Summer Dreamin'

Today, as I typed up notes for a meeting with my colleagues, I realized that today was April 22. Not a significant day, aside from being my Dad's birthday and Earth Day. But today was the day I realized that it was April 22. Our last day with students is May 21. We have crossed that threshold of being less than one calendar month away from summer. (If you haven't assumed yet, yes -- I am a teacher.) This is bittersweet for a number of reasons. However, I wanted to focus on what the summer may hold.

Garden

• I have dreams of our yard resembling a small slice of MOBot - the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I could have an endless rant of how lovely this place is, and why it is easily in my top destinations in St. Louis, but you must experience it. I look forward to doing more planting, creating more flower beds, and carry on with my hosta obsession collection. 
• Getting our hot tub up and running!
• Saving money & planning towards building this amazing raised bed on our own 
• Finishing our compost pile
• Buying more basil & pepper plants

House

• Organizing!!!! I tend to go through purges when I really examine things to determine if I need to hold onto it or not. The 4th bedroom in our house is top priority this summer. While it won't be done in time for the neighborhood garage sale, I predict trips to Goodwill this summer.
• Organizing more. That is my biggest goal for the house... Can you tell?

City + State

• I want to get to know my state and surrounding city more. I dream of frequenting local farmer's markets, local shops, sites in my state, charming towns, and getting to know my area better. 
• Speaking of getting to know my area better.... We have been here for 4 years as of this coming October. I want to get to know my area even better. 

Etc.

• With no concrete commitments aside for a few things throughout the summer, I am also looking forward to making trips to visit with family + friends.
• Relaxing. Recharging. 

What do you wish to accomplish this summer? Do you get summers off or vacation weeks? When everything is said and done, I am looking at roughly two months (give or take a week or two) for being my time frame to get things done. 

Photo: http://www.phase-eight.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/summer.jpg

2

Today marks two years of closing on our house! We didn't know our first house would be where it is at, but we have loved it. Here's to many more years and projects in our home! 

New Year, New Goals

Here is to a great year, filled with happiness. Here is to the next year - may it bring you health, happiness, laughter, and smiles.

Around Christmas, we were discussing what we wanted to do to our house in the upcoming year. The basement was on top of our list. While it isn't fully finished, it is in a great state, and it is an area we enjoy spending time in! 

A few things stick out in my mind for 2015 and what I would like to accomplish throughout our house:

1. Clean / Organize our 4th Bedroom 
2. Clean / Organize Attic Space (Continue to buy bins that are holiday coordinated) 
3. Pull carpet going into basement on steps and refinish
4. New carpet runner throughout house (when #3 done)
5. Landscaping - Ongoing (When is it too early to buy more hosta?!)
6. Fence on North side of house (waiting on neighbor for height purposes)
7. 2nd Guest Room - Possibly paint, work on trim, and make more functional 
8. Wet Bar - Basement (Look at new IKEA cabinets in Feb. '15)
9. More DIY projects around the house 

I know there is more, but you get the idea. As of right now, we are at a point where many of the next projects (aside from paint, caulk, trim, etc) are more on the expensive end of the spectrum. Kitchens and baths are by far the most expensive, and I am already eyeballing kitchen ideas at IKEA as well as possible bathroom ideas for our guest bathroom. Those projects will be in the future, but it is fun to look and get ideas! 

Do you have any projects that you hope to accomplish in 2015? Here is to a great year!

Consistency

As I lay in our new bed, I have decided to attack the stack of magazines on my nightstand. It may look like a hoarding scheme, to be truthful! A enormous, large, splendid stack! Dating back from this month to countless months ago! How and why so? Two reasons, one excuse. I love free. When visiting my hometown I usually have the chance to grab a handful or so that were passed on from one to another after the selling date on the shelves. Secondly, I have only paid for one magazine subscription in the last... ummmm, maybe 3 years? I am fortunate to get many for free. So they pile up and on nights like tonight, I grab a drink and hit the stack. 

Currently browsing Better Homes & Gardens (September '13.) The picture and caption caught my eye. Recently, as in this week, we upgraded our bed size and made changes around in bedrooms bout discussion was focused on picking a new bed frame for us and our guest bedroom. Should we stick with consistency? Should we not? What should be the same? Different in rooms? 

We now have 2 out of 3 bed frames white. (Not original plan, but whatever.) My thought is - what is consistent at your residence? What stays the same throughout?,or does it? If'd love to hear and see your thoughts from you! 

To the next page.....

-E-

Privacy Fence

YOU GUYS. I thought my happiness couldn't get any greater after Z jack hammered the concrete obstrocity. Apparently it was possible to get greater! 

Z designed and built a horizontal fence and gate that faced out to the main street where our house faces. Since we are the second house from the street and our neighbors do not have a fence up, we were lacking privacy in our backyard. Each time we were outside, it was not uncommon for someone on the street which our yard faced, to be looking at what we were up to next, or bluntly asking what we were up to. At the same time, they also gave compliments which was very sweet. But, we were craving a bit more privacy in our backyard without feeling like we were on the "Truman Show." 

I was out of town this past weekend, but Z and his mom assembled this part of the fence! It looks SO good. I was so impressed with the work that was put into it! The only thing that I helped out with was gathering lumber at Home Depot and helping to space some wood pieces. Not nearly as much as they did. 

I already am pinning ideas of what I may want to plant next year, picking out some hostas, and looking at ideas now that the fence is up! 

CORNER OF THE FENCE

FENCE BUILT

 

HANGING BRACKETS FOR BASKETS

Although this is the last night of my summer break, I still have a few projects that I hope to accomplish in the upcoming weeks... finishing painting our bed platform, organizing closets, touching up our bedroom and bathroom paint.I was hoping to have finished them over break, but sometimes, you just need some rest and relaxation! 

"Must Do!"

The "must do" on my summer list was to work on our master bedroom. When we purchased our house, all of the rooms with the exception of the kitchen and master bedroom, were painted a beige color. The kitchen was sponge painted with a yellow blend and the master bedroom was purple. As in, K-State purple. If you need a reminder, check out this post! I love purple. My bedroom at my parents' house was a shade of purple! However, this was a bit too much, and too dark. 

We had gone back and forth with what we wanted to do in this room. At first, my initial idea was a light gray because I have loved how it made our kitchen and lower living room look. Very calming. Although, as we worked on the master bathroom, we thought that making the rooms feel similar would be best. 

We tried two paint samples and decided on option #2. It was a grayish-green color that felt spa-like! Calming, sophisticated, and complimentary to our end look. 

We took off the doors in the bedroom that we knew we would be keeping. Two sets of doors (both to closets) were not installed correctly and the door jam was not installed correctly, either. Since we will eventually replace those, we did not bother painting them again. We used Valspar Ultra White on the primed doors. 

Z worked on patching the walls where previous cracks had been. 

There were many cracks near the windows.

A preview of the bathroom painted with the color we chose for the master bathroom & master bedroom!

In the last two weeks, we have:

• painted the master bathroom
• painted the master bedroom
• painted ceilings in master bathroom & bedroom
• installed crown molding in the master bedroom
• replaced 1/4 of the baseboards in the master bedroom
• started to paint our bed 

It's funny how my "must do" summer project is progressing so quickly! I am very happy about it, though! In a few weeks, my Mom has graciously offered to help with projects around the house. Hopefully final touches of painting will be done in our bedroom at that time! (Baseboards will be a piece here, piece there kind of project.)

 Next up? Man bathroom. Pictures to ensure of these projects soon.

Hope your June has been enjoyable thus far, whether you have the summer off, have the opportunity to travel, or are trying to beat the heat!

-E

Anxious About Spring

I don't know about you all, but I am anxious for Spring. I love all of the distinctive seasons in the Midwest, but I am craving Spring. I find myself thinking this at about this time every year. I'm anxious to start planting in our yard, growing vegetables, and hanging out in our yard. 

To help combat my anxiousness of Spring, I looked at outside patio furniture and accessories. Here is what I was eyeballing and checking out. Hopefully my online shopping and wishing will bring spring here a little bit sooner! What are you most looking forward to this Spring?

1 Year

March 19, 2013was an exciting day for us. After a turbulent ordeal with the home buying process, we closed on our first home! With both of our cars packed to the rim, we drove to the office where we would sign paperwork and get our keys. Before we knew it, we spent the first night in our house - giddy with excitement and talks of the projects we would undertake! 

Yesterday marked one year that we have called our house ours. It has been an exciting, and at times, frustrating adventure in home ownership. But - it has been very rewarding! I don't know if you celebrate a house's "birthday" or "gotcha day" but we talked about what all we had done so far in the house and our dreams for the upcoming years in this house. 

Here's to the next year, and the many years to follow in this Midwest house of ours!

-E

Snow Day Craftivity - River Rock Boot Tray

Just when you think that winter may be over, it's not! Something I love about the Midwest is our four distinct seasons. I truly believe that if I were to move outside of the Midwest to a place that does not experience the four seasons, I would miss it! I find it ironic, as I wrote that last sentence, that I have always lived in the Midwest, despite calling three states home. I suppose that the Midwest is best! 

A luxury, to some (ME!), that comes with having four distinct seasons is the intensity of each season. I was beyond thankful to find out that I had a snow day this past Monday! It didn't snow in excessive amounts like it did in February, but, it was cold enough to send the wind chills into the negative twenties. Brrrrr. Considering the fact that I truly took advantage of the snow days, I attempted to be more productive on my last one. 

Below is one of the things that I was able to accomplish! Somewhere within my thousands of pins on Pinterest, I happened to pin this super easy and cute craftivity. All it consists of is "river rocks" and a boot tray. Uber easy & cute. I was worried about finding a boot tray since it was almost spring, but Target didn't let me down!

I bought this Mohawk boot tray at my local Target. I felt lucky enough to snag one of the last ones, as I wasn't sure if they would restock for the upcoming season! Next, I went to Dollar Tree and bought 11 bags of their river rock. Other tutorials suggested you could do less, but I wanted to have more than enough than not enough. I poured all of the bags into the tray and distributed evenly. That's it! 

In all, this cost me roughly $16. It is more eye appealing and an easy way to store my boots and shoes. Even though winter is (trying) to wrap up, I still think this will be a valuable accessory come Spring with the rain! Best thing is, if it gets dirty, all you have to do is rinse out the tray and rocks. Easy enough!

You can find more examples of what other people did at these sites, too:

• Apartment Therapy
• Dollar Store Crafts 
• Martha Stewart 

Have you done any home crafts lately? If so, I'd love to hear about it! And, if not, what is catching your eyes with crafts lately?

-E-

Making Progress in the Master Bath

This month has been filled with birthdays, visits with loved ones, a friend buying an adorable house, snowy days, work obligations, and so much more. In between all of this, Z has been continuously working on our master bathroom. 

For my birthday, my parents gave me a Lowes giftcard so this helped us get a large portion of the bathroom completed. We bought tile, tools, and a carpet for the  guest bedroom - which is also coming together nicely! I am so excited to see this coming together! 

Here is what we have done so far, since the last post:

Faux wood tile floor. 

Beadboard hung horizontally along wall. 

Trim put at seams of beadboard. 

Tile for insert of shower cubby. 

Tile for shower base. 

The room looks even better in person. We currently do not have lights in the room, so getting optimal pictures is a bit more difficult. Perhaps a video may showcase it more.

I am exploring paint colors and have a few ideas in mind. We are also scoping out IKEA sinks and cabinets. Our IKEA opens this Fall, but... We will see if we hold out that long for the final touches. Shipping or a road trip may suffice, too!

There is much more to come...

-E

Bon Appetit - Updating Before the Dream!

I love cooking. I love trying new recipes and cooking "tried and true" recipes. I enjoy collecting cookbooks and love lingering in kitchen areas of stores. I may even have a slight obsession with Le Creuset and kitchen tools. Despite these loves, I craved a kitchen that was not updated. And, so did Z. We wanted a kitchen that needed "lots of love." Why? We wanted a house that needed "love" so we could put our own touches on it. We had the same philosophy with the kitchen. We wanted a kitchen that needed love so that some day it could become our dream kitchen. While, it will cost us quite a bit of money to do, it will be worth it. 

In the last few months, Young House Love posted their reasoning and justification for painting their cabinets and updating their cabinet hardware. They discussed how for a fraction of the cost, they could give their kitchen an update look while they saved money for their dream kitchen.

Before we get to the updating that we have done, let's take a scroll to look back at where our kitchen has come from. (Thank you, Zillow, for still having pictures of our house up!) 

Before - Kitchen looks into dining room.

Before - Dining room looking into kitchen.

Before - Dining Room 

Before - Kitchen

Before - Looking into Kitchen from Dining Room

The pictures above are pretty much how we bought the house. The exception is that the living room was all tan - not green as seen above. We bought it with yellow sponge painting and all. In my dream kitchen, I have imagined either having dark black cabinets or light gray cabinets, like the ones seen at IKEA. While we have years to decide what cabinets will actually be installed, we decided for the present time we would do some updating of our kitchen. A couple hundred books over years seemed manageable. 

To update the kitchen and dining room, we decided to:

• Paint the Kitchen Walls
• Prime & Paint the Kitchen Cabinets 
• Replace drawer pulls 
• Paint the Dining Room Walls
• Paint the Trim in both rooms
• Replace outlets, lights, and vent covers
• New window treatments (Thanks, Mom!)
• Flooring

Below, are the pictures of what our kitchen looks like now. It is amazing what under $100 can do! 

Kitchen - Cabinets Primed & Painted 

Kitchen looking into dining room.

Z added a shelf for cookbooks. Red island from Hickory
Dickory (First Friday) & wine cooler from eBay!

Dining Room - Painted

Dining Room - Painted 

Dining Room - New light fixture. (Christmas / graduation
gift from E's Mom.)

I have absolutely loved what a difference the updates have made in these spaces. Z loved the light that was in the dining room, so I suspect that it will reappear somewhere in our house someday. Perhaps in the man bathroom?! What you can't notice in the pictures is that the granite countertops where the mixer is located at is not even! The previous owner chose beautiful counters but it was not installed properly. Also, almost each of the large tiles in the kitchen is cracked! Again, it was not installed correctly. Knowing that we will be living with this kitchen for a few years, we are debating what flooring options we will consider. Right now, it is between replacing the grout between the tiles to clean it up, or using a faux wood "peel and stick" in the room.

In the upcoming months, we plan on retouching the trim to freshen it up and possibly replace the fan that is located in the kitchen. As we continue to use and cook in our kitchen, it gives us the chance to think about what we really want in our dream kitchen. Oh, the possibilities!

There are so many fun kitchen gadgets, accessories, and things to plan for in a kitchen. What is your favorite kitchen thing? What would you have in your dream kitchen? I'd love to hear what you love or would add into yours!

Stairway to Potential

It was around this time last year that we began to get very serious about our house hunt. It just seemed as though things were lining up to make it a great time to start looking a bit more seriously. When we met our outstanding realtor, Tom, I felt as though we were on the latest HGTV House Hunters episode. We were asked what were the things that we weren't willing to settle on, things we would be OK compromising with, and what was on our ideal wish list. 

Cue to the part of the episode where the realtor tells the prospective home buyers that they may not be able to get everything that they want in their home, and to be prepared for it. Our list wasn't astronomical, but there were things we wanted both in our "won't budge" list and "dream" list.

On our "won't budge" list, we had:

• A basement
• At least 1 car garage
• Decent sized yard
• Minimum 3 Bedrooms
• Good school district 

On our wish list, we had:

• The things listed above on our "won't budge" list
• 1.5+ Bathrooms
• 3+ Bedrooms 
• Dining Room area
• Hardwood floors
• Fenced yard
• Close to E & Z's work

I am sure we had more, but these were the "must have" and "dreams" we had listed. Fast forward to our house. We were pleasantly surprised that we got all of the things we had on our "won't budge" and "wish" list! The one that I was the most surprised to get off of our wish list was having over three bedrooms. Since we live away from the area that we grew up, having a guest bedroom / office was ideal. That way, when we have visitors (which we love hosting!) we had a place for them to stay. No hotel needed! 

Unfortunately, over the last months, the 4th bedroom has become our "catch all" room. YIKES. It was a disaster, to say the least. But, its location next to the attic and up another flight of stairs, made it great to keep things in before we could organize it. Perfect to close the door and the mess. It was one of my goals over my Winter Break to organize this room and make it a bit more functional. I am excited to see the progress in this room! 

This room has a far way to come, even from where it is right now. Out of all of the bedrooms (especially) this bedroom has the most work to be done in it. The trim has never been painted, the doors are in poor shape (punched in??), and the floors need some love. Overall, it has a way to come. But, getting it organized was a huge step in that direction!

I am not sure when it will start its transformation, but I am excited for it to happen when it does. My Pinterest boards are bursting with ideas of how this room will transform. I see lots and lots of paint, window treatments, chalkboard paint, a desk.... Oh, the ideas!! I anticipate that this room will really get its start either summer or this upcoming Fall when the highly anticipated IKEA opens in our area!

If you have a home office or dream of having one, what would be your "must haves" in yours? Or, what do you dream about having in one? What do you love about it? I would love to hear your ideas!

Revisiting the "Men's Bathroom" (1/2 Bath)

When we bought our house, one thing that was on our "wish list" was having at least 1 1/2 bathrooms. It was an added bonus that our house actually has 2 1/2 bathrooms! (When it isn't ripped out to the studs because of mold!!) 

It is our understanding that the prior homeowner had three sons. (We joke that one son must have stressed out his Mom the most because we have found things of his that were left behind such as a dinosaur ornament labeled with his name & his name is spray painted on our basement wall.) Anyway, the half bath in the house has a distressed looking door on it with a sign that says men. We have found this to be pretty funny. The bathroom was a hodgepodge of mismatched things. It was functional (despite the fact that the pedestal sink needed to be repositioned daily so it wouldn't leak) but not ideal. 

So, here's what we have so far! We went to IKEA in November and unexpectedly picked out a bathroom vanity, sink, and faucet for this space. It is not very wide, but, it makes the bathroom seem much larger in size now! 

We have also selected flooring tile which looks like dark wood and a light beige grout. Z installed it all himself. You can tell from the photos, too, that there two different paint colors. The paint to the left of the toilet is the original. The paint to the right was a color we initially picked for the kitchen - and it wasn't the color we were looking for in that space. Since we plan on tiling part of the walls in this room, we will probably end up painting the rest in that color. 

In the bottom photo, we tried out a silver tile. We had talked about silver tile in a previous post. After putting this up and living with it for a few weeks now, we aren't sure if we are sold on it. I think it's better to try it and live with it first. 

We still have quite a few things to do before we can call this room finished. A few things have been completed, but are not pictured in these two pictures. We purchased a mirror at IKEA and installed it. Z also built a wooden ledge on the far left side part of the bathroom - where the whole would be in the photos. 

So, what's next?? We have been looking and gathering ideas. We have found some inspiration in photos - my Pinterest board is a testament to that. We know that we are going to keep the original door that we lovingly refer to as the truck stop door. It's beat up, engraved, suspicious, and hilarious. Behind the door will hold one insane bathroom. I don't want to give away too much just yet, but we are finding inspiration in many things. Just expect something over the top, and in ways, silly.

Here's teasers as to what we are talking about and considering:

INSPIRATION #1 

INSPIRATION #2

INSPIRATION #3

INSPIRATION #4

If you were going to go "all out" on a room like this one, what would be the over the top things that you would include? 

Home for the Holiday

This year is especially bittersweet Christmas for us. It is the first Christmas that we are spending in our home. Although we are away from family today (due to work schedules) it was exciting to wake up in our own house on this day. We have done some of our traditions that were started three years ago when we lived in Chicago, and continue to create some new ones. Something that I have learned over the last few years is it is not about the actual date you celebrate - but rather cherishing the time that you do celebrate. As a result, we will have a chance to celebrate with our families this upcoming weekend. So, our holiday continues through the weekend! We will see what next year brings when we reach that time next year. However, I will cherish our first Christmas in our house.

Our crew opening presents. (From left going counterclockwise: Kiki, Milo ("Little Kitty") & Oscar.

                     

The aftermath of the M. family Christmas! Success! 

This year, we bought an artificial Christmas tree that we placed in our lower living room. Last year, when living in our apartment, we talked about when we had a house that we would have two trees. (Crazy to think that at this time last year, we were looking at finances and homes!) The artificial tree fit in great with our lower living space - next to our fireplace that is adorned with battery operated and real candles, decorations, and smells of freshly baked cookies. Picture perfect..... for the first few minutes. The newest addition to our crew, Milo (aka "Little Kitty") found this to be the "purrrrfect" thing to climb. After some debate, we decided to see what he would do with a real tree and to satisfy the craving of having two trees. So, here is our real tree set up in our formal living room. Go figure that he seems less interested with the real tree! Although, as you may notice from the picture, we went without ornaments this year in fear that he would knock them off. I'm hoping next year he will be out of his kitten phase and we can add ornaments. (The vet speculates that he is about 6 to 7 months old as of right now - but that's another story!)

We sat in here, opening up presents this morning. It was filled of sips of coffee, laughter, and phone calls with loved ones. As I sat there with Z, I couldn't help but think that this would be the room and place where we would open presents for years to come - regardless of what day it is celebrated. 

I'm excited to watch our traditions continue and evolve as we celebrate holidays in our home. Here's hoping that your holiday had time of rest and celebrating! From our family to yours - Happy Holidays!

-E