A new coop

Last spring #1 and I decided to incubate eggs and have chicks. Mr. Wiedz was unimpressed but didn't otherwise have much to say about it. If you remember, only one of those eggs hatched but we purchased 5 more chicks from the feed store and had a nice little flock. They stayed in the boorder for way too long, they probably could have gotten out on their own. Without many other options at the time I covered escape areas with boards in our shed and made a largish area for them, but after awhile in the shed I was worried because there was no sunlight, no bugs to eat, no grass, no good "pasturing".

So I let them loose. We've never had free-range chickens before, and now I know why. There was poop everywhere. They ate plants I didn't want eaten. They got into the garage and even the house (only once). Mr. Wiedz had had enough. He didn't want the chickens, he didn't like the chickens, but he would get something made for them outside...just no more free-ranging.

On project weekend (when the clothesline and play set were built) Mr. Wiedz and my dad set up a fence for the chickens. And Mr. Wiedz built them a nice roost/nest area. The only problem was that they had never roosted before (no roosting spot in the shed) and just couldn't for the life of them figure it out. They tried the fence (I lined it with cardboard to keep them off) and they eventually settled on sleeping in the nest and piling on one open area next to the nests. Mr. Wiedz saw the need for a better solution.

There's a funny thing about Mr. Wiedz. He has to "catch a vision" before he can do anything. Without a "vision" there's no project, it doesn't matter how many plans I draw out or discuss with him. So a couple weeks ago, he got the "vision" for the chicken coop and started to work. The funniest part was after each addition to the coop he'd have to sit and look at it for a bit to "see" the next part!

But what a great vision it turned out to be. A coop for the chickens that opens up at the nest boxes to get eggs (complete with a bench across it so the kids can reach in) and a hatch that opens in the back to allow for cleaning. They still had trouble with roosting, we had to put them on the roost the first night and they had trouble figuring out how to get down the next morning, but now they've figured it out!

And of course there were never a shortage of helpers.

Doesn't it look great?

Now along with all of this coop building we celebrated #1's birthday and our lovely neighbor/landlord gave her more baby chicks as a present. We were wanting a few more chickens since the 5 laying hens wouldn't be able to keep up with our family's needs and our landlord thought our chickens were so great he wanted some for himself. So my brooder was full of chicks again.

Only this time there were more chicks. And they grew out of the brooder a lot sooner. I asked Mr. Wiedz to build some sort of box but with all the coop building he couldn't "catch the vision" for the box I needed. Since I didn't need anything fancy I put two boards together in the corner of the shed and *snap* I had a box with more room for my growing chicks.

During #1's week at camp I noticed that there seemed to be fewer chicks. But I couldn't remember how many we started with. When she got home I asked, she said there were 15. OK, that's a problem, now there were 12. Then the next day there were 11. Then the next there were 9.

So I suggested to Mr. Wiedz that I could line the under area of the coop with left over chicken wire and make a more secure area for the chicks. He agreed that something needed done and this seemed like a good solution. He also agreed that we'd have to tell Mr. Landlord so he could get some more (he has a free supplier).

Monday, after we took Mr. Wiedz to the airport for a work trip and I got #5 down for bed I got out my supplies.

Documented what I was trying change. And noticed that sometime during the day our numbers went from 9 to 8.

Set to work getting chicken wire up.

And moved the chicks to their new home.

It was really funny to watch the older chickens (separated by two layers of fence from their new friends) react to the new chicks being put in the coop. The new chicks seem happy in their new digs and so far we still have 8 chicks.

Doesn't my room look so pretty?

We got a lot done in our room this weekend.

Mr. Wiedz and I stayed up late Friday night, Mr. Wiedz worked most of the day on Saturday and another late night for both of us on Saturday night but we have our room painted and some of our furniture moved. We also have our light fixtures up!

The wall our bed is on is painted "cup of cocoa" and every other wall and ceiling in the master suite is "antique white". The room looks big, clean, warm and calming. It is perfect!

And the light fixtures are fabulous! When we were wiring the new parts of this project I asked if we could have sconces on each side of the bed. Mr. Wiedz made that happen and we found perfect sconces at Home Depot. And Mr. Wiedz installed them on a dimmer switch!

Mr. Wiedz installed the closet system to the new walk-in closet...his and hers sides. Shelves for tubs of out season clothes, belt racks, shelves for sweaters, tons of hanging space. A dream closet!

Some paint and a door!

We're getting down to the nitty-gritty in some areas of our remodel project. Mr. Wiedz hung the door on the boy's room. I've been wanting a door...everyone sleeps better and I'm not as worried about noise in the evening, nap times or morning. #2 helped attach the hardware. Mr. Wiedz has tried hard with this project to let the kids be involved. It is easy to get a one-track mind but he's done a good job and the kids have enjoyed the project.

With that in mind during nap time for the younger boys on Saturday we got out the paint rollers and set up #1 and #2 to paint some walls. They thought it was great fun. They used a lot of paint. Most of it went on the walls...

#1 was so cute...she sticks her tongue out when she paints...consentrating so hard.
But #2 was covered as well!

Still constructing...

Our remodel project is nearing some steps of completion but it still feels like we'll be trapped in remodel land FOREVER!We have old light fixtures partly down so we can paint under them but still have light. Once the paint dries Mr. Wiedz will install the new fixtures.And we're now living with paint fumes. Mr. Wiedz and I stayed up late getting the rolling done on our room where the new texture was dry. And we repainted our bathroom so the rooms have the same color palette. The painting continues today, getting all the corners we neglected last night as well as finding all the spots we missed.The balance of course is keeping the project moving forward but without the kids or family time suffering. Mr. Wiedz tends to get pretty single-minded when he's working on a project so I'm trying to keep him to manageable pieces today. He's finishing the light paint in our room this morning. This afternoon he'll install light fixtures and we'll move all the furniture from our new closet and our new hall into our room, tonight we can paint the closet and hall. Hopefully we can finish all the details on Sunday. Then we'll be able to work on the boy's room Monday.

Isn't remodeling FUN!

A little home project

***Friday's edit: I'm linking this post for my "Company Girls" Coffee.




Before:

Mr. Wiedz and I bought our home over 6 years ago. Prior to moving in Mr. Wiedz did a major renovation. Left out of the remodel at the time was a long narrow hallway that was original to the house and was weird. But it was something no one knew how to get rid of so it stayed. Last weekend Mr. Wiedz and I were talking about reorganizing our closet/purging old clothes that haven't seen the front of the closet in some time. This discussion led to dreaming how nice it would be to have a bigger closet...well lets knock out the wall and make a bigger closet right here... That train of thought led us through that entire side of the house, making changes and talking about what we could do.

Mr. Wiedz caught the vision! At this point were were just making bigger closets and a bigger room for all the boys to share. But at a point when he realized the wall next in line to come down was most likely a bearing wall and was made of lath and plaster a new vision came to him. A vision he could really get excited about!...He could get rid of the narrow hallway that had plagued him for 6 years.
Once Mr. Wiedz "catches the vision" he is ready to act. I asked him when we might take on this project...crowbar in hand he said, "right now!" That was on Saturday. Keep in mind Mr. Wiedz will be off for another business trip shortly, but he promised walls and doors before he leaves.

Starting Saturday he tore down and Tuesday his dad J came to help wire. Wednesday he hung drywall and today started the hot mud/taping process. I'm so tired of how dirty everything is. There is dust everywhere! And piles of stuff moved from space to space to make room for the next phase.The boys have really gotten into the remodeling project. Helping, chewing on nails, crawling through drywall dust, hammering, fetching tools, cleaning up (#2's favorite thing is vacuuming) and trying to do whatever they see Mr. Wiedz or (as below) they see Grandpa D doing (course we discourage playing with outlets...they just get extra pieces of wire to crimp and use the pliers on).Well, were done for this stage...Mr. Wiedz will be away for a couple of days and I have my promised walls, though there is no door on the boys' room...that's ok.

After:

I am tired of the mess and the work but I am excited for my new storage closet that used to be that horrible narrow hallway. And I got wall sconces on either side of my bed...I've always wanted those! And what girl doesn't dream of a walk-in closet? We really will enjoy our new layout and we think it is a more appealing floor plan if we ever decide to sell.