Grand Baby Work Trip (part 2)

Back in November Dale found a great flight price and asked if I might need a grand baby trip March?  Of course I would!   So he booked it.  Then in January Mickayla and Steven found a home that they wanted to buy.  They have been living in a 2 bedroom apartment that has been perfect for them but with the birth of another baby in July they have been feeling like they needed a bigger place.  The home they bought had really great bones but needed cosmetic work.  Some of the work would pretty intense (the kitchen) but with a little hard work they knew it could be a perfect home for them for many years.  

They closed on February 28 and I arrived for my grand baby visit on the 29th.  They picked me up from Mom’s and we drove to Idaho and literally got to work! 

Kitchen Before...

Mickayla is always awesome to have lots of veggies for me to eat.

Life sanding 




Steven pulled up all of the tile and removed all of the doors and removed the upper cabinets to the left of the sink, and the sanding and priming began.  There will be open shelving where the cabinets were.  

Steven cutting new doors for the cabinets 

Paint is looking good on the cabinets!






This is their family room that is an addition on the back porch of the house!  It’s an amazing room full of windows and amazing lights and trees outside each window.  We decided these beams needed to go. 


So much better with them down!  It made the room feel so much taller without them.  



I was super impressed with Steven’s willingness to learn to do new things and his over patience with the projects! 



Paining began!  Mickayla decided to keep the wood in the windows because they are beautiful and to paint all the wood trip white that was not beautiful.  It made a huge difference!  

The kitchen floor became a much bigger beast than anticipated!  Steven got the tile out pretty quickly but then there were screws and staples and a sub floor that had to come up and that took much longer.  Steven was a trooper and kept at it!  

One day was super beautiful outside so we decided we had to stop and take baby to the park.  He loved it! 

Many trips to Home Depot were taken!  Baby loved those trips because he could ride in the buggy that had a steering wheel. 

Madi and Haylee arrived!!!!  They had been in San Diego with the Wheelers and as soon as they returned home they came right over to help!  I loved seeing them and I’m always super impressed with what hard workers my girls are. 



Madi and Haylee decided ice cream was in order because of all the hard work.  Baby loved it! 


The kitchen sink was another “simple” project that was totally underestimated.   The old faucet has a lot of rust which made it impossible to remove.  Steven kept with it and asked his friends and researched how to get it off and eventually it came off!  

The old stove hood was super ugly and super old.  There was discussion about cleaning and painting it.  Once the discovery was made a new hood could be purchased for 50 bucks the decision was made, out with the old in with the new! 



Cabinet doors were sanded and painted by Mickayla and are ready to hang!  We started hanging them but other projects were more pressing so these would need to wait.


I was super impressed with Mickayla and Steven’s willingness to do projects correctly and not skip steps. I was also impressed with their willingness to learn how to do new things and not be frustrated and finish projects completely. I see many more projects in their future!