Saturday, December 24, 2011

Hand Me Down Dishes to Our Own Set

 

Since Hubs and I moved in together we have been using the dishes his parents gave him. They are nice and colorful and serve the function of plates of course but neither of us loved the design. But why spend money on things we already have when there’s so much we don’t have and can purchase! we can put it in savings like responsible adults!

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When it came time to do a wedding registry we honestly we didn’t know what to put on it since we had already combined two houses of stuff and didn’t need anything. We finally decided to register for things we could upgrade or replace that day to day we wouldn’t have done ourselves (why spend money to replace things that still perform their function?!). Because of this, the majority of our registry ended up being dinnerware and cookware with a couple linens to replace ripped ones and varied odds and ends.

Before going to the store I had mentioned to Hubs I liked the idea of having a lot of colors and while he said “OK” I couldn’t tell if he really meant it or it was one of those “OK”s that translated to “whatever you want to do, I’m not all that concerned with this stuff”. We checked out a couple department stores and most sets were bland, formal, or what I call country style. Hubs was definitely not a fan of anything floral. I was hoping for something that I liked the instant I saw it but I had the eh reaction to everything.

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We then went to Kohl's where they have the Corsica and Fiesta sets. I was instantly loving all the different colors! We both quickly decided we didn’t like the square place settings then much to my happiness Hubs really seemed to get into having all different colored pieces – yay!! And the bowls are BIG – lets just say I can put an entire can of soup in it AND add fixins! Some of the patterns were nice but I figured I’d get sick of them so we registered for each of all the solid colors.

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We started receiving gifts before the wedding in May but decided that since we’d be moving around November it made more sense to continue using all our old things and keep the new ones packed from shipment to start using in the new house. Oh my goodness was it hard! Well, let’s be serious.. I started using a piece now and then (ie the pineapple slicer) just to get the excited something new! feeling.

I can now admit that I am so glad we waited until after the move to use the new gifts. Only the new things came to the new house and the old went to goodwill, back to Hub’s parents or recycling/trash (chipped, broken). It was like receiving the gifts all over again when I unpacked and put them in the cabinets! And I am still ecstatic on our dinnerware choice – they are so bright and fun!

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Figuring out how to fit them all and organize in the cabinets was a whole different – pull my hair out instead of exciting – experience!

-J

Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas Tree / Chanukah Bush

Much to my happiness Hubs brought home the tree on Wednesday yet it has been in our garage since. Tonight it got cut to fit in the stand, we got it secured in the sand and Hubs put the lights on. Yes, I barely did anything. Well, I started making some more blue ornaments :)




-J

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

L’il Bookcases Cuted Up

A couple of the projects I kept coming back to on multiple blogs when I started reading them were redoing bookcases and painting with stencils. After deciding on the green color in my office I quickly determined I didn’t want the same old furniture in my office.


In the old room I had four compressed wood bookcases – two tall in light brown, one short in light brown and one short in a darker brown. The light brown somewhat matched my L desk but the desk was not moving to the new house. I am using hubs’ old desk which doesn’t match any of the other furniture.


Noticing how great the white trim and doors pop against the green walls I decided to paint the bookcases white, add trim to the tops and bottoms to make them look upgraded and paint the backs with the same green as the walls and stencil designs.


Here is how the bookcases started out in the new house.
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Still a little skeptical about painting I started with the lighter one. Carried it back downstairs – without any more nicks in the walls! – took the shelves out and put in the garage on the paint tarp. Marc and I had just scrubbed the floor in the garage of all the dirt and sticky who-knows-what the renters left (ICK!!) so I didn’t want to get any paint on it.


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I used leftover Dunn Edwards paint from when the interior was painted, the white was named Whisper which I’m thinking was the base color used since it’s not one I remember (the interior trim, doors and "unpainted” areas like laundry room were Swiss Coffee). The backs in Dunn Edwards’ Peas in a Pod, same as the walls in the office.
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The shelves in process.

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And here is the bookcase and shelves after being painted white. The blue is painters tape to minimalize getting the white on the back.


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The great thing about the paint and rollers when working on a project that spans multiple days is that you can put them in a plastic bag in the freezer in between painting. I hate cleaning up so not only does this save paint you haven't used yet but this way you just clean up once at the end.






Cleaning myself off is a whole different story. This was the least of the mess but the only I snagged a pic of - two shirts got spots, a pair of socks and tons of swipes on my arms and legs. But at least I got an on my body reminder to keep going back for more touchups!








After the bookcase and shelves were painted white it was time to do the back. I waited a day or day and a half for the paint (hard in of itself but still too impatient!) to try then taped the sides to make sure the green only stayed on the back.


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I was sooo excited! Until I started removing the tape and realized my impatience totally bit me in the butt.. Yes.. White paint on the tape – it took off the paint from the bookcases.. :(


White Paint Gone Collage




After cursing at myself for not waiting longer I realized it’s just how I am and moved on to my favorite part – a cutesy design! I purchased the stencil at Michael’s without any idea where to use it but loved the design.


I put the stencil in the upper left most corner and used a foam brush to first swipe over the lines the squished for a nice textured effect.


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After doing a few in a row I started washing the stencil off after every other one as the paint was getting on the backside and leaving extra white marks where I didn’t want them.


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While I like that it’s not perfect it was more spots than I wanted.


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However I could easily enough cover the extra marks with more green paint!


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Same scroll after the corrections (so happy with it!):


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And Voila – the finished backing (actually, I might have done a few more corrections after this but very minimal)!


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And another view where it shows that I didn’t measure and plan before stenciling (reenter my impatience).


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I haven’t decided what to do on the side with all the extra space yet.. I told Marc I would personalize it with our last name and he looked at me like I was crazy (I am of course but I was just kidding). Either way I took it upstairs, got the shelves in and was giddy with how great it looks!


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Now on to the second bookcase which has already given me problems but I think it’s finally giving in and I’m going to win!

-J


Project shared with link party

Monday, November 28, 2011

The four day weekend came just in time!

 

Simply put we need more long weekends.

I started Thursday with making a yarn ball wreath for an easy get me going project.

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For Thanksgiving we had it easy, we met hubs’ parents at their club which meant none of us had to cook or clean. It was very welcomed still having our house in disarray!

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A wonderful dinner (was even able to bring home some leftovers!) and found our pups did not have such a good time when we returned home..

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The rest of the weekend we spent continuing to unpack, put rooms together and clean. Here’s how we stand as of Monday morning – I’m feeling so good with the progress I don’t even have the Monday blues! Note the furballs following me around as I take pictures.

The Front Room

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The Kitchen

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The Nook

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The Family Room (not much changed but some boxes gone)

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Garage

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The Guest Bedroom

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The Nursery – now excess stuff until we get pregnant!

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Our Bedroom, amazing sans Sierra on the bed.. She trotted in as I was leaving though!

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Our closet – yay to no more trash bags!

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The Loft

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And finally, the office which still needs the most work.

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We finished up Sunday with dinner at Buca di Beppo – AWESOME!!!

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

Company of Pups

Thank goodness the pups are here to keep us company, it's been a long and busy weekend. We got a lot of stuff done but can't believe it's already almost Monday!




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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

New Workbench

Wednesday November 23rd, 2011

While trying to decide what project to do I realized I do not have anywhere to do any work on them. So my first project was decided - make a work bench for the garage!

Just a couple searches on the internet and I found plans for simple work benches and tables. Since I don’t know how long this interest will last I decided on the work bench (smaller than the table). With the plans on HammerZone the only materials I needed were wood and deck screws so off to Home Depot I went.

Ran into a very helpful employee who rekeyed our locks, gave me advise on a jigsaw (possibly for this project but definitely for others - and it was on sale 40% off!) and showed me to the lumber area. It was so easy, I showed them the dimensions I needed for the boards and they picked them and cut them for me. He even calculated cost to get me the best deal, it was cheaper to buy a bigger piece of plywood and cut to size leaving me a 4'x4' extra piece than buying the two pieces i needed precut. I had looked online and work tables were mostly $100-200 - my wood was about $25 which included extra pieces I can use for other projects!

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While the plan was to build it myself I had never used a power drill before so I waited for Marc to wake up from his nap to make sure which bit I could use on the wood. I have this looming fear I will break something. Marc ended up staying for the whole project – was so great, every time I got frustrated he’d tell me I’m doing great and give pointers of why something wrong was happening (had the drill tilted etc).

So I went from the first side:

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To the Frame:

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To the finished bench!

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It will need a little more work – I have a shelf to add to the bottom and the legs are uneven. I am sure it’s because I rushed through it and didn’t use a level or measure everything multiple times but Marc says they were cut properly (how cute is he!). Either way, I’m so happy we got it all together and it stands!

 

-J