Spring Curtains!

Finally just bit the bullet & bought some off the shelf curtains for the living room.  The orange ones that were in there were just not right & did not hang properly.  I am so much happier with the new choice.  Here is the living room which is still very much *under construction*.

Porch Light!

I have finally pulled the trigger on a porch light!  I really, really hope it works out.  I have looked for almost 2 years & have found a few that I thought were alright but never really the combo of simple & modern yet with a touch of traditional..since our house is 112yrs old!  Also scale was important in that we have a small porch with a small peaked roof (hopefully we can figure that out).  Anyway here is the light we decided to go with...from a small company in England.  I am not sure how many days it'll take to get here but I'm excited.  Here is the link...It's around $300 US.
http://www.hollowaysofludlow.com/details.php?P1=2&Clv=4&C1=20&C2=144&C3=580&C4=2244

Let there be light!

We need light new light fixtures pretty much everywhere in the house.  So far we replaced one "boob" light in the kitchen nook & that's it so far.  Here is the new fixture--It's a Pendant from Room & Board--the price was $149.  My husband installed it so no cost there.

And here it is in the room after being installed.

Next on the agenda is to get fixtures for the other public spaces.  Namely the Dining Room, Foyer, Living Room & a sconce for the Stairway going upstairs.  After much debate I think we've found the line we plan on using.  I wasn't intent on them all "matching" by my husband is very adamant that they do.  Well at least that makes it easier.  Here are the fixtures that are at the top of our list.  Any thoughts or opinions on them?  They are kind of on the rustic side, maybe more than I would like but I like that they are slightly modern, dark metal & hopefully will not look super dated very quickly.  

For the Dining Room--$699.00

For the Foyer...$269.00

Sconce for the Stairway (with in view of the Foyer)...$99.00

And last here is the Living Room light...$549.00

In addition to these fixtures I'd also like recessed lighting installed in the Living Room for sure & possibly the Dining Room as well.  Total investment will be around $3K I believe.  Hopefully this project will get rolling fairly soon.

Flashback: Before & After Laundry Room

I thought I'd feature a few of the more involved projects we've done over the past 9yrs.  First up is the laundry room turned into kids craft/laundry space in our 1924 Bungalow.  When we purchased the house we had 1 child & one on the way.  The laundry room was large & that was great but we did not use the space much for a few years.  Once the kids got older we decided we needed a good place for my budding artist to work.  So decided to do a little work in here.  Here are some of the before and after photos.

BEFORE

Washer & Dryer location

Other side of the room

AFTER

We did new floors, drywall (walls & ceiling), new electrical with recessed lights.

Just beyond the table is a little built in broom closet in the space around the sewer pipes.

Before we left we bought a new washing machine which hopefully will last for several years of renters.

Organization in Playroom Progress!

We had used open plastic bins for organizing toys for years.  It was my parents who saw the need for something & went to The Container Store & bought us a bunch of these.

And it worked out fine in our old playroom as shown here.

Well we moved into the new house & had a MUCH smaller space to work with.  We crammed in as much as possible & left it that way for a year.  The bins worked but were not ideal.  Little things fell through & they took up a lot of space.

I was SO excited when IKEA finally came to town!  I decided to do a little reorganizing & buy an Expedit to replace some of the bins.  I could not believe what the Expedit would hold.  Here is what we had...

And all of the stuff in those bins fit into this--AMAZING!!!

I was SO impressed that I went out & bought another one to replace the bookshelf on the other wall.  I am loving all the space & that it looks much cleaner & simpler now.

Dining Room progress!

The Dining Room is the first room I painted when we moved in.  It was a dark red color & I just didn't like it at all.  

I got the *bright* idea to paint it orange.  Not bright orange but a dark orangish-red.  So I painted it "Tibetan Red" by Behr Ultra.

Here it is painted before we were even unpacked.  That's how much I hated the wine red color.

Here is my new hutch with the Orange wall behind it.

After about a year I was already tired of it.  I got really obsessed with painting my dining room a teal color.  This photo is what I fell in love with.  

We also decided to paint the space below the arch & above the rail white.  I REALLY hate those arches as they are obviously NOT original to the house & not done all that well.  My color choice was Peacock blue which in real life looks very similar to the picture above.  Not at all what this picture makes it look like.

Here is the actual color:

Here is the progress so far!  Sorry this is the only photo I have on hand right now.  We still need a new light fixture & I plan to repaint the buffet & replace the lamp with something else.  Maybe eventually even get a rug when the kids get older.  

Old house love...

I got this letter in the mail yesterday...just addressed to "Resident" with our address on it.  From what I can tell the man is 90yrs old & still lives in the neighborhood...just a few blocks away.  I am guessing he's seen us outside & the kids playing & possibly felt nostalgic.  For many, many years prior to us buying the house it was a multi-family rental with 2-3 units.  I am sure a string of people moved in & out in those years...mostly younger people & probably very few families.  I can see how he'd like seeing a family in here again.  Anyway...I thought it was very sweet & thoughtful to reach out to us.  My husband or I will write him back & invite him over.  I'd love to hear stories or see more pictures of the house from those times & love to show him the house as it is now.

The Letter Text:
(His name and address blacked out for privacy)
I thought you might want to see (address of house blacked out) as it was in 1919 when my family moved in.  I spent my childhood in the house from 1922 to 1942.  I loved the house and have many memories.  I hope the same for you.  All the Best, Bill (Last name blacked out)

Ironically he has the same first name as my husband, middle initial & his last name sounds similar to ours.  SO weird.

We have looked on the archives for photos of our house & this was the best we could come up with.  This is the Church behind our house (before a few additions) with our garage just to the right of it--LOL!

And in comparision...the photo above has 3 people standing in front...presumably the owners.  Here is a picture I have with my family (minus me) standing in front from the Fall after we purchased it.  You can see the trim painted & the gorgeous maple leaves!

Craigslist bedside tables!

I was looking for 2 mid-century looking bedside tables for my master bedroom.  We'd been using silver TV trays for years!  Finally after months of looking off & on I came across something promising.  They were $20/each & the shape & size I was looking for.  I had to do the dreaded deed of driving out to the Suburbs...which I HATE...but I did it.  I forgot to take a before picture but just picture dark brown laminate.

Here they are during the painting...(yes, I painted them in the alley!)

And here is the "After photo".  I was planning on getting new hardware but in the meantime I painted the existing & I don't mind it at all.  

Mind the Gap...

When we moved in one of the first things we did was remove the horrible tan stained carpet in the sunroom.  Here is about the only picture I have of it...

So removed it & was left with this beautiful green floor...ugh...I think that's asbestos or something!!

The Sunroom steps down as it used to be an exterior (side) porch!  Well that transition was covered by some plywood & carpet.  When those went away it was UGLY!  I patched it with some left over sunroom flooring & threw a rug over it for over a year.  Until I finally decided to do something about it!!  So here is what we ended up doing with this very awkward transition!

AFTER!!!  New marble tile threshold!  So much better all around!

New Fridge!

Our current refrigerator is not that old...at least I don't think so.  It looks new, at least newer than any of the others in the houses we have purchased.  But I guess looks can be deceiving because it's broken.  It is leaking inside--seemingly water from the freezer is trickling down into the refrigerator part and pooling on the bottom & shelves.  Anyway so we decided to forgo attempting to fix anything & purchase a new one...

Now the eternal question--Stainless Steel or something else???  We kind of already committed to sticking with white when we bought our new dishwasher about a year ago.  This is the dishwasher we bought back then.
It's a Bosch with hidden controls...

So we went looking and after looking at stores I decided I did in fact want to stick with the white & buy a white refrigerator.  I knew Samsung, LG, Kitchen Aid & GE were about the only companies that made the size I was looking for--We only have a 33" opening!  Well I've heard terrible things about Kitchen Aid appliances & reading the reviews on line I tend to believe them.  GE didn't have what I wanted.  So it was down to LG & Samsung.  I shopped with  an open mind at Best Buy & then came across exactly what I wanted there, in stock & on SALE!  Well on sale because it had a scratch--but it was minor & for an $800 discount I really did not care.  Plus it was already there so no waiting for order to come in.  Anyway this is the model we went with...

I love the Flex Drawer in the middle...I will be putting juice boxes, fruit, cut up veggies, string cheese & yogurts for my kids in there.  That will be their drawer & the rest will be mine--LOL!  Ice & water in the door was something else I really wanted for the kids.  It's pretty big for a 33" with 25.5 Cubic Feet & I love the freezer drawer with a pull out tray!  I'll post pics once it's installed!

My mid-century dresser

We were working on making our guest room into a room for my oldest daughter.  I had been looking on craigslist off and on for years & knew it was hard to find an upright mid-century dresser that would work for her.  But I knew that's what I wanted so I looked online for a couple weeks.  After coming up with nothing my little girl & I decided to pound the pavement & after looking in about 10 used/antique/thrift stores we found something that would work!  Here it is--it was $120.

I did a little sanding--the piece has laminate on it so it's NOT a sin to paint it & that's what we decided to do! We did glossy black body with glossy black drawers & an accent of turquoise (her color of choice at the moment).  I also decided to leave the original hardware & just paint the brass black.  Now she has an original piece & is thrilled...as much as a 6yr old can be about furniture. 

New Blog!

I am taking another stab at this blogging thing. My girls are getting older & I have some time on my hands lately. I hope to chronicle my home improvement, my journey to get healthier & life living in the city with small children. Hope you enjoy & feel free to give me feedback!