Hoppy

Easter weekend was lovely and we spent the last two days with friends and family. I successfully cooked my first real dinner at the house, and we couldn't have asked for a better Easter evening. P.S. How beautiful are these flowers that we picked from the backyard?

Oh, and it wouldn't be Easter without a wicker basket full of sugar coated marshmallow rabbits.

Have a great Monday, all. Back with house-updates later this week!

Ryan

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

Foyer Update

Remember when I mentioned the foyer chandelier? It originally looked something like this:

Well, I am happy to report that it cleaned up like a champ. I barely even had to use soap; I ran it under hot water, which removed 80% of the dirt, and then I used a mild soap to remove the rest. It was like magic.

This past week was my spring break, and I managed to get a lot of little things finished started around the house. For instance, I finally got around to putting together the starburst clock that I purchased the week we moved in.

Why did it take me six months to tackle this project, you ask? Well because each of the points of the star had four prongs on the end of them, each of which had to be bent around the base.

There are 25 points along the starburst. This is a job I had been saving for Jeff, but I was feeling particularly energized one day and decided to tackle it myself. I could not feel my fingers for about an hour after I finished.

Jeff wasn't home from work at this point, so I decided to start putting together the foyer to surprise him.  I moved the furniture by myself, which was probably hilarious to watch had there been an audience. We purchased the below sidebar on Craigslist in December, and it has finally moved out of the middle of the family room and into the foyer, which a few of my other favorite pieces.

The room isn't finished. I still need to hang art, pick out a floor runner, change all of the electrical outlets, do a final coat on the closet and front door, and add new hardware to said doors. I can hear Jeff rolling his eyes right now. 

This weekend we absolutely need to finish the floors in the formal living room, so we can put down the rug, hang curtains, etc., and finally do our first "before" and "after" photo shoot!

In addition to working on the floors, Jeff is planning to work on the wainscoting in the dining room a.k.a. his new work shop:

We are bound and determined to finish up the front of the house in the coming weeks, as Spring is here and our attention will be shifting to the gigantic hole in our backyard called a pool.

If you're in Atlanta, make some tea and enjoy the rainy weekend!

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