U! S! A! U! S! A!

I was unaware of it until last weekend, but the front of our home was missing something:

With Memorial Day helping him out, Chris informed me that we needed a flag, a rather large flag:

With a limited amount of help from me on the placement, Chris broke out the power tools (not that they ever really made it away in this house) and installed it himself:

So while we went one of the three days of Memorial Day Weekend without a flag, we are more than ready for the 4th of July!

Brass Lion, that Funky Lion

Okay, I guess there is a reason they picked a monkey rather than a lion, but I'm pretty charmed with our brass lion. The first thing that Chris and I noticed about this house that ensured us it was going to be a winner, was the brass door knocker:

Although it is not something that I would have picked out (right?), I really enjoy the charm and character that it brings to the front door. It is a statement maker even before you meet anyone who lives here. Unlike the knocker though, the door knob and the locks had seen better days (not to mention, we needed to change the locks anyway):

 Well, Chris made quick work of this and now we have new locks in brass to complement the lion:

So shiny and new! Okay, so the locks aren't that impressive, but they were a good reason to share the awesomeness of the lion door knocker. Mission Accomplished! 

Life of Lucy

My cousin, Sarah, recently asked about how Lucy was adjusting to the move. I must say, she is doing really well, but I thought it was worth sharing with everyone how hard she really does have it. She now spends hours supervising the painting work that is taking place around her:

Here is is below making sure I don't drip any white paint on the floor while finishing the Guest Bedroom/Office:

And she keeps really busy at the new house. In addition to chasing every squirrel off of the property she has also taken up harassing the nasty pool robot:

Don't worry, she isn't brave enough to catch it yet, but it has driven her to the first step of the pool:

But that didn't last long. She far prefers to sunbathe:

All in all, I'd say she doesn't have it that bad, but she is pulling her weight (all 7 pounds of it) chasing down animals and supervising the workers (Me, Chris, and the evil pool robot). 

Shower Curtain Disappointment

So the bathroom in the upstairs hallway is by far the biggest and happened to get the best of the late 1960's colors for bathrooms. It is blue, while the master is yellow, and the downstairs bathroom is pink. In true 1960's style, the toilet, tub, toilet paper holder and soap holders are all color coded. The blue bathroom is currently spared having a small sink as it was replaced before we moved in:

Oh, did I mention it has wallpaper...lots of it...lots of dark, dark wall paper, even on the ceiling. The last owner was kind enough to leave us the matching shower and window curtains. I am not quite up for peeling this wall paper yet and thought that switching the curtain to something a bit lighter would quickly give the room a lighter feel. I did some searching for shower curtains to complement the powder blue fixtures and found this:

I was super excited because, yes folks, that is DNA electrophoresis patterns. I thought it would be perfect with the coloring and it wasn't terribly priced so I ordered it from Amazon. I was sooo disappointed. The actual product looked like this:

It wasn't the 'frosted' look that the picture made me think, but rather very clear. It was also much thinner than I expected. Wah Wah. Needless to say it is going back and I am still on the hunt for the perfect shower curtain. Feel free to leave suggestions (hopefully with links) in the comments.

...And Another Project Started

So while I was finishing up the Guest Bedroom/Office, Chris was getting started on a little project of his own: Guest Bedroom II aka the wood paneling room:

Oh Baby! The 70's is calling and it wants to know when we are having it over for fondue. I wasn't looking forward to tackling this room because...well because wood paneling is a pain to take down. Chris did not share my same fear and decided that he could take the wood paneling no longer:

Look at him...hard at work! And he kept going...until the wood was no more:

I will have to give him credit...he has destroyed that room from top to bottom. He also ripped up the carpet to reveal the wood floors (which luckily are in better shape here than in the other guest room - but still in need of a good cleaning, and likely some refinishing):

It doesn't even look like the same room! And there was some homemade art from the pre-wooden wall age (its a bit hard to tell in the photo, but folks, that is the elusive flying unicorn):

Now comes the super not fun part...sanding down the seams and replacing the modeling that scarified itself in WWI (Wood War I). Hopefully, we can learn some good lessons to reduce the casualties in WW2...the family room:

One Project Finished....

It's official...there are two rooms painted (trim and everything)! This is my wrap up post for the Guest Bedroom/Office. I will post a bit later about the details, but right now I just want to bask in the triumph of having two finished rooms. So here are the before pictures for both:

     

Some in progress shots:

And finally the finished product shots (nice and big): 

May Flowers!

So a couple of days ago, I whined about the Virginia Creepers that are well...creeping. So I wanted to that this post to share two of the nice plants that are not 'creeping' but living peacefully. Both of these were pleasant surprises as I didn't notice them when we closed, or moved in, or really until a few days ago when they started to bloom. The first are these lovely Day Lilies that are growing in a shady spot by the back fence:

Aren't they darling? I didn't think that day lilies would grow in that spot, but I am very pleased with the little pop of color they add. 


The second surprise flower (and my personal favs - don't tell the lilies) was a Peony bush that was hiding in the dense ground cover in the front yard:

Almost as to thank me for (partially) freeing it from the torment of the Creepers it has decided to send up huge blooms that smell wonderful. They are actually so big that they are starting to fall over, but I think that is part of the Peony charm - like clumsy elephants. 


The best part about both of these lovelies is that they are perennials, which means that I can enjoy them year after year after year. 

The Answer is Always Fire

Moving has given us a surplus of many things...rooms, projects, and cardboard boxes. So I, being a huge hippie, carefully broke them down to set out for recycling:

I thought I did a pretty good job (putting my Target-acquired skills to use), but sadly the recycling man disagreed. My gently prepared bundle was...REJECTED!!! with a bright orange sticker. Well, the pile of cardboard was growing at an alarming rate and the rejection sticker didn't give me much hint as to what I was doing wrong...this was becoming a problem. This was a problem that Chris happily solved...with FIRE!


Well, more specifically a fire pit. In the back yard there is a shady, rocky spot that won't do for a garden and is too close to the pool to want grass there:

It was just asking for a fire pit and we found one on the cheap at the HD (sorry the picture is so dark...the sun was already setting when I got home from work):

 I think it is perfect for that space and we have already enjoyed one evening of warmth and cardboard purging. Oh and Chris decorated the space with two silly Tiki torches (so silly):

 I think we are well on our way to having a great place to enjoy and I am excited to do just that this holiday weekend. Speaking of which, I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend! 

Failures in Communication

Whoops! My bad. 


I have been asking everyone to comment their ideas directly on the posts, but I didn't realize until today, that I had the settings so that you needed to register first. Well, that is just annoying...and I am sorry.


I have changed this setting, so hopefully, (and let me know if it isn't the case) now you can leave comments without having to sign in. I hope this helps people feel more comfortable commenting. Additionally, before comments appear on the blog they are sent to my email so I will be sure to read all of them. 

Long Awaited Master Bedroom Reveal

The Master Bedroom was the first room completed (by completed I really mean de-wallpapered and painted - we still haven't decorated, etc.). I quickly wanted to share some of the pictures of that first triumph, but in order for you to fully appreciate that, I first need to show you the before picture:

It is a pretty large space (11x17) with two closets! The 'classic' wall paper just wasn't our style. Luckily, I had Jenna to help me remove it (and document me removing wallpaper):

Oh, but wait, there is more...like not one, but two layers of fabulous wallpaper:

Yea, so that blue wallpaper wasn't looking too bad after all. So after some seriously hard work (thank you forever Jenna) the room was wall paper free, packed full of Spackle, and the ceiling was painted white:

Next came the fun part, painting! A quick cleaning of the carpet and tah-dah:

This picture is pre-new outlet covers and pre-rehanging of the mirror, but I had daylight on my side for the best pictures. We have since moved our Ikea bed from college into the room - and just the Ikea bed, so there aren't super exciting 'after' pictures yet...but no worries, we'll get there...all in due time. 

Meet Meyer and Mandy

So the best room in this house is, without a doubt, the sunroom off the kitchen:

It looks out on the pool and makes the kitchen extremely bright. Even before we moved in I spoke with our Realtor, Rose, about how I wanted to have a Meyer Lemon Tree growing in there, since it gets really good sun year round and I have a gardener's crush on the little guys. Well this past weekend at the HD, I saw one, reasonably priced and had an impulse buy. Meet Meyer:

He is a little guy, but the tag assures me that he will bear fruit (later this year, closer to December), which I am looking forward to. Until then he will happily live outside on the deck until he 'winters' in the sunroom. Well, also on his display at HD were drawf mandarin oranges....well, I couldn't resist, so meet Mandy:

I hope they will thrive in the sunny conditions and give the sunroom a summery feel even in winter. Plus, I think dwarf plants and fruit are simply too cute. Now I am just looking for matching planters, in bright yellow and orange, or course.

Guest Bedroom Color Reveal

So I posted a few days ago about the Guest Bedroom Color Debate that Chris and I were having regarding the green I wanted to paint it. As I mentioned before, this led to a lengthy discussion at the Home Depot and a test swatch of Desert Cactus by Behr:

Well, we had another lengthy discussion about how we aren't likely to pick out guest bedroom furniture for a while, how much of a pain it is going to be to remove the cork wall from the office, and how pale green isn't necessarily a bedroom only color...and decided that I would use this room as my office for a bit until the aforementioned issues are resolved. This further cemented me getting my way and now the room is painted in Peridot by Behr:

The room isn't quite finished (and not even closed to cleaned) as I am planning to finish out the trim tonight. I much prefer this color to the green the Desert Cactus. This is more calming and honestly, feminine (don't tell Chris). Now on to the next color test swatch for the connected foyer/hallway/dining/living room space, called Camel:

I was thinking this with an accent wall in the same color as the Master Bedroom. Still thinking as it is a huge space with dark wood molding and light hardwood floors. Open to opinions. 

We Have a Sidewalk Under There?

One of the nicest things about this house is that it is on not one, but two cul-de-sacs. One in the front and one in the back. When we moved in the sidewalk was rather neglected, as you can see below:

It doesn't really look much like a sidewalk, but I swear it is there. The weather was awesome this weekend and I took it upon myself to find this sidewalk. So here is a picture of all the goodies I found and the bags of dirt that I displaced:

Yea, I found a sandal and a rake...idk. But those are four bags of dirt and leaves that were removed. And now the finished product you have been waiting for:

Chris was nice enough to powerwash it for me, so it is wet in this picture, but it is free of the dirt! Go me!

New Outlet Covers

The other day, Chris put some of the finishing touches on the recently painted Master Bedroom: New Outlets!


So here is what they looked like before:

Aren't they fantastic? So even though they are stunning, they just simply did not go with the Winter Lake color that we picked. Chris picked up a bulk pack of outlets and light switches in pure white. These were perfect and I painted the registers to finish off the room. Here is a close up of his hard work:

So it looks like the bedroom is ready for sleeping in...finally! 

Jeepers Creepers!

I love me my plants. One of the things I really loved about this house when we were looking was the mature trees and the landscaped (albeit, several years ago) yawn and backyard. Well, in an attempt to renew the front greenery to its former glory, I have been slowly working at trimming, taming, and such. But that is when I found these five-leaved little monsters...aptly named Virginia Creepers:

They can be planted as grouncover, but that is a stupid idea. You want to know why that is a stupid idea? Because these little suckers are invasive and they will kill your shrubs by acting as parasitic vines...oh and right, now they are everywhere. I managed to pull some off the trees, but there are still plenty more hiding in the shrubs. I'd like to think that the old owner did not plant them, but either way they are coming out. It is rather satisfying to rip them out as the whole vine comes along, but I have a feeling this will be a several year process as they are everywhere.


Oh, as a fun tidbit of knowledge, if you have theses (especially if they are growing wild) you need to be careful as they enjoy the same growing conditions as poison ivy and are often found growing together. Luckily, I haven't run into any of Creeper's three-leaved friends. Whew!