Monday, February 29, 2016

Wallpaper Wonders

Wallpaper should be illegal.  It's horrible and awful to remove...unless you use a steamer.  WOW!  All these years, I've been using DIF and fabric softener and spray bottles and an old iron and scoring tools and scraping tools trying to remove wallpaper.  And it took forever.  And I did a lot of swearing.  Matt found a Wagner power steamer online for $30 and it's magic!  I was able to remove the yucky wallpaper in the entryway in less than an hour.  (We know they have steamers available to rent, but we wanted to avoid renting a steamer a dozen times with all the wallpaper removal we'll be doing throughout the house.  Plus, we saved a ton of money by just having our own to use at our pace!)  The little Wagner steamer is awesome and makes wallpaper removal quick and easy.  Whoo hoo!  That's my kind of project!


New doors are on the "need to purchase" list.


Saturday was a gorgeous day to go snowshoeing!  We headed over to the local state game area to hit the trails.  After a foot of snow we had earlier in the week, not all the trails were clear.  That's fine...I had a good time freeing the frozen branches from the ground and watching them spring up and fling snow all over.

This is a trail.
It got MUCH wider when we freed
the snow-bound branches.


After our snowshoeing workout, it was time to grout the tile in the kitchen!  Yay!!  Matt wasn't sure about my choice of white grout, but I kept telling him to trust me:  the white will be clean, the white will lighten the tiles, the white will tie in the white cabinets...the white is what we're going with.  I think I made the right choice.  





Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Always

It's been one year...one LONG, SAD year without this sweet little guy.  We still miss him every single day.

He always made us smile.  He still does.  I'm sure he always will.


He always curled up on Keaton's laundry.
I think it was his way of giving Keaton an extra hug.

He's hiding from a thunderstorm.




He loved to go camping...as long as he had a chair to sit on.
He NEVER sat on the ground.






STALKER!

I think Sebastian wanted some of the blueberry pancakes I made for breakfast this morning!


Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Stalker!

We have a stalker at our house.  It's a pretty cat that is very friendly and loves attention.  He belongs to the neighbor but comes to our house to sunbathe and get some attention.  I named him Sebastian because I name all the animals that frequent our yard.  I always have...I always will.  We're not sure if he's even a boy, but he just looked like a Sebastian to me for some reason.  So, the name will stick...whether he's a boy or girl.  Sadly, though, I'm allergic to cats.  I  just talk to Sebastian through the door or window when he comes to visit.  This is from last week.  I guess he wasn't finished with our conversation.




Monday, February 22, 2016

Sign

We stumbled on this sign on one of our walks.  It's definitely a 'sign' we were meant to be together!


Saturday, February 20, 2016

Sleeping Beauties

Sigh.  I still miss Cyrus every day.  I was printing out a baby picture of Keaton for a new picture frame and came across these pics of some sleeping beauties.  They make me smile.  :-)



Thursday, February 18, 2016

Kitchen Update

Yesterday was an update of some of the projects we've completed.  Today is an update of the kitchen...which is still in the ongoing process of becoming fabulous.  We're getting there...S L O W L Y, but surely!

Yuck.








He looked like The Abominable Snowman!



Goodbye, 90s white and burgundy!






Hopefully we'll grout this weekend!!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Patience Is a Virtue!

They say patience is a virtue.  I'm not sure who "they" are and why that's a saying, but I'm a non-comformist. I'm so definitely NOT a patient person.  Matt thinks that updating our house may help me learn some patience.  So far, it really hasn't.  We've been in our new house for six months and I still want everything updated in the house as soon as possible...preferably yesterday.  Sigh.  I have a vision for each room and it's taking SOOOOOO long to make that vision a reality.  Ugh.  That frustrates me.

So, people have been asking to see what we've been doing.  Basically, we're updating pretty much every single room in the house...including the garage, deck, and patio.  We're changing every outlet and cover. We're changing light switches and covers.  We're installing new light fixtures.  We're changing all the door knobs and hinges on every door in the house.  We're replacing anything old and outdated. We're scrubbing, sanding, and repainting pretty much everything in each room.

Here's a little sneak peek of what we did to the garage.  It smelled old and musty.  We cleaned and freshened everything with primer and paint...paint we originally bought for the old house.  (Cheap update!)  I re-purposed some old cabinets for storage (it's amazing what you can do with spray paint!) and added some cute rugs and signs.  (Still a pretty cheap update!)  We're planning to get new doors for the entrance to the house and patio, but that is on the "someday" list...when I find an amazing sale and we have warmer weather to install new doors.  (I buy everything on sale!)  Everything is now clean and organized and looks (and smells) so much better!  
 BEFORE
Notice the mint green.  Yuck.


Old cabinets + spray paint = fabulous!
AFTER 
Matt's work bench is a little messy, but he's in the
middle of installing tile back splash in the kitchen.
I haven't nagged too much...yet.


Before the weather got too cold, we refinished the deck.  Wow!  What a huge difference!!

BEFORE
Just power-washing the deck made a HUGE difference!



AFTER

When we refinished the kitchen counter tops, we had some leftover material so we used it on the counter tops in the bathroom in the basement. We'll swing back to this bathroom when we're ready to update the basement. (Once we win the lottery.)

BEFORE

AFTER


We updated our utility room one weekend.  Well, more like two weekends.  For whatever reason, the former owners had painted the floor a blood red color.  It seriously looked like the backdrop for an episode of CSI.  I told Keaton the little raised rectangle in the room (the one with the boxes of tiles on it in the picture) was an old grave.  It was funny how his eyes bugged out. Now, it's my 50 Shades of Grey room. (Not really, but I do enjoy shocking Keaton.)  

BEFORE


AFTER


I've been painting inside closets, cupboards and cabinets.  Have I mentioned how much I HATE painting?

BEFORE
More mint green.  Yuck.


AFTER

Matt's bathroom cabinets definitely had a yucky musty odor to them.  One weekend, I primed and painted them.  It was horrible. But they look (and smell) fabulous now!

BEFORE

AFTER


Okay, one last peek into some cabinets in our living room.  I don't have any before shots for some reason. But close your eyes and plug your nose.  They were all old stinky wood.  I painted all of these...with primer AND three coats of paint.  It was horrendous!  I seriously had white paint in my hair for over a month.  But, they look (and smell) sooooo much better!


Matt installed a new outlet and put up a board to cover
the gazillion old phone lines in the house.
We have over 300 DVDs of Keaton.
Can you tell he's an only child?
Ignore all the clutter on the top of the cabinets.
It's a temporary landing pad for some kitchen counter stuff while Matt puts up the back splash.
I still need to paint the outside of these cabinet doors.
I need a long nap first, though.