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What a Difference $5.00 Makes 05-09-2008 The family room has been an ongoing project. I kept trying to work with what was there, but it was never quite right. A few months ago, I finally realized the wallpaper on the upper half of the walls had to go. It was a big job, but it was also an improvement. The bottom half of the walls had paneling, with a chair rail above it. I contemplated keeping the chair rail, but it was really cheap moulding and I wanted to have one uniform wall color. I figured that would open up the room a lot. And so, I began the tedious task of removing the paneling, chair rail, and the wallpaper underneath the chair rail. I should have just bought some wallpaper stripper, but like most projects in this house, this was an impromptu thing. I started working after the kids were in bed, but before Micah got home from a long day of work. I spared him from yet another one of my big ideas. We were at Home Depot the other day, looking for a medicine cabinet for the master bathroom (to no avail). I spotted some "oops" paint in a shade of green that I really liked. Micah read the codes on the label and determined it was a custom color, meaning that someone brought in a sample of something and tried to have it matched. Now, I am not a fan of Behr paint. I think it's an absolute ripoff, and I think Color Place is a better, thicker paint. I made a worthwhile exception. This time, I asked for Micah's help. He stayed up until 1:00 AM helping me paint, then patted me on the back and said, "Happy Birthday". I guess I saved him a trip from to the mall.  The photos section has been updated with the changes. The Block Sale 04-29-2008 Every year, our neighborhood has a giant "block sale". The signs boast that over 60 homes participate. I decided it was time for me to head to the attic and figure out what I could sell. It was a hot day - probably 120 degrees in the attic - but I was determined. I had huge Rubbermaid containers of baby clothes from the twins. They had some beautiful clothes, and everything was in pristine condition. One hour of moving boxes and six hours of sorting later, every item was labeled. We set up the laptop on the bistro, sat down, and listened to the all-Radiohead station. Almost immediately, cars started pulling up. We had so much fun - Micah and I joked around, Will played in his pack-and-play, and the twins rode their bikes and picked flowers.  Maybe it was the bright pink posters that were waving on all the street signs, but by day's end, we had made $200.00. What shocks me is that we still have a lot of stuff. I am going to spend some time this weekend dividing the rest of the clothes by size so I can sell them as lots on eBay. People love lots for some reason. I also have some larger items, like the Super Gate and that God-awful laundry center, which I will probably post on Craigslist. If all else fails, we will have another sale. The Built-In 04-15-2008 When we moved into this house, one of the first things we noticed was the big box sticking out of the master bedroom wall. It turned out to be a cabinet, and that cabinet was an "ironing center". The mere idea of ironing at all, much less in the middle of the bedroom, was completely foreign to me. I make a point of not buying clothes that require ironing at all. Nonetheless, there it stood.  I removed the four screws that were holding it into the wall, not anticipating how heavy the entire unit would be. All that remained was a hole in the wall, between two studs. I wasn't sure what I could do with an area that was only 14.5 inches wide and 4 inches deep, but I also knew I wanted to do something creative. I could see the back of the drywall that lined the inside of the closet, and a stud from an adjoining wall running down the middle.  One confusing trip to Home Depot later, I had everything I needed. I had everything pre-cut, and thankfully it all fit together well.  I was surprised that I was able to figure it out. The next step was to paint the whole thing white, but it still looked messy. I had a back piece that was only 11 inches wide, so the sides were uneven (2 inches on the left, 1.5 in on the right).  I went back out, bought a miter box with a hand saw (only $8.00, to my surprise), and some moulding. Micah took over at that point. While he worked, I opened the $9.00 cabinet light I bought at Wal-Mart. I did not know the two lights were actually one unit, and it was too wide to fit. I ended up sawing off some of the plastic casing to make it fit. Here's the finished product:   Suburban Sunset 04-06-2008 I just wanted to share some pretty sunset pictures. Both are views from the master bedroom windows.   What's Underneath Pt. 2 04-05-2008 I decided to pull the carpet back in Molly and Mia's room. There, in the corner, were the hardwood floors I had been itching to see all along. They didn't appear to be in bad condition, either. 20 Minutes later, there was no turning back. I had folded the carpet and carried it down to the garage. This horrified Micah, who could barely lift the thing. It's about time I got some credit for my physical strength. That was when I noticed the floor was not in very good shape. There were a lot of scratches and water stains. There was no way I was going to wait a while before refinishing them. Micah went out to Home Depot and rented a really good sander. I don't care how useless it would have been in the long run. I would have bought that thing in a second if I had the money. 
Step one: Remove staple from carpet pad. Repeat this step about, oh, twenty thousand times. 
Step two: Realize that despite its flimsy appearance, smoothedge is very hard to remove. Curse the fact that it's nailed down every 6 inches. Keep pulling back with the end of your hammer, watch out for the nails and try not to hit the wall (I meant that literally). 
Step three: Begin sanding. 
Step four: Pause in sadness. The big stain will never really go away. Regret that you didn't at least buy wood bleach. 
Step four: Admire your sanded floors and bruised knees. Bring your spouse over to see it and listen to compliments. 
Step five: Wake up early, apply polyurethane, and manage to keep three kids and three cats out of there all day. I think it turned out well. It was definitely worth pulling the carpet. I haven't taken a peek at Will's room, but I will resist the temptation. He will be moving to a toddler bed in about six months, so I'd like to keep the carpet there for a while to keep it padded and warm. Maybe it makes me a little crazy (or, dare I say, scary), but I really enjoy doing these things myself. I can't wait to tackle bigger projects. Stop. Breathe. 03-21-2008 We have been very busy. We went back to the Raymour and Flanigan clearance center and found the matching bed for our dresser. We got them down to $425.00. It's still amazing to have a queen size bed. I never realized just how crammed we were in full. Serta makes a very affordable imitation of the Tempur-Pedic mattress, but it's hard to find in-stock at Big Lots. We managed to get the last one. Luckily, I had been buying queen bedding for a while, so we were able to keep everything we have. I updated the master bedroom photos, along with many other rooms in the house. This is the chandelier, finally installed:  My Dad and I spent the weekend wiring from the attic. I found a nicer chandelier at Home Depot and decided to keep the white one to install in Molly and Mia's room at a later time. We wired a dimmer switch through the walls and changed the wiring to add a junction box to the attic. We plan to use that later for the wiring in the girls' bedroom and for an outlet to connect the attic fan. It was a bit tricky, but I learned a lot. We found a handyman who would re-tile our shower for a very reasonable price. It was a big job. I'm glad we didn't try to do this work ourselves - even with my Dad's help!  I can't believe how beautiful it turned out.    We decided to add a shower door. I had to look everywhere for that because it was out of stock. It was $50.00 cheaper at Home Depot, compared to the price at Lowe's. It won't be installed until next week, but this is the one we chose:  I painted three paw prints on Will's room because he loves Blue's Clues. I drew them by hand on cardstock to create my own stencils. It turned out really cute. The photos of his room have also been updated. I moved the mirror from our bedroom wall to the wall above the fireplace. It looks very nice. Lastly, I painted a wall in the family room with dark brown chalkboard paint. It is the wall with the door to their clubhouse. They're already having a lot of fun with it.  Revival 03-15-2008 I will make this a quick post, but I have to sing the praises of this product:  It's called Hardwood Floor Reviver by Minwax. Our floors were starting to look a bit dull and scratched in places. I moved some furniture after the kids went to bed and used it on all of our hardwoods. They look like they were just refinished. I purchased this a while ago, but I believe it was only about $15.00. It takes 2 hours to dry for light traffic, and 24 hours before you can move furniture. The Master Bedroom Gets Attention 03-08-2008 I have found some deals on eBay lately. I bought white roman shades for the kid's rooms, and fabric-look pleated shades for the two windows in the playroom. They look nice, but you do get what you pay for. The installation was tricky, and we had to be careful. I added a new curtain rod in Will's room that I actually bought years ago. Micah painted one of the walls navy blue, so Will has an accent wall now. I bought a plain white chandelier a couple of weeks ago ($37.00). I spent a lot of time shopping around for a good deal on that. I found some small purple shades on clearance at Pottery Barn. I was all set to install it in the master bedroom, and then I realized that the ceiling fixture is not connected to a switch. I'm going to need my Dad's help with that wiring.  Will has an old armoire from Target in his room. I bought it when I was pregnant with the twins, and they used it for a couple of years. Throw in several relocation moves, and it was in pretty bad shape. It wobbled every time I moved it. In addition to this, the girls had an old dresser as well. They used to be pretty rough with it, and I had to use duct tape just to hold the drawers together. It was obvious we'd have to do something eventually. I went to the Raymour and Flanigan clearance store last night and saw an as-is dresser for $509.00, marked down from $900.00. It was missing one handle and had a few scratches that weren't very noticeable, but it stood out because most of the other pieces for bedrooms were far more expensive. The salesman approached me, but I was stubborn. I finally negotiated my way down to $299.00! The next thing I knew, Micah was taking the seats out of my van and I was picking it up. It's 70 inches wide and 40 inches high. I absolutely love it.  The kids have inherited our old dressers, which we recently painted white. I'll post updated photos of their bedrooms soon. We still haven't done anything with the rocking chair. We'll have to wait until the weather is nice so we can strip it outside. We're going ahead with the shower tile, though. It will be done in about two weeks. I chose this 12 X 12 porcelian tile:  Rapolano Noce Tile I'll have lots of updates and photos posted soon. New Ideas 01-27-2008 I have been keeping busy with a few projects around the house. I found a coverlet set in the closet that I bought a couple of years ago for a guest room. I decided to make some changes to the master bedroom. I chose a very pale shade of lilac for the walls, painted our 70s walnut dressers a soft shade of white, and added a framed print on the wall. I also painted the little chandelier with the wall paint, as well as its cord to conceal it. I set out on a quest for cellular shades after that.  Roman and cellular shades have become a sort of obsession for me. Unfortunately, they are an expensive habit. I also looked into replacing the shades on our living room ceiling fan. The fan is beautiful. It was installed by previous owners. However, it had cheap white frosted glass shades. Home Depot and Lowes sold replacements for about $28.00 a piece! I thought that was ridiculous, and searched eBay before giving up. I found an auction on a set of four tiffany glass shades for $25.00 total. They arrived new in the boxes!  We have a few more projects lined up for the next several months. We haven't finished the laundry room yet. We also need to tile the shower in the master bathroom. The tile paint served as a temporary fix for our old shower, and now we need to strip them. That will be a big project! Next week, Micah is going to help me re-finish my rocking chair. It's the same chair my mother had when I was a baby, so it's very special to me. I painted it a couple of times over the years, but it gets used so much that the paint is gradually wearing away. We currently use it as a computer chair and for reading. Once we sand it down and strip the paint, we can stain it to match the hardwood floors. Lastly, we have plans to build a backyard fence and add a swingset for the kids in May. Things seldom slow down around here! Up on the Housetop 01-21-2008 I went up to the roof today to get some photos and see how things turned out. I am very happy with the way it looks! The roofers have yet to pick up their dumpster and some tarps filled with debris, but they should be back tomorrow for that. I saw a package and learned exactly what type of shingles were used - Corning Oakridge Pro 30 AR with SureNail Technology in Brownwood. It resists algae and seems to be a pretty good product overall. 
A New Roof 01-20-2008 Two weeks ago, we had serious wind advisories and heavy rain. It was so loud that it woke the kids up, and they were terrified. The next morning, I looked out the window and saw shingles all over the lawn. An extremely rude "handyman" stopped by to look at the roof and offered to "band-aid" the problem for about $1,000.00. He said that would buy us another year or two before we'd need a new roof. We didn't want to waste money, so we called a few roofers to get estimates. One company said they couldn't even get up there to measure for at least a few weeks because of the weather. The second gave a reasonable estimate and was eager to start work. The third company's estimate was about 25% higher than the second. It was a confusing ordeal, but at least we know we got a good deal (and thank God for tax returns). The work was completed over three very cold days. 
Work begins on a very cold (yet sunny) day. 
Rotted plywood that needed to be replaced. 
Two layers of shingles pile up on the ground. 
Tarps barricade the house. Next Page © 2006, 2007, 2008 Laura Sateriale |