Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend we had a serious case of first-time-home-owners-remodeling-a-d-d. We worked in the formal living room, the guest bedroom, the dining room, the man cave, the (wo)man cave, and the family room. We do not have any huge reveals, but we did make some major progress in the formal living room, a.k.a. the "study" ... or the "sitting room"... or the "library" -- we can't quite decide what to call the formal living room, but here she is in all of her identity-crisis-glory.

 

 

While we aren't exactly sure what we're going to do with this room, or how we'll refer to her, she's kind of stolen my heart. I like to think that she was born in New Mexico, grew up in Nevada, and that she loves the sun and southwestern patterns.

We still have a lot left to do in here; like hang my mom's mom's mom's mirror over the couch, put down quarter round, buy a wing back chair (or two), move in the house plants, hang more art, etc. But this may very well be the room that is closest to finished in the entire house. Which is probably why she's my favorite. 

Moving on to a room that is nowhere near finished:

The dining room. Dun dun dunnnnnn. Jeff worked tirelessly on this room all day, and he claims he will be finished by the end of next weekend! We will report back on this soon. In happier, more cheerful news, take a look at the pineapple Jeff hung from the ceiling in my studio:

Isn't she a beauty? Jeff tackled the old inset fixture like a champ:

I was pretty impressed. And yes, we know the medallion is too small, we're going to fix that. It's on our list. But besides that, I'm pretty sure this light fixture is my favorite purchase for the house. I have a feeling it will be just the thing that keeps me from losing my mind during midterms and finals -- it has that "everything will be okay, promise" vibe.

Also on our list is the guest bathroom. We've had paint swatches pinned to the wall for months, but I finally found something to design the room around:

Yes, I know, that's the coolest shower curtain you've ever seen. You don't have to tell me. We aren't really ready to start this project yet, but knowing me, I'll probably make a rash trip to Home Depot as a means to escape a project, buy a gallon of paint, and we'll be neck deep in a bathroom remodel before you know it.

And last but not least, I know you've all been wondering what's going on with the reef tank. Well, if you must know -- it is one week into a four week nitrogen cycle process, and things are looking good.

 

I was under strict instructions not to go into the man cave today (because I was in a "must clean everything before school starts" mode), but when Jeff went to Home Depot this afternoon, I snuck in and took a few shots, mainly so I could brag about how smart he is.

 

That is what the tank looks like underneath. He put it all together one. piece. at. a. time. There is 90 gallons of water rushing through it constantly, and magically, not a drop of that 90 gallons has made it onto my hardwood floors. He's not just smart, he's a magician.

Oh, and while I was in there, I organized his desk and accidentally cleaned the glass-top with tire shine (I thought it was Windex), so I'm pretty sure he's never going to let me in there ever again.

Happy weekend, all. School is back in session tomorrow, so let the games begin!

Love,

Ryan

Two-Week Wrap Up

I called Jeff on Thursday, after I finished my last final, and I told him that it was the first time I've actually heard his voice in two weeks. Yes, I've been processing information and carrying on necessary conversations, but this weekend was the first time [in an embarrassingly long while] that I looked around and realized that there was life outside of school. Seriously, the only thing in our fridge is milk (which Jeff picked up for himself) and various types of spreadable cheese.

Here are a few shots of one of the projects I submitted. The first photo is of my initial mock-up, and the latter ones are of me playing with my new light cube, which I haven't quite figured out.

In other non-school-news, we have made some major progress in the formal living room. Apparently, we had a lot of pent up remodeling energy this weekend, and we took it out on the front of the house.  We are not finished, by any means, but we're getting so. close. it. hurts. You'll notice that I started decorating around Jeff while he was scrubbing the floors, which I'm sure was super annoying, but he entertained my over-the-top-excitement long enough for me to get some shots.

Cleaning hardwood floors that have been covered by carpet for 50 years is as rewarding as it is challenging. We are on the third stage of the rejuvenate process, which is why we didn't finish the room this weekend, but they are slowly but surely coming back to life.

 

The funniest moment from this weekend is when we thought the 10' long couch would fit in the foyer:

Obviously, that didn't happen -- and in case you were wondering, furniture built in the 50s is heavy. Have to pick it and put it down ever 15 seconds, heavy. Not to mention, I happen to have particularly unimpressive upper-body strength, so Jeff was beyond frustrated. It seems we make a really great team, until it's time to pick up a couch.

Curtains and rugs and house plants to come later this week.

Oh, and happy Spring Break to me. 

Ryan

Weekend Wrap Up

This lovely-three-day-weekend was something of a circus at our house. Not surprisingly, we worked on a myriad of random projects and didn't finish a-one-of-'em. Apparently, we are just not a "one-room-at-a-time" type of couple. I've decided that we work in phases, and that we are in the process of finishing Phase One; a metaphorical [and somewhat literal] sweep of the entire house.

Since I have no final reveals to share, I thought I would just give an overview of some of the projects we worked on over the last three days. The one I'm most excited about is my office; Jeff painted the ceiling "Persimmon Red" -- it's not finished, but here's a sneak peek:

Jeff also gave an extra coat of "Powered Brick" to the formal room, and I continued to work on the trim-that-never-ends:

I also painted the front door gray one night when Jeff was at work. It's just a first coat, but I kind of love it. In the coming weeks, I'll take the door off of the hinges, paint the final coat, add new hardware, and photograph it properly -- but for now, here's a shot to give you an idea of where we're at:

Oh, and perhaps my favorite project from this weekend is the guest bedroom curtains. We found them in the attic when we moved in, and I was this close to throwing them out -- but Mom encourage me to save them. They look to be from the late 50s or early 60s, and I'm pretty sure they were custom made for the guest bedroom windows specifically. Mom and Dad surprised us by having them dry cleaned as a Christmas gift, and I finally got around to finding some hardware that would allow them to hang properly. The only problem is, I underestimated how much hardware I would need - so, er, I was only able to complete one window this weekend. Here's a peek at the fabric and the rigged hardware: 

Custom curtains are no joke, people.

In other-more-nerdier-news, Jeff is knee deep into his aquarium adventure. This weekend, he started the process of cleaning and assembling the tank:

Oh, what is that you say, you didn't know Jeff was into this sort of thing? Well, he is, and we are about to have a 90-gallon-salt-water-reef-tank in the man-cave to prove it.

To be fair, underneath all of my eye rolling, I am super impressed that Jeff even knows what any of this stuff is; no less, how to make an entire ecosystem grow inside of it. 

Random fact: Jeff also served as my muse for a project that I'm working on for school:

So yeah, on top of painting and hanging curtains and cleaning out a pump system in our carport, Jeff also did some hand modeling this weekend. What a trooper. 

More on all of these projects to come. Happy MLK Day, all!

Ryan