Rainy Day Project

Today is a rainy day, which I thought would be the perfect day to work on an inside project!

When we lived in Chicago, our first apartment had a spacious second bedroom that was used as our guest room. Being a budget savvy decorator, I quickly found myself at the local IKEA, particularly the "as is" section. Sometimes there are amazing finds that just need some love, or, no love at all! 

I stumbled upon an impassable deal when I went. I came across an entire bed set - frame, slats, and mattress for $49! Needless to say, I snatched up this deal! This bed set has traveled from city to city to our house now. 

As I continue to work on our guest room at our house this summer, I thought now would be a great time to spruce up the IKEA bed. While I won't share the finished product yet, I wanted to give you all a quick preview! 

I'll share the finished project later this summer when the guest bedroom is complete. 

The bed awaiting to be painted.

Paint choice - Valspar's Woodlawn Lace (A *freebie* thanks to Lowes & Valspar)

Is there anything you all have redone or spruced up at your homes? 

- E

Rear Window

I'll admit. I try to sometimes come up with catchy, or corny, post titles. I suppose it is the teacher in me - trying to convey this idea to my students earlier this year - that you want to be able to "hook" the reader from your title. Now that I have given away that secret, I suppose you're thinking of the 1954 classic, "Rear Window". I must say, that I love that movie. The suspense and story line enthralls me! The 1942 classic, "Casablanca", would also make it onto the list for me. Truthfully, though, this post does have to do with two rear windows!

One of the things that drew me to our house is the kitchen. Nevermind the fact that the granite countertop was not placed cohesively, allowing for a noticeable seam, and that the majority of the tile flooring was cracked. The potential for this space is endless. With an enormous pantry to pair a kitchen with, our minds have been running wild with ideas. More on that later. However, the one thing that we are addressing now are the two large windows that face the backyard in this space.

They are great sources of light, yet with the lack of privacy from it, I tend to feel like we are on the Truman Show. When peering out the windows into the greenery-filled back yard, there have been more than a handful of times when I can see our neighbor doing the same. It was a bit unsettling to hear from this same neighbor that they had noticed us working on the house. Pleased to know that you see us working on the house (after it seemed to have been neglected for some time), but not pleased to be on the Truman Show, or the classic, Rear Window.

Luckily, this problem is being solved! My talented Mom has generously & eagerly offered to sew a set of curtains for us. With some inspiration from Pinterest and her knowledge of sewing, the project is coming together. During her visit this weekend, we measured and selected custom fabric so that she can make cafe curtains for this space. She will also be sewing a window treatment for our door that is exposed on that level. 

I am looking forward to showing you all how they turn out! In the meantime, here is the inspiration for the windows:

This is the fabric we chose. I was drawn to the modern feel of it, yet the neutral colors to match with any color of kitchen.

Here is our rear windows that allow us to become members of the Truman Show:

Stay tuned for the finished project! Hope you all have the chance to relax on this extended weekend. After spending the last two days on house projects, I may find myself curling up with "Rear Window", "Casablanca", or "The Truman Show" tomorrow!

Love, E

No Sugar Coating!

When I started this blog to share with family, friends, and strangers (Hi!) what Z and I had been up to on the house, I was not going to sugar coat everything. It would have been impossible to! I will say this though - home ownership so far has been very rewarding, stressful, and enjoyable. The exciting, yet frustrating, part about home ownership is when something goes wrong. Something that you didn't think would go wrong. Something that was not in your overly specific home inspection report. Something that you think is going to be a quick fix. And it is not.

So, within the last few days, here are a few of the mishaps that we have run into at our house. Trust me- there have been many more! But, here's just a glimpse! 

Z had noticed a few mornings ago that there was some water leaking from the stand up shower in our Master Bath. After taking a closer look, it appeared that it needed to be re-caulked. Simple fix! We purchased caulk and he got to work on it. As he was removing the old caulk, he noticed some mold and mildew. No biggie - it is a wet area anyway. So, he cleaned it up, and continued on around the tile. When he got to the tile pictured above, the tile fell out! After closer look, it was mold. YUCK! After a bit more investigation, it appears as if there is much more than just pictured. 

After the mishap in the Master Bath, we decided that we would utilize the guest bath (hallway bathroom) to shower. After we had both taken showers, we had both noticed that there was dripping coming from the faucet. No problem! After a few YouTube video tutorials and Home Depot worker questions, we were set! Seemed like a quick and simple fix! NOPE. A can of WD-40, tools from Home Depot, and pulling as hard as possible, we were unable to reach the part that we needed to get to. It is still leaking.

There was a risk of severe weather tonight in our area. We're in the Midwest, so it happens. However, this morning was peaceful and sunny. As I sat at our breakfast bar eating oatmeal and drinking coffee, I heard a "chhhhhhhh--crrrrrrrrack-snap!" Out of nowhere, a huge branch fell in our backyard! Of course, it wasn't one that was dead. It was full of beautiful, green leaves.

SO... NOW WHAT?

We find ourselves at the same point, I assume, many home owners find themselves at - now what? This is our game plan for these unforeseen issues that came up this week:

Mold in the Shower

 We could go a few ways with this one. It basically came down to two options - do we fix it? Or, do we deconstruct the bathroom and slowly redo it? After discussing it, we decided to take our time and deconstruct the bathroom. We will start by tearing out the shower and cleaning the mold. We will slowly be working on this project. We still have 1.5 bathrooms, so it is something we can take our time on. We figured we might as well redo it like we wanted it to be, instead of settling and wanting to redo it within years. We already have ideas of what we want to do in it! I can't wait to share the process with you all! Redoing the bathroom was something that we were wanting to do - eventually - but it seems as though we will be working on it sooner than originally thought. 

Leaky Faucet 

We are letting this one slide for right now. It seems impossible for us to be able to fix it right now. The pipes seem to have a lot of calcium on it, which doesn't help. Perhaps we will hire a plumber at some point, especially if we have someone come out to do other things. In the meantime, I think we'll put a bucket underneath and water plants with the water that has dripped out. Eh, it works! 

Huge Branch Falls

Considering that we were supposed to get possibly severe weather tonight, we were proactive with contacting some tree services to get some bids. If a tree branch would just fall with calm winds, what would happen in severe weather?! We had one person come out today and will have another bid or two tomorrow. But, we were able to get rid of that huge branch! We met a very kind neighbor today who offered to come over with two chainsaws and help us chop it up! Him and Z cut it up in 10 minutes! We'll use the wood for our chiminea and when we get our fireplace finished (Oh goodness.... that's another one for the list!) we could use it for that, too.

So, that's where we stand right now. It looks like we have a few projects ahead of us! Even though these things were unplanned and a bit frustrating at times, I must say that it was fun to add the text and doodles to the pictures. I took the photos with my iPhone and added text with the A Beautiful Mess app. Check it out if you haven't already! 

Have you run into any problems with your home, a place you live, or your apartment? What was your experience? 

-E

Summer Dreaming

This past week, we took a few days off from the house. Now, don't get my wrong - I love working on our house and watching it come together - but, it is still nice to walk away for a few days to recharge and brainstorm ideas. Instead of house DIYs, we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary in Las Vegas! It was exciting, relaxing, and well warranted. But now we are back to reality!

The reality of things is that I am quickly approaching summer break. Although I'll be teaching during the month of June, I have begun to think of a list of things that I want to accomplish during the summer. I figured this was the best time to try to cross things out on the list.

Here's a few of the things I want to accomplish this summer:

Finish smoothing and painting the entry hallway. We tried out "Seal Gray" a color we had used in Chicago, and loved it! We need to take the time to smooth the walls, repair, and paint. 

Finish unpacking the guest bedroom and office. Paint both rooms. Paint furniture for guest bedroom (I have the color scheme in mind!) and possibly paint closet. 

Pick color for Master Bedroom walls and paint. Possibly new trim???

Decide on color for formal living room. Possibly new trim here, too??? Look at furniture and start getting ideas for this room. (I have ideas, but need to look into it more...)

Finish painting "second living room", clean chimney, repair shelves.

And the list continues! This is just an interior glimpse as to what I have in mind. Who knows how much I will get to this summer! What do you have planned for this summer? Any DIY projects?

The next one up for us, besides painting, will be curtains! Stay tuned! 

Sweetness Needs-Lots-of-Love

Our Sweetness Needs-Lots-of-Love

The most satisfying thing about looking through my hundreds of pins on Pinterest on my board entitled "Home" or looking at blogs regarding home decoration and projects is the opportunity to do it. I can do that in our house.

My friend, Michelle, recently recommended a blog to me. She said that I'd probably fall instantly in love with it since it was a young couple's adventures into DIY house renovations. And, sure enough - I did. After scrolling through their recent posts, I was hooked. Instantly. It immediately made it onto my Bloglovin' account. (Which, if you don't have one, you must check it out!)

Yesterday's post on their blog was titled "Here's The Thing...."

Spoiler alert!! If you don't want to know any more than the title, keep on scrolling! Otherwise, in this post they essentially explained their reasoning for purchasing a new "sweetness needs-lots-of-love home." As you read the post, you can hear their excitement in this new adventure. Being a new reader to this blog, I was excited for them, too. But, there was something more that caught my attention.

They talked about a dream neighborhood that they had both fallen in love with when they originally moved to that area. The area was described as an "awesome old area with nice big wooded lots, great schools, charming tree-lined streets, and kids on scooters." They discussed the drives through the neighborhood that they would do. The open houses. The tours of two homes in the area that didn't lead to anything exciting. I found myself reading my thoughts of our home.

Although we are not natives of the area where we bought our house, we knew that when we did settle down and purchase a house, there were a few must haves on our list. Mature trees that line streets, great school district, family friendly area, convenience of location, minimum 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms, and a house that needed lots of love. OH! And, in our price range. Wishful thinking for first time home buyers. With the way things began to play out where we currently live - both being offered full time jobs  that were hard to beat - we knew that it was time to settle down. We were anxious for a house! No more "Carpet Land" as my Mom affectionally called our apartments. We had been casually looking for months - going to open houses, searching on Zillow, driving through potential areas, and so on. But, one neighborhood kept catching our eye. It was the area that could be described as an an "awesome old area with nice big wooded lots, great schools, charming tree-lined streets, and kids on scooters."

We found ourselves at an open house in the neighborhood. I recall finding it on a realtor website and telling Z, "We have to go check this one out!"The moment we walked into this house, I knew it was our home. The lack luster of curb appeal, the attempted upgrades, the awesome layout, the potential.... pulled at my heart strings from the first minute.
I won't bore confuse you with the details of how we put an offer on the house, and it was accepted, but then it wasn't, and the only reason we truly believe we are in our house is because of our amazing realtor.

And, here we are. In our "sweetness needs-lots-of-love home." I can't wait to continue to share the repairs, upgrades, putting our own style on things, and disasters that take place in this journey of our home.

- E