Ok, I'm done

Never will I ever buy an old house again. I'm so sick of the replacements, the imperfections, the constant and expensive maintenance. I want to move.

We have three more leaks. One in the laundry room, one in the bar and one in the recently finished garden room. Luckily the garden room was easily fixed, but the mold growing up through the carpet was a stinky, nasty mess. The laundry room and bar leaks are still a mystery. A mystery that will require us to cut away the walls in order to discover the true source. Right now we're just guessing where the water might be coming from.

The irony? We had no leaks until we put new carpet in the basement. New carpet leak total: five.

Yes, I understand that having a house means constant maintenance, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm tired of dealing with all of this crap amongst all the little repairs we have to do in order for our house to be in decent working order.

So our next house will be new. None of this "old with character" crap. I want new. New outlets, new floors, new toilets, new baseboards, new garage, new roof, new water heater, new wiring, and definitely new plumbing.

Garden and Guest

This is one of the last major redos in our house. It took this amount of time to redo because it was the last priority (being that it holds no real purpose in our house). I've been calling it the "garden room" because it leads to a deck in our backyard alongside one of our gardens. This room has no AC so it can only be used for short times in the summer. It does have a wood burning stove and heats quite well, so we are able to use it in the cooler months. The only problem is that it was built right outside of Nathan's bedroom, so we're afraid to use it after he goes to bed. And yet another reason why it took me so long to complete the room. Finding a time to work on it was quite a challenge since I get most of my things done while the little guy naps.

This is my one very girly room. I figured that if it's a garden room, it should contain flowers and spring-like colors.

Here's the before picture:

And the afters:

What we did:
1. Cleaned the carpets many, many times. The previous owners smoked in this room.
2. Stripped all wall paper
3. Painted the trim and chair rail
4. Painted the walls
5. Cleaned the carpets again.
6. Changed out the fan
7. Hung fabric to cover the ugly orange brick wall

The one thing I can't figure out is how to conceal the orange tile around the wood burning stove. Replacing the tile isn't feasible at this point, neither is painting it. Any suggestions?

This next room has been complete for quite a while, but I just haven't posted it yet. There was nothing in this room at all when we moved in so I have no "before" picture. This is the room in the basement where all the guests stay. This is the famous bed where even my mother has gotten a good-night's sleep. Several friends have requested to visit just to have the chance to sleep in this bed. Here's the finished result:

Oh Crap

Yesterday the sewage pipes in our basement backed up and overflowed into the bathroom.

We had a great Memorial Day.

Another re-do

Quite a while back I posted about the mystery box (or coffin, as we called it) that was attached to a wall at the bottom of our basement stairs. You can find that post here. Take a look at the pictures in that post to get the full effect of what I'm talking about.

When we tore down the awful wood panelling and the mystery box, we ran into all sorts of problems with redoing that small section of wall. First, the paneling was held up with millions of nails along with some sort of thick, black glue. Both of these elements damaged the wall and created a lot more work than we ever thought we'd have to do in order to repair the wall.

So instead of completely repairing the wall, I found some paint called Old World Plaster. It's thick like plaster, but can be applied to the wall with a paint roller. I found a greenish color to match the rest of the basement wall color and luckily it worked like a charm. We didn't have to repair the drywall or scrape off the black glue. The plaster creates a really cool effect on the wall reminiscent of old European homes and cafes.


After the walls were sufficiently plastered and painted to an effect that pleased me, another challenge arose: what do I do with the wall? I have a small collection of classic hardbound books that I've always wanted to display, but never had bookshelves that would do them justice. After some searching and a few hours of frustrating installation, I had a place to display my books along with a few precious pictures of my baby boy.

The bottom of the wall was a bit more damaged than the rest because of the "coffin" and for months I knew I wanted a narrow trunk to to replace the coffin. It would hold my throws and blankets where they would be easily accessible to remedy the chill of our basement. I found just what I wanted at a great price from overstock.com. Unfortunately the trunk came in damaged, with one of the corners cracked and they were sold out of the model I purchased. So, they refunded my money and said I could keep the damaged merchandise at no cost. Awesome! The damage isn't very noticeable and can easily be repaired. Total cost of trunk: $0.


I'm really happy how everything turned out. This is now what you see at the bottom of my basement stairs in place of the mystery coffin and ugly wood paneling:

Mary Mary, Quite Contrary

BSC and I have worked our butts off this season to make our garden and lawn look semi-decent. We've had to repair three years worth of damage from the previous owners, and we still have a hard time getting plants to grow in our garden. I have a feeling that next season will provide a bounty of beautiful blooms and produce, where as this season we are still a bit lacking.

Nevertheless, we still really enjoy relaxing in our back yard. We recently bought a patio set with four swivel/rocker chairs and a tiled fire pit table that also doubles as a drink cooler when it's too hot for a fire. I'll just not mention here that our deck is a safety hazard and on more than one occasion my guests and I have almost fallen through the deck ... note to self: next year we must replace our deck!

I just thought I'd share with you some of my blooms so far this year. I don't know the names of any of them, so just look and enjoy the fruits of my labor:

These beautiful purple flowers are part of a vine I planted last year. It surrounds the lamppost in our front yard and has recently exploded with these blooms. The vine has grown very fast and has made our out-dated lamppost look spectacular.

We have tons of roses. Roses are some of my favorite flowers because they are so easy, and bloom all season long. We have several different types of rose bushes growing in our front and back yard. I never realized how easy roses are ... why are they so freaking expensive to buy at flower shops?

This little purple bloom looks like an old man. Can you see it?

This is my bleeding heart bush. One of the few names I actually know.

This is one of my mini mums.

Some pretty pink perennials.

Also, someone has been into my cookies. Maybe you can help me decide which one of these suspects it could possibly be: Could it be this little angel?

Or one of these two boys?

Aha! Cookie crumbs in the eyelashes ... I have a clue who it might be:

Yep, he's been into the cookies. If he weren't so stinkin' cute, there'd be some trouble.

Update - cause I'm not creative with my titles

So our birthdays are over, another year has passed, we're older and wiser ... or whatever. BSC's birthday was celebrated at the local meat-fest restaurant, otherwise known as Rodizio Grill, where he filled his plate with so much meat, even he couldn't finish everything. We all left the restaurant feeling as if we were going to die from overindulgence. My birthday was celebrated at my parents house with a homemade meal, then off to Leatherby's Creamery for extra-large ice cream desserts. I don't like cake, so Leatherby's was the perfect substitute. When I say extra-large, I don't think you can actually imagine how big some of these desserts are. They are ginormous with extra-yummy caramel and fudge sauce poured all over the top. They have the BEST caramel sauce. I don't care what you say, your grandma's is not better, it's just not. I got lots of great stuff for my bday: a necklace from a most perfect and beautiful friend, a spa gift certificate, money, new ceiling fans, installation of said ceiling fans and another super cute necklace. BSC got me a gift card to Nordstrom and some beautiful flowers:I also mentioned that we are re-carpeting our basement as our main gift to each other. In order to do this we needed to remove the coffin from our basement. Yes, a coffin. We have a large wooden box attached to one of the wood-paneled walls in our basement. Upon first seeing this box we assumed the top would come off and it was used for storage. But no, it is just a box attached to the wall. So naturally we assumed that the previous owners had stashed a dead body in the box. Hence the name, coffin.

BSC bravely took on the task of tearing open the coffin to see why this box was so oddly placed at the bottom of our basement stairs. Here's what we found:

A flower box. What in the world? Why would someone put a flower box at the bottom of the basement stairs? Anyone? After cleaning out the rocks and sand from the flower box we found an old coupon in the bottom that expired in 1984. Aha! That explains it. The eighty's were totally a time for great style and decorating. Rad.

So now we have another mystery to solve; how in the world do we remove this flower box?

Nathan is stumped. That, or he found our neighbor's stash of weed and smoked up while I wasn't looking. Who knows. Anyone got some Cheetos?

My favorite transformation

And once again I continue posting about the insane process of renovating our house. I give you:

The Kitchen

Before:

Apparently the original owner REALLY liked pink. The linoleum was pink, the backsplash was pink, the countertops were pink, etc. etc. This kitchen didn't have near enough storage, the appliances were old and not in good working order, the cabinets were built too small and none of my large kitchen items would fit on the shelves.

After:

What we did: What didn't we do? New tile, new appliances, new tile backsplash, Corian countertops, plantation shutters, and of course, new cabinets. We also added an island for extra storage and countertop space, and added a breakfast nook against the window area. The seats for the breakfast nook double as storage for my extra large items like a breadmaker and toaster oven. We moved the refrigerator over to the south wall and installed a storage unit above it that contains a drawer that pulls all the way out and bends down for easy access (it would be way too annoying to pull out the step stool every time I needed something out of that cabinet). We also knocked out the extra space above the old cabinets so our new cabinets could go all the way up to the ceiling. And of course by "we" I mean Bob, the amazing and reliable contractor who did all of this by himself. If anyone needs a great cabinet guy, Bob is your man. This by far my favorite redo in the entire house. I am so happy with our kitchen now.

Our next project is replacing the old ugly carpet in our basement and tiling the laundry room. This is going to be BSC and my birthday present to each other since our birthdays are so close together. Plus, even though I've cleaned the basement carpet and vacuum constantly with The Dyson, I want that nasty crap out of there before Nathan starts crawling.


And of course, more pictures of the boy:

Burrito Baby!

After two comments on his "teeth" I guess I should clarify that those aren't teeth, just the light reflecting off his drool. But they do look like teeth!

He's a total mama's boy

Ready for baby ...

So the nursery is pretty much finished. It took me quite a while, and about four different arrangements, but I finally feel like the room will stay this way.

The crib and the bedding are both from Baby's Dream. So far I'm really happy with everything I've purchased from them.

This chair is the most comfortable chair in the whole entire world. Not only it is covered in stain-resistant micro fiber (for when the little bugger pukes or poops all over it), but it fully reclines so I can fall asleep in his room if I want to. We were all fighting over who got to sit in the chair when we found it at the store. My mom wants to purchase one for my dad to replace his old nasty chair he's had for years. That's my hospital bag next to the chair. I haven't packed it yet, but I've got it ready to pack just in case. Oh, and yes, we're naming him Nathan.

I bought the changing table to match the crib. Both the crib and changing table are antiqued, so when the kid gets old enough to destroy it, it'll fit right in with all of the dents and scratches already visible on the furniture. If he takes a permanent marker to it ... that's another story.

This will be the outfit we take him home in. It's a special outfit just for him puchased by his mommy. It has little pictures of old airplanes on the front of the shirt and the hat. BSC got the idea in his head that he would be coming home in some of his OU garb. I already painted the nursery crimson and cream, but I draw the line at taking him home in his OU stuff.

The Master Bedroom and Bar

So yes, I know I haven't updated in a while. So, so sorry friends.

But now that I know I need to update, I can't think of much to write about, so I have decided to give you more pictures of some of the rooms we have redone in our house. Enjoy!

BEFORE

As if the pink sheers and tacky furniture weren't enough, the orange/brown shag carpeting tops everything off with the lovely flair of the 60s combining with the 80s.

AFTER

What we did: new carpet, new paint, installed plantation shutters, and redecorated with our own furniture. This room really didn't require that much work. Just putting our own furniture and decorations in here made a huge difference.

I've talked several times about BSC's Sooner bar. Well, here are some pictures. I have no "before" pictures because it was just an empty room with white walls. Now, five coats of paint later, some OU decorations, and a new furniture ... here we have BSC's old Irish Pub:

The Bathroom

Here is our bathroom before:

Don't you all just love the rose and teal combination? The pink countertop went very well with the stained carpet on the floor. Yep, that is carpet on the bathroom floor, and a carpet baseboard. I cannot even begin to describe how nasty this carpet was. It scared me. These were some classy people. The mirror was also cracked and the bathtub had pink sea-shells stuck to the bottom of the tub.

Here is our bathroom after:

Of course I had to get this plaque as soon as I saw it in the catalog. I felt like it was made for me. I have it hanging above the bathroom door in the hallway. I just love it. Here are the pictures of the bathroom:

What we did:
1. Ripped up all the lovely carpet and put in slate tile. I love the slate, the pictures just don't do it justice.
2. Ripped down all the wallpaper and painted the walls a dark purple color (called Grape Thistle just in case you wanted to know).
3. Sanded and painted the drawers and cabinet Decorator White and installed brushed silver handles.
4. Removed the lovely pink counter-top and had a new sink installed with granite counter-top.
5. Installed new light fixture, TP holder, towel holders and faucet.
6. Removed old mirror and hung heavy-ass medicine cabinet (which fell on me after it was hung the first time). I can't even lift this thing with another person, so when it fell on me, it was not fun at all. BSC was in the garage and couldn't hear the screams coming from inside. I'm still a bit leary about opening any of the doors ... it might fall on me again.

So there we have it: our bathroom. I'm quite proud of this one. It's really not my typical style or colors, but I feel like it turned out well. The next room I will post is the kitchen. I just have to have the backsplash tile done, then I'll be able to post pictures.