Take it Outside

I'm ready to start working on the outoors!! I want it to be cute and kinda funky. I'm going to start looking for ideas soon. In the meantime, what do you think about me painting the baker's rack (soon-to-be spice rack) red??!!! Tell me if you think it's crazy... for some reason i'm thinking it's the best idea ever!

Um, Seriously?

So here is some news...

• the dumpster is STILL here. Yes. Supposed to be gone Saturday "early Saturday, Mrs. Martin."
• Austin noticed that our grass is SO effed up. He figured it out - the roofer's left that crap (black roofing material) in piles in the grass BAKING all day. There are at least 12 3'x4' areas of charred grass... he's pissed.
• There's SO MANY nails in the yard. We haven't been able to mow yet.
• We haven't even broached the AC subject with them - trying to get the dumpster gone and the grass fixed first.
• We heard back from their painter. He quoted us $1,000. Yes, $1,000 for the dining room and hallway. Fuck OFF.

That is all. Contractors make me want to slit my wrists. I do have a little mini funny though... this morning Austin was leaving for work and heard someone yelling, "hey - hey man." He didn't see a person/didn't think it was for him. He started to get in his car, and heard "no - you sorry you sir - hey!" haha This guy comes running up from behind the poolhouse in painter's clothes asking Austin for a "huge favor." Can he put his mattress/box springs in our dumpster? Uh... Austin pokes his head over - it's not full at all. Sure, dude. The guy thanks him profusely and when Austin comes by for lunch it's full. I'm like HELLO Austin, it's a sign! Get his name- HE can paint our dining room/hallway! haha

Cute Idea + Color Palette

I've been looking up nurseries for my sister, who is trying to have a baby and will be the best mom EVER! I'm so inspired by some of these nursuries. Take this one for instance - sky blue, burnt orange, cranberry and birch - LOVE! I also love the solid bedding with the neat pattern - and the birch painting on the wall is neat too.

BIG Sigh

AC is fixed... Roof is okay... I see a few errors so they need to come back out. They also need to pay our AC bill. And get their dumpster that was supposed to be gone "first thing Saturday morning." Sigh. Contractors. I'll post pics once it's FINALLY done FOR REAL.

Roof is Up... but No AC

So mom comes over today at 3:30 p.m. and says it's HOT! Roof peeps are still here so they help her and it turns out the breakers are flipped. They flip them back. Still nothing on the bottom unit (the one that was FINE last week) but the top unit starts working (the one that was "fixed" last week - put a new motor in). So it starts cooling off (i.e. made it from 90 to 88 in the hour before we left).

We leave, go to the concert and just KNOW we're going to get home to a cool house. But no. The breaker has flipped back and it's 90 again (upstairs; mind you the downstairs unit has yet to even start).

So... I have NO idea what's going on.

My theory: the upstairs unit's new motor is too powerful for the breaker. The downstairs unit has been trying to help out the upstairs unit and now they're both effed. I just hope my house doesn't set fire tonight.... this effing sucks. And you KNOW that breaker will flip again the minute I fall asleep.

P.S. It's too hot to see if the roof looks good... hope it does.

P.S.S. Supposedly the guy who "fixed" our AC last time is coming tommorrow. When? Who knows - he's working us in. Lovely.

Roof is Going Up... or On... whatever

It's being installed... or attached... or put on to the current structure as we speak. I can't WAIT to get home and see it. I hope I won't hate it.... why do I have such a bad feeling? Oh yeah, because they punked me and now my faith in them is not 100%. We'll see...

We Got Punked

Austin came home at lunch to check on the roof progress. No progresss had been made. He called and they said they had gotten behind at another house, but would come over tomorrow. Um, no. When we set up the appointment we said the ONLY time we COULDN'T have them over was Thursday because I work. Sigh. So they're like we'll come next week then. Fine. Then take your dumpster and all of the shingles that were delievered that are taking up space in our driveway. They didn't like that idea. We told them Friday. The resisted - said they had another job. We told them to bump Friday's job like we were bumped or do Friday's job early on Thursday. Figure it out. They did. They'll be here Friday. Sigh.

And so it begins...

This was in the driveway when I got home from work yesterday. They've probably already started - eeeee! I'm excited to get home and see the final product (supposedly it's a one-day job!)

New Roof on Wednesday!

Woo! Can't wait - i'll def post some before & afters! I hope the moire black was the right choice... we'd never picked shingles before so this could go wrong, right?

Pretty... Makes me Want a Lighter Master

So I love our bedroom. I do... but it's SO dark. And while I love having a chaise, I would much rather have a printed chaise in a lighter color. This one is a bit feminine for my taste, but I think it's pretty and love the simple brown pillow on it. I also think those window treatments are pretty - very natural.

I think I'm going to look into having the chaise recovered - and maybe the bench at the foot of the bed too. (or maybe I can use it somewhere else and get a different bench for the end of the bed?) I dunno - all I know is that I would love a 'lighter' bedroom!!

Recovered Stool!

BEFORE



AFTER

Yay! I think it turned out nicely. Thank you, Joann Fabrics, for having super helpful employees with great ideas to keep it simple, and thanks, Stacy! Couldn't have done it without your heavy duty staple gun and your calling the very minute I needed your help the most! I love the final product!

Any Room Idea: Likes and Dislikes

Likes: That the case/wicker baskets are Ikea (i.e. not expensive); the colors; the chair - amazing fabric - looks SUPER plump and cozy; the complementary colors and fabrics, the stack of magazines to make an end table, the neat swirly rug, the way the white objects/cubby pop, against that wall color, the way the books are organized by color... Lastly, I love that it could go in a den, bedroom, office, playroom, nursery, etc. - it's a very versatile idea.

Dislikes: Um... i don't have any! I think this room was put together SO well and am kind of obsessed with it. It makes me want to have a splash wall painted in the SB room - a bright ORANGE wall.... Austin would LOVE it. haha

What do you think? Love it or hate it?

Bills, Bills, Bills

It's CRAZY how many bills we have (in my opinion). I'm used to bills - but apparently the extra 'home-owning' bills are just pushing me over the edge! I mean think about it...

Mortgage
Power
GAS
Water/Sewage
Cable/Internet
SANITATION
LAWN
PEST CONTROL

This sucks! I just wish all places had the same billing cycle - I feel like i'm writing checks every day! Anyway, my first being-a-homeowner complaint. Hopefully the first of very, very few, right?!

Oh had my first request from a neighbor. They're out of town and want us to check their mail. Little do they know we only check our OWN mail once a week. Perhaps checking there's will get us more in the habit!

We Have Shingles!

Last night the roofing guy came over at 9 p.m. (sigh - supposed to be there at 8 p.m.) . We finished up the paperwork (woo!) and picked out our shingles. We went with Landmark series 30-year designer shingles - love them!





Here's a pic of a house with Moire Black... (from the brochure)



We should have our new roof in 2 weeks at the most - WOOO!!

Painting Setback

So… we got a quote today for $600 for painting the dining room and hallway. It includes materials/supplies. Also, he said if it was in good shape it would be $300, but because they have to mud/sand/etc. several areas that’s where the other $300 comes in. Also, because the color is red, they have to prime it and then put two coats over it. Basically, because of the ‘prep’ work it’s a 2-day job. While I know they would do a good job and I really liked him, that is way more than I want to spend. That dining room is SMALL and there’s very little walls in there with the big entryway, other doorway, wainscoting, two large almost-floor-to-ceiling windows, etc. It’s just not seeming worth it. I’m going to talk to Austin tonight but it seems like we may need to either:

A: Do the prep work ourselves
B: Have other people come out Thursday to quote it
C: See if we can get him to throw in the half-bathroom (which doesn’t require any ‘prepping’ –nor did the hallway.

Even so, I don’t know if I would want to pay $600 for a dining room, small hallway, and half bath (assuming he would even go for that).

SIGH.

Painting Visit

So first of all I thought Luis was SUCH a nice guy! He really knew what he was talking about and seemed like such 'good people.' He pointed out something me and Austin had noticed - that for some bonehead reason the painters used SATIN on main floor, foyer and upstairs hallway. So you can see EVERY brush stroke, roller stroke, etc. in sunlight - even on the CEILING. He suggested we one day consider having that fixed (totally up to us; again - super nice).

He also:

• Pointed out lots of interesting errors... one being that the red is painted over a border in the dining room. O.M.G.
• Suggested we do a different color. He said he's used to foyers/hallways being one color, but he thought the dining room/living room/kitchen should be a different color (not like all different colors but a different color). He said it's TOTALLY up to us, but to consider going in the same family but using a lighter or darker shade.
• Noted that they will need to repaint the ceiling... it has lots of errors- that room was painted SO poorly (which is why we're wanting to hire them - we know if we did it ourselves it would be sloppy city).

Anywho - good meeting! I'm definitely interested in the PRICE which he said he should have over today. I so hope it's reasonable so we can get this taken care of pronto!

Painting & Roofing Update

Not the most exciting post in the world - but I do have a few updates!

1. Luis is coming tomorrow to quote the dining room/hallway paint job - WOO! Will probably have him quote the bathroom as a separate line item - don't want it done until I choose a light; get a new pedestal sink.

2. The roofers cancelled tomorrow (for bringing samples) but are bringing them Monday instead. I LOVE the architectual shingles on the house two doors down and can't WAIT to have ours put in!

3. The water bills situation is resolved! It will NOT be $240 - more like $70 - YAY!!

4. The power bill situation (we haven't gotten a bill) is somewhat resolved. They said both bills they sent were sent back to them and "to talk to my postmaster." Who the H is that? Anywho, the TOTAL of BOTH bills is $98 and I can pay online - SWEET! She had to email me my account # though - HELLO - can't pay when I still don't know my # because i've yet to receive any documentation from your business. I was super worried this house would be MUCH more than the loft but our gas was $44 and power at $98 - MUCH better (the loft was A LOT to heat and cool because of all of the windows + poor insulation).

5. Depending on how it goes with Luis, we hope to bring on his wife to start cleaning (she cleans Mel's house and i've only heard good things!) I hope it's sooner rather than later - we need help!!

That's all folks!! Off to watch SYTYCD!!!

Austin's Den is Looking Good!

As you can see, little Reuben likes to hang out in here, too! I think it's a great space for Austin to have upstairs with his office/TV/xBox, etc. all in one place!

Calling in the Pros

We're calling a painter tonight - woo!! We've decided that dining room MUST be painted and while we COULD do it ourselves, we worry it will be a waste of $ + time and end up looking like crap. BLAH! Hopefully he can come over and check it out, let us know how much it will be and, in a perfect world, paint on THURSDAY! Wish me luck... and YES we're having the little hallway by the pantry quoted, too! (including the dreadful ceiling, remember? Oh my... i've GOT to take a picture of that ceiling! hahaha