Rachel and John

update!

2009-06-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

hello all!!
Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but life has been crazy!
We are currently in NYC! Destinee (John's sister) had a beautiful little boy on July 9th. He was 7lbs and 15oz and 21 inches long. So we are an Aunt and Uncle! (I'm super excited)

While we've been gone, the work has continued at our house!! But first to catch you all up on what we'd done before we left!

first a sneak peek at the moving announcements I've made!

complete with envelope liners :)

johnny looking happy that the kitchen is done!

painted kitchen cabinets! (they've gotten their second coat since this photo)

isn't the white glorious??

lauren being wonderful doing the cutting in around the ceiling in the living room

my super wonderful shelly belly!! she has been sooo amazing she's helped the most out of everybody!!

sorry for the dust specs (sanding = evil) but you get the idea
this is the living room and dinning room

other side of the same room

we failed to make friends with the electricians and they have some stuff to finish

our hardwired smoke alarms

new breaker boxes!

ceiling fan in the master bedroom and the den

sadly the light will not turn on/off with the wall switch

my beautiful magnolia blossom from the back yard

the guest bathroom has the 2nd coat and the cutting done since this picture, and most of the darn latex sanded off. It need oil based paint. anyone know how to paint/sand behind the toilet?

I love LOVE our kitchen and laundry room!

cutting in is done in this room too!! all it needs it the trim and doors finished!!

its really not so dark...
and its done all but the oil trim

drywalled and painted now, painted picture soon to come I promise!!

2009-06-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

side note: I LOVE frogs!! i always thought there was something magical about them as a child... after all they live with the gnomes, faeries, dryads, and nymphs! (not to mention smurfs... ;) )

maybe this one is some great great great great ......... great grandfrog of one of the ones I tormented with love as a child...

And now, on to the house!
A lot has been going on here!! We had a work crew there today, so big stuff happened! Like the master shower is totally gone! and they moved that doorway! and there's an ARCHWAY now!

We have a new roof! Isn't it lovely?

more of the roof!
we just need to paint the exterior now! in the 100 degree heat!
(we're thinking of hiring someone...)

the roses are recovering nicely!
what should we plant under them? I'm thinking smaller jasmine - the type that grows low to the ground and explodes with blossoms...

We even have a bloom!!!!

Anyone know how to get rid of rust on mini blinds? They are in lovely condition all except for the little bit of rust along the bottoms...

they moved the doorway over! but thanks to that little black pipe, we cant have a pocket door anymore. :( but there will be a full sized shower!!)

all the nasty old insulation from the master bathroom
(its on the floor where the shower will be... Blech)

no more cabinets in the bathroom...

that black pipe is the reason we cant expand the shower back into the linen closet.
sad times.

the patch on the wall where the work crew busted through the shower
to the outside of the house!!

I started sanding down the guest bathroom cabinets today

we have an ARCHWAY!!!

isn't it soooo much better???

(simple joys.)

Ever wonder what the back of your shower plumbing looks like???
tee hee

and there's the front side... it has to be moved
currently its smack dab in the middle of what will be the new shower!

Anyone know anything about gas ranges? we're talking about getting one (the gas line is right behind the cooktop) but they kind of scare me, I've never used one!

2009-06-11T11:56:00.001-07:00

We have workers at the house!!! I haven't seen them yet, but they're there! Pictures and more later. :)

Mud room... ?

2009-06-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Today I am looking for Mud Room suggestions.
We are going to convert the room in between the Laundry Room and the Garage to a mud room.
Requirements: Table with drawers, Mirror, Bench with storage options and possibly a coat rack. The top rack around the ceiling will be nice for John's gun belt and vest, or a lift top bench (with a place to put an obscure/hidden lock later?)

We will be sharing the mud room with the water heater and I would LOVE non-flammable suggestions on how to obscure it. (All I've come up with are various curtain theories... somehow I don't think that's wise...) And the floor will most likely eventually be black and white tile (unless we have enough wood left over?!?)

This is the room that the household will be coming and going from. We plan to be parking in and using our garage once we are capable of fully moving the furniture into the house... :)
And since the laundry room is highly visible from the den and kitchen, I really do NOT want it to become a messy catch-all. (there's hoping, right??)

Any wall color suggestions?
The connecting laundry room will be green, but I am unsure of that bold of a color in such a small, windowless space. There's paneling to paint in here, just like the rest of the house...
I know this sounds silly, but this and the entry hall are the rooms I would like to have finished first! (even though it seems like the kitchen is further along... but then there's much more to do in there!)
I feel like they are the smallest of the projects and thus - easiest/fastest to finish. Plus it would be sooo nice and not to mention encouraging to come and go from a finished area, even if the rest of the house is utter chaos!

Our current, over stuffed entryway at the apartment...

This might only have a future home in the potential mud room...
It is too big for the new entryway, and I love it too much to cut in half. Painting is not an option either, so a true black and white theme will not be possible.

Inspiration
From the lovely people at ApartmentTherapy.com
But we will need a table I think... Comments? Table or no table? All bench?

Bench Option
The wall cubbyholes/hooks comes with this one and seat cushions are easy to make.

Bench Option
The seat lifts up for lovely storage options!!

Progress did happen at the house despite my shoulder! The roofers magically appeared Friday morning! Yaaay! (pictures soon to follow! i keep leaving my sd card in my computer...)
Shoulder update: I'm still unsure if I have a pinched nerve, and if it is - where its pinched at.
I had a super duper intense deep tissue massage on Friday. He worked through a lot of my back/shoulder knots in a very short time. But, I was super sore and extra sleepy/grumpy all day Saturday. (still sore actually...) and there are quite a few left. Plus, my hand is still going tingly when I knit. I think I'm going to go back for more help on Monday or Tuesday after work, and let my acupuncturist work on it on Wednesday. How do they poke you on the front and back at the same time? Will I have to stay still for twice as long, so he can do one side at a time? That does not sound like fun. Plus, the deeper muscular needles are supposed to hurt worse... Maybe I'll wait to tell Mr. Tseng...
(side note - if you ever go to for acupuncture, don't fall asleep with the needles in!! it hurts if you jerk awake!)

OOoo, and if I don't work all day at the house tomorrow... I am totally making these mava cakes, maybe just in time for Grace to come help me pack? If they turn out, I'll make some to take up to Capers next week!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Another day 'off' at the house!

2009-06-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Monday Tuesday and Wednesday were total washes for working on the house...
My right hand started going numb/tingly during all the painting over the weekend and John's shoulder was hurting from various ripping up/out of nastiness - so we thought a break was in order. My sister and I think I might have a pinched nerve in my back somewhere, which I am hoping will be better after a massage tomorrow. (my grip on the paint brush was not the best today . I can't even knit for more than 15mins at a time...)
Soooo, nothing will really get done tomorrow either :(

(this break happily coincided with the sims3 release... yup, i'm a super dork...)
Sadly, we also seem to be nearing the end of dramatic and drastic changes.
At least until there's more ready to be painted...

And there's the fact that the portion of our loan that goes into the renovations (the part that must be used by Nov 15, 2009) has yet to fully fund. IE - we and more importantly, the Contractor cannot access the money yet.
This translates to: no money for anything but 2-3 galleons of paint a week.
VERY FRUSTRATING.

But on to the pictures... :)

I love this picture!

So the roof is going to be the dark brown on the right side.

We bought a front door mat!
It's patiently awaiting the end of the painting in the garage...

NO MORE FIRE ALARMS!!
The guy came out and took out the whole alarm system.

The den is crack free and now just needs to be painted and sanded...

that's where the big ugly panel/control system for the alarm box was!

painting supplies!

we have a CLEAN working fridge at the house now!
(with some awesome Indian food leftovers that make me want to skip out on the massage to work out the pinched nerve in my shoulder)

up close on the sofa fabric.
I'm not a fan :(

But its a wonderful COMFY sofa

all painted! the trim needs a second coat I think
.. should I paint the bottom a contrasting/highlighting color??

Weekends...

2009-05-30T21:52:00.001-07:00

We could have our own Zen sand garden with all the dust in the house...

Thumbtacks!!

Paneling in the breakfast nook is all sanded and ready to be painted!!

This is super exciting... It took about 6 hours to get all the latex paint off of the paneling.
Painting ceilings is dangerous for your hair!

PAINTED WALLS!! (and ceiling too!)
Yellow cabinets are waiting their turn...

We got the the molding and realized that... it had not been sanded.
I'm begining to dislike sanding...
Unfortunate because, there's a ton of it left to do...

Kitchen Ceiling in process...

Wonderful Shelly helping with the painting!!

fun times...

This is why the cabinets are still waiting their turn...
Super gross.
Not even going to clean it... Just going to sand it off... (and put bleach in the wipe-down water...)

Dust masks anyone???
Even the saw dust smells nasty!!!!

No more baseboards in most of the house!!

We have decided to put the dark floors in the rest of the house!
( I like continuity... So that's super exciting for me...)
(Ripping out the old parkay floors is not. It's rather difficult)
That's where we are supposed to be living in a month...
Room needs: Cracks fixed, walls painted (color advice anyone??), trim and accordion closet doors sanded and painted (white), floors put in, and baseboards.
Oh... And a bed and whatnot...

Look!!!
No, no no Not at the RO (reverse osmosis) system
NO MORE LINOLEUM!!!!

all the floors but the parkay are GONE!!!

Sofa!

2009-05-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

So, I'm super excited!!! My mom found (and bought!!) us a living room sofa! While I was at work! We have living room furniture!!!
The pictures are pretty... But, I haven't seen it, and I have no idea if the current upholstery will work for a while (its going to have to...).
I am really hoping that it will not end up on our list of things to reupholster.

Now all we need is a living room to put it in!

Ok, the couch was ridiculously cheap (not just free;) ). $95. For a couch.

Other wonderful finds we have from Hildabrand:

A pair of those...
(on the upholstery list...)

Solid, wonderful maghonyness

Since the wedding, there's actually china in there!

Current Decor Plans...

2009-05-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

the color suggestions from the wonderful girls at Kelly + Olive!!

we BOUGHT a light like this one for the entry hall!!
But its clear and sunshiny yellow (one side on each point)
Picture to come!

stencil for the entry hall? at slightly higher than chair rail height. blue from the dining room wall...

THOSE ARE THE FLOORS!!
super dark brown and wonderful!

Middle one (i think) for the breakfast nook above the paneling and on the ceiling
paneling and cabinets - high gloss bright white
floor - diagonal black and white tile

dark blue on the far dining room wall? and the greyish on the rest of the walls
green in the bathroom and laundry room!

same green walls, but with the kitchen's black and white diagonal tile

more true to color of dining room dark blue

As it is today!

2009-05-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Wider doorway to the entry hall!
(Johnny is awesome!)

Sanding the wood filler off the cracks in the paneling...
THATS THE GARAGE DOOR OPENER!
Open garage door! John got the false wall off of the garage door...

Look Mom, No Padding!!
(what do you think? will we have to re-dry wall this room?? the brown is gorilla glue or something equally difficult)

John taking the last of the padding off of the walls.
Ever wonder what the tub/shower looks like minus the tub??
THIS!
Concrete Sledge hammered out by my amazing husband...
That's my wonderful mommy sanding out the cabinets.
(note: NEVER EVER paint latex on top of oil base paints. its an evil evil thing to undo.)

Yup that's a broken hammer...
It happened the first day. We had to stop and go buy a new hammer.

Uck... Nursing home carpet..
All gone though!! The house smells so much better!

Carpet tack strips... Also, evil by nature.

me sanding the LATEX PAINT off the cabinets.
and then the door frames.
and then all the wood paneling...
(my arms hurt...)

2009-05-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Our House Blog!

That's it!

The roofers are scheduled to come soon, and after the roof is replaced we will paint the exterior!

The entry hall!

Living room and Dining Room! (before the random wall and super nasty carpet were removed)

Den - What you see from the entry hall. and, looking back towards the front door.

Kitchen and Breakfast nook

Master Bathroom

The PADDED master bedroom

Guest bathroom

Laundry room

To see the full extent of the house there are 'before' pictures at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50458&id=728779223&l=f0c744a599

2008-05-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

John and I hope to use this space for updates about wedding stuff. I will post new info on the planning process as it comes together, and post pictures along the way as well.

On Thursday, we are going to look at invitations (hopefully the samples I ordered from http://www.finestationary.com/ will be here before that!) And hopefully also nail down seating and dinning issues, like you know... tables and plates?

I'm waiting on swatches from http://www.little-flowers.com/ (leaning towards Alexis in a Champange color with a bright pink sash, but its not settled).

Alexis other

The Bridesmaid's dresses are finalized.

And the Jr. bridesmaid's dress.

Bridesmaid Dresses and Formal Gowns: Bill Levkoff spring 07 preview

So is my dress.

And the cake. http://www.wedeliversmiles.com/

And the food.

And the photographer.

And the Church. http://www.saintlukesepiscopal.net/

And the Reception site. Pictures to follow :)

And some of the Decorations for the reception have begun to come in!!

And thats all we've got for now!