The Ripple Effect

When we brought the new sectional sofa on a whim, who knew what effect it would have on the rest of our house. I mean, that furniture needed to go somewhere. Max and I wanted to put the sectional in our blue room making our old living space more of a sitting/entrance room.

I have mentioned before, I am a bit of a second hand furniture hoarder. I first released the patio furniture outside so it can actually be used for its intentional purpose. We also wanted to finally use the futon for something other than a couch (hey we aren't in college anymore), a little more on that later... But there is now definitely a gap. Next thing to look for, comfy chair with an over-sized ottoman.

I first brought up two chairs I have been storing for the last 3-4 months in the basement. They are two sturdy "70s-ish" arm chairs. I found them at the Salvation Army down the street one $25 for the set. I know they are still an eyesore with their fading vinyl but after sitting on them, they have very sturdy seats and (hopefully) will be relatively easy to recover. Don't you just love the nail head edging?! I'll definitely have to add that back when I get new fabric.

To get them covered sooner than later, I found this muted zebra print I found at a online fabric store called Texas Sussanie's. I just love that name! Only in Texas would you have a name like Sussanie. Getting back to the fabric, the background is tan and the actual strip is brown.

Amazingly enough, I found this brand-new, in the box Target end table at Goodwill for $24.99. I know, right! I tried to find it online but it might be sold out or no longer in stock. No matter, it. is. awesome.

Here is a better look at the wood top. With the current decor and carpeting, I think it works great. Once we refinish the hardwood floors, I might give it a paint job so that the table doesn't fade into the wood overhaul. We shall see...

I (again) moved this rotating end table to the odd corner behind the TV as more of a featured area. This has now been in the bedroom, guest bedroom and the living room. Maybe it will find a permanent home someday.

Since I moved the arm lamp in by the new sectional, I needed some lighting in this side of the room now. Remember that my mom got me some Goodwill lamps and new shades for Christmas? I could never find a good place for them until now. They look great along the sofa giving an eclectic, modern look.

My desk mini bar that I've had since college, I added as a console table by the front door. This has been another floating piece of furniture. I have a feeling it will get retired in the near future. For now, shine on little buddy.

If you remember, we used to have estate sale cabinet that now houses my grandmother's vintage dish collection in the former sitting room. It was sort of an odd place for it but it was out of the way and no one really went in there much. We ended up moving it probably the most obvious of places, the dining room. This means we moved the beer fridge into the closet/future laundry area. Do we move stuff a lot? Yes. Everything always is in constant flux. Lord knows what will happen when we start to finish the basement...

I love that I can have fresh flower clippings now as well. Like the vase? I got it on clearance from Z. Gallarie for $4.

Another thing I have been hiding, this handmade wine rack I picked up for $5 from Salvation Army. I promise you there was many more bottles at one point in time. They don't tend to stick around too long at this house.

Last, but certainly not least, our futon! We got rid of of the twin beds and moved the "fu" in here to make it look more like an office. It is Turk's second favorite place currently. He even stopped sleeping with us and sleeps in here. Part of me is grateful, the other is sad I'm missing my snuggle puppy. Either way, I think it looks great in here!

Have any major furniture moving fiascoes lately? Are you a constant migratory furniture mover like us? Tell your story!

Curtain Call

Even though I spend a good share of my time at home in this room its probably the least neglected when it comes to blog time (minus the painting snafoo), our guest room/office. 

Max had come to learn that at any given time, I can be between 5-10 different projects. All going on simultaneously. He hates it! I'll buy something for a project I know I will do later, but need to finish something else before it. Or start a project but can't finish it until something else is finished. This was one of those projects.

When our old roomie, Scott, moved in, he donated to the house window coverings for this room. He let me pick them out and everything. Trying not to break his bank, I chose some simple curtains from Target and basic rods. Total cost around $30 for two rods and two panels. Then I decided I didn't want to hang them until the walls were painted. That tends to be my thing. So then they sat in the closet for many, many months.

Finally, we resurrected them out to be hung. Using the pre-drilled holes from the previous owner, we added the drywall stud starters to attach the brackets.

A couple of times, we had to re-drill the holes where the paint had covered them up.

Max easily attached the brackets and we were good to go.

Or so I thought. One panel per window was definitely not enough. They look disproportional and just odd. So I went back to Target to buy two more at $10 each. Only problem, since I waited so long to actually put them up, those panels were discontinued! I went  to Target online and found the same pattern from their Target Home line in a two pack (thank God) and gobbled them up before those were discontinued as well (now discontinued).

I found out from multiple decorating websites we should have hung the curtains higher to draw attention up and to make the room look larger. Maybe the next time...

Also looking at the curtains, I'm not fully satisfied with the way they look with the light beige comforter. Maybe a future project is to hand paint a design on them. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Final product.

Now that I mention it, I haven't really gave an update on this room for awhile so here it goes...

The reversible twin comforter is Ikea's Karit in light beige for $30.

The pillows are as follows: Ikea Alvine Gava plus insert $8, Walmart Better Homes and Gardens $8 on clearance (no long available) and light blue patterned pillow Goodwill $4.

Yay, for orb dust lights.

And if you were curious about the artwork on the dresser, it was a gift from my mom and dad from their 30th wedding anniversary trip to San Francisco. It is a colored pencil drawing of the city's landmarks by Karin Diesn, a local artist.

Now we start getting some art on the walls and this will really start looking lived in!

When Two Become One

This is a beautiful story of when two separate beings are joined forever in a life of happiness. Sorry, I know that might sound like we got engaged. Don't worry. I'm still optimistic on that one, but I'm talking about plants. Yes plants. Bamboo to be exact.

Late last summer, my sister held a bridal shower for one of her friends with an Asian theme. She gave away little bamboo plants as a party favor. Well not everyone showed up to the party and she had a few left over. Being a great sister, she offered me a few to get rid of them. Having no plants at all in our home yet, so not feng shui of us, I more than happily accepted them.

And thus they lived on my kitchen windowsill for many many months. One perished very soon after it was brought home so I wanted to let the other two grow a little stronger before I replanted them. They finally were ready to have a new home.

Using a $0.49 ORÄDD potted plant from IKEA and $1 accent rocks from Dollar Tree we began the re potting process.

First the water was gently poured out to prevent the rocks from spilling out in the sink and down the drain.

Then, holding the stem of the plant, I poured the small rocks in the pot.

Here is a shot of the fragile roots. They are sort of a reddish brown color.

Creating a small hole for the roots with my finger, I then replanted each of the plants. I wiggled my finger around to make sure there was plenty of room for the roots to not disturb them.

After the roots were covered again, I added the accent rocks on top of them. The smaller rocks on bottom give the roots somewhere to go.

Then using filtered water from our Brita, I gave my friends a little drink. I use filtered water as city tap water tends to have more things added like chlorine and fluoride. It may not be perfect, but it definitely helps. More about bamboo care here.

Now the two are married and nesting in their new home in our guest bedroom/office. Such a nice couple. So much love.

What sorts of house plants do you have? We are definitely looking to add more. Maybe a succulent next? The plant care has to be low to minimal. We I tend to forget to water them.

2012 New Year's House Resolutions

With three out of our four Christmas celebrations out of the way, we start to reflect on 2011 and look forward to 2012 with even more excitement. Max is more excited since he's sure the world won't end next December. I'm still a tad bit skeptical but thanks to NASA I feel a little better about it. Might buy some supplies just in case people get crazy for a day or two. Anyways, a little reflection.

At this time last year, Max and I were just randomly thinking should we resign our old lease or start entertaining the idea of buying a home. I had no idea we were in for such a crazy adventure this year. We hooked up with the buyer's agent in March and by May owned our home!

Then all things we accomplished in a year. Wowza!
Here is a vast, but definitely not complete list, of some our projects:

- Bought a new refrigerator and had many issues including cabinetry and store mishaps
- Got a roommate, then he moved out
- Replanted Hosta
- Planted a "garden"
- Took seven trips to Sears to get a working lawnmower
- Redid most of our master bedroom in a weekend
- Refinished the bedroom's hardwood floor
- Painted and trimmed both bedrooms
- Completely tore down and rebuilt both bathrooms...ugh just thinking about it
- Took out a wall in the living room
- Painted part of the living room (formally spoken of as the dining room until we decided on the eat-in kitchen space)
- Started composting, still working on getting Max fully on board with it
- Got crafty
- Got to experience all of Mr. Fix-It-Mark's full throttle forward work ethic
- Replaced all the hallway doors with fancy white ones
- Found some great furniture deals at Goodwill, Salvation Army and estate sales

Quite a list for just randomly thinking, "maybe we should buy a house" a year previous!

At our "family" Christmas dinner with just Max and myself, we brainstormed everything we wanted to get done this year. This might be a little ambitious but worth trying.

1. Re-do our lawn and landscaping. 
Sounds simple enough, right? Well there is a lot we need to do with this beast.

- Regrade our front lawn. Although we like the humor of our Halloween gravestones this year, year round, it looks like a hot mess.
- Remove thorny corner bush and plant something a little more attractive.
- Add more plants/bushes throughout front yard. Maybe look into Stein's professional landscape design.
- Replants new flower beds. All of our current ones are over grown and not cute at all.
- Research better urban gardening techniques to prevent lettuce "trees".
- Install invisible dog fence for Turk.

2. Make a patio.
We love to grill, but right now we are limited to huddling around a tiny grill in our driveway. Not ideal.

- Research most cost-effective building materials (brick, stained concrete, pavers, ect.).
- Purchase new grill.
- Create privacy panels so our neighbors aren't raining in on our party, unless we invite them of course.

3. Finish painting all upstairs walls.
Pretty self-explanatory but we still have the hallway, kitchen and half of the living room to do yet.

4. Refinish all our hardwood floors.
This includes our second bedroom, hallway and living room.

5. Redo a piece of furniture every 1.5 months.
This is sort of a personal goal since I don't foresee Max refinishing furniture, but I keep hauling in great pieces but not touching them. So I want to finally start making them look like they actually belong here.

6. Start putting artwork and photos on the walls.
Again, self-explanatory but this place is really bare and we need to start looking like we live here.

So what do you think? Achievable? What are your house resolutions for 2012? Big plans?

I leave you with a fun YouTube video I found of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

Side Note: I immediately went and watched (500) Days of Summer again after seeing this video. Comic source here.

The Workgasm

I'm cranky and sore, but bi golly, we did a TON this weekend! I really don't know where to begin because we were so across the board and everywhere. When the plummer wasn't going to be able to do our main bathroom fixes until Thursday and we were going to have help anyways, we had to reassess what were going to do. Max's parents were coming on Saturday and Sunday to help and my cousin Brian and his wife Megan were also coming on Sunday so we had many hands to do many different things.

Day 1: Saturday
Saturday morning started with a Target run to get a new air mattress pump to house our guests. That turned in to Halloween Palooza. I got more decorative items for the house (will show you that in a later post when I clean up all the drywall dust) and these dog "pajamas" for Turk. It says "Bad Dog" on them. Appropriate since he pooped on the carpet while I was gone shopping. He greeted his grandparents when they arrived like this.

After some assessment of the days' events (since our plans were slightly changed with the pluming issues), we decided we could get the half bath mostly done this weekend, half of the drywall up in the main bathroom and get the guest bedroom properly painted.

Ellen and I started demoing the half bath while Max and Mark started to prep the main bathroom to be dry walled. The hardest part was removing the toilet which was basically draining the water out and cleaning up the old wax seal. Mark removed the sink for us.

Here Max is giving me a little hello as I just removed our old build in mirror. "Hi babe!"

Here are the remains of the old half bath toilet. Goodbye gross toilet, you will not be missed.

We then set off as a group to get all the materials we were going to need to put the rooms back together. Max and I had already purchases the large fixtures for the bathroom but we picked up all the odds and ends. While shopping for materials, we went a little overboard since we saw a sale on doors. We planned on replacing the doors in the hallway anyways but just not this fast. We ended up with four carts full at Menards and still had a few things to pick up at Lowe's. If you wonder why we are always at these two stores, its because we live about a mile from Lowe's and about two miles from Menards. Bonus for us!

Here we are at the register paying for our four cart loads. Ellen is at cart #2 and if you can "Where's Waldo" find me, I'm waving from cart #3.

Back at the house, Ellen and I started to insulate the windows and the wall of the half bath. Max and Mark had discovered that the insulation in the main bathroom had either fallen or basically disintegrated so we assumed the half bath was the same since they shared the outer wall. We avoided tearing out the wall by drilling small holes in the wall between the studs and then using an expanding spray foam insulation down the holes. When they were full we just Spackled them shut. I also used the spray insulation around the windows to prevent those crazy Wisconsin winter winds from creeping in. Once it hardened, we just ripped the excess foam off.

While we were doing all of this, Max and Mark were hanging dry wall. They first re-insulated around the window like we did but they used rolled fiberglass insulation as well as the foam for the window itself.

Then we changed gears. Ellen and I headed into our guest bedroom/office to tackle the epicly failed paint color from here (hey, it's only been a month since we touched it) and while Max and Mark continued to hang drywall. This time painting we decided to go with some advice from you the readers (thank you so much by the way!) and use a tinted primer before repainting. We used Dutch Boy Dimensions Tinted Primer/Sealer color matched as close as possible to try and fix the primer issues we were having before. This time it finally covered up everything.

After eating dinner as a family, we went through and mudded the main bathroom together as a family. Aww... We ended up calling it a night around 10:30pm.

Day 2: Sunday
We all groggily got up with coffee assistance to take on the day. Mark put on a second layer of mud in the main bathroom while the rest of us got things set up for the day. He also applied Homax Wall Texture Orange Peel to the half bath with a fine texture. It's a pretty easy way to add texture to walls and ours needed a little help. Just click the grade of texture you want, spray and go!

Mark and I then went off to Lowe's to get flooring and a few more odds and ends for the day. Ellen and Max stayed and painted trim.

When we had returned my cousin Brian and his wife Megan had already arrived and were hard at work installing our new doors. Megan was taking off hardware off the old doors while Brian was teaching Max how to install the door.

Ellen had started to prime the half bath with a colored matched Dutch Boy Tinted Primer/Sealer. It was a lot darker than I had anticipated. The color was matched to Pittsburgh Paint's color called Submarine, which is a gunmetal gray.

While the boys continued on replacing the doors, Megan and I painted the guest bedroom. "Chilled Wine" finally took to the walls, bringing all its glory. It only took seven and a half different layers (four layers of primer and three and a half of paint).

While installing the doors, Brian and Max discovered we had more hardwood floors underneath our hallway. I can't wait to refinish all them!

Mark and Ellen began installing the laminate tile flooring to the half bathroom while we were doing all this. They first laid the laminate foam pad about three layers thick. Mark then measured and cut the boards to match up like grout tile work. Since the walls still were not painted the correct color yet and time was running out in the day, he cut a trim board for the back wall and laid it up where it would eventually go. He then installed a new old toilet to make sure we could at least use the bathroom. The toilet was free because they had just recently redid their bathroom and this toilet was still relatively new.

This is where we wrapped up for the weekend. It was quite exhausting but there was quite a bit of progress in all three rooms. Max has dubbed weekends like this "workgasms" since its quick but it feels good when its done. Hehe...

Have you had any crazy work weekends such as this? Have more than four cart fulls at your local big box store? Any cool hand-me-down toilets?