Category: exterior

Front Porch

Dale uses his utility trailer to carry his tools and supplies for his convenience.

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying your summer! Dale and I are having a much better summer this year! Last summer we were recovering from the flood. Not fun at all.

 Summer 2016. Through it all we kept our spirits up.

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Well let me tell you about our front porch! Early spring we were ready to give the front porch a finish look by adding lattice to the bottom. But before we could do that Dale needed to address the dirt that was washing out from underneath the porch. He installed 2 x 10’s around the bottom to hold the gravel. Dale used a type of gravel call washout; it is some kind of crushed concrete and fairly inexpensive. He put about a yard of gravel within the border he made and compacted as much as possible. Now for the fun stuff! We choose the smallest square lattice we could find, which I think looks elegant. Once Dale finish applying the lattice, he covered the rough edges using 1 x 4’s. At that point the porch was looking much better, but we noticed when walking up the stairs you could see between the steps and it kind of looked dark and scary underneath. Ha-ha! I believe because our steps are high, it’s very noticeable. To solve the issue Dale installed 2 x 8’s between the steps. No more dark and scary! The benefit to adding the 2 x 8’s gave the steps more support and should keep critters out from underneath the porch. Wow! The porch looks wonderful!

Before Picture

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2 x 10 Frame

 

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Hauling the gravel.

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Washout gravel.

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Preparing frame for under the steps.

Frame complete.

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Gravel complete.

Dale uses his utility trailer to carry his tools and supplies for his convenience. The trailer is easily moved with the garden tractor to the location where he is working. Can you see his miter saw?

Getting ready to install the lattice.

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Lattice installed.

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Front steps completed.

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Right side view from the street.

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Steps 2 x 8’s installed.

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The man of the hour, Mr. Dale Phillips! My husband does wonderful work, as you can see the porch looks awesome!

After

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Future Plans For The Porch

Paint, stain and add lights to the steps. All in due time. 🙂

Summer Vacation 2017

Bald River Falls in Tennessee

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Cherohala Skyway

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Biltmore Estate

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Biltmore Estate rose garden.

Taking the time to smell the roses.

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Enjoying the shade.

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Sunflower Field in Stecoah, NC

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We both wish you a happy sunny summer!

The Phillips

 

Musical Lights

“Musical Lights” It all started with a vintage chandelier!

It all started with a vintage chandelier!

We were visiting Dale’s Dad who lives in Palacios and when we visit this small town, we like to check out one of our favorite shops “Palacios Antiques.” We’ve been keeping an eye out for a chandelier and Dale spotted this beauty. The chandelier was under forty dollars so we snatched it up! We used a steel wool sponge to clean the brass and soap and water to clean the ceramic. A good wiping did the job!

When we purchased the Anniversary she came with a nice Hunter ceiling fan in the living room, which is now our dining room. I thought it would be nice to have a chandelier over the dining table instead of a fan. When it came to the placement of the chandelier we had to get creative on how we were going to install this vintage beauty. The electrical box was not centered where the table sits. I came up with the idea to add a beam to match the beams that are already there on the ceiling, which would make it easier to hook up the chandelier. I do sometimes come up with some great ideas but Dale is the one who makes them happen and I am so grateful for him! Dale used a 2 x 4 to make a beam and painted it to match the beams on the ceiling. (He took a piece of sample trim to Lowes Hardware and had it colored matched.) The beam looks wonderful! While Dale worked on the beam I was in search for light bulbs and shades for the chandelier. I wanted to find bulbs that looked like light flames and were dimmable. I purchased some LED dimmable bulbs at Home Depot and found some clear glass shades at Lowes. The chandelier looks pretty good in its new home!

This is where the title “Musical Lights” came to be. The master bedroom did not have a ceiling fan so we installed the Hunter ceiling fan there. Dale moved the Flush Mount light that was in the room into the master closet, which gives the closet better lighting. Last but not least Dale added a dimmer switch in the dining room. I love dimmer switches! Once you have a dimmer switch you will never go back to a regular light switch, it’s awesome to be able to control the brightness of your lighting.

Vintage Chandelier

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The brass is pretty worn.

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A little elbow grease will do.

Dale uninstalling the ceiling fan.

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Ceiling fan removed.

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Painting the beam.

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Mr Phillips

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Beam installed.

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Electrical box.

Hooking up the chandelier.

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Dale covered the electrical box with a round metal cover .

Last minute clean up.

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New bulbs, new glass shades.

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LED dimmable bulbs.

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I am happy with the chandelier, looks great in our dining room!

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Dale installing the ceiling fan in the Master Bedroom.

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Much nicer having a ceiling fan in the bedroom.

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One light fixture originally in master closet.

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Installed the two light Flush Mount fixture from bedroom into master closet. Better lighting.

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Installing the dimmer switch in dining room.

Dimmer switch.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. I hope we have inspired you in some way.

Elizabeth Phillips

 

 

 

Last blog, 1987 Bonnell Mobile Home

Dale and I are closing this chapter of our lives and look forward to the next chapter!

 

 

Hello everyone!  This will be my last blog about our 1987 Bonnell mobile home renovation!  For the past 5 years we have been remodeling a single wide mobile home and I was amazed how it was turning out!  I’ve learned through this whole process that you can do just about anything to a mobile home as you can with a home on a foundation!  For example, we’ve added walls, moved walls, added floor baseboards and trim!  We’ve replaced floors, kitchen counters, bathroom vanities, toilets, updated all light fixtures, etc.  Dale even replaced the front and back doors with a standard size door.  Did I mentioned paint?  We have definitely done our share of painting!

We were in the last stages of replacing bedroom floors when our home flooded.  We live near the Brazos river and on May 28, 2016 the river went over it’s banks.  The river was already high due to one of the wettest seasons ever, which made it the perfect storm for this historical event to take place.  Most homes in our neighborhood flooded along with many more homes near the Brazos river.

We wish very much that we could finish our renovation.  After evaluating the damages we would have to start all over again!  We cannot physically or financially do that!  Dale and I agreed that we don’t want to go backwards.  You might be wondering like most of our friends and family, “what are we going to do?”  Well, after going over all options we feel the best step is to purchase another mobile home.  We feel this would be the most affordable path to take.  There is a particular model we are looking at and if your willing to stick with us, I will reveal that information later.  You know I gotta keep you in suspense! Ha-ha!

Dale and I are closing this chapter of our lives and we look forward to the next chapter!  I want to take this time to thank everyone for all your words of encouragement and prayers sent our way!  We so appreciate it very much!  Please know that we are doing well.  Throughout this whole situation we have done a lot of soul searching and know that God has a plan for us.  I leave you with pictures of our home and I hope we have inspired you to make your home your own.

Bathroom

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Front Door

Standard size doors installed.

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Curb Appeal

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Light Fixtures

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Hall

Installed baseboards and trim around doors.

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Chair Rail

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Elizabeth’s dressing room/closet.

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Kitchen Pantry

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Kitchen

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Kitchen Island

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1987 Bonnell Mobile Home

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Till next time!

“My sun sets to rise again.”- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

 

 

 

Painted House

A few years into our renovation, we couldn’t help but notice the outside of our home. Not very appealing, after all the house is 28 years old! The original color at one time was probably pretty nice but since has faded to a grayish looking color. My husband and I would cringe driving up our driveway. “Poor girl she just needs a facelift.”

Dale suggested we should go ahead and have the house painted. He notified me, that it would be several years before we could replace the siding. (Hmm) You see in my world, I thought we would be done renovating by now! Once my husband informed me, reality set in.

We had to ask ourselves do we want to spend the money. Can we live with the way it looks for several years. We both agreed to have it painted. I am so glad we did! We hired a painter and he got the job done. We do sometimes get help, but not very often! The outside of our home looks much better now and we don’t cringe anymore driving up our driveway.

Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need. (Sarah Ban Breathnach)

Before pictures

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Phillips Place

 

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After

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We painted the exterior with Behr Ultra PP, Satin, color Gallery Taupe

After we replaced the shutters.

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Thank you so much for visiting Phillips Place!

Wacky Shack!

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When we started the renovation of our home, we decided to start with replacing the floors. Soon after my husband thought, before we continue, we probably need to look into getting the house leveled. The home felt like the Wacky Shack at Astroworld! Dale calls a guy, you know the guy! Dale asks him all kinds of questions and the guy was more than happy to answer all of his questions. Before I knew it! Superman said, “I can do it!” WHAT! Was my first response! My second response was, I really think you should hire a professional. I had visions in my head of him being crushed under that spider infested place! With confidence, he said again, “I can do it!”

He did it! All it took was a $30.00 bottle jack, a level and a day’s labor! My husband saved us over $2000.00! Not bad for Do It Yourselfers!