws have been in town for 10 days and we celebrated my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary this past weekend. Other family members and friends were in town and the past few days were jam packed full of lunch, dinner, family things.

Lots of progress has been done around the dobson home and I will share all that later!  Demolition is underway upstairs and we made a purchase that will serve as the center of our new master bathroom.

Lots Lots Lots to share! :]

Until then, here are a few pictures of my family filled week!

<3

It's MINE, ALLLLL MIIIINNNEEEE!

Celebration is in order!  I am now in possession of a SEWING MACHINE!!!

My WONDERFUL aunt gave this to me! It's definitely a little older but it's the perfect beginners machine and if needed I can upgrade later! 

Now I need to get on those ottoman covers! Aimee, Sarah, Learn me.