old house. new home.

We've moved!

2016-12-16T16:53:00.001-05:00

We did it. We moved.

To a new blog site. Oh, and a new house!

Head over there to see where we ended up on our first house ... and follow our new adventures renovating our new house.

See you at www.meetourhouse.com.

(If not, that's okay ... been nice knowing you!)

OMG ... The Kitchen, Part 5 (billion)

2014-03-02T20:38:00.002-05:00

There will only be one more kitchen post ever. And it'll be really short because all we need now is a new stove ... because ... (drumroll) ...
it's finished!!!

We finally got new countertops, sink, and faucet! We've been looking for a while, but not really looking. So, after Christmas, we went out one Saturday to get quotes. First up, Stone Center ... and well, they had the right color granite on special until the end of January. So, we hopped on it. But we had some unexpected projects pop up during the remodel (big, BIG, surprise, right?!?!).

First, we had to have a general contractor out to shim our cabinets. Being that the house is old, and the previous counters were laminate, we were pretty sure the cabinets were NOT level, which they need to be to install granite. And, just as we suspected, the cabinets were not level, so the guy came out and leveled them ... leaving us with jacked up cabinets, sitting up to 1/4" higher than our floor with little shims stuck underneath. It did not look good. So, we added molding to the baseboards (cutting, sanding, caulking, painting). Unexpected, but in the end they looked good.

Second, we had to live without counters, sink, water for about 3 weeks. The contractor demoed everything to shim the cabinets, but the granite takes a couple weeks to prep. It was not fun. Lots of wasted paper plates, no dishwasher, hard to cook. I did a lot of crockpotting with crockpot liners for two weeks. And, our refrigerator had some not so appetizing food by the time I was able to clean it out and wash the tupperware! (I could not imagine what this would have been like if you had a family with kids ... probably a lot of pizza!) I did create a make-shift counter with a large board to set the microwave on, which helped a bit. Beforehand I made some large batches of soup to freeze and eat, which turned out to be a great help as well.

Third, the counters were installed. They looked great. New sink, new faucet.

Fourth, the contractor came back the following day to replace all of the plumbing. We had running water and a working dishwasher again!! I think that people don't realize how much they use the kitchen sink until they don't have one ... I know I didn't. I mean, just to rinse your hands, glass of water, pour something down the drain, make ice cubes (I know this is not MOST people, but we still make ice!).

BUT ... we didn't have a granite backsplash installed on the counters, so I had a lot of work to do on the backend. It has taken me 2 weekends to complete ... but it's finished now. I re-wallpapered the walls using the same beadboard paintable wallpaper that we had in there before the new counters (but without the backsplash, it had to be removed and re-done). Also, then we had to add a molding piece to seal the counters to the wall. We did think about a tile backsplash ... but our walls are so jacked up it would have taken SO SO SO much work to level them out to get the tiles to lay right. Plus, with the beadboard & granite, one more texture would have been a lot!

Then, I added a molding backsplash behind the counters. We ended up with a 4 1/4" decorative board to paint white and blend in. It looks great, but took some work. Installing it was pretty easy ... but painting, caulking, sealing the counters, patching, sanding, and re-painting is some work ... especially leaning way over the counters when your waist is below counter level (I'm short). So, basically everything got a fresh coat of caulk and paint (walls, baseboards, door moldings, backsplash). And, all the work paid off because everything looks great.

Finally, I switched out all of the light switches and outlets. Previously, they were mostly almond color, and though we had switched out most of the covers, the switches were still blatantly, in-your-face light brown and just looked unfinished. It's amazing how something as little as clean, white switches and outlets can transform a space.

And, now, here is the finished project (and some before/during pics for comparison!).

It's already SO much better to cook in.

Actually it is really just all together better to be in and walk through.

It's better.

DURING ...

my make-shift counter

He was able to leave the counters near the stove, so we had coffee & crockpots!

Wallpapered ... not painted

Here you can see the installed wallpaper ... top & right side have been painted. It's a great invention!
And, I can say the old stuff came off very easily too.

AND FINISHED ...

And, for fun & reference ... when we first moved in till now ...

Outside work is way better in October!

2013-10-27T21:05:00.000-04:00

So ... we've been getting projects done around here again. And, since it has been a long weekend and I'm tired, I'll just show you.

Stuff you get to see:

Outdoor porch/lattice painted.
New shutters hung.
Back doors painted.
Kitchen lights updated.

The porch is painted.
3 weekends.
1st weekend: stripped, sanded, primed (x2) the porch; did some concrete touch-up work
2nd weekend: painted porch (x2), painted front lattice around porch
3rd weekend: painted lattice in front of house, and repainted lattice around porch; 2nd concrete touch-up work.

Still to do:

Paint the door
Paint the pillars
Paint side of stairs (because the paint on the concrete/bricks you see in the pictures was not painted by me!)
Finish concrete touch-up
Paint the lattice on either side of the porch (pieces to keep people from falling off the porch)
New furniture, house numbers, etc.

Hopefully next weekend will also be nice out so I can completely finish this list before winter!

Also, the back hallway doors are now black. It's a high-gloss gel paint, and I thought I'd love it ... but I'm only so-so on it. But, it's growing on me, and I've got too many other projects to do. This one is already checked off the list, so it's just going to stay checked off the list.

We also updated all of the under-cabinet lights in the kitchen, thus making use of a wall switch that has been dead since we moved in. And, these lights look good, but mostly I just like that the switch is finally doing something!

And, as a final treat ... we went back to Natural Bridge State Park in KY this weekend. We were hoping the leaves would have changed a bit more, but the weather has been wacky, and there are a lot of evergreens; so not as vibrant of colors as we hoped, but still a great day trip!

Hi there.

2013-06-23T17:10:00.003-04:00

Long time, no see.

We haven't been up to much house-wise, so I haven't been on here much. But, we did have a great spring for plants; and we did get a little ahead of the outdoor work already this year, so we thought we'd share some pictures.

The winter was so mild, that I ended up planting tulips in January! And, I wasn't sure if they would die, or grow, or what would happen, but they all bloomed and looked amazing!

(Also, on a side note, we have bird 'friends' again, so my hanging baskets look like crap. I will not be hanging any flower baskets again after these birds leave. period.)

We planted grass on the back yard hill side of our yard. It has grown in pretty nicely for the first year.

Then, we added a vegetable garden to the patch next to the driveway. We thought we'd just plant some bushes, but it was just such a primo spot for vegetables - almost all full sun throughout the day, and we were able to craft a pretty genius watering system. And while the weeds are out of control and hard to keep up with (since we've had about the best season ever for everything outdoors to grow!), we are starting to get some pretty impressive vegetables. And they taste great!

And finally, on a non-house note ... we had a trip to see Mumford & Sons in concert cancelled, so we went and bought bikes. (I mean, we've been thinking about this for a while, but the financial timing of the cancelled trip just was too perfect to pass up on this purchase!) They are great bikes, and we've been riding them all over the neighborhood! We even went to get gourmet Sweet P's popsicles today, which were a great treat in this 90+ degree weather!

Truth.

2013-01-25T18:34:00.001-05:00

It's true that you're never done with a house ... but our original to-do list, written when we moved into this house, is now limited to about 30 things. And, that's a good feeling.

In two years, we've managed to touch pretty much change every surface in and outside of this house. We've weeded and landscaped, refinished & resurfaced some flooring, gutted bathrooms, updated piping, replaced roofing, stripped wallpaper, and now we can finally say that we've painted almost every inch of walls in this house! (Only the closets and trim are left ... Although that's not to say one of the rooms won't be repainted in the near future. I've changed my mind about the color of just one room since picking these original colors ... but more on that in a later post. It's happening soon; I've already bought the paint!)

The hallway is finally DONE. I've painted the nook and added the coat hooks. There are guest hooks on the panel we added down the hallway as well. The walls are painted and trim has been added, updated, and painted!
I really like it.
I like that we have a place for coats now.
I like that the warm wood makes it feel like more than just a hallway.
I like that helps tie the house together to feel like a coherent home vs. The original and The addition.

We also inherited a bed from my parents. My mom found this bed is some rough shape; and back in the day, spend a chunk of time restoring it from a rusty metal horror to a newly refinished state. And, while she had it painted green to match my brother's old room; we primed it and repainted it an oil-rubbed bronze to take on more of an original metal look. And, it looks good.

I am not a fan of painted brick. I think that it almost always looks better as original brick; even if it's not the traditional red brick. (I feel this way about nice wood paneling also.) We tried to strip the paint off of the brick fireplace when we fist moved it. It did not work well; and with all of the other projects we had mounting up at that time, we decided that we couldn't spend the energy on that one. I've always been kind of bummed about it. So, I've been racking my brain as to what we could do to make it better, when I came across some pictures on Pinterest and decided to do this:

Just for reference, this was before:

Now, after ...

It looks amazing. The trim still needs some caulk, and we're going to add trim to the bottom brick area too - so it all matches. But, it really ties the fireplace into the room and makes the mantel and the stuff on the mantel pop. And we've got some ideas in store for the brick fireplace, that will probably help that look so much better too ... but more on that when/if we get around to completing that project!

On a side note ... I bought hundreds of tulip bulbs back in October to plant in the front gardens. But, the weather was so crazy here through December that I never got a chance to plant. It would average 35 one week and 60 the next. We were afraid if we planted they would start to grow and all die. So, I waited and waited ... and one warm Saturday in January I was able to dig up the whole front garden and plant those bulbs! Who would have thought ... but it seemed perfect. The week after I planted it got cold again, they got some cool weather and water before the freeze came and now no squirrels can get them. We'll see what pops up in April ... but here's to hoping! :)

Merry Christmas!

2012-12-17T21:51:00.000-05:00

We might be buying a new house.

2012-09-25T12:09:00.003-04:00

Two Requirements.

Built after 1990.
Previous owners agree to be interviewed.

We had another huge weekend (a few weekends ago; it just took me this long to get over it and be able to write about it) ... but not without its troubles, to say the LEAST. (I'm exaggerating though, in the scheme of things that have gone wrong with this house, these were not all in the top 5.)

Project #1
The ceiling fan in the LR. It finally went up. We ordered one from Home Depot and it came and the bracket fit just fine. (However, we did have to run out and pick up some screws to mount it to the junction box. And then we had it all put together, and had to take it all apart because one of the wires fell and was rubbing on the motor = totally annoying, and time wasted.)
Here is a recap of the ceiling fan fiasco:

Bought AWESOME ceiling fan.
Wasn't sure junction box could hold the weight of said ceiling fan.
Cut hole in attic floor to see how junction box was connected.
Not definitive.
Attached junction box to stud using second screw.
Still not sure it was rated for 50#.
Took AWESOME fan back
Bought new fan (not as awesome, mostly stupid)
New ceiling fan bracket did not fit junction box.
Ordered 3rd ceiling fan online (hugger model not offered in store in 50"+ widths; it is just a normal fan, not awesome or stupid.)
Fan arrived & bracket fit!
Holla!
Mounted ceiling fan.
Turned on.
Rubbing noise.
We're dumb.
Took blades off.
Secured wires above bracket.
Re-attached blades.
YAY!!!!!

Project #2
We refinished the front door. This too, was NOT without troubles.

Previous owners had to fill a hole cut for what we can only assume was an additional deadbolt below the handle. They did fill it with a cut piece of wood (one, very small point for them). So, when I started the project, I even said that at least this project was going to go smoothly because I had refinished plenty of furniture before and knew what I was doing. I totally jinxed us. The cut wood was not held in place by wood putty, but by regular, ole' spackle. SERIOUSLY??? So, after I got the door stripped down best I could, I dug out the spackle around the wood and filled it with some stainable wood putty. It worked pretty good, and we just call that area character.

But, I'll be honest. The door? It doesn't look great. In the light, you can still see all of the paint that I couldn't get out of the wood grain. In the dark of the evening, it looks pretty damn sweet though, and really transforms the room. I stripped and sanded and stained it. And, really just needed more time. We can't just leave the door off the front of our house while we both head off to work ... so I only have limited chunks of time to devote to this project. I'm going to have to scrape all of that paint out if I want to leave it stained ... but we had to put the door back up on the hinges ... so it's going to have to look like this for a while (probably till next Spring). But I left off the poly, so it'll be easy to keep working on it over the next months ... chipping away at scraping the paint out a little at a time. (I'm not worried, our door is under a descent porch, and behind a glass door all winter.)

BUT, it does look really good in the room with the wood door & fan ... completely changes the feel of the room.

Also, for our concerned family out there, we narrowly escaped burglars/crazies ALL weekend by just having a locked, screen door on the front of our house ... and we didn't tell you all about this project beforehand so you couldn't steal all of our sweet stuff. :)

Old Living Room w/white paint & white fan

New fan & refinished door

Project #3
A little story.

We originally discarded the ceiling fan in the guest bedroom because it was loud and ugly. It was the SAME exact ceiling fan we had hanging in the LR (& also one in the Den). I bought a new white one, but it was cheap and looked yellow-ish in the room; so I returned it. Then I bought a nice black one, and I think that it would have looked great. BUT, I instead decided that I wanted the expensive, AWESOME fan for the LR, so I returned the black one, and said we'll just move the LR fan to the guest bedroom so we can hang the AWESOME fan in the LR. (See what we did there - took down the old fan & replaced with the SAME fan from another room. Genius.)

So back to the story ... when Patrick was taking the old ceiling fan down in the bedroom (weeks before the LR ceiling fan fiasco), there was this crazy bracket and it was screwed in to a plastic junction box and the stud, and the screw heads broke off. We tried extracting them, and screwing them in further ... but to no avail. They were crazy stuck. So, we tried just ripping it out. In the process, we had to cut a larger hole in the ceiling. We really just cut a lot of spackle out, because these people installed the junction box, and then just spackled all around it and up in there so it was stuck like a junction box in spackle cement. And, we were told we shouldn't use a plastic junction box to hang a ceiling fan. But finally (I mean after DAYS of working on this), we pried that box loose and ripped it right off the stud. We both agreed, we are studs!
(Side note, the plastic junction box was imprinted with a phrase: Safe for ceiling fans. UGH.)
(Also, see above, the AWESOME fan never happened, and I feel a little jipped in this whole saga.)

Now, fast forward to hanging the new (same) ceiling fan. We installed a new junction box, and then drywall taped and spackled up the ceiling hole we had made bigger (even though it was all going to be covered by the fan mount). All that work, and we could have just used the previous bracket. But, this fan doesn't make noise like the old one, and I bought a new globe for the light fixture, so it looks a little (little) less cheap.

I also painted a side table back there, and got some cool pulls to put on the drawers. The room is coming together.

Moving on ...

Project #4
We painted the back hallway. Patrick spent 2 days preparing these walls for painting. Previous owners had wallpaper on the bottom half and the walls needed a lot of spackling and sanding. We did the work, painted the trim, and painted the walls. The paint didn't stick.

OMG, can we catch a break here? We let the paint dry completely.

Then, Patrick peeled the areas that weren't sticking properly and went to the paint store. It's definitely latex paint, nothing oil here. So, he re-spackled and re-sanded those portions of the walls. Then we primed with an oil-based primer, just to make sure it sticks. Then we re-painted with our latex paint. It looks good.

I did get to create my little coat rack area too, just in time for winter! And it ~~does~~ will look good! ... But the paint is pealing in there too ... and we haven't have time or energy to fix it yet (peel paint, spackle, sand, re-paint, ugh).

What the hallway used to look like from the front of the house ...

What the hallway looks like now from the front of the house.

One Big Weekend!

2012-09-09T14:57:00.001-04:00

Oh Boy.

We got a lot done this weekend.

It was awesome.

And it looks awesome.

We've been in the process of cleaning out the garage for about 1 1/2 years now. With all the projects, it just kept filling up and getting messy over and over again. Oh, the empty boxes. So many cardboard boxes. But, we finally cleaned it out a couple weekends ago, and then this weekend we put together shelves, hung racks and hooks, and Boy oh Boy ... it is nice out there.

Pulled EVERYTHING out and took the hose to the garage!

After the clean-out, we put everything back,
but still needed to buy hooks, racks, & shelves to organize.

All of the tables & bookshelf on the right side just need a coat of paint before they come back into the house ...
so there will be much less clutter ...
but it still looks pretty darn good and has plenty of room!

We finally had to buy a new refrigerator. We're actually surprised that it lasted us this long ... and it's been freezing stuff for a long time - milk, beers, club soda. So, we went out Labor Day weekend and found a great deal. We didn't get the fanciest fridge, and decided to opt out of the ice maker upgrade (just means we'd have to put in a water line) ... but we did get a pretty great deal. And, it looks really good. And this one fits just perfectly in the area, so it looks more like the kitchen was built for it. And, it runs so well. And, leaving us with just the stove, counters, and sink to replace now!

AND, last, but CERTAINLY not least. We hung the interior LR shutters! WooHoo!! I am so shutter-excited. They look SO SO SO good. It makes the room look brighter, more open, and bigger. The paint on the walls looks crisper and lighter as well. They just look so good! I still have to add some hardware, latches, and knobs ... but those are just little details. :)

Biggest (and only) problem ... now you can REALLY see that the trim needs painting!
Good thing that's my winter project.

Is summer almost over?

2012-08-09T21:44:00.006-04:00

Seriously? Summer is almost over and I didn't get nearly as much done outside as I wanted to this year. Our house was going to have a cute, quaint cottage look by now ... but instead, the two front bushes are dead, the ivy is growing out of control, the lattice is falling down, the shutters are still peeling paint, and the house is d.i.r.t.y.

We have gotten some stuff done though ...

ONE
We bought all new bushes for out front. We needed something to fill in the behind the scenes of our garden. Something that would stay green year-round and not make our house look so dead in the winter. Enter five holly bushes, good size, grown at a local nursery. It rained for about a week straight. Nice. Fertilizer, root grower. The bushes looked great. Enter 100+ degree weather with no rain for the next 3-4 weeks. The two bushes by the steps get direct sunlight for a good portion of the day. I did not water nearly enough (or maybe not at all for the first 2 weeks of heat?) ... BIG MISTAKE. Helpful hint for new home owners - plants need water. :) They are dead. We have to buy 2 more bushes for the front of the house. Good news, the 3 bushes near the house and the tree are doing great. Ugh ... I did not get my mother's green thumb ... that went to my sister for sure.

**See previous blog post and picture the bushes on either side of the steps dead - that's what it looks like now.**

TWO
We did finally get that guest bedroom painted and close to finished! We painted the walls, ceiling, and all of the trim, hung molding & trim, and got a few new accessories. It looks pretty good back there now. I have a few more items to round the room out ... including a second coat of paint on the small table, a headboard, and decorating stuff ... but it's coming along nicely.

The closet is still organized!!!

Bought a new doorstop ... because the previous owners used a cordless phone base ... I know it may be hard to imagine, but it is true.
(and I'm embarrassed to admit, but we used it for almost 2 years now too. totally. embarrassed.)

THREE
So, when we were kids, my dad designed playground equipment to install at our elementary school - really only Libby & I went to school here because we moved before the boys were old enough. The school was right next to our house - literally it went our house, neighbor I don't remember, Dria's house, cross the street, @ the school, and you had to walk through the playground to get into the school. It was nice. In the winter, the firemen would come and flood the big field in the back of the school so we could ice skate during recess. I always wonder if today they ever do that anywhere anymore? Coming back from the tangent ... a while ago my parents were moving again and my mom was getting rid of some stuff and these playground equipment architectural drawings were in the pile. I took them and have been lugging them around with me for 5 years through 2 moves and finally had a place to put them. They are framed and hung in the guest bedroom, and THEY. LOOK. GREAT. You'll have to see them for yourself, but they are a totally cool, unique addition that adds a touch of modish adult style to the purpleness of the room. Have I mentioned that I am in love with them ... definitely on the list of favorite things in my house.

FOUR
We had the side back yard area groomed ... weeds pulled, top soil poured, paver stones laid, mulch & gravel spread. Our grill sits nicely on the paver stones now. Weeds won't grow back to the side of the garage. And eventually we'll plant some knock-out rose bushes along the fence. It's so nice. But, just so the story is documented ... it was NOT NICE getting it to this point! We called a local landscaper, finally giving in to the fact that we were just not going to get this done ourselves (our neighbor did it once, it grew back; we paid a guy to weed it, it grew back this spring; it was a jungle again; Pat tried to weed it - got about a 3' square section done in 45 minutes; that was the end of that). He came out a couple days later to look at the area. It was a bit weird, but we waited about 6 days for a quote after that. We talked it over and called him back within a week to tell him to go ahead with all of the work, except planting any bushes. We didn't hear from him for a couple of weeks, and the work wasn't done. One day, I came home to a message on the answering machine - "Sorry, things got really busy after we talked, but we'll be out in the next couple of weeks to do the work." I called him back, left a message and said - "No big deal; we still want the work done." Two weeks later, no work done. Pat now calls him, and left about 2-3 more messages. He never returns any phone calls. We are now about 4-5 weeks into this, with no work done and just leaving messages. So, we agree this guy is fired. Pat schedules another landscaper to come out and give us a quote that Friday. Thursday night, I get home and the area is all cleaned up. WTF? Haven't heard from this guy in 3 weeks - no messages, notes, nothing - and now he does the work? Whatever, Pat calls him again. Still no answer. A week later, he leaves a message saying his guys are spraying weed control and will be able to finish the job Thursday or Friday the following week. No work, nothing done that whole week ... or the week after. UGH. Finally, Pat calls and says that he really has to finish this or else. (Else what? We weren't sure ... but it was getting SO old.) He came out the next day and finished the work. Then he mailed us a bill RIGHT AWAY. The bill came out to double his quote. WTF, again? Pat called him that night and discussed the situation, and we came to an agreement. We mailed the check today, and as soon as that sucker is cashed, I am totally reviewing this business online. It was a nightmare. But, it's done and looks much better!

FIVE
We got a new kitchen light ... again ... for the third time ... but this one is good. It's really good. And the decor is good and the light is good and it just looks good.

SIX
We painted our interior shutters. They look good. They fit the LR windows perfectly, and the DR windows almost. So, we are going to figure out a way to hang those babies up and pull these curtains down. Oh ... this project is going to be enlightening (hahahahaha - because they are going to allow so much more light into our LR/DR ... (I felt I needed to explain that joke))! Stay tuned!

Another couple-a checkmarks.

2012-05-14T20:55:00.000-04:00

So, our front yard was looking a little cracked out this spring. We've had CRAZY weather, which made everything come up and grow and turn green in March. A lot of people have been happy about this ... we've been able to be outside, go golfing, have the windows open, and it's just May. However, this also, once again, made our house look like the that house of the block. (It was at least better this time, since there were several that houses.) Our lilies are sprouting, and the hosta are back in full force ... but the hydrangeas were little dried sticks popping out of the dirt, our little gardenia tree completely died, and the yard was a hodge-podge of clovers, dandelions, weeds, with a smidgen of grass.

Truth be told, the hydrangeas were my fault. I cut them all the way back last summer because they looked like dead sticks coming out of the garden. Well, live and learn - you aren't supposed to do that. But, don't worry, the very knowledgeable guy at the nursery didn't even hesitate when he told me to "Be patient; they will grow back." And, they have already started!

So, a couple of weekends ago, we went to a nursery and bought some stuff to finish the front gardens. We ended up with 5 holly bushes and a weeping cherry tree. We moved the lilies forward and planted three of the bushes behind them. Then, we moved the hydrangeas to the side of the house and planted the other two bushes on either side of the stairs. It looks good. It looks finished. We also found one lonely tulip on the side of the house, and moved that to the front as well ... although its dead now. Our roses bloomed wonderfully this year ... a combination of more light, less garbage/weeds in the flower bed, and fertilizer worked great!

We've also hired a company to come and chemically treat our lawn to get rid of all the weeds, dandelions, and clovers. So far, it has worked GREAT! They've been out twice (it's an all summer kind-of contract, and they'll fertilize in the fall), and the weeds are already gone and the patches on the side are filling in with grass. Our yard is looking better already!

This year, the yard work has been ... dare I say ... fun!

We've also done some miscellaneous work inside the house. WE ARE ON A ROLL!!

So there was a bunch of glue from ceramic tiles stuck to the wall behind the stove. I didn't want to spend hours chipping away at that ... so I just bought a thin piece of cheap wood, painted it white, screwed it to the wall, and stuck our black-splash tiles to that. It worked like a charm. Although, it's not perfect ... we're okay with that since later this year we plan to replace the hood with a mounted microwave anyhow, so we'll end up replacing this back-splash anyway. (I got the tiles on Amazon.com for under $30 ... so in my opinion, an awesome fix so we don't have to look at that ugly wall all year!)

I also spray painted the hood white. If you remember, our hood was a cream color that had turned to a dingy, gross, antique white, old color and it stuck out like a sore thumb in our white white kitchen now. Funny story.

Two weeks ago @ Home Depot:
Me - "I'm going to paint the hood. Which do you think is better - flat white for appliances or a lacquer white?
Patrick - "Lacquer white."
Bought stuff and left store. I noted that he never even asked me how I planned to do this ... but decided to leave well enough alone. (If I had the paint, I could do it anyway.)

Last week sitting in the LR:
Me - "I'm going to paint the hood this weekend."
Pat - "Okay."
Pat - "Wait, how are you going to spray paint the hood inside the house?"
Me - "That's why I also bought those large plastic sheets. I'm going to cut them and tape them up to shield the other stuff."
Pat - "Okay, I guess. Don't ruin stuff - don't get that paint on the floor."

And he was very skeptical and sternly told me NOT to ruin the floor ... but I tarped and taped it all up, all around the hood ... and boy does it make a difference! It's one of those things that other people probably would have no idea we did, even if you came to our house often and noticed the off-colored piece before - because it makes the hood just blend into the room.

You can see both the off-color hood and crappy glue & falling back-splash here.

Painted hood (see how it blends in!) & re-done back-splash.

I also am very proud of myself for this next project. I made shelves for the kitchen. I cut, rounded, sanded, and painted new shelves to install next to the sink all by myself. And then I installed them all by myself! Starting with thin pieces of pine, I cut down to the correct length, then I cut 45 degree angle cuts, and then sanded the corners round. We don't have a dremel or jigsaw, which we should probably buy, but I didn't want to go out and lose the momentum that morning, so I just did it my way ... and they turned out fabulously! I tried spray painting these too ... it didn't work well ... so I ended up just sanding and painting them again before screwing them into the cabinets and using a small L-bracket to support the opposite corner. All the stuff that was on my window sill, now has a place on a shelf!!

(Also, as you look at these pictures ... I spray painted and re-installed the window lock and handle ... YAY! So, if you were thinking of breaking in to eat our leftovers, think again and find another house because this window's all locked up ... you snooze, you lose!)

And, last, but definitely not least ... another story about the stupid owners before us. The spring hinge thing on the back screen door broke a couple weeks ago (you all know what I'm talking about). Well, we got around to replacing it this past weekend. Went to HD, bought a spring hinge thing that fits our door, but it just didn't go smoothly once we got home. Snags, you ask? How is is possible to run into stupidity when replacing a spring hinge thing on a screen door - aren't they standard? I thought so too. Pat thought so too.

So, I started in on replacing it while Pat was mowing the lawn - thinking it was an easy project I could be productive with while I wait for him to finish. Let's just say I got so frustrated with it that Pat had to finish it the next day, while I moved on to other things.

Brief overview - it involved 2 trips to the hardware store; extra, multiple size screws; and we're still missing one screw to hold the spring hinge thing on to the door, but there is no place to put a second screw. It's pretty secure though (even if the latch doesn't catch quite as well as it should ... ugh.) I wanted to just get a new door so that we could remove one more item from the list of things that used to be theirs.

And, I feel like I've only been telling you about stuff I did ... which is pretty much true ... but only because Pat's been busy doing boring stuff like spackling the molding we put up, cutting & trimming the lawn, and fixing other stuff. He's also been busy ... but his stuff was just normal, every-day household stuff. But he deserves a shout-out for all of his hard work and effort too!

More stuff on the horizon ... we've got a list and we're checking stuff off!

Back on the train

2012-04-01T20:36:00.000-04:00

With my bucket full of thoughts ... took me a long time to get back on the train. ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫

YAY ... we CLEANED OUT OUR GARAGE!! We are happy people.

And then we filled it back up again.

And then we cleaned it again ...

And then we used it to paint and cut crown molding ...

And then we cleaned it up again ...

Sort of.

It's better. You can walk through it. You can find some stuff (most stuff). You can use the treadmill. The boxes are gone (which actually was about half the mess, twice, really), and some of the shelves are pretty organized. We're not completely done, but it's functional and we're not embarrassed to open the garage door anymore. We have rubber mat flooring to lay under the workout area. So, there's still plenty to do, but we've gotten used to parking outside ... and while it'll be nice someday when we're rich enough to park our cars indoors ... this gives us a little more functional space for now. It makes me smile every time I take the trash out or dump the recyclables. (But, just so we're clear - it's still disgusting out there ... I haven't yet cleaned cleaned ... therefore, Pat is the only one running on that treadmill right now because I don't want to inhale in all the grossness. Color me weird?)

And ... we FINALLY painted the guest bedroom! It looks really good in there, and makes us wonder why it ever took this long to work on this area of the house. It took 2 coats of paint-&-primer-in-one on the walls, and 3 coats of paint-&-primer-in-one on the ceiling ... AND, Pat thinks I'm crazy, but I still see pink back there. I put my face right up to the wall and see all these specs of pukey, pink paint. I'm pretty sure I am crazy though.

Then, we painted the crown molding, and tried to hang it. This is what happened on Saturday. After 5 hours.

Dear Bob Vila,

Thank you for taking the time to upload videos of yourself showing us how to hang crown molding. After years of specializing in this work, your video sure did look rather easy and straightforward; and the diagram was a nice touch, but proved to be useless. Coping molding is not for amateurs. Please add a disclosure to your video; it would have saved us about 5 hours.

Sincerely,
The Sawyers

Then, on Sunday ... we just did it our* way and it went up in 2 hours start to finish.
(*probably the way 98% of people do it)

We made 3 trips to Home Depot over the weekend: 1) buy the power miter saw; 2) buy a nail gun; 3) buy more molding and a more powerful nail gun. Each time we forgot safety glasses.

We still have to caulk, and paint it (we bought primed molding this time, but didn't paint it beforehand) ... but it looks so much better. And, almost NO pink left!! Also on the list: painting the closet doors and re-hanging those too. And, I have to paint the little dresser and side tables as well ... so we are far from finished in that room, but it's still an awesome start.

UPDATE - No one sustained any eye injuries during the work performed.

In case you're wondering ...

2012-02-13T10:51:00.000-05:00

It's been 4 months and 4 days. Trust me, our to do list is exactly the same as when I left you all back in October.

Better Late than Never.

2011-10-08T11:58:00.000-04:00

It's been One Whole Year! (plus one month.)

Sunday, September 11, 2011 was the one year anniversary of getting the keys to our very first house! Are you ready for some updates? And, I can promise you that we haven't done anything additional since the 'actual' one year anniversary, even though this post is late.

That's not true. But, I can tell you exactly what has been done since the 1 year anniversary ... and then can promise you that we haven't done anything else.

Weekend of 9/17:
a.) Hung the tiles behind the stove
b.) Hung the kitchen window blinds (because I lied in a previous post - it wasn't done yet!)

Weekend of 10/1:
a.) Cleaned and re-arranged the den

Today:
a.) Re-hung some falling tiles behind the stove in the kitchen

That's it. Not much. SO, really this update is like it really was on the weekend of our 1 year anniversary. I'm counting it.

Moving on from the lies ... We always feel like we're never getting enough done. We're never doing what we should be to get this house in order. We haven't done as much as we could be. Well, we might just take the rest of the year off after looking at how far we've come ... because it's A Ways, people. It's a long-ass way from where this house was when we moved in! (Not that there's still not stuff to do, but that talks got no-stickin' place in this post.)

Pat & I regularly talk about how much we've come to like our house (not that we didn't like it when we bought it - obviously) ... but how much we've been able to make it our own, and really restore the charm to this house. (And we regularly talk about how sweet of a deal we got since the previous owners sucked at basic home maintenance.)

Now, we have a special surprise for you ... we're going to first show you the reality photos from the sale of this house ... THIS is what made us come look at the house, and eventually buy it (well, that and the location/price)!

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddddd now ...

Here is what we've done for the past year.
(before, then after; before, then after; before, then after ... )

The Kitchen - Part 4 (we're almost finished, seriously.)

2011-08-29T20:58:00.000-04:00

So, remember my latest self-imposed deadline ... well, we didn't quite make August 25 ... but we did get the kitchen pretty much completed this past weekend! I'll say we were officially finished on August 28 (minus a few odds and ends that don't count).

For starters, just so you know, as a pre-cursor to the kitchen details ... I want my kitchen to look lovely. Something about the look of white marble countertops, with white cabinets, white subway tile backsplash, and white appliances ... it makes me swoon. But, our kitchen is not quite airy and grand enough for me to have the previously described swooning, so we're going with the white theme, but black countertops and stainless appliances. It'll look good, I know. Originally, I was going to try and just paint ... you saw the initial color swatches on the wall here - none of them were good. But, after much more deliberation, more painting samples of color on the walls, mixing colors with whites to tone them down, and a brief period of "I'm just going to paint it all white because I have no idea what else to do and can't find the color that I see in my head" (ladies - we all know that this is true - you see things in your head and try to will them into reality) ... I found my inspiration ... so, ladies, keep making stuff up in your head, because sometimes it does work!

A combination of these rooms:

Now, back to the work ... Let me. Tell you. The walls in this room are weird. I mean some are wood, some are plaster, and there were stains on them that I couldn't quite figure out. Gross. So, to diminish the visibility of said grossness, I wallpapered, and then painted. Yep - you read that right. But I did it in a way that hopefully new home-owners won't hate me for. I used Graham & Brown Beadboard style paintable wallpaper - and it worked like a charm. It took me a few hours to put it up (and it was soft and easy on flat walls; just ripped and tore around outlets and corners, but overall - great!). Then, I gave it a couple of days to fully adhere before painting. It was nice because it was being painted the same color as the trim - so barely any cutting in and it went rather quickly (so glad we planned it that way!). I only wallpapered about 2/3 of the way up the wall, then we installed rail to finish that off (like the first picture above!). I wanted a color in there, since most of the rest of our house is painted gray (like the first picture above.). We chose to go with a green to pull the accent color from the LR/DR into the kitchen (like the second picture above!). It's called Retro Avocado (a bit darker/less limey than the second picture above.). And, the wallpaper was SUCH a good idea because it took almost 4 coats of paint just to cover the green part of the wall (only did 2 coats on the wallpaper). Most of the green was painted on primed, new drywall from when the contractors built our new, non-hobbit ceiling. But, if you look closely, you can see how the gross walls still looked crappy even with 4 coats of paint (paint & primer in one, actually) ... but with the pictures up there it's not too visible unless you know what you're looking for (and I'm not going to point it out to you!). The wallpaper saved us an immense amount of time painting and cutting in (the worst, let me say that again - the worst). And gives the kitchen a much awesomer look and feel. It looks so good - with the white cabinets, white walls, rail ... And, to top it all off, our kitchen looks bigger and taller now!

Countertops and new sink (hopefully) coming this winter/spring. New stove & fridge probably have to wait until spring/summer (unless one of them or both crap out before that (here's to hoping!)!).

And, it's starting to look pretty good in here. It's a good start. Actually, it's a really good most-of-the-way-finished start. Painted cabinets, check. New cork floor, check. New baseboards, check. New matching door molding, check. New pulls on the cabinets, check. Painted walls, check. Blinds hung, check. Countertops, sink, stove, and refrigerator ... coming later. The only thing left to do is hang the aluminum tile backsplash behind the stove ... I ordered the tiles, and they have arrived, and are sitting in our dining room in two very small boxes ... and I swear its going to be done soon because I'll be damned if this kitchen remains 'unfinished' for another month.

Putting the wallpaper up ...

Painted wallpaper

After a couple coats of paint.

Other notes ...

We cleaned all of the cardboard boxes out of our garage ... and took them to the recycle bin down the road.

We got new LR rugs. I know. I know. This is the third time. BUT ... the ones I originally wanted, yet couldn't pull myself to spend $250+shipping on ... went on clearance (yes, I kept an eye on them for over 10 months, knowing if they went low enough, I would buy another new set). They look better still - much more pulled together, and much less Target dorm style. YAY!

AND, since the paint was out ... I painted the ceiling around our DR light fixture. It should have been sanded and cleaned up before I did it ... but it was Sunday afternoon, and I was worn out and being lazy, so I said - "Painting it so there isn't the big dirty circle on the DR ceiling is better than nothing." And, I was right. Usually am. (That was a joke, kind of, I mean, yes it was a joke.)

Also, Pat finally got his home theater ... speakers, TV, blue-ray, and all that other stuff that goes with it ... We aren't quite finished cleaning up the office/misc. room stuff from the den, but when we get there, I'll post some pics. (Secret - I actually enjoy it way more than I thought I would - movies, video games, everything just looks and sounds better on his set-up!)

Also, just a little note about what we've been up to (instead of working on the house) ... It was Pat's birthday a few weeks ago. We decided this year to forgo birthday presents and instead choose overnight trips for that weekend. Pat took me to Louisville, KY - stayed at a modern art boutique hotel downtown, had a great dinner and drinks, and a fantastic time! I took him to Indianapolis, IN. We went go-karting (for real, not like bumper cars!), ate at Morton's Steak House, and stayed in a train car hotel. It was totally fun. The go-karting was awesome - we'll be going again! The food was amazing; it's been on TV for the spicy shrimp cocktail appetizer - it's the only app they have and it's well worth the trip to Indy (along with the steaks). And the hotel was cool - our room was an old passenger car that was converted into a hotel room, on actual tracks and all.

We also lucked out, and there was a super huge gaming convention in town that weekend, which gave us PLENTY of entertainment during dinner and drinking ... we sat next to a guy wearing chain-mail at the restaurant (he said he had problems getting it through airport security!). And, we got to sit across from a very first date at the martini bar (they met at the convention), which is always entertaining! (Side note - we're both dorks, and both really like board games and Xbox and all the like ... but some of the convention-goers play in a whole 'nother ballpark!)

So, we'll officially be at our 1 year home owning anniversary in 2 weeks. I plan to post a HUGE before and after that weekend ... I'm excited (as I'm sure all of you are too) to see the progress over the past year. Maybe I'll even get those tiles up before that?

The Kitchen, Part 3 million.

2011-08-11T08:04:00.001-04:00

So, remember how I wanted to have my kitchen decorated by the end of the month (July, that is)? Well, it's August 10 ... days, weeks, past my self-imposed (knowingly ridiculous) due date.

My kitchen now looks like this:

Remember this picture ... I posted it in May ... the kitchen still looks exactly the same ... paint still on walls, no switch cover plates, wallpaper glue, stains, pure ugliness.

I'm not good at made-up deadlines.

This was a fake update, but I thought I'd air my dirty, secret laundry and perhaps it would motivate me to actually do this project.

New made-up deadline - August 25. Why? Because after that we don't have a free weekend until October. (Don't worry, most of those weekends are filled with fun-ness and friends!)

We'll see.

Finito - Numeral Uno!

2011-07-14T21:39:00.000-04:00

We finished a project! An entire project. As in we're done ... with all labor associated with the project!

Isn't that cool?

But, I degress, to fill you in on the beginning half of our July. We had a very happy July 4th. We had friends in from out of town, which was super nice (and not only because we didn't have to travel). We ate, played games, drank, and ate some more. It was lazy and awesome.

Pat & I saw fireworks on our actual Independence Day. They were pretty freakin' sweet - this suburb spends $50k on fireworks and sells corndogs and snow cones (and fried donuts) outside the stadium where they fire off the works. The finale was like a giant sparkler in the sky. I love fireworks, and sparklers, and the 4th of July. I forgot my camera.

And here's what's new in the household:

We had the driveway re-sealed and partially re-paved. When we bought the house, there was a list of things the city wanted fixed (or they kick us out). We split it with the past owners, partially because (a) they weren't going to do them; (b) if they did have to do them they would have half-assed them (obvious from past findings); and (c) we wanted to do them our way. The driveway was one of these items. It was in bad shape. There were pits and holes; the cracks had at one time been filled (inproperly); the weeds/plants next to the driveway were growing over the blacktop; it was crumbling. So, we hired a company to fix it - it was b.e.y.o.n.d. repair kits purchased at Home Depot. They had to dig up a portion of the driveway and re-fill it. They had to seal the rest of the driveway. (We were unaware that the newly layed part of the driveway had to cure for a year before it can be sealed; but it does, and we know now. We're becoming very smart, and after this house-fix-up, we might know everything, you can ask us then.) We now have a driveway about twice as big as it was before; and it looks black; and it's smooth. Feast your eyes on this:

BEFORE to AFTER:

AND, if you turn Pat's car into a WonkaMobile, you can see how much extra room we have on each side now!

On to the F.I.N.I.S.H.E.D project!!!

We finished the front yard! Lilies, gardenia tree, top soil, black mulch, hostas, hydrenda bushes, rock borders, grass seed, and lots of sunlight and water = an awesome front yard! We plan to plant some tulips in front of the lilies this fall, and maybe try to find some perenials that we can put up there too ... that way, next year, we'll have tulips in the spring, with a tree & bushes; and then lilies and *something else that comes up annually without me having to re-plant it* with the tree & hydrenga bushes blooming all summer. We still think it'll looks pretty sweet now though (and all the work later is just gravy ... not necessary, so we count this as DONE).

Also, we (Pat) have NEW bird friends. This time it's robins - and they are NOT in my hanging baskets impeeding on the front porch. They set up camp in the Leaning Tree of Casa Sawyer in the front yard. New problem - these robins are WAY more territorial than the doves were. There are 3 eggs in the basket. (Also, funny side note, we have bunnies in the back yard too ... I think Pat might be the wildlife whisperer. Or maybe our house just doesn't look as scary as it did before?)

I also decided upon a look for the kitchen. The walls are horrible; the paint samples just pealed right off due to the massive amount of wallpaper glue the previous owners used (at least they didn't use gorilla glue, right? there's always a silver lining.); the crappy way the counters don't seal up to the walls (or just the crappy counters. period.); the stupid tile glue left over from the horrible tiles behind the stove. I could just keep going ... but I will not. I'm not going to tell you my idea, or post my inspiration picture just yet ... I'll just say that it is coming soon - and by that I mean that I hope to have the kitchen done by the end of July. Minus the new refrigerator, stove, counters, tile backsplash, sink, faucet, and microwave - it's a work in progress, okay? So basically, I just hope that the painting/decorating-type things I am going to do are done; hold me over for a while until we can pay for those previously mentioned, lacking items. I'll keep you posted.

TILL NEXT TIME, FRIENDS!

Mom, look. Look.

2011-06-30T22:17:00.001-04:00

Looooook what we did ... Mo om, LOOK, Look now!

Our front yard is now re-planted. With flowers & a tree ... grass still to come. The tree is really little for now, but will grow. All of the rocks came right from our own yard - buried, scattered around the perimeter of the house ... and we still have plenty left!

Oh, we are proud of our work here.

And the hanging basket flowers are thriving (and still bird-free!) ...

We've actually done quite a bit more over the past week ... we've had A LOT of irons in the fire, projects partially complete, a mess-house if you will. Well, they are sweetly and truly coming to a wondrous end (but don't worry, there are PLENTY more to come - but maybe in the future, we'll start one at a time!)

... SO STAY TUNED!!

Everyone should do this once.

2011-06-29T00:01:00.005-04:00

Go on a hot air balloon ride.
Do it.
It's amazing. (That's an understatement.)

Pat got me a hot air balloon ride for Christmas this year. We've scheduled it twice so far this year - but because of the rain (it ruined everything, really), we had to reschedule twice. It was finally planned for June 25, and we went on June 25. I can't say enough awesome things about this adventure. It was just plain crazy awesome. One of the coolest things we've ever done. Everyone needs to take a hot air balloon ride. (At least once ... but I almost guarantee that you're going to want to go again!)

I'll let the pictures do the talkin', but here are some tidbits about our ride:

just after sunrise - took off about 8am
it was cloudy and hazy, but cleared up quickly once we were up in the air
about an hour in the sky
went up about 1200 ft. at our highest
traveled about 12 miles
took off from a small airport; landed in a baseball diamond at a park
had a fantastic, super friendly crew from Bella Balloons (http://www.flybellaballoons.com/)

Our balloon!

We took off from down there ... see the SUV w/trailer - that's our chaser (pick-up ride!)

Our shadow!

We landed just past these baseball diamond.

Now, onto house stuff. The balloon ride was Saturday, and we didn't do much the rest of the day ... except make a trip to Home Depot to view stuff for our front yard. We ended up buying flowers, dirt, a tree, grass seed, and mulch (among other littler things).

Here's what else we've gotten done:

Replanted the hanging baskets. Flowers now grow from center and move outwards to the edges of the baskets, which should mean no more room for birds, I think.

Rita scraped the front piece of lattice so that I could paint it before planting. (She wanted to, I swear. She saw us outside and has been so couped up and it's driving her nuts; but there's not much she can do, so she asked to scrap while we work on other stuff. Who am I to deny?) I sprayed it down and we painted tonight! We also planted, but we're not finished mulching and laying the rock border ... so more pictures on that later this week! We're this close to having a front yard that looks good - the first outside improvement!

It's amazing how much better the WHOLE house looks from something as simple as repainting lattice ...
it just pops!

Replaced the front porch lights!!! These lights look a bit modern now that they are actually hanging up; but I think that once I replace the lattice with railing, and paint the porch, etc. - they might be more suitable. Also we got a new mailbox!! And removed the ugmo street number sign. There were sticky street numbers under that - dumb. They didn't even bother peeling them off before hanging something over it - why do more work than necessary!?

Side note - we hope that we hooked up the electrical correctly; it was old wiring to new wiring, and the people before us hooked up a black splice to the old white wire and a white splice to the old black wire and connected the lights that way. We're not sure if they knew something that we didn't about the wiring, but we're banking on 'we're smarter than them since everything else they've done in this house has been utterly stupid and ass-backwards' and we connected the wires the traditional way. So far, no fires.

It will forever be known as ...

2011-06-14T19:34:00.001-04:00

the vacation when Pat lost his wedding ring. In the Atlantic Ocean. And then bought goggles an hour later to look for it.

He didn't find it, in case you're wondering.

Here's the details:

Marissa has an annual work event; this year it was held at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Florida. Spouses are invited. Pat came. We took an extra day of vacation, so we'd have 1.5 days after my meeting to hang out and relax. So, on our vacation day - Thursday it was - we went to the beach. Nice day. Big waves. Fun in the sun. Warm water. I had some sweet wave moves; Pat tried to copy my awesome water moves. It was a blast. We got out (playing in big waves becomes exhausting as you get older). Dried off. Lay on beach chairs with towels. My ring went bling in the Miami sun. Pat's ring did not (and not just because his has no diamonds). Oops.

At that point, what do you do ... I mean seriously, look for it? We did look around in the sand, thinking (hoping) maybe it just fell off while he was drying off ... and I looked a bit down by the tide ... but who are we kidding? The Atlantic Ocean is the 2nd biggest body of water on this planet, and Pat's ring is another treasure amid the pirate ships and sea life; forever lost to it.

We left and went to the beach bar, where we had a beer (Pat had 2). Then he said, lets go back and look so that at least we can say we looked for it. I was not interested. It had been an hour plus. If we were going to find it (not happening), it would not be an hour later. But, we went back. Pat asked the lifeguard for goggles. He put them on and dove back out into the ocean (yes, really). He walked up and down the beach.

See above for final result.

So ... anywho ... we had a great time regardless. It was warm and sunny and just nice out. We saw some enormous yachts and great views.
And got nothing done around the house.

Pat was getting mad about me taking so many pictures ...

18th green ... tee are back to the middle right of the picture ... sweet hole.

Meet Claire ... pretty girl.

We played lawn chess ... I won.

She's crazy. (But in a good way!)

2011-06-05T21:01:00.004-04:00

Guess what we arrived home to on Tuesday night? Rita, our neighbor, hacking away at more of our yard. I told her she was crazy - so I figure if I'll say it to your face, I can put it on ~~paper~~ the internet, right?

We had this crazy over-growth by our driveway. It originally didn't extend all the way into the driveway, but with all the rain (I know, I'll stop talking about it someday), the plants/weeds/whatever just continued to take over our driveway. It was our next big task.

Well, she said that she was out doing some work in her yard, and just came over to see how we were going to tackle this area (she said WE!). And, well, then she just started cutting and before she knew it, she was half way done. Along with a "Really, I don't mind, this is therapy to me; you just go inside and eat dinner - you just got home from work." So, that's what I did. Pat on the otherhand, went out to help her with the second half. I should mention that I wasn't feeling well, and had only gotten a couple hours of sleep the night before - I was actually planning on attacking the bushes that night?

We didn't realize how much room we had over there! We're going to extend our driveway just a bit so that both of us can park up there without having to move cars around every day! It's awesome! Also - found a bunch more rocks and bricks, so I might not need to buy many. And, almost enough paver stones to make a path from the driveway to the side door - more mulla in our pockets!!

And, now just as it was fair to explain how awesome Rita is, and how she kicked our butts at yard work (see previous post) ... I also have to tell you that she's been wanting to clean up this lawn for about 15 years now ... so she's got her agenda too. She said that at least a few times a year she has to come out and clip this driveway area because it impeeds into her yard so much and she doesn't want it taking over. Plus, we think she's just excited to not live next to people who do nothing with or for their houses and yards. We want this place to look amazing. And we're getting there one step at a time!

Here's what the driveway area looks like ... still a ton of work to do, but way better than before!
BEFORE:

AFTER:

The city picks up yard debris every other week ... so we didn't do as much on our yard this weekend (so it doesn't sit for 2 weeks), and we'll pick it back up next weekend. But, we did pay it forward and help plant in our neighbor's front yard ... Rita was going to help her, but broke her ankle, and so we helped Rita help her. It's pretty awesome to live in a sweet neighborhood.

AND, I did hedge those bushes around the back corner of our house, and it helps that area look way nicer.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

AND, I painted our front porch wicker chairs and table ... with the paint sprayer ... it was awesome, in case you're wondering.

Paint sprayer is awesome ... oh, did I already say that?
It went SO fast ... this was half way when we had to add more paint to the tub!

Does this count as exercise?

2011-06-01T18:34:00.000-04:00

The answer: Yes.

We had a SUPER weekend! It was very productive, fun, exhausting, and rejuvenating all in one. We haven't had a weekend like this ... well probably since we first bought this house.

SATURDAY
We had a sleep-in, lazy morning. It was nice.

We ~~are~~ were both looking for new golf clubs, and our driving range/lesson club was having a Demo Day, so we headed over there after lunch. Talked to a few people, hit a few clubs, and hung out for a bit. I think I found a driver.

Then we headed up to the golf course ... it was later in the afternoon, 3pm tee time, with perfect weather! I mean gorgeous! There was barely anyone left at the course - just how I like to play ... all the time in the world to focus, mis-hit, and just have fun. It was a blast - other than the sub par conditions due to the monsoon, the fact that the course was waaaaaay hard (and super long), and the fact that I had a breakdown somewhere around hole 10 - but totally fun! Followed by an American Idol dinner bet at Oakwood Club ... drinks and food were on me (sorry you missed it!).

Hole #1 (I parred this hole and hole #3 ... it was pretty sweet!)

SUNDAY
So, we had made a deal that we'd do fun stuff on Saturday & Monday - and all the work on Sunday. It was a good deal. But, Sunday was hot. 90 degrees plus. We meant to get up around 9am to start doing yard work, but that turned into 11ish since we went out for dinner and drinks Saturday after golf. Then, we got some lunch, picked up our screen door with it's new screen (it's awesome, in case you were wondering!), and went back to start in on work.

So, about 2pm, we actually headed outside to do work - me, start digging the front yard up; Pat - mow the lawn & then help with the demo.

Now I know why my mom always said she had to get the stuff done in the morning and she'd be finished by the time I was out of bed.

It gets hot.

But we suffered through it.

And accomplished A LOT! And, by a lot, I mean MASSIVE, WOWZER, CRAZY AMOUNT OF WORK.
(Especially when compared to the nada, zilch, nothing, never yard work that either of us had ever done before?)

Now, it's only fair that I mention that we lucked out and bought this house next to a fabulous, terrific, couldn't-be-more-generous, hard-working lady. She loves yard work, totally wanted to help us, had all the right tools, and is super nice & knowledgeable to boot. Pretty unbelievable, we both must say. She helped us all afternoon, and into the evening on Saturday. Just offered her help right up, and did an excellent job.

Now, it's only fair that I also mention that she put us to complete shame. She's about 15+ years our senior, wore long pants and a long sleeved shirt, and was a mad woman when it came to doing the work. She just kept chugging along - digging, clipping, axing, shovelling - calculated breaks, and didn't slow down. Me & Pat: shorts, t-shirt, water, interval breaks every 10 minutes, sweat pouring into our eyes so that we could barely see. You get the picture.

Now, Rita & I were able to clean out most of the shrubs, bushes, ivy, weeds, roots, etc. Except for the stump. There was a stump - that was actually more like 100 stumps in one - and it stumped us (hahahaha). It was a tree/bush that was many things in one - we're not sure exactly what it was. It had to go. We cut it down and dug around it, but it was not budging. We borrowed other tools from other neighbors, and to no avail - this stump went no where. Boo. So, this is what we ended with on Sunday.

Some of the bricks and rocks we found while cleaning this all up!!

Also, we *GOT* to witness an exchange between the mama and papa birds taking over the nest duties and sitting on the eggs. So, Pat (very excitedly) snapped this picture while he could so we can all see the eggs!

Side note - I sprayed insecticide in that basket about 3 days to 1 week prior to the birds nesting in there ... so I told Pat I hope the babies aren't too dumb to leave when they hatch. (There's already been some bird droppings on our front porch and I want them out.)

MONDAY
We took it easy during the day - it was even hotter than Sunday, and I wasn't having any part of yard work at 95+ degrees. So, we went to lunch, stopped at Golf Galaxy - bought Pat some irons (YAY!) - went to Home Depot, then home. I took a little break, while Pat went to the driving range to swing his new clubs.

Then, I got to work cleaning up the outside. We kept the hostas - but they were scattered around - and a rose bush we found buried behind crazy over-growth to see if we can use them. But the dirt wasn't tilled, and the stump from the crazy-mega tree was still out there. So, I figured we better at least clean up the work so it didn't go to waste and sit there for another couple of weeks before we touched it. Rita saw me out there and came out again to help!

So, we moved the plants, tilled the dirt, positioned stuff to clean it up, killed more roots, pulled more ivy, and sprayed a bunch of Round-up to kill anything that I couldn't get to ... I wanted to make sure that it's all D.E.A.D. Much to Pat's dismay, I ended up spraying the ENTIRE yard with this stuff ... I, like, had no idea it was totally toxic and would kill grass - I thought it was for weeds? Opps, sorry sweetie.

That's a lie - but he told me about 100 million times not to spray the lawn because it would kill the grass. He reminded me it was toxic and to be very careful EVERY time I mentioned Round-up or weed-killer. Plus, our grass is mostly clover, so really, I mean really, would it have mattered?

And, when Pat got home, he worked on that stump for another couple of hours. He dug, axed, pried, wedged, and cursed at that thing. And in the end it was all worth it - because he got it out of there. It took us probably 4 cumulative hours to remove this stump.

Us - 1, Stumps - 0.

And, so, with all of Rita's help, tools, and know-how ... we fixed the front of our house. It no longer looks like a jungle, overgrown from the monsoon. You can see that we have a front window, siding, shutters, railings, a walkway! It looks bigger, more open, cleaner, more kept-up ... like non-crazy, non-wild Amazonians live here! The finished (for-now) look.

Rain, rain ... GO AWAY!

2011-05-27T19:00:00.000-04:00

So, for any of you who have talked to us over the past 2 months know that it's been raining here, like, non-stop. For 2 months. I'm not joking. We've had no Spring, and now it's about to be over 80+ degrees and muggy. And, for anyone who has ever even talked to me - I hate being hot*. Ughhh.

*Unless I just have to lay by a pool or on the beach or some other outdoor activity that warrants good sun and heat, then it's pretty freakin' awesome.

So, here are the stats, and pics of what the outside has looked like for as long as we can remember now. Really, it has been that long!

A total of 8.72" of rain fell in April 2011 - second in stats only to 1996, when they had 9.2".
A total of 5.91" has fallen in May so far.
It rained 19 days in April, but the sun only popped out for 5 days - the rest were cloudy and dreary (with possible drizzle, but no measurable rain, apparently).
It has rained 18 days so far in May; the sun has popped out 5 days - the rest were cloudy and dreary (again, with possible drizzle, but no measurable rain, apparently).
April's mean temperature was 54.7 degrees.
May's mean temperature has been 65 degrees.
Ohio's WORST planting season in 53 years - it could cost millions, and we might not have good corn this year (ditto for soybeans, but who cares, right?).

Here's the standard view from our front porch ...

And what they do to our TV when there are storms - because it's a BIG deal around here. Mainly it's Fox ... which is also ABC ... they are dumb. I called and complained because it was the American Idol Final - and I lost the fantasy draft to Scotty - SCOTTY the (non-existent) BODY.
I'm still mad.
About the tv, not the bet.

It's supposed to be really nice this weekend. Here's to hoping ... our fingers are crossed. But, the temps to follow on Saturday - Tuesday are: 78, 88, 89, 90 ... etc. Seriously, I'm P-O'ed about skipping the 70s. But, no one in this region can complain about it now - so I'm keeping my mouth shut, for the most part.

Also, Pat has made a fine feathered friend ... who has nested and laid eggs in my hanging basket.
I should have an update post, post-Memorial Day weekend. We should have a lot to show ... so long as the weather cooperates! Have a great holiday!

The Kitchen. Part 2.

2011-05-02T23:08:00.000-04:00

I think that before we're done with this thing, there might be 1 million parts to "The Kitchen" blog postings.

So, the flooring is now in! YAY! There were some real issues along the way (I know, it's hard to imagine; but sometimes when you rip floor up five layers of floor, you don't find awesomeness underneath.)

First, everyone who tried had a hard time ripping up the multi-layered flooring; so I'm giving Pat props for doing as much as he did in the beginning. The contractors, even with all their right tools, had a hell of a time demo-ing the floor. Then, there was a hump issue. A hump in the middle of the floor that might create some problems down the line. And, the remedy to "fix" the hump issue in the past was ... (this is a doozey) ... to pound nails into it in an effort to hold it down. Many contractors would have just floored over the hump - I mean, by the time it created any issues in the joints, they'd be long gone. But, our guys ... well, they do things right. Apparently, one of the contractors took time out of his day to pull out nails pounded into the floor in one big pile. (I wish I would have been home to get a picture of that.) They spent an entire afternoon sanding that hump & pulling nails to make sure everything was proper. Which means that everything in the kitchen was once again dusty and dirty ... I'm about done cleaning everything in the kitchen whenever I don't cook or use the dishes!

And, tonight, we put all of the pulls on the cabinets and drawers! So exciting! They look great too. We only had an issue with 1 cabinet, and once we got the pull on and screwed in ... you can barely tell that we had to drill a MASSIVE hole underneath because things didn't line up. It was the drill's fault.

Anywho, here are the pics of the process and the finished product of our new cork floors! (They feel squishy and it's cool!)

The grossness under the dishwasher.

Some "before and after's" of the flooring ... vent area, door molding, the molding under the cabinets, and fixing the enormous cuts into the door frames to fit all of those layers of flooring!

Notice how they matched the door frame molding and also the baseboards in here too ... it makes SUCH a difference!

MASSIVE HOLE (top one obviously!) ... surprisingly, it doesn't really show with the pull on the door?

All the dust on the floor, and in the cabinets, and in the drawers ... luckily I DID NOT have to re-wash everything again tonight after NOT cooking ... because we have a dust buster! One of the single greatest gifts from our wedding ... we didn't even know we needed one, and we use it all. the. time. (Thanks Peggy!)

Up next ... PAINTING!!!

(which means more sanding = more dust = more cleaning (without cooking), and finally painting.)

We both win.

2011-04-22T17:17:00.000-04:00

So, I'll just say it ... I didn't get 5 of those items done this week ... you win. BUT, I did get a lot done, so I'm counting it as a win too.

We completed 3 1/2 of the 8 items - I'm counting the 1/2 towards my bedroom because I did clean up the laundry area and move our cedar chest in there, and also put some laundry away, and swifter ... but the infamous pile has not budged, not even a little. And, really I'm now saying that it was out of 7 items, because once I thought about having my dad hang the light fixture, I knew I certainly wasn't going to do it beforehand!

So, feast your eyes on this ... just look at our house. It's amazing what a little cleaning (okay, a lot) and a little re-arranging will do to a place. It feels bigger and more spacious. And, everytime it's clean and crisp inside, we sit back to enjoy it and talk about how much we both really love our house ... and that's a happy story! (Plus, we've been able to start opening the windows a few days at a time and it's just totally awesome!)

Spring has arrived! (but brought the rain with it ...)
FYI - This is the view from the window by my chair in the living room!

So, the cabinets look really good here ... but they are still chipping, so at least they're up and the kitchen is functional again, but we'll have to redo them correctly, one at a time. Oh well.

You can barely see the filler that he put in since the old hinges came through the cabinet doors ...

The crystal light that Pat so abruptly ruined when we first started fixing up the house ... is now in the trash.
Goodbye old friend, may you bring sparkle to the landfill now.

Installing the new light fixture ... yay!
THANKS, DAD!!

Yes, I still have to paint the ceiling around the base.

Our kitchen floor is all ripped up now! And it was a mess even for the contractors - they had a hell of a time even with all of their tools.

All the people before us really did a number in there ... and we are glad to restore it properly!

See how much they had to cut into the trim work just to get all the other flooring to fit in there over the years ...

why wouldn't you just take the old flooring out first?

The flooring over the vent was fanagled when they decided to put in the cabinets and re-re-re-cover the flooring.

So, now our contractors have to figure a way properly fix the fixes!

A while ago, I told you all about a new front porch rug I bought ... but I never posted a picture. Here it is. Although it looks somewhat worn because the front half is wet and dirty from the rain we've been having for about 2 weeks now!

The AWESOME lazy susan that Pat installed for me last week! It is so so so nice to have a clean, new lazy susan ... and to have been able to clean out inside that cabinet (couldn't get to it before with the old one in there!)

I know it doesn't look super clean - but I promise it's just the way the wood has worn and stained.

IT. IS. CLEAN. (finally)

My cedar chest used to be under these DR windows ... we moved it to the bedroom (where it belongs) and it has opened up this room SO nicely!

AND ...

I saved the BEST for last ... I finally got my ottoman today!! Furniture finished! And it looks great, and it's oh, so, comfortable!

$100 Well Spent.

2011-04-08T23:45:00.000-04:00

So, when our kitchen cabinets started chipping as we screwed in the hinges and started hanging them ... I said that I'd fix the problem areas. I didn't know if it would be worth it to ask Tim the painter (aka - TtP) to come back and fix a mess he made in the first place. But, as the day wore on and we got more frustrated, Pat declared that he wanted to call TtP back to fix the paint because, well, he should. I agreed.

So, Pat called me after he talked to TtP, to tell me that he agreed to pay him an additional $100 to come back and fix the problems. I was pretty pissed off. I mean, the gall to ask for more money - we already paid him, and he didn't do it right. We should NOT be paying him to re-do the job. Ughh. But, Pat had already agreed, and given him $60. And, after I got off my soap-box, principle-ranting tirade, I agreed too. We paid him cash, so we got a $200 discount off his originally quoted price. So, if we paid him another $100, it was still cheaper than his original quote, and maybe we would get away without having to do the painting/repair work ourselves. It was a $100 gamble. It paid off. The cabinets now look great.

On to the lists. My lists. They are literally scattered all over the house - in my purse, on the fridge, on the DR table, on my nightstand. I live by lists. Most of them overlap other ones and I start new ones constantly - probably more than one a day if you count work and home. Remember this ...

Next up on the list ...

~~Hang curtains on actual curtain rods.~~
Paint and hang the shutters in the LR/DR.
Hang the DR light fixture (that's been sitting in the garage for weeks now).
Paint the hallway.
Paint the guest bedroom.
Organize the guest bedroom closet.

Well, I do (if you don't, see this post - Best. Week.). And I went back to that post from a few weeks ago to see just how much of my list is still not done. It's mostly not done. Ugghhhh. I lost all momentum gained by all the great things that happened that week. And, I'm blaming it on the weather (cuz that's what you blame things on when you don't have an answer for them - colds, exhaustion, hair problems ... ).

Anyway, we didn't get any work done in the past 2 weekends either, and we really needed to. We have guests coming next weekend - my family is almost all going to be here for the baptisms of our niece and nephew. And, in true Marissa fashion (procrastination), I now have 3 1/2 days to actually get some work done. Here is my new list of must-dos (some of them overlap the old list):

1. Clean the whole house (no big deal, we're two people in an 1100 sq. ft. house - how bad can it get?)

2. Hang the DR light fixture (otherwise, I'm going to put my super handy, good-with-electricity father to work when he gets here this weekend!)

3. Finish assembling the kitchen with everything that was in the DR, LR, and guest bedroom.

4. Buy a bed frame for the guest bedroom (we threw the other one away over a month ago because it kept falling apart whenever anyone laid on the bed - basically, it was broken.)

5. Paint the kitchen.

I thought I mentioned to everyone that we were having out kitchen remodeled ... did I not tell you? Isn't it gorgeous?

6. Clean my room (yes, there is a pile between my side of the bed and my dresser - it was clean for about a week.)

This is basically my room looked like and my parents had to put up with from the ages of 10 - 24.
Now, I live with Pat and I don't talk on the phone as much.

7. Organize the guest room closet (what we are using as a linen closet).

This is actually, for real, what our linen closet will look like when I'm done. No Joke.
(Except mine will have labels on the shelves as well.)

8. Paint and hang the shutters.

Pretty, right?

Who wants to gamble on how much gets done before Thursday (yes, a week from yesterday)?

I'll let you in on a secret - we have plans for this entire weekend, so no work will get done until Sunday afternoon at the earliest. I am going to a bachelorette party on Saturday night, so Sunday afternoon may be a stretch.

I'll put the over/under at 5.

Now, most of you took the under, and based on my track record, you'd be right. But you'll have to tune in next weekend to see if you'd be a winner.