Project List

When my Mom and I toured the new house for the first time, I knew we would make an offer. So walking through the house, I was noting how great everything was, and what I would like to change. Luckily, since the house was built in 1997, the changes were all small cosmetic things. Back then, here is what the list looked like:

1. Paint the living room and trim
2. Paint bedrooms and trim

3. Change the kitchen back splash

4. Pickle the heavy wood paneling in the dining room?

5. Replace the vanities in the master and guest bathrooms

6. Screen in covered porch

7. Install electric fence for dogs

8. Paint the house and the trim around windows, etc.

9. Somehow fix the brick on the floor in the library/office

10. Paint kitchen cabinets and install box cabinets to reach ceiling

Long term: 

- make master bath and closet bigger by extending over garage

We have now lived in the house for a week. The list has changed so dramatically that it is literally crazy. This is why it is so important to take the time to really live in your house for a while before making any dramatic changes. I've been telling friends and family that I am going to try as hard as I can to hold off on any big projects until we have lived there for a year. So let's check in again at 6 months and see if I can control myself?

There are some fairly big projects that I hope will happen soon. However, since they are "Mister Projects" - there is no way to know when they will ever happen (usually it takes him a good period of ignoring my requests, followed by his being totally and completely annoyed with my requests. At some point, something in him snaps and he decides to tackle a project before my obnoxious unrelenting requests drive him to divorce me). Anyway here's what we've learned:

1. I'm not "allowed" to paint anything (even sample squares) until all the boxes are unpacked.

2. It seems he doesn't know me very well. 

3. The whole master closet through the bathroom thing is a complete and utter FAILURE. Who had this idea? What an idiot! In the first 4 days of living there, I have had to stand outside the door and wait for the Mr. to leave the bathroom so that I could get dressed about 7 times. 

4. Men spend waay too much time in the bathroom during the morning. 

5. Our living room has no "center"

6. Most of the paint colors in the house are totally fine, with a few exceptions: 1. half-bath, 2. mudroom, 3. living room, 4. Master bedroom and 5. trim in bedrooms

7. Our "pizza oven" is not finished at all. 

8. It is going to take us the entire summer (and probably most of next summer) to get all of the landscaping under control. 

9. The fabric covers I ordered for our couch are way too light for our darker doggies

There's more, but I don't want to tire you out. The two biggest projects that will be tackled first are:

1. Adding a door to the closet that IS NOT through the bathroom

2. Closing up a closet in the living room to create a "center" for the TV, couch, everything. Hopefully we can open this closet up from the other side.

Here's a little inspiration for you to think about:

via Fox Meadow

Hopefully I can share some pictures of the unpacking next time I check in!

Killer Cacti

Every single time I say the word "cactus" I think of the Hey Dude theme song... Good old Nickelodeon.



Anyway, a few weeks ago I pinned this real cute little cactus pot knowing that I had a very similar pot waiting to be used.

source unknown

Since I was still doing a lot of packing, I decided the only way to avoid packing said bowl was to fill it with $45 worth of cacti. You heard me right... I spent a ridiculous sum to avoid packing a singular planter. My logic is fantastic.

Plus, let's face it: this is kinda cute... in a very prickly sort of way.

Sorry for the photo quality, my Mom is currently baby-sitting all of my plants and I asked her to snap a quick photo with her iphone.

Stay tuned friends, hopefully I will have some updates for you soon about our big move and how we are LOVING...  effing LOVING our new house!

Ode to Oak

Ever find yourself drooling over oak?

No? Boy that's weird... I do it ALL. THE. TIME.

Case in point: Today I found 2 dressers on Craigslist that I need in my house immediately. Go ahead, ogle them:

Do you need these things like I do? Do you lust after their grainy surface, and wonder "what would he do if I brought home 2 more dressers when we just threw one away last week?"

Do you then say to yourself, "but it's only $100 for BOTH!" And then you post it on your blog hoping secretly that someone might buy them for you?

And if the dressers weren't enough - here is a dining table with chairs:

Oh craigslist, oh Oak. Whats a girl with a slight obsession over your well-priced goods with rich texture to do?

Checking In

Just checking in to say "hi"!

And tell you that I am NEVER MOVING AGAIN.

Packing in THE WORST.

In other news, I bought a hutch!

Sorry about the picture quality, it's from the craigslist posting. This was a big score - $75! And when I e-mailed about it, I used my most friendly typing skills...

Hi,

My name is Mandy, my husband and I are moving into our first home with a dining room - your hutch would be perfect! Not to mention, we can actually afford it.

Please let me know if it is still available.

Thanks!

Mandy

And I provided my phone number, which I don't usually do. You can tell I wanted it, right? She texted me back pretty quickly to say congrats, that she would take $10 off the price, because its our first home (my e-mail was a little misleading) and that it was MINE ALL MINE.

So I've been scrambling for a way to pick it up and get it to Columbia without my dear husband knowing. Buying furniture for a house that we don't live in yet is probably his top pet-peeve right now. Spending money is also pretty high up there. 

Anyway, I got to pinning some hutches and dining rooms that I liked to give you an idea of the possibilities. I might not paint it at all, who knows?!

via Rambling Renovations

via somebody's Photobucket

a bargain at $2,828.00 from ivgstores.com

source unknown

I love the cheerful colors of the last photo, and how they make the space look very casual. It's doubtful that I will paint my hutch this color green - but I love the other colors at work in this room. If there is one important thing to keep in mind about my future dining room, it's the need for casual surroundings. Suppose I have a family someday... I'd like to actually eat dinner in the dining room! I know it's such a crazy suggestion... but it's away from the mess of the kitchen, which reminds everyone to linger and chat. You don't want to eat dinner in a fancy pants dining room, that's for sure... at least I don't. I hate to be in spaces that make me feel like I'm going to break something that is more expensive than my life. 

Anyway, all in time. For now, it's back to packing. 

A Quick "Planting"

At the "Black Friday" sale at Home Depot last week, I picked up some $0.88 Pansies and a few $3 English Daisies. The prices are so good that it's nearly impossible to resist. Yesterday I spent roughly 2 minutes "planting" the flowers into my containers from last year.

The Daisies (in their little plastic pot) dropped right into the white milk containers perfectly. For the Pansies, I plopped an empty soda can in each boot for support and then dropped in the hardy little flowers, plastic container and all.

I spent about 20 minutes looking for the wooden bottoms to the white milk tins (also known as Goodwill salad bowls). As you can see, I only found one... my dear husband likes to "organize" "his" barn occasionally -  which basically means that he throws all my stuff into assorted piles. I'm sure you've seen this kind of tirade at your house. Twice a year a man gets an inkling to clean something, and rather than doing the dishes or their dirty clothing, they run into their domains and start whining about how you "never put anything away" or "collect too much junk", etc.

And then they get all high and mighty about their semi-annual cleaning job, as if you have spent the entire year painting your nails and getting a tan. HA!

As you can probably tell in this photo, the stupid paint has worn away from the porch steps... good thing I put so much work into it last year.

Good thing it's no longer my problem!!!

Is it dark in here?

If it feels like nobody is home at my little blog for a while, it's because I'm busy packing. Between trying to find new tenants to occupy our side of the duplex (which we will keep) and picking out new paint colors and dreading all the packing, there isn't a whole lot of time for projects.

If you feel like you're missing my humor, wit and charm (hardy har, har) - you can check out my travel tales. Or read up on my wedding preparations a few years back. One of these days I am going to combine all that stuff into one place....

But if you are REALLY missing me, feel free to show up at the house and help me pack a few boxes, I promise it would be a hoot.

Winter's End?

Out on our run yesterday, we only hit snow in a few select areas. This leads me to believe that winter might officially be over sometime soon. The dogs and I really enjoy the cold, but I've discovered that try to run in the snow is not that great. So then, we are pretty pumped to see spring come into focus.

Let's take a moment to celebrate with pictures of my babies.

fun, but difficult.

good times ahead!

get excited!