The Human Tornado

The Human tornado...this is my dad's new nickname. He comes in with a fury, demolishes a job (in a good way) and is gone in the blink of an eye. His latest storm was in the back yard and the kitchen.

I get a call a week ago while I was running errands and it goes something like this:

Dad: I am going to start cutting some of these branches off your tree.

Me: Ok, I'll be home in an hour. DON'T get on the ladder by yourself.

Dad: Ok, see you in a bit.

Me: DON'T GET ON THE LADDER BY YOURSELF.

One hour later....

Now we just need to bundle these and get them to the side of the road.

Please note the LADDER! There used to be branches right above where my dad is standing!

The next tornado hit the kitchen. Yesterday before Matt got home from work, my dad and I took out the kitchen sink and sink cabinet so we could start laying the tile floors. Within an hour, we had quarter turn shut-offs on the water supply lines, a sink on the kitchen floor and a cabinet removed from the wall.

BEFORE

AFTER

Bedroom Reveal - Part II

I finally got to buy some decorative items and not just things like paint brushes and spackle....although the hallway and kitchen are next which will require both items.

Below is the rug we bought at World Market along with some pillows and a chair my grandma gave me. The chair is comfy, but the stripes will have to go. Anyone know where to find a good chair cover?



After a lot of thought (arguments really) at Marshall's Home Goods Store, we decided on brown and orange for the bedroom. I happened to be wearing a dark teal color the day we made the bed and realized it would be a great accent color. The nightstands are temporary for now. The antique store down the street had some tall wood ones that we might go after. For now we are using my summer garage sale purchases!


We picked up the old Lane chest at a garage sale and need to re-upholster the top....whenever we get around to it!

The Master Bedroom Reveal

Remember the dirty, dingy, glue-covered walls of the master bedroom?  We sure do.  We've been looking at them for the past two months - and we were sick of them.  So we hunkered down and made a big push to complete the bedroom by the end of the weekend.  With a little help from our friends (thanks Stacey, and mom), we came pretty darn close.  Our deadline bled into the week a little, but the job of piming and painting all the trim, windows, walls and ceiling is officially complete.  

All of our tedious prep work definitely paid off - the walls look amazing and the ceiling is near flawless.  Can't wait until we can start relaxing in this room!

Scroll down to see the progression...

Hi Stacey.

Trimming out the walls with primer.

First coat of wood paint on the windows and the front wall primed.

First coat of wood paint on the trim.

More primer on the front wall.

Only a small section of the ceiling left to prime.

The room fully primed in the morning.

Blair trimming out the ceiling with flat white paint.

Lookin' good.

Ready to paint.

Our main color* edged in along the ceiling and baseboard.
(Color is Sherwin William's Cashmere line of paint in "Latte")

Everything painted!

We obviously need to put the finishing touches on everything, but at least we moved the bed into its appropriate place.

Reading chair (sans seat cushion or slip cover), dresser and TV.

A Closet to Envy

It's been a while since we've talked about the closet situation in the house, but I think it's worth noting.  Apparently people from the 1920's didn't like/own lots of clothes.  The closets in our two spare bedrooms are only 40 inches wide, and 18" deep at the most.  Notice the small hooks coming off the wall.  These are pretty common throughout the house since the closets lacked the depth to hang things sideways (like we are used to).  

This is a shot of the closet in the master bedroom - before we did any work to it.  Lucky for us, this closet is very deep and significantly wider than the closets in the other rooms.  It is a true walk-in closet.  As was expected, this room was covered with wallpaper and then painted a lovely shade of yellow-cream.  So we had to scrape more wallpaper and prep the walls for paint.

Fans were crucial in the completion of this room for a few reasons.  First, it provided ventilation for the small space and helped the plaster and paint dry quickly.  Secondly, it replaced the "old, fishy" smell the hanging lamp produces with clean air.  (Don't worry - we're removing the hanging lamp and replacing it with two mini-can lights.)

Mom having fun priming the walls.

And lastly, a couple shots of the finished product.  

We didn't get any progress shots of us hanging the shelving system, but we think everything came out great.  The shelving was the "4-8' Rubbermaid Closet" package.  We had to buy a couple extra 13.75" verticals (and we splurged on the 'Belt and Tie Rack'), but everything else was straight out of the box and SUPER easy to install (thanks for helping, Dad).  We went from four tiny hooks to two rows of short-hang, and a section of long-hang in a couple of hours.

More to come...

Kitchen Drawers and Bedroom Floors

Even though we promised not to start any more projects until we finish the bathroom and bedroom, we just HAD to take a break from sanding the walls and ceiling.

Demolition is the greatest feeling - partly because you get to take things apart, but mostly because of the visual impact it has on a space (regardless of how little time/effort was required). Here are a couple shots of our kitchen after we removed another section of the floor and wall cabinets. These cabinets were removed in about 15 minutes and while it makes the room look "uglier," the illusion of progress is profound.

The eventual location of our fridge and dishwasher. The wall cabinets will eventually be painted and rehung in the same location.

The yellow tiles on the walls are the same cheap vinyl variety that were found in our bathroom.

Weeks of sanding plaster off the walls can really make you blind. No - not from the plaster dust falling into your eyes, but to "the way things are" in other areas of the house. Tools spread haphazardly about the spare bedroom, an array of wood trim and green board scraps on the kitchen floor, and a fine layer of plaster dust across everything.

We didn't really notice how bad it had gotten until white footprints started appearing in every room and hallway throughout the house. So Saturday night we decided to spend a half-hour and clean the floors in the master bedroom. We swept the majority of the dust into piles with a broom, and then wet-mopped the rest. The results were fantastic.