House of Bennetts

While 2017 has been the hardest year we have endured yet, we are starting to see the light. Starting to get fired up about doing projects again and ready to learn new things. Maybe some of that is because I started bullet journaling. (I'll do a whole post on that soon. It's freaking awesome). But really, I think I need to see some changes in my physical space. It's time to take this builder grade house and make it into OURS.

Basement Walkout

The priority number one that we are doing is making the basement a walkout on the side by the dart board. This window shall magically become a door.

We are doing this primarily so that we can AirBNB out the basement. We LOVED that we were able to rent the basement in our last house and it allowed us to do all sorts of renovation projects. We will also add a small "kitchen" area: toaster oven, micro, coffee, mini fridge. No sink though. If we really get cranking on this stuff, perhaps we will add a full kitchen down here.

Master Bath

While I'd love to do a full gut of this space- I HATE the tile with a passion- I think we will start with new hardware on the cabinets and painting them. I have gone over and over and over what color to paint these cabinets because eventually, I WILL GUT THIS SPACE. So trying to find a color that may work when I eventually demo out the whole right side of the bathroom is causing me designing angina.

"Kids Bathroom"

It's cute how I have it decked out for Lyla, but boasts much of the same offensive paint and cabinetry as our bathroom. Just blah. And naked... with no hardware.

PAINT EVERYWHERE

We've only painted the first floor common spaces, LB's office, our master bedroom, and Lyla's room. I LOATHE THE PAINT THROUGHOUT THE REST OF THE HOUSE. Flesh is not a color. But somehow it is. And I hate it.

Crown & A Rug in the Living Room

What is clearly the most done space is the living room. We love it so much we basically live in it... get it? Hilarious. But it needs crown molding... that's right, I said NEEDS. And it just calls for a rug to tie the room together. I wish that was meant to be a Big Lebowski pun, but it wasn't. It really does need a rug.

The Main Floor Bath

Just add some board and batten and paint it. Immediately. It's so boring. And replace the blinds. Woof.

The Kitchen. The God Damn Kitchen

This kitchen needs: painted cabinets, new countertops, new hardware, a backsplash and window casements. So just a few VERY EXPENSIVE THINGS. And don't worry... I have already replaced those fugly lights.

So yeah. We've got quite the to-do list. It's a tad ridic. But what also is ridic is the amount of updated house tours that I owe you kind folks. We've changed a lot. I am adding a blog page to my bullet journal... which means... this shit is gonna get done. :)

Bluetooth Deadbolt

In that same previous techie post, I posted about our Kevo Lock. We still love that one, but we are going to give this bad boy a try this time. Kevo appears to only work for i-phones that have downloaded the Kevo app. With the new lock, we are hoping to have a numerical code that can be given out to non-techie folks too (and then changed when needed).

Nest Cameras

We have had three of these for over a year now and I love them so much. Besides the security video that they provide, we get to capture fun family moments that otherwise might have been missed. Lyla rolling over for the first time is one example. The biggest use they get though is the answer to the ever-asked question of, "What time did she go down?" We can pull up the video and look to see when the last motion was. We use this in her room along with a traditional monitor. It's great. We love it. (The most cost effective way to buy these is in a three pack for $500. At $200 each, you save $100 with the bundle pack.)