Yard Work

Wine of the Day:  Fat Bastard - Cabernet Sauvignon

Since we got back from the honeymoon the weather has been warming up and we have been doing a ton of yard work.  Both the front and back yards needed some TLC. 

We started in the front by tearing out three 20 year old bushes and their broken planter box.  The center bush had started to die while the other two became overgrown.  We thought about salvaging the planter to plant something else but it appeared to be beyond repair so the whole thing had to go. 

 

 

Next we moved onto the tree.  For reasons unknown the base of the tree had a mulch area three times larger than necessary.  You can see in the picture how it spans almost from one side of the yard to the other.  We decided to take that down a bit to be a more reasonable size. 

 

We now have a beautifully grass seeded front yard that is starting to be green again!

 

Onto the back yard...

 

This is what we were working with.  A lot of dead plants, old mulch and some sort of ivy that was taking over one corner.  We also had an AC unit that was about 2" underground, but as you can see that was already taken care of.  Our row of houses has been known to flood too so we wanted to elevate more towards the house and have the land slope away gradually.  We also have a deck on the second floor that shades some of the yard too much for grass to grow.  We decided to use the white marble chips around the deck and then have grass our in the yard where it is not as shady. 

 

 

The white rocks give it a much cleaner look and feels like an extension of the deck.  We also added about 20 feet of gutter to keep the water away from the house and drain at the back of the yard.  Last fall we significantly cut back the bush in the corner because it was overgrown and unhealthy looking.  So far it has come back looking great and I can't wait to see what color the flowers are (I think they're purple).  Grass seed has been planted and has started to peak up through the hay!

 

The cats don't go outdoors but they would sit in the windows and watch us work. 

 

 

 

Now we need to invest in a lawn mower and get the decks washed and stained.

 

cheers,

k



Miscellaneous House Projects

Wine of the Day: Vrabewood '13

I've mostly just been posting about the larger projects going on but we do have some small ones too. 

This was going on in the basement bathroom:

 

The walls seem to have been left the builder grade off white but then dark blue and green sponge paint was added.  We are painting it my favorite neutral gray, adding a new framed mirror and towel ring to match.  Much more like home now!

Then there was this in the 3rd bedroom upstairs:

As big of fan as I am of Barbie pink nail polish, I am NOT a fan of Barbie pink closets.  This is getting painted white like a normal closet and Brian installed a new shelf too.  It is now fully functional!

Lastly, we have the dining room wainscot. 

We already have chair rail in the dining room with a white on white striped wallpaper below.  We decided to spice it up a bit though by adding wood panel wainscot.  Color is still TBD but Brian has been doing an excellent job installing it!

Blog posts wouldn't be complete without a few cat pictures.  Enjoy!

Kahlua

Brutus and Lucy

Bria Ball

 Cheers,

k

So Much Done - So Much Left To Do

Wine of the Day: Winery at Olney - Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel

Brian and I (with help from Mom, Dad and Jon) have made a lot of progress on the new house! 

- Kitchen wallpaper is GONE
- Coat closet and pantry have had shelves taken out, been painted and had shelves put back in
- Half bath was painted, new mirror and towel ring have been acquired
- Living room and dining room have been painted (with the exception of where we plan to install wainscot)
- Kitchen is painted
- Move complete

This is what we were working with:

Kitchen

Kitchen

Living Room

Bathroom pink - being converted to gray

Pink striped kitchen, pink bathroom and a light seafoamy green living and dining room.  When we bought the house we thought "this is in great condition, we only need to update a few cosmetic things".  However, we learned the hard way why contractors charge by the hour to remove wallpaper.  The whole process was very tedious and time consuming; I plan on never doing it again and would advise you not to try if you haven't already.  After a few days the kitchen looked more like this:

Then after about a week and a half it looked more like this:

 THANK YOU MOM!  She stuck right there with us tearing it down and washing to glue off the walls with us.  She even was over some days without us.  But, eventually we got to the fun part... painting.  (Yes, after tearing down wallpaper painting IS considered fun.)

I had already picked Sherwin Williams - Popular Gray for the living room and dining room but before we started in the kitchen I decided to go with a different color.  We agreed on Sherwin Williams - Ivoire; it is a light yellow neutral about the same shade as the Popular Gray.  Here is the almost finished product:

You can see in this last picture that we also went ahead and purchased a new range and microhood.  This is officially the first microwave I've owned and no, I haven't used it yet.  The new appliances really help the whole space feel updated.  We also have new blinds in all the front windows.  Then, we also had a new wood step installed in the dining room and all the carpets cleaned. 

I know that dark colors can make a space feel smaller but I was amazed at how much bigger the kitchen felt after removing the wallpaper.  It was so worth it.  Now our home is light and bright and ready to be lived in.  We have officially moved in and gotten all the cats moved in last weekend.  Everything is going great so far with the exception of Bria's one indiscretion. 

Bria somehow managed to pop a vent cover out of the floor in the master bedroom.  When I got home from work one day I discovered it on the floor next to where it was supposed to be.  Of course I immediately start panicking and calling for her.  Sure enough, she was down in the vent and I could hear a faint meow.  I was so worried she was hurt or had fallen or was stuck... thinking the worst of course, so I went running all over the house trying to find a flashlight and looking in other vents calling for her.  I finally ran into the guest bedroom at the complete other end of the house, popped off the vent cover and she crawled right out.  Then she had the nerve to act like nothing happened.  So, now we will be screwing those into the floor.  Here is little Miss Dust Bunny herself:

You can see how gray her tummy fur is.  At least we have a nice clean vent now, right?  All I can say is "thanks for the heart failure, you better not do it again".

Next up, the basement.

Cheers,
k

Renovating the Condo Kitchen

Wine of the Day: Vendage - Sauvignon Blanc

Some of you may already know that Brian and I have bought a new house!  We can start moving in Monday next week and could not be more excited.  We have decided to keep the condo as well as a rental property.  In an effort to attract better/high paying tenants we went ahead and updated the kitchen.  The kitchen we have been using was updated years ago by the previous owner and was starting to show some wear and tear.  It also lacked storage for large items like pots and pans and just lacked storage in general for such a large space. These are some before pictures:

We like the white cabinets with white appliances; it really makes the kitchen feel bright.  You can see too that the appliances are all relatively new (the stove is less than a year old) but the cabinets and counters could use some work.  That last picture shows my least favorite of them all.  This one is by the stove and has clearly taken a beating by all the steam.  The second picture shows our only full size wall cabinet.  Not pictured is the wasted corner space between the sink and stove.  Also not pictured is how off center and unlevel everything is.  Another problem I have with this kitchen for a rental is the laminate countertops.  Not only is that my least favorite type of counter, but one hot pot gets set on it and it could be ruined.

So, we drew up a plan and headed to Home Depot!  After purchasing cabinets and counters we called up our contractor, Bill, and he got straight to work.  I came home after one day to this:

All the old cabinets and counters were gone and so was most of the drywall.  He explained that the way the backsplash (that I hated) was installed he basically had to rip all the drywall apart to get it off so he was just going to put up some nice new drywall for us.













We hit a minor snafu with the plumbing but he called his plumber out and got right back to work.  A few days later I came home to this:

We stuck with white to match our appliances but went with solid wood rather than the laminated cabinets.  We also changed the layout a bit.  Moved the stove 6" toward the refrigerator and the sink 8" toward the doorway to get a nice large corner cabinet in there for pots and pans.  We also decided to drop the wall cabinet down over the sink to be flush with the other cabinets.  I was concerned about this at first since typically kitchens seem to have a smaller cabinet above the sink.  However, since we moved the sink over, in order to do that we would end up with only one full wall cabinet and it would be smaller than what we had originally.  The idea being to acquire more storage, this seemed counter productive so we went with two full wall cabinets straight across.  I think it will be ok in the end. 

All the appliances are back in place.  Bill said he just has a few more touch ups to do and then he will be out of there.  Now that the cabinets are set in their final places we have the counter top installers scheduled.  Then Brian and I can get to painting that fresh new drywall and adding a backsplash!

All this time my poor cats have been locked up in a room so they can't get into anything.  When I let them out after work they love to go see what is going on though.  Kahlua has made herself right at home on Bill's equipment.

I can't wait to share the final product with you but even more than that I can't wait to get moved in to our new place and have a functioning kitchen again!!!

Cheers,
k

Quilt for Kristen's Baby #3

Wine of the Day:  The Winery at Olney - Montepulciano

My lovely coworker Kristen is pregnant with her third!  Which of course means I am embarking on a new baby quilt adventure.  She and her husband have decided not to find out the gender, so neutral palette it is.  I decided on gray and yellow for a number of reasons.  First, she told me she was thinking about painting the nursery a light gray.  Second, I like gray and yellow together.  Third, I thought I could make a mature baby palette out of these colors.  Upon fabric selection I decided to include light tan as well to add interest while staying neutral. 

I once again am making up the pattern as I go along.  This will include 3 strips of 2"x6" fabrics in grays, yellows and tans with strips of a yellow/gray patterned fabric between and around.

AKA this:

I decided all of this and cut all my 2"x6" strips in the same day.  Then, I laid it out how I wanted the colors to look.  Clearly, Kahlua approved so now I can move forward.

Here is a close up of the fabrics so you can get a better sense of the patterns.

I do think the fabrics are mature for an infant quilt but I didn't want to go too baby or cartoony with this one.  Also, I find that a lot of baby fabrics are not gender neutral so that eliminated a good deal for me.  I think with the light yellow as the dominate fabric though, it will still give it a softer, babier feel to it.  Thoughts?

Bria helping was a rare sight so I had to make sure I captured it!  That's her hiding in the hole in the background.  Actually, she is the most helpful because she stays out of the way!!!  

(I think I made up a few words in this post, no judging)

Cheers,
k

Patriotic Quilt Top Done

Wine of the Day: The Winery at Olney - Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel

I have finally gotten back to work on the Patriotic Quilt after months of it being on hold.  It felt really good to start work on it again this weekend.

Brutus was eager to help again this time.  He has gotten so big!  His enthusiasm is a little overwhelming though.  He is very quick and very persistent, but also gets bored and tired easily as he is still a kitten, which led to this:

  

Not helping!

And then this:

Definitely not helping!

Somehow through it all though, I managed to get the entire top pieced.  I decided to start with strips.  I sewed all of my squares into long strips and then went to work sewing the strips together. The most challenging part of doing it this way was getting the corners of the squares to align.  I managed to get about 85% of the corners to line up perfectly.  Those that weren't perfect were so close though that there were only a few that I redid.  Some of the fabric needed to be folded to perfectly align though so I need to go back and make sure it all is laying flat in the back.  

This is the largest quilt I've done and I was surprised by the weight of it. So far, I am pleased with my work.  Here is a close up of one of the corners where 4 squares come together.  If anyone has a suggestion of another way to piece this type of quilt, please let me know for next time!

Now I am scheming on how to piece the back!

Cheers,

kara

Brutus's First Time Helping

Wine of the Day: Zenato - Cormi - Corvina Merlot

Well I did what I said I was going to do and ripped out most of the quilting I had done.  I only left about 3 lines, unstuck the backing from the batting, laid it really flat, pinned the crap out of it and started again.  Who knew that seam ripping would actually take longer than sewing???  I had plenty of help though.

 

 

 

 

My usual helpers: Lucy and Kahlua.

 

 

My new helper: Brutus.

They were all kind enough to lay on the quilt and hold it flat for me as I pinned it.  Then Brutus got distracted.

And, Kahlua decided to lay down on the job.  Unfortunately, she wanted to lay behind the machine as I was trying to quilt causing quite the backup.

I think it's safe to say that she was done being a helper for the night.  Somehow I managed to get all my lines sewn though.  The back fabric is much flatter with hardly any puckering now.  I am very glad that I took the time and effort to redo it.  I think the edging will be much easier to sew now.  Not to mention that the quilt will look much nicer too!  Here are some close up images of the fabrics used.

Lastly, I trimmed all the edges so they are ready for the edging.  I am hoping to complete it by our next book club date, which is November 29th.  Wish me luck!

kara