Good Bye

Last Minute Updates

Our claw foot tub is one of my favorite features of the house. It is long enough I can actually soak myself in it and deep enough to cover me completely. The only thing it is missing is a shower. I could live without one but Daniel really wants to be able to shower off after a run so when we first moved we looked in to getting a shower adapter. Boy was I unprepared for that cost. We decided to go the piecemeal route and have been adding parts as we go.

 I decided to finally bite the bullet and get the kit only to find it was more than I remembered. Ugh. I hate when that happens. As he was tallying things up I noticed that between the shower head and a new handle for the hand shower it was over $200. Not happening. I fumed a bit and decided I'd do some more research and buy a shower head and hand held somewhere else. Sometimes it is good to listen to your gut.

 A quick ebay search for hand held porcelain shower heads and $25 later I got to switch from broken and cracked

to shiny and new.

Ahh the joys of the internet. Kitty found it fascinating too.

Can you believe she is only 6 months old? We think she's got some Maine Coon in her. After all she is fascinated by water (apparently that is a common trait).

I wish I could show you our fancy new shower kit but the plumbing guy neglected to tell me I needed to get something to attach it to the wall and it will take two weeks to get here. **sigh** But until then I am no longer in danger of hand lacerations while bathing. Bonus!

Anyone else manage to score a great deal online after being told they'd have to give their first born for a plumbing piece? Have a kitty who is fascinated by water? It is the strangest thing. I swear she would climb in the tub if she wasn't afraid she'd get wet.
Cheers!

Planting Some Sunshine

My daffodils are getting ready to bloom but otherwise my garden is looking pretty sad. Luckily a few .99 cent primroses from Home Depot were all it needed to stretch a little longer in to spring.

Now I have little bursts of sunshine when I look out my windows. Hopefully when I come home my daffodils will be in full bloom and there will be even more life in the back yard. It is almost time to start prepping for my first round of veggies. Sproutbot says I can plant chard, green onions, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard greens, peas and radishes mid March.  I've been doing some research on heirloom varieties and can't wait to have my own garden going.

Anyone else have a veggie garden? I'm pretty sure my thumb is hazel at this point but I'm hoping I can at least manage peas.
Cheers!

One Good Turn Deserves Another

Ever since the front door got new hardware the back door has been looking a little sad.

We added the new Kwikset key pad but the door knob was pathetic. It didn't even latch! With company coming it was time for a change. I rounded up all of my ReStore donations and headed down to see what I could get.

Isn't she a beaut? I love the art-deco detailing on the knob and plate. I even matches the color of the key pad. I'd love to tell you who made it, but the ReStore doesn't exactly have labels. Though now it makes me want to paint our door. I mean, how can you not love that pop of color?

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Once the dust has settled something bright and cheery might be just the thing our back door needs. 

Cheers!

Rainy Days

I'm busily working on projects but my helpers seem to be taking the day off.

It's a good thing they are so cute.
Cheers!

Empty Nest

Since we are leaving soon, we have been trying to finish up all of the little projects and get things clean before our guests arrive. After all, who wants to stay in a house that looks like a construction zone? We have the guest bedroom down stairs which is still as clean as always but I'd like the upstairs to look a little more put together which means cleaning up the now construction staging area that was our bedroom. After some serious elbow grease yesterday I got it from this

to this

The room is too big to take pictures of now. You can see in the picture above how the old wall came in the room. That strange brown patch is the unfinished fir floor that runs through the house. Obviously no further progress has been made on the drywall. Daniel has been swamped with work so the electrical will have to wait until we get home.

Daniel did get one thing done though. My closet has doors!

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to where everything we were storing in the room went? That's right. What do you mean that isn't what closets are for?

As much as I am looking forward to lounging on a beach for a week, I am even more excited about getting moving with the kitchen. Is that weird? If it is I don't care. We spent a good couple of hours yesterday gabbing about how we see things progressing and it really got me going. Go team kitchen!

Oh, and to anyone who plans to build a closet with bifold doors- when they say they need an 80 1/2 inch opening they mean it. Don't ask, just believe me, it will save you a lot of pain if you just follow the directions.

Anyone else have vacation plans coming up that are getting in the way of your house renovations? I kid. I am looking forward to some sun!
Cheers!

For Those of Us who Can't Wait

I have been so giddy about our new light fixture for our living room. It is the perfect piece for the space and compliments the adjacent dining room chandelier perfectly (even though it still needs to be hung). Totally worth scouring antique shops and the ReStore until I found it. But, I know not everyone is that patient or has as much access to the resources I have in a larger city. If you are looking for classic American lighting and hardware apparently there is a place for you (of course with the power of the Internet this should be obvious but I digress).

A few days ago a catalogue for Rejuvenation arrived in my mail box. I love catalogues, not sure why, I hardly ever buy anything from them but they are fun to peruse. This one had me at the cover.

They make reproductions of classic lighting and restore antique lighting as well. They are based out of Portland OR and are simply amazing. If you want period lighting for your house but don't want to wait until you find them second hand this is a great resource.

Here are some of my favorites.

Blackstone

This one is super fun and mid-century modern

Dora

Colonial

Lobelia

They also have some neat enameled pieces. 

McCoy

I could go on and on. I mean, how pretty is this?

and this

They also have a great selection of hardware, hinges and pulls. Their prices are pretty reasonable and they sell both to the public and to trade. We are still exploring lighting options for the kitchen (which is still going along just very slowly) so I've been drooling over their pendents. I'm still thinking I'm going to try and DIY something but they have some great inspiration. 

Anyone else have good lighting resources? I'm bored with the selection at the usual places and looking for something amazing for the kitchen. I'd love to hear where you go for light fixtures. 

Cheers!

P.S. I wasn't paid to write this post (though I'd take free lighting any day), I just think this is a pretty awesome place for period lighting. They have a blog too. Check it out!

Happy Valentines Day!

We don't usually celebrate Valentines Day but when I saw this on Pinterest I couldn't resist.

You can choose from a variety of colors and even add a little date under your initials. This would be a great anniversary present or wedding present. Eventually it will go above a night stand in the bedroom but since the bedroom is still spread all over the house it is living on our mantel with my anniversary map from last year.
Cheers!

25 Random Things About Me

I love getting to know you all better, so here's a little bit about myself.

1. I hate shoes, I always feel like my feet are suffocating if my toes are covered.
2. I've always had a pet. Even in apartments that didn't allow them. 
3. I have no tolerance for drama of any kind. I fast forward through movies when they get too dramatic (even on screen kisses are too much for me)
4. I love to read young adult novels. Tamora Pierce is my favorite author ever.
5. I've always wanted to write a book, but I'm afraid no one will like it so I don't.
6. I eat chocolate every day. 
7. I have long imaginary conversations with my dog. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm crazy but he likes the attention. 
8. I love green Tabasco more than any other food. I can't even keep a bottle in the house, it will be gone immediately. 
9. I used to teach High school English. I loved it but I will never go back.
10. I would rather be in the water than on land.
11. I get motion sick basically in anything that moves. Boats, helicopters, cars, you name it I've thrown up in it. 
12. My husband and I had a long distance relationship for three years.
13. If I had my way I would read 2-3 books a day.
14. I don't want children. I like them, but I can't imagine raising one.
15. I always secretly wanted to be a cat lady.
16. I have a problem with notebooks. I buy them constantly and never use them. 
17. I hate dancing. We didn't even have dancing at our wedding. 
18. I love to sing. 
19. I have no self control. The only way I can keep myself away from things I shouldn't have is to physically remove them from my life (you will never find potato chips in my house).
20. I still have my stuffed teddy Brixbe that I got when I was 4 (ish?). He lives in the living room and I don't care who sees him.
21. My favorite movie of all time is Muppet Treasure Island. I watch it at least 2-3 times a week.  
22. I rode horses for five years when I was young. I'd love to go back but it is a bigger time commitment than I can handle.
23. I can play the piano.
24. I can't spell to save my life. 
25. Spring is my favorite time of year. 

Come on over to Perfectly Imperfect and check out some more randomness. 

Cheers!

Door Candy

We moved in to our new house last May and I am just now getting around to changing the locks. I know, shame on me. It should have been the first thing we did but alas, life just gets away from me some times. With an upcoming vacation and new people coming to watch the pets I figured it was high time to get it done. With out further ado...

Front door before

Front door after

Back door before

Back door after

When we moved in the house came with one key and five different locks. Kwikset makes it so much easier. Even though we didn't buy both locks in a set we were able to re-key them ourselves. Now we have one key for both doors. I love the keypad on the back. Now when I take Norman out for a walk I don't have to worry about locking myself out. And they look much better too.

Though of course, you do one upgrade and you start to notice all of the other things that need to be fixed. That back door is on the list. Maybe a nice cheery yellow? I'll put that one on the back burner for now but it is nice to have one project that is completely done. We are still moving at a snails pace but I don't mind. It will all be worth it when we are done!

Anyone have good plans for the weekend? Mine involve work and drywall.
Cheers!

P.S. Anna over at Directions Not Included wrote a great post about no-reply commenter's. Check it out. I love your comments but it is even better when I can write you back! Thanks for the PSA Anna!

Beach Lovin'

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I've got vacation on the mind. 

Cheers!

Light Up my Life

We've been quietly searching for a new light fixture for awhile now. Biding our time until the perfect fixture came along. Early on in our home buying process we decided we wouldn't buy anything we didn't love, even if that meant living with something we weren't super excited about until we did. This means we are making do with a lot of less than desirable fixtures, furniture, and flooring until the right stuff comes our way (and that we can afford it).

Ever since we moved in there was one fixture that we unanimously loved. Our living room light

I love how ornate and interesting it is. After looking around for a while I realized it is a pretty common light fixture. Or at least there are many variations on the theme. Even Miss Mustard Seed found one (and for four dollars!)

I've seen them bigger, smaller, sconce sized and even with colored crystals but I've always thought the one we had would look great somewhere you could see it better. Somewhere like the dining room. Of course that would mean I needed to find a replacement for the living room so we were essentially back at square one. Until I struck gold at my local ReStore.

It has a familiar looking sticker on the inside that I've seen on a few other lights we have. I need to do some research and find out what it all means.

All she needed was some elbow grease and paint remover.

What lovely arms you have.

Now I just need to get the light in the dining room hung. Maybe tomorrow.
Cheers!

Clean Slate

Construction is messy. So messy our wall removal had begun to over take both the front porch

and much of the back yard.

Let's just say enough was enough. Last Thursday Daniel and I did a hard push to clean and consolidate everything we couldn't salvage and Friday we rented a truck and spent the day moving everything to the dump. Now I can literally say I moved a ton of crap debris out of my house. Besides being incensed at the things people throw away (I could not count the number of chairs, couches, and other furniture I saw in piles) it was a pretty straight forward project. At about 200$ all said and done between the truck rental and dump fees it was definitely worth our time.

Now I have a clean back yard

and an almost clean front porch.

We seized the day and picked up the drywall needed to get started on closing up the wall in the kitchen so it is currently residing on the only large flat surface we have. Hey, where else do you store 4x12 foot slabs of sheet rock?

I worked all weekend so we didn't get much substantial done but we finally made headway on one major project.

Don't recognize it? I'll give you a hint. It used to look like this

That's right! It is going to be my new closet (eventually). I'm just excited to be able to use all of the space. I am feeling very accomplished right now so here's to another productive week.

How was your weekend? Did you spend it working or cleaning? Anyone do anything fun? We've had some beautiful spring weather which has me itching to do something out doors.
Cheers!