Monthly Archives: November 2009
December DIY List
So Nate and I will be hosting Christmas and New Years at our place this year. I am really excited. I love this time of year and can’t wait to get our first Christmas tree and decorate the house up!
To be ready for all the holiday cheer – we have a long list of to-dos to take care of. I just put together a calendar to keep us on track.
Here’s our December DIY List
Finish our Front Room.
This includes any final paint touch ups, installing new electrical plugs and light switches and getting the fireplace ready to use.
Buy a Couch.
Nate and I have just started looking at a section for the great room. We have decided we want a section with a chaise lounge, but have not made a final decision yet. This needs to happen early December so that we can try and get it delivered before the holidays!
Prep and Paint Great Room.
We have not finalized the color of the great room – but we think it will be a purple. We plan on waiting until we purchase our couch.
Before we paint, we have to move the wood stove is going to be moved into the shed and take down the lovely pull-up bar.
Scrape the Kitchen Floor.
We left glue all over the kitchen floor when we pulled up the 1950′s lienlium. Our quick fix was an area rug , but area rugs really don’t belong in a kitchen so its time to tackle the cover up. I plan on doing this gradually during the week nights.
Decorate for the holidays.
I’d like to get all the previously mentioned projects completed by December 15th, so I can then have ten glorious days to enjoy, deck the halls and prep for my family’s most important holiday – Christmas.
I am hoping this time line will not be too hard to keep. Knowing that there will be fun after all this work will make it easier.
Fingers crossed it all works out!!
Bringing the beach to the valley
Because the days are becoming shorter and colder, I have been supplementing the outdoor paint job with another inside – our front room.
We have decided on an soothing beach theme for the front of the house. The walls are being painted a neutral grey with a feature wall (the back of the kitchen cabinets) an aqua.
Our white linen couches that are currently living in the great room will moved in there along with a soon to be purchase jute or sisel rug.
For the last few weeks, I have been painting the walls. Painting concrete takes quite a bit of dedication as I have said many times before. The walls took three coats of paint.
I have decided that I prefer painting concrete with a brush over a roller. The thick roller that you have to use on concrete just sucks up sooo much paint it seems like a waste to use. Using the brush to get in all the cracks and pocks takes a little bit longer, but I think it is more economical – not to mention I kind of enjoy it!
This weekend between outdoor painting to-dos, I will finish out white semi-gloss trim in the front room and especially around our large wall of windows.
After the painting is completed, I will move on to installing about 16 feet of greyish brown curtains along the window wall. We need to get rid of the draft through our single paned windows. I am going to use Target’s Modern Home Velvet Grommet Window Panels.
Unfortunately, the panels are no longer available online, so I am crossing my fingers I can pick up 8 panels at the local Targets in my area. The Target website tells me they are, so hopefully I can pick up them up this weekend.
Sneak Peak
I couldn’t wait to see how the house looked when Nate and I got home last night, so I made him shine the headlights on the house so I could take this shot!
I feel like a kid on Christmas morning!! I am so excited to see the final outcome of this long term project.
Chopped Celery Reigns Supreme!
The painting has begun with our winning color – Chopped Celery. I am so excited to see the finished product. Terry is painting the front of the house today.
Update on paint choices
We wanted to make sure everyone saw the difference between the electronic paint color and the actual color on the house. There is quite a discrepancy!
Anyhow – we have until this weekend to decide so vote now!!
[polling closed]
We are so close to getting the exterior painted, but with cooler temperatures we have our fingers crossed its going to get done in the next two weeks.
Our current weather forecast is for it to be in the low 60′s next week with overnight temps in the high 30′s. According to my Google research, you want to paint when temperatures are above 50 degrees and below 85 degrees so I think we will be safe, but this will have to be monitored. Last thing I want to do is have a crappy paint job after all the work we have done!
Narrowed it Down to Two
Nate and I have narrowed the house paint color down to two choices. (Note: Below are electronic versions of the color choices, but really don’t represent the actual colors very well. Look below to get a better sense of what they will look like on the house!)
Here’s Norwich Green in person.
Chopped Celery is on the right.
So what do you think? We are going to have a light to medium grey as our trim.
Vote Now!!
[polling closed]
Halloween Recap
Our first Halloween in the new house was awesome.
I was determined to go big with a front porch fully decorated to entice the trick-or-treaters. I think I succeeded. Here’s the rundown of what I did.
Be spooky
All the house painting prep was a benefit to make our house extra scary. We looked old and creepy with all the scrubbed off paint and raw wood.
I decided I wanted to take a different route than the normal skeleton-on-the-door decorations. Instead, I wanted to create a spooky, yet colorful forest like entryway.
Create some mystery
First I needed a forest. I scored with six pruned birch branches from my parents backyard. Getting them home in my Honda Civic was comical, but once I got them lined up on the porch it was totally worth it.
Bring on the light
After installing the branches, I strung them up pink mini lights. I will admit, it looked a little like the entrance to a rave, but I liked the warm glow they gave off. (and again – I was staying away from the traditional feel.)
I had blue IKEA fiber optic lights from a few years back that I added below the branches. They created a soft electric flora look below the trees. Then to tie all the colors together, I bought some stained glass globe lights at Target that a strung along the roof line.
Have fun
Once all the lights were up, I added fake cobwebs to all surfaces and planted some crimson mums in terra cotta pots to line along the railing. These are great because I can continue to use them after Halloween. In fact, I think I will go buy some more.
Next came the props, I brought “mini Nate” outside to guard our door and added a scary cat head to the front porch. I couldn’t resist the cat head from the gardening dept at Target. It was both scary and cute. I am sure it will be something I use again and again. I put a makeshift wreath up on the screened door with, yes, another cat. Nate pointed out later that the wreath with the pink lights did give the front porch a little of a Christmas like theme. I still don’t buy that completely, but I will probably not add the wreath next year as a precaution.
I finished the decorations with four (yes four) carved pumpkins. I designed three and had Nate sketch the fourth. It took me about two hours to hollow and carve out all four. The kitties kept me company as I went. We found out the Loki has an unnatural love of raw pumpkin.
Once everything was up, it felt right. There was enough spooky and crazy for everyone. I know the place is going to look great once its painted, but with the decorations up I got a glimpse of what it will look like as my house.
