I have been so sad not to have seen my dad recently enough to take a new picture of him but I am excited to see him SO SOON! This old pic will have to do :)
Here is a picture of my father-in-law in his newest position - captain :)
XOXOXOXO
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Happy Father's Day!
Happy Father's Day to my dad and father-in-law - two of the most generous and loving men I know! I love you both!
I have been so sad not to have seen my dad recently enough to take a new picture of him but I am excited to see him SO SOON! This old pic will have to do :)
Here is a picture of my father-in-law in his newest position - captain :)
XOXOXOXO
I have been so sad not to have seen my dad recently enough to take a new picture of him but I am excited to see him SO SOON! This old pic will have to do :)
Here is a picture of my father-in-law in his newest position - captain :)
XOXOXOXO
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Garden Update
Due to the flooding, the professional gardener (aka my mom) has not been able to make it back up to VT to put in her garden. She finally got desperate enough to ask me to do it for her :)
After a winter and spring of sitting empty, weeds took over the raised beds.
After a winter and spring of sitting empty, weeds took over the raised beds.
I spent a long while pulling those out and turning over the soil. Then I added a little bit of "Moo Doo" (not kidding), and got to planting.
My mom drew me a "map" of her garden and told me what to purchase and where to place it. We have cherry and slicing tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, basil, chives, a sweet red pepper, and (fingers crossed!) lots of zinnias for picking!
I decided to do this on the hottest day of the year yet - it was for real 90 degrees. Whew. Here was the finished product - those plants look thirsty!
We've had some rain since then - I never thought I'd want to see more rain but it now means I don't have to water :)
I still have some beautifying to do - weeds around the fence, hay between the beds, etc. but looks now like my mom might take over some of those jobs!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Fun Fabric Ideas
I've been spending too much time on pinterest...Aren't these cute fabric ideas? I'll put them on my to-do list for summer once our renovations are finished and school is out. Not much longer on either - hooray!
If you click on the photo it should link you to the website for a tutorial if you're interested.....
*Update - or maybe not. The links are listed below.
Quilt
Pillow
Map
If you click on the photo it should link you to the website for a tutorial if you're interested.....
*Update - or maybe not. The links are listed below.
Quilt
Pillow
Map
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Construction Week 5
I hope you had a good weekend. Ours was rainy and cool - a contrast I know to those of you in the south! We were pretty low key but did manage to get out for a short hike and bike ride (both partially in the rain - if you live in VT you have to embrace it I guess) and to dinner with some friends.
I know I promised a garden update - it's coming soon! I need to get some better pics first. First - back to the house. They made a lot more progress this past week than during the week 4 debacle so here are some pics of that.
The new stain went down. It's mostly covered by pink paper so I'll just show you this small sample. It is darker than I expected, but I like it!
We did not at all try to match what is upstairs because you won't see it when you are downstairs, but I don't think they look all that bad together.
They started putting down baseboard and interior window trim. I hadn't thought much about this and didn't pick the trim. I let our builder pick and he tends to choose very simple things (which really are more within our budget). I was going to ask him to do something with a little more heft around the windows, but forgot and now it's up. The good news is - I like it! I think our house needs more simple lines...it's not a traditional or ornate type of place. Plus the simple lines match our existing trim much better. Here they are.
Still a construction zone obviously....
Big things are happening in the kitchen. CABINETS!
Hooray! There is our corner lazy susan and future deep pot drawers and trashcan/recycling drawer...
The plumbers were here hooking the heat back up (they took the radiators out to do the floors) and they replaced one of our toilets. We bought an inexpensive one at Lowe's but it's SO MUCH BETTER than the last one - mostly because it actually flushes without leaking. Plus it fit perfectly and we aren't going to have to change out that lovely linoleum in the bathroom - sweet because that isn't in the budget right now.
Here's the new beauty. Will approves.
I never took a good pic of the old one, but you can catch a glimpse of its swirled lid and blue base in this pic.
Whew. Be back soon!
I know I promised a garden update - it's coming soon! I need to get some better pics first. First - back to the house. They made a lot more progress this past week than during the week 4 debacle so here are some pics of that.
The new stain went down. It's mostly covered by pink paper so I'll just show you this small sample. It is darker than I expected, but I like it!
We did not at all try to match what is upstairs because you won't see it when you are downstairs, but I don't think they look all that bad together.
They started putting down baseboard and interior window trim. I hadn't thought much about this and didn't pick the trim. I let our builder pick and he tends to choose very simple things (which really are more within our budget). I was going to ask him to do something with a little more heft around the windows, but forgot and now it's up. The good news is - I like it! I think our house needs more simple lines...it's not a traditional or ornate type of place. Plus the simple lines match our existing trim much better. Here they are.
Still a construction zone obviously....
Big things are happening in the kitchen. CABINETS!
Hooray! There is our corner lazy susan and future deep pot drawers and trashcan/recycling drawer...
The plumbers were here hooking the heat back up (they took the radiators out to do the floors) and they replaced one of our toilets. We bought an inexpensive one at Lowe's but it's SO MUCH BETTER than the last one - mostly because it actually flushes without leaking. Plus it fit perfectly and we aren't going to have to change out that lovely linoleum in the bathroom - sweet because that isn't in the budget right now.
Here's the new beauty. Will approves.
I never took a good pic of the old one, but you can catch a glimpse of its swirled lid and blue base in this pic.
Whew. Be back soon!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Construction Week 4 - Overdue Update
Here it is. The post about week 4 progress, rather lack of progress. Regress even? Sorry for the poor photo quality below, none of them are edited and some are iphone photos.
Anyway. Monday was Memorial Day so nobody was there.
Tuesday and Wednesday Al spent the entire day sanding.
Wednesday night they made me make a final decision on the stain - yikes! Let me walk you through my decision making process....
As I mentioned in my go green post - we decided to go with Vermont Natural Coatings alternative Poly to finish our floors. We also wanted to stain them. Our builder isn't fond of stain so he told us to pick one and he'd do it if we REALLY wanted. Keeping that in mind, I called VNC to see what type of stain I should use. They told me all about their new "tinting" stain they're selling now. They sold me on its green-ness and ease of application (simply pour it into the poly and paint it on).
They sent me a sample (one I already posted on the blog) and I didn't like it. I drove to their factory and worked with them to pick a color I did like. I came home with these boards - I'm comparing them to my magazine picture I love here.
Here they are on top of the raw floors.
I loved them. Matt loved them. We were DONE with this decision - hooray!
Wednesday night Ted wanted me to make sure I still liked it. I got scared and told him to go half strength in case they came out too dark. He painted underneath where the cabinets would go.
Yikes. Looked too dark to me. He added another gallon of poly to the mix so it was now 1/3 strength.
That looked a bit more like my sample.
Although they look TOTALLY different than the first 2 pics I showed right? Or is it just me?
OK. Thursday the stain went down. Poor Al was there late finishing up. He and Matt deliberated a bit over how the stain was "going down" during the day and he decided to switch applicators. Here is how it turned out.
I liked the color, but not the dark spots. We were assured by Vermont Naturals that those would dry overnight and it would look more even.
Nope. The next day they still looked like this - see the brush strokes?
They told us that "buffing" would take those out. It didn't.
To make this long story a little bit shorter - Friday and this past Monday were spent re-sanding the floors. Ug. We felt so bad about it that Matt even jumped in to help :)
I picked a new (non-natural) stain to use. The only other eventful thing was the movement of our refrigerator down the stairs.
Would you want to live here?
So there you have it. That was last week. I escaped one night with Nug and hiked at our favorite place :)
We love Mt. Philo!
On Saturday, we checked out the lake house.
After walking over we decided Matt's truck could make the journey. HOORAY!!! HOORAY!!!
Months of neglect showed most in the yard. It was a jungle out there.
And Sunset.
And even a Champ sighting - do you see him?
What a nice change to finally have the opportunity to spend a little time out of our house and out of the way of construction. We're still back and forth - but it is nice! Coming up next - Barrow's favorite - the first garden update this year!
xoxo
Anyway. Monday was Memorial Day so nobody was there.
Tuesday and Wednesday Al spent the entire day sanding.
Wednesday night they made me make a final decision on the stain - yikes! Let me walk you through my decision making process....
As I mentioned in my go green post - we decided to go with Vermont Natural Coatings alternative Poly to finish our floors. We also wanted to stain them. Our builder isn't fond of stain so he told us to pick one and he'd do it if we REALLY wanted. Keeping that in mind, I called VNC to see what type of stain I should use. They told me all about their new "tinting" stain they're selling now. They sold me on its green-ness and ease of application (simply pour it into the poly and paint it on).
They sent me a sample (one I already posted on the blog) and I didn't like it. I drove to their factory and worked with them to pick a color I did like. I came home with these boards - I'm comparing them to my magazine picture I love here.
Here they are on top of the raw floors.
I loved them. Matt loved them. We were DONE with this decision - hooray!
Wednesday night Ted wanted me to make sure I still liked it. I got scared and told him to go half strength in case they came out too dark. He painted underneath where the cabinets would go.
Yikes. Looked too dark to me. He added another gallon of poly to the mix so it was now 1/3 strength.
That looked a bit more like my sample.
Although they look TOTALLY different than the first 2 pics I showed right? Or is it just me?
OK. Thursday the stain went down. Poor Al was there late finishing up. He and Matt deliberated a bit over how the stain was "going down" during the day and he decided to switch applicators. Here is how it turned out.
I liked the color, but not the dark spots. We were assured by Vermont Naturals that those would dry overnight and it would look more even.
Nope. The next day they still looked like this - see the brush strokes?
They told us that "buffing" would take those out. It didn't.
To make this long story a little bit shorter - Friday and this past Monday were spent re-sanding the floors. Ug. We felt so bad about it that Matt even jumped in to help :)
I picked a new (non-natural) stain to use. The only other eventful thing was the movement of our refrigerator down the stairs.
Would you want to live here?
So there you have it. That was last week. I escaped one night with Nug and hiked at our favorite place :)
We love Mt. Philo!
On Saturday, we checked out the lake house.
After walking over we decided Matt's truck could make the journey. HOORAY!!! HOORAY!!!
Months of neglect showed most in the yard. It was a jungle out there.
We got things under control and now have the chance to enjoy the sunshine :)
And Sunset.
And even a Champ sighting - do you see him?
What a nice change to finally have the opportunity to spend a little time out of our house and out of the way of construction. We're still back and forth - but it is nice! Coming up next - Barrow's favorite - the first garden update this year!
xoxo
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
I'm still here...
Hi friends. Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm still here! Last week was a tough one, but things are looking up.
I'll post a week 4 house progress (or lack of) update soon I promise. Allergy season has arrived so tonight I'm feeling a bit like this lady.
For now I'm going to leave you with some of my new favorite house and misc. inspiration blogs...
This Pretty Space
House Tweaking
Re-Nest
Oh Happy Day!
xoxo
I'll post a week 4 house progress (or lack of) update soon I promise. Allergy season has arrived so tonight I'm feeling a bit like this lady.
For now I'm going to leave you with some of my new favorite house and misc. inspiration blogs...
This Pretty Space
House Tweaking
Re-Nest
Oh Happy Day!
xoxo
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Construction Week 3 + Weekend Update
Hello friends - hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! It was great to have the house to ourselves for a few days.
They made a lot of progress last week. I didn't take picture of this but they finished putting the siding on the front of the house and exterior trim around all the new windows/door.
The floors were revealed and the first coat of paint is up.
I tried out the rug to be sure it fit - it does (or will once the new peninsula is finished)!
No cabinets yet. This color looks a bit dark right now, but most of the walls will be covered by cabinetry.
The backsplash will be one of the following. Any votes on which you like best?
The floor stain might be a bit lighter than this - it's going down tomorrow!
That's about it on house stuff. We gave the Weekend Eater the finger over the holiday and had some fun instead.
It rained on Saturday and Sunday. Are you surprised? I'm not. We slept in, took Will hiking, saw Hangover 2 (not nearly as funny as the first one), and did some more decision making on our living room decor.
Sunday was Marathon Day! Yipee! We ran the marathon as a relay team of 5 with cousin and some friends.
I stole these pics from cousin :)
The day started out rainy. Note that we're the only crazy nuts with an umbrella (hey I can embrace the rain but that doesn't mean I'm willing to get more wet than necessary).
I ran the third leg, which was the longest and ended going straight up this hill (can you tell how steep/long it was?). I couldn't complain - those running the full marathon had 11 miles to go after this! (Note - I'm not in any of these pics so don't try to find me - we took them after I finished...)
These awesome drummers kept everyone motivated starting at the bottom until about halfway up.
I lost a bit of motivation after that so can you blame me for missing this sign?
Apparently I was really concentrating on making it up the hill or maybe I wasn't looking very hard because I went the "marathon" route and missed the pass off to Rebecca. She was pretty confused when I ran in from the wrong direction. Oops.
Our team finished in 4 hours - a pretty good time considering my mishap. It was sunny by the finish and our VIP wristbands (a very exciting thing - we scored free drinks and a private porta potty) allowed us to sit by the lake in the sun and watch the finishers.
Monday was sunny and in the 80s - finally finally finally!! We spent the entire day enjoying it.
Plus we had our first creemees of the season. Yum!
More progress pics hopefully after this week. I did learn that the cabinets won't go in until next week. The lake level is still up so we continue to be stuck here in the construction zone. At least it's still moving along....
xoxo
They made a lot of progress last week. I didn't take picture of this but they finished putting the siding on the front of the house and exterior trim around all the new windows/door.
The floors were revealed and the first coat of paint is up.
I tried out the rug to be sure it fit - it does (or will once the new peninsula is finished)!
No cabinets yet. This color looks a bit dark right now, but most of the walls will be covered by cabinetry.
The backsplash will be one of the following. Any votes on which you like best?
The floor stain might be a bit lighter than this - it's going down tomorrow!
That's about it on house stuff. We gave the Weekend Eater the finger over the holiday and had some fun instead.
It rained on Saturday and Sunday. Are you surprised? I'm not. We slept in, took Will hiking, saw Hangover 2 (not nearly as funny as the first one), and did some more decision making on our living room decor.
Sunday was Marathon Day! Yipee! We ran the marathon as a relay team of 5 with cousin and some friends.
I stole these pics from cousin :)
The day started out rainy. Note that we're the only crazy nuts with an umbrella (hey I can embrace the rain but that doesn't mean I'm willing to get more wet than necessary).
I ran the third leg, which was the longest and ended going straight up this hill (can you tell how steep/long it was?). I couldn't complain - those running the full marathon had 11 miles to go after this! (Note - I'm not in any of these pics so don't try to find me - we took them after I finished...)
These awesome drummers kept everyone motivated starting at the bottom until about halfway up.
I lost a bit of motivation after that so can you blame me for missing this sign?
Apparently I was really concentrating on making it up the hill or maybe I wasn't looking very hard because I went the "marathon" route and missed the pass off to Rebecca. She was pretty confused when I ran in from the wrong direction. Oops.
Our team finished in 4 hours - a pretty good time considering my mishap. It was sunny by the finish and our VIP wristbands (a very exciting thing - we scored free drinks and a private porta potty) allowed us to sit by the lake in the sun and watch the finishers.
Monday was sunny and in the 80s - finally finally finally!! We spent the entire day enjoying it.
Plus we had our first creemees of the season. Yum!
More progress pics hopefully after this week. I did learn that the cabinets won't go in until next week. The lake level is still up so we continue to be stuck here in the construction zone. At least it's still moving along....
xoxo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)