Loving Our Home Today

Maybe it's because I hosted a dinner party last night or it's because there are beautiful flowers on my dining room table perking up the place but I'm just loving the house today. So much so that I didn't leave it at all.

I began the day pulling weeds on the south side of the house. I hope I'm not too late to save the daffodils I believe are growing over there. The weeds were plentiful and the ants, even more so.

Before the end of the day our friend Lee stopped over to bring some fresh picked raspberries off his bush and to plant a sunflower plant for us. I can't wait for it to grow like crazy! The yard has a LONG way to go but I did make a dent in the weeds this week.

Anyway, all this love for our home made me take some more pictures. The only new thing you'll see is the couch below. Scott drove to Zeeland, MI a few weekends ago to pick it up. Zeeland is also the home of the Herman Miller furniture manufacturer. He was stoked.

Our new Eames Sofa Compact for the "family room"(we aren't sure what to call the room):



Backing up a bit to include the table:


A close up of the pattern:


I know the bedroom furniture was in the last post but those weren't such great photos. Not that these are very much better...but maybe a little:

Three of the 4 pieces:

(Still need new bedding. It's on the list.)

A close up of the bottom of the dresser (Soho made by Copeland):


And, finally, the room I was really loving today: The dining room.
The view from the entry way into the living/dining area (with my birthday present globe in the foreground):


And the table with the pretty flowers given to me at the dinner party last night:

(Nothing on the walls yet. We can't decide!)

The light fixture is from the house Scott grew up in. It's one of the only things he's carried around with him everywhere he's gone.

Scott cut a tree down in our front yard. It blocked the coolest part of the house - the garage windows. I agree you can see the coolness factor of our house better without the tree but I haven't come to terms with it being gone yet. It was a pretty little tree. Maybe the next update I'll photograph the outside.

Happy weekend everyone!

Hello, Old Friend

The snow is gone, spring flowers are popping up (what will they be?), we've ridded our garage of some furniture we no longer wanted and I have a mirror in my bathroom!



Absolutely stunning!!!

Another view (walking in to the room):



I now have a towel rack as well. Apologies for the bad iphone picture but it's easiest. Also, don't judge the 1 towel. I haven't even used this tub since the rack was installed. Maybe today calls for a bubble bath?



And, finally, a toilet paper holder. Living the life of luxury!



There is no way to take an interesting photo of the other things Ryan was able to cross off his list, however, the "bar" area now has a marmoleum floor to match the kitchen/family room area and the transitions from bamboo to marmoleum/marmoleum to marble are complete. He also added some trim above the fireplace.

Still no toilet in the "his" bath. Purchased one but the blue didn't match the original blue sink. Back to square one - trying to figure out how to make the original toilet work.

Still have walls to paint (sigh)and master bedroom furniture to buy as well. The next big round of remodeling will come when we re-do the hall bathroom, add the glass tile back splash in the kitchen, tear out the basement and remodel the walk-in closet.

Possibly today we'll hang the door on the "bar", maybe get serious about what shelves we'll hang in there so a few more boxes can be unpacked and, hopefully, we'll reorganize the garage.

I'll leave you with a photo of the tree which sets right outside our main window in our sun room. It's in the perfect location and is the backdrop for the whole room. It's just started to show it's Spring bloom:

Bathroom & Blinds

Hi friends....

Things have been slow since the new year. There were little things left to do that aren't very photo friendly...but it's another step toward a mostly finished project. Other than that we've been waiting for a few parts for one of the sinks and one of the toilets as well as waiting on some more funds to hit our bank account.

As of today, my husband (the weekend plumber) has the sink in my bathroom working. We now have two fully functioning bathrooms!

Here's the sink toilet combo:


And the dual flush toilet on it's own:


This toilet replaced the 1979 toilet which was added when this bathroom was added on. Our realtor, Joe Shoemaker, told us he saw this sink at Meridian (downtown) so we snatched it up so all 3 sinks in the house would match. All the guts were changed out of it and it now works!

Last weekend Scott's project was to hang the blinds on the kitchen window. It turned out to be a pretty lengthy project but it's lovely to be able to hide my PJs and bed-head from our neighbors in the morning.



And an up close photo:


Still to go:
Everything needs painted and/or touched up
Caulk (everywhere)
Kitchen back splash
Kitchen pendant light
At least one threshold (maybe more than 1)
White bathroom light and mirror
Blue bathroom toilet
Guest bathroom needs renovated (only room we didn't touch)
New storm doors
Window treatment in bathroom, sunroom, living room, entry way and on the doors (probably some sort of stick on film. We aren't sure yet).
Clean carpet glue off sunroom floor
Clean mortar off the fireplace facing
...and I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting

Once we paint, we can finally finish unpacking!

Successful Brunch

We had our first "party" at Sunny Ln. in the annual Hangover Brunch. It was a success (though when will I learn and buy some more plates so I can stop doing dishes during most of the brunch??) and so much more comfortable with so much more rooooom!

At 5pm on 12/31 we loaded up Ryan's truck with tons of the big trash which was still cluttering up the house. He pulled out of the drive way and Scott and I went to work trying to make the house ready. The sun room was still piled high with doors, old carpet, tools, a vanity, and much more. Luckily my best friend Matt arrived with his awesome family. Matt and Scott whipped the sun room in to shape for sure. I'm not exactly sure what Kristin and I did. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off so it's all a blur. There was much sweeping, I do remember that.

There's still much to be done (another pendant light to hang, trim, PAINT!, there's one toilet and one sink in different rooms that do not yet work, window treatments, at least one thresh hold, fireplace, hall bath, door bell) but the house was ready enough to start 2011 with some love. And everyone did LOVE it. Here are few pictures from the day which show it off:

Diane and Matt introduce Elise and Liam in the family room area (off the kitchen):


Mary checks out the buffet brunch options:


The sun room is enjoyed by some of my favorite people:


The Page family finally gets to see where their daddy has been all these evenings:


Casey and her youngins check out the fireplace:


The dinning room gets its first taste of food:


Pemby enjoys the Bloody Mary's in the bar area:


The Wilson's enjoy some play time in the yard:

Kitchen Floors

Since it's been pretty slow around the house I wanted to touch more on our AWESOME kitchen floors. We outfitted our kitchen and family room with marmoleum click tiles. I linked to a page that tells you all about marmoleum just in case you've not heard of it. We had not. Scott stumbled on it randomly while frantically searching for flooring options. The basics are:

Marmoleum is a natural product made from renewable resources: linseed oil, wood flour, pine rosin, natural pigments and a jute backing.

Marmoleum is naturally anti-static so it repels dust and dirt. A dry mop is best for cleaning, and spot cleaning with water as needed.

Marmoleum Click is also considered eco-friendly because it is very durable - you just won't have to replace it that often. It's considered "The 40 year floor".

Additionally, natural linoleum surfaces also feature antimicrobial properties that halt the breeding of harmful micro-organisms, including MRSA and C-difficile. Marmoleum is being used in hospitals because of this feature.

Those are just a few of the reasons why I love our kitchen floor! Ryan said he was impressed by the product as well and he installed it!

Pippet has been all over it chasing her toys with no scratch marks!

This is the color we chose:

(eternity)

This is the cork back of one of our tiles:


And the front:


And, a bit of a side note: Our fridge is in its proper kitchen location, as is our oven and microwave and it looks like a few doors are even up on the cabinets! I'm out of town for work so I can't be certain.


Rumor is the tile guy is underway in the bathrooms as well!!!

Moving the Cabinets In

That's right! We started putting the cabinets in their place. Look!









After 2 months without a refrigerator, I think there's a pretty good chance there will be one in the house when I return home from work on Monday.

Let me also take this opportunity to plug our awesome GC, Ryan, and his business: http://www.pageconstructionservices.com/Home.html

He takes pictures of the really bad stuff like this:

and writes captions like this: Previous owners took out a toilet, but just bolted a piece of wood down and hid it beneath carpet!

AND

Cut wire in the wall behind drywall - is it live? Yes!

DRY WALL!!! (&more)

I've been trying to get here for 4 or 5 days. Apologies for the delay. I'm just going to jump head first into the pictures because there is a lot to show. Going in order....

Our custom made bathroom cabinets are in! Scott's friend made them for us from bamboo. Sorry for the crappy photo. It was night time and it's my iphone...blah blah blah. This is just sitting on the floor in the dining room. Can't wait to show it to you hanging on the wall!




Let there be LIGHT! Ryan shouted "progress" as all the recessed lighting was finished and working.


Let's do reminder shots of the kitchen/family room progress -
The day we purchased it:


A few days later:


Several days later:



A few days ago "we" (yes, there is a mouse in my pocket) added insulation:


Yesterday drywall started going up:


Dang they are fast!


Look at that kitchen!


YAYAYAYYAYAY!!!


I've been out of town this weekend while all of this is going on but Ryan and Scott have been documenting. I can't WAIT to get home Monday and see the progress. There's more mudding of the walls to be done and two bathrooms to drywall yet.
From what I know the outside of the house is being touched up with paint this weekend and the framing in my bathroom (previously the 80's bathroom) is being repaired since the ceiling framing was not properly installed (shocker).

Also, something I shared on facebook but want to document here...I put a time capsule together based on the idea from Baz and his awesome blog. The time capsule includes: Section A of the Indianapolis Star on 10/13/2010, 6 pictures (3 of the house, 2 of our wedding and 1 of our dog, Pippet), a letter detailing what we've been doing to the house and talking about our plans for the future there, 2 coins minted 2010, 1 stamp, a receipt from my lunch at Panera Bread on 10/14/2010, a Naptown Roller Girls sticker and a Sun King Brewing patch.



Here's a shot of it in the wall before drywalling (it's in the wall where the bar will be):


OH!! And, good news: The bamboo came in for our flooring!

That's that for today. We'll be rocking and rolling from here on out.