Patio Remodle (part 3) and the Sleep OVER

The caulking finally dried, and we each took an side and begin brush painting the cinder block.  It took only one gallon. We thought it would be more.  Amazing how each step changes how the patio feels! The walls up on the East and West side are all up and gonna be a perfect accent!

Looking at these photos and the nasty fans on the ceiling just make me shudder.  They were so dirty, and just UGleeeeeeee!

Tony kept making me laugh. His motto: Measure ONCE, Cut twice.  But we laughed together thru each oops! Due to it being Spring Break, we had a small interruption with a sleep over in the backyard!

 We got a 6-8 man tent and had 2 of the boys friends stay the night! Siah and Issac A. When we were at Walmart, Jordan found these cool headlamps for $1 each. WINNER for sleep over! They could barely wait for darkness.  There were adventures in the tunnels (water pipes that go under the road behind our house and open up at the foot hills). They love being able to go thru them. The boys roamed the desert and park during the day, and the evening was trampoline laughter and trying to get my camera and their headlamps make funny things with the lights! HIlarious!

Banana Splits at 10pm, and the joy of being able to play on the DS Game things ALL night in the tent! At 2AM, I opened the window and said, they could stay up but the giggling and yelling had to be quieter! Siah was the loudest of them all! About 3AM, it got quiet, until 6AM.  They were on the trampoline, laughing all over again!

 More on the patio redo tomorrow! And the hilarity of boys and brushing their teeth so so good! 

Remodeling-the work behind it all! (part 2)

Woo Hoo! We began, with lovely weather! Tony took a few days  off from work, and we dove into the remodel of our catch all back patio. Tony prayed before that we would not get angry and it would be a fun experience!  We were gonna clean all the walls, the nasty cinder block and ceilings! Luckily, I have a way cool steamer!

McCulloch MC1375 Canister Steam System 

This thing is amazing, I steamed the cinderblock and it looked almost perfect. Attaching the extensions made cleaning the ceilings and walls so much easier! YEAH!  

Tony  then caulked with this special cement caulking.  Jordan loved this stuff, as it smelled like frosting! It took forever to dry, and I kept finding Jordan in the patio, sniffing the cinder blocks!  Goober! Anytime anyone would come over to check on our progress, Jordon would explain the yummy smell of the caulking. 

The east side and one section of the north wall was to be paneled.  We also did the west corner of the patio too. (We being Tony, but I watched and cheered). The nasty old aluminum screen doors came down too! 

The pool table with its cover became our work station. It quickly filled up with tools and such.  The new screen doors were so beautiful.  I thought if we only did that, the patio already looked 100% better! The old ones were broken and held together with duct tape. Jordan is behind Tony, probably sniffing the frosting scented caulk!   The time was going fast, but Tony was on a mission to get things done! We couldn't paint the cinder blocks yet due to the caulking taking so long to dry. The helper of the week was Whitley, so he got to measure and be part of the cutting for the paneling for the walls.  It was a great help for Tony!  I love how happy Whitley looks too! That smile and the beautiful new screen door are reason to celebrate!  Stay tuned for the next installment of the Remodeling the Patio!

   

Remodeling Back Patio (part 1)

Jordan age 3, looking out the windows of back patio

 When we first moved to our house. (May 2012) The Littles were little! lol. It was a play room.  Jordan spent a lot of time in time out away from the other kids.  They could ride their bikes and play Legos in the room.  The screens took a beating as the Littles would shove their hands against it.

First fellowship at our new house

We started having fellowships from church at the house and the big enclosed patio was a great place for the food.  Come winter, Tony and the boys put up thick plastic to keep heat in and the cold winds out. Many fellowships thru the cold happened in this back patio.

November fellowship brrrrrrrrrrr

 It was tight with everyone in there, but warm and full of laughter! Much fun was had.
In 2013, Mom hornswoggled Eric into putting lattice with a border on the outside of the patio.  The screens were being beat up pretty bad. This was to keep them safer.  He did a great job! Mom tried to incorporate an ocean them. Decorating this place was tough!

4th of July

We had a big 4th of July Blow out in 2014, and I think it is the best the place looked! Mom had filled it with plants and patriotic decorations.

left is shelves of storage invading the room-plastic up 

 Then it became our dining room/fellowship hall/storage/catch all patio.

notice broken ping pong table?

 Mom tried to cover all the storage with blankets, table cloths...but it didn't fool anyone. It was a disaster. Broken ping pong table and toys. Legos ruled the ground and ants invaded due to the dining room being out there too.

Not to be dissuaded, We even had ERic and Rachel's reception there. YIKES!

We had such high hopes of totally enclosing it, making it square footage to the house.  We had a few contractors come out and the price was so much more than we had budgeted.  So..................
PINTEREST! and a marvelous blog Old Things New by Patti!! (she actually wrote me an email after I thanked her for blog post)
This is her photo of her patio, using paint drop cloths that changed our sadness to an open air patio to happiness!

 Go and see her transformation! It is amazing, and we were able to follow it to our patio!
We cleaned EVERYthing out, but the pool table and the refrigerator! Mom took a photo and then went to work with her photoshop to show Tony what it could look like!

Photoshopped using different add on's from the internet!  We did wind up buying that actual table set, and the blinds that are on the windows.  The sheers become paint drop cloths and our fans are white!  

 And now the after!!!

 OUr first small fellowship! Tony also got a full sized pool table to go along with it!

 The "littles" playing pool with Dad at night in the back patio, with curtains closed!

 The other side of freshly painted and cleaned patio.  New walls up too. Stay tuned for during remodel photos!

This was today, it is stormy and very very windy! Tony and I spent lunch in the patio..NO dirt! just a lovely time!