Puffer St. House Progress

Spring!

2011-05-01T12:27:00.000-04:00

We're loving the daffodils our good friends Damien and Elizabeth gave us this fall. The flowering pear tree and daffodils came out in full force this spring! Summer is right around the corner!

Our Painted Fireplace

2011-04-29T13:37:00.002-04:00

Yes, we decided to paint the fireplace. Click here for photos of what it looked like before we painted it. I'm so glad we did because I think it really brightens up the space. We used a white semi-gloss latex paint from Lowes. It took several coats to fill in all the little holes since the brick was so porous.

We also installed a fireplace screen. It really helps with heating that room. Without the screen, we were losing the heat from the radiator when it would go right out the chimney.

Nursery for New Baby!

2011-02-09T07:37:00.018-05:00

I've been on hiatus from blogging for a while because I had a baby! Stephen Tyler was born on January 16, 2011. His name is a combination of my name, Stephanie, and my husband's name Tyler and Stephen is also my dad's name, who I was named after. So Steph-en-Tyler, get it? He'll just go by Steve though. The picture is of him at 2 months old.

Before he was born I spent some time working on converting the den upstairs to his nursery. Check it out!

We had french doors installed and I painted a mural on the wall where his crib will go. (His cousin hasn't outgrown it yet so we use a bassinet in the meantime.) Some of the characters are inspired by a bedding collection from Carter's.

Here's my own version of our dog Gary to match the other characters.

I made a felt mobile of the mural characters to hang over the changing table.

The book shelf is the collector's shelf from Pottery Barn Kids.

On either side of the one window in the room we hung fun pictures including us as babies and some of Gary in white frames.

When I get the crib I'll be updating the photos so check back soon.

To Paint or Not to Paint

2010-11-15T08:53:00.005-05:00

I'm seriously considering painting our brick fireplace white to brighten up the room but I'm not sure if we should take the plunge since you can never go back. Our bricks aren't anything fancy, just ordinary, bland bricks. Here it is currently:

So if you have an opinion let me know, I'd love to hear them!

Online Surveys & Market Research

It's That Time of Year Again!

2010-11-15T08:21:00.006-05:00

I'm busy with sculpture and ornament orders from my shop for the holiday season.

Here's the latest little guy, Jesse a Cairn Terrier.

Mini Blinds to Roman Shades - New Window Treatments for the Kitchen

2010-08-26T17:34:00.010-04:00

I was sick of the plain old white mini blinds in our pantry and kitchen so I decided to make some new window treatments that would bring some customization to the room. I chose a beige ticking stripe fabric I found at Walmart for $4/yd and a muslin for the backing.

Rather than making roman shades from scratch, I reused some of the old parts of the mini blinds. I got rid of all of the slats and attached the shades to the bracket with velcro so its easy to detach and throw in the wash when they get dirty.

To make the folds I sewed the fabric together and put a dowel in each fold. Then I added small plastic loops where the blind cords hang down.

Here are more pictures of the finished product...

New Patio

2010-05-24T08:35:00.011-04:00

Well, we're still trying to grow some grass around the edges of our new patio so that's still a work in progress. But this is the new stamped concrete patio we had installed last month. We had the door and stairs put in from the porch. Eventually we'll be painting the pressure treated wood white, but since you have to let it weather a little before you do that, we'll probably tackle that project next year. We love the new outdoor space! We're out there every day and night enjoying it!

The process of having the concrete installed was quite involved. We had to take pictures during the process. They make a frame first, put stones and wire down, pour tinted concrete, smooth it out and let it dry a little, then they throw a tinted powder on it and stamp the whole thing. After that dries, they wash the powder off and add a clear sealant to the top for the finished look.

Springtime for Gary

2010-05-14T08:35:00.002-04:00

It's definitely Spring! Gary sure is enjoying the weather in his backyard.

We've been enjoying the backyard too because we had a new stamped concrete patio put in! We also had a new door and stairs added to our enclosed porch so we have easier access to the backyard. More details and pics to follow. Stay tuned....

Complement or Clutter? Please Vote!

2010-02-01T07:19:00.013-05:00

I bought this Dacke stainless steel shelf from Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40126205) to go in a corner of our kitchen and I'm having trouble deciding if I like it. Does it make the kitchen look too crowded and cluttered? I don't want it to give the impression that we don't have enough space to store things elsewhere. I'm not opposed to returning the shelf to Ikea since I have 90 days to return it. It was super easy to put together so it wouldn't be hard to take apart.

We thought it would be a great spot for cookbooks and easy access to onions.

So this is where I need your help! Please vote and let me know if you think the new shelf is a complement to the rest of the kitchen or if it's clutter.

Here's a reminder of what the opposite side of this room looks like.

Cake Boss

2010-01-12T07:30:00.014-05:00

I made my first attempt at making a cake with fondant over the weekend. Overall it went pretty well! I made my own fondant from a recipe I found on allreceipes.com. It's really fun to work with and the possibilities are endless! I made the cake for my nephew Nate's 1st birthday and went with a mod monkey theme. I used food coloring to get the pastel yellow, blue and brown.

Not bad for my first attempt. I might try a different fondant recipe next time. I also want to try working with modeling chocolate so I can make little figurines for edible cake toppers. I had so much fun making it, I'm excited to make the next one!

Busy at Santa's Workshop

2009-12-10T09:27:00.010-05:00

Well I've been pretty busy these past few weeks sculpting and painting to fulfill my etsy shop custom Christmas orders.

Here's the latest order I'm sending out. Sometimes I want to just keep them for myself and fill my own tree with these guys!

Apartment Therapy Loves Our Nightstands!

2009-11-09T13:52:00.001-05:00

We were recently mentioned on the popular home design blog Apartment Therapy! They gathered five nightstand ideas that will fit into a 12" wide space next to the bed and ours were one of the five! Check it out here: http://ny.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/bedroom/5-nightstands-under-12-wide-099192

The last time I mentioned the master bedroom and our nightstands was back in July of 2008 so I think it's time for a new photo! Here's an updated shot.

To make the nightstands we bought a shelf from JCPenney and reconfigured it into two shelves to hang on the wall. They're just wide enough to fit our bedside lamps and alarm clock. Here's what we bought.

Our Backyard Wedding

2009-10-24T09:43:00.061-04:00

On August 1st we successfully hosted 40 of our close friends and family for our backyard wedding! We chose our own backyard for the location based on the fact that we wanted an outdoor wedding in the summer and we wanted the location to be somewhere special. We thought about renting out some outdoor location but in the end we thought, why do we have to rent out somebody's property when we own our own! Our house is so special to us and every project we've worked on together led us to our special day.

The ceremony took place in our house. We hired a pianist to play our antique piano as guests gathered in our living room and fireplace room to watch me proceed down our black and white painted stairs.

Food & Refreshments
We filled galvanized steel buckets full of ice and cold bottled coke and beer. We also provided bottled water, sugar free lemonade in a big glass pitcher, and a variety of wine. I bought all the wine glasses at Ikea because it was cheaper to buy them rather than rent them.

We decided that we would take on the task of cooking all of the food! Some might think we're crazy for deciding to do this but we really wanted the whole day to be memorable including the food. We refused to settle for catered food that was "just ok" so we opted for our most favorite dishes that also didn't require any heating besides the use of a grill for the chicken and steak. Guests enjoyed a menu that included a potato salad, a tomato-cucumber-onion salad with a lemon pepper vinaigrette, and grilled steak and chicken kabobs. Since we knew it would be a hot day, we made sure that the salads we made didn't contain anything like mayonnaise that could spoil in the heat. We rented a large charcoal grill for my uncle and dad to grill up the kabobs so that we could feed more mouths at once than on our regular gas grill.

For dessert, we took a less traditional route than a wedding cake and I baked mini dark chocolate fudge cupcakes and frosted them the morning of the wedding.

Tents & Tables
I had concerns about renting a tent because i was afraid it would eliminate so much natural light in the backyard and it would take away from all the hard work that we put into our landscaping and gardening. I discovered that renting a large tent would also cost more than just buying a few Tivoli gazebos from Target that we had to put together ourselves. So we opted for the gazebos and they looked beautiful. We put two in the backyard and one in our driveway.

We rented a few pub-height tables and white tablecloths to place under the gazebos. By choosing the pub-height tables and no chairs for under the gazebos, it allowed guests to feel free to mingle. We also rented a couple lower tables and chairs for people that preferred to sit. My mom and aunt decorated the tables with black satin ribbon and added a bow to each one.

Table & Food Set-up
Since we chose to have a buffet style menu, I set up the plates and napkin silverware bundles on one table near the food.
We bought plastic plates and utensils just to make the cleanup easier. The plates weren't your average plastic though. I found some great heavy duty white plastic plates with a silver trim around them that looked a lot like real plates. I also found plastic silverware that are actually silver colored so they also looked like the real thing.

I also purchased white dinner napkins and wrapped them around a pairing of silverware and tied a black bow around each bundle. I bought 6 sets of tiny chrome topped salt and pepper shakers and tied a tiny black bow around each pair and placed those in the center of each table. These were just a few touches that I think really made the day fancier and not just your average backyard bbq.

Flowers
We bought all of the flowers from Globalrose.com and they were shipped from Columbia two days before the wedding. There were a total of 16 beautiful bouquets that we rearranged and placed in wrought iron torch holders that we normally have citronella canisters in. The rest of the flowers were placed in vases throughout the house and on some lowers tables in the backyard.

The bouquet that I held for pictures was extra special to me. My mom and I picked the flowers for my bouquet from the others and arranged them exactly the way I wanted them. My mom wrapped the stems with a white satin ribbon and tied a small bow.

Invitations
My invitations were from Target on clearance for $7.49 per box! I only had to buy two boxes and I had plenty left over if I messed up printing them out. I had to come up with the layout for my text and a font and then I followed the instructions on the template for printing. They also came with envelopes for the invitations and reply cards with envelopes. I used the leftover reply cards for food description display cards for the food tables.

Off-Site Photos
One of the greatest surprises we've had since we moved into our home is how much we've grown to love the city of Lowell. So often newlyweds find streams and fields and waterfalls to take their post ceremony photos at but we're city folk and find the old mill city charm of the cobblestoned streets of downtown Lowell appropriate. We snuck away from the house after our ceremony inside and posed for pictures downtown.

My Dress
The dress I wore was the first and last dress I tried on and I didn't even go to a boutique to try it on!

I had my dress custom made from a seller on ebay. That's right, EBAY! All they needed were my exact measurements to make the dress from. It was shipped to me about 2 and a half weeks later in a bag. I tried it on and absolutely loved it. It fit like a glove. My mom and I made a few tiny adjustments to the front of the dress but there wasn't even a need for me to take it to a tailor for alterations. The dress has beautiful details and I know that the designer version of this dress (Jim Hjelm style: 8800) could cost up to $5,000!! I would never pay that much for a dress that I wore for 1 day. The cost of my dress was $155 including shipping!! I would recommended taking the risk of buying a custom dress on ebay to anyone. It's a gamble, but the amount of money it costs is definitely worth the risk. I ordered the dress months ahead of time just in case so that if I didn't like it, I still had time to shop for something else.

Cost
We planned everything months ahead of time and spent a lot of time gathering ideas and finding ways to cut costs here and there. So how much was our wedding you ask? The total was less than $4,000 and that's including my dress and hired photographers!

We had a lot of help from family to pull off the day and we couldn't have done it without their help! We were lucky enough to have perfect weather on the day of the wedding which was a nice surprise since all day the day before we had heavy rainstorms.

An Old Corner Hutch Gets a New Life

2009-09-14T18:45:00.010-04:00

Since we moved to our house we've been hanging onto a corner hutch that's been collecting dust in our basement. It was a piece of furniture that belonged to my parents originally until they moved and then it was stored from basement to basement...until now. We were about to put it on craigslist until we started measuring it to see if it might fit somewhere in the house. We discovered that it fits amazingly well in our living room! So with some sanding, priming, painting, new hardware and new glass, we have a new piece of furniture!

Here's an old photo I found of my brother and I with the old corner hutch behind us.....

Before: This is the hutch after we took the doors and hardware off before sanding it.

After: Here it is after in our living room. We updated the hardware to a brushed nickel finish and replaced the glass with ribbed glass panels.

New Living Room Seating Coming Soon!

2009-08-31T07:42:00.010-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything lately but that's because we were very busy with small house projects to spruce up our house in preparation for our small backyard wedding that took place on August 1st! I'll be posting very soon about how our wedding on a budget turned out to be a fabulous day!

In the meantime, we were in need of a new sofa in the living room. I made the mistake of buying an inexpensive sleeper sofa a few years back and the sleeper part has started to sag in the middle so when you sit down you sink into the couch. Not comfortable at all.

So we've been searching for a sofa for a few weeks now and we finally found a sofa, chair and ottoman that we love. We went with a different colored fabric than the one in stock so we have to wait until November (ugh) to get it. It's hard to tell what color the sofa pictured is but it's actually considered a "moss" color. We ordered more of a beige color though. Here it is!

We bought the set from Boston Interiors, a wonderful local furniture store. They have some really nice furniture and surprisingly the price isn't too expensive compared to other furniture stores. They also had a promotion going on for the end of the summer for $100 off or more depending on the total of your purchase. Our set was on sale anyway so it was a really good deal in the end.

Refreshing Stairway Overhaul

2009-06-08T08:11:00.022-04:00

We finally tackled a project I've been itching to get to and I love how it came out! We have a storage space under the stairs that had an accordion door on it. For a while I just put a curtain there to hide the door. But we decided to cover the space with beadboard paneling. We had a good friend of ours help us with it this weekend. The door is held on by a roller catch in the inside. I think it really makes it look fresh and clean! Check out the before and after.

After........

CustomPetCreations Unleashes a New Item!

2009-04-09T17:52:00.005-04:00

Bring your pet to the party! I'm proud to announce my newest addition to my CustomPetCeations etsy shop! I've started making hand sculpted wine charms featuring pet's faces.
Each wine charm has a distinguishing accessory sculpted from clay (i.e., different colored bowties, ribbon, or customer's suggestion). I modeled my first set of charms off of my dog Gary of course. I thought his polka dotted and solid colored bowties were perfect for him. Check it out! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23475358

Entryway Desk Area

2009-04-07T07:57:00.003-04:00

Our front door entryway area in our living room is almost complete. We have a little nook by the stairs that we turned into a little desk area. It's a perfect spot for the laptop and storing new mail. It's not completely done yet because we have to come up with a solution for some kind of doors so we can have access to our storage that is under the stairs. Right now I just put up a curtain but I'd like to put beadboard paneling there.

New Magnetic Knife Rack

2009-03-30T19:24:00.008-04:00

It was time for a trip to Ikea on Friday. Among a few other things, we bought the Grundtal magnetic knife rack ($8.99) to go with our other stainless steel accents in the kitchen. We put up some stainless steel knives and measuring cups.

Student Photo Project: "Pets.... and Their Owners"

2009-03-27T08:07:00.008-04:00

We had the opportunity to be part of a friend of a friend's photo project for a class she's taking at a photography school in Boston. She came to our house and took photos of the three of us. Here's how they came out!

Great Deal on Parsons Chairs!

2009-02-26T16:33:00.003-05:00

I scored two brand new wood and leather parsons style chairs the other day on clearance for only $24.99 for the pair!!

We put this chair at our new desk nook in the entryway area of the living room and the other chair is in a corner of our upstairs den.

I rarely go to Sears but I was there buying my first sewing machine and I saw these chairs up at the front of the store with clearance signs. They came as a pair in 1 box. They were very easy to put together. I love them!

Living Room Before and After

2009-01-10T13:19:00.003-05:00

Our living room transformation is complete!
Here are the gross before pics.... I'm not quite sure when "safari chic" was ever in style.

Before - Believe it or not, the picture above was used in the property listing when it was up for sale.

Before

Before

Before - Yikes, yes, that's a Hawaiian grass skirt hanging over the opening in the wall. The previous owners used to have a fish tank in that space.

Before

Drumroll please.....
Here it is after!

After

After

After

After - Our existing couch ottoman and accent chairs. Someday I'd like to replace the couch with a nice dark leather sofa.

After

After

After - Click for a closer look! The black and white house drawings I made are in the black rectangle frame.

After

After

After

Here's a rundown of what we did to transform the room:

Flipped existing ceiling fan blades to the white side.
Primed and painted all the window frames.
Sanded, primed, and painted the unfinished wood beam on the ceiling.
Painted ceiling white (it used to be the same pink semi-gloss color as the walls).
Painted walls a light yellow.
Painted stairway walls and ceiling white.
Replaced eyeball recessed lights in the ceiling with plain inset recessed lights.
Ripped up all carpet on the floor and stairs.
Sanded, primed, and painted the stairs a glossy black.
Primed and painted all baseboards.
Hired professionals to install and stain unfinished white oak hardwood floor.
We then decorated the space with our existing couch and accent chairs as well as a few new furniture pieces and accessories.

4 pillows -$24, Kohls
mirrored wall clock - $100, JCPenney
black square mirror - $29, Pier One Imports
vases - $24 Kohls and A.J. Wright
vase adornments - $2, Michael's
sisal rug - $29, Christmas Tree Shops
sisal door mat - $10, Christmas Tree Shops
3 black square frames - $30, Target
black rectangle frame - $7, Christmas Tree Shops
black console table - $50, Christmas Tree Shops
black end table - $40, Christmas Tree Shops
black tv stand - $99, Christmas Tree Shops
reading lamp - $50, Target.com

New Living Room Floor

2009-01-08T15:24:00.014-05:00

Back in November, we finally dealt with our living room floor and ripped up the stained berber carpet and had a professional install white oak hardwood floor. Here's a look at the condition of the floor underneath the carpet.

Before - in the process of ripping up the carpet.

After we got rid of all the carpet, the flooring guys delivered the unfinished wood a couple days before they were going to actually install and finish it.

Before - subfloor with unfinished wood that was delivered.

They installed the wood, and put two coats of the stain on in one day. Then they came back the second day to put a final coat on the floor. Total cost was $1240 for our 260sq ft space. I got a few more estimates from other companies and they were just about double what this guy charged us. Here's how it turned out!

After

We went with the white oak because we wanted to try to match the other hardwood floor we have in the dining room and fireplace room. Since we already had a perfectly fine subfloor, we just had them put the new hardwood floor over it. The only downside to that was that the fireplace room floor is now a slight step down from the living room floor. The flooring guy did a great job of beveling the edge so that the height difference wouldn't be as obvious.

After - beveled edge next to old hardwood floor.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T14:41:00.006-05:00

We had the right tree in the right spot this year in our newly re-floored living room!

Santa was good to us this year. We got a new stainless steel fridge! Ho ho ho!

Stairs - Before and After

2008-12-10T08:25:00.012-05:00

I have an update on our stairs!!! I'm so pleased with the transformation! Goodbye carpet, hello paint. It might be hard to tell from the before picture but EVERYTHING (including the ceiling!!) in the room was painted with a glossy pinkish paint that was terrible. I painted the stairway walls with a flat white, the spindles and risers with a glossy crisp white, the stair treads with a high gloss black Glidden porch and floor paint and the other living room walls with a very light cream color.

Before - We took this picture at the walk-through the day before we closed on the house. Gross!

After - New painted stairs with the new hardwood floor!

We removed the radiator cover and added a new black mirror over it. I got an unbelievable deal on the mirror from Pier One Imports. It was $119 originally but it was dinged up in a few places. All it needed was a little touch-up with the black paint I used on the stairs and it was only $29!!!!!! It's a really heavy mirror too.

Did you notice the new recessed light? We replaced all of the eyeball style recessed lights with the new flush recessed lights. It really made a huge difference in the room and each light was only about $6!

After - Closeup of the stairs.

We still haven't decided if we're going to paint the newel post and banister. I'm not sure if we would stain it to match the front door which we still haven't figured out what to do with. Ideas are welcome!!