Flooring Update: Baseboards

Chris has finished putting in the laminate flooring downstairs. First the Kitchen:

And the Dining Room:

It looks pretty awesome...albeit unfinished as it needs baseboards and transitions, but Chris has already started on that. After a trip to the Home Depot that involved a truck rental, the supplies are here and work has started:

And a progress shot:

The floors are already looking more finished. I'm pretty excited....I can't believe how far these rooms have come. Yay Us!

Surround Sound

Chris loves his technology. He does it at work, and lucky for me, he does it at home too. Even when we lived in an one room studio (two if you count the bathroom I guess, but I don't), he wired the place for surround sound. Before it was easy though because we couldn't drill into the walls - the result was a messier look with visible wires, but a simple project. 

But now we own and he was determined to hide the wires. I got my first lesson in snaking wires as he fed them up from the basement to the wall behind the couch. He was frustrated, but I actually thought it was going to be way worse than it was. No matter now though, its done. And the finished product pictures (right and left):

And a big group shot:

And Chris is thoroughly enjoying his hard work already.

Blinded by the Light

Victories of Victories! Finally, after oh, about 7 months of living here we got blinds for the large picture window in the Living Room. Here is an old picture of the day we got the couches:

So yea, that huge window in the room we spend just about the most time in. I get that these things are important, but I it wasn't really a priority for us. I love the amount of light that this window brings in and such. But now it is cold, and not so bright out - it was time that the blinds reached the top of the to-do list. I didn't realize how difficult it is to find blinds for windows. It took us two Home Depots and a Lowes to finally get the blinds:

Notice the viewing spot for Lucy. We picked cordless cellular blinds. This allows us to adjust them just by pulling down or lifting up - without any messy cords (awesome for dogs and children). The cellular part has the nice bonus of insulating the window a bit more. We also opted for non-blackout. This allows for the light to come through and since we aren't sleeping in this room, blackout isn't important to us. 

This room is coming along, but curtains are on our list...as are blinds for the other windows...

Doing Lucy's Love of the Rug Justice

Last week, I raved about the new rug and how much Lucy is enjoying the new rug. Looking back on it, I don't think I did a good job communicating how much she is really is loving it. So now for the supplemental pictures:

It provides a comfy place to guard the toys. This is a must in the world of grumpy wiener dogs. Sometimes she is just too good to snuggle on the couch. hehe. 

I think more importantly to Lucy is the rug has increased the fun of tug and fetch because it provides her some traction unlike the hardwood floors. Evening the playing field for the 10 pound pup.

Yea, she even looks pitiful when slaying fluffy hedgehogs...the hard life of a hound dog. 

Crate and Barrel...My Blush with Luxury

I find almost everything at Crate and Barrel to be gorgeous. It is like grown-up Ikea. It has the clean mid-century modern vibe but without the dorm-room feel...oh and sadly, without the dorm room price. We went looking for things we still haven't been able to track down, that coffee table, storage, oh and little luxuries, like a dining room table. 

They had lots of tables, both coffee and dining, that I think would have looked great. There was only one problem, the price. No surprises there, but it is always nice to look - to get ideas - then to try and find something similar at Ikea later, hehe. 

I thought there was nothing we could afford, but low and behold, a super duper sale on just what we needed (storage - although not the kind my mother will be super happy about - sorry mom). This little cutie with the clean modern lines and space saving wall mount was just under twenty dollars - which makes it in my budget. 

Chris was able to mount it the same day (a record in this household) in the dining room on the small wall between it and the kitchen. This is perfect because I am not sure what else we possibly could have done with that small, rather awkward space. Chris isn't totally sold on it, saying it looks a bit awkward, but I think it is cool looking - and lets face it, if I like it, it's staying (although that might have more to do with that it would be more work to take down than that I am in charge around here....but we will just go with the later).

So now we have a fancy wine rack (and a mirror) in the dining room - practically finished if you ask me. Oh and it is always nice that the value of the wine exceeds that of the rack (if only by a few dollars), the epitome of living large.