Basement comes out of darkness!

Didn't expect this to happen - but while we are waiting for some larger items to occur on the main level, we decided to tackle the basement. This was not on our agenda till winter or next year!!

But Rayzanna and Jozanna and Dexter and his girlfriend Maddy all got going and we have progress! It looks fantastic.

Yes - you heard her correctly - she referred to our pre-painted walls as pee and poop!

That video was taken Tuesday and since then we have started painting the kitchen downstairs as well. We are a little slow because we are still using this space to paint doors, our trim for upstairs is still downstairs, some of our upstairs doors are still downstairs. But little by little we are getting rid of our pee.... coloured walls!

It's like Maddy said, 'it's amazing what just a coat of paint can do!' So for relatively cheaply, you can brighten and update a room with just a coat of paint.

Upstairs the wall has been opened up where the patio doors are going to go. This is going to provide amazing light for our dining room and living room.

Looks a little like a garage door right now! The white door to the left has since been removed and today we are hoping to insulate the area and drywall and ... maybe?even mud. Once we get this underway we can finally start painting the ceiling and walls and trim.

As you can see the kitchen ceiling with the knotty pine has been finished - just needs a whitewash and it will be good to go. The beauty of this kind of finish is it covers all kinds of ceiling sins; holes, guages, imperfect drywall mudding/patching, etc. And at Windsor Plywood it was selling for .44 a linear foot - so the price was right too. Now you have to appreciate imperfections - if you enjoy a smooth, very clean finish, this might not be right for you.

Jozee also has a plan for her bedroom and it also included doing one wall with this knotty pine.

I'm not even 100% sure what her plan is for her room - so that will be fun to see her put that all together. Both girls are in charge of their rooms and have ideas for them - quite cool!

So every day a little more gets done. The upstairs feels slow right now, but all of a sudden we are going to be flying! The basement is coming out of its dark, grudge look and I think once all is said and done it will look pretty darn good. (minus the flooring and and a few odds and ends - but we will overlook that!)

We are a little behind again because we had a big Rempel family gathering at MCI, Gretna this past weekend. It was a good time to get together with family and with mom Rempel. Some people you see at least once a year, but some this biannual gathering is the only time we see each other. We spent time visiting, playing games, eating, going to Plum Coulee beach (YES there is a great little beach in Plum Coulee!!), singing, worshiping, sharing, taking photos, doing an amazing race and more. It was fun - a little exhausting - and precious memories were made.

Coming home from that gathering... well that is another blog that needs to be written, but needs some time to get the words right.

tata!