86'n It

Closet Makeover!

2012-01-25T23:28:00.001-05:00

So while I patiently wait for Marc to finish moving his stuff into the office so I can do that final reveal, I got a bug and decided to makeover my closet.

I have the only walk-in closet in the house and I NEED it. (I don't have a dresser and any other storage.) I *used* to be somewhat of a clothes horse. Here are the nitty-gritty "befores":

Ugh.

Here you can see the worst two things:

Left: the dreaded 2-pat shoe shelving.

Right: the "black hole" closet corner.

It took me an entire hour to empty this closet out. The contents filled the entire bedroom!

And it took me even longer to paint. Not only does beadboard suck to paint, I started using a VERY bright leftover orange paint. I realized not quite quickly enough that it looked horrible. So I had to start over with some other leftover paint (SW Backdrop) and paint over 2 orange walls. That sucked.

I had to hurry to reinstall and reassemble the closet system before Franca went to bed because this thing is loud when it goes back together.

During her bath, I made a little "floor plan" showing my changes to the layout.

What? you don't make floor plan diagrams with your kid' dirty clothes, clean toothbrush, ibuprofen shoe shelf, a bar of soap for a door, and tweezers for a window?

Hmmmm, I do.

I decided to just go all-out and solve some of the biggest issues with this closet. Here goes:

Issue #1: too much stuff.

I filled this entire portable crib (where G sleeps because all of Marc's

office stuff is still in "her" room) with stuff to go to goodwill.

Issue #2: Too much "furniture" for such a small floor space.

I separated the shoe shelf and then mounted the taller piece on to the wall AND

I made a place for my jewelry box that Franca can't reach.

Issue #3: The Black Hole

I rearranged the hanging space to eliminate that black hole at the

corner of the closet. The upper hanging space isn't completely easy

to get to, but it holds my wedding dress and scuba suit.

Not really everyday items.

Here is the finished product!

(Sorry, it is really hard to get good photos of such a small space!)

Neat shoes and purse hooks above the door!

Room for a small stool to sit on and use to reach the upper things.

AHHH. That's better!

I do still need to get a better system for the belts and scarves that are clogging up that bottom row. Suggestions?

The most astounding thing? I now only own 39 pairs of shoes! Down from a high of +73 pairs.

I think Marc is a little jealous. His closet is a pit and Franca's is pretty horrible. This didn't take me long, so I might be motivated to do their closets an afternoon next week.

The best thing about this all? It was TOTALLY FREE! I didn't buy anything. We had it all in surplus parts and paint. Well, I did have to get a little creative when I realized I didn't have a full size roller and couldn't leave a sleeping Franca to go buy one. Oh well...

<--------this is how we roll. ;)

Enje Roller Shade Mods

2012-01-24T23:17:00.003-05:00

Marc bought these Enje roller shades from Ikea, oh let's say over 4 years ago. We just put them up in the renovated office. Before I do a full office reveal post (we are *almost* there), I just wanted to share some minor, easy mods I did to the shades.

Lots of really awesome bloggers have used and cut these shades to fit. (Manhattan Nest, Door Sixteen, The Brick House) Sadly, the trim on our window doesn't allow us to mount on the inside, so we had to go with the outside mounting. (I hate so much of the dumb trim work on this house!)

Here are two small modifications I did:

The blinds come with these big, ugly warning stickers about the cord being a strangulation hazard. I was tempted to peel them all off, but after I patiently tried, I decided it would take me over 30 mins to get each off completely. We have 7 windows. I don't have 3.5 hours to spent peeling stickers.

Before - Big ugly sticker.

The stickers are located on the bar at the bottom of the shade. This bar is removable. So I just removed the bar and flipped it around. It's not perfect, but the stickers are almost all hidden from view!

After - No sticker!

Along with the warning about the strangulation hazard of the shade cord, Ikea also has a big, ugly piece of plastic that is used to anchor the cord to the wall to prevent a kid from getting their head in there and strangling. Marc thought we didn't need them, but being a worrying mom I didn't want to do without them. I can totally see Franca standing on a piece of furniture to get up there to the cord.

I did not like the look of the big ugly plastic piece though, so on a trip to Home Depot I picked up a package of eyelets for $0.98. I screwed them into the window trim, opened the eyelet slightly to let the cord in and BASTA! cord is contained and not a strangulation hazard!

No more big ugly plastic! Just tiny little eyelet. Best of all, no strangulation!

It's also very nice not to be on display anymore. I love my neighbors, but Marc and I both work a lot at night. Pre-Enje shades, it was like being in a big lantern for all to see.

Dollhouse: I bit the bullet.

2012-01-20T21:53:00.005-05:00

I finally got busy on the dollhouse and ordered some exterior improvements.

Thank you to the commentor who suggested miniatures.com. That site is the bomb! And thanks also to the one who suggested dollar stores. I tried 2 with no luck. ;(

I ordered a large working double window, 2 small windows, a front door, roof shingles, siding and gutters.

I keep saying "we" when I talk about this project, but then don't let Marc have any input. It is terrible, but I figure I'm the one with the dollhouse-playing experience (or at least experience that I will admit to!). So there.

I started demo tonight. Exciting!

Adulthood

2012-01-20T21:15:00.005-05:00

Adulthood: Not always what it is cracked up to be.

Our 4 year old, $600 dryer needed a new $300 main computer board. AGAIN!
(First time was under warranty so we didn't pay for it.)

We would have just had it fixed, but we didn't trust that it would not happen again in 6 months and we would be out the full cost of the dryer. So we decided to just sell it and get a new dumb one. One that more closely resembled a tank.

Here is my rant: Does everyone else not remember that our parents had the SAME washer and dryer the WHOLE TIME they were growing up? These things used to last 20 years. Now you are lucky to get 5 years.

I don't need 50 choices on how to dry my clothes. I don't need my dryer to steam my clothes. (Seriously. What exactly am I doing in my clothes that they need to be fumigated?) In short, don't need a dryer smarter than I am.

I need a machine to blow hot air and spin.

No computers. No triple sensors. No flux capacitor (ok, that I made up).
But honestly.
Hot Air + Spin = dry clothes - $300 repair.

So, Franca and I did some post-nap scouting yesterday. We spotted a very alluring $699 Maytag 2000 series fancy-schmancy one at Sears for $399. Oh the lure of the deal.... But no. Stay focused. Tank. I need a tank. None of the other 3 places we tried had much either on clearance or of the tank variety. Bummer.

Franca and I convinced Marc to accompany us today back to Sears where we spotted a very basic tank. The Kenmore 6002 on clearance for $396. It's exact twin sat three feet away marked $459 on sale from $528. Apparently, someone had opened the wrong box and now they had two of these on the floor, so they put one on clearance. Hmmm, not having to dispose of a box and save $63? SOLD!

I'm feeling pretty good about this new pairing. The previous set looked like brother and sister and now there is a little exotic laundry romance happening down there. Hee hee.

I was going to add that the new dryer reminds me of my childhood, but that just felt weird after that last sentence up there.

Anyway, now I'm headed down to dry the 4 mattress pads and 4 sheets for Franca's crib. (Does anyone else's kid go through spurts of peeing through the already-up-a-size special nighttime diapers? Geez! At least she's hydrated I guess.)

I will not lose my mind.

2012-01-16T14:28:00.001-05:00

Or maybe I will.

This is how I paint our divided light windows:

Like a mess.

And not just because I am messy, but because it is the easiest way. Having now painted quite a few of our windows, I realized that trying to not get paint on the glass by being extra careful is futile. Taping is even worse because you spend all that time taping and then, because these windows were built by hand in 1920 and are imperfect, you still get paint on the glass.

So this is my method. I paint away messily. Then I brake out my handy scraper and scrape away. (Believe it or not, getting more paint on the glass makes it easier.) It works better when it is cold outside and not too moist. Both of which it is today. So why can't I bring myself to start scraping?

Me and this little scraper guy.

About to become BFFs.

Again.

Wish my sanity luck.

The only saving grace is I think I'm going to upgrade to Window 7 from XP tonight which will require a lot of waiting around in the office. Anyone on Windows 7? Like it? We actually had to BUY a legit copy which about killed me.

Good Thing She Can't Read

2012-01-12T15:15:00.007-05:00

Because then Franca would find out about her birthday present. I'm going to renovate my old dollhouse for her! I always thought my Dad made this for me, but my mom is saying that my Grandfather did!
We are currently hiding it in the storage room. She doesn't even know it exists. Here it is in it's sad state. I really played the bejeezus out of this thing when I was little.

I'm thinking of adding some windows and doors, new carpet and painted floors, new wall paint and furniture. I think I'll buy the bathroom and kitchen sets and then try to make the rest. I used to be very handy at whipping up furniture for this little place, so I'd like to retry my hand as an adult. I'm also going to go pretty sparse on the furnishings in case she too wants to built and add more later.

Here's a basic bath set I found.

I've been looking for inspiration and haven't had too much luck. There are TONS of modern dollhouses out there but they are of the omg-don't-touch-that-let-alone-play-with-it variety. (Sorry, I can't spend $120 on a modern dollhouse sofa!) There are also lots of VERY traditional looking dollhouses and furniture out there. Now, while I don't expect Franca to develop a love for an Eames mini chair, I also don't think she needs to play with wingbacks and a fainting couch.

While I'm putting it all out there, I'm also not a big fan of plastic furniture for this type of dollhouse. For the Barbie dollhouse, yes, rock that big plastic bubble chair. When I was a kid my favorite part of this dollhouse was that it seemed so much more real than the rest of my plastic toys. The baby highchair was brass! The dresser was wood! I think at some point I had little ceramic plates. It was like my own, real little world.

That's all to say, I think I'll go for a style similar to what I like but softened and fun. Here's my plan for room layout, and because this blog is called 86n' It, little demo.

If you know of any awesome "modern" kid friendly dollhouses or dollhouse furniture please leave me a comment!

Thanks!

Office: Sneak Peak

2012-01-09T09:54:00.003-05:00

Simply because I am the best wife ever, I encouraged this:

We are crazy, but some graffiti is just too good to paint over.

Guess what Marc's side of the desk will be looking at?

Not sure if she will live on forever, but she is easy enough to paint over again.

We made ridiculous amounts of progress this weekend. I'm currently tying at our new desk in our freshly painted room. Painting the included 7 horrible windows. UGH.

Color scheme is SW-7024 Functional Gray on the walls (matte), SW-7023 Requisite Gray on the trim (semi-gloss) and 2134-20 Ben Moore Midnight Summer (matte) on the trim. (Yes, the functional and requisite look almost the same, but with the lighter requisite in gloss, it appears even lighter on the trim.(

We are in the process of moving in, installing window blinds, scraping paint off of window glass (OMG), and lot of other finishing tasks.

To Do List 2012: Part 2

2012-01-05T15:34:00.002-05:00

The Office

This task will likely get down quickly because we both have freelance work to do and the office is UNBEARABLE to work in. Take a look. I didn't clean it at all for these photos:

*** WARNING***
***horrible slobbery below***

Most of the clutter is due to us being unorganized, but a fair portion can be blamed on Franca.
This is her favor room to destroy.
Give the girl 2 minutes and she will find every sharp object, every stack of loose paper and every breakable thing and put them in a big pile in the middle of the room. Oh, yeah, and then she will distribute all of those things to other things upstairs. (I literally found a Dr. Scholls shoe insert under my pillow last night. No joke. Oh and yes, I did need shoe inserts for my freelance work.)

"Why don't you just keep her out of the office?", I hear you thinking. Ah ha, if it were only so easy. You must not live in a crack house with doors ever so slightly off their hinges as to not close completely. We do. Sigh.

Good thing is, I've already made progress on this renovation project. I emptied the room.

(And found 13 stink bugs.)

Here is a photo of one of the challenges of this task. Bad plaster. At one point, the window above this must have been leaking. Ugh. We have since re-flashed the roof, so it doesn't anymore, but we still have to fix this.

Stay tuned for details on our plans for this office!

p.s. I'm selling my desk on craigslist. It's pretty great. Here's the link.

My Personal New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-03T21:30:00.002-05:00

Here they are:

I need to brush my teeth at night. This is a serious thing and I have been trying to do it for like 3 years. OMG. I know.
Stop messing around on my phone so much. Be more present.
Consistently be able to stop drinking when I've had enough and not get hangovers. (I hate to admit this one, but it is a problem for me. I get having a good time and completely lose track. It's like I'm 21 all over again.)
Listen to more music! (I keep forgetting to do the baby monitor trick.)

So help me out if you will. Any tricks for not being a smartphone addict or not over drinking? What is your favorite band or new song to rock out to?

Happy 2012 Everyone!

To Do List 2012: Part 1

2012-01-03T14:20:00.000-05:00

Even though we didn't have complete success with our to do list of 2011, I'm forging ahead with a new list.
First thing that comes to mind: Finish the DANG Kitchen already!

We need to:

1. Finally do wall wood. This is our new inspiration pic. Should be MUCH easier to do.

Architect: Rashed Alfoudari Photography is by AOK.

2. Install cabinet/bench/open storage below windows. I'm leaving this one up to Marc. I will admit that having it open is great for now. I've moved the girls' eating there to reduce damage to the dining room floor and table from 3x daily serious wiping.

3. Do general trim work. Around other window, door, baseboard, tall cabinets, etc.

4. Buy vent hood. It's been so long since we picked this out, I don't even know if it is still available!

This probably won't be the first thing we do, that with either be the no-cost office redo, or the downstairs bathroom from scratch! Stay tuned for details on those.

Mo LaLa Peez!

2011-12-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

Translation: More LaLa Please!

Translation: I would like to listen to The Muppets sing Deck the Halls again, please.

9 days and 128 plays of The Muppets singing Deck the Halls later, we are home from a great holiday trip to visit our families.We had an amazing trip, Franca was a trooper in the car and miraculously, Marc and I still both like that song. (Thanks Rhapsody for providing us with an accurate count on the # of times we had to play it.)

We had a really great time. All three of us are terribly spoiled and feeling very loved. More on that later.

But for now, everyone have a safe and happy new year!

-Bunny

Blog Year Review 2011

2011-12-27T15:05:00.001-05:00

So let's start off with the positive on what we DID get done this year:

We reinsulated the attic!

Marc finished the back porch door and I *started* painting the interior trim.

We took the backyard from here:

......to here.

The "Rest" List:

-Little Furniture projects like: New Buffet Legs, & Rocking Chair.

-Franca turned ONE whole year old.

-I trimmed out the kitchen window.

-I quit my job and got 3 new ones.

-I added some bathroom storage.

-I renovated a playhouse.

-We installed our tv antenna. (Playing for cable is for suckers!)

-Gutters are 90% installed.

Next up? The list of things we didn't complete this year and what's in store for us in the coming year!

Holiday Card 2011

2011-12-20T15:46:00.000-05:00

Last year, we did our cards in a rush. I ended up paying tinyprints.com to print, address, stamp and mail them for me. With discounts it cost $60 for 30 cards and I loved the quality and that price for all that service was amazing. ($2 each)

This year, I went back to Tiny Prints and even with a coupon it was going to cost us $65 plus the $13.20 we'd need to pay in stamps. ($2.60 each)

So, I went hunting elsewhere. I had done some photobooks last year for our parents using MyPublisher. They turned out really great. MyPublisher has cute holiday cards and they print your return address and give you awesome envelope liner for free! I ended up ordering 40 instead of 30 they were such a good deal!

I ended up shelling out $42 for 40, plus $17.60 in stamps ! ($1.49 each)

Check out the cool striped envelope liner. Marc snapped this adorable photo of Franca while on with her on a Friday afternoon off. By far her most favorite day of the week (and his too).

I opted for the the heavy, textured paper. I like it, but I do

wonder what the heavy smooth would have looked like.

This Playhouse Love

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

I think it's safe to say that the renovated playhouse is still a big hit.

Look at this grin.

I'm completely smitten with her, obviously.

Toward a More Gentle Sideyard

2011-12-17T14:09:00.001-05:00

With the backyard being a little toward the harsh "monument to concrete" look, Marc decided to take a more gentle approach to the sideyard. (Either that or he just refused to mix anymore concrete.)

We needed to built a small retaining wall in order to stop the grade from sloping toward our house. Um, yeah, not so good for drainage when the grade all around your house slopes toward it! This was a project that wanted to tackle himself without my ~~nagging~~ supportive presence.

He graded by hand, then took the rest of our broken concrete pieces and dry-stacked them to create this rather lovely wall. He took the grass he cut-out while regrading, placed it on top of and in the side pockets of the wall and reseeded it. It has grown in pretty nicely don't you think?

It is the new favorite spot of the girls, and the grass is not in on the top yet, so it gets their shoes good and dirty. The price of a lot of fun, I guess.

Last thing, he took some remaining granite pieces we found in the yard and used them to create a line to stop the patio gravel. To the right will be grass when it grows in next spring.

For all this hard work, you'd think Marc would get some recognition from all of us. I've given him major props for this, but Franca mostly likes to heckle him from the warm, dry inside and fake punch him in the nose.

On a final note, remember that HUGE MASS OF MINT, followed by the lone straggly single mint plant? Well that single plant was multiplying and threatening to take back over, so Marc quickly containerized it.

This spring, this garden is getting whipped into shape! Really, that is the last to do beyond the gates and cleaning up the last junk pile in the corner.

DIY Gift Tags

2011-12-15T22:15:00.001-05:00

Well, not so DIY, more just purposing. I got these snowflakes at Michaels for about $3 for a pack of 36.

Originally I just used them as decoration and for the girls to draw on, but while wrapping presents until my fingers chaffed last night, I had an idea.

Stick them on a package, write on it with a sharpie and BAM instant cute wrapping.

(Bonus: Use these and you don't have to hear that terrible sound of ribbon curling against a scissor!)

(p.s. The guitar sold! Shipped it out today!)

I'm old.

2011-12-08T14:01:00.001-05:00

Another electronics post. Sorry.

I'm old. I bought a guitar and amp about 9 years ago off ebay.
I wanted to learn to play. I really really did.
I tried. (Ok, like 5 times.)
It was hard.
I think I have piano hands. My fingers just don't bend that way.

So here is sits again, on ebay. Poor, poor unloved guitar.

Ebay Listing

I really want it to go to some brooding girl who will write kickass songs and be the new Sleater-Kinney.
Please.

Music: made possible by a baby monitor.

2011-12-07T13:45:00.005-05:00

Because our office renovation project never got off the ground, this is where I work.

Watched by a gun-toting busty graffiti lady.

Amid total clutter of :

$10 JCP coupons,
piggy banks and other breakables we need to keep out of Franca's reach,
a ream of blank CDs that we haven't used in years (but FC loves to play with. Shiny!),
my awesome OMG notebook (because honestly, that's how I feel about much of my work),
DELLS, while not the coolest computers, have always treated me well.

But today I have a terrific improvement that is going to make my day SO MUCH BETTER. See that white baby monitor sitting on the laptop? That thing allows me to keep an ear open for a napping Franca, ignore the door to door solicitors, and listen to music on my phone! Why did I not think of this before?

Welcome back to my life dear, sweet music. I've missed you.

The last frontier to to somehow soundproof this room. Franca will nap while being carried around the grocery and poked and coo'ed at by every old lady, but if I take a 30 second business phone call she immediately wakes up. So every time I have to make a call or take a call, I have to quietly sneak downstairs and pretend I can still see my computer screen while furiously scribbling notes into my OMG notebook. Not so efficient.

And when the nap ends, but I just have one last thing to do. I work like this.

(Note the decoy keyboards and mouse.)

In other news, the scary footprints have been identified and the situation remedied. More on that later. Right now I've got to make a 124 page Word document accessible to blind people and rock out to some Tegan and Sara. ;)

FrankenStool

2011-12-02T12:59:00.038-05:00

It is no secret that Franca loves to eat. Even when she was a tiny baby, we would sit her in her bouncy seat or highchair seat on the countertop while we were cooking. Well, she got too big to do that safely (and honestly, the chair manufacturers always recommend against it, rightly so.) Recently she wants me to hold her while I'm cooking. After hearing "uppie! uppie! uppie!" about a millions times, I decided it was time to do something about it.

I google kitchen stools and found about 3 products that are pretty awesome kitchen helper towers. Problem? They are $130-$200 and I'm cheap! So I was busy sketching out my own kitchen tower to DIY, when a more simple idea struck me. Why not just Frankenstein the stool she already uses to wash her hands?

The issues with the existing stool are the following:

The platform is not long enough, leaving a dangerous gap between the front and the cabinets.
There is a gap at the sides so she could easily topple off.

So I decided to:

Make the platform longer by attaching a piece of plywood.
Attached sides, the trick here is to make it so that it can still fold up nicely and small.

The platform is 3/4" plywood scrap thru-bolted to the seat. The sides are 1/4" MDF zip-tied to the side of the stool/ladder. The good thing about this is that if I do end up making a proper "kitchen helper" we can just cut the zip tiles and unbolt the platform and the stool will be in its original state.

Franca was super excited about it.

Now the only "uppie" I hear is when she needs help getting up on her new stool.

Pitter Patter

2011-11-29T09:31:00.003-05:00

If the question is how many animals can live and die under our house,

apparently the answer is infinity.

Marc just saw these paw prints on our waste pipe.

I give up. Seriously. Uncle already.

Thresholds

2011-11-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

[An Oldie. Sorry, I found this in my blog drafts. I forgot to publish it!]

I've learned something over the last weeks, if I leave Marc alone he does some damn fine work.
He's currently working on a drainage/grading/site wall project outside on his own, but I'd like to highlight his previous solo project too.

The new back porch door thresholds:

Here Franca is trying out the new threshold and crawlspace access hatch.

(I.E. the coffin lid for 3 dead cats. #1 & #2 & #3 Ew.)

And here she is trying out the other threshold.

The girls were quit pleased with this project because it allowed them to run laps in and out of the back porch with out slowing to cross the "threshold-less" doorways. Since it has now gotten much colder (and FC so much bigger!), I'm happy to have these thresholds to keep out the chill.

On a related note, look how awesome of a job Marc also did staining both the back porch floor. Nice contrast in the grain, right?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have so much to be thankful for, so in typical Bunny fashion, let's make a list!

5. Friends

I have simply the most kickass friends ever. Seriously. Friends who entrust me with their children. (I know right?) Friends who motivate me to run at 6:45am. Friends who will watch the worst tv ever with me. Friends who are the funniest people. Friends who are amazing dressers and have the best hair. Friends who organize thing like this amazing gift. Of all the things in life I never knew how much I needed, these ladies top the list.

4. Jobs

Not a day goes by that I'm not thankful to be doing what I love. To find TWO things I love to do? Amazing. Mornings, I host amazing toddler dance parties. Afternoons, I create products that genuinely make a difference in people's lives. Sure there are poopy diapers and the dreaded AutoCad, but nothing beats not dreading getting up in the morning.

3. Family

My family is the bomb. With all of us scattered from North Dakota to Massachusetts, it makes me appreciate them even more. We just have a ball together. If it was up to me, I'd have four kids too, just to show Franca the happiness my big family gives me. I married into the most wonderful family too. They are some of the most generous and caring people I've ever met.

2. My Husband

You know in the movie Knocked Up, how Judd Apatow's wife laments how men get better looking and distinguished as they get older, and women just get saggy, wrinkled and OLD? Ugh. So true. But not every man gets funnier and HOTTER! How many grown men do you know who will get inside a powder blue toy tunnel and walk around the house yelling "The Worm! The Worm!" to appease a group of 4 little girls? I know one. ;)

1. My Daughter

She is not even two and is already telling jokes. She gives the best Eskimo kisses. She runs around the house with my underwear on her head. She loves my cooking. She "skins it". She looks ridiculously cute in footie PJs. She likes Yoda. She lets me do her hair. She yells "Mommy tooted" in the middle of Target when I SWEAR I didn't.

My life has simply blossomed since she's been in it, and for that and all the above I'm so very thankful.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

11 year old chips

2011-11-23T13:01:00.002-05:00

When my parents recently renovated their kitchen, my dad discovered an 11 year old bag of chips. My mom's response? "Those are probably still good." Then there was the oatmeal of which we will not speak. My mom is 12 cats away from an episode of Hoarders. (Love you Mom!)

The petrified apple doesn't fall far from the tree because my sisters and I had a little Hoarders contest of our own this week:

Third Prize

Missy with the ground cayenne red pepper with a best by date of 02/07/2006.

Let it be noted that Missy has moved 5 times since '06.

Second Prize

Me with the cornstarch with a date of December 2004.

Let it be noted that I have moved 4 times since '04.

Grand Prize

Heather with the cinnamon with the date of December 16, 1998.

Let it be noted that Heather has moved at least 6 times since '98.

Holy nomads right? I know that most people have outdated spices, but to have them survive thru SIX moves? Pretty incredible. In my Mom's defense she hasn't moved all in the last 11 years.

What about you? Dare you to look in your cabinets!

All I want for Christmas...

2011-11-17T20:28:00.005-05:00

Is a new vacuum:

Lucky for me, my sister found this $499 Dyson on clearance at Target for $225!

Thank you Missy!

(p.s. I CANNOT spell vacuum for the life of me.

I somehow botched it so badly that the computer couldn't

even figure out what I was trying to spell.)

Is this super red lipstick:

Oh, wait. I told Marc I wanted this, but then I went and bought it myself.

Hey, I had a $1 off coupon! It's Covergirl's Hot Passion.

Is some house slipper boots:

Because now that is so cold, my Crocs ballet flats aren't so practical and these are cute.

(The ballet flats are very un-Croc and I highly recommend them.

Ack, wait, I can't find them online. They discontinued them???)

Is a toilet:

No, I did not forget that I live in a crack house.

Marc's parents are going to buy us a toilet for the soon-to-be downstairs bathroom.

Is these red jeans:

Yes, I know I'm 32, but aren't they awesome? Can't I be a hip mom? Pleez?

(They aren't selling them in red online, and they never have my size in store!)

Guest Poster Meryl @ Picardy Project: Why I Can Now Lift More Weights at the Gym

2011-11-15T08:07:00.000-05:00

The next lovely DIY Renovator to be in my guest chair is the amazing Meryl from The Picardy Project. I think I can safely say that her before photos are more frightening, and her after photos more amazing than this ole crack house. Seriously, a room formerly called the animal room? I don't even want to imagine that smell.
The Picardy Project also took on a patio job this summer, with like real pavers and everything. Of course, it looks terrific! Plus, check out those guns in the last photo, totally worth all the labor, IMO. Speaking of checking out, follow Meryl on her next crazy adventure here: The Picardy Project. Thanks!

When Miss Nikki asked me to do a guest post on her fantabulous blog I jumped at the chance. I mean Nikki and Marc bang out some amazing projects while their adorable little Franc 'n Beans toddles around and helps out, so who wouldn't be excited? But then I became the procrastinator of the century, mostly because I wondered what I could write about that would be deserving of all their hard work because one time Nikki went on a 6 mile run in the morning, then mixed like 78 bags of concrete and worked on her patio all day. I know, my jaw dropped too.

Both of us have spent a large part of the summer working on our patios, though ours has gone on just a liiiiiitle bit longer than anticipated. I thought writing a patio post about just how much hard work has gone into it would fit right in with the amazing work ethic of Marc, Nikki and Franca.

So without further ado: Why I Can Now Lift More Weights at the Gym

Working on a patio is hard work. Especially when it covers about 940 square feet (the patio and driveway combined). There is a lot of lifting involved. So let's go over exactly how much we lifted. That's right, we're totaling up how much weight we've lifted, moved and broken our backs over to get this patio (almost) done.

The materials: concrete, dirt, pack, base sand, pavers and polymeric sand.

First up: Concrete

We're being conservative and guessing that we ripped up about 3" deep of concrete over the entire span of patio. There were plenty of places that were thicker (one place was nearly a foot thick), and some places that were thinner, so we figured rounding down on the side of caution was best

Totals: 1 cubic yard of concrete weighs 3000 lbs. Over 940 sq. ft. we ripped up 3" deep of concrete for a grand total of 11.6 cubic yards and...34,800 lbs. But once we ripped it all up we had to lift and heave it all again to get it in the dump truck. So we got to go through all that fun twice

2. Oh my lord we never stopped digging out dirt

We were very lucky that Chris' sister, her boyfriend and both sets of my divorced parents came to help us dig because holy crap there was SO. MUCH. DIGGING. Over about 790 sq. ft. of patio area we dug out approximately 6" and in the 150ish sq. ft. of our driveway we dug out 7-8" and dry, tough dirt is not easy to dig out

Totals: 1 cubic yard of dirt weighs about 2800 lbs. Over the 790 sq. ft. of patio we dug out 6" and the 150 sq. ft. driveway was 7-8" for a grand total of 17.84 cubic yards and...49,954 lbs.

3. We loaded in a lot of pack

Pack is material you spread out and tamp down beneath the pavers. It's called engineering fill or "3/4 to dust" because it's 3/4" rocks down to dust all mixed together and tamped down that provides a super tough, strong base that pavers will sit on top of. If done correctly it makes a strong enough layer that so that the pavers don't shift and move over time. And we loaded in TONS of it

How many tons? Well, 1 cubic yard of pack weighs 2600 lbs and we went through 17 1/2 yards of it for a total of 45,500 lbs.

4. Base sand

Base sand is the sand the pavers sit on

1 cubic yard of sand weighs about 2600 lbs. We went through 4 yards (only 1" deep over the 940 sq. ft. of patio and driveway) for a total of 10,400 lbs.

5. PAVERS!!!

Our first order was 4,112 pavers. But after we decided to work on the driveway also (initially it was just going to be the patio) we needed to purchase a few hundred more

The pavers are about 5 lbs each and we laid about 4,400 pavers for a total of...22,000 lbs. BUT, we had to lift them from the pallets to our work area, then from the work area to actually laying them down in place, so we got to do that fun twice.

And the final step? Spreading out the polymeric sand!

We went through 13 60 lb bags of polymeric sand for a total of 780 lbs. Sheesh, small beans :)

Now, let's total alllll that fun up

Concrete: 34,800 lbs (x2)
Dirt: 49,954 lbs
Pack: 45,500 lbs
Base sand: 10,400 lbs
Pavers: 22,000 lbs (x2)
Polymeric sand: 780 pounds
GRAND TOTAL: 220,234 lbs.

And that explains why I can now lift a lot more weight at the gym.

33 bags

2011-11-13T15:03:00.001-05:00

It's pretty hard to get any other work done when you are busy filling 33 bags full of leaves.

Our city recently suspended its vacuum leaf collection service, which leaves us to do the bagging ourselves. The vacuum collection was not a perfect system (the trucks broke down often allowing all the leaves to clog the storm water gutters), but bagging sucks. Franca loved it though. She would help fill bags for little while before being distracted by the neighbor cat or a good stick.

I am convinced though that the only reason leaves change colors so brilliantly in the fall is so that you won't be too annoyed at dealing with them after they turn brown and coat your lawn in with a snake-hiding, bad-neighbor-dog-poo-concealing carpet.

Yah. My actual first raking motion of the year yielded a 16" long garter snake. As Franca would say: Sssss! Not Nice! No Touch! before she hunches over to get a better look, good stick in hand for poking.

Like mother, like daughter.

Busy Day!

2011-11-11T13:29:00.001-05:00

Not only is today Veteran's Day, but it is also 11.11.11 and the day get to watch four amazing little girls!

All that while Marc sweeps two jumbo size trash bags of dust out of the basement!
As awesome as photos of that may be, I elect to show you what the girls and I did:

Play-doh Tea Party

Crazy Dance Marathon

Romp in the Leaves

Also, did you know it is "garter" snake, not "gardener" snake?

Ya, me too. ;)

Our House is now "Bachelor(ette)" Ready

2011-11-03T13:45:00.000-04:00

A group of friends and get together and watch the tv shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. Don't judge.
Mostly we just get together and make fun of the dumb things people say and the crazy clothes they wear.

We aren't serious, just seriously dedicated: We've welcomed one friend's Emily Maynard lovin' Mom. We've dressed up in our shortest shorts like Ashley. We've worn out a Tivo rewinding and re-watching particularly gruesome make-out sessions. (Seriously people lay off the tongue!)

I'd host occasionally, but we are too cheap to pay for cable. I worried that our antenna, lovingly strung out the window and tied to a post with grosgrain ribbon (really klassy), would lead to a freezing and skipping picture. Embarrassing as telling a lame joke after jumping out of the limo sunroof on the first night.

In preparations of the upcoming January season of The Bachelor, Marc and I decided to install a tv antenna in our attic. Marc bought the Channel Master CM 4228hd off of amazon for about $60. (Suck it cable company!)

Plumbing Chase Fishtape

I got busy feeding the wire up our plumbing chase from the basement to the attic. Gave me a good excuse to by a wire fish tape of my very own. (Aren't you proud Dad?) It took some doing, but I got it up there. (Like my blue "constructions" slippers?)

The hardest part of the whole installation why trying to fit the antenna through the attic access hole. The simple things, of course.

Attic Access Me hanging with antenna

Then I sat in the attic, texting people and taking self portraits while Marc wired it all up downstairs. We used our phones like walkie talkies to position the thing and then BASTA! Free tv!

We haven't had broadcast tv in about +6 months since the grosgrain finally gave way and the old antenna bit it. We got by watching Netflix. Skins UK is awesome and I developed an unnatural addiction to the ABC Family show Greek. *blushes*

Anybunny, these new 13 or so channels are pretty amazing to us. Sports look great and come in crystal clear, which is a good thing because we have a friend who will babysit for free if he can veg and watch football. But let's face it, I'm still watching every Law & Order rerun that I missed.

So here is to January and the new season of The Bachelor. Are we hoping or not hoping that BenF breaks out his sheer sweater?

(I cannot believe the internet would not find me an image of that!)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T14:46:00.000-04:00

From Marc, Me, and this little pouncing kitty:

Boo!

Simple DIY Firepit

2011-10-27T20:18:00.002-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, Marc and I wanted to have a little romantic time, so I threw together a DIY fire pit based on something I saw online at Renew Redo!. We basically took a metal tub that we already had and put some bricks at the bottom to allow for airflow. Genius!

Total cost: $0.

(Even the wood we burned was scrap.)

Don't mind my silly illustration above. I googled "fire pit romance" and that last image is what I got.
(Romance Book Cover Illustration Sample art © 2001 Alan Rabinowitz)

It really worked well and we plan to do it again, but in the meantime we are brainstorming a more permanent solution. (Not sure how many more fires this metal tub can withstand.)

We are thinking of DIYing this one also. Are design constraints are:

It need to be modern-looking (duh).
It needs to be moveable. We don't anything permanent in the ground in this spot.
I'd like for it to have a bottom so we aren't left with a pile of ash when we move it.

I really like this idea from loll designs. Metal, moveable, modern and with table top. Great! Wonder if we could get my dad to do some more welding.... ;)

Wow. Crazy Life.

2011-10-24T10:34:00.000-04:00

Wow, I haven't been this absent for a while. Life got a little crazy.

First, we did a beach trip with my family:

Franca and her cousins.

And now, I'm in NYC for an emergency production trip.

My old pre-work breakfast, everything bagel w veggie cream cheese and a coffee.

Life will return to "normal" on Wednesday. We did manage to get some house renovation work before we left town.

Hint:

Front Gutter Brackets!

Family Photoshoot

2011-10-14T06:00:00.012-04:00

Here are my favs from our photoshoot with the AMAZINGLY talented Karri Brantley Photography.

I can't even look at them without getting teary-eyed! Karri is amazing. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Fun, professional and hella talented.

Marc and I are honestly considering getting one blown up ridiculously big (like 4 feet x 6 feet) for the end of the upstairs hallway. Maybe the first one? Or this one:

Guest Poster Sara @ Russet Street Reno: 8 Reasons I Hate My Kitchen

2011-10-12T06:00:00.001-04:00

Let's face it, misery loves company. That is why I've decided to feature some of my favorite DIY renovators from around the interwebbies, plus this buys my blog some time while we save $ for our next project. First guest blogger up is the always hilarious Sara @ Russet Street Reno. She and her *new* husband having been slaving away on their own house. Don't feel too bad for her though, she has a dressing room and an art room! Lucky Duck!
Follow Sara on her blog here: Russet Street Reno

When Nikki asked me to do a guest post on her blog, I excitedly said YES! And then I languished in busy-town for two months and I’m finally getting around to the post now. Sorry, Nikki!

Here is my post, entited “8 Reasons I Hate My Kitchen”

1. Tall soffits + tall upper cabinets = no counter space:

2. Crazy lavender paint on the inside of random cabinets:

3. Broken backsplash that consists of plywood, broken plaster, holes, cardboard, and paper towels!

4. Snow blowing onto our counters last winter:

5. Speaking of counters, they are perma-dirty:

6. As is the vinyl floor:

7. The scalloped valance and ugly light fixture above the sink:

8. The bare wires hanging out of the ceiling that are supposed to be in a junction box:

And this list is why were are currently in the process of GUTTING the kitchen and throwing all this ugly junk into a dumpster! Visit my blog to keep up with the project, especially if you like to see grown women cry and go broke.

Thanks for having me, Nikki!

Playhouse Makeover Reveal

2011-10-10T14:06:00.006-04:00

6 cans of spray paint later:

I used the Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastics and it was pretty easy to do.

My tips:
a) Tarp the different colored sections off and don't reuse the plastic tarps for different colors. (The old, dried paint flakes off the tarp and onto your new paint.)
b)Try to be very even with your strokes. You can see my stops and starts in the green wall paint.

There were also some cracks in the door, but I sealed them up with duct tape and painted over them. Up close you can see the darker line of the tape, but not from far away.

The green doesn't match our house exactly, but honestly, I was surprised that they even offered a stock color that came this close. I should have gone with a red roof, but the brown is much prettier. Seeing it on the playhouse, I'd now like to do our real roof brown.

This was a pretty satisfying, quick project. Now if only the REAL house was this easy to makeover!

Ask [craigslist] and You Shall Receive!

2011-10-04T11:07:00.005-04:00

Sometimes, you just gotta love Craigslist! I emailed a woman yesterday about a playhouse, and BASTA! by 7:30pm last night, I had one loaded in the back of Marc's truck. It has some cracking on the door, but I'll fix that before I paint.

This morning, we got Franca up and showed her it out the office window. Her eyes got really big and she said "playhouse" about a million times excitedly. When we finally went outside, both girls made a beeline for it! Too cute. They had a ball, even if it is a little ugly. I'll remedy that soon enough.

I got a rare mid-morning break (well, I only had Franca to look after) so we booked it to Ace Hardware. The goal is to sort of imitate our house colors. They had to special order the green "ivy leaf" color because the hunter just wasn't going to cut it. It will be in Thursday. This is what I'm thinking:

Brown Roof & Shutters Green Walls Red Door

Our door is currently orange, but Marc has been wanting to paint it this color red for a while. Looks like the real house will mimic the playhouse on that one!

I got the brown for the roof in satin and the burgundy for the door in gloss. The green for the walls only comes in gloss. Will that look silly or nice to have a contrast in finish? It looks like the inspiration project used gloss on all. Let me know what you think.

Play (crack) House Please!

2011-10-03T14:18:00.000-04:00

So now that the backyard is no longer a death trap the girls and I play out there quite bit. So far, our activities have been limited to:

Eating pebbles.
Loading and unloading pebbles from various containers.
Bubbles.
Going up and down the concrete stairs and climbing on the seat walls.

Yeah. Pretty limited.

My Mother-in-Law hooked us up with a really cool sand table (see above), and my parents are soon bringing an awesome cozy coupe car. (Actually, we will then be in possession of TWO cozy coupe cars. Thank god because as you can guess, having only one of something that awesome would bring on a childcare apocalypse.) So now I'm thinking I should do my part and chip in with something.

Luckily I saw this Little Tikes Playhouse makeover via Apartment Therapy:

Full Link Here. And owner's flickr set here.

How cute would one of those be painted our crack house colors?? I'm searching high and low for a used one, because this project is just too cute to not do myself.

(Footnote: Sue - don't you dare.)

Apple Pickin' 2011

2011-09-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

I was writing another post when I remembered to check out the SD card of photos my dear friend Tracy took at the apple orchard last weekend.
O. M. G.
Too cute. I think Tracy needs to come everywhere with us, for photo taking, but also because she's cool and has the best laugh ever. Marc has it recorded, but Tracy might kill me if I post it.... but I just might... ;) Stay tuned.

See you next year view!

Patio: What we learned

2011-09-23T10:50:00.001-04:00

We make plenty of mistakes. I'd like to share them so you don't have to.

Concrete

If you need a yard of concrete or over, order a concrete truck! Not only it is it cheaper, but so much easier.
If you do order a truck, make your forms strong. Or, even better, rent the forms!
If you do make your own forms. Use 1/2" MDF, not 1/4". We had great luck with the 1/2" and didn't even use release agent.
If you are going to mix the concrete by hand, don't bother with renting a mixer. It didn't save us any time over just mixing in the wheelbarrow.

Reusing Items

Reusing things you already have will likely save you $$, but expect to put in extra time and effort. I love our "reclaimed concrete" wall, but it definitely was more work than just calling in truck to pour this solid concrete.
The reusing of our flagstone pavers was a total bust. They made the gravel bed too thick, were a tripping hazard and just a general pain in the arse. Good thing I dragged them around 6 times before we decided not to use them. ;(
Our "rock garden" patch, which was also stones we had already in the yard was a great success though.

Fencing

Good fences make good neighbors, blah, blah, blah. Think about your fence. We could not afford anything fancy, so we went with a more basic fence that will serve as a very long grape and plant vine support. Two birds, one stone. (Or as my Bulgarian friend would say: "One hammer, two cats" or whatever. Weird country.)
And while I'm on fences, let me state my dislike of the typical 6' high wood fence. We have them on part of our yard provided by our neighbors, we really didn't want to have them on all sides. It makes me feel like I'm in prison.
Hire out for your fence installation! Digging fence post holes is about the worst job on the planet. The hard clay 12" under our good topsoil makes it even worse. When veteran fencing people complain about putting your posts up, that when you realize you are glad they are doing it, not you.
Maybe have them do your gates too. In an effort to save $, and do some DIY on the fence, Marc decided to do the 5 gates himself. It's over a month later, and I still have no gates. Not that I blame him, he's been hella busy with other stuff.

Clean up

Get a dumpster. No, wait, get two dumpsters. And wait until you have energy to fill it properly. We were tired and stressed when we got our dumpster and didn't fill it in the best way. So of course, we still have junk in the backyard.

Patio: Mintless Mojito?

2011-09-20T10:14:00.001-04:00

Pre-Patio work, we had what seemed like an acre of invasive, spreading mint and fennel. A little mint is very convenient when making drinks like a mojito, or you've run out of gum, but a lot of mint is a total pain in the butt.

Before

I was making a recipe recently and went outside to get some mint. Franca and I hunted high, and we hunted low. This hunt essentially consisted of me walking around tasting a bunch of lemon balm. (Which looks like mint, but tastes like... you guessed it: lemon.)

We finally found one tiny plant on top of a mound of dirt:

After

I plan on containerizing that puppy so it doesn't take the whole yard back over.

Happy mojito making to me!

Patio: The Big Reveal (finally)

2011-09-11T21:01:00.001-04:00

Before I get into any details. Let's do the old "Before" & "After":

Before

Pre-purchase Shit Hole.

After

Today. Ah, much better!

Holy Transformation, right? Looking back on that before shot, I'm pretty sure our Realtor roofied us prior to the contract signing. Nothing else explains it.

Inspiration

<--This was my inspiration photo for the backyard. I remember saving this image and just thinking that this project seemed so far away.

Before we started, we could not hangout in the backyard AT ALL! There were dangerous piles, totally overgrown invasive plants, and no divider from the alley we share with our neighbors. In short, it was a shit hole.

We still haven't put up the hammock, but now, 4+ years after we bought this old [crack] house, the backyard has been conquered!

Panorama

I'm not going to go over each area, but here is a view from above: [click on it to enlarge]

From left: wild flower planting area, BBQ area, stair, butterfly bush surround seating, sitting & firepit area.

Franca obviously loves it out there. When she's not walking on the seat walls, she's digging in the rocks or running around the yard or on top of my plants.

More Before

Here's another Before & After looking from the alley:

Pre-purchase. Rots-ville.

During back porch renovation

Back porch complete. Yard still a jungle.

More After

Today looking from alley.

Today

Details

Sweet little hand. More info.

Patio as "Ode to Concrete". More info.

Parking spot, fence & yard. (Gates missing.)

Recyled Concrete "chunks" re-purposed as a wall. More info.

Gravel and the ill-fated paving stones.
Even before I had the time to blog about it, we decided to remove the paving stones.
They made the gravel bed too deep and hard to walk on, and they themselves posed a trip hazard.

Franca climbs up the wall, loving the now thinner gravel bed.

Stoop! More Info.

Leftovers

Because nothing is ever 100% done, here are the still outstanding items:

Making 4 Fence Gates.
Regrade around house. [Marc has started.]
Make firepit and find chairs. [Fun!]
Clean up junk piles still left in back.

A list of only 4 things?? It makes me about cry. I don't think I've ever made a list so short! We really busted our arses during the HOTTEST time of the year and it feels so terrific to only have 4 things left to do.

These past 2 weeks since the [almost] completion have been heavenly. The weather here has been great and we've had the best time just chilling with Franca and having fun. [Oh, and like NOT shoveling gravel, NOT mixing concrete and NOT lugging concrete chunks around.]

*********Backyard, consider yourself conquered!*********

My next post will be a "What We Learned", so please comment your questions or um...comments? Thx.

I'll Frigid your Aire!

2011-09-09T14:13:00.000-04:00

Remember this weekend?

This work prompted by a massive flood in our basement.

Goodbye LG.

So of course, now that Marc almost killed himself installing the floor drain and sump pit, we have not had enough water down there to even get close to the floor drain.

(Well actually, I think that once a 1/2" stream got close that enough maybe a drop or two went down the drain.)

While we were busting our butts on the backyard, we noticed the basement was getting humid, then downright tropical. I tried fixing the old dehumidifier, but could not get it to work consistently. This LG brand has performed valiantly, running almost non-stop 8 months of every year for the last +4 years. So we decided to retire it.

Goodbye dear, sweet dehumidifier. Job well done.

I did a bunch of research on the web, particularly this website. I narrowed it down to Frigidaire or Danby. I found the Frigidaire much cheaper than the Danby, so I scored the Frigidaire FAD504DUD 50 Pt. Dehumidifier off of amazon for $168.54 with free shipping. There are some reviews on Amazon talking about the direct drain, we just put a piece of thin wood under the front wheels and it is working fine.

At first we thought that this new Frigidaire was not as good as the old trusty LG because the basement still seemed damp. But then I thought: well, it has about 3 months worth of moisture to remove, so we let it run for a week and now the basement feels bone-dry! Which is saying something considering we got a TON of rain from the Lee storm. (We only got a nice breeze from Irene.)

The Frigidaire has turned out to be quite the workhorse and it is much much more quiet. Plus, even though the sump pit hasn't handled any floods, it is worth it just to have the dehumidifier drain directly in it. Because what good is a dehumidifier if you forget to empty the bucket??

To be honest the dry basement is also partly due to my trench drain and the new gutters, but let's give the dehumidifier its due too.

From the Experts: No Steam Mop on Hardwoods

2011-09-07T06:30:00.003-04:00

Ever since seeing that the DIY Diva (who is amazing) got a steam mop for her hardwood floors, I've been thinking about them. My first inclination was that how the heck is introducing hot steam at a high pressure good for wood floors? I've always thought water as the enemy to hardwood floors. But everyone uses them!

I quickly searched the Shark website. Is this skirting around the issue?:

Can I use my Shark® Professional Steam Pocket® Mop on all floor surfaces?

All Shark® steam mops are designed for use on most sealed/glazed hard floor surfaces. We recommend that you test an isolated area of the surface to be cleaned before proceeding, as well as review the use and care instructions from your floor manufacturer.

Surfaces/Material where the steam mop should not be used:

1. Wax polished furniture or floors.

2. Unsealed or unglazed ceramic floors, unsealed wooden and wax floors and some no wax floors.

3. In cases of surfaces treated with wax and some no-wax floors, the sheen may be removed by heat or steam action of the unit.

Ideal for: (sealed/glazed surfaces ONLY):

See Manual for usage instructions

• Laminate

• Bamboo

• Hardwood

• Marble

• Tile

• Stone

My beef is that all hardwood floors are not completed sealed. Even new installations. The clear coat is bound to open up along joint lines, especially in older home like ours. I've LOST things down the cracks between our floor boards.

But still, sick of getting down on my hands and knees with a cloth after every meal to wipe up the mess of several girls, I was hopeful.

So I called the great guys at Asheville Hardwoods (I've worked with them on projects before), and they said they get 2-3 calls about this every day. He said the NWFA (National Wood Flooring Association) recently released their findings on this issue and the NWFA DOES NOT recommend the use of a steam mop on wood floors.

Bummer. I was really hoping to be incorrect with my guess. We love our floors. Oak downstairs, heart pine (which is hard to find and very expensive now), so guess I'll just add a better vacuum to our Christmas list.

Table Top

2011-09-05T16:44:00.000-04:00

[Part 2: What You Can Get for $52.51 at Ikea]

Table Top Practicality:

1. I have a slight addiction to the serving trays at Ikea.

They are always such great pattern/prints and really practical. You can use them to serve food, hold glasses and wine bottle, and to organize just about anything. When I saw this bird print, I just had to have it.

2. The translucent thing is billed by Ikea as a desk pad, but it is much better as a place mat.

It's not slippery, and oversized. Perfect for the little sloppy eaters! When I visited Ikea, they only had this one left, which stinks because I have two sloppy eaters (Franca and Baby G, not Marc!). So, if anyone is going to Ikea and wants to buy me one, I'll reimburse you!

3. The last of my $51.52 haul is the sticky hands.

Our dining room table is about 9" too long for our room to have comfortable manuvering room (It's not bad, just 9" inches would be perfect). We always fret about the girls hitting their heads on the corners. I had a table cloth on the girl's half of the table, but I worried about the exposed part of the table fading more than the covered. I didn't want cover the whole table because I loath eating off of vinyl.

These sticky hands come in a pack of 8 (I presume for the top and bottle of the table corner), but we are only really concerned with the bottom corner. Plus, I'm worried the top one would discolor a little hand on top of the table. So these are perfect for us and won't harm the table!

Another interesting aside:

We bought this table from a friend who had it custom-made in Sante Fe. Now, Sante Fe's weather is quite a bit drier than Asheville's. (Technically, Asheville is in a rainforest zone - the Appalachian.) So over time, this table's wood has swelled- so boards not parallel to each other (the main and the edge) no longer line up. See photo above.

This Little Stool Is Mine...

2011-09-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

[Part 1: What You Can Get for $52.51 at Ikea]

Upstairs Bathroom Updates:

I'll be the first to admit that the lonely single shelf on the bathroom wall looked a little silly. A friend, Franca and I headed off to Ikea last Sunday, where I was determined to spend less than $100. Well, it wasn't too hard because the birch wall box shelves I wanted for Franca's room were out of stock.

I did however get a new shelf for the bathroom. The less deep shelf is so practical and helps the big one look less lonely. I love practical improvements!

Before..........................After

Now check out this photo:

Recognize anything? Yes, that is THE little stool.

"This little stool is mine,
I use it all the time,
to reach things I couldn't
and lots of things I shouldn't."

This stool is from my grandparents. I've had it for about a year and recently moved it into the bathroom. [You know, so Franca has a place to sit while she watches me shower or pee. (OMG. I'm so somebody's mom!)]

Anybunny, it has become apparent that everyone had this stool when they were little too. You don't know how many people run straight out of the bathroom proclaiming: "You have my stool!" (which, the first time I heard, seemed a little obvious and gross).
I love that such cute little stool brings back such great memories.

So forget the new shelf. Did you have this stool too?

(Also, backyard reveal. Marc is going to mow the new grass this weekend and take some photos for the post!)

How To Know If You Threw A Successful Party

2011-08-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

1. Someone forgets their shoes.

2. Two words: Christmas lights.

3. In the aftermath, your normally jam-packed pantry and fridge are barren.

4. You have so much fun, you forget to take a single photo.

5. It takes you two days to recover.

5 Years: We can Make Each Other Happy

2011-08-26T07:30:00.007-04:00

Disclaimer: I've had 2 PBRs and not enough sleep, so please join me as I get all mushy.

5 YEARS.

5 Years ago today I snagged a good one.

Wait. Pause the mushy. What is that I hear coming from downstairs? Ah, yes. "Lime in the Coconuts" song... Marc watched a Harry Nilsson documentary last night. (Nilsson sang that song.) Not my favorite. Oh, but wait, what is up next? Harry Nilsson's "Jump into the Fire"? Now that's what I'm talking about.

Forget the mush. Let me tell you the straight story: Our story is way more fire than coconuts. Here are the lyrics or "Jump into the Fire":

You can climb a mountain

You can swim the sea

You can jump into the fire

But you’ ll never be free

You can shake me up

Or I can bring you down

Oh, Whooh

We can make each other happy

Or we can make each other happy

Here is a funny homemade video for the song.

Basically, the song turns into just a pleading repeat of "we can make each other happy". Romantic right? Or what about "you'll never be free"? That's real romance there.

But it is the truth.

Everyone else knew that Marc and I would end up together (thanks for telling us!). Marc and I did not know this. We broke up, we made up, we broke up. For 7 long years! But I was never free. My life was never right without him. We both were always pleading that we could make each other happy. So...

5 years ago I jumped into the fire.

And I've never looked back.

Stoop Scoop: My Anniversary Present(s)

2011-08-24T15:37:00.003-04:00

Ok I know that title is corny, but I could not resist it. As far as the anniversary present part, I had a minor renovation breakdown on Saturday. I went to Home Depot, got harassed by a random guy lurking at the loading area who not only did NOT help me load 14 bags 80lb bags of concrete, but who also asked me how much I weigh and when I didn't answer, proceeded to guess 20lbs OVER my actual weight.

I got home, I was hot and tired. I took one look at Marc, who had just dug out all the dirt for the stoop and was in the process of putting in the gravel layer and I said dead seriously: "Cover it back up."

I had just had it with working on the weekends. I didn't care if we had to step onto broken concrete hunks to get to the new patio. I didn't want to lift a finger. Cover it back up.

Luckily, Marc doesn't listen to me because he kept on working while I proposed a deal. The stoop could be my anniversary present. Pretty good deal, I think. (In all honesty, I did try to help him Sunday afternoon, but some little munchkin boycotted her afternoon nap.)

Before-------------------> After

Franca had a grand ole time helping Marc finish the planting in the little holes. We just used some mondo grass from the garden.

She has been LOVING playing outside. She cries when we have to go in. Sadly, her favorite activity is stomping on our new, delicate grass. Digging is a close second. (As you can see by the bucket and shovel in the above photo.)

Marc is outside as I speak working on the patio. We are hosting a little get-together for neighbors Thursday and there are some corrections we want to make. Some painful, painful corrections.

Oh, is that Franca I hear waking up?? Huh, too bad I can't go help him. Happy Anniversary (again) to me.

Minions!

2011-08-22T16:45:00.001-04:00

Marc slaved away this weekend on the stoop, so I figured the least we
(read: my minions) could for him was some digging.

Patio: The leftovers

2011-08-18T16:47:00.001-04:00

We have a bunch of little things left to do on the patio and have decided to do them in the order of the most dangerous to least dangerous.

At first the most dangerous was the lack of fence gates, but I have fashioned (in pure "Bunny" style) four of what I will call "gates". So the fence openings have been take care of and right now, the most dangerous thing is this:

Yah, not pretty right? and not fun to step out onto.

So this weekend Marc will be doing this:

We are going to pour MORE concrete, but this time just a small pad with 3 opening for very small plants. You know, because we can't ever not add a little something to complicate matters.

We are going to form the holes with 2-liter bottles filled with sand. Anyone local have any 2 liter bottles? I haven't bought soda in ages, but it looks like we might be having a soda-guzzling induced belching contest tonight.

Meanwhile, Franca & Co. have gotten right down to business enjoying the patio:

Chasing bugs on the concrete seat wall.

Loading and unloading the gravel.

Making gravel soup with Marc's grill tools & testing out the gravel running paths.

What do you do when you are not working on a patio?

2011-08-15T08:58:00.002-04:00

In this order:
Bottle of wine, British sitcom, run with jogging stroller, bubbles on the patio, pool, margaritas, pool, eat BBQ, night out with a girlfriend (!), breakfast with a friend, petting zoo, picnic, long walk.

I didn't touch a shovel all weekend and it was glorious! Please tell me everyone had as great a weekend as we did.

Never mind that I worked until almost 2am last night. The weekend was so amazing that I didn't even mind.

(Grass seed has been sown. Expect a full patio reveal post in a week!)

Maybe You Don't Do Your Electrical Work in Your Bra, Mr. Mailman...

2011-08-11T11:07:00.004-04:00

I've been taking advantage of the fact that I only have Franca to care for this week by making multiple morning runs to Home Depot, taking her on business meetings in cabinet shops (the guys got a real kick out of that), and doing odds and ends around the house.

Remember my plea for a modern, cheaper ceiling fan? Well, Marc was still set on the Modern Fan Co. Ball one ($288). I don't know, for me it was just too plain. Too "Architect". So I was covertly hunting for something else. I saw an ad while at my parent's for a modern fan at Menards (a store we don't have down here), I remembered to look it up when I got home and the price was just right! $139 including shipping!

I knew that Marc wasn't sold on the fan, so I decided to hurry and put it up so he couldn't dismiss it without seeing it actually up. To be completely honest, I had my doubts too because ceiling fans, while a necessity in this house, can be really ugly. Plus it is made by Westinghouse. Not a company known for modern designs.

Franca went down for nap #2 yesterday and I sprung into action (well, after finishing a rendering for work). It was so dang hot and muggy that mid-job I just took my shirt off. 20 minutes of me standing on a step ladder in a black bra and black stretchy mini-skirt, I had this:

I really like it. The light isn't obtrusive, the metal center part that the blades connect to is really well detailed and the blade color goes very well with our new darker trim color. (Which I still need to paint on the living room windows.) Even Marc likes it, even though he's not a huge fan of the 2 blades or their shape.

Detail shots:

What do you think? A keeper? Please vote:

Ceiling Fan

Walking is a Luxury in this House

2011-08-08T13:29:00.001-04:00

Good news is, except for some loose ends, the patio is finished.

Bad new is, I'm having trouble walking, let alone carrying Franca up and down the stairs.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have run 5 miles Sunday morning and then come home to shovel gravel and carry heavy stones. Lesson learned.

Here is a sneak peak:

I don't want to post full patios until it is all the way done and the grass is growing a little. But I am glad to no longer feel like I am living at a labor camp. This whole week I only have Franca to watch, so I'm going to try to get a lot of paying work done, but also do all the house stuff that we have neglected in the past 3 months. You know, like vacuuming. The spiders have staged a full-on assault again. Boo.

The Drain! The Drain!

2011-08-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

On a day like today, when I've seriously had to stop myself from throwing my computer out the window about 4 million times, (I'm not joking. AutoCad makes me INSANE!) I really needed something to go right. So I was beyond elated when Marc called me downstairs (before he goes boozing with his friends) to show me that my trench drain is working!
This is the drain that will keep water away from our foundation and therefore help our house not fall down. Yea! House not fall down!

A lot of sweat went into this trench and drain, so I'm VERY pumped that is actually worked. Oh, and before you get all jealous, no, we didn't get any rain, I just watered the heck out of those new plants. Gotta protect my $58 investment!!

(Also, the FINAL pea gravel will be delivered tomorrow and the fence will be finished tomorrow morning! (Marc still has to do the gates.))

Plants! Mulch! (Or how I jumped the gun, but got a good deal.)

2011-08-02T17:08:00.003-04:00

Even though the pea gravel and flagstone isn't in, and Marc still has to pour the remaining piece of our "monument to concrete" (see below), I jumped the gun a little and did almost all the landscaping.

This last concrete retaining wall will have a step in it and will be the pad for the future outdoor kitchen.

Franca and I hit up Home Depot and Lowes to snag some clearance perennials. We got all this:

29 plants for $58. Not too bad huh? We still need to get some larger bushes and a tree, but it feels so good to have something looking finished!

Also please note the fence posts (!!!!!) in the background of these photos. If they come back tomorrow they will finish!! yippeee!!!

Guest Postin'

2011-08-01T07:25:00.001-04:00

Forget fence posts, please join me today over at So Wonderful, So Marvelous where I am guest posting!

You can read all about my desire to fake move! Click here to read.

(Also, how do you like my little facelift of this site? Better, no?)

Concrete Wall Reveal

2011-07-29T11:19:00.000-04:00

The pouring of the concrete wall went a little something like this:

It was 9pm on Friday night, Marc was supposed to head to Home Depot, get the rest of the wood to complete the form work and more bags of concrete. Mixer would be rented first thing in the morning. Marc sits down and finally figures out how many bags of concrete we would need to do this wall. Calculations reveal it would be 80 bags. Um, that's 4 trips to HD because his truck max carrying load is 20 bags. That's a colossal waste of time.

I start freaking because I've hired someone to come help us. They will be arriving at 9am and I don't want there to be nothing meaningful for them to do. I remember that my contractor/neighbor told me that if you need more than a yard of concrete, it makes sense to call in a truck. I start googling ready-mix concrete in our area. By this time it is 11pm on a Friday night. I call a place trying to hear their recorded message to see if they deliver on Saturday. A woman answers. I'm mortified. She sounds sleepy. Apparently they have the office calls forwarded to their cells. Poor woman. Good new is: they do deliver on Saturday!

I get a call at 7:30am on Saturday morning saying they can deliver at 10:30am. This means that Marc has about 3 hours to complete the form work. Marc does not work fast and starts hustling (and he won't admit it, but freaking out.) Other good news: even with the "short load" delivery fee, the ready-mix concrete from a truck is cheaper than buying 80 bags (not even counting renting the mixer.)

10:30 comes and goes. The concrete guy calls and says he will be late. The hired helper is sweating to death helping me dig a trench and haul gravel for the drains. 11:30 comes and goes. No truck. I call. They will be even later. Marc is happy because he now has more time to complete the form work. The truck finally comes at 2:30! I have to call the helper to come back. (I'm sure he hates me.)

Concrete starts flowing! Oh no, the forms start creaking and buckling. Marc is sweating bullets, but thank you renovation gods, the forms hold. And actually, the deformations look pretty cool. The wall was supposed to be a straight U shape 14" wide and 20" tall (good for sitting). Now it has two angles to it and bows out to 18" at the top. I like it.

Here is Marc's original elevation sketch of what he wanted the wall to look like:

and here is the real thing:

Please excuse my poorly photoshopped panorama.

Pretty snazzy seat and retaining wall, no?

There is some aggregate showing on the face here, but we both like how it looks.

This weekend, I'll be moving dirt and mulching (!) while Marc parges the white portion of the wall.

Dr. Dumpster & the Dirt Mittens

2011-07-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

Yep. That's the name of my new band and a tribute to getting the dumpster all loaded and taken away!

Honestly, we probably could have filled 2 dumpsters, but Marc wants to salvage the rest of the concrete chunks to use to make a wall on the side of the house. (I think he's high off the success of the first reclaimed concrete wall.) So the yard is not as clean as I'd like, but still much better.

I was not looking better. I was sweating buckets, lifting close to my body weight and getting "dirt mittens". Oh, dirt mittens, I missed you! (Actually, it is more like clean mittens considering my hands are the only clean things.)

We did however get rid of the old rotten railroad ties, our old black-painted plywood countertops (Can you still believe we had those around?), real counter top miscuts #1 & #2 (We gave up on the idea of doing something with these. We have too many projects already.), a huge pile of rotten wood and lath, lots of broken concrete, the old swingset, old rotten lattice, etc. etc.

Next post - concrete wall reveal!

Concrete Sneak Peak

2011-07-25T10:06:00.000-04:00

With the assistance of our hired helper and a huge concrete truck, we actually completed our entire to-do list for this weekend! I dug trenches, hauled gravel, laid pipe (har, har), covered it all up and repeated about 5 times. Marc finished the concrete forms, finished the concrete and then shoveled dirt. Sounds like a grand ole time of a weekend, no?

Marc won't let me take the forms off the front of the new concrete wall because it isn't all the way cured, and let me tell you, the suspense is killing me! (We took the rear forms off to install the trench drains.) We actually woke up an almost napping Franca to put her hand print in the concrete. Check out the photos, cute!

Anyway, here is an update on the list. If all goes well negotiating a price and material with the fence contractor, we can be done this coming weekend (aside from landscaping.) Next weekend/this week will include loading a dumpster, laying flagstones and installing pea gravel! Exciting!!

~~Tear up patio area~~. (Done!)
~~"Reclaim" stone/concrete pieces to reuse.~~ (Done!)
~~Relocate plants.~~ (Done!)
~~Install gutters (Back is 95% Done!)~~
~~Bust up concrete "troughs". (Done!)~~
~~"Reclaim" patio flooring flagstones from garden. (Done!)~~
Mark fence posts. (by contractor)
~~Get samples and select pea gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Rent equipment.~~ (Done!)
~~Move dirt.~~ (Done!)
Dig post holes. (by contractor)
~~Trench for pipe and footing at new site wall and house.~~ (Done!)
~~Pour footing.~~ (Done!)
~~Install metal edging.~~ (Done!)
~~Install site wall reclaimed stone/concrete pieces.~~ (Done!)
~~Place road bond gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Compact gravel.~~ (Done!)
Lay reclaimed flooring flagstones.
Install pea gravel.
~~Install trench drains.~~ (Done!)
Install fence posts and fence. (by contractor)

Backyard - Illustrated

2011-07-21T17:30:00.002-04:00

Marc and I more or less know what we are planning for the backyard, but it became apparent to me on our visit-our-families vacation we have made it less then clear to everyone else. So here is it illustrated: (pardon my very quick shaded renderings)

And some images from Uncle Google that give you the feel for it:

Photographer: Clive Nichols

bellewood-gardens.com

Photo by Thomas J. Story

Photo by William Wright

Photo by Thomas J. Story

Understand better now? I hope so! ;)

Blog Changes

2011-07-14T08:32:00.008-04:00

You may have noticed something new up there at the top.
I was asked to join the Blogher network and that is there "tune-in"bar.

Starting August 1st, I will also have a sidebar add over there ->

Funny thing about working three job for yourself at home: you are forced to start valuing your time. As an obviously avid DIY'er, I have never before truly understood why people would hire out for things that they were fully able to do themselves. Before, it always seemed like I had or could make the time to do all the things that needed to be done, but now I'm dreaming of lawn services and cleaning people.

For everything that I do, I have to think to myself: "Hm, should I be working right now? Is this worth the $/hr that I would be making if I was working?" That was my primary motivation behind joining the BlogHer network. I love blogging. It is fun, cathartic, and serves it original purpose very well. (Which was to show my friends and family our renovation progress without having to email out a million photos.) But as you well know, I've been slacking with blogging. All the sudden life got really busy, and I couldn't justify spending time on something that I do just for fun.

Enter BlogHer.

By running some ads, I'll make a tiny bit of dough and alleviate my guilt. Here are my rules: no giveaways (because I find them boring), no hidden product promos (because that is just sneaky), no accepting free stuff for a positive blog mention (again, sneaky). I have been contacted to do some product reviews, but I'm not sure how I feel about that? What are your thoughts?

Anyway, back to the real stuff. Marc, Franca and I are currently on vacation, but I made Marc promise that two weeks after we come back I WILL have a fence and a patio. We are going to hire a helper for the weekends because it is just not working anymore to do this project during naps only. Here is the plan:

Week 1: Put up forms for the rest of the concrete wall around the butterfly bush.

Weekend 1: Marc, helper & I pour concrete wall, dig trenches for drains and install drains.

Week 2: Get dumpster delivered (way exciting). Get pea gravel delivered. Layout stones and install pea gravel. Empty piles into dumpster.

Weekend 2: Install fence. Let Franca run around in the backyard for the first time!!

I cannot wait, but I'm pretty sure Franca is more excited. She has spent our entire vacation outside showing us how much fun she is going to have in her new backyard:

Bad Ass

2011-07-05T23:33:00.000-04:00

I need to take a photo of my guns (aka arms) for this post, but it is 11:23pm and I just finished working for the day, so I'm too lazy.

But let me say this: I'm a bad ass.
No two ways about it.
No mamby-pamby asterisks to spell a**.
No being modest.

I'm a BAD. ASS.

Why? Guess who transported, lifted and emptied +TWENTY 80lb bags of concrete into the mixer this weekend? ME. I thought I might die, but I did it. That's how bad I want this patio.

Let's talk about this whole thing a little bit more:
Please note that 80lbs is 3/4s of my total body weight. So, I lifted myself, minus a leg or something, off the ground or wheelbarrow to the mixer over and over. I not only lifted, but I held my one-legged self at an about 60 degree angle and shook slowly to distribute myself (err, the concrete) into the mixer. Over and over. And over.

No worries that my legs keep going numb and my back is pretty tight.
I'm a bad ass. That's just how we role.

(And yes, I know I'm insane. It's Patio-Fever.)

Backyard update: The Wall!

2011-06-29T12:57:00.003-04:00

My fingers are healing up nicely and my back only feels like it might give-out every other time I blend over, so I figured I should post photos. I still can't type with my right middle finger though, so this is going to take a while.

Marc's dad and I originally dug up all this concrete that was lining our yard. We stacked it neatly in the back thinking: "Hey, could we maybe use this somewhere?" In the next week, both Marc and I separately found the same inspiration photo in a Garden Design magazine by Shirley Watts:

Hmmm. She used reclaimed concrete and stacked it with wide joints. Looks great!

First things first though, Marc had to pour the concrete footings. That was no small job: +30 bags of concrete mixed in the wheelbarrow by hand!
Bad thing #1: The finish wasn't what we were expecting, it was way too rough, so Marc had to parge the front of the wall to make it look smooth.
Bad thing #2: The bag of parging cement he picked up said "concrete white" but was more like stark white. Can we not get a break?? Looks like he will have to re-parge it with a grey mix. Bummer.

Anyway, once the wall footing was in we started on our reclaimed concrete wall. Hold up, nothing is that easy for us, right? Well, first I had to unstack all the "stones" (i.e. reclaimed concrete chunks) and lay them out in the yard to get a good sense of what we had and then hose the dirt and bugs off of them. This took me half a day I swear.

Finally, we started stacking and mortaring. After 2 HARD days of work, and me wearing right thru a pair of gloves, we did it. I'm pretty amazed at how it looks considering that we have never really done anything like this before. I'm not saying the Fraternal Order of Mason's should give us honorary memberships but yea, we feel pretty proud:

The whole wall. 2" of the white (soon-to-be-grey) footing will be covered with the final gravel layer.

A little close-up. Some of the pieces still have moss on them. We are hoping it will live and spread.

Not too bad for junk we dug up in the yard, right?

It's a little more rustic looking than the inspiration photo, but Marc and I really like it. It didn't come easily though. As with everything that will save you a lot of $$ (in not having to buy new stone), it took a little more man-power. These rocks had very rough bottoms (hence the need for the large mortar layers in between). They look like they were formed on CMU (concrete blocks). Here is a picture of the bumps <--

This one isn't even that bad, but it is the last one that we didn't use. I was going to turn it over to get a better photo, but Marc had stacked (3) 80lb concrete bags on top of it, so this is the only photo. Sorry, I just cannot bring myself (and my aching back) to move the 240lbs off and back required to get a better shot!

Here's an update on the list. 13 & 15 completed!

~~Tear up patio area~~. (Done!)
~~"Reclaim" stone/concrete pieces to reuse.~~ (Done!)
~~Relocate plants.~~ (Done!)
~~Install gutters (Back is 95% Done!)~~
~~Bust up concrete "troughs". (Done!)~~
~~"Reclaim" patio flooring flagstones from garden. (Done!)~~
Mark fence posts.
~~Get samples and select pea gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Rent equipment.~~ (Done!)
~~Move dirt.~~ (Done!)
Dig post holes.
Trench for pipe and footing at new site wall and house.
~~Pour footing.~~ (Done!)
~~Install metal edging.~~ (Done!)
~~Install site wall reclaimed stone/concrete pieces.~~ (Done!)
~~Place road bond gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Compact gravel.~~ (Done!)
Lay reclaimed flooring flagstones.
Install pea gravel.
Install trench drains.
Install fence posts and fence.

We've found some really gross stuff in and around this house (dead cats #1, #2, #3 & #4, adult diapers ....), so I thought I'd post something a little gross, but a lot funny.
----------------------->

Marc dug up this troll doll in the backyard. He's become our unofficial patio mascot. Partly because he's pretty cute, but mostly because that is what we end up looking like after each work session!

Should we name him? Suggestions?

Patio Update - Coming Soon

2011-06-27T16:09:00.001-04:00

It hurts to type right now.
Oh and it hurts to sit, stand, lay down and/or breathe. Which is a sure sign of patio progress.
Also is that I got up at 1am because MY FINGER was hurting so bad I couldn't sleep. Seriously.

Here is a little teaser photo:
I may have moved all these concrete 'stones' 5 times in order to have them create the new wall. (There were even more. I took this photo after Marc had already scavenged about 15 of them.)

Pretty amazing that we dug all of these out of our yard! It is practically enough to pave our backyard. Some of them were just buried under grass. Sure beats forking over the $$ to buy stone.

**Also a big Congratulations to my friend Michelle at So Wonderful, So Marvelous. She and her family welcomed a new little member this morning!****

Marc's Bad Habit

2011-06-22T14:39:00.001-04:00

[I'm in the middle of cleaning the house because I woke up this morning and just couldn't stand the chaos anymore. There is one thing about living in a messy, dirty-ish house under renovation, but it is a whole 'nother monster to spend your day looking at it and living among it. But there is something I just had to share.]

I've been known to have a bad habit of leaving some of my 73 (!) pairs of shoes all over the house. It drives Marc nuts. He has a little-discussed bad habit of his own, let's take a look, shall we??

Door #1

Bedroom

1 shirt on door knob

Door #2
Office
1 shirt on door knob

Door #3
Guest Room

5 shirts on door

Door #4
Guest Bedroom
4 shirts on door
1 hoodie on door
2 shirts on dresser

Total:
13 shirts
1 hoodie

Hmmm.
Looks like I'm not the only slob living here.

[Ok, now back to dusting!]

2011-06-16T17:05:00.001-04:00

Remember when it was all cute when Franca would play in the bathroom under the sink? Well, fast forward five months to now when I'm constantly finding my face lotion behind the toilet, my spray gel under her crib and my hair barrettes downstairs in her highchair (!?).

It was time for a bathroom shelf.

I had asked Marc probably 3 years ago to build me a bathroom wall cabinet. I did sketches and everything. I got sick of waiting and insisted I would do it myself. No. He wants to do it! But if he did everything I asked him to, he'd never have time to sleep, so I decided to just put up a shelf we already had***.

Bathroom "storage" before:

Huge mess and WAY too kid-accessible.

Bathroom storage areas after:

I want to get some baskets for this TP to tidy it up a bit more.

And let's face it, otherwise, one day I will walk in and 1/2 of these rolls will be unfurled on the floor.

I mounted the shelf at 6'-3" off finish floor so Marc wouldn't hit his head, but so that I can still easily reach my junk.

TADA!

Oh who am I kidding?

It looks like this now:

<---------toilet paper, toy and sports bra storage, of course! Wonder which little lingerie obsessed munchkin has already taken this area over?

Seriously, now do I have to put up a high shelf in my closet to hide my sports bras from her?

***Footnote:

This bathroom shelf has a funny back-story. Marc bought it 9 or so odd years ago when he lived with a roommate (also named Mark) in Hoboken. Well, Marc bought this shelf to put up in their bathroom because he had nowhere to put his toiletries. Being very roommate-y, Marc asked Mark if he could put it up. Mark replied that he'd "think about it". Marc would ask Mark every couple of months and they reply would be he was "still thinking about it".

Please note: I love this Mark to death. Trust me, he is a fabulous guy. Smart, witty, fun and now married to Marc's cousin (!), but he is nothing if not slow to decide. (He dated Marc's cousin for 7 years or so before finally popping the question for pete's sake!) He was not being mean or passive aggressive with his "thinking about it". He was literally "thinking about it" the whole time!

Needless to say, the shelf never went up.

An additional funny part is that when I went to get the parts to put the shelf up together, I noticed that the shelf is only 7" wide, but the directions for the brackets state that it should be 11" wide. (This actually works for me because I like that the shelf doesn't go all the way to the wall. No "dead space" for things to hide up there.) But it just cracks me up that all those years in Hoboken, the shelf sat in Marc's closet waiting to be put up. If Mark would have ok'd it, Marc would have discovered that he picked up the wrong shelf and it wouldn't even have been correct! HA!!!

Weekend 2: Patio (or My 6,000 Calorie Diet)

2011-06-12T20:45:00.002-04:00

I'd like to proudly announce, we kicked the patio's arse this weekend!
We seriously got so much done (and currently I hear Marc mixing concrete), it is hard to believe that it was only 1.5 days!

We worked so fiercely I found it hard to keep myself fed. I seriously could NOT eat enough! I would eat a ton and still go to bed hungry. I guess that is what happens when you work so intensely in 85-90 degree heat. So, the money we are saving doing this ourselves is probably going to feed me. ;)

Thursday, Marc went to Home Depot before work and got (20) 80lb bags of concrete. He lifted 4,800lbs that day. (1,600lbs getting bags onto skid, 1,600lbs getting into truck and 1,600lbs unloading.) Wow!

Friday, Franca and I picked up another load of road bond gravel mix because we ran out of it last weekend. We only got 1 cubic yard, which is recommended to haul in Marc's truck, but it still was a harrowing ride back to the house from the stone yard. Marc's truck was riding low, so I unloaded about 1/5 of the gravel.
That night, I fell asleep hungry watching hockey on the couch and woke up at 10pm still starving. So I said, what the hell, and got a butterfinger blast and chili-cheeseburger from Sonic. Happy me.

Saturday, Marc made Franca breakfast and then Franca and I set off on a 4.5 mile run with my friend Robin. Maybe not the best thing to do when you have a whole day of back-breaking work ahead of you. Plus, whew! when did Franca get so heavy? We switched off pushing the jogging stroller and it was still brutal! When we got home, I helped Marc finish installing and leveling the last of the road bond. Then, I decided to tackle the "stone garden area" (that we had thought of on-the-fly) while Marc laid out the string lines for the walls. In the afternoon, I decided to tackle the huge dirt mounds near the alley while Marc made the forms for the concrete footing/wall.

We hired a friend's daughter to babysit from 1-3pm which is usually right between Franca's naps. Well of course, she boycotted her morning nap and fell asleep promptedly at 1pm right as I heard the babysitter's car door slam. Little shit. (She did wake up and had to be tended to later though.)

Saturday night I had to work-work. I had to practically stick my head into the computer in order to stay motivated to pump cad and figure out scales for touchable models. I kept myself motivated with chocolate ice cream. Yum.

Sunday, I convinced Marc to head to Corner Stone Diner for breakfast bright and early at 7am, because he had to got to Home Depot at 8am anyway. When we got home I continued to shovel dirt (OMG, I'm a wheelbarrow expert now), while Marc continued on the concrete forms and rebar. Later in the afternoon, because it was too hot for pouring concrete, Marc helped me lay the stone wall at the alley, and dig out and lay the stone at the walk from that alley to the house. Of course, right when the temperature dropped and Marc opened a bag of concrete, it started to rain. So we headed to Marcos' Pizza for dinner.

So here I sit, motivating myself to start on the work-work again, with the sounds of concrete pouring behind me. I snuck downstairs and took of photo of Marc in action.
<------

Here's an update on the list. Ridiculous that we only checked one official thing off, but I'll let the photos speak for all the work we got done.

~~Tear up patio area~~. (Done!)
~~"Reclaim" stone/concrete pieces to reuse.~~ (Done!)
~~Relocate plants.~~ (Done!)
~~Install gutters (Back is 95% Done!)~~
~~Bust up concrete "troughs". (Done!)~~
~~"Reclaim" patio flooring flagstones from garden. (Done!)~~
Mark fence posts.
~~Get samples and select pea gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Rent equipment.~~ (Done!)
~~Move dirt.~~ (Done!)
Dig post holes.
Trench for pipe and footing at new site wall and house.
Pour footing. (underway)
~~Install metal edging.~~ (Done!)
Install site wall reclaimed stone/concrete pieces.
~~Place road bond gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Compact gravel.~~ (Done!)
Lay reclaimed flooring flagstones.
Install pea gravel.
Install trench drains.
Install fence posts and fence.

Here are the photos:

Shot taken from the alley. Notice the new rock edge wall, walkway, rock garden and completed "road bond". This whole area slopes much more than the photo shows.

Here is the rock garden. We just wanted to switch it up so the whole area wasn't gravel. Plus, the smoker and grill will be in the further gravel area and Marc wanted them segratated a little from the walking area. We did put two "step stones" in the rock garden so you can quickly get out of the BBQ area. Did I mention that I salvaged, hauled and placed every single one of those stones by myself? OMG. I've got to be getting guns by now.

Here is a detail of the walkway. If you only knew how hard this was to dig up. It slopes down from the patio into the alley and the stuff that was there was IMPOSSIBLE. The old owner used to park her cars there, so she had filled the area in with whatever hard material she could find: hunks of broken concrete, large rocks, whole bricks, broken pottery. Nothing is worse than forcefully slamming a shovel into the ground to have it hit a full brick. It's jarring. At one point, Marc said he was digging individual gravel pieces out.

This stuff is so hard, that we decided we don't even need to put the road bond there. It is just as good.

And here are the concrete forms. You can also see all the concrete tucked neatly under the green tarp and out of the rain. Don't ask me about the rebar, Marc explained it to me and it made sense, but I promptly forgot all he said.

Side note:

Franca is obsessed with my closet. Namely, my sports bras.

I was trying to get Marc to take a pic of how dirty I was, but Franca had to be in the photo and was, of course, wearing a sports bra around her neck. She normally wears at least two.
Weird, weird little girl.

It will be pouring concrete and moving forms all week here!

Weekend 1: Patio

2011-06-06T10:15:00.001-04:00

It was hot.
It was sweaty.
I **may** have gotten irrationally angry a couple of times.

But it is at about 50% and it feels so good!

Day 1:

Thanks to our contractor neighbor Chris, we got this baby generally leveled in no time!

I started to install the edging. Near the house will be a planting bed.

Day 2:

Gravel is at about 85% in. We are running a little short, but that is actually a happy accident because I thought the gravel area was getting too big.

So we are going to improvise and do a "planting" bed with the larger round stones we salvaged from elsewhere around the garden. It will be located in the foreground here.

And the fun stuff:

One of the main reasons I'm so excited to have our backyard more "finished", is that Franca is quit the outdoorsy girl. She loves to get right in there and get dirty. She leaps out of my arms whenever I take her out back (or out front for that matter).

Country girl, just like her momma!

She was also fascinated by the Bobcat. When we were done yesterday, we let her sit on it with Marc. She went nuts and didn't want to get off.

[I get a weird feeling some people might give me shit for this, but the Bobcat was turned off, key out, and on level ground. I mean, I grew up riding through pastures in the raised bucket of my Grandpa's tractor!]

I can't believe that we didn't get a photo of me on it. It is pretty fun to drive. Much like my dad's awesome lawnmower. I actually got to drive it up onto the trailer to return it. That was nerve-wrecking, I was sure I was going to end up sideways in the middle of the street.

So here is an update on the master list:

~~Tear up patio area~~. (Done!)
~~"Reclaim" stone/concrete pieces to reuse.~~ (Done!)
~~Relocate plants.~~ (Done!)
~~Install gutters (Back is 95% Done!)~~
~~Bust up concrete "troughs". (Done!)~~
~~"Reclaim" patio flooring flagstones from garden. (Done!)~~
Mark fence posts.
~~Get samples and select pea gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Rent equipment.~~ (Done!)
~~Move dirt.~~ (Done!)
Dig post holes.
Trench for pipe and footing at new site wall and house.
Pour footing.
~~Install metal edging.~~ (Done!)
Install site wall reclaimed stone/concrete pieces.
~~Place road bond gravel.~~ (Done!)
~~Compact gravel.~~ (Done!)
Lay reclaimed flooring flagstones.
Install pea gravel.
Install trench drains.
Install fence posts and fence.

And so it begins....

2011-06-03T11:14:00.001-04:00

The Bobcat has been served, the road-bond gravel is delivered.

Let's make a patio!

Help. I'm melting.

2011-06-01T19:42:00.000-04:00

So far the only drawback of quitting my job is that it is HOT here! We don't have AC like we did at my office. (Where someone would always turn it down to 58 degrees and I'd end up wearing a sweater and socks with my skirt all day.)
In general, the house stays really nice until around 1pm, when even the slightest exertion (like typing) or embarrassment (the mailman hearing me sing to the girls about diaper wedgies) can make me break out into a sweat that doesn't go away until about 3am.

So please help. I need a ceiling fan for the living room. Should I:
a)
buck up and buy the modern fan "ball" one? ~$275

http://www.modernfan.com/ball.html

b)
get a cheapo industrial one that is sure to cut off a finger? $70
(Actually, this is not even an option because it literally WILL chop off a finger. They are only recommended to be installed in tall ceiling spaces. Our ceiling is only about 8'-6" max.)

http://www.csnlighting.com/Westinghouse-Lighting-78409-WL2110.html?cv=

c)
??
[insert your suggestion here].

THANKS!

Backyard List Update

2011-05-30T23:09:00.003-04:00

So, I'm having back spasms, but more items have been completed off the list~!

On a side note, it must have been a funny sight this afternoon in our backyard. 125lb me swingin a sledgehammer and lugging around pieces of concrete, while my muscular husband stands on a ladder doing the finicky finish gutter work.

What can I say? Our physical strengths don't match our mental strengths.

Here is the list update: (1/3 done!)

~~Tear up patio area~~. (Done!)
~~"Reclaim" stone/concrete pieces to reuse.~~ (Done!)
~~Relocate plants.~~ (Done!)
~~Install gutters (Back is 95% Done!)~~
~~Bust up concrete "troughs". (Done!)~~
~~"Reclaim" patio flooring flagstones from garden. (Done!)~~
Mark fence posts.
~~Get samples and select pea gravel.~~ (Done!)
Rent equipment.
Move dirt.
Dig post holes.
Trench for pipe and footing at new site wall and house.
Pour footing.
Install metal edging.
Install site wall reclaimed stone/concrete pieces.
Place road bond gravel.
Compact gravel.
Lay reclaimed flooring flagstones.
Install pea gravel.
Install trench drains.
Install fence posts and fence.

Phew!

Here is Item 4 completed:

Gutters!! (at about 95%)
(I'll do a more complete post later on gutters.)

These were COMPLICATED! Marc had to use these brackets that attach to the side of the rafter tails because we don't have a fascia here. If that wasn't bad enough, this roof is crazy not level/skewed. In all the wrong directions too.

Excuse the rigged up drainage. We are afraid it is going to rain before we get the correct piping properly installed!

Here is Item 5 completed:

I left the small pad by the door, but the rest is gone.

I *may* have lost my body weight in sweat, but hey it is done!

(And my arms and back are going to be ripped!)

Trough before:

After:

We left a bit by the house in order to not undermine our foundation.

Here is Item 6 completed:

Here are my stacks of future patio stone.

These were really scary to dig out. I've never been worried about digging around before, but the 3 snakes and big spiders have me spooked. (One spider might have been a Brown Recluse, so Marc smooshed it)

Pretty even just like this.

I wanted to also clarify (due to a comment on the last post). The area that we tore up for the patio was not a "garden" rather really a sad wasteland for overgrown fennel and ridiculously invasive mint. Beyond some of that mounding grass and creeping jenny at the corner, there was nothing else salvageable in this area.

The other part of the yard, yes, there are tons of great plants that will definitely stay. It is sad though, because the fennel and mint look so nice in spring, but by fall the fennel is 6' tall and EVERYWHERE and the mint is 4' tall and looking awful and scraggly. And seriously, I like a good mojito as much as anyone, but who needs 300sf of mint??

Next up, marking fence post and moving dirt!

Back Yard To Do.

2011-05-27T16:27:00.003-04:00

Well, of course, because I was so excited about hiring out for the back patio... we decided to DIY it.

The architectural world is still a little slow around here, and Marc got spooked about getting laid off. The patio would have ate up a good chunk of our savings cushion, so we decided to DIY it.

(Not only that, but I wanted the whole thing done in 3 weeks, and wouldn't you know, it has been about 6 weeks and we still didn't have a start date from the contractor. Dude. We suck at hiring out. It is totally (almost) all our fault too. We are wishy-washy. We are not firm. We are so hard on ourselves, but get all school-girl around contractors. Weird.)

Anyway, I went a little crazy and did a huge list of all the stuff we have to do. Here goes:

~~Tear up patio area~~. (Done!)
~~"Reclaim" stone/concrete pieces to reuse.~~ (Done!)
~~Relocate plants.~~ (Done!)
Install gutters (Marc is on it this weekend.)
Bust up concrete "troughs".
"Reclaim" patio flooring flagstones from garden. (3/4 way done.)
Mark fence posts.
~~Get samples and select pea gravel.~~ (Done!)
Rent equipment.
Move dirt.
Dig post holes.
Trench for pipe and footing at new site wall and house.
Pour footing.
Install metal edging.
Install site wall reclaimed stone/concrete pieces.
Place road bond gravel.
Compact gravel.
Lay reclaimed flooring flagstones.
Install pea gravel.
Install trench drains.
Install fence posts and fence.

Phew!

Here is Item 1 completed:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

It was pretty damn overgrown with invasive plants. (Mint, fennel, etc.)

In the right of the photo is the concrete "trough" I still have to bust up.

Here are Items 2 & 3 completed:

On the palettes are the reclaimed stones & concrete and in the old sinks I temporarily transplanted two of the large shrubs. Most of the other plants were transplanted to the front yard.

Here is Item 8 completed:

We are going with the gravel on the top.

I like the color of the one on the right, but the pieces are sharp, not rounded.
These samples are sitting on the large flagstone pavers that I reclaimed from the yard.
They are terrific! and FREE!

I showed a plan for the backyard here. That is still the general idea, but because we are DIY'ing, we are going to make lots of decision on the fly. Also, we aren't going to buy the 12"x12" concrete pavers (huge $ savings!), instead we are going to do a pea gravel patio and use the flagstones that we are reclaiming from other parts of the yard.

Items 4-7 to be done this weekend and week and then 9-13 the next weekend??

Wish us luck!

Front Yard Expanding Landscaping

2011-05-20T16:02:00.003-04:00

Generally, I don't like landscape posts because the never seem like they look that fabulous or different, but I guess I'll share the minor stuff on the front yard first, then in the next post, the demo in the backyard.

But first, here is the minor work in the front yard. I transplanted a bunch of liriope (or is this mounting grass?) and creeping jenny from the back to the front and expanded our landscaped area. We hope to just keep expanding this area until it takes up much of the front yard.

Before After

See? Totally underwhelming.

So just for fun, here is Franca helping me put together her new highchair.

She insisted on having the Allen wrench and I was surprised that she knew exactly what to do. She actually turned the bolt a couple of times before I had to distract her by letting her bang the feet rungs together like "thunderstix" so I could use the wrench myself. Give her 6 months and she'll be using power tools.

(She also insisted on wearing those bows in her hair. This girl knows what she wants!)

We got a "restaurant style" highchair from the local restaurant supply place. (FRS Asheville) $30 for solid wood! Plus it is really sturdy, not a huge plastic thing and very easy to clean. I highly recommend them. Ours is the Winco brand in walnut finish.

Living Room = Playroom

2011-05-18T09:53:00.002-04:00

Sad that the only room I was happy with (the living room), got completely turned upside down into the daycare/playroom. The furniture looked nice. Good symmetry. Easy to keep clean.
Le Sigh.

Before:

(Best pic I could find even though I'm SURE I have a better one somewhere.)

After:

We sold the couch, gave away the (free to us) coffee table, moved the chair and rearranged everything else. While it felt good to purge, it makes me sad still.

Good thing I'm happy with the parlor now. Furniture looks great. Easy to keep clean.

<--- ahhhh.

It's off limits to non-Franca kids, so I'm dubbing it my new "happy room".

Wow. Maybe I should have taken a few days off??

2011-05-15T23:45:00.007-04:00

OMG.
So busy.

I mean, I like to be busy, but this is a little insane. Since my last day at work on Wednesday I have:

Wednesday night:

Celebrated with friends.

Thursday:

Walked Franca to her last day at daycare. Jogged home.
Sanded, patched and cleaned kitchen windows.
Trimmed out kitchen windows with new wood. [FINALLY!]
Caulked under window.
Painted kitchen windows and installed new hardware.

Friday (while Franca napped):

Dug up all the plants I want to salvage from the soon to be leveled backyard area.
Saw one snake INSIDE the basket I was carrying. Screeching and running around in circles ensued.
Dug up areas in the front yard to plants these plants. Then the rain hit.
Made Franca run around with me doing a little shopping.
Bought bras in the kid's section at Old Navy. [I wish I was kidding.]
Installed panels under the kitchen island on the dining room side to eliminate the hazard of the open back of the dishwasher and the open spaces behind our cabinets that kids should *not* have access too.
Painted these new panels will the oldest, nastiest, thickest black paint. It was all we had. Could not run to store because FC was sleeping.
Cleaned house because Marc's parents are coming.

Saturday:

Worked a little on an architectural project.
Ran a million errands.
Ate at Jason's Deli. [Yum!]
Replanted the salvaged plants in a new area in the front yard with new mulch, some other new plants, and rocks salvaged from the backyard.
Went to dinner with Marc's parents. [Vinnie's - delicious.]

Sunday:

Up at crack of dawn with Franca.
Put Marc and his dad to work in the backyard. [I kid you not, I said "Mush"!]
Tore up all the railroad ties.
Discovered 3 MORE snakes. Only screeching this time. No running.
Marc bought a wheelbarrow.
Dislodged and carted to the back of the yard all the stones.
Dislodged and carted to the back of the yard all the concrete pieces.
Salvaged a couple more plants.
Moved those huge, heavy old sinks to the back of the yard.
Worked on an architectural project.
Worked on a rendering for Touch Graphics...... which I am still doing right now. I'm writing these between test renderings. UGHHH. I want to go to BED!

But because I have more tests to run, here are the photos from Thursday's Items 2-5:

Kitchen Window Trim-out

Note: This is a long-term temporary solution to these open, gross, trim-less windows. They will probably get fancier trim work if we ever finish the kitchen. I just couldn't stand to have Franca (and any other kids) sitting below this mess, so I went to work trimming:

Before

Yea, nice right? Disgusting old yellow sponge paint. Exposed weight boxes. Spray foam insulation. Spider webs. Klassy. A good friend of mine spent a whole night last month thinking that those weight boxes were just open to the back yard and the elements. (They are not, the windows are trimmed out on the outside.)

Step-by-step

[click on any image to enlarge.]

First, I had to "furr" the windows out to make the trim overlap the drywall. This was pretty tricky, and complicated because I insisted on only using scrap wood and of course, nothing is level or plumb in this house.

We are thinking we will be eventually replacing these two windows, so I didn't want to deal with the hassle of removing the sashes and the million other steps required to make the weights function, so I just cleaned the weights, put them back at the bottom of the weight boxes and stuff the cavity with nice, clean, white insulation!
[Um, yea, that is all one sentence. It's 11:36pm. Deal with it.]

Then, I trimmed out with nice, clean wood we already had in the basement (yea, thrifty!). Save for the middle piece, for that I had to run to Home Depot mid-project (boo). Click on that first image to see a ridiculously huge caulk joint. 1/4 inch at the top, 1-1/4 inch at the bottom. Stupid old houses.

After

Franca can now eat and play without being grossed out! Yippee!

Now that I'm "done", it is really bugging me that I didn't put up an 'apron' under the sill. Marc is telling me not to bother with it, but what do you think?

I'll post the stuff from Friday-Sunday. But I'm tired now. ;)

I might have, sorta, kinda, quit my job.

2011-05-10T10:48:00.001-04:00

And I might just have replaced it with 3 jobs....

Sorry for the lack of posts. Things around here have been absolutely bonkers.

I quit my job. Tomorrow is my last day. Long story, but all very good. I'll be taking Franca out of daycare, watching 1.25 other girls in the morning, consulting for Touch Graphics during her afternoon nap, and very very slowly building a modern architecture practice.

It is going to be hectic.

It is going to be crazy.

It is going to be SO worth it.

I just got back from NYC (where Touch Graphics is located) Sunday night at 11:45pm. I missed all but 15 minutes of Mother's day. :(

You'd think we could do a repeat this coming Sunday, but I'll be busy transplanting plants and busting up concrete in preparations for our NEW PATIO that we (hold on to your hats) are HIRING SOMEONE ELSE to do. Insane right?

Marc will be busy installing gutters.

I'm not sure what this means for the blog. I will surely have the motivation to do some house projects, but will I have the time? Will I want to blog about it, knowing that I do this for free, and every second I spend on the internet, I could be making $ consulting? Who knows.

I guess the important thing is I'm happy. I'm really happy with my decision. Elated actually. Not only because I will get to spend oodles of time with Franc n Beans, but because it is the best career decision for me too. We always said if we could make it work, we would. I'm not one miss an opportunity, so I jumped.

Now, who has a sledgehammer I can borrow. I broke ours.
Mother's Day present maybe??
.
.

Easter work!

2011-04-25T09:07:00.001-04:00

We have some really exciting developments here at 86'n It!

First:

HOLY MOLY! We have a screen door! I literally almost cried.

(It is not done, of course, but already keeping bugs out!)

Second:

....drum roll please... I painted the peeled paint trim!

The peeled paint was making me lose my mind, and I wanted something a little different (of course) so we went dark charcoal. I LOVE it. It too, of course, is not done. but I just wanted to give you a sneak peak!

And now some cute Easter photos:

Loves it!

2011-04-20T07:35:00.001-04:00

Franca had some of her friends over last weekend to break in the new kitchen.

think it is safe to say that it is a big hit!

Taking Orders

Waitress, Head Chef & Sous Chef

She also loves her new chair:

And don't forget the tunnel!

Backyard Plans

2011-04-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

Marc is meeting with someone today about regrading part of our backyard closest to the house. This will help us with all the water from the backyard being directed to our foundation, and make a nice little spot for a patio. Here is the overall plan: (click to see it bigger)

And here is a detail of the patio/firepit area:

More details after Marc meeting with the guy today!

IKEA

2011-04-12T12:33:00.000-04:00

I'm headed there Friday!
Now, I know that not everyone is a fan, but come on, how can you not love these?:

Tea Set

Play Kitchen

European Breakfast Foods

Children's Chairs (Kritter)

Any recommendations? Anyone have a children's table set they love or hate?

Recommendations for a big rug for a play area?

WAAAAAAAA!

2011-04-11T10:05:00.000-04:00

More details later, but this is pretty much how we felt on Sunday:

Marc would have been done with the screen door, except he cut a piece of wood wrong.

I painted three painstaking coats on the dining room trim only to discover that it was completely the wrong color.

Franca was just mad because I took a pencil away from her.

p.s. Trick I learned from Parents Magazine. If your kid is throwing a fit, take a photo of them and show it to them. It instantly stops them crying. It totally works. Franca laughs at her ugly cry every time.

Now You're Rockin'!

2011-04-06T10:01:00.001-04:00

After the great "does your chair rock?" debacle followed by the add-on rocking/swivel base revelation, I was really ready to have a successful rocking chair conversion!

First task was fixing the broken no-sag spring. This would have been easy if I was reupholstering the chair, but I'm not, so I had to sort of rig it up. (Because I can't thru the fabric to the top of the frame to screw in the new clip.) I also couldn't get my hands on a hook-link, but I was able to get a free edge clip from the really nice guy at Stephen's Interiors. (BTW, this place has some really great fabrics. I grabbed my clip and ran out so I wouldn't come home with bolts upon bolts of fabric!)

Here is a pic of the fixed spring:

I ended up buying the rocking/swivel base off of this ebay seller out of Oregon, which is sort of ridiculous considering that it is made just over an hour from here in Hickory, NC.

I've been feeling super anxious and unproductive lately, so last night at 8:30pm, I decided that I was going to tackle this project. Luckily, we had a piece of leftover 3/4" plywood already in the basement from Marc's kitchen cabinet projects. Here's a step-by-step of what I did:

1) At Marc's urging, I reinforced the chair base with a 2x4.

2) I flipped the chair over onto the plywood and traced the bottom.

3) Next I cut out the plywood with a jigsaw.

4) I secured the plywood to the bottom of the chair frame and new 2x4.

5) Finally, I screwed the rocker/swivel base to the plywood!

After it was all finished, Marc and I about had a heart attack when we discovered that the chair with new base wouldn't fit thru the basement door. Whoops! We did make it fit though. This chair is SO much heavier with the plywood and new base, so it took the two of us to bring it upstairs.

Here is a sort of crappy photo of the final product:

(Sorry, it looks like it is hovering)

I'm just gonna go ahead and say that it is pretty amazing. It swivels and rocks really smoothly. At first, we thought I should recess the plywood, but because it is finish-grade, I really like seeing it at the bottom of the chair. Gives it a mod sort of look.

I'm also pretty proud of myself for completing this project all on my own too. It has been a while since I did some finish work with real tools and I was glad to know I can still do it. It gave me some much-needed confidence back! Franca also gives it a big thumbs-up:

Footnote: The title is something that probably only Marc and my sister Missy will think is funny. The toy on the right in the above photo says loudly "Now You're Rockin'!" Followed by: "That was SO cool!" I like to think that the toy's comments are now directed at the new rockin' chair.

Some New Furniture and the Cutest Video Ever.

2011-04-03T21:52:00.002-04:00

I've been in serious purge-mode lately. I think that is what having a house increasingly saturated with kid stuff will do to you.

My purging included getting rid of old gross pillows, the 10 extra sets of sheets, ratty old towels and my extensive fabric scrap collection (sniff, sniff). This freed up so much space in the guest bedroom dressers and the hallway armoire that we decided to sell the armoire. A friend of mine had expressed interest in it a year ago, so I felt good that it was going to a good home.

Fare the well Armoire!

Unfortunately for the purging, that same weekend Franca's daycare had a sale. We scored several things, including these three school chairs that Marc just had to have ($3 each!). So we decided to replace the armoire with them, move up the rug from the living room, and relocate my Grandmother's awesome handmade hooked-yard farm wall hanging. (Please ignore the spot on the wall from the old smoke detector.)

The chairs are pretty practical in this spot. I'm always looking for a place to sit and put my shoes on and I need surface to put things outside Franca's room, because I'm always cleaning and making a pile of her stuff while she is sleeping and I don't want to go in and disturb her. (Weird, but my cleaning method relies heavily on piles. I actually had to move a pile to take this photo!)

And while this is all so *terribly* exciting, it really was a terrific weekend here. We had a great, fun, and amazing friend visiting. She also just happens to be a super easy, enjoyable house guest. (Miss you already, Carrie!)

We had a crazy dancing night Friday and then decided it would be a good idea to run a 10k the next day when we were probably still sweating vodka and whiskey (Carrie- vodka. Me - whiskey). You know what? We rocked it. Done in 56 minutes and we talked the whole run.

Sunday ended up being pretty lazy, Marc mowed the lawn with the new lawnmower. (It was like Christmas for him, I just know it!) We walked around town and played with someone who just has to be the most amazing/ cute/ ridiculous/ adorable daughter ever.

Need proof? Just give me your next 10 seconds:

Told you.
.
.
.
.

86'n It

Closet Makeover!

Enje Roller Shade Mods

Dollhouse: I bit the bullet.

Adulthood

I *will not* lose my mind.

Good Thing She Can't Read

Office: Sneak Peak

To Do List 2012: Part 2

My Personal New Year's Resolutions

To Do List 2012: Part 1

Mo LaLa Peez!

Blog Year Review 2011

Holiday Card 2011

This Playhouse Love

Toward a More Gentle Sideyard

DIY Gift Tags

I'm old.

Music: made possible by a baby monitor.

FrankenStool

Pitter Patter

Thresholds

Happy Thanksgiving!

11 year old chips

All I want for Christmas...

Guest Poster Meryl @ Picardy Project: Why I Can Now Lift More Weights at the Gym

33 bags

Busy Day!

Our House is now "Bachelor(ette)" Ready

Happy Halloween!

Simple DIY Firepit

Wow. Crazy Life.

Family Photoshoot

Guest Poster Sara @ Russet Street Reno: 8 Reasons I Hate My Kitchen

Playhouse Makeover Reveal

Ask [craigslist] and You Shall Receive!

Play (crack) House Please!

Apple Pickin' 2011

Patio: What we learned

Patio: Mintless Mojito?

Patio: The Big Reveal (finally)

I'll Frigid your Aire!

From the Experts: No Steam Mop on Hardwoods

Can I use my Shark® Professional Steam Pocket® Mop on all floor surfaces?

Table Top

This Little Stool Is Mine...

How To Know If You Threw A Successful Party

5 Years: We can Make Each Other Happy

Stoop Scoop: My Anniversary Present(s)

Minions!

Patio: The leftovers

What do you do when you are not working on a patio?

Maybe You Don't Do Your Electrical Work in Your Bra, Mr. Mailman...

Ceiling Fan

Walking is a Luxury in this House

The Drain! The Drain!

Plants! Mulch! (Or how I jumped the gun, but got a good deal.)

Guest Postin'

Concrete Wall Reveal

Dr. Dumpster & the Dirt Mittens

Concrete Sneak Peak

Backyard - Illustrated

Blog Changes

Bad Ass

Backyard update: The Wall!

Patio Update - Coming Soon

Marc's Bad Habit

Weekend 2: Patio (or My 6,000 Calorie Diet)

Weekend 1: Patio

And so it begins....

Help. I'm melting.

Backyard List Update

Back Yard To Do.

Front Yard Expanding Landscaping

Living Room = Playroom

Wow. Maybe I should have taken a few days off??

I might have, sorta, kinda, quit my job.

Easter work!

Loves it!

Backyard Plans

I will not lose my mind.