The Heidt Family

Last weeks guest bloggers were none other than Grandma and Grandpa! There were some technical difficulties and time constraints that didn't allow them to finish out their post after their visit last weekend. They took a lot more pictures than us and so I thought they might want to post theirs first! I guess Grandpa enjoyed working super hard so much that he wanted to do some more. He came back for a second weekend of work with us! I know I'm super behind with everything (more than usual), but here are some pictures and some updates on our huge basement project.

Basement office: Painted, drop ceiling hung, all electrical completed. John calls this "highlighter green" (actual color name is limescent). It is more intense in real life, but there isn't any natural light in this room so I wanted to brighten it up. I love to see people's response to the color in person because everyone tries to be polite, but I don't think anyone likes it like I do. I'm okay with that because I really like how the room is looking.

I am considering painting the lower half of this room a brown and putting in a chair rail of some kind. Flooring is purchased, leveling compound is curing to (obviously) level out one area of the floor. The light switch cover in one of the pictures below is Grandma's contribution to the project last weekend.

The playroom: is located off of the office - you can see the green peeking through. The base color of this room is called Sapphire Glow. It is so beautiful, lovely, polite, and charming that I am totally in love with it. So in love that I would probably marry it if I wasn't already spoken for. I think everyone should have a room this color in their house - EVERYONE because it is just that amazing. I have spent an embarassing amount of time just admiring the color on the walls and mentally repainting every room in our house (and most of you all's houses) in this shade. I am hand painting the very fun blue circles on the walls and I love them also. Two circles need touch ups and then they will be complete. The drop ceiling in this room is now complete as is all the wiring.

The closet off the playroom now has an actual light fixture that lights when a switch is flipped. Flooring and doors will make the playroom complete (the closet doesn't get flooring).

Last weekend I was able to tackle the ceramic tile in the bathroom while Grandma watched William (thanks Mom!). I am quite proud to report that I am the Installer of Ceramic Tile in this house. There is still some work to be done with the floor to finish the tiling. This weekend the ceiling was finished and wall painting began. Unfortunately, the wall color is NOT what I had in mind, so I think we're going to have to start over on that one. Grrr...

We have also purchased the wall tile, toilet, cabinet, faucet and other fixtures for this room. But, they are all waiting for the floor/painting to be done.

Last weekend we got all the ceilings primed for painting. We painted all the ceiling in the basement on Friday. We were super excited to be totally done with ceilings, but on Saturday is was clear that the ceiling was not what I/we had in mind. So, a large chunk of time and money was spent on Saturday sanding and repainting the ceilings in the bedroom and family room. NOW the all the ceilings are completed *fingers crossed* in the basement. If you look carefully in the above picture, you can see the problem with the ceiling - the stripes of texture.

Another picture of primed/painted ceilings in the family room area. This area has a LOT of work left to be done: carpet, ceramic tile in the entry way, painting, doors, etc.

Here is Grandpa hard at work finishing up by installing some outlets. Grandpa actually wore out a pair of knee pads working on our basement this last year.

I don't have a current picture of the bedroom mainly because nothing is happening in there. The ceiling is painted, the walls are primed. That is about it.

And just for fun, here are some pictures of the little guy. He is becoming more independent by the second and wants to be in the middle of everything. He was outraged the last two weekends that he was not allowed to hang out in the basement with the boys and help them with their work. Anytime there was any noise coming from the basement when he was awake, he would run to the gate at the top of the stairs. From his perch at the top of the steps, he would alternate crying with yelling of orders down to the guys working below. He was NOT happy to be left upstairs with Mama/Grandma at all. We had to start timing our trips upstairs as to when he would be busy with other things. By the end of the weekend, just the sound of the gate opening was enough to send him into a fit of unhappiness if he wasn't allowed to go downstairs.

*Well, this is going to have to be at least another post because I have the worst headache and need to go to bed! Hopefully I'll be able to do more tomorrow....buenos noches!

Grandpa Kevin came back to see us again this weekend as Grandma is at a work conference for the whole weekend. We miss Grandma - but we are sure glad to see Grandpa again! We've been busy working all day, but I wanted to make sure to post about our exciting morning. We all experienced our first earthquake! The biggest episode occurred early this morning (yesterday) around 4:30 am and Grandpa is the only one who woke up. The rest of us kept on sleeping. The second one that we could feel happened about 10:15 this morning. William and I both felt it in the upstairs portion of the house while the guys working in the basement didn't feel a thing. It kind of felt like a train going really close by our house and rattling things around. Not to worry - there aren't any reports of damage here or anywhere nearby.

I'll be back later with more pictures/stories/etc. It is late and I'm tired!