The Big Day has Arrived!

Tags

Paper wedding flowers

You may have noticed that there haven’t been many (or should I say any) posts about my progress. There haven’t been any new developments… no new curtains… no new art on the walls… no yard updates. It has been a different kind of busy here for the past few months. More like since the kids moved in, actually.

If you remember in this post Will You... the big guy popped the question for a second time when Steph’s ring arrived (the official proposal was April 30th but the ring didn’t arrive until August because they were buying yours truly)! Preparations have been in full swing ever since and the big day has finally arrived.

The kids have been busy. This pile is heading to the James J. Hill Reference Library in Saint Paul for the May 18th ceremony and reception. It sounds like it will be a blast. I can’t believe they didn’t invite me!

 

I figured Steph was crafty, since she was working on a craft room… but she has taken on a few projects I thought would have been impossible to finish in time. She made all the flowers for the wedding herself… well, except the bridesmaid flowers, which she finally gave in and bought. Here is a sneak peek:

 

There are a few other fun surprises that kept the kids busy. Chad even got in the act making yarn poms for people to throw at them after they say I Do. I guess I’ll have to wait until after to see pictures.

Congratulations and Best Wishes to the happy couple. May you have many years together and may you spend them happily taking care of me! ;0)

Closet Makeover

Tags

closet makeover, Shelf over closet, shower curtain as curtain

When the newbies moved in, the extra bedroom upstairs was a sight to behold. The two different wallpapers, wicker light fixture, and the dated hardware on the closets had Steph ready to do some demo and start fresh. The first thing she did, after getting help tearing down wallpaper, was banish the closet doors to the garage for storage. You’ve already seen the new wall color, new light, and new desk. Now it is time to show off the new closet treatments. 

Here is what the old closet looked like…

 

Check out that hardware…

 

Steph saw an idea on Pinterest and decided to try it out. She searched and searched and finally found a metal bracket at Lowes that could become a shelf and have a hanger for a curtain rod. As luck would have it, she also found clearance shower curtains at Lowes that would add some color and fun to the room with gray… errr bay waves … walls and a cream carpet.  She grabbed them and stored them in the closet for months… and months… and months…. It was a long project. 

Finally, the day came when they kids were ready to work on the closet. They gathered their tools…

They measured, marked, and installed anchors. Then the brackets were hung above the closet with care.

 

For a bit (say a month), they had just the curtains hanging on them…

Fun, right? Finally, Chad got the shelves cut to size and screwed in the brackets so they won’t move. There are even a few knickknacks on them.

 

Turns out the curtains are a little short… Steph says one of these days she’ll track down long black curtains to put behind and fill in the gap. We’ll see if that ever happens.

After the closet was finished, Chad attacked the window shelf. It went up just a smidge faster than the closet. These curtains are too short too, but Steph isn’t worried about those since there is a heater vent below them and the desk hides the shortage. 

 

So for now, the kids are happy with their closet makeover. I think they did okay too. Did you see the angel in the window? Steph’s talented mom made it for her out of stained glass. Also, Steph wanted to say that the pile of boxes by the closet are going as soon as the wedding is over… it is just one more section of wedding stuff that is waiting for the big day – not too much longer for that to arrive! Once that is over, I’m thinking the spring cleaning will begin! I could use it!

Desk makeover

Tags

desk makeover, Valspar Bay Waves

In the last post, I mentioned the desk in the craft room had had a makeover and I’d tell you about it later. Later has arrived! 

The desk belonged to the Big Guy. He’d had it when he was younger and it had been stored in the family cabin’s basement. I hear it was a treat getting it out of there. When Steph saw it, she thought it would be a great desk for the craft room. It was the best price possible – Free!

When they got it here it sat in the garage taking over Steph’s parking space. She forgot to take pictures before she started… silly girl! 

The first thing she did was wipe off and sand down all surfaces. She just used the sandpaper left over from other house projects and ruffed the surfaces up to allow the paint to stick. It looked like this…

Once the sanding was done, she wiped off all the dust and allowed the desk to dry. Then she applied a coat of primer – Fast Prime2 for $10.

 

The crazy woman decided she wanted to try out magnetic paint ($20) on the sides of the desk. Great idea, right? You get to stick things on the sides of the desk, great organization, fun idea. Only, she decided to do this in NOVEMBER and it was incredibly difficult not only to get the paint to stay mixed/not clump, but also to dry. The space heaters she set up kept tripping the fuses. So, even with four coats of magnetic paint, nothing sticks. Maybe she’ll try it again someday… when it isn’t winter in Minnesota!

After letting the paint dry for several days, she painted the entire desk in Valspar paint color 4008-1A Bay Waves in the Dutchboy Duraclean semigloss paint - the same paint color as is on the walls in the craft room. I thought it might be a little too matchy-matchy, but my opinion didn’t seem to matter to anyone. Isn’t that the way it always goes?

After two coats of Dutch Boy Bay Waves (left over from painting the room), in the dark, Steph was done with the makeover. After she convinced Chad to help her haul it upstairs, she noticed there were some missed spots, but she called it good enough and decided she would touch it up later. It fit in the room, and it is already covered in stuff. I look forward to seeing her actually using it!

Chad wasn’t quite sure what to make of this makeover. But for $30 for a new desk, Steph is a happy camper!

 

 

Craft Room Progress

Tags

Organization, Shelf over window

Well, after seven months, Steph has finally made some progress on the craft room. Far be it for me to complain – I know she has a lot going on right now – but I will anyway. It was driving me crazy to have that mess. You may remember it from when they moved in…

 

Then some wallpaper stripping, floor refinishing, and painting happened and a light was changed to make it this…

Then some people moved in and it looked like this…

 

After lots of blood, sweat, and swearing (again!) there are only a couple things to do on the list yet. Here’s where we are at…

Here is the list of what was done…

* Wallpaper stripped

* Room painted

* Trim painted

* Floor Refinished

* Trim repainted

* Bookshelf brought over

* Books unpacked

* Craft shelving brought over and painted

* Baskets and organization items bought 

* Desk brought over and painted (another post on that soon)

* Unpacking continued

* Shelves put up over closet (another post on that eventually)

* Curtains hung

* Wall organizing section hung

* Unpacking continued

* Shelves put over window

* Curtains hung

* Unpacking continued

There is still some unpacking to be done – a box or two. And there is a few wedding things still taking up space in the room. I hear those will be moving out soon enough. But you can walk in it, turn around in it, even work in it… if you really want to! I’m happy to be a functioning room again!

I am feeling bad for the family room – it is now filling up with wedding stuff fast!

Dishwasher Drama

Tags

Dishwasher swap

Sigh. Yet another of my old friends has been replaced. This time the kids have swapped out my friend the dishwasher. Here she was…

She’s been with me for a while and she threw a fit when she heard she was on the way out. That old broad was full of drama! I didn’t want to see her go either, so we made it slightly harder for them to remove her. But hardwiring her into my wiring just wasn’t enough. With the help of Steph’s dad, they were able to pull out my old friend, unhook the wiring from the back of her, hook it up to the new (though slightly used) dishwasher, and get it all set up. They hooked up the old dishwasher with the new one’s wiring and brought it to its new home at Steph’s old condo, wherever that is. I was sad to see her go, but I’m happy to know she has a new home that isn’t a landfill!

I was introduced to the newest member of the family slowly. First, he sat in the middle of the kitchen for a day or so.

He made friends the gnome and the humidifier pretty quickly (see how close they are?). It wasn’t long until work began on the install.

 

One it was all set up, it was time for him to prove himself. The wash cycle took longer than expected, and he’s louder than my old friend. But the kids are much happier with the size and setup of the interior. Plus, it looks a bit more modern than my old friend. 

I hope he’s prepared to stay for a while … because he’s hardwired to me now! That’s one way to keep friends around! ;0)

Shout out to the stained glass heart in the window! Nice work Steph’s mom!

 

Dreamin’ of Summer

Tags

curb appeal, plans, Shrubbery

It’s winter in Minnesota. It’s cold, snow has been falling, and the fireplace has been roaring a lot lately. Now that the yard is covered with snow, the newbies have been dreaming of what they will do to with their summer extreme makeover: yard edition. Steph has been using Pinterest to get all kinds of fancy, schmancy ideas. Not sure if they’ll actually get accomplished… at least not all this year.

First, the front yard. Here I am in all my glory:

 

The kids like the front flower bed and the huge oak. But, they want to make some major changes out front… 

Everything green that is circled they want to get rid of… there is an overgrown, warped tree close to the house, a round flower bed being shaded by the huge triangular thingy (which was once just a shrub and is now massive), and bushy hedges. Pulling all of these will make just a little, itty-bitty change. The hedge is hiding a sidewalk, and even with Chad’s trim job, it’s branches are still overgrown and in the way. On the other side of the sidewalk are shrubs, which are also going to be pulled. 

Steph would love to replace the front rock, hedges, and sidewalk with a little brick porch that has a pergola and a bench. Kinda like this:

 Wouldn’t that be nice?? 

I’m currently surrounded by rock. Chad wants to remove it all, replace it with mulch, and add some new shrubbery that is easy to maintain. Steph is all for it if she can have her porch!

On the other side of the garage is a plant and a whole bed of tiger lilies. I’ve talked about those already. The kids didn’t make much progress on getting rid of those. They are thinking maybe it will be easier in the spring when the ground is thawing and mushy. 

The kids want to move the garbage and recycling bins to the front of the garage. They want to see what the front plant is and either keep or remove it (depends on what it turns out to be), add the pallet decoration below, get rid of the tiger lilies, put a cement slab down for the cans, and then put some new edging, mulch, and plants in on the side. I’m tired just thinking about it… and we haven’t even hit the backyard.

With all that work they want to do, I’m not sure when they will have time to play with this:

 but Steph has her heart set on it. We can talk backyard next time. 

Any thoughts on the plans? Suggestions?? The kids are open to them… especially if they include voting yes on the porch addition! Oh, and what plants would work well in MN, with mostly shade that are low-maintenance yet pretty?

 

 

You & Me

The kids have been busy with a few things, but nothing that I can share yet except the changes to the master bedroom decorations. I guess Steph couldn’t leave well enough alone. She’s been nagging the Big Guy for a couple weeks now to hang a massive frame above the bed. He didn’t really want to, but he finally caved (sucker!!). Steph then broke out the vinyl and added some text. I have to admit, it looks kind of cool. 

As usual, the photos don’t do it justice. It looks smaller here than it does in person. I’m not sure why that is…

Steph says it is a Pinterest success – I think she is just talking jibberish. But she says she saw it on some Web site and since she had a giant frame from some art at the condo, she wanted to do it. The art from the frame is now sitting in the craft room with the pane of glass. I’m not sure what she’ll do with that, but if anyone wants it, let the kids know! Here is how the room is looking now…

The words are cut in brown vinyl with the Cricut. The words You and Me were cut at 6.5″ in the Birthday Bash cartridge font. The ampersand is cut at 9.25″ from the Plantin School cartridge.

For those who noticed, it is a new bedspread on the bed! After months and months they finally agreed on one. Chad thinks it is a little “busy.” But it has some character now. There is also a key over the door, not sure why they didn’t think to take a picture of that and include it. Maybe next post…  I think they’ve settled on this room and all is done in here. For now at least…

 

Happy New Year!

The year 2012 brought a ton of changes – it’s been a wild time. Here are just a few things that I had to endure…

* I was sold and new owners started work in June.

* Nearly every room was painted, except the master bedroom, downstairs bathroom, dining room, and the basement. It took 10 gallons of paint and many manhours and hands to accomplish it all.

* The original hardwood flooring upstairs was refinished.

* The carpet in the entire house was replaced with new carpet or click-and-lock hardwood.

* The gun cabinet was removed and replaced with a faux beam and posts.

* The wet bar overhang was removed and the ceiling patched (though not popcorned very well).

* New lighting was installed in several rooms.

* They bought a new mower, borrowed a snowblower, and bought a new(ish) washer and dryer.

Christmas decorations were put up and taken down. It is kind of bare in here now. But I think the newbies have some plans for 2013.  First, they celebrated by having some escargot. It looked as gross as it sounds, but the kids seemed to enjoy them. See?

Well, she said it didn’t taste as bad as it looked…

Anyway, back to the new year! Plans this year that I’ve overheard:

* Get new curtains for the living/dining rooms.

* Prepare for the wedding.

* Put on gutter covers.

* Landscaping including pulling down trees, grinding out stumps, replacing rocks with pavers, and maybe some new plants.

I’m sure more will be added to it as the year progresses. Back to a normal schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, check out the awesome walrus not far from me. Some neighborhood kids put a lot of time and effort into making it. It even made the local news!

Here is to a fantastic and safe 2013 to you all!

Good-bye, Dear Friends

A Eulogy to the Lady Kenmores… 

Today I said good-bye to two wonderful friends who have been with me since the beginning. Lady Kenmore Washer and Lady Kenmore Dryer, both born in 1971, were taken to their final resting places on December 28, 2012. 

We have had our ups and downs, including new filters and plugs. I remember the days Lady Kenmore Dryer was hardwired to my electrical. Some days I wanted my space, but once it came, I missed her. I’ll miss you both now that you are gone. 

I agree with the delivery men who took them away — They don’t make them like they used to. Never will we have another pair who have endured 41 years of cleaning garments. Your weight and strength are unequaled. How I wish they could have fixed your dropping load sensor, your stopping mid-cycle, no cold water or agitation, and horrid out-of-balance alarm, Lady Washer.  I wish the noise, burning smell, and non-drying faults of you, Lady Dryer, were something they could look past so you could stay. Your push-button controls have been replaced by the digital, new age ones. It seems as if only yesterday we thought you were advanced technology. *Sigh* How the years have changed us all. 

I shall miss you, old, dear friends. But I must look to the future and welcome my new friends. I only hope they will have the endurance, loyalty, and kinship of you ladies. 

Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Kenmore, I look forward to spending several years getting to know you and all your perks. Already I appreciate your reduced water needs, your moisture sensors, and your timed drying. Here’s to many years together.

 

 

Bah Humbug

That is what I say! I’m tired of the mess and the newbies running in and out. Can’t they just stay home already? And every time they come back they have more stuff! I’ll be glad when things get back to normal and all they have to do is make messes with all the wedding junk.

The big guy is on my side. Steph calls him the grinch. But he did let her put up this sweet half tree. (sweet because it takes up half the space of a real tree! And no watering it.)

Anyway… Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. You’ll be hearing more from me next year!