The Nest on the Hill

Boring Buys and SOL's...

2011-09-20T19:18:00.001-04:00

...no, not Standards of Learning, but the real deal s-oh-el. Which is basically what the city court told us when we showed up at small claims court the day we were supposed to face Mr. No Show Sod. We found out he had not been served because the address he put on our invoice was not real. So, basically we spent an extra $65 to file the court case and there's nothing they can do about it. I guess we're going to chalk it up to life experience and get the sod installed in the spring, but it's still a bummer.

To add to the bummer pile is the fact that we're going to need a new roof. We thought we could squeak by for a few years with a couple patches, but Hurricane Irene proved us wrong. There's a few too many leaky spots at this point, so it's looking like the tax return is going directly back into the house...and not in the fun way.

We still have a cute puppy, though. She's the only new pretty thing around here for now.

Things that puppies ruin...

2011-07-08T15:09:00.000-04:00

Our stairs made quite the transformation, from carpeted mess to somewhat decently painted wood steps.

Unfortunately, we've discovered that puppies can do a number on nice things. We had a baby gate blocking Ruby from going upstairs to ease the transition for Vincent kitty. Sadly, the baby gate started to peel away some of the fresh white paint (and reveal layers of red and green paint below?). Then, little miss puppy pants decided it would be a good idea to add insult to injury and peel even more of the paint away with her little teeth. Looks like we have some touch ups to do. You can see some of the evidence toward the top and bottom of this picture...she's lucky she's cute...

The Inbetweeners

2011-07-01T15:30:00.003-04:00

Hey, remember when our second bedroom looked like this?

Wait until you see it now!

Wah, wah, wah. Sadly, the second bedroom has become Land of the Overflow Objects, DVD's, Old Nintendo Games and Workout Space. Who are we kidding? We knew this would happen. We've put off doing anything to the room because we know it will become a nursery in the not too distant future. I've been trying to avoid painting and decorating twice and since I'm not one to do a room half way, I've just done nothing (even though I despise that paint color - despise).

We really want to get a futon or bed for guests, but I just have a hard time taking it much further than that. I can't really justify spending the money to fix things up when it will change again so quickly. Anyone else have a room caught in between? Please tell me I'm not alone.

What to do when they don't come through?

2011-06-26T12:15:00.000-04:00

I mentioned briefly our situation with our sod in a previous post, but thought I would focus on it to get a little advice. In late April, we contacted someone about putting sod in for us. He came to the house, gave us a great estimate and said he would be back by the following week to tear out our weeds and install the sod after we gave him a deposit.

...Well, here we are in late June with no sod. After countless phone calls, all of which were friendly and still willing to have the job done, and a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, we are left $275 in the hole. Up until this point we've been lucky with the contractors we've hired to help us around the house and aren't quite sure what to do. I know small claims court is probably our best option, but is it likely we'll even get our money back? Heck, I'd even take the sod installation at this point (even though it's a little past prime weather to get it done), I just don't want to lose out on that money. Any other bloggers have something similar happen? I'm resisting the urge to put him on blast all over the internet, since he's choosing to still advertise. Grrr.

Puppy Parents

2011-05-29T12:07:00.001-04:00

Being puppy parents is taking up quite a bit of our time. But little Ruby certainly is cute!

Though there is a bit of an update on the (lack of) sod. We gave a deposit to someone we found on the internet to remove our weeds and install the sod. Then we never heard back from him...uh what? So, we've contacted the Better Business Bureau and are considering taking the issue to small claims court, but at this point we're stuck. Huge time bummer.

The Newest Addition

2011-05-15T00:48:00.000-04:00

Our family is about to grow! We're bringing home our sweet Australian Shepherd girl in two weeks! Now we just need a name...

Featured Kitchen!

2011-04-27T20:35:00.002-04:00

Roshel at The DIY Showoff has featured our kitchen over on her blog! We're even more proud of it now!

Backyard Progress

2011-04-24T16:19:00.000-04:00

We're so very close to having a "real" backyard - so close that we actually had a little fire with s'mores yesterday!

Last week we tore out one of the raised beds in the back to make room for our new shed. We ended up getting a vinyl 7'x7' Rubbermaid shed, which was certainly not easy to put together. After a few days of frustrated work, it finally came together. Now we have a place to keep our bikes, lawnmower and other random gardening tools we'd rather not trek down to the basement for.

AND I finally whipped the other raised bed into shape! It was overflowing with knee-high weeds and in a very sad state. I hired Dan to weed whack those babies to pieces and got to work.

This is the first time I've ever done any veggie gardening, so I'm hoping for at least mild success.

We also decided, after much debate and plenty of attempts at seeding, that we're going to have sod put down in the back. This "grass" is about 90% weeds and patches and, honestly, quite a mess. Nice, cushy sod will certainly make things feel complete.

Peek at the Path

2011-04-19T08:03:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, this path building adventure has already included blood and almost stitches. The good news is it's coming together well.

Kitchen Update and Mossy Paths

2011-04-16T11:03:00.000-04:00

It didn't take us quite as long as I thought it might to add our tile behind the stove. We had stopped at the edge of the cabinets, but decided it looked a little strange. So here it is now:

I'm officially on a week-long spring break from school, so I have some plans to tackle a few things this week. Starting tomorrow. Here's the first:

We decided that we would save ourselves some money and not carry our new patio down the path between our house and the neighbors. Instead, we're going to take the patio stones we removed and create a nice, mossy walkway. Let's hope it turns out the way it looks in my mind.

Pati-OH!

2011-04-10T15:56:00.000-04:00

I feel like someone beat me up. I spent this morning pulling up weeds and dead grass and attempting to patch our lawn. But that's not the only reason the backyard looks a little different. We had our patio installed this weekend!

We still need to find a little lounge chair and spruce things up a bit, but we're so excited to gather around the firepit.

I also took a few hours and added some frames going up our stairs. I'm not sure if I'm going to add anything to it quite yet, but we'll see!

(kitty cameo!)

Before and After: Kitchen Edition

2011-04-03T15:26:00.006-04:00

We're done!

Here we are in before land:

And today :)

After looking at this picture a bit, we've decided to break out our tools again and carry the subway tile back between the stove and microwave. Just need the motivation!

UPDATE! We tore out some tile and continued it behind the stove.

Nearly Done and Just Beginning

2011-04-01T18:14:00.001-04:00

First, in kitchen related news. Our over range microwave goes in tomorrow, which means final after pictures will be good to go. It feels so nice to have it near completion. Almost as nice as it will feel to clean things up a bit around the house.

Next up? Backyard. Other than the epic backyard cleanup last summer, we haven't done much. We do, however, have big plans. We're getting a patio next week! Three cheers! That will be our first step in the right direction. After that, we're going to whip the lawn in shape, take out one of the raised beds to add a shed and hopefully get something growing in the other. Plus, I'd like to whitewash or paint our porches and any other icky looking wood near the house.

Here's a few pictures from today, just as I started cleaning up some of the beds on the side.

Yes, that is our lawnmower and some random daffodils that decided to show up.

This is the one that will be changing over the next week. Those half-hearted patio stones from the previous owners will be out the door, and our nice new paver patio will take their place.

Closer!

2011-03-27T17:33:00.001-04:00

Waiting to install our over range microwave and we'll be set!

No Fingers Lost (Yet)

2011-03-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

Making progress on le tile!

Dropping In

2011-03-24T19:15:00.000-04:00

Just a quick cell phone pic to share our excitement over being able to put ferns back on the porch. We're still waiting for our myrtle bushes in the middle to come back, but everything else looks like it survived the winter.

We're starting (finishing?) the backsplash tile this weekend!

It's almost...

2011-03-17T20:54:00.000-04:00

a kitchen I could love.

Stay tuned for messy tile blogging.

Sneak Peeks

2011-03-13T20:44:00.000-04:00

Dan and I have been hard at work this weekend. Here's a few sneak peeks of the kitchen in progress.

Yes. I think we're going to try to tackle a subway tile backsplash.

It was beautiful today, so I tried to make a little progress in one of our backyard beds. It's definitely a little step in the right direction.

Full kitchen updates to come!

Are We There Yet?

2011-03-12T15:01:00.000-05:00

After our first contractor flaked, we tried person number two today - with success!

One last look at the icky gray...

Now with oak!

And a new sink!

We didn't plan on putting in a backsplash, but now that we see the damage behind the old one, we're thinking of adding some white subway tile. As for the paint, we still haven't decided. I'm pretty sure we ruled out both of the test colors...but we're so stuck!

Kitchen Time!

2011-03-06T11:01:00.000-05:00

Oh, the hideous kitchen light is no more!

Vincent Kitty is certainly curious.

Everything started to come together for the kitchen this week. Our light finally came in, we snagged it and put it up. I absolutely love it and can't wait to see how it fits in with the rest of the room when it is done. Even better? Our countertops are going in tomorrow!

Now we just have to make some decisions when it comes to the wall color. We're going back and forth between a lighter olive color, a gray-blue or a gray-green. You can see a stockpile of paint samples on the island up in the picture, but we nixed most of those. We're going to have to make another trip to see what feels right.

So what else is going into the kitchen? Just a few ideas...

In the picture at the top, you can see how the ductwork cuts into part of the window frame, which makes it almost impossible to hang a curtain rod. Roman shades seem like the best option. Depending on the wall color, we're thinking these in navy.

We've also been looking for something we can put on the old fireplace wall that will give us more storage without taking up too much space. We're thinking this little hutch might do the trick.

...plus some new cabinet knobs, an over the range microwave and a bit more. Getting excited!

Small Updates

2011-02-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

Though we're still at a (frustrating) halt on the kitchen until we have the countertops installed, Dan busted out his skills this weekend to change out a few lights for us.

We took the not-so-cute hallway light and replaced it with a much more subtle sconce.

And then we finally tackled the front porch light! Remember this icky green thing?

It's gone! And replaced with this sweet little guy.

Squirrels & Owls, Oh My

2011-02-12T19:01:00.000-05:00

We've hit a bit of a rut with the kitchen. We have our countertops, but are stuck at finding someone to install them. Ikea gave us the name of a company when we bought them, claiming they would come to our area...which they are now saying they won't. So, we're making phone calls and searching a bit. Our pendant lampshade is on backorder so we are still waiting on that, too.

That didn't stop me from getting a bit of thrift/consignment store shopping in today. I was hoping to find some aqua Pyrex or some sort of baker's rack to put on our old fireplace wall in the kitchen. I didn't find either, but I did grab a few gems.

We found these little shooter glasses and caddy at Consignment Connection. We've been planning to add a liquor cabinet/bar to our dining room, so this is the perfect companion.

This sweet little squirrel and walnut are hanging out in the living room until the kitchen is settled.

I haven't decided if I'm going to leave this owl as he is and hang him in the living room or spray paint him a solid color for the kitchen. Keep an eye out for him in the future.

I actually let out a little squeal when I saw this. Kitchen destiny.

My favorite find of the day! How cute is this? It's going to fit perfectly in the kitchen and has some serious function to boot. It's courtesy of Blue Elephant, a newer shop in The Fan that I could very happily live in forever.

First Steps

2011-02-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

So, there's this.

And if you notice the massive boxes in the background, those are our new countertops. We ended up going with the Numerar in oak, and I think they'll be fantastic once we get them installed. We thought the price Ikea's installers gave us seemed a bit astronomical, so we're going to make some phone calls and see if we can find someone to install them a little cheaper. Unfortunately, we lack the tools or skill set to put them in ourselves, so we tossed that plan out the door.

We also made a stop at Shades of Light to check out the drum pendant we liked in person. Sadly, they didn't have it in stock, but they're having one shipped for us to see. We might actually have a real kitchen in a few weeks!

Kitchen Possibilities?

2011-01-30T18:59:00.000-05:00

I spent a little bit of my day off playing with Photoshop and trying to put some ideas together for the kitchen. We're still totally unsure of what we're going to do, but this feels like a start.

Dan and I decided we like the idea of keeping the walls fairly neutral, but we do want to put some bold wallpaper on the "fireplace" wall in the kitchen. This idea has a pale olive tone for the walls (basically, a mixture between our living room and hallway colors) and the blue print for the wallpaper. I love, love, love the pendant shade and would be thrilled to work the kitchen around it. I'm going to let this one marinade for a bit and see how it feels.

Wishing and Hoping

2011-01-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I think we're going to go small with our kitchen remodel. While I'd love to tear out those cabinets and try to come up with a great new layout, I also really want a patio in the backyard and a new roof...so, budget we will! With that said, I think new countertops, cabinet pulls, an island, a new light fixture and some paint will go a long way. The cabinets aren't great (especially close up...yeesh), but they're white and not hideous. The same goes with the floor, which is a neutral, workable color for the time being.

I've been looking at tons of kitchen pictures and when it comes to white cabinets, I'm really attracted to them paired with wood butcher block style countertops.

(I've been dying over that green one for a while now, I just don't know if I have the guts for that color in my kitchen.)

I just love the look of the wood and white. Plus, I think it's a very classic look that will be less likely to fall prey to rising and falling trends.

Being the cheap, Ikea loving gal that I am, I quickly noticed how affordable Ikea's Numerar countertops are. We have such little counter to replace, so this could be super, super helpful for us. Does anyone have any experience using Ikea's counterops? I just want to make sure they're fairly durable.

Then throw in Ikea's Stenstorp island, a great light fixture above it and some awesome paint color. I could have a kitchen I actually like!

New Year, New Changes

2011-01-08T07:40:00.000-05:00

We're still on a momentary renovation freeze, due to a combination of funds, weather, and pure laziness, but we do have some big plans for the upcoming year. Here's a picture list of some of the changes I'd like to see by the end of 2011.

Some of the key renovations are quite dull, but very necessary. We're in dire need of a patched (but preferably new) roof. We cross our fingers every time it rains heavily that we won't see a new leak.

Remember the backyard?

We spent a few days clearing it out this past summer, but there's still quite a bit that needs to be done. We tried to patch things with seed this fall, but then we had a premature snow and I'm sure it was a wasted effort. Come spring, I'd like to see some sod, a patio of some sort, veggie gardens and (most importantly) a puppy.

The kitchen is the other room that still glares at us, begging for help.

(Sorry about the move-in day pictures)

We go back and forth over the amount of money and work we want to put into it, but lately I've been thinking we can do a sort of half remodel and make it pretty fantastic. Though the layout is icky (due in part to those low, oddly placed windows), I think we can help things out quite a bit by replacing the counter tops and cabinet pulls, painting and adding an island of some sort. I hope this is one of the first projects we can tackle over the next few months.

At this point, we're enjoying a cozy winter in our drafty-floored house, anxious for renovations to come.

Oh, and Vincent kitty loves what we've done so far.

Just Around the Corner

2010-12-08T18:34:00.000-05:00

Posts have been few and far between, mostly because winter has stolen our motivation. Kitchen ideas are brewing, though, and its looking like we may start toying with some changes just after the new year.

For now, take a peek over at Remodelaholic for some great features and ideas (including our living room!).

Holiday Decorating Debacle

2010-11-21T12:51:00.000-05:00

In my dream world, our house is decorated for Christmas just like the CB2 catalog. How cute and not overly Christmasy are their atomic little ornaments?

The problem is that we're not spending Christmas here in Richmond. Our families both still live in Michigan, which means we're taking a 12 hour road trip on the 20th and not returning until the 29th. As much as I want to decorate for our first holiday in this house, I'm just not sure it's worth the time, energy and money to take it all down by the 20th (which we'd definitely have to do, or Devil Cat will destroy it while we're gone). So, what should I do? No decorations at all, go all out or find some kind of compromise (stockings and a few decorations, but no tree)?

Happy Hallway

2010-10-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

Our hallway finally has some color! AND the bench we've so desperately seeking.

Yesterday morning started with this:

And ended with this!

Though there was a slight mishap with the hooks we planned to put behind the door, we're almost finished. We quickly realized that the strange drywall/brink combination on our exterior walls is not going to let us hang anything even remotely heavy. Alternate plans are in the works?

What's Happening in the Hallway?

2010-10-13T10:07:00.000-04:00

The paint is done. Finally, completely done. But things have been looking quite bare. And as much as I love that beige, I need some color. So, I have some ideas set...let's hope the plans can fall together over the next week or so. Right now, I'm waiting patiently for this sweet little ottoman to arrive from Target, with intentions of using it as a shoe bench/storage space in front of our stair railing.

I've been eyeballing a rug and some cute hooks from Urban Outfitters, but my biggest plans are for the stairway wall. I've decided to scrap the fuzzy idea I had for frames going up the stairs and now I'm focusing on skeleton keys...lots and lots of antique keys. I just need some time to pull it all together!

Behr & Apartment Therapy's Room For Color Contest

2010-10-13T09:57:00.000-04:00

I just found out that our living room was accepted as an entry for Behr & Apartment Therapy's Room For Color contest! We're so proud to be amongst some of the other amazing entries, not to mention the (really far fetched) possibility of winning that trip to New York. Have I mentioned we didn't have a "real" honeymoon? We spent the weeks after our Michigan wedding apartment hunting in Richmond :). If you happen to have an Apartment Therapy account or are willing to sign up for one, we'd be thrilled to have you vote for us by adding our living room as a favorite!

Shannon's "Mid-Century Tree Garden"

Falling Into Fall

2010-10-02T11:24:00.001-04:00

Richmond has finally cooled down from the 80-90 degree temperatures and it's actually starting to feel like fall. As soon as I could trading my sandals for tights and boots, the mums starting calling my name. I picked up a few and switched them with our pink impatients to take the house into autumn. We have a few pumpkins, but I think they might need a couple smaller companions.

The DIY Show Off

2010-09-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

We're thrilled that we've been featured over at The DIY Show Off! Our progress has slowed a bit, so we're lucky to be added to the other great transformations on this wonderful blog. Definitely head over there and take a peek - there are so many awesome ideas and inspirations!

Bathroom Finishing Touches, Hallway Plans and Backyard Battles

2010-09-25T08:18:00.000-04:00

First up? The bathroom is almost done! Paint is up, we just have to hang a few more things...so keep your eyes peeled, it's on the way. But I do have another sneak peek.

Now that the hallway is finished, we're on the hunt for accessories. We think we found a little bench to put in front of our stair railing, but we've been going back and forth between white and walnut for days now. We're also battling over what to line the stairway with, going back and forth between framed pictures and something a little more unique. Throw your ideas my way, please!

Our last task for the season is to try to get our backyard in shape. We've decided we're going to try to do the sod ourselves, since the yard is so small. We just have to get the weekend warrior spirit in us and get to action. The good news? The plants we tried to save during the backyard clear out are surviving! I even have a hydrangea full of blooms!

Weekend Update

2010-09-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

From here on out, it seems like most of our projects and blogging will fall on the weekend. Taking out a paintbrush after chasing after tweens all day just isn't in the cards for me, but we're trying to get as much done on Saturday and Sunday as possible!

We finally finished painting the upstairs hallway! I love the color, but I am thrilled to be done with Lyndhurst Gallery Beige. The only thing we have left to finish in the hallway is ceiling paint along the duct work.Oh, and replacing that hideous wall sconce and getting to decorating.

While Dan finished up the hallway yesterday, I started tackling our downstairs bathroom. Here's a sneak peek!

Labor Day Labor

2010-09-06T15:24:00.001-04:00

As soon as we put our new house numbers up, we wanted the rest of our door to look just as good. After a quick Lowe's trip for paint and new door hardware we were ready to go.

I don't have a before picture of the door, but if you take a peek at the before picture of our landscaping, you can see the black paint and dingy hardware.

Things have changed! We painted the door a deep brown, similar to our new mailbox, and Dan added an oil rubbed bronze handle, deadbolt and knocker.

And...tomorrow is the first day I have students, so it may be a bit before we're ready to tackle another project!

Really Wonderful Graffiti

2010-09-04T09:39:00.002-04:00

First weekend off, first project - and it's only 9 am!

If you look closely in this picture, you can see a pretty icky mailbox with um...interesting, reflective address numbers next to the door. We wanted that gone!

We replaced the black mailbox with this little gem, but needed a way to display our address. Many of the homes in our neighborhood have their address etched into the transom above their doors (or if they're lucky, they still have the original stained glass). Since I wouldn't trust my skills in painting or etching glass, I began my internet search. Bam - Wonderful Graffiti! They have so many great house numbers, I went a little crazy. It was way too difficult to decide. Not only did I have to choose a design, I had to pick a color, too.

We decided we would go with gold and the Lamont House design. I ordered...and waited...and they came yesterday! I climbed out onto my ladder this morning and put them up in about 15 minutes!

Our next project is to paint the door a nice bronze color and we'll be set!

Classroom Makeover(-ish)

2010-08-27T16:34:00.003-04:00

Walking into a disorganized mess of a classroom is not an uncommon August occurrence. Walls have to be painted and floors have to be waxed, so regardless of how you leave your classroom in June they tend to be pretty unruly by the end of summer.

Thankfully, I've gotten pretty good at putting my classroom back together over the past four years. I really only had a day to get everything in place, as I've spent most of my pre-service time working on scheduling this year. Still, everything is pretty organized and ready to go!

Yes. I have a ton of desks. 31 of them to be exact, and they will likely all be filled. But I still have my Promethean Board, which totally makes up for it!

Two Month Progress Report

2010-08-24T13:19:00.006-04:00

I have to head back to work tomorrow, which means the pace of home improvements is going to slow quite a bit. Having the summer off has been a great jump start, but projects are mostly going to be left to weekends from here on out.

It's crazy to think we've only been here for about two months - it feels like we've been working on this place forever! But when I look back on what we've done in that short time, I feel quite accomplished. So, here's a quick tour of what the house looked like when we first moved in, compared to what it looks like now.

Front Then

Front Now

Doorway Then (but after floor refinishing)

Doorway Now

Hallway and Stairs Then

Hallway and Stairs Now

Living Room Then

Living Room Now

Dining Room Then

Dining Room Now

Master Bedroom Then

Master Bedroom Now

Upstairs Bathroom Then

Upstairs Bathroom Now

Obviously, there's a few rooms missing, namely the kitchen, first floor bathroom and second bedroom. We're still completely clueless with what to do in those three rooms, so they may take some time. But we're going to keep working on little details and going back and forth over the kitchen until it's settled!

The Still Unfinished (But Much Improved) Backyard

2010-08-20T07:52:00.005-04:00

There was a time when our backyard looked really nice. At least, that's what the real estate agent's photos showed when we first stumbled across the house online. Being a short sale, our yard was a little neglected and by the time we moved in it looked much like it did early this week: scary.

You can see the major problems here; half of the yard is seriously overgrown, while the other half is burnt to a crisp. And remember, this place is crawling with creepies (like the spiders). So, rather than trying to completely beautify the backyard in a few days, our goal was to simply get it to the point where I was not scared to open our back door.

This is almost the same view as the first picture, though you would never know. Now you can actually see the path to our basement and the little mini patio the previous owners laid out.

There were plants lining all the edges of the fence, many dead or dying. We decided to gut the right side of the fence and try to cut down and save the roses, hydrangea and peony on the left. Did you even notice the raised beds in the before pictures? I'm so excited to get my hands on those, but they're going to wait until next spring. Our eventual goal is to fill sod in everywhere except for along the left side of the fence and the beds and add some kind of cement patio. I can't wait to have a real yard!

A Terrifying Little Guest

2010-08-19T08:33:00.001-04:00

We still have a little work to do on our backyard today, so the (halfway) finished project will come around later tonight. But we did find a few unwelcome little guests in our backyard.

I should say, Dan and my dad encountered a few of these guys. I was cowering in a corner and avoiding them at all cost. Apparently, they are fairly common garden spiders that are harmless to humans, but I have never seen a spider so large in person. And I hope to never see one again.

Looking Like a Home

2010-08-18T07:18:00.002-04:00

We remember what it looked like, right? Things have changed in a seriously drastic way!

Completely lacking the energy to do much describing, but I've been waiting for those ferns since I first saw this house. Sitting on the porch just got a thousand times better!

First Step Toward Curb Appeal

2010-08-16T20:39:00.002-04:00

My parents have an incredible yard and super great landscaping skills that Dan and I definitely don't have. Their presence and help is the only thing that could have saved us from certain yard destruction.

Sad, right? Summer has been ridiculously hot this year and we haven't paid much attention to our outdoor space. Unfortunately, most of the plants in our front had been taken over by invading vines or dried out and were not going to make it.

We spent this morning clearing out the front, though we did keep one nice bush that my mom thinks is a gardenia. My dad and Dan added some lattice while my mom and I weeded the sidewalk (and street!) like mad. Hopefully, tomorrow evening we will have a lush front space and will have started to tackle the dreaded backyard.

First Floor Hallway!

2010-08-13T16:17:00.001-04:00

First, it seems there was a problem with the word verification stopping guests from leaving comments. It's been fixed, so comment away!

That icky, grimy doorway isn't so bad anymore! We still have to scrape off the paint that is all over the window and transom (not from us!) and either paint or replace that door, but things are looking a little better.

We ended up choosing Valspar's Lyndhurst Gallery Beige, one of their National Historic Trust colors. I had originally planned on using gray, but after walking by my paint chips for a day or so, I realized it was a bit cold for the entranceway.

Now all I can wonder is what will go on that big, empty wall?

End of Summer Goals

2010-08-11T08:04:00.001-04:00

For most normal people, summer still has a while to play out. My school, however, wants me back preparing my classroom the week after next. With just about two weeks left until home improvement gets put on the back burner, we have a few projects that we definitely want to get wrapped up before the end of this month. Luckily, my wonderful parents are taking a trip down from Michigan to visit and help us out. Having two very experienced sets of hands (with green thumbs to boot!) is going to be such a huge help.

1. We need to finish painting the hallways, both downstairs and up. We've really only got a wall left to finish downstairs, but upstairs will be much trickier. Still, I think we can finish most of that before my parents get here Sunday.

2. We have a crack. Well, we have many cracks, but most of them are tiny character cracks courtesy of our 94 year old house. THE crack is a two foot hole in our kitchen directly below our second floor laundry. We knew this was a problem before we moved in, we just didn't realize we would need to address it so soon. We have a contractor coming later this week to look at it, so let's all cross our fingers that it's nothing incredibly serious. Still, I'm so glad I haven't done anything in the kitchen at this point.

3. The edges of our stairs need quite a bit of work. I would take a picture, but honestly, I'm really comfortable here on the couch in my PJ's. The large sanders couldn't remove the paint between the bolsters, so to save money we agreed to do them ourselves. We still haven't.

4. Unfortunately, all this time we've been working on the inside of the house, we've neglected the outside. We have a great backyard that turned into a jungle toward the end of the previous owner's time in the house and it hasn't looked back. My parents have an amazing yard, so they'll be here to help us work magic on the outside. They'll be serious before and afters as a result.

The countdown begins. I guess I better get to painting...

Hall Sneak Peek

2010-08-09T13:00:00.001-04:00

Dan and I are quite the team. I do the edging, he does the rolling. Still, this is going to take a long, long time.

Kitty photobomb!

The White Moldings Never End

2010-08-08T13:39:00.002-04:00

This is what the moldings in maybe 60% percent of our house look like at the moment. That means we've only refreshed 40% of them...but it feels like all I've done for the past month.

It's combination of poor care by the previous owners and damage from sanding the floors. Luckily, they look so much better once they're painted, but I'm getting so tired of white.

I came home with close to 100 paint samples today. This picture is what my brain feels like. Once we decide on a color, we're getting started on the hallways and stairwell. Hopefully we'll have some pretty nice before and afters around the corner!

Hallway Paint and an Itsy Bitsy Bench?

2010-08-07T09:34:00.000-04:00

I'm putting the kitchen aside for now. For today? Honestly, I'll probably be obsessing over it in a few hours, but for this second I'm turning my attention toward our entryway and hallways. I'm searching for two things: a great, neutral wall color and a small storage bench.

I'd like a color distinct enough that it will make the white of the moldings and stairs pop but neutral enough that it can carry through both our first and second floor hallways. I was considering a light gray, probably a shade lighter than our dining room, but have also considered something a little warmer.

The bench would go in front of the stair railing, but needs to be less than 33 inches wide to fit in the space. Ideally, I'd like a bench for shoe storage similar to this. Everything I have found is at least 35 inches wide and I'm wondering if my bench is even out there. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled at thrift and consignment shops, but if you have any itsy bitsy bench finds send them my way!

The Oh So Teal Bedroom

2010-08-05T15:31:00.000-04:00

Our bedroom fell into place courtesy of a lucky find at Target. I don't know if our local store was going on a Liberty of London purge or what, but I stumbled upon the paisley bedding set for under $20. Strangely enough it's still $70 online (how does this stuff work?). I saw it, gasped and bought it, telling myself that if Dan hated it we could return it. He hated it. But I worked my wifey magic and convinced him it would work, and we started on our way.

We had a blank slate, so my first task was convincing Dan that the walls should be a bold teal. He felt the same about the teal as he did about the bedding. Wifey magic again. My original plan was to paint the walls Olympic's Schooner and the area around the fireplace with leftover turquoise from the bathroom. As we came closer to finishing up, Dan suggested painting the fireplace area with the same gray we used in the dining room instead. We're lucky he's good at editing me, because it ended up looking much better. I added $7 curtains I stumbled upon at Marshall's and some awesome tiebacks from Urban Outfitters to finish up the windows.

The big empty space above our bed proved to be another problem. I grabbed some blank canvases at Benjamin Franklin, some paint and a few brushes and got to work. With the help of the 3M velcro that I used in the dining room, the grid came out pretty well.

We still have a bit of work to do on the area to the left of the fireplace. Right now, we have a chair and ottoman next to a great yellow lamp/table I found at a nearby consignment shop. I tossed the icky lampshade it came with and now I'm having the hardest time finding a replacement. After we find the shade and add a few more things to the walls in that area, we'll be all set.

And I think Dan actually likes it now, or so he says :)

Making Plans for the Kitchen

2010-08-02T19:58:00.007-04:00

We recieved our first time homebuyer's tax credit in the mail today, just six weeks after sending in our paperwork! I did more than a little happy dance over that one. Based on some of the stories we were hearing, we thought it might be a few months. Since it came earlier than we thought, we can break a little free from the spending freeze we had ourselves on and start working on the kitchen. The problem? I'm not quite sure what I want to do.

The kitchen needs a ton of work - more work than we're able to do at the moment. It's quite big, but has an awful layout. We've decided we're going to live with it for now and dream about a more layout friendly kitchen for a few years. What we do want is to get some paint and color in the room along with a little table and chairs for breakfast.

This is the best I can come up with for now, but I'm still a little unsure.

I know that I love the Urban Outfitters curtains, especially because they are perfect with my Autumn Harvest Pyrex that I want to be able to display. I bought a bunch of blue cork board squares on clearance at Office Max a few weeks ago, and they would play off the curtains well, too. I really want to paint the walls a buttery yellow, but Dan isn't a big fan. Maybe a earthy tan instead?

Getting it Straight

2010-08-02T09:10:00.001-04:00

All the home catalogs and photos always have great grids of prints or mirrors laid out perfectly on their walls. Unfortunately, getting those grids so perfect isn't as easy as it looks. We bought a bunch of the Malma mirrors from Ikea, picturing them in a grid above our dining room fireplace. I grabbed my ladder, hammer and level tool, all set to put our grid up when I realized the serious flaw behind the Malma mirror. They may be nice and cheap, but they also have no hanging mechanism on the back. So, I put away my ladder, hammer and level tool and pouted.

Friends of ours stopped by and when I mentioned our mirror problem, they recommended the 3M velcro strips, after recently using them on their walls. I went out the next day and bought some, though I wasn't sure the strips would be strong enough to hold the mirrors. Fifteen minutes later I was done, with a near-perfect grid on my wall! The great thing about the strips is that, even once they are stuck to the wall, you can still move your item because it will stick again with the velcro. I used the strips again for a grid in our bedroom (coming soon!) and they worked just as well.

The Dining Room and the Big, Blank Wall

2010-08-01T22:39:00.000-04:00

My first instinct was to go gray in the dining room. I knew it would play well off the green from the living room but allow us to use different colors. Beyond the gray and a pair of curtains I liked, though, I was at a bit of a loss. I played with a mood board a bit, but still wasn't quite sure on the details.

See that? The giant empty wall straight ahead? That wall was driving us insane. We knew we had to have something pretty eye catching, as that wall would be the first thing anyone saw when walking in through the living room. The hard part was finding something we loved that didn't cost a fortune. And along came Ikea...

I don't know which one of us pointed out the city print first, but we both stared at it a bit and then committed to liking it...but being afraid of it. It's huge. At over 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall, it fit the bill for our big, affordable art piece but we just were not quite sure how it would fit. After staring at it for a good fifteen minutes, we sucked it up and brought it home.

It ended up fitting quite well with the rest of the room and now we both love it. I had bought the vases made from magazines from Marshall's on a whim the day before our Ikea trip and, after buying the print, we loved that they look like skyscrapers.

Our Ikea table and Target chairs rounded out the room and all that was left was for us to switch out the chandelier-ish light for a new one. Little did we know, that task would end up taking two days and about 100 trips to the fuse box...

A Better Bathroom

2010-07-31T12:22:00.005-04:00

Our house has a full bath upstairs and a half bath off the kitchen, both were stark white...just like the rest of the house. While the full bath isn't our dream bathroom, it is definitely workable, at least for the time being.

We decided to keep the black and gray shower curtains we had from our apartment, but just punch them up a little with a bit of color. I found the robin's egg blue liners at Target and quickly decided they would look pretty great with the black and gray curtains and a similar wall color.

We switched out the mirror for a medicine cabinet, repainted the white (a never ending task in this house) and went with aqua above the molding. The knob to the cabinet was broken when we moved in and proving to be a more difficult task than anything else - we can't seem to find the right sized screw to get it back on!

There's are still some solid, empty walls we need to work some decorating magic on, but the bathroom is pretty much set for now. Until I can switch out that icky linoleum floor for some great black and white tiles, that is.

Digging for Living Room Details

2010-07-30T22:55:00.009-04:00

Of all the pieces we found for our living room, the metal sunset (complete with birds!) is my favorite little treasure. Dan and I spent an afternoon hitting all the thrift and consignment stores on Lakeside Ave., and stumbled upon the sunset at McAdoo's. I could have spent many, many dollars and hours there if I wasn't held back. Tons of great vintage pieces and so many dishes and books that we couldn't get through them all.

We found our great end table at Class and Trash in Glen Allen. I can't stress how much I love this place. Its name is certainly appropriate - you'll find everything from dusty clawfoot bathtubs to great furniture pieces. The end table was only $10! A steal, especially compared to similar reproductions at places like Urban Outfitters. I did find that cute little clock at Urban Outfitters, though. It found its place quite well along with the Ikea lamp and coasters.

Our little owl was a $4 find at Consignment Connection, another Lakeside Ave. shop. Like the others, it's completely packed to the brim with furniture and accessories, though most of it is a bit more new.

I'm so glad we finally have a place to display these games properly. We put them on our wedding registry and were lucky enough to get most of them. We still have our eye on Clue, though! As far as I know, they are exclusive to Target and oh so cute.

I found these frames on crazy clearance at Benjamin Franklin and bought them, not sure what I would do with them. After stumbling upon some great postcards at Deep Groove and Bygones, I thought they might go well together. I'm glad I could find a way to get Andy Warhol and The Byrd theater on my walls.

Attack of the Killer Stairs

2010-07-29T14:17:00.000-04:00

When we toured our house the first time, the first thing I thought when seeing the stairs was "Ugh, carpet". Not necessarily a first impression we wanted to keep around, and we were thrilled when just pulling up the carpet on the stairs improved the appearance.

Unfortunately, the stairs were plagued with the same dreaded brown paint and white edges as the rest of the carpet covered second floor. However, we were told by our floor re-finishers that they tend not to try to sand the risers of the steps, as their machines have a difficult time completely sanding them. We agreed that they would sand and seal the steps themselves and we would paint the risers white.

None of us realized how many staples were used to hold both that carpet and, at one point, a runner in place. The guys working on the floors spent an entire day pulling staples out of the stairs, claiming it was the worst they had ever seen.

After the floors were sanded, Dan spent another day pulling staples out of the risers so we could prepare to paint them. The paint. Trying to get comfortable on tiny wooden steps while keeping even lines in white paint on freshly refinished floors is not a fun job. But worth it in the end...

Mid-Century Story

2010-07-29T13:50:00.003-04:00

I fell in love with the curtains first. Before we owned a house, before we were finished hunting, I was thinking about those curtains. At this point, the living room is furthest along because I've pictured it in my mind for quite some time. It took some prodding to get Dan on board with the wall color (Valspar's Olive Marinade), which he still claims is not the same as the mood board I used to sway him :), but finding the rest came pretty easy.

We wanted to mix new, mid-century style pieces with anything we could find from thrift stores and consignment shops. The sofa was the tricky piece. With a small budget, we wanted something that would look great, but wouldn't fall apart. After bouncing between a few online options, an Urban Outfitters sofa and a few pieces at Macy's we decided on Ikea's Karlstad sofa. We were thrilled when, in the store, we found out we could get the tufted version in the exact color we wanted, though is wasn't being offered online yet.

Much of the furniture came from Ikea, except for that fantastic orange ottoman, which was an Urban Outfitters find.

Carpet, Painted Floors and Heart Pine

2010-07-29T11:36:00.001-04:00

We pulled up the carpet the night we closed, starting in the second bedroom around 8 pm. On a high after closing, I didn't even freak out when Dan pulled back the first corner and said, "There's no wood." All we saw was white. We kept pulling and soon realized that there was wood, but it had been painted white, at least along the walls.

The floors themselves had been painted a dark brown and then spray painted white as the previous renovators sprayed the walls. But there was in tact wood, and that was all we were hoping for. We pushed aside our anger toward the person who destroyed these beautiful floors and covered them with hideous carpet and kept pulling.

After calling several flooring companies and getting a few quotes, we went with the company that made us feel most comfortable. They were extremely knowledgeable and had huge confidence in the fact that the floors would come out beautiful in the end. We hadn't planned on refinishing the first floor, but when we were told they could be restored to their original condition and color, we added that to the list.

Pulling up the carpet was simple, but the tack strips were a nightmare...so we left those to the professionals. Our apartment lease was up the day before they started working on the floor, so we loaded up all our belongings into the first floor and prepped ourselves to live in

shambles for a few weeks.

A few days in, the upstairs was sanded and sealed with a few coats of Bona Waterborne . It was ridiculously exciting to see the heart pine looking the way it was supposed to, 94 year old flaws and all.

The water based sealant dried quickly, allowing us a day to move all of our stuff upstairs or to the kitchen so the first floor could be worked on. Though they thought the first floor would be the easy job, a few replaced boards and overly stapled stairs proved to be challenging. There are a few spots that were replaced with cheap boards at some point, but they have been stained to match for the time being.

We did some painting downstairs in the meantime - more on that later!

A Big, Empty House

2010-07-29T10:56:00.000-04:00

White walls everywhere. No furniture to cover up the scrapes and dings and dirt. This is when I wondered...what did I just do?

Going upstairs stressed me out. We bought the house knowing that there was wood under that horrendous carpet upstairs, but we were completely unsure of what condition it was in. I felt safer downstairs where the floor was at least visible, although a little wonky. At least we had big, bright windows, great fireplaces and plenty of space. We had a few weeks to get things settled before we were going to move in, so the first steps were pulling up the carpet, tackling the floors and getting some paint on those white walls.

How Did We Get Here?

2010-07-29T09:22:00.009-04:00

I fell in love with several houses. Four to be exact. It was a five month, emotional house hunt that ended with us putting an offer in on a short sale a month before the first time home buyer tax credit deadline and desperately crossing our fingers. Luckily, we had the lovely Lisa Crowley to help us keep things together (really, she is an amazing, wonderful agent that kept us from going insane), and the offer ended up going through.

What did we find?

Flaws, for sure. But along with the flaws, a charming 1914 home in a neighborhood we love. We looked past the dark first level floors, the shudder-worthy upstairs carpet and the white paint everywhere and decided there was plenty of potential in this sweet house.

A Little Late

2010-07-29T09:01:00.001-04:00

I had good intentions, honestly I did. I think I snagged up this blog name, while silently cursing the person that took House on the Hill, even before we closed on our home. After we moved in and began renovating, I kept my writing to a minimum and updated friends and family though Facebook, but forgot about the little nest.

Time to journey back a month?