In this one, you can see drywall going up in the kitchen! More on that later.
Now, more candy!
10.31.2008
Happy Halloween!
Chevy is in disguise. As El Pollo Loco!
In this one, you can see drywall going up in the kitchen! More on that later.
Now, more candy!
In this one, you can see drywall going up in the kitchen! More on that later.
Now, more candy!
10.28.2008
Turf War
Remember our post-apocalyptic-looking backyard? Or, more properly, post-ridiculously-expensive-sewer-line-replacement?
Well, Bren tilled, seeded, fertilized, and ever-so-tenderly nurtured it back to life.
There are still some patches that didn't get the memo, but it's worlds better looking. Just in time for the first frost.
In his adventures in watching grass grow, Bren came across a homely little squirrel. He thought he was some kind of mutant squirrel, in fact.
Sunday, I swore all morning that I heard a rustling in/around the heating duct in the basement. Then Chevy started acting all weird and looking up at the ductwork. Bren didn't believe either of us until he came down later in the afternoon...only to find Chevy in a tussle with THE MUTANT! (Bum bum BUMMMMM!)
The best documentation I could manage amid the ensuing chaos was this:
He's behind a paint can in the bookshelves that are currently serving as our "garage" in the basement.
Bren and I eventually shooed him out the back door, after several minutes that might have fit well in a Chevy Chase movie. I thought to myself, "Well, he'll never want to do THAT again."
But yesterday, he seemed to think otherwise.
He peered longingly through our kitchen window. We named him Douglas.
We still don't know how he got in. We're taking bets on Chevy vs. Douglas in the event he tries again, though. The staring contests they engage in through the windows are so intense I keep waiting for a tumbleweed to roll by.
"Do you feel lucky, punk?"
Well, Bren tilled, seeded, fertilized, and ever-so-tenderly nurtured it back to life.
There are still some patches that didn't get the memo, but it's worlds better looking. Just in time for the first frost.
In his adventures in watching grass grow, Bren came across a homely little squirrel. He thought he was some kind of mutant squirrel, in fact.
Sunday, I swore all morning that I heard a rustling in/around the heating duct in the basement. Then Chevy started acting all weird and looking up at the ductwork. Bren didn't believe either of us until he came down later in the afternoon...only to find Chevy in a tussle with THE MUTANT! (Bum bum BUMMMMM!)
The best documentation I could manage amid the ensuing chaos was this:
He's behind a paint can in the bookshelves that are currently serving as our "garage" in the basement.
Bren and I eventually shooed him out the back door, after several minutes that might have fit well in a Chevy Chase movie. I thought to myself, "Well, he'll never want to do THAT again."
But yesterday, he seemed to think otherwise.
He peered longingly through our kitchen window. We named him Douglas.
We still don't know how he got in. We're taking bets on Chevy vs. Douglas in the event he tries again, though. The staring contests they engage in through the windows are so intense I keep waiting for a tumbleweed to roll by.
"Do you feel lucky, punk?"
9.13.2008
Breaking News: The Swedes are Coming!
IKEA Opening First Colorado Store (Denver Post)
Since they haven't gone through all the red tape for the land yet, and construction takes an estimated 15-18 months, it may be a while. Nevertheless, I'm excited!
In the meantime, we can all take our cues for frugal and fabulous living from my excellent ladyfriends Arwen, Mary, and Carra at Dirt Chic.
9.04.2008
Still Life With Pumpkin
The bookshelves are a work of art, though I do say so myself.
Now I get to dive into a pile of...
Books! Chevy is particularly interested in Nabokov and Vonnegut.
FYI, here's how Real Simple magazine (which I love -- thanks, Mom O!) suggests people with a "lot" of books should display them:
I think we're on the right track! Although, if Real Simple calls this a lot of books, my life is more complicated than I thought.
8.25.2008
Allow My Shelf to Introduce...My Shelf
Those book shelves are coming along. Of course, when neither wall, floor, nor wood are perfectly straight or level, it's not as easy as it looks. There's some shimming here, some planing there, and a lot of wood filler.
Getting the bottom shelf in was the hardest part.
As of tonight, they look like this:
Pardon our mess. There's something pretty to look at in the living room...
Some bling courtesy of IKEA and CB2. The black things are tealight troughs. Now all we need is a dining table.
I also spent some tedious hours meticulously planning out our kitchen (to the inch) on graph paper. Alas, it's just barely too big for our scanner. Maybe I can do it at work.
Incidentally, work is definitely picking up. Just for fun, I'll leave you with a glimpse of what that looks like:
Getting the bottom shelf in was the hardest part.
As of tonight, they look like this:
Pardon our mess. There's something pretty to look at in the living room...
Some bling courtesy of IKEA and CB2. The black things are tealight troughs. Now all we need is a dining table.
I also spent some tedious hours meticulously planning out our kitchen (to the inch) on graph paper. Alas, it's just barely too big for our scanner. Maybe I can do it at work.
Incidentally, work is definitely picking up. Just for fun, I'll leave you with a glimpse of what that looks like:
7.26.2008
In the Details
Bren and I came back to town eager to work after Oregon. The problem? A Summer that's shaping up to be Denver's hottest and driest to date. The result? We have turned into sluggish basement-dwellers on an all-popsicle diet.
But we have managed to make some progress despite the heat. First, we put base moulding in the living, dining, and bedrooms:
And register covers. In three places, older and larger holes were covered with odd-sized fixtures that I knew it would be difficult to find. I spray painted them with a metallic paint to match this one, and it actually worked!
In the bedroom, Bren installed a ceiling fan.
We got it on clearance at Home Depot, but the blades were really dark, so I painted them, too.
Incidentally, Bren has begun yanking old wiring out of the attic and replacing it. He's really gotten the hang of it! I'll let him expound, though.
I painted in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom, and Bren installed a new light fixture (but we saved the original 1920s globe):
I want to cover this hallway in black framed black-and-white photos, so I was looking for a color that would make the pictures stand out and go well with the floors. This one was called "[something] Khaki." I liked the color OK for this purpose, though I normally eschew all things neutral, but I found that I was hesitating because of the name. Khaki...visions of school uniforms and a not-so-flattering Fight Club reference petrified me. Then Bren said that was silly and we bought the stuff.
As it turns out, the color looks more to me like Winnie the Pooh. I don't know what's worse...
In the dining room, the ceiling was the last of my plastering project I needed to finish and paint. It was still showing some ugly texture, but I refused to put up another layer. I hoped a few coats of primer and flat paint would mask it enough, but it was so hot and muggy the paint bubbled up and peeled off of the plaster. So we drywalled the @#%W#&% thing.
Drywalling overhead is ridiculous. But this job is our best so far. Now we've finished and put up double crown moulding:
Nice. I'm excited to start putting up some art. Tomorrow I'll begin work on the built-in bookshelves. 15 boxes of books are roasting in the bonus room.
I think I may have forgotten how to read...
But we have managed to make some progress despite the heat. First, we put base moulding in the living, dining, and bedrooms:
And register covers. In three places, older and larger holes were covered with odd-sized fixtures that I knew it would be difficult to find. I spray painted them with a metallic paint to match this one, and it actually worked!
In the bedroom, Bren installed a ceiling fan.
We got it on clearance at Home Depot, but the blades were really dark, so I painted them, too.
Incidentally, Bren has begun yanking old wiring out of the attic and replacing it. He's really gotten the hang of it! I'll let him expound, though.
I painted in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom, and Bren installed a new light fixture (but we saved the original 1920s globe):
I want to cover this hallway in black framed black-and-white photos, so I was looking for a color that would make the pictures stand out and go well with the floors. This one was called "[something] Khaki." I liked the color OK for this purpose, though I normally eschew all things neutral, but I found that I was hesitating because of the name. Khaki...visions of school uniforms and a not-so-flattering Fight Club reference petrified me. Then Bren said that was silly and we bought the stuff.
As it turns out, the color looks more to me like Winnie the Pooh. I don't know what's worse...
In the dining room, the ceiling was the last of my plastering project I needed to finish and paint. It was still showing some ugly texture, but I refused to put up another layer. I hoped a few coats of primer and flat paint would mask it enough, but it was so hot and muggy the paint bubbled up and peeled off of the plaster. So we drywalled the @#%W#&% thing.
Drywalling overhead is ridiculous. But this job is our best so far. Now we've finished and put up double crown moulding:
Nice. I'm excited to start putting up some art. Tomorrow I'll begin work on the built-in bookshelves. 15 boxes of books are roasting in the bonus room.
I think I may have forgotten how to read...
6.30.2008
Don't Tread on Me
Subtitle: Piso Mojado.
So goes the saga of our poor floors. We found them under two layers of disgusting carpet.
And a glued-down faux brick entryway.
I tried my hand at making repairs, with limited success. The bedroom closet area, which was a bathroom in the original construction and therefore had never had hardwoods, was incredibly intimidating. In the end, we called in the experts. They did the dusty and stinky work while we were away. Now they look like this:
The bedroom lace-in and finished product:
So cool! Now we can finish the base moulding up here and some final details, and we can start unpacking some stuff and decorating! Very exciting, and just the push we needed to get energized again. The kitchen awaits.
So goes the saga of our poor floors. We found them under two layers of disgusting carpet.
And a glued-down faux brick entryway.
I tried my hand at making repairs, with limited success. The bedroom closet area, which was a bathroom in the original construction and therefore had never had hardwoods, was incredibly intimidating. In the end, we called in the experts. They did the dusty and stinky work while we were away. Now they look like this:
The bedroom lace-in and finished product:
So cool! Now we can finish the base moulding up here and some final details, and we can start unpacking some stuff and decorating! Very exciting, and just the push we needed to get energized again. The kitchen awaits.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
