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Text or call Dorch Landscapes: 309-433-3010

Dorch Landscapes is looking for someone who is hard working and reliable with experience in the landscape industry to fill an opportunity for learning and career development at Dorch Landscapes.
Resumes can be submitted to brian@dorchlandscapes.com

http://www.dorchlandscapes.com/http://www.dorchlandscapes.com/

I (Lisa) am a big fan of Mike Rowe, yep all of it. Dirty Jobs, Returning the Favor and of course his mom & dad, John & Peggy Rowe. Mike’s unwavering promotion of the trades has a special place in my heart and I wanted to take a moment today, the day we honor American workers, to share with you a resource. Mike has a foundation called Mike Rowe Works where he grants scholarships to those who want to pursue their education/training/livelihood through the trades. To apply is not a cake walk, you’ll have to work for it. But that’s the point. And it’s worth it. If there is a gifted person in your life please share this resource with them. Our country needs their talents.

Have you ever gone through a season where there was so much on your plate all you could do/plan for was what the day at hand required and hope for the best? That’s been our family. It has been 8 months since Brian has finished the inside of “the flip house”. We are enjoying the fruits of his labor, especially the dish washer! Now that the inside of the house is completed we are planning and discussing what we want our outdoor space to look like. Maybe like us, you want your outdoor space to be just as beautiful from an indoor window view as well as your favorite chair on the back porch. This is where, of course, Brian is in his wheel house. He’s accomplished some amazing projects this summer, which I am proud to begin sharing with you in future posts. It’s nice to begin a new season.

Thank you to everyone who voted in the Pantagraph 2019 Readers Choice Awards where Dorch Landscapes received honorable mention in the category of Best Landscape Company.

This past week Katherine was super excited  to be the member of the family to pick the first violet of Spring (beating out her brother is always a bonus)!

With flower in hand she proclaimed her prize, her choice of dessert!  Check it out, she came up with this combo & then found a recipe for it!

Hooray for Spring!

With drywall getting close to being finished, my thoughts are happily dreaming up layouts for bedroom #1.  My Mom gave me the great idea to put the bed where we were going to put the closet, made the room sooooo big bigger and a wardrobe along the stairwell wall will function just fine.

Take a look and let me know if you have any great ideas!

Here are some ideas, what do ya think?

Just in the living room!  Hard to make waffles looking like this!

Drywall is coming along. Starting to dream about what color(s) to paint the walls!  I saw a beautiful deep brown that I like!

The stairwell is a little scary without the rail, but I LOVE the drywall!

Upstairs rooms coming along.

It’s slow but sure.  I hope your DIY project is going faster than ours!

Yep, we are still here and still have a house to flip! With the early December warm weather Brian was able to work outside & then it got COLD! REALLY COLD!
Progress continues & is bit by bit (front porches were renovated & a dead tree felled) & in an act of great hope we put a Christmas pot out front BELIEVING this would occur next year as a FINISHED home.
Check back as I start to include some of the other projects we are working on and maybe you’ll be inspired (or convinced to not) try a DIY project yourself!

A lot has happened in 3 weeks but not what you might think.  Shortly after my last post we decided it was time to list our own home. So began a full 2 1/2 weeks of getting our house ready to put on the market. Our  realtor was hired, a date set to list, to do list in hand & we brought the kids up to speed. (Now, dishes HAD to be done & put away!)

Keep this in mind…the Flip house plumbing still has yet to be finished and Brian hasn’t touched anything there in over 3 weeks because he’s working like a crazy man keeping up with Landscape jobs.  WHAT were we thinking?

We don’t know! Seemed like a doable idea at the time. Postponed listing just this week. Realtor understands.

So here we are, putting the plans for these homes back into God’s hands while we continue to work. Our ultimate dream is to have 5 acres somewhere that has plenty of room to grow plants and kids (and welcome their friends). So maybe the Flip is meant for someone else and we’ll move to the country.  Stranger things have happened.

I’ll keep you posted.

Slider is in and looks FANTASTIC!

Front porch…not so much

We have openings where there were none and spaces closed and shut that were open.

No more showers on the front porch!  We’re making progress!

We are going for the Tortoise when it comes to the Flip house and the Hare when it comes to Landscaping!

We are excited for several local companies to be doing work that moves us closer and closer to drywall!  Hardesty Heating and Cooling is completing all the interior duct work and plumbing and Warren Henry Carpentry is moving windows and doors.

Though inside work has slowed on the Flip house due to Brian’s busy schedule work was “Game On” as the kids and I began planting day lilies, purple iris’, peonies (potted up last Fall), raspberries and lily of the valley onto the Flip house property.  I had GREAT help!

If you are into plants, many perennial (bloom year after year) plants can be divided in early Spring, planted and still flower. See the below article for additional information for what might be in YOUR yard!

Dividing Perennials in the Spring

Many of you have asked how progress is going and we appreciate the conversations we get to have with you about something we enjoy.  Progress right now is slow. Brian and Mike are now busy 2-3 days of the week outside mulching, mowing & pruning. Brian spends early morning hours at his desk designing for customers as Spring gets underway while still keeping details on the Flip moving forward.

At the Flip right now we have plumbing and heating being installed. I’ll show you some pics of this next week. Our “for sale” date is now pushed back to June and something we are entertaining is moving into the Flip ourselves and selling our own house in order to gain more time to finish the Flip.  So I may start to show you some pics of a FINISHED house!  If this happens it will allow both businesses (Dorch Landscapes & Transformations By Dorch) the room to grow that we don’t currently have while still keeping us in a location we enjoy.

The below picture is from our front sidewalk (Our home used to be the parsonage for the local Christian Church).  Brian and I continue to work and trust knowing that both homes have a plan because people live in them. People are what God loves.

We were excited to welcome my Mom & Dad this past weekend and show them what we were up to.  When two men get together it is a totally different conversation. My Dad saw the ancient studs in the house and instantly had a conversation with Brian, including the type of nails they used back then (Brian had kept some)  Was fun to listen in on a conversation I would never have heard.  Blessed by my parents!

It more ways than one the showers arrived!  Lots of rain in our area over the last week as our shower units arrived BUT we have to wait until the slider is installed on the back of the house to get them in!  Makes a nice look don’t ya think?!  There’s an ordinance on keeping couches on your front porch, is there one about showers? LOL

The Green room is now empty and ready to be gutted. The last room in the house to yield to Brian & Mike’s talent. This room has been “the office” holding wood and parts we want to save.  These items were moved to the basement (it took Mike a full day to clean out the basement debris so these items could move down)

In the basement secured inside the concrete wall was a safe. It was obvious that someone had tried to open it, unsuccessfully. Brian got it open and waited for the kids to see what was inside.

Yep, costume jewelry and 2 ID’s.  There must have been a reason!?  Gotta love the stories an old house has!

No matter how busy & crazy it get’s running a business and flipping a house, Brian always gives his family his best.  Something I admire about him.

What is in this pic that goes unseen is the legacy his own Father had on him.  Brian’s Dad had diabetes since a young age and had lots of things to complain about but never did.  This left a strong impression on Brian who leads his own family in the same way.

Your influence matters to someone.

Much work at the flip house is not easily seen in a photo.  Take the below photograph.  What you can’t see is the 4″ stud that has raised the floor so it doesn’t slope as badly towards window  Lots of work and time in places that are not seen.  I was explaining this to a dear friend when she nodded and with knowing responded  “Lisa, isn’t that just like us as people?  We have unseen places that need restored. What would happen if someone would take some time.?”  This girl is a preacher!

Who do you care about that needs some time?  Be a 2 by 4 and lift them up!

Every now and then I find myself in need of inspiration.  Last week I had a few hours to myself and decided to recharge my batteries by visiting some of my favorite resale shops AFTER visiting Joanna Gaines pop up shop inside Fabulous Affairs in Uptown Normal.  My agenda, down time and refueling. Always on the lookout for something that could be transformed and put to good use (really it is parts of my heart that need transformed and put to good use but that’s another post and another Blog)!

Found a few treasures and some good ideas.

Refueled, refreshed & inspired.

Tomorrow is another day.

How are you inspired?

Taking cuttings this time of year is one of my favorite ways to add elegant, simple beauty to our home. Magnolia, forsythia and many others will bloom by cutting & placing in water. That’s it, enjoy watching them unfold before your eyes!  My Mother would do this all the time with Pussy Willow and Forsythia.

For more info. on what shrubs will bloom inside check out this great article.

http://www.finegardening.com/forcing-branches

Since the last post Brian and Mike are still working hard  to get wiring installed while committing a few days of the week to landscaping.  In between their busy days Brian and I went to our local DIY stores to decide on some details like…

With all the wiring going in we need some lights. I was drawn to this…

Below  is what we came to purchase.  A small detail can sometimes take a lot of time.  These lights are for recessed lighting. We have some spaces where we don’t have enough room for a standard can (old house) so some of these new LED’s fit in a shorter can and will save Brian time and money when he installs them into the overhead lights in the ceiling.  Lots of 6″ we want 4″.

Doors! We need some doors!  We will purchase solid doors as this old house does not have standard door sizes so Brian will have to cut part of bottom off the door off to get them to fit.  We ordered 10 plus doors.  Date nights are not cheap for us!

Cool feature in upstairs bath will be barn doors double hung with 2 half panels on each side so the panels close to hide the washer & dryer. This was the creative solution to putting the washer & dryer in the upstairs bath and function as both bath & laundry. Doors will be white. Still have to find the hardware for a double hung barn door.  These panels will have to be customized.

Some of our windows are in, picked those up while we were out.  Our kitchen cabinets are in too but drywall isn’t up yet. RP Lumber will hold those for us till we’re ready.

Waiting to check out… These little guys are begging for you to take them home!  I just took their picture but we’ll be back soon.

A Christmas post? In March?

If the amount of wiring that has been going into the flip these past two weeks were Christmas lights, we would have one festive house!  One can only see so many pictures of wiring so I’ll save you from that however it is amazing to note the change taking shape from house to home. No light to light.

Here’s what happened in the last week and a half…

• Sub flooring installed downstairs
• The upstairs bathroom layout is finalized
• Lots of meetings with contractors to bid for plumbing, drywall and installing the ductwork for heating and cooling
• Sliding door for kitchen arrives next week & a few windows that need replaced are on their way.