Tag: update

Posted on

While we were Away

I haven’t posted in awhile, but it’s not because nothing has been happening. We have been so busy over the past 3 months that I’ve hardly had a spare minute to document all the things we’ve been up to. I’m better at giving regular, real-time updates on instagram in my posts and stories. So go check us out there if you want to stay updated with what we’ve got going on daily! Otherwise, keep reading for the quick summary of what we’ve been up to and the sneak peeks on all the upcoming blog posts. 

Since my last blog post:

  • We finished our deck build (including the second story balcony off our master bedroom)

  • We installed hardwood floors downstairs (that washable rug is Lorena Canals) 

  • We remodeled this adorable (and free) outdoor playhouse for our girls that was given to us by our neighbors

  • We moved our office space into an office nook (I.e. in a corner in the playroom)

  • We uncovered a massive leak in our sports room which subsequently led to us ripping out about 2 full sheets worth of plywood to uncover what was causing the leak- stopped the leak, but still need to repair the damage from the leak and close the wall up.

  • We weathered hurricane Irma, and lost a couple trees, storage shed and some fencing

  • We removed all the debris and shed

  • We DIY painted/sealed the lower deck and started on the stairs and upper deck

  • We replaced our entire fence with the help of Fence Hut

  • We turned our office into a guest bedroom (after the office nook space was created)

  • We installed lots and lots of shelves during a massive home reorganization

  • We hung lights in our backyard

  • And we saved 15% on car insurance by switching to geico

Okay… I’m kidding on that last one. We actually just dropped geico because progressive had better rates… and there was that one time I dressed up as Flo for Halloween…

Also since my last post, we’ve had some big things happening in our family:

  • Our sweet second niece, Charlie was born

  • We were the tackiest tourists ever on our first Disney cruise

  • Our littlest babe turned a year old

  • I ran my first half marathon

  • And we went on our first ever family camping trip- with our 1 and 2 year old… and had a BLAST!

So the bad news is that while I’ve been neglecting my blog, you guys have missed a few things. The good news is, I have a very long list of blog post topics to share with you guys and I’m fully planning on dishing out all of the ins and outs, good and bad of basically everything in that list up there.

I also have a HUGE secret (No, I’m NOT pregnant). I don’t want to say too much and jinx a possible opportunity, but we are working on some really big things that are all around good for our family, life goals and really good blog content. The blog content part wasn’t our biggest motivator, but it is without a doubt a nice perk! So stay tuned, sit back and enjoy the good stuff ahead. Thanks for following along friends!

Posted on

Our DIY Walk-through Closet

When we first moved to this house, we struggled to decide which bedroom we wanted to make ours. Moving into a house built in the 1940’s with an entire wing and second story that was added in the early 2000’s meant that we somehow lucked out with 3 master bedrooms (as in 3 of our 5 bedrooms are extremely large and have master bathrooms connected to them).

We ended up picking the upstairs master as our bedroom.

The logistics just all worked out best this way, plus, by picking the upstairs bedroom, we had our own private outdoor balcony off the bedroom – which we are currently in the process of screening in. YAY for finally being able to enjoy the outdoors without the mosquitos!


While the room we picked was marvelously huge, the closets inside weren’t. The hallway leading into the room has 2 very shallow and narrow closets that couldn’t hold my clothes, let alone the clothes for 2 people.


Once  we got everything arranged in the room, I just felt so inefficient having so much unused floor space in the middle of the room. I literally could have hosted yoga classes in our bedroom y’all! I toyed with the idea of incorporating a sitting area with a sectional couch, an office, a library nook, a mini-fridge/bar or even extending our bathroom to make room in there for a tub (since we only have a shower in our master bath). After finally getting everything unpacked and out of the moving boxes, it was clear that the best use of all of this unused space was to figure out how to increase the closet and storage space up here.

After brainstorming and researching all kinds of closet layouts/configurations and trying to determine the best spot for one in our bedroom, we decided to install a single wall to anchor our bed and use the space behind it to house our closet. With roughly $60 worth of 2X4’s, a saw, level, stud-finder and some screws, my dad and I built this:


We measured the length we wanted for the wall, keeping in mind the fact that the wood would be framed in drywall afterward. We cut the top and bottom 2X4s first and then cut all the interior supports to run between them.  We built the framing while it was laid flat on the floor. Once the entire wall was framed and the supports were screwed together, we hoisted it upright and attached it to the floor and ceiling studs. When we installed it, our original floor was still down. We just used a circular saw to cut the vinyl planks where the bottom 2X4 would sit so that the wall would be anchored to the sub floor and through to the floor joists underneath. Luckily I knew we would be redoing the floors with hardwood floors shortly thereafter, so the cuts didn’t have to be perfect.

Before wrapping it in drywall, we had an electrician run an outlet on either side of where our bed would sit for phone chargers/lamps etc. and we also had them install 3 can lights in the closet with a 2-way switch just inside the closet on either side of the wall so that we could reach in and turn the light on or off from either entryway. The electrician also helped us relocate our bedroom lights. Originally the upstairs master had 2 ceiling fans which had been demolished by the previous owners (when you buy a house that was previously foreclosed, demolished fans, graffiti on bedroom walls, missing doors/mirrors/lights/appliances are all standard expectations). We wanted just 1 accent light in the middle of the room and we decided on this brass/gold starburst light from Dot & Bo.


After the electrician, drywall and texture, we we’re about $500 all in for our DIY closet. However, I will say that pre-fab shelving closet units with drawers/shelves etc. (even from IKEA) are NOT cheap. After going in store and building our “dream” closet in their interactive 3D design shop, we ended up changing all kinds of things around because $3,000 for a closet was just not in the budget. We saved significant money by opting for no doors on the closets, choosing shelves and clothes hanger rods instead of drawers, configuring the widths and depths in such a way so that we didn’t have to pay extra for 2 corner units, and leaving off all the very cool, but mostly unneeded accessories (I.e. Pull out tie hanger, shoe holder, jewelry/accessory drawers, ironing board attachment, fancy pants hanger attachments etc.)

The wardrobes/closets from IKEA with the shelves, rods, drawers and delivery charges were roughly $1,000 by the time we had cut things back as much as we reasonably could although you could save on this expense considerably if you decided to tackle some DIY shelving and clothing rods made from metal piping.

When we put this wall up, we knew we wanted to maximize the space behind it and run the closets the full width of the room. One thing I wasn’t sure about is whether or not I would like being able to look into my closets (without being able to shut them off with a door on either side) but I also wasn’t a fan of any of the door options I came across. The pricing of doors and door frames kept creeping the cost of this renovation even higher and frankly, we are total amateurs when it comes to this stuff, so it was a bit intimidating to start thinking about DIY-ing a couple doors. Surprisingly though, since we opted for the black closets, when the closet light is off, you can hardly see into the closets. Here’s a shot of the room with the closet light on.


And here’s a shot with the light off.


With the closet light off, everything just fades into the darkness, and I love the clean modern lines sans doors almost as much as I loved not having to pay for and attempt the install of said doors.

Here are some shots from the inside of our closet. You can see how we saved money by organizing our shoes on shallow wardrobes on the sides with lots of shelves instead of purchasing the expensive shoe attachments. I used the extra wall space for my jewelry and some hooks for a scarf organizer and we incorporated a couple of our original dressers to have a few more drawers. We splurged on 3 drawers built into the wardrobe and used black boxes from IKEA on shelves for other things like socks and underwear. I also organized my fold-able shirts and jeans on open shelving instead of in drawers and it’s actually my preference to store them that way because it’s easier to see all of the folded items as opposed to only the top if they were stuck inside a drawer.


And now we have more than enough closet space to hold our clothes for every season! What creative closet solutions have worked for you? Comment below 👇 I’d love to hear your stories too!

Posted on

A $30 Instant Wallpaper Shelving Makeover

I went to Target today to grab a few groceries and like most people I know, I am nearly incapable of leaving without at least 1 additional item that I don’t actually need. Well today I came home with 2. I bought 2 of these temporary wallpaper stick-ons because we’re planning on working on house stuff this weekend and, why not?

I bought one roll of this faux subway tile wallpaper to try out in our kitchen backsplash. I’ll let you know how that one goes.


I also bought one of these fun speckled wallpaper prints to spice up the built in shelves in our dining room nook.


This nook is tucked into a corner that divides our playroom and dining room. This is what it looked like before.


I’m constantly changing these shelves around. Originally they held board games. Then they held seasonal decorations that weren’t being used and before I organized some of our China (pictured above), they were just cluttered with everything from crayons to light bulbs. So today I decided to switch things up again and find a spot for our China in one of our kitchen cabinets.


I started by clearing the shelves. Then I measured the back of the cabinets, unrolled the Dalmatian print wallpaper, flipped it to the back side and used a ruler, tape measure and a pen to mark the dimensions. Then I cut the first panel out and held it up to make sure it fit. Since 3 of the 4 shelves measure the same height, I used the first cut to trace 2 others which made the process even quicker and easier.


Then it was peel, stick and rub. They go on like big stickers and aside from carefully smoothing them to make sure you’re not stuck with creases, they are extremely easy to apply. The directions say to have a flat clean surface. I did wipe the shelves down with a damp rag, but the backs of the shelves are actually textured and the wallpaper still went on just fine. I think it also helped that I was sticking the wallpaper into a boxed in area.

Here’s a shot of the textured back and sides that I stuck the wallpaper to.


After I finished applying the wallpaper, I filled the shelves. I decided to go back with the fun books/board games look!


With our DIY Instant Photo display, shelving makeover, and that fun carved piece that I got in Puerto Rico, this little nook is so cheery now.

The wallpaper was $29.99 and I still have lots leftover. The project took me less than an hour from start to finish… and that’s with a 6-month-old strapped to my chest!

Posted on

Our Front Landscaping Project- Part 1

We started our landscaping last weekend. When I envisioned what we would accomplish, I had originally planned to start and finish our landscaping last weekend, but I seriously underestimated the time it takes to dig holes and plant plants. Also, home improvement with 2 kids under 3 usually means spending 3 times as long on each task. Luckily the bulk of our work happened on Saturday and the grandparents took the oldest little to Disney for the day. So JP and I knocked out quite a bit with the littlest strapped to me in our Tula (shown below- just so you know that it really happened).

Here’s what the front landscape looked like before.

It was already pretty bare because we purged a TON of overgrown bushes shortly after we moved in with plans to re-landscape everything eventually.

We ripped most of the existing plants out- which ended up being just 4 bushes and a whole bunch of weeds. We left our palm trees and some other small plants around the corner. Then we laid down some weed barrier and tacked it down with metal stakes. (Note: we decided NOT to rake out all the flower beds before laying down the weed barrier. So instead of having clean and fresh dirt, we left the old weed barriers and some leaves down underneath. With the mindset that it would be even more help to keep weeds from growing. If it does in fact keep the weeds out better, then it will be worth it, but it did make it significantly harder to dig holes and plant the new plants.) Here;s a shot of the freshly laid weed barrier.

It took 3 (Kia Sorento) cars full of plants from Lowe’s to stock this landscape, but I planned ahead and picked up a few plants at a time earlier in the week on my lunch breaks. We really just made multiple trips out of sheer practicality and the fact that our car could only hold so much. In hindsight, it was really good to take multiple trips throughout the week because it allowed me to place the plants where I thought I wanted them and get a rough idea of how many more of each thing we needed. I was also able to better gauge the balance of large/medium/small plants and make sure the landscape was well balanced. By Saturday, I just needed a few more fluffy cattails and some smaller ground covering.

Once we had all the plants, I arranged them the way I wanted them. Originally I had envisioned rows and straight lines and once I got them all laid out, I switched it up to clusters. I arranged a lot of the medium/larger plants in triangle clusters. I still used a few lines, with the smaller plants like the spider plants around the oak tree pictured below.

I also used straight lines for the small Mexican Hair Grass and the concrete planters holding the Queen’s Mum African Lillies both shown below. Because the planters are so boxy, it was imperative that they were evenly spaced and level. We actually pulled some of the white landscape border stones (shown in the picture above) and used them underneath the planters to give them a hard surface to rest on and also to raise them up a bit. We actually measured their location with a tape measure and then made sure each one was level before pouring the dirt in.


I found those concrete planters at Target, and I can’t link them for you because they are so gone. I drove to 4 different targets just to find those 3, none of them showed up online as being available (not even in the store) and none of them were able to be shipped so we completely lucked out getting these 3. I loved them so much I got a pair of smaller ones to frame the front door (shown below).

After all the plants were placed in their final resting places, we started planting- well JP started planting. I watched and held the baby and then once he got far enough over I started shoveling the rocks in.

We’ve still got a long way to go before we’re finished, but were just doing a little at a time in the evenings between work and diaper changes and making dinner

Here’s a shot closer to sunset once the spot lights had turned on.


The lights make a big difference, and we’ve got a few more to place before we’re finished. We got these Threshold solar powered spotlights from Target. They’re 15 lumens and work so great. Right now, they’re selling for $10 a piece in store, but you can go to this link and get them for $8.50 online.

My goal for our landscape was to get super low-maintenance plants that are hardy enough to not need to be watered all the time. I didn’t want any bushes that would have to be trimmed. I also didn’t want any weeds (I mean who does?) Are you noticing a pattern here? In case you missed it, we don’t like yard work. So in our search of a nice yard without the work, I settled on a drought resistant, midwest modern landscape vibe.

We got a lot of succulents, cattails, aloe plants, snake and spider plants, hardy grasses and kid-friendly cacti (ones without big pointy needles). I also incorporated some pineapple plants I had in pots in our backyard. We went with white rocks to contrast our dark house color and all in we are very happy with how it’s turning out. We are looking forward to the days when we can be done with yard work and enjoy our easy low-maintenance, environmentally friendly landscape.

Posted on

Updates on our Backyard Renovation

I’m so excited about the progress we’re making on our Backyard Renovation! So far, we have demolished the entire deck including the second story balcony, stairs and outhouse.  We’ve leveled out the dirt to prepare for the new deck and while everything was torn down, we thought it would be the perfect time to paint our house. So we did that too. And after this poll, we decided to go with the darker color for our house despite the fact that approximately 90+ percent of you guys voted for the lighter color. If you know me well, then you know I am anything but the type to follow the crowd, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.

Right now our backyard is a construction zone. It’s full of dirt and it’s nearly impossible to keep the dogs from tracking all the dirt inside. So don’t expect too many posts about the inside of our house, until we get this backyard renovation completed, because I’m basically constantly cleaning and yet nothing ever seems clean. That’s the life of a full-time working mama in the middle of big home renovations right? We do make time for our kiddos and we love our family time. This past Easter weekend was full of it. Here’s a sweet shot of us at church yesterday after the Easter service.

We spent this weekend out and about, because there’s not too many spots around here to hangout with the construction zone in the back and the front yard off limits because we are trying to grow us some grass. Luckily, we are fortunate to have family with an awesome pool to spend all afternoon Sunday swimming. Meanwhile in our backyard… There is a LOT of dirt and leaves.

We have made some big decisions on the backyard renovation. We decided to do all wood deck (instead of concrete) for the bottom and top story, so that we could keep our live oak. We also decided not to put a roof over the entire deck, just the top balcony (which is off our master bedroom). The top balcony will be covered and screened in. We may add in a roof over the bottom at some point, but for now, our tree gives us plenty of shade and the Tree Lady  says it’s in perfect condition to live on for years to come. You can see the trunk in the picture below.

We have also decided to keep the shell of our backyard shed for now (pictured below).

We have never used this for anything but occasional storage, and had originally planned on tearing it down to make more backyard space for the dogs and kids to play in. However, now that we’re not planning to have a roof put in over the bottom deck, we’re thinking we may take the walls and floors out and keep the supports and the roof to have our own little covered space. Stay tuned to see what we do with it!

I know there is still a lot left to do, but it’s encouraging to see how far we’ve come already when this is where we started.

We can’t wait to share the finished product with you! You can follow us on Instagram (@phillipsflips) to stay in the loop with all of our day to day progress and updates.

 

Posted on

Backyard Renovation Updates: Demolition Progress, Next Steps & Bad News about our Trees

Last week we learned that aluminum costs way more than we thought. We got a price quote for the entire rebuild of our second story deck which includes demo of the current deck and stairs, custom built, water sealed storage under the stairs, a full rebuild of the stairs and second story deck as well as having all of the upright posts wrapped in cedar. The aluminum roof quote which includes demo of the current aluminum roof and installation of new aluminum roof as well as screening in the second story deck was nearly 2 times the cost of the deck quote and about 4 times more than we were expecting. Before we got the quote for the aluminum, we were thinking that we were very close to having the money saved up to cover the whole project. Now, we are certain that we don’t have enough cash at the moment, but we are plugging on. We’re going to take each item one step at a time and if this means that we have dirt as the ground covering for our bottom floor for a few months, while we save up, then so be it. Maybe we will let Piper experience the fun of mud-pies once it starts getting rainy around here.

While we did have a bit of sticker shock from the aluminum roofing quote, we decided to keep the momentum going and continue to move forward with the renovation. Right now we’re simultaneously working on finalizing the drafts and getting architect’s approval on our rebuild while we are DIY demoing the bottom deck.

Anyone need some old wood? We are not quite halfway through the bottom story demo and this is our output. Thinking that perhaps one dumpster won’t be enough to hold everything! 

Speaking of our DIY deck demo, here’s what we’ve done on that so far:


It’s definitely coming along. We still need to demo the main area under roof and then we have to tackle the shed back there.

Here’s another shot of the deck we have left to demo:

(Featuring our newest addition to the indoor house plants! I found this guy at Lowes this weekend and brought him home as our first medium-sized floor plant/tree. Hoping he enjoys our family room as much as we do.)

In other news, The Tree Lady came out this weekend to talk to us about our oak trees. She had amazing insight and I learned a ton in just the 15 minutes she was here. I highly recommend her if you’re looking to trim/remove/save your trees and are located in Winter Haven, FL or surrounding areas! The main reason we brought her out was to talk to her about trimming up the tree in the picture above (not our newest little guy – that big live oak to the left). One of the large branches that’s currently stretching out above our current roof needs to be removed completely in order to make way for our new roof plans. We plan to push the current roof up to the same level as the second story roof so that from the second story you can look down into the main patio area. So we needed to make sure that we could remove the branch without killing the whole tree – because my dream was to leave the tree there and work our patio space/concrete floors/aluminum roof around it. The good news is we can cut the branch with a 60-ish% chance of survival for the tree.

The bad news is, the only  ground cover we can put back down this close to the tree is more deck. The concrete we want would be ruined within a few years because the roots of the live oak would try to surface and push up through the concrete. So after serious thought and discussions about potentially changing our whole deck plans to accommodate this tree, we decided with heavy hearts that we will remove the whole tree instead.

Fun fact: when you look at a tree’s canopy (the large green part at the top), the root system of that tree will be 2.5 times bigger than the canopy.

So that means that this tree right here is already growing big surface-level roots dangerously close to our house’s foundation and while it may not be an issue right now, we can surely expect it to be an issue in 10 or so years. So even though 10 years sounds like a lifetime away, we determined it would be in the long-term best interest of the house/deck/future homeowners, to remove the tree.

As we plug along on our demo, the first official contracted step of the backyard renovation is taking off today! Our aluminum roofing guy is coming out to demo the roof. After he takes the roof down, he will determine how much (if any) of the aluminum panels can be reused and we are hoping that once the demo is finished, we will learn that the majority of pieces can be reused for our new roof which would save us a considerable amount on the roofing quote. More on that next week.