the longest project - but not quite 9 months...

So, I think we get the DIY prize for Longest Project Ever. Our dining room project, which began last year, or 3 months ago (however you want to slice it) is still in progress. Progress being a relative term. But we had a good excuse: two other important projects came up.

The first project came on Christmas Eve, when we got a big fat positive on multiple pregnancy tests and couldn't be happier! Unfortunately, I was soon laid flat by morning sickness and fatigue. We’re now at week 13 and I’m just starting to get some energy and non-nauseated hours back. The couch has become my best friend and enemy, so our DIY speed came to a screeching halt. In my defense, growing a human is hard, you guys! In the first trimester, the kiddo is doubling in size each week while developing all its parts, and while s/he’s too tiny to “feel” yet, I definitely get a punch from the hormone cocktail.

Say hello to our little 'Poppyseed'. The ultrasound tech also found a little surprise.

Ignore the bad brush placement. This little one was too wiggly to get many good shots,
and of course you can only see the arm touching his/her nose.

While gestating is exhausting, it doesn't quite account for all of our time. We also took on yet another little project. We gifted Mike's parents with updating their bathroom!

something we should've done long ago

Well, I think it's quite obvious that we did not finish the dining room makeover before the new year. January 1 came and went with a big whoosh and we only had bare wainscotting to show for it. With the holidays and getting hit by a bug going around, we just didn't have the energy most nights to work on it. But we're getting there. Two coats primed, just gotta fix some rough spots, and then onto the paint!

Today we did a silly little update that has a big impact on us - and it's something we should've done loooooong ago. Cabinet pulls!

We've tolerated these things for far too long. It's not just that they're dated ... they're also gross and gunked up and resistant to cleaning. But because we plan on replacing the countertops and painting the cabinets in a couple of years, it felt silly to invest in pulls that worked with the stained cabinets and might not jive with the "new" kitchen of our hopeful future. But ever since we replaced the pulls in the wet bar and library, the kitchen pulls bugged us every time we looked at them or opened a cabinet. 

nailed it

We've been busy in the dining room. It used to look like this:

Then it looked like this:

Stay classy.

It's definitely going through an awkward phase. Over the past few weeks we've primed the trim, ceiling, and lower wall. Then this weekend, we put up the base for our wainscoting, which we hope to have completed by Christmas (or New Year's).

New closet doors

This post is coming about a week late. Last weekend, pre-Thanksgiving, was a busy weekend. What did we do?

• Installed new closet bifold doors
• Attempted to hoist the boat
• Dropped boat on pavement
• Put boat in the back patio
• Tidied and prepped garage for winter
• Winterized patio
• Finished painting half bath threshold (forgot about that months ago)
• Hemmed pants and made an infinity scarf prototype
• Cleaned the house, then made a mess during projects
• Graded papers

We don’t have any pictures of the boat hoist fiasco, because we needed all of our hands involved. Essentially, we need to adjust our pulley spacing and find a way to keep the boat from sliding forward in its cradle as it’s raised. So, after some failed attempts, we rolled Woody around the back and set her deck down on some bunks. I’m sure the neighbors love seeing her back out there.

How we met our house

October 2014

We’re approaching the one year marker when we “met” our house. Looking back through our old gchats, I got lost over my lunch break, reliving the sporadic rollercoaster ride that was selling, moving, buying, and moving again. This time last year, we were cozily living in a one bedroom apartment, our stuff crammed into a storage shed and garage, a mattress squeezed into a tiny bedroom, and boxes were our decor.

Cleaning out the apartment

The ranch had been sold, a harrowing process with an agent definitely not looking out for our interests. We had walked away from a brick ranch that needed more repair than we could handle. We were tired but determined to move on. The apartment was nice, a good price, and life was simpler, too. Granted, you couldn’t watch TV while laundry or dishes were being washed and our upstairs neighbors had some interesting arguments, but overall, it felt a bit like a vacation. Of course, there weren’t any vacation-like things to do, especially in November (unless you count lying on the couch). But after months and months of constantly keeping a house in perfect “show” condition, looking after less than 900 square feet was … kinda nice.

A surreal change: The Ranch House

One year ago, we were living in a one bedroom apartment, trying to move past the dream of renovating a brick ranch on a double lot. The amount of money it would take to fix windows, electric, roof, and plumbing (before we even got to the fun makeover stuff) was beyond our reach. Then this morning over coffee, I stumbled across a new listing. "Our" little brick ranch had been completely overhauled and there's an open house tomorrow. Totally going!

The house when we first saw it

 

I'm going to share some before and afters, because holy cow!

just another "lazy" weekend

Over the past year, we’ve been pretty guilty about “not utilizing” our weekends to start, continue, or finish projects. We can dally like champions! And sometimes we transform into weekend warriors. This was -- unexpectedly -- one of those weekends.

So what did we accomplish this weekend?

1. Painted the green room trim.
2. Bought and selected paint and hardware for new foyer closet doors.
3. Removed the last wallpaper from the dining room.
4. Developed a game plan for the dining room.
5. Cleaned the foyer ledge … ew.
6. Mike painted his kitchen shelf … for the last time.

And it started with closet doors. The foyer closet doors to be exact. Check out these louvered beauties.

Out of nowhere last week, Mike and I got the urge to paint them. Maybe because it’s getting cold out and we’re seeing it more as we reach for our coats. The hardware could also use an upgrade (especially because the knob plate on one was missing, not an uncommon occurrence in this house of random oddities). While contemplating hardware and paint, we noticed the slats were extremely dusty and the thought of cleaning and then painting them--UGH. Our brains stopped right there. Even without knowing prices, we figured there was a time/cost benefit to getting new doors.

So, off we traipsed to Lowes and Menard's to look at bifold doors, hardware, and caulk for the siding (Battle of the Bird). For $39 each, we got two sets of pre-primed panel bifolds, and then splurged on some nice oil-rubbed bronze “dummy” door handles. Plus, Menard’s was doing its 11% rebate, so it was a no-brainer purchase. We leaned the panels against the hall wall, dreaming of the weekend and our glorious transformation.