Not Forgotten

It's been months. I've been slacking. Between a full-time job, full-time planning for our upcoming marriage, a trip to the Grand Canyon, and 2 sinus infections, house updates don't fit in so well.

Since April we have cut down the tree in the front yard. It was full of termite damage. Check out this before photo and then check out the crazy termite tree being cut down!

Thank god we had it removed! So now there is a giant circle filled with some leftover wood shavings. Good news though - an awesome neighbor was able to get the DWP to plant free trees! Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks we'll be getting our very own Chinese Pistache! It won't go in the same spot as the tree from termite hell - and maybe this one will fare better! Pictures to come when it's planted!

I was reorganizing part of our kitchen this weekend and decided to spray paint some stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't take before photos. The box was a pale wood and the tray was white. So exciting .. .. ..

I really wanted to make one of those no-sew blinds I keep seeing plastered on all those DIY home blogs. Specifically, one like this! Well, seeing as though I don't have a lot of time these days and our kitchen was boiling by 4pm each day, Jordan and I made a trip to Ikea to check out a quick fix. We ended up with this shade.
Before & After!

I wasn't able to paint the trim before Jordan erected the blind. I'm also painfully aware of the cabinets with NO DOORS! I still have to finish painting them and Jordan has to hang them. Need. Time. My dad is helping us cut shelves for the other kitchen cabinet. It's halfway there. By the time we finish all this it will be time to actually renovate the stupid room. Argh!

Other things that have happened include us moving our big ass coffee table (on loan from the family storage bin) into our junk room and replacing it with Jordan's Bubbee's smaller coffee table. It fits right in! I think I'd like to refinish it - it's got some scratches and things from a lifetime of love. We also got bedside tables from Ikea. And lamps. Maybe I'll put some stuff on my table, make the bed, and take a photo for the next post! It makes the bedroom look more like a bedroom. We still haven't hung any photos or art yet. It's been almost a year. Holy cow.

What else, what else? We planted patio tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and bell pepper. In pots. In the back we moved a couple of trees around and are watching dwarf apples grow. They are awesome!

Other than some small rearranging we haven't been able to accomplish a whole lot right now. With time at a low and funds at a zero we're kind of on hold for bigger and better things. Hopefully, we can draw our wish for what we'd like our house to be in the future - we'll see if actually happens in the next couple of years!

'Til next time.

Reginald the Key-ng

Well, hi. I suck at updating this. I'm going to blame it on my arms being sore from painting. We are halfway there with the kitchen cabinets! I'm the genius who was lazy and didn't paint the insides of the bottom cabinets but then decided to paint the insides of the top. It sucked.

On inspection day:

A few weeks ago:

Today:

Oh hey, girl!

I still have to clean, prime and paint the doors. Jordan will attach them. We have to pick out hardware. We want cup pulls for the drawers and we thought knobs for the doors, but now I'm leaning toward handles. You can see some of my ideas here: http://pinterest.com/ashleykaye/kitchen-inspiration/ We are also having a set of our doors cut so we can install glass. Fancy.

Behold, Reginald! Our key holder:

He's lonely. I think he wants a neighbor. Picture frame? Mirror? I don't know yet.

We are also in the market for a fire place screen since we are still housing the one that the previous owners left behind.

We also need to lay something over the brick hearth. YUCK! I want some sort of stone or tile? Something easy. Suggestions, anyone?

Remember the list I made in this post? Here's an update:
Our list of things to get done:

• Paint inside of front door
• Frost the front door windows
• Unpack boxes
• Decorate/fill shelf next to fire place, bookcases
• Hide cables from TV above fire place
• Replace light bulbs over dining table (how they are already burnt out from July, I will never know)
• Hang art
• Paint kitchen cabinets
• Paint laundry room cabinets
• Install cabinet hardware
• Find a new fire place screen and other tools
• Find couch/chairs that fit our living room space
• Create custom closet
• Paint bathroom cabinets
• Install new hardware in bathrooms
• Our back room - it's a list in itself

That's all I got.

The "How's the House Coming Along" Progress Post

I've been lazy. I haven't kept up with this blog because we have projects that are half completed. Yes, the door is still only painted from the outside. We still have the old-lady lace hung up next to it. Our desk has been camping in our living room for a few weeks. The kitchen cabinets are half done. The list goes on...

I left off last time with our front door. I was actually going to do that this weekend but it's been raining for a week straight. Probably not a good time to take the door off or even have it propped open for painting. Here's a reminder:

I also tried to time-warp our linen closet. This is what it looks like inside:

I love a lot of things about the 90s but this shelf liner needs to go. Anyway, I purchased some clear adhesive liner, measured and cut it to fit. I peeled back the bottom liner and it lifted off the paint. I decided I would get back to it later when we take care of more important things. If anyone would like to take a trip back in time, I'm sure I can say that I have a Linen Closet Time Machine.

The next thing we took care of was moving our dresser (one of my grandparent's pieces from the 60s or 70s that they kept in their old Palm Springs home) out of our "closet" and back into our room. We propped it up, primed it, and painted it light grey. Jordan then painted a design on it - I'll show you later.

Now, instead of a hulking, dark and giant lug, the dresser sort of melts into the wall. A picture of that will have to wait...

Remember our crazy bookcases that used be decked out with mirrors until we bought the house and then after work, one day, I came in here and smashed them all with a hammer? Oh good, me too. That side of the room is no longer ghetto. Here's some before and after shots:

Clearly, we still need to put things ON the shelves but at least the hard part is done. Jordan sawed the boards, glued on the fabric, and placed them inside the bookcases. He did a great job!

On to the kitchen! I was able to paint our bottom cabinets. That may sounds awesome but it was only 5. I still have to paint the top - ugh. We went with a charcoal color on the bottom and are probably going with a white-cream color up top. I also had hardware delivered but it turned out NOT looking like it did online. So, project is only a quarter done.

One side - BEFORE looking into the kitchen:

Other side - AFTER looking out from kitchen:

Our list of things to get done:

• Paint inside of front door
• Frost the front door windows
• Unpack boxes
• Decorate/fill shelf next to fire place, bookcases
• Hide cables from TV above fire place
• Replace light bulbs over dining table (how they are already burnt out from July, I will never know)
• Hang art
• Paint kitchen cabinets
• Paint laundry room cabinets
• Install cabinet hardware
• Find a new fire place screen and other tools
• Find couch/chairs that fit our living room space
• Create custom closet
• Paint bathroom cabinets
• Install new hardware in bathrooms
• Our back room - it's a list in itself

Here's a photo from work a couple of days ago. The clouds were creeping down the mountains during our "storm."

Happy December!!

Help Me Wednesday: Built Ins

I think about this blog all the time. I feel kind of bad that I don't have too much to write about right now. Even though I have the time to do more, WE haven't had much time to organize ourselves together and decide what to tackle next.

Remember the yellow built ins that I painted? I painted the actual shelves and our mantle white. Within a few days I had also painted the other set of built ins completely white. Our problem is deciding on what to do with the wall portion of these built ins.

That is where the title of this post comes in. HELP ME! Does anyone have any ideas? We thought about getting some foam board and attaching fabric to it. I can't paint it because there used to be mirrors glued to the wood. The glue is the black lines you see all over. It's not flat and would look pretty gross through the paint.

Thank you!

Mellow Yellow

Actually, the yellow is not so mellow. It's really bright. I think it shocked my dad when he came over a couple of days ago. When you walk in our front door (ha, which will soon be the SAME BRIGHT YELLOW!) you are greeted in the corner of your left eye by a peek of our built-in bookshelf!

Don't mind the mess. We (by we, I mean Jordan) are still trying to mount the TV and have items scattered ALL over the place.

Here are some before/progress/after shots:

The fireplace bookcase the day of our inspection. Wow!

Here is what it looks like at this very moment:

I also made sure to repaint the actual shelves there and our mantle WHITE! They were kind of nasty and yellowed. They look so good that I can't wait to throw some white paint on the old doors, frames, and trim! Remember this? That WAS the shelves...

One thing I was really excited about was getting rid of our toilet paper stand. I found a TP holder that holds onto the bowl. Voila! I also installed new toilet seats but didn't get around to photos of those. I think maybe the only difference it has made is for my peace of mind.

Some action shots?

And a glamour shot of Harry Potter the dog:

Since I have lots of time off right now I'm hoping to get more and more things done. I just need to have a game plan. Ugh...

'Til next time!

Sneak Peek: Dining Room + Porch

While trying to figure out how to begin this post Jordan said this: "Jordy painted the walls. While I took a nap. And we didn't finish the rest of the room because there's too much crap over there."

So, anyway, yes, Jordan painted the majority of our living/dining room. It's looking pretty awesome. Once that is done we can get started on painting the trim while and it's going to look so crisp, I can't wait! Here's a little sneak at the color:

There is a set of built in shelves to the right of the fireplace that we are going to probably paint a yellow-ish color, keeping the shelves white. It should look pretty neat next to the grey color of the walls. And then eventually the front door will be yellow. Even if it's 10 years from now. YELLOW!

We've also updated our porch. We can now enjoy our street by sitting outside on our new Adirondack chairs! I've been scouring Craigslist for over a month and finally found a pretty good deal. Now, we just have to decide if we want to paint them, stain them, leave them as is, etc. Although, we should probably seal them, right? Anybody know?

I hope to be back soon with a more complete living/dining room update. Due to some RLS (real life shit), I now have more free time during the day. I'll see what I can tackle by myself... and then whine to Jordan, later on, about how much my back hurts. Ha! Goodnight!

P.S. Have you seen how awesome my plant was doing until we were gone one long weekend? Anyway, keep up with my plant saga here: Grow.