According to Urban Legend... #1

We've been told many things about the house we purchased since we bought it.

 

We've been fondly referring to them as "urban legends". Some things we hear are very believable, but others we feel may have grown to legends as time goes on. Numbers get larger, the ideas get crazier, etc. However, at this point, we really would not be surprised by anything that has to do with our house - we've seen it all. As our friends Clark and Eddie would say:

Eddie: "You surprised to see us, Clark?"

Clark: "Surprised, Eddie? If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now."

 Unfortunately, we've thought this many times throughout the renovation process.

 

Example #1:

Why was the dining room light off-center to the room?

 

While some have been odd, but fixable, problems, others have caused chaos and result in an interesting story. The light in the dining room was off-center to the room and we had no idea why. Eventually, we came up with something that we believed - they wanted the light there to transition from the entryway to the kitchen.

 

WRONG. Come to find out, part of the front porch became the sub-floor in the dining room of our house. When the first family moved into our home, the wife had a dining table that would not fit in the dining room. Rather than find a new dining set, they bumped the front of the house out and what was once the cement front porch became the "foundation" for the new dining room floor. This was not a problem for them as, at the time, they could cover the cement with a plywood board so the floor would be level to place their carpet on. 

 

 Before - Carpet

After - The Hardwood Floors

 

Now, you're thinking M&J are idiots - how could they not have checked to make sure that there was wood floor under all the carpet?!? Well, in fact, we actually did - M&J pulled up the carpet it two opposite corners in the living room to make sure the wood floors ran the entire length of the room. Since the answer was yes, they started rolling the carpet back (of course, planning ahead to make sure they rolled it towards the door to get this carpet out as easily as possible). When they got about 7 feet from the door, they realized there was a patch of plywood along the outer wall of the home, but it was too late - this carpet and padding was not going back down on this floor. After all the debris was hauled out, the lifted the plywood board and found... CEMENT!

"The Floor" 

 Where the Foundation of Our Home Meets the Inside of Our Home

After a few choice words were silently spoken, (no tears could be shed over this) we packed up our things and left for the day. It sat like that for two weeks before we even began to think about what to do - we had other more important things to do, like pack up our old house and get everything moved into this one. And now, nine months later, we're finally solving that huge problem by adding self-leveling cement, thin boards and weaving in and out with old and new hardwood. Once this project is done, we'll feel as if we've witnessed a miracle!

 After Wood was Removed to Re-Weave New Hardwood In

The Removed Wood

So what have we learned from this lesson?

- The OBVIOUS one is to lift up all four corners of carpet in your room before you decide it's a great idea to tear up your carpet - M&J we halfway there...

- Don't assume or make up a story as to why something is the way it is - just ask or do some more research. We all know what assuming does "Ass - U - Me"

- After three flooring experts say they won't touch your project, turn to your friends and relatives that have assured you that this is no big deal and can easily be fixed. We are now converted and believe we will (someday) have beautiful hardwood floors in our living and dining rooms and it will be all worth it.

"Just a Swingin'..."

As soon as we bought our house, we knew our home needed some TLC outdoors - gutters had been neglected, yard was patchy with grass, flower beds were filled with many years of leaves and grass clippings, bushes and trees needed trimmed back, we were hosting the county's largest kitty litter box along with a ginormous swing set that two twenty-somethings would probably not be using. Not to mention the longest clothesline we'd ever seen in our lives.

 

 Front of House - Before

 Back of House - Before

Back Deck - Before

 

We got started by mowing the yard and overseeding to try to fill the patches in our yard. With the help of M's mom, we trimmed bushes and attempted to clean up as much debris from the flower beds as possible. These things made a HUGE difference, but there was still work to be done. M, along with a friend, cleaned up the gutters and cleaned debris off the roof. M painted the support poles on the roof and cleaned up some shingles after a small hail storm came through town.

 

Before Bushes were Trimmed

 

Next up was to plant some flowers to add some color and get some chairs and decor on the front porch - we wanted to have a welcoming home, even if it wasn't very pretty.

Front Porch - After Some Flowers were Planted

 

All this time, we were trying to find a new home for the swing set in the back yard. 

 

 Our Swing Set

 

It was in decent shape, but it wasn't going to make it until we had kids that would be old enough to use it, so a new home was a must. This fall, we found it a new home with some grandparents that were going to clean it up for their grandkids to play on when they came to visit. We went out and had one last swinging session and then sent it on it's way.

 

The backyard looks a little bare now, but someday that spot will be filled again - now to just get rid of that clothesline and litter box...

 

Paint (Peynt) - verb

Paint - (Peynt) - verb - to coat, cover, or decorate (something) with paint.

Alright, people. It's time to get serious and talk about something that is CHEAP and makes a world of difference - PAINT. J already shared her experience on painting closets and how her world was forever changed made bettter by a little can of paint.

Paint was a must for our new place. Not only does it change the smell of the entire house to a fresh and clean scent, it also adds character and your personal style. M & J knew that this would be done throughout every room before things would be hung on the walls and rooms would be considered "complete". While waiting to close on our house, we had been to Lowes and Home Depot thousands many of times and browsed the paint color swatches. In fact, they had done such a good job of picking up so many swatches that the man working the paint department finally just asked if we wanted a book! (Why, of course! Why didn't you mention that 30 minutes ago when you first noticed us picking up five thousand swatches? moving on...) "That'd be great!" was the response, and we were immediately handed the paint bible:

We kept the swatches we had collected (Are you kidding? Who's going to put all those back?) and walked out the door with the swatches, little books of ideas and our new paint bible. We thought all our problems were solved - we'd just look through the entire thing, pick out the colors each of us liked, and then decide which room they would look best in. We'd already agreed that we wanted a brown that would be our base/main color throughout the house. We wanted a darker, almost chocolate color for our master bedroom, and a purple accent wall in our office. J loves red, so she requested a red accent wall in the combined living/dining room. Simple enough, right?

WRONG. M loved the paint bible and J hated it. M thought it offered tons of options and was an easy way to choose colors. J became frustrated because as soon as she'd pick a color in the "mid-tones" section, she'd swear she had found the same color in the "warm colors" section and the issues began.

After multiple test paints were purchased...

...and attempted on various walls throughout our new home...

...we landed on these colors for the different rooms on the main level in our new place:

 Main Brown - Soft Chamois

 Red in Living Room and Entryway - Apple Polish

 Purple for accent wall in Office - Darkest Grape

 Brown in Master Bedroom - Mocha Latte

 Half Bath - Pelican Beach (Valspar)

Kitchen - Eddie Bauer's Grove (Valspar)

We love all of them for different reasons and think they really fit our vision of how our home will (someday) look.

You Want Me To What?

Right after we purchased our house, M often was gone in the evenings because of travel for work or was working up at the farm. This left J working in their home so they could get some things done before they moved in. J was excited about getting some paint on the walls, getting the trim off and getting some floors ready to be re-finished.

 

However, in one afternoon of discussion about what was next on their to-do list for their home, J's Dad suggested they get to work on the closets next. ARE YOU KIDDING?!? J thought. We just bought this house, need to move in, and the only thing you can think of for me to do is paint those dinky, ugly, falling apart closets? What about the main rooms? Where we are actually going to SEE what they look like. Who cares about a stinking closet...

 

Before - but after shelves were taken out

 

Against her plans, M&J bought paint and got all the supplies we needed to start tearing into our closets and getting them ready to be painted. We tore out all the old shelving - it had been painted over multiple times, didn't fit our idea of organized and was falling apart. After all the shelves and supports had been knocked out, it was time for J to get started painting.

 

 

 

In Progress

Talk about a lonely job and an awful place to start. She taped off the trim (it was staying in the closets) and got to work. The biggest problems - these closets were dark inside and they were tall (J is not). Try standing on a step stool (ladder is too tall), holding a large paint tray and trying to paint with not only the hand-held roller, but a roller attached to an extender to get all the tall places in your closet. (It was really not funny at all at the time. At all. Looking back, J probably looked like an idiot. Thank goodness she was alone.) What resulted was paint all down the left side of J's shirt, shorts and leg. Oops. Should have been more aware of which way that paint tray was leaning...

 

At this point, J is just trying to keep paint OFF the carpet, and has no one there to help get this cleaned up so she can walk through other areas of the house. So what does she do?

 

Continues to paint and waits for paint to dry. We all know how long that takes...

Spreading Holiday Cheer with Shutterfly

Well, M&J are getting ready to do what everyone else is out doing...

No, not Christmas shopping (although that needs to be done - thanks for the reminder). Actually, we need to order our Christmas Cards. We really struggled with a location this year, which is uncommon for us. We knew we wanted to feature our first place in some way, but that is easier said than done, especially when lots of your home is UNFINISHED. Don't think an incomplete room does much for a beautiful Christmas Card.

After multiple attempts to try to get "the right photo", then J went looking for the right card. She searched site after site, and then found multiple (I know, this never happens) cards that she LOVED on Shutterfly's website! AND to make it even better, Shutterfly is having a promotion right now for bloggers and they are giving them 50 free holiday cards if they share their favorite cards. If you'd like to learn more about it, go here and if not AT LEAST check out Shutterfly's website and pick out some Christmas cards if you haven't already ordered yours.

These are just a few of my favorites from their site and why I love them -

J loves this one for its simplicity and for the monogram:

And this one for its unique vertical design with two photos:

As well as this one for its unique fonts:

Not sure what we'll choose yet, but with so many options, J is hoping to pick something that is NOT red (the last two years have been red and M&J should really branch out and try something different) and M is hoping for something that isn't too girly. We'll see how successful we are...

Also, if you're looking for a good Christmas gift idea, I heard these make great gifts: