86'n It

Well, We aren't wild about the color, but hey, it's better than gross white with dog scratches (inside AND on the outside!)
We might do another coat of a more burnt orange color, but for now, I'm happy. It looks great on the inside.

Inside Before:
Inside After:
Outside Before:

Outside After:And for proof of how cold it was this morning, this is a photo of the house and Marc's breath. Thanks honey.

I don't know if you could sense it, but 86 had been without it's 86 since before the exterior was painted. While I was helping people with their halloween costume (awesome Dancing with the Stars Duo), Marc put our new Neutra knock-off numbers from Home Depot up.

They stand off the wood.

I love them! Marc isn't so sure about the placement, but we are going to leave them.

And because I am not to be out done in the home renovation department, I finally got around to painting the front door. This is only one coat, and not even dry. So the final effect will be much darker. I'll post complete before & after pics tomorrow when I finish.

My boots outside?

Saucy!

.

Oh, yes it is indeed. On Thursday Marc and I drove to Athens, GA to see 2 awesome bands play. (Art Brut & The Hold Steady) That's about 3 hours away, so we decided to stay overnight and the next morning go to IKEA!
I have been pouring over the catalog and making lists for weeks and let me tell you! It was worth it. We spent 5 hours there and I loved every minute. Well, except the 3 minutes were people's kids were screaming.
We went really to decided on kitchen cabinets, which we did, but of course, we had to buy a cartload full of other stuff.

Here's some of the goods:
Here is a very cool rug ($15!), 3 new pots (to replace the one that marc broke), 2 new plants and a slew of candles for the Halloween party.

Another $15 rug, I love it. It's like a runway to the door. Plus this is good inside shot of our craptastic door.

This, I am very excited about. This is Marc's old ikea chair that is super comfortable, but I wanted to throw out because the cushion was faded black and nasty. We found this awesome orange (!) felt cushion and pillow with leather strapes. So the chair is staying. (My Uncle Bob will be happy to hear that.)

I didn't want to catalog all the kitchen stuff that I got, but here's a shot of the buffet filled with stuff I unpacked and new stuff including 12 white mugs, 3 serving trays, and 6 new espresso cups.

This was so cute we could not resist. It is a night light. It is shown charging, but you can unplug it. You just tap it's little head to turn it on. So cute.

This I was also VERY excited to find. We have been just throwing our shampoo, conditioner and soap on the floor of the tub, only to trip all over it.
When I saw this in the store I literally squealed with joy and said "See Marc. This is exactly why I love Ikea! This is perfect and $5.99."

We got tons more junk including 7 roller blinds for Marc's office windows, fabric, 3 pillows, and a new down duvet and some more cooking stuff.

Ah, I want to got back. Maybe when I'm in Florida for thanksgiving??? Heather?

So apparently the squirrels are bored with terrorizing Tuna, so they have moved on to terrorizing me. There was the episode during our re-shingling were they would throw their half-eaten acorns at us, but now, this is WAR!
My mom was nice enough to bring us a bunch of pumpkins and gourds that she grew in her garden. I was using them to decorate our front porch. (Keepin' up with the Jones's, you know?) But the squirrels decided that this is just a snack that I have laid out for them.

Bastards.

Update:

I went home for lunch and they had chewed a little on 2 other ones AND apparently tried to take the little on up into a tree because I found it on the sidewalk and one side was dented.
So moved the mostly chewed one into the yard for them to finish off and sprayed the other ones with vinegar, which apparently keeps them away.
It's either that or I bribe Tuna to do her dang job!

I've been super busy at work lately, so I haven't done much on the house at all. Check out these photos I took today at my project site in the Smokie Mountains. It was wet, but so pretty out there.

The fog was slithering up the mountains.

I was going to update on what my dad fixed in the basement, but I don't have any "after" photos, and it is dark and the basement is scary.

So, I'll do a little kitchen update. This was the plan we were thinking:

And we have some ideas on appliances:

you can click on it for more info. But check this out, you can flip the grills over and it fits a wok!
(Plus it has true convection.)

I can't remember the refrigerator. But maybe this Bosch dishwasher?

And this is they style of cabinets:

And the smaller cabinets like the white ones here.
and the tall cabinets like the ones here in the back.
And the island is sort of like that.

The countertop we want to get is recycled paper:
with the integral drain board!
Ok, that is all of now! I'll try to take the photo tomorrow when the basement is less scary!

So, I did a little "permanent borrowing" from my project construction site today. If I haven't mentioned it before the construction site is an old abandoned motel that is UBER gross. From Day One, I've had my eye on some of the old chairs that are inside, but every time I go out there, I can't bring myself to take them because the place is just so nasty.
Can you believe that I have to leave my crack house, to go work at an even gross-er place?
Although, to set the record straight, we found 2 dead cats at our house, and one LIVE kitten at the abandoned motel. (I'll try to dig up an adorable picture of Cherokitty. She survived and was adopted by a coworker.)

Isn't she a doll? She's about 5 weeks in the photo. She was 2 weeks when we found her here:

We found her in the ceiling crying. We had to bust out tiles. She was up there in that nasty insulation.

This mattress was FILLED with fleas, and yes, that is mold all over the walls.

Also, check out my new shoes. (JCpenney online y'all!)

For more fun stuff, I made an autumn wreath for our front door. Like how I do this instead of sanding and painting the front door? Klassy to the Kore.

My inlaws are in town, followed by my parents and aunt & uncle next weekend, so we are taking a MUCH needed breather from the renovations.
This also gives us time to save $ for the kitchen, downstairs bathroom renovation. Plus, gives us a break before we tackle the basement full-on. Thanks family, we needed a good excuse!

Anyway, I thought I'd post something fun that I made a couple of weeks ago. I saw this idea online and knew that we MUST have a halloween party, just so I can use these for the invitations.

We left them on people's porches tied in a thick black ribbon.




That is an plaster cast of my actual finger (renovation scars and all). Funny thing is, I had these laying around the living room when the painters were working. No wonder they finished so fast, they probably think I'm some sort of wacko!

Continuing my streak of doing things that do not require a hammer, scraper or mask, check out the website I made for our fake BBQ festival.

Asheville's 1st Annual Knuckle-Deep BBQ Fest

I have to say, I'm so happy to not be scraping paint! So I celebrate by doing fun stuff like making curtains for my sewing room/guest room.


I got this linen fabric in nyc before we moved for $1 per yard! Score!
Now at least our guests will have some privacy. (We still don't have curtains in our bedroom.)