Passions. Projects. Parenting.
In one weekend you can really accomplish so much. With the men in the kitchen doing demo, electrical, plumbing and more, the ladies were outside painting. My mom is an excellent painter, but she didn’t know it until this weekend as my father doesn’t let her paint! We painted the sun porch and finished the second coat on the front of the house. Here’s a look into what the men did inside.
A long work day, turned into an even longer work day when we returned home to painting and prepping the kitchen for demo day. We worked until dark on opposite sides of the house. Marshall finally finished the top of the house and I worked on painting the trim on the sun room.
After painting, we moved inside and worked on prepping the kitchen for demo day #1.  We emptied some of the kitchen cabinets and arranged the food on a plastic shelving unit in the dining room. We then took the doors off the cabinets and shifted everything in the dining room against one wall away from the wall that is being removed. We also taped plastic between the living room and kitchen archway in hopes to minimize the dust in our stress free zone! Here are some photos of our nightly handiwork; it has to look worse before it looks better… actually we don’t think it could look any worse!
Amidst our house projects, family and friends events, and work we took a break from it all and enjoyed a night at the pitch with my brother and his wife. It was so fun to just enjoy the city and a night off!
We put our house projects and planning on hold this weekend for a very special occasion. We had such an amazing weekend. We packed up the car on Friday morning to take off after work for the Finger Lakes, my home, for my baby sister’s wedding. We met my parents and Angela at Belhurst Castle for a cocktail and then home for dinner and wedding day prep!
Saturday was filled. We had  a lot of wedding stuff to do, but most importantly we packed our lunches and headed to the nursing home to have lunch with G&G. Grandma was in the best spirits I have seen her in a long time, it was probably the beautiful sight of Baby Eden. When we were leaving, she told me she loved me and my day was made. Oh, I was the make up artist (self-proclaimed) for the weekend. Here is my beautiful sister after her “trial.”
Later, we went to the rehearsal at Garrett Chapel on Keuka Lake. Ange and Jeff were so happy and excited for the big day. We had a wonderful lobster dinner at 540, my grandparents place on Keuka Lake, hosted by Jeff’s parents.
The wedding day was beautiful. Angela was a princess, it was truly a fairytale wedding. When she turned to walk down the aisle with my father, it took a lot not to cry, especially when you saw the look on her husband’s face! I can’t wait to see the awesome photos her lovely photographer took, the talented Kelly Lorenz (http://www.klimagery.com/).
Congrats to Ange and Jeff!
On the way to my bachelorette weekend I was counting the girls in the car and quickly realized that one of us would be sleeping on the couch. We were staying with my sister in Boston. Normally, this is something that people go back and forth on, but my sister’s couch is the coziest, comfyist couch I have EVER sat on. Immediately I called it.
The Axis couch from Crate & Barrel is worth saving all of your pennies for- yes all of them! Even though our couch is only 2 years old, we are already saving to buy this (hopefully soon!). My sister and her husband lucked-out completely. They bought the couch ½ off at a Crate & Barrel outlet. Jealous, so am I!
One of my favorite smells of summer is fresh-cut grass, that and the air right before and after it rains. Tonight was the perfect combination of both. As we have been painting machines, as my almost-married sister put it, we have neglected our lawn and its grown to great lengths. It reminded me of our first time mowing the lawn this past spring, or I should say not mowing the lawn.
When we moved into the house it was late-October and there was no need to mow the lawn. Soon after we moved in, we had our first snow and purchasing shovels and salt for the walkway and driveway was more important. This spring we had a standoff with our lawn. We didn’t have a lawnmower and it just kept growing and growing and planning our wedding was eating up our time. Each day we would return from work secretly hoping that it would magically be mowed by a nice neighbor. We finally borrowed my brother’s lawnmower, mowed it and broke it before we decided it was time to purchase our own.
After nearly a week of checking and answering Craigslist ads, we struck gold. A family in a near-by zip code was getting rid of a $250+ John Deer push mower for $45. We offered $50 and won. When we picked it up, he told us he had nearly 20 immediate responses and chose us because we were the only ones offering to pay more!
Other than getting rid of our apartment, it was our second positive interaction with Craigslist. Now we have the smell of fresh-cut grass anytime we want it. Thanks Craigslist!
While the painting continues, Marshall and I pass the time we’re spending on the exterior thinking and planning our upcoming kitchen and laundry area remodel. In a previous post we shared our kitchen plans, but have not really discussed what we are planning to do with the laundry area.
Our laundry is near our back entrance on the first floor. The stackable washer/dryer is in a big entryway closet to the left of the entrance. The previous owner did us a favor by moving the laundry unit to the first floor, unlike many homes in the neighborhood that are in the basement, but they didn’t quite think it thought. The closet is not big enough to fit the current unit and most new units, which is probably why the closet is missing doors, as they wouldn’t fit. Also, the huge closet has nothing but the laundry unit in it. There are no shelves, hooks or anything.
When we moved into the house, as a quick fix we added a few nails to hang shopping bags, plastic bags, and the dust buster from. We also put a small, white shelving unit inside the closet to organize our cleaning supplies.
We decided to wrap the laundry closet remodel into the kitchen project not simply due to their proximity, but also because we are replacing the mismatched flooring that the two spaces share. As we will have to move the laundry unit out, it makes sense to replace it at the same time. Also, to make the new, more-open kitchen look finished, the laundry closet would need to have doors and this can’t be done without some work. Therefore, it’s the perfect time.
We plan to add a wall of shelving as well as upper shelves for storage of paper towels, vases and other kitchen items. We also want the new units to be enclosed with wood, so we can use the top of the units as a folding station. There will be a bit of extra dead space to the right of the units, which is where we plan to put a two-compartment laundry hamper on wheels, perfect for separating before washing. Lastly, we plan to add doors, which will finish off the space and help contain any noise from the machines.
YoungHouseLove, one of my favorite home remodeling blogs, remodeled their laundry area and it serves as perfect inspiration.
Now, if the after pictures were as simple as the click of a mouse…
I am always amazed how slowly Friday comes and how quickly Sunday arrives, but here we are…
After our exciting Lowes trip, we enjoyed the sunset out of our living room window and listening to the rain.
Marshall was consumed all weekend with the gutter system. What was supposed to take a morning took a day and a half. We found some water damage from a gutter that was clogged. To fix it, we changed the construction of the downspout and put a gutter shield on it. Oh, and I was left scrapping off the damaged paint. You can see the water path it is that bad. The downpour Saturday afternoon and evening didn’t help!
Nearly 3/4 of the house is now painted!
And we straightened our tools, a bit!
As family task master, we have two weeks to finish the house. We could really use next weekend, but it’s my little sis’s wedding. It’ll be a nice break! 🙂
Aside from painting and more painting. Marshall had a bachelor party, and while he was gone  Amber, Adam and Elena dropped by during a showing of their home. Adam was hungry and downed a bowl of Wegmans Peanut Butter Puffs. I couldn’t resist taking photos of him crunching away.
Aside from a now beautiful pink and gray sunset, it poured and poured rain today. It was one of those days where your sun room, warm blanket and book are calling you. We knew early on that we couldn’t paint tonight. So, we decided to price out some kitchen appliances after our mid-week kitchen planning session with my parents. We go to The Home Depot all the time, because there is one near our house and one near our work. We decided to venture a little farther to Lowes tonight, but we plan to price out Sears and a local mom and pop. Here’s what we found at Lowes:
Like all consumers, we wanted a great deal. We are purchasing five appliances, that has to count for something. We were lucky when Andy, the Manager at our local Lowes, walked up to help us. We told him that we were shopping for a gas range, over the range microwave, dishwasher, and a washer and dryer. He told us that right now they are running a 10% off sale on Energy Star appliances. We also have a 10% off coupon, which we plan to take back at purchase, if we purchase from Lowes.
We started with gas ranges, Frigidaire and Frigidaire Gallery seemed to fit into our budget. Both of these are in the running. I love the more expensive one for the extra space and look(799.00), while Marshall and the Manager think that the less expensive one will do the same thing ($649.00), what your really paying for is self-cleaning and style. This Samsung microwave would match the range nicely ($224).
Next we moved onto dishwashers. I read a great deal on Whirlpool dishwashers today. Going into Lowes, I knew this was a brand they carried. The Whirlpool Gold 24-inch Energy Star is the dishwasher I would like, however we were hoping to spend less than $400 and on sale this ends up at $485.
Lastly, we walked over to the washer and dryers. Like I said earlier, I spent some time with Consumer Reports today and I really spent a while looking into washer and dryers. One of the CR’s Recommended Buys was an affordable LG model. However, when I read more on the LG brand, CR said that they are reviewed to leave a mildewy, musty smell, as does the Maytag brand. A way around this is cleaning the bin every now and then with tablets and leaving the door open to let the inside air dry after each use. Yikes! I read further and landed on the Samsung 4.0 Front Load Washer and Dryer Energy Star ($539, washer and $599, dryer). I am in love- I know that is so dorky, but I can’t wait to get my new laundry room in order. Right now it is an eye-soar and not functional. We plan to change both.
We were able to do a lot of work yesterday- no rain! I tackled the wall I had cut and prepped on Tuesday and Marshall did some trim work up high and then scrapped more of the house.
Once we decided against spraying the house, we purchased a roller extension pole at The Home Depot and it was a great investment at $2o. I was able to roll more than 1/2 of this wall using just that, without a ladder.
Additionally, to make the rolling go faster, we purchased a general bucket and two paint grids to hang on the side. This makes for less time to refill a shallow roller liners.
Tomorrow we will tackle the rest of this wall and hope to get the back of the house and the garage done!
Our Fine House 