Retaining Walls: Railings and Stonework

Heyyyyy you guysssss...

We're back. We're back for a quick update. I know, I know, we were supposed to share the basement and home bar update months ago. But, not today. Someday.
We've been working on a little DIY project lately and it really should be documented. Well, maybe I should say, we've asked my dad to do another DIY project for us.

If we back up a little and look at photos from the build in 2012, we started with two pretty unsafe and very bland retaining walls.

I mean, they did the job. They kept the dirt mud where it needed to be. They were fine.

They were fine for a few years. Then we went and had a baby in 2015. Then that baby became a toddler and started walking, then running. Really, he runs all over.  Also he climbs, climbs everything. So, the time came to make the retaining walls a bit safer. We needed custom railings out back asap.

Luckily for us, my dad retired this year and has a bit of extra time on his hands. Bonus: he's a retired Ironworker. Steel railings sounded sturdy and safe.

Adam, my dad and I discussed what we wanted the railings to look like. Mostly they talked about it and measured. I showed them a dozen Pinterest photos. But still, we discussed.

Then they poured a concrete cap on the top of each retaining wall. They also installed steel plates where the welded posts would be secured.
Then my dad got to work. Welding away the steel to create the railings. He welded two railings. One approximately 16 feet, the other 20 feet.

After he finished, he set the railings, then welded the spindles. Adam was his trusty assistant.
Last, they painted them black with black metal paint. 

Complete.

Finito. Or so we thought.

About that time we mentioned that someday we would like the retaining walls stoned. If you are new here, my dad did all the stonework on our house. The exterior has about 350 square feet of custom stonework.  Our two-story fireplace is in the heart of our home. He did that too. We love it all, and it's a wonderful feature of our home. It's extra special because my dad did it himself.

Well, back to those two retaining walls...
Next thing you know we are ordering the stone and my dad is back with his tools. I told you he's retired now.

The stone is from the same quarry as what we used when we built. It's a cedar web-wall. We use a 2 inch cut natural stone. My dad picks and chooses his stones, and cuts many of them to create the web-wall. He uses his own mix of mortar. 

He's been doing this for most of the summer, but not every day. He'll come down and stay with us a few days here and there. A fishing trip and a Mexican vacation in between, and then he's back. He even had a helper some days! In matching overall bibs... all the heart eyes right here.

Ben really loves helping his Pa when he's visiting. He's not too upset about the giant pile of sand in our backyard at the moment either. (The sand is needed to make the mortar mix).

I have to say, our patio furniture looked even better when the wall was only 1/3 of the way done!

Getting closer...

And then just last week. It was done.

It looks even better than we imagined.

This was last week, and he's already been back to start the second wall. Soon we'll be having a patio party! We'll report back soon. Probably.

New Art: Dad in house!

We have some new semi-DIY Art in the living room/hallway. Adam has been on me to get stuff hung up in this house. I guess he's tired of staring at bare walls. Hence my golden mirror gallery wall--which already needs some updated photos, we've added more! Lots more!

But today I'm sharing something different on the walls.

If you've been a reader for awhile you know my dad did our beautiful stonework on the front of our home, and the fireplace. By himself. Just my dad.
He pretty much moved in with us for a few weeks at a time and worked 12 hour work days jamming out to the radio, cutting the stones, mixing the mortar, and placing the stones to the fireplace and exterior of the house.
He doesn't do this for a living or anything, it's sort of a hobby for him. When we told him we were building we nicely asked for his help with the stonework. Not sure if he knew what he was getting into...however, it's our favorite feature on both the inside and the outside of the home. It's very special to both Adam and I.

So I was playing around with the Waterlogue app, and turned these photos:

into these photos:

I emailed them to a buddy at a local print shop, and ~bippity boppity boo~...I have some beautiful prints!

I spray painted some old wood frames from the thrift store (which I forgot to take a BEFORE photo of! I'm slacking lately!) and also spray painted mattes white since they were an ugly peach color.

I'd say I spent less than 20 bucks for both prints and the revamped thrift store frames and mattes combined. Not bad for some large art pieces with meaning. Am I right?

We hung them in the living room hallway. It's a nice reminder of my dad's hard work, and it's nice to have meaningful artwork in our home for us to see, and our guests too!

PSSSSTTTT! Read more about my dad doing the stonework himself on our home Here and Here!


Do you have meaningful artwork in your home?
Have you tried to Waterlogue any of your favorite photos? 
Are you late to the Waterlogue party too?

The Perfect Father's Day Gift: Cargo Totes

Disclosure: I received this product as part of an advertorial.

Did you have a good Mother’s Day? I didn’t get to see my momma this year…we are celebrating a little later in the month this year! Well, now that mom's day is over with...it’s time to start thinking about Dad! And, what to get your dad for Father’s Day. It’s already next month!

What do you usually get your dad? A tie? How about a ‘#1 Dad’ coffee mug? Are you shopping for a dad who likes to work outside on the weekends? What about the dad that doesn’t work in the office—the tradesman? Well, I have the perfect gift! A tote.  Yep. You heard me.

The first tote bag for men!

Veto Pro Pac sent me one of their brand new Cargo Totes™ to try out. This is the PERFECT gift for Father’s Day! It’s a high quality, heavy duty tote. The Cargo Tote™ is ideal for hauling tools back and forth to a job site, carrying camping gear, fishing and hunting equipment. This product is built tough, for tough jobs, and tough guys!

The totes come in Large and XL. Adam is holding the XL in the above photo. The tote is tough built, with heavy duty materials. It was easy to haul everything we needed while working on our latest project. We anticipate this tote will stand up to wear and tear, no matter how hard we are on it.

Veto Pro Pac’s Cargo Totes™ boasts:

“Designed to stand up to the rigors of daily use, the Cargo Totes™ feature 1800 Denier Body Fabric, leather handle grips and Veto's signature 3mm thick polypropylene waterproof base. Veto Pro Pac's patent pending design keeps the Cargo Totes™ standing upright and open at all times for easy access, a feature not seen on other tote products.”

You can find them out Facebook and the Vet Pro Pac Website to find out where you can buy your very own!

What are you getting the dads in your life for Father's Day?

Would your dad like a manly tote bag like the Cargo Tote?

FYI: This is a sponsored post, but as usual, the words and opinions are my own! This post does NOT contain any affiliate links.
I received one or more of the products mentioned above using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Story Time: Trina Appleseed.

Hi friends, today I am not sharing any house photos, or any projects, just a sweet story...

Picture it. Early 90's, Sicily* Spring Valley, Illinois:
*extra points if you get the TV show reference!

Kinda cute huh?

A little girl was enjoying a delicious green apple with her dad. She noticed a few seeds in the apples they were eating.

She asked: "Why can't we just plant the rest of this apple and see if a tree will grow?"
So they did, with that very apple core.
And, would you believe it, a tree grew...

Now that little girl is in her (late) 20's.

Dad & daughter on the day he finished our fireplace. 2012.

And this is the first year that very tree, sprouted apples.

Freshly picked apples from my thought up tree.

Kinda neat, huh?

Best apples. Ever.

*crunch*

We plan to plant a few of these on our property and see if we can get a second apple tree growing.


Did you plant anything when you were a little kid that is still growing? (I know ya'll brought home some of those Earth Day trees too! Mine died.)

The outside...

A few more exterior updates:

Stonework Finished!

Luckily we had a few warm days while he finished.


And we now have a front pad in front of the garage!

While my dad worked on the stone, some of Adam's buddies and a few hired guys finished the front driveway pad and the sidewalk. And I was home sick so I snuck outside and snapped a few photos of the work in progress.

Matt running the show.

curved sidewalk in the making.

I requested a curve in my sidewalk instead of just a straight angle. I can't wait to have grass and flowers around it instead of a bunch of mud...someday...

Smoothing it out.

And the finished product, well juuuust about finished.

My dad is still going to wrap the front porch with stone, but that can wait until it is warmer out!

And we are waiting for the builder to come back and put our columns up now that my dad is done taking over the front porch.

um don't mind the trash...

and excuse the tarps...and concrete blankets..

stonework.

We can't thank my dad enough for the work he did for us. Not only did he finish our beautiful fireplace, right on deadline (move in day!) He worked 12-14 hour days sometimes for 4-5 days straight...and sometimes in FREEEEEEZING cold weather on the exterior. We love love love it. Thanks dad.

And also thank you to our friends who helped not only with the front pad but the back pad too. We are lucky to have great friends & family in our lives.

Who else needs stonework done? I know a guy..

Currently on the outside...

My dad is still hard at work on the exterior stone. He has been working from early morning before the sun...to dinner time...and sometimes after each day.

Night working...

Saturday he had a helper.

Adam and him worked all day Saturday....

Adam helps by cutting the stone for him and mixing mortar and bringing it up the scaffolding to him. 

and all day Sunday.

He is doing a great job and we love the way it looks already. He likes to do the work, but he said he is sick of seeing stone right now! I can understand working 13-14 hours a day on it!

Luckily we have had super nice weather all week. It has been unseasonably warm here in southern Illinois. It was in the upper 60's today and will be warm all week again.

His plan is to finish the upper portions now and head back north home for a little bit. Then when he comes back he can hang heavy tarps under the porch and finish if Winter weather actually kicks in.

Are you having unseasonably warm weather where you are too? 
What do you think of the progress on the exterior?

More interior photos coming this week!

Where the heck have we been?

Well we have been to Washington D.C., and back again.
We have been working on the house every.single.day.after.work.until.bedtime.
We are back on the road this weekend to Wisconsin for a family wedding.Then home again.
To work. And then work after work...and to pack. So much packing...

Because we are moving in next weekend!!
......................
Now FYI--- we are moving in a little before the house can be called completed
The flooring in the living room/kitchen will not be finished. Which means our cabinets will not be installed yet. Which means our appliances will not be hooked up yet...

Which means we will be roughing it with a mini fridge, microwave, and pizza pizzaz for a week or so...
But WHO CARES. We will be in!


So so many things to share with house updates. But I have been a bad blogger and haven't been bringing my camera with me to the house every evening...

So, I leave you with just a peek at our favorite part of the house.

I think this photo shows the true paint color as well.

The board is obviously not the mantle, we were just testing the height.

My dad was here all last weekend working on our beautiful fireplace. Hopefully he will be able to come back down next week and get this baby completed.



I promise to post the rest of the updated stuff next week!

Do you have a pizza pizzaz? We received it as a wedding gift and we LOVE it still.
Would you move in a house without kitchen cabinets or full size appliances, even if it was for a short time? Or would you rather wait?

fireplace part 1 and 2

Everyone has been asking what about the blog? Where are the photos of the updates? Truth is, they have all been sitting on my camera...we have either been too busy or too tired to blog. Or to do laundry for that matter. 

The past two weekends my dad has traveled the three hours south to help us work on the house. My dad is stoning the fireplace and the exterior of the house for us, with Adam's help of course.

Here are some photos of what he has been working on...

My dad climbing down the scaffolding.

The scratch coat gives the stone something to stick to.

Ready for stone.

This is how we cheat the look of a full masonry fireplace.
Instead, we purchased a fireplace insert, and had it framed so we could stone around it.

Adam will probably not appreciate this photo, but this is the view from the kitchen/dining.

Oh and I was also re-picking out paint colors the evening before they needed to be picked up. Yup.
 ...more on that story later.

And the underlaminate is in, ready for hardwood.
Well, after the fireplace is stoned anyway.
At least the dust is gone.

And after the second weekend:

He picked out the stone for the hearth and cut it to size for us too.

Oh and the house is painted now too! But don't judge it by these photos because it looks different in these.
I haven't figured out how to make my fancy camera take photos of painted walls. Be patient with me.

We love it.

We can't wait for him to be able to come back down and work on it more.
Love you dad, thank you for all your hard work!



This weekend, we are starting the hardwood upstairs...
What do you think of the fireplace? 
Do you like the stone?
Does your dad ever wear a shirt?
Can you explain to me how to take photos of painted walls with my fancy camera?