The Wife's August Goals - How'd I do?

Dear August:

You were so much better than July. No offense, July. I just wasn't that into you. Perhaps it was because I had this month off class so I could actually get lots of things done. With that said, I'm kinda sad to see you go. You went by so quickly. I love fall, but it just doesn't seem time yet. Last year, I was biting at the bit to put up fall decorations and drink cider, but this year - I'm just not sure. Give me a week. I'll change my mind. Mmmmm.... cider.

XOXO-

The Wife

The Wife's August Goals

1. Go to yoga at least once a week. Check! Work out two others times a week. Nope!

Full disclaimer: I'm giving myself half credit for this although it's a stretch. Over the month, I averaged two times at yoga per week, while there was actually one week when I didn't go at all. This is a HUGE improvement over not working out at all, and they are my goals so I'm getting credit, dang it. Go me!

2. Make a new recipe. Check!

I made the cucumber-dill spread, eggplant pasta, Southwestern Chili and stuffed peppers (all very good and all listed here).

3. Can something (salsa, sauce, tomatoes). Nope!

I did give cucumbers to a neighbor, and she gave me two jars of pickles (OH.MY.GOODNESS.SO.GOOD), but I don't think that counts. Actually... I don't have nearly enough to can yet. I may not have to can this year. I'll just eat it, share it and freeze it.

4. Sew something. Check!

I made a planner cover and a burlap pillow. I also made a few other small things that I haven't shared yet. And, unfortunately, my poor little machine already needs a tune-up. The bobbin case is loose and I cannot get it back in properly. It's going in tomorrow so it can be back to working-order.

5. Get the little house completed, licensed and rented. Check!

BOO-YAH!

6. Plan a weekend getaway. Check!

We were actually planning to take a day-trip yesterday, but it has been postponed to Labor Day (tentatively) because of the crazy weather.

7. Show my college roommate Ali a fabulous time in the QCA when she visits. Check!

We had a wonderful time being tourists in my town. I cannot wait to see her again.

8. Read 3 books (A know-it-all's guide Check!,  My Sister's Keeper Nope!, The Time Traveler's Wife  Nope!).

I only read A know-it-all's guide (which I can't recommend unless you find a Cliff Notes version). I started My Sister's Keeper, but just didn't get it all read. Oh well...

9. Send out invites and plan details for a baby shower in September. Check!

The shower is next weekend. It should be lots of fun. I loved helping. Here are the items I shared.

10. Plant another selection of cool-weather crops (lettuce, carrots, radish and cilantro). Check!

The lettuce and radishes are already coming up like crazy. This cool, rainy weather has to be helping.

11. Paint outside chairs. Check!

They look so much better with a new coat of paint. (These are what I painted. They just needed re-done from being out in the elements, so they look the same. I left them out all winter.)

12. Paint corner hutch. Check! 

I painted the hutch last weekend. Now, I just need to let it cure, touch-up and get things put back in. I think you'll love it. I do.

How did your month go?

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Flickr Favorites 8/30/09

1. sweet little dishes, 2. thrifted coffee table, 3. Untitled, 4. Ajas pics 921, 5. Ajas pics 862, 6.summer 08 decor pics 033 (51), 7. Oct-Nov 2008 075, 8. 100_3271, 9. Ajas pics 923, 10.Intown Glamour Study, 11. 7-28-satellite, 12. 689835056_9235a16e82_o, 13.gasl_twin_beds_06, 14. flickr.com/photos/91213797@N00/2147339445/, 15. My Fiesta filled cabinets, 16. checkers

I've just begun using Flickr to save my photos. Wow! What an amazing place to find amazing photos. Here are a few of my favorites so far. This could become dangerous.

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First motherly moment

Hold the phone. I ain't pregnant. (Sorry, mom.)

But, I'm pretty proud of myself for having my first motherly moment. Let's be honest... motherly would not be a word to describe me. 

I'm usually having too much trouble tripping, spilling and hurting myself to worry about anyone else. Perhaps it's selfishness. Busy-ness. Clumsiness. Many 'nesses come into play in my lack of motherliness. 

But, this is part of the reason that kids are still a ways off (sorry, mom). There's also the fact that babies cry, poop, stay up all night and cost money.

Wait... where was I?

Oh yeah... me being motherly.

It was as much of a surprise to me when I showcased my "mom arm" at a restaurant with coworkers recently. You know the "mom arm," right? The arm that just immediately pushes you back when the car comes to a quick stop. It's a saving arm, the "mom arm." And, it happens unconsciously. So, when someone has the "mom arm," it's a big deal.

When my iced tea was served at lunch, I immediately knocked it over (clumsiness).

Wam! Bam! Thank you, ma'am! 

My first innate reaction was to stretch out the "mom arm" and swipe my lovely coworker (in her lovely white skirt) off her seat to protect her from flying debris. And I did it. She barely got a drop on her. (She may have been on the floor thanks to my "mom arm," but that's beside the point.)

I didn't even know what happened. It was so quick. I couldn't stop myself. It was like my arm possessed itself.

My coworkers were incredibly impressed. They immediately commented on my "mom arm" and I puffed out my chest with pride for the rest of the day (and week).

So, now what?

The way I see it, I'm one step closer to motherhood.

Only... I'm not quite ready to actually be a mother yet (sorry, mom). I'll have to have a lot more episodes with the "mom arm" (along with coming to grasps with actually having a child to carry and care for) before getting to that point.

But, it's really about baby steps, right?

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Garden-fresh recipes

If you are anything like me, you are looking for ways to use your heaps of garden-fresh produce from your garden or the farmer's market. I've had loads of cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers lately. (Do you KNOW how many peppers and eggplants grow on one plant??? A lot.)

We will give away some of the produce, but we want to use as much as we can ourselves. So, we've been trying new dishes and old favorites with fresh items.

These are a few recipes I have found that looked delightful. Some I have tried, others I'm planning to try. I review the ones I've tried. Please share the recipes you love in the comments...

Hope you enjoy!

Cucumber:

Cucumber-dill sandwiches

(Printable)

via Darby: Fly through my window

These are very simple and incredibly delicious. Great for lunches and snacks. I add sliced fresh tomato to the top of the spread as well. 

Tomatoes

Fresh Tomato Sauce

via Old Beach Bungalow (who found it via Real Simple)

I'm planning to try these this week with my first big crop of tomatoes. If Real Simple says it's good, I believe it.

Eggplant

Eggplant pasta

via The Pioneer Woman

This was my first time cooking eggplant. The dish was pretty good and I think it would be better the second time around, now that I'm more familiar with it. 

Eggplant parmesan

via Simply Recipes

This is going to be the next eggplant dish that I make. Looks delightful.

Zucchini

Zucchini Mexican lasagna

via me

You.must.try.this. It's totally delicious.

Zucchini bread

via a coworker, Julie (and digitally documented by yours truly)

Super simple to make, and really delicious. Great to give to neighbors, family and freeze.

Zapple pie

via my Aunt Cathy (and digitally documented by yours truly)

I haven't made this myself, but we tried it at my aunt's house. Boy-oh-boy... my mouth is watering. If you aren't a zucchini person, you will still like this recipe. Tastes just like apple pie.

Zucchini-Squash-Potato Bake

via my Aunt Cathy

This is so delicious. Even Ryan, the hater of squash and zucchini, loved it. Just slice zucchini, squash and potatoes into very thin slices and halve them. Then put them in a baking dish and add pads of butter, salt and pepper to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes to 1 hour (based on how large the dish is). It's a great-looking dish, too, with the colors. I'll try to take a photo soon.

Peppers

Stuffed green peppers

via me

Southwestern Chili

via Homespun Threads

This is truly the best chili we've ever made at home. We made it in the Crock Pot and it was DELICIOUS. So yummy. Did I mention it's awesome? Sub the canned tomatoes for fresh. Trust me on this. Try it.

What other recipes should we try with fresh things from the garden? Do share....

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Always. Sometimes. Never.

(Da Bears photo... in honor of football beginning)

I always:

• sprinkle salt on tomatoes.
• highlight words and paragraphs with my curser when I'm reading online.
• say "I love you" at the end of phone calls with Ryan and my parents.
• sing in the car, with no shame.
• want to watch Sister Act when I'm feeling down.
• make lists in my head... and on paper.
• laugh when Franco and Lola do naughty things (this is not a good trait).
• wish for less clutter.

I sometimes:

• wish we lived in northern California.
• avoid cracks on the sidewalk.
• crave McDonalds Coca Cola.
• wish it was fall (even in winter, spring and summer).
• go for a full week (or more) without turning on the television.
• talk to myself and then answer myself without realizing it.

I never:

• want to live on a busy street again.
• can get ear buds to stay in my ears.
• will get tired of drinking sun tea.
• want to live without Ryan and pugs in my life.
• am without Chap-Stick.
• want to change out of pajamas on Sundays... or Mondays... or Tuesdays...

(via EnJOY it)

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Rental Reno - bedrooms and recap

The final rooms in the little house are the bedrooms. They are both quite small, but look much better now.

Unfortunately, one bedroom seems to be an add-on and has no closet. We hope the closet in the porch area helps, but this would also make a good office.

Front bedroom:

Back bedroom:

These rooms were pretty similar to the others and probably self-explanatory. What we did:

• Painted.
• Cleaned.
• Refinished floors.
• Added new ceiling fans.

So, here's all the rooms in the little house:

• Front porch and outside
• Living and dining rooms
• Kitchen and bathroom
• Backyard clean-up

And, great news - it's rented. We didn't have any problem getting it rented, and the people who are in there seem to really like the house. This will get us acclimated to the rental process.

So, how did we do? What would you do differently? Do you have rental stories? - do share.

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Drinking... alone... at 4:30 p.m.

(I've realized that I haven't posted some of our real-life stories that I don't want to forget. This is one of them. Decorating, DIY and all our regularly-scheduled funness will return shortly.)

When I got home today at 4:30 p.m., Ryan was already drinking a beer. If you know Ryan, you will think this is humorous because he hardly drinks when we go out, let alone at home.

So, I asked: "Rough day?"

At which point he revealed the source of his stress... the stress that drove him to drink. Some broad parked in front of our driveway when he got home and wouldn't move.

Now, my husband is one of the easiest-going guys I know. He's normally pretty cool, calm and collected. But, when someone parks in front of our driveway, you better WATCH OUT!

This is a source of neverending frusteration for him. Since we live next to a high school, there are quite a lot of cars at 3 p.m., which also happens to be the time Ryan gets home from work.

Exhibit A: Our driveway

The side of the street that our yard is on is supposed to be a no-parking zone. As in, don't park here. But, when school lets out, all rules go out the window. And, to be honest - we don't care. But for some reason, people's common courtesy goes out the window when it comes to our driveway. And, instead of leaving the 10 foot-or-so driveway clear for the people who OWN THE PROPERTY, they park in front of it. 

When Ryan gets home, he usually taps the horn, which makes most people move.

However, the woman today didn't take the hint. She didn't move. Instead... she dared to give Ryan the evil eye.

"Oh no she didn't"

Then, she moved 4-5 feet, barely enough for Ryan to get into the driveaway and not enough to let Ryan get into our garage.

While I wasn't home at the time, I would imagine Ryan looked something like this

So, Ryan did the unthinkable. He got out of the car and approached the woman. (This is so unlike him, I almost spit out my drink.) He told her that this was his house and it was a no parking zone. 

She said, "Well, everyone else is parking here."

Ryan said he just about asked her if everyone jumped off a bridge, would she? But, apparently he restrained himself (which his wife definitely would not have done). Then, he just explained (without any cursing or raising his voice) that this was his property and she needed to move.

Poor Ryan. An after-school stampede led him to drink. And, I wasn't even home to join him. =)

Hopefully that woman took the hint. I have a feeling that Ryan's sanity couldn't handle her again.

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Camera advice, please...

I'm planning to get a new camera, and I need your help. I've always had a bottom-of-the-barrel camera, and I'm ready to upgrade. (I've actually been ready for an upgrade for a year or more, just couldn't commit and didn't want to spend the money. I still don't really want to spend the money, actually. But, I'm ready, nonetheless.) 

I will completely admit that it takes more than a good camera to take good photos. But, with the number of photos I take, it's time for an upgrade. 

I'm hoping to find a camera that I can use for many years. I don't want to have to purchase a new camera in a year or two. So, the technology has to have some staying power. But, with that said - I'm not looking for anything that is the total top-of-the-line. I'm not going to be a professional photographer and don't want to mortgage my house to get a camera and equipment. I just need something better than the least expensive camera at the store. 

(And, the least expensive has served me well up to now... it's just time to move up.)

Since I know so many of you take such good photos - and pretty much all of you take better photos than me - I really would love your advice and help.

What type of camera do you use and like? What do you hate? Any thoughts or insights for me? What should I look for?

This is kinda a big purchase, which brings out my nerves. (On a side note, I have more nerves about buying a silly camera than when we bought the little house. I'm a strange cat.)

I've done quite a bit of research and have ideas, but really want your thoughts, too.

Help.... =)

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Simple sewing project - planner cover

I spent some time sewing last weekend, and this was actually the first thing I made. (Sidenote: My sewing machine rocks. I love using it.)

I started out with this. My work planner. 

It's truly ugly. I've had it for a few years and at some point, the name plate fell off. I tried to put a new one on, but it wouldn't stick. Then, the glue smeared all over. It's really gross looking.

I looked for a new one, but couldn't find one I liked. Plus - the prices are steep. So, I decided to make a cover to spruce it up.

I picked up a cute tablecloth on clearance at TJ Maxx months ago, and I decided to use this fabric for the cover.

It was really simple - just cut to size and sew up the bottom and top. It slips in like a book cover. 

(Sidenote: The little slip of paper is a fortune from a fortune cookie. 

It says, "You are capable, competent, creative, careful. Prove it." I've kept that little slip for years.)

It's definitely not perfect, but it's a vast improvement.

I'm planning to make similar covers for a few notebooks and binders I have laying around. The best part - I can change it anytime I feel like it. It's like having a superpower. You know... the superpower to change the look of my planner whenever I want.

Thoughts?

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So long, ugly fence

Well, if you read Young House Love, you may be familiar with how they got rid of all their backyard landscaping, with no backbreaking work, through Craigslist.

Well, this inspired Ryan and I when we were trying to get rid of our own eyesore.

This fence.

This fence was installed at the small house many years ago. It was worn out, caving in an installed backwards. The neighbor was complaining about it and we wanted to take it down.

Enter Freecycle.

I posted that the fence was up for grabs at 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday night several weeks ago. I only asked that the person take it down and load it off him (or her) self. On Monday morning, I woke up to 43 emails.

Everyone wanted the fence.

We gave it to the first person, who came over and took it all down for us. Then, he hauled it away.

Ryan and my dad grated out the driveway and created some drainage for the backyard. Then, Ryan planted grass seed (it's pretty much all up now, but I haven't taken a new photo).

It was definitely a heckuva lot easier to get rid of that fence by giving it away than by taking it out ourselves.

Have you ever used Freecycle or Craigslist to get rid of unwanted things? Do tell...

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Got wood?

I believe in many things - including life, liberty, and the pursuit of original hardwood floors.

They've got character, they've got depth, they've got history.

This is a more-in-detail post about the floors, since you all seem to have a crush on original hardwood floors like we do.

Our home was build sometime between 1910 and 1930. No one really knows... Ryan insists it was by 1910, I tend to believe it was around 1930. Strangely enough, the bathroom was not in the original structure. The kitchen was larger and there was only one bedroom. To be honest, we'll probably never know the truth.  

Regardless, the hardwood floors are old - somewhere between 80 to 100 years.

Ryan and I both love hardwood floors. But, just as important - the costs to refinish the hardwood floors are much less than replacement. That sold Ryan on the idea of refinishing hardwood floors. "How hard can it be?" he said. (haha....)

No one believed we could refinish the floors. They were in bad shape. Years of crap patina covered the yellow pine.

There were a handful of places that Ryan needed to replace boards. He was able to salvage some boards from closets and the bathroom (which we covered with another flooring) to fix the gaps in the floor. This was perfect because we had a difficult time finding old yellow pine in our neck of the woods. 

Sanding the floors was a pain in my husband's you-know-whatchie. The floors in most rooms were in very rough shape and had been covered for at least 50 years. The kitchen had layers of old linoleum, subfloor and tile on top. We went through three rented sanders before ending up with the little guy above, which did the best. (Lesson - do your homework. The guy at the rental store doesn't always know what he's talking about.)

Then Ryan also had to go around all the edges because this sander didn't get close enough. Pain.in.the.bootie. He swore he would never do it again. Funny enough, he spent another weekend sanding floors this year at the little house. I guess memory fades the pain. (And, it seemed to go much better the second time around.)

(In case you wonder, I had very important jobs during this process as well - I took photos to document the process, calmed him down when he was upset, brought lunch and helped pick the stain color.)

After a weekend of sanding, Ryan put on one coat of stain and four coats of oil-based semigloss polyurethane. We tested out four or five stain colors before finding "the one." We liked it well enough to use it at both houses.

And, that's pretty much the process. After doing it once, Ryan felt more confident the second time. It's not an easy process, but the end result is worth all the pain.

So - What is your favorite type of flooring? Do you love tile, wood or carpet? Do tell.

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Project Alert! Homemade dog gate and re-done office chair

Now that we're done working on the little house, we've been working on some smaller projects around our house. And, they don't have to get done right away, which makes it so much more fun.

We keep the dogs on the main floor of our house. It is good for many reasons - they don't destroy anything upstairs, they don't leave us any gifts when they are out of our sight and we don't have to vacuum dog hair upstairs. Until now, we have been using a plastic kiddie gate. However - the gate was rickety and a bit of a pain to put in and take out. Ryan decided to make it look a little nicer and make it work better with a built-in gate.

Here's what he built and installed. 

I think it looks great and it's so much easier to use than the removable gate. This keeps the doggies downstairs but makes it easy for us to go upstairs. It's made of 2x4s, reused railing from his parents and door hinges. I spray painted everything white to go with the woodwork.

(Should I paint that frame around the family tree white?)

I also re-did a chair that I swiped from my parents. They were going to sell it in the garage sale, but I kinda liked the chair and thought it would be a good office/sewing chair. It has sat in the garage for a few months so it was finally time.

I didn't take a before shot. It's not like me, but I realized that I was already done painting before thinking of a before photo. I guess I shouldn't give Ryan too hard of a time for taking few before shots at the little house.

I simply spray painted it white. It was originally off-white, so it covered nicely. Then, I covered the seat in burlap. I've been itching to use burlap since seeing Layla's curtains and Emily's headboard (among many other places... burlap is hawt right now).

I also whipped up a pillow with the leftover burlap. I followed the instructions in the videos recommended by Joi last week (1 and 2). It didn't end up quite square but I like it anyhow. It was so simple... there will definitely be more pillow-making in my near future. I'll be more careful to get it square next time.

Speaking of sewing - I found this nifty little drawer on Ryan's antique desk that's perfect for the sewing machine. 

I love that I can have the desk space for the computer and the cutting mat.

Do you see that blue ticking-stripe fabric in the photo? That may become a pillow soon.

Thoughts?

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Rental Reno - kitchen and bathroom

Next up in the little house - the kitchen and bathroom.

Here's the kitchen. Before, it had very old base cabinets in a lovely shade of light yellow. No uppers.

What we did:

• Ripped out the base cabinets and dumped them. They were quite disgusting.
• Took out the fluorescent lighting and added can lighting. Budget: Can lighting is cheap, but looks nice.
• Instead of taking down the paneling and faux-brick (not shown in the above pic), we just painted over them in a neutral shade. It turned out making the room look much bigger and brighter.Bought a set of 20-or-so cabinets from Craigslist. They weren't in the best shape, but they were solid. We used about 8 of them, and sold the rest of them in the yard sale. Budget: Buy used. Sell what you cannot use.
• Installed the cabinets and painted them a shade of off-white. Budget: Paint is cheap.
• Added hardware that was given to us by the in-laws. Budget: Free is good.
• Considered purchasing used appliances. However, Lowe's was having a 6-months-no-payments-no-interest deal. So, we purchased very inexpensive appliances there and are using the rental income to pay for them. We also think they may be less likely to have problems in the near future.
• Did I mention we cleaned? Big time.

And, while we don't have a before shot of the bathroom - here's the after shot. (While my husband has countless talents - like being able to work any tool, lift anything, fix everything, renovate two entire houses and deal with me - photography isn't his forte. He only took 6 before shots. Lesson learned - I will take before shots going forward.)

We were able to salvage almost everything in this room, including the tub and vanity. 

What we did:

• Painted right over the faux tile (top half of walls). They originally had hideous pink roses on them. Painting covered this up and cleaned up the whole room. The bottom was also painted a neutral color. I honestly don't even remember what color it was originally. Green? I don't know. My dad actually painted most of this house. He pretty much rocks. Budget: Paint is cheap.
• Replaced the toilet with one that was given to us. It was almost new. Budget: We love free things.
• Cleaned everything really well. That's all most of it needed.

And, I think it's worth noting - I really despise the floors in the kitchen and bathroom. No matter how much we scrubbed or what we used, they still looked yucky to me. But, it's not our house. They were clean and they were durable. So, we didn't replace them.

What do you think? Would you be able to live in the little house?

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Rental reno - living and dining rooms

Now it's time to move into the living and dining rooms at the little house. It's really quite charming. Original woodwork, lovely hardwood floors. Although at the beginning, it looked like this:

Because I'm a mind-reader, I know what you are thinking - "I hope you saved that carpet." I'm so sorry, friends... it may break your heart, but the carpet had to go. Like the Donald, we told it, "You're fired." The wallpaper border met the same fate. (Who puts wallpaper border at the bottom of the wall?) And, don't even get me started with the mint green.

However, we worked a little magic, if you know what I mean. Along with help from our trusty sidekicks, we took these rooms for dirty and drab to purrrty and fab.

Can I please draw your attention to the built-in cabinets? I'm dying over these. I want some so very badly in our home. Cleaning them off and seeing their deep woodtones made me swoon. Seriously.

What we did:

• Pulled out the nastastic flooring, shown above. I've never seen as many stains as were on that carpet. Definitely didn't pass the bare foot test - I wore biohazard gear for the first few months. 
• Refinished the existing hardwood floors. Budget: Doin' this yourself can be a lot of work, but saves a TON of dollahs.
• Installed ceiling fans. Budget: These ceiling fans were nice Hunter Douglas fans given to us by Ryan's parents. They will help keep the house cool in the summer, keeping electricity costs lower. Always take items that people are willing to give. Trust us, we're experts.
  
• Patched walls and ceiling, then painted a nice, fresh coat of neutral paint. Budget: We purchased large amounts of this neutral light tan paint for most of the rooms at a lower price/gallon. The other rooms were painted with leftover colors from our house. 
• Build a window seat. This covered an area of flooring that was really ugly and would have taken a lot of time to replace to blend with the hardwood floors. And, it looks pretty nice, too.
• Become one with cleaning supplies. My mom and I spent a whole day cleaning this house from top to bottom. At least two years of dirt and grime were on those windows. (I suspect more.) I swear the house got brighter after cleaning the windows.

Next week, I'll show you the kitchen and bathroom and bedrooms.

What do you think? What do you like? What would you have done differently?

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Rental reno - outside and porch

Okay, friends. The moment you have all been waiting for....or not.

Actually, a few of you have asked about our little fixer-upper, which we purchased in December. The first mention of it is here.

We got a deal we couldn't pass up on this foreclosure, plus it was only two blocks from our house. Ryan wanted to try his hand at rental, so we went ahead and put an offer in. It was accepted.

It turned out to be a LOT of work for my husband. And, not fun work.

Most of his time was spent in the dark, damp basement. He had to reinforce all the beams in the house, jack it up and have steel beams installed for support. We also had to actually hire professionals for some jobs, which appalls Ryan.

The fun part (if you call painting and floors and lighting and cabinets fun) didn't even begin until May.

So, I'll begin sharing the befores and afters in a few future posts. It's probably not quite as drastic as our house... but still pretty drastic, in our opinion. One large takeaway from this rental is that it doesn't necessarily have to be perfect, or the best, or even what we would want. It just has to be clean, functional and practical. Oh... and cheap. With that in mind - everything in the house was done on a budget. I'll try to highlight the budget items by placing them in green.

Outside:

Thankfully, we didn't have to do much on the outside. It had new siding, windows and roof. (Cue angels singing.) Strangely enough, the house hadn't been lived in for at least two years. Kinda sad really. It has potential.

Someone didn't take any photos of the outside of the house before we started working on it. I won't say who it was, only that it wasn't Kim. I'll let you figure it out. I'm not bitter. At all.

Anyhoo - Here's the afters:

What we (mainly Ryan) did:

• Added a front window (can you believe it didn't have any window on the front porch?). Budget: This window was picked up in the bargain bin at a local hardware store, deeply discounted.  
• Trimmed the front bushes, replanted plants and added mulch. Budget: We wanted this to look nice, but it wasn't necessary for it to be perfect. So, we just took plants from the back of the house (mostly daylilies and hosta, and replanted them). They should do fine in their new home, and they were free. By adding more dirt and mulch around the foundation, water will hopefully be diverted away from the house. 
• The back deck is a little ug-ly, but it does its job. Budget: Don't fix something that ain't broken.

Porch:

The front porch had originally been open,but was at some time closed in with windows all around. When the house was sided, the inside was left the partially unfinished, insulation and all. This is silly - because this is extra living space in a rather small home.

What we did:

• Added a large coat closet for storage and shoes. This is one of the only closets in the house. Budget: The wire racks were given to us by our parents. Free is great.
• Installed track lighting to brighten up the space. Budget: Track lighting is CHEAP.
• Added an additional window on the front of the house. The space was incredibly dark, and this brings in much-needed light. Now, it's the perfect space for a newspaper and cup of coffee.
• Cleaned the floor really well. This didn't have to be perfect, and it was a durable vinyl. Budget: Cleaning supplies cost next-to-nothing.
• Painted all the walls and siding blue to unify the room and painted all trim white to brighten it up.

Next up - Living and Dining Room

What do you think?

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Front porch dreams

I really hope that someday we build a front porch on our house. I mentioned it here, and I'm still trying to convince Ryan of the importance of having a place to sip iced tea, read the newspaper and take cover from the rain.

In came my friend Kellie, who put together a few visuals for my dream of a front porch. Now, I'm just plain excited. Thanks so much, Kellie!

Even Ryan admitted that it looks nice. He couldn't really visualize it before.

We are both really liking the one in the upper right corner. I think I'd like to extend the porch to be the entire width of the house.

I'm already dreaming of a porch swing (maybe like Emily's) and my mouth is watering for a glass of iced tea.

What do you think?

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Upstairs bedroom revamp

If you like to write death wishes to people on doors and karate-kick walls, our upstairs extra bedroom was the place for you.

The walls in this room were probably the worst in the house. Lots of holes. Lots of dirt. We also found several knives in the closets and carpet. (It really wasn't that strange by this point, because we found more than ten knives throughout the house and yard. Not really sure why. Large and small knives were hidden throughout, several were even dug out in the backyard.)

 And don't even get me started on the graffiti. Several coats of primer and paint seemed to work, but there are a few "RIP"s in black marker poking through the back of the door. Oh well...call it character. 
After replacing the carpet, walls, woodwork and light fixtures and building me a closet in the eaves, here's what it looks like now.

I smile every time I walk in this room. I love this quilt - it's a JCPenney find. I hung photos of my parents and grandparents on their wedding days on the wall. The bedroom set is the first furniture I ever purchased on my own - Pier One from Ebay. I don't think I could ever part with it.

Here's the closet Ryan built me.

And my jewelry hangs proud here.Someday (although not right now, mom - don't get too excited), it will probably turn into a nursery. But, I think I will be very sad to see this room go.

This is the end of our full-house (and yard, and garage tour). I hope you enjoyed it. Here's an overview, in case you missed (or are REALLY REALLY bored...)

• 2 years down...
• Downstairs bath
• Living room
• Dining room
• Kitchen
• Office
• Master bedroom
• Bedroom to bathroom
• Garage

Thoughts?

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