Big news!

Just dusting off the cobwebs in here. Wow. My longest hiatus by far, it's been over 3 months since my last post.

What the what???

I've been busy doing a million things, traveling, and - you know - making a baby.

barefoot and pregnant at 13 weeks

I just haven't had the desire to do much of anything the past few months. It's weird. I think there are many psychological side effects of this craziness.

But now I am a woman on a mission. 

I have a long to-do list that I won't bore you with. But basically it's like:

Part A: Do all this stuff before baby is born

Part B: Forget about accomplishing anything from Part A after baby is born

I'm due February 20th. Just under 6 months from now. Can I get it all done? Will I drive myself crazy trying? Is anybody even reading this anymore? Besides my mom?

Check that box off...

Remember this post a few weeks back? 

Oh yeah...

I am disproportionately excited about this driveway

Just to remind you again, here's the before...

And the view from the backyard...

 before and after

Not too shabby, not too shabby at all...

Just for fun, here's a photo taken in March, 2010 - 2 years ago...

And here's the same view now...

Over the next couple of weeks we have to work on that front bed - do some trimming, weeding, and mulching. We need to rearrange some of the plantings too.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend everyone!

TV cabinet

How our tv cabinet went...

 

from this... to that...

This cabinet (like many other things in our house!) came from one of our grandparents (specifically Grandma Millie!). It has been with us for at least 5 or 6 years. It is something from about 40 years ago? I don't know.

It is a great size and pretty solid piece of furniture. But... the top is veneered and the center quatrefoil panels are plastic. The back is masonite board. In other words, it isn't an exceptional piece of woodworking. So no guilty wood-empathetic feelings, please!

 

We always intended to replace this piece with a new TV console. I've looked around a little bit but have not really seen anything I loved. The main problem with this piece is that all our components are stashed in the cabinets, but with the doors closed we couldn't use the remote. Whenever we watched tv, the cabinet was open and stuff was spilling out onto the floor. I know there are ways to add a remote control "eye" or whatever, but then realized I can re-purpose this cabinet to be a little more multitasking and leave room for future devices and future technology. Also, as much as I love quatrefoil, I was growing weary of the 3 solid panels.

So we detached the side doors and popped the center panel right out of the frame... 

I searched high and low for some kind of metal mesh the insert into the empty space. There are many places that sell beautiful decorative metal mesh and will even cut it to size... for a price. I highly recommend this website if you want someone else to take care of this part for you. But, just warning you - it is not cheap and you can probably find a new cabinet for the price of two small mesh panels...

So I took a trip to Lowes for some brainstorming. Brainstorming at Lowes means I walk up and down every aisle looking for something to repurpose. I found rolls and rolls of soft mesh for window screens, which really would not work well.

But in one area I found this:

A "Screen and Storm Door Grill" - It's a hard mesh inside a metal frame. People use it to prevent toddlers and dogs from tearing through their screen doors. I bought two panels for $20 each.

The next issue was - how do we cut this thing to size? First I tried our mini power saw with a metal-cutting blade. 

"Hahahahaha" the universe said as I struggled to even put a dent in the edge of the frame.

Next trip to Lowes we bought a bolt-cutter. It cut through the mesh like butter.

BUT! You can only make one or two cuts before the thing gets in the way of itself. Kind of like a metaphor for DIY!

I almost gave up but remembered these wire cutters:

I was able to trim 2 pieces to size and pop them into the cabinet door frames. I didn't take pictures of this stage, but I glued the edges down with wood glue and it stuck...

Next came the paint - "Wrought Iron" Benjamin Moore Aura in Satin finish, which I already had left over from this project.

Everything was painted - both inside and outside the cabinet. The hardware was sprayed with a fresh coat of Rustoleum "Oil Rubbed Bronze." Then we put everything back together.

Next we re-wired everything. I'm not kidding when I say it took about 3 hours to sort through this mess: 

We zip-tied most of the excess wires into loops and even stashed some things inside a bin in the cabinet. The surge protector was screwed onto the back of the cabinet and everything went in and out of that. All the wires are now off the floor and the only wire going from the cabinet to the wall is the power strip plug and the cable cord... If you are interested, I think this website has some good tips on basic wire organization.

So this is the final result. It's much much more usable than before and looks updated too.

Let's have fun with the driveway...

We are in the middle of a literal driveway overhaul - just waiting for our permits and such to come through.

Isn't it a mess?

It's supposed to be gravel.

But it's really just a glorified dirt patch with weeds that is in a convenient location to park the car.

At the back end of the driveway we have a chainlink fence that will be torn down. The fence used to have a "BEWARE OF DOG" sign. It took me like a year after we bought the house to remove because we were so busy inside the house. I wish I were kidding...

We really can't wait to get this going. Hopefully soon?

Spring Purge

I'm going through a major spring purge. Last weekend we were expecting an overnight guest and I realized our guest-room closet had overflowed into a dumping grounds for god-knows-what...

First things first. I cleared away everything that didn't belong. Then I pulled some things out of the attic to add to the mix. This is what we are storing here:

fancy dresses and suits, evening shoes and bags, 

pictures to hang, photos, photo cds, photo albums,

extra throw pillows and comforters...

After everything was in place, I installed a curtain rod with a couple of curtain panels from TJMaxx...

This room definitely needs a little more work, but it is so much neater! My goal is to tackle each room/closet in the house over the next few weeks and then set up a donation pickup. I'm hoping to finish our room and closet this weekend!

Easter and Coin

I read a lot of house and design blogs and I usually get bored by the overly-enthusiastic attitudes of the writers toward such mundane ho-hum things like table settings. Sometimes I can picture bloggers foaming at the mouth over the hammered edge of a plate or the hand silk-screened paisley of a tablecloth pattern. So I apologize in advance if my Easter table photos are resonating in your brain like, "why does she think we're interested in this?"

So anyway, I present to you our Easter table...

The table cloth I purchased in Florence at Coin. Don't click on that link because you will surely regret it as you realize how awesome and how far away this department store is. And it looks like they have an online store but they don't sell any of the good stuff there. 

Gah, sorry, but here is a small collection of the good stuff from Coin. How about that hexagon pillow?

Which do you prefer?

My Sister-in-law, Dina is expecting a baby boy this summer! She recently picked out his crib and bedding but is not sure what color to paint the nursery. 

The current room trim is white, and it is best to stick with that for a myriad of obvious reasons.

Dina has repeatedly mentioned adding a chair-railing stained in a dark espresso color. 

Through the magic of photoshop, I present different options below:

I personally prefer options D and F with the white chair rail. (Really? Big surprise!) But if I had to pick an option with the darker chair rail, i would pick option C.

 

Which do you prefer? Any other suggestions?