Now I Just Need a Rug

I sent my dad and my husband off on a mission on last Saturday: buy the flooring for the nursery. The old, ugly pink carpeting was ripped out of the bedroom we are using, and we decided to install Pergo laminate flooring in its place. Hooray! (My goal is to do all of the bedrooms and part of the main floor, too... one room at a time...)

The men returned a few hours later, and thanks to my mother and her powers of persuasion suggestion, they decided to just go ahead and start installing it. A weekend with no plans turned into a weekend of "get shit done" - just how I like it!

While they hammered and sawed and made approximately one thousand trips up and down the stairs and in and out of the garage, my mom and I set out on a massive cleaning / decluttering / organizing mission. Trust me, it was necessary! I always find it easier to do things like that when you have someone to help you: in my case, it takes someone else saying "do you really need this??" for me to actually admit NO, and put it in the trash or giveaway pile. It helps to have fresh eyes on old crap.

By the time the four of us finished our respective projects on Sunday afternoon, we had a full trashcan, a carfull of things for Goodwill, and, the very best part, beautiful, beautiful fresh floors in the nursery. It looks absolutely perfect, and I can't believe how great of a job they did... it looks like it was professionally installed! There was some smart cutting required to get in around the closet door and within the walk-in closet, but they did it just right, and it looks amazing. I am in love!

Now, I just need to find the right rug for the room... a shopping mission awaits!

Monday schmunday

Ahh, Monday, we meet again. Why do you always come so soon??

Good thing I am armed with coffee and a cute new blouse, courtesy of Tar-Jay. I shall win this battle!

We had a lovely weekend. How was yours? If you live anywhere near Boston, I suppose you were preparing for Snow-magedeon Round (uhh...) 3? I'm so sorry. I would be happy to take a little bit of the white stuff off your hands!! I've been feeling a bit gypped this winter. 

Yesterday was the complete opposite of a winter wonderland around these parts. Rather, we were faced with the first amazing, teasing spring-like day of the year! I kid you not, the weather yesterday was perfect. It's been a little weird around here lately. This is Friday morning versus yesterday afternoon: 

Uhhhh yeah. Weird. 

But I am not one to complain about pretty days, and we took full advantage! Spending the morning and afternoon with the backdoor open for some fresh air felt amazing - you never notice how stuffy it is inside with the heat pumping until you get to open the door and feel a fresh breeze. The boys loved it, too. "Look, Mom! The WORLD!" 

C and I started the day wth a little DIY action: installing under-the-cabinet lighting in the kitchen. We were lounging around yesterday morning watching TV when I noticed the lights on a show we had on, and said "don't you wish we had that?!" One trip to Lowe's and a Starbucks stop later, we had the power tools out and were making it happen.

Cashed in my birthday reward! Venti skim caramel macchiato, I love you. It's been too long.

The man in action

I adore the results. It was just what we needed! We installed plug-in LED lights under our three main kitchen cabinets, and provided a great amount of light to previously dim prep areas. It makes such a difference! This probably doesn't show the effect well enough, but it's a start.

Next on the agenda was getting outdoors: a run through the battlefields was the perfect way to enjoy the sunshine. I needed to break in my beautiful new Brooks shoes anyways, so it killed two birds with one stone run. Who woulda guessed I'd be running outdoors in a tank and capris in February?! It was lovely. Four easy miles was just what the doctor ordered.

I fully intended to make a big batch of my mom's chicken and dumplings yesterday, but I just couldn't bear to make stew when the weather was so gorgeous. Instead we opted for grilled chicken kebabs and grilled veggies, and enjoyed the most glorious "it feels like summer" dinner while watching the Grammy's. We were all tuckered out from a full day of activities. Kitten yoga, anyone?

Waking up to temps back in the 30s this morning was kind of the pits, but in so glad we got to take advantage of a beautiful day in the dead of winter. We just might survive this one after all!

five for friday: favorites, short & sweet!

This week has crawled by at less than a snail's pace and I am so ready for it to be over. We have "plans" this weekend, but no real plans - aka, need to clean the house, want to see a movie, would like to visit with some friends. Just the kind of thing I need for a couple of days!

Thought I'd share a few of my favorite things lately... what have you been loving? This is a super random assortment... bear with me! Should give you a glimpse of my mind-state lately, though. Like a chicken with my head cut off, nonstop. C'est la vie!

Favorite DIY: cranberry-lime-infused vodka // yes, yes, all of the yes. Planning to make a batch of this soon so that it's ready for the holidays. How delicious does that sound??

Favorite fall treat: pumpkin pie spice creamer  // This stuff is so good! It's all artificial nonsense, of course, but I don't care - it makes my coffee delicious and my tummy happy. I used this last year, and was really hoping to see it in stores again this fall... so I was super excited when it appeared on the shelf at my grocery store!

Favorite celeb moment: Carrie Underwood at the CMAs // What can I say? I adore her! Did anyone else watch the CMAs on Wednesday? This wasn't my favorite year as far as the awards go, but I did enjoy Carrie and Brad Paisley as the hosts again. And Carrie's maternity styling was just perfect! So gorgeous.

Favorite current read: Stella Bain by Anita Shreve // I've had this on my list to read for a while, and just found it at the library last week. I am always drawn towards any WWI or WWII-related historical fiction, so of course this caught my eye. I'm about halfway through, and it seems like a good read so far. Anyone else read it?

Favorite new recipe: Alton Brown's French Onion Soup // C & I have been experimenting with French Onion soup recipes for a while now, trying to find the most winning combination. I just found another one to try.... I'm hoping we'll have a chance to make it this weekend!

Have a wonderful weekend! What is your favorite thing about this week? Tell me something good!

linking up with the five on friday girls:  Darci, Christina, April,and Natasha

linking up with karli and amy

Why do one project when you can do four?!

This was a major "do all the things" weekend for us. It was pretty much non-stop from the minute we got home on Friday! With a little help, we were able to do several projects we've been eying for a while now. Can't believe we've lived in our house for almost a year now!

While exhausting, it was also very exciting to get some things crossed off the to-do list that seems to grow faster than I can even write down! Owning a home is no joke, my friends. But I love it. I love the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from looking around and knowing we have done things to keep our house looking good and in good condition. Now, if only the grass would figure out how to cut itself...

On Friday afternoon, I made a quick trip to the mall and HomeGoods while C worked on his home-brewing project. Then we got cleaned up and headed out for a local event called First Friday. It's exactly what it sounds like - on the first Friday of the month, local businesses and galleries set up open-house style and invite people in to see what they've got. C & I met up with some friends for dinner at Colonial Tavern, then wandered downtown before ending up at Vivify for some rooftop drinks. It was gorgeous night, and we had a great time sitting and chatting. We had so much fun that I forgot to snap a single pic... whoops!

Saturday was project day! We were up bright and early to clean up the house a bit before C's parents arrived. They brought a carful of power tools and gardening supplies, and came prepared to work. I am so grateful for their help! C & his dad went to work on some front porch repairs - there were power saws and nail guns involved, so I was glad to stay out of their hair.

My MIL and I tackled the garden on the side of our house. When we moved in, this particular side was covered in raspberry bushes! Lovely, but... not. They grow like CRAZY and are such a pain to keep trimmed back and under control. Plus, while I'd love to sit around picking berries, we all know I ain't got time for that.

The bushes were pulled a few months ago, but we never got around to killing the roots, and they were coming back with a vengeance. My MIL and I pulled weeds and roots and turned all the soil, then gave the whole area a heavy coat of grass & weed killer. We topped it with newspaper and mulch, and hopefully it will be ready for some new planting come fall!

 

I am excited because the soil looked really good while we were working in it, so hopefully the raspberries will be gone for good and I can plant something pretty over there. We also cleaned up the nicer area at the edge of the garden, and gave that rosebush a good prune.

Meanwhile, C and his dad had finished the porch and moved on to other things. They built a stand / holder for our VT bell, which has been gathering dust in the garage. High-time to get it out and start racking up those Hokie wins! C didn't want to screw the bell into the bricks, so they built a handy little holder for it. Easily transportable!

As if that wasn't enough, the guys were sweet enough to finish a long-time-coming project for me! I bought this old US map off eBay almost two years ago, fully intending to get it framed and hung. Then... It sat in a bag in the closet for two years. Whoops! C & his dad built me a custom frame out of plastic molding, and got the whole thing put together for me! I love the finished product, and we are already looking forward to visiting new places so we can put new pins in the map.

 

 

After my in-laws left, we had just a few minutes to relax before our next guests arrived! C's cousin and his wife brought their sweet almost-two-year-old son over for a visit. We intended to cook dinner, but made the executive decision that pizza was in order. We played outside for awhile and chewed down with a couple of beers before they headed home. I'll be honest - I was asleep by 8:30 that night! I was worn. out. C started an episode of Sherlock on Netflix, but I'm pretty sure I didn't see more than a few minutes of if before I was passed out on the couch. Homegirl can't hang! My eyelids just would not hold themselves open any longer. It's possible that I'm 20-something going on 80-something!

Sunday was just as busy. C put the finishing touches on the porch (it needed some paint) and I washed the cars. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've washed a car by hand in.... years... But we had time and space and it sure beat spending $50 to take them both to the car wash. We also washed the garage floor and oragnized some things in there. Needless to say, our trash can is packed to overflowing. Feels good to get rid of junk taking up space, though!

Just when you thought I couldn't add anything more to this weekend... We wrapped it up with a few more errands, grabbed some dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, and stopped by the grocery store. By the time we settled on the couch to watch the season finale of Turn, we were both exhausted! It's been a long time since we had a free weekend when we could just work on thing after thing that needed to be done. Sure feels good to look around and know that we did everything we planned to and more! Although there was ONE individual who was not so pleased with all this weekend activity.... of course:

Guys. Stop.

So tell me...

• What project did you accomplish this weekend?
• Do you wash your car by hand or take it somewhere? Like I said, I'm generally a let-someone-else-do-it kinda gal...
• Anything exciting happening this week? Big Father's Day plans? Happy Monday!

Project #1: Over and Done

On Saturday, C & I tackled House Project #1 for 2014: painting our guest room. We currently have three spare bedrooms in the house and generally let guests crash wherever they like, but once there are kidlets running around and the two rooms upstairs are claimed, the basement bedroom will be the "official" guest room. There is a full bathroom in our basement, so that makes it perfect - guests can have their own space, shower and toilet included, and everyone is happy! This was definitely a selling point of the house for us, and I'm so glad we have the opportunity to use our space this way.

The original color in this room was a lovely forest / camouflage / mold green, and, as an added bonus, there were holes in ALL the walls - the family before us had hung stuff everywhere, generally with wall anchors, and the room just looked a mess. C spackled and sanded on Friday and moved as much of the stuff out of the room as he could. We got up bright and early Saturday morning to tape off the baseboards and move the rest of the stuff, and then we got the party started!

You can see a hint of the green walls in the upper left corner

We had almost a gallon of paint left from when we painted the main part of the basement, and we've like the color so well that we decided to use it in the guest room, too. The main basement gets a lot of natural light, and the guest room gets very little, so the colors actually look pretty different. I like the effect, because it makes it look like we picked coordinating-but-different colors, when, really, we just used what we had.

FYI - the color is Woodsmoke by Eddie Bauer.

A few hours and two coats of paint later, we had a bright, fresh new guest room! I love how clean the new paint looks, and having all the holes patched makes it look so much more put-together. I am excited to style the room and find a few pieces of furniture for it now! Time to actually turn that sad little room into a special place for our guests to stay.

Before and after

A better idea of what the color actually looks like

I'm planning on keeping the black and white bedspread, and planning to accent the room with white and turquoise or teal. Granted, this is all TBD, depending on what I find as I start to scour Pier 1 and Homegoods... looking forward to having a little freedom to do whatever I like!

Bring on the drop clothes and rollers

We are taking on our very first new-home-owners DIY task this weekend: painting the basement.

(dun dun dunnnnnnn....)

The basement in our house consists of a guest room, unfinished laundry room, one full bath, and then a large open room. For the previous owners, it was a playroom, and it's painted a lovely shade of sky blue. For us, it is not a playroom (for now) - or at least not a playroom for children! It's going to be C's "man cave" area (although I really kind of hate that term, because I will enjoy the area just as much), where all the sports memorabilia will go, as well as a TV, the kegerator, pool table, etc. It'll be a lovely rec room when we're finished, I'm sure - but first, that sky blue has got to go!

I'm kind of excited about painting. I know it's something that many people find daunting, but I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. As a kid, my parents always let us pick whatever color we wanted for our bedrooms, and we could change the color every couple of years, with the requirement that we help with the painting. I'm pretty much an old pro :)

However, there is a key piece of this process missing - I haven't picked a color! Kind of important, I guess. I'm leaning towards some sort of gray, which I think would make a nice neutral background for the variety of sports colors that will be in the room.

Here are some examples of what I'm thinking:

L-R: Pediment, Urban Putty, Alpaca, & Roycroft Mist Gray (All by Sherwin Williams)

Now that I'm looking again, though, none of this really look like the gray that I want... Bah. I have a feeling this is going to be a spur-of-the-moment decision, while we are standing in Lowe's!

Any suggestions for a good gray paint to use? All recommendations welcome...