Face Lifts

My house projects haven't been going at the rate I thought they would this summer.  We started staining the deck over Memorial Day.  Well, turns out it's not possible to stain our entire deck in one day.  Before company came over.  Sheesh.  Terrible idea!  I'm still fighting with the deck, so I haven't gotten back to staining it yet.  Next week I will.

I've done a half-assed job cleaning.  I am just loving being home way too much.  I'm trying to get more motivated though.  We're slowly getting there though.

I did do a great project last week.  I was at Lowe's shopping for something to build a fence around the a/c with (our dog ate the a/c cord) and happened upon some Valspar paint sample jars for $3.  I'd been thinking about painting the built-ins in our living room for quite a while.  I already had brown paint at home left over from painting the barnwood door frames into our living, our two front doors, our basement door, and the trim in the front hallway.  I figured if I could just buy the sample of paint and only spend $3 I was in good shape.  So, leaving Lowe's with nothing I had actually planned to buy, I was ready for a good project.

I mean look at these shelves, they are not attractive.  The thought of them was something that attracted me to our house.  I knew they could be better though.  The doors were not in great shape.  They closed off the shelves, making them really dark inside.

So first the doors came off.  Sure, they had to come off to paint the shelves.  They were not going back on though.  Those bad boys were shipped off to the basement for safe keeping, they may return some day for child-proofing purposes, but for now those things are gone.

 

A coat of brown paint and they're already looking so much better!  I had just enough paint to get the built-ins and the mantle done.  I'm pretty much already in love with my shelves at this point, but I had to run to a meeting.  That meant though that the paint had time to dry and be ready for the accent color on the back wall when I got back.

 

Turquoise!  I love it!  The back of the cabinets are painted, covering the one last piece of paneling that was left in our house.  It was such a great change!

And it's done.  Not the biggest change ever but I think it makes a huge difference.  Even better, Todd liked it when he got home too. 

Why DIY bloggers make me crazy

I love to DIY as much as the next girl. Maybe even more. I love to paint, refinish, improve. However, all these DIY blogs do nothing to inspire me. I read them and then I end up feeling like a failure as a wife and a homeowner. Like I am not doing enough. But then I remind myself of what I do. I work full time, I'm a school counselor. We bought our house last year while I was finishing my master's degree. We have done a ton of improvements over the past year. I should be proud of what we have done. Instead, while I am reading these DIY blogs over lunch, I feel like my house does not measure up. I have to quit comparing myself and be proud of what we've done.

So, some pictures... Oh hell, my iPad won't let me upload pictures to blogger. Sigh. So, instead a project list.

Entryway
-Rip out skanky old vinyl flooring (I like to call it linoleum because that's what we called it when I was a kid)
-Put in shiny new peel and stick vinyl tiles
-Do a happy dance that the first thing you are greeted with upon entry to our house is not curling up linoleum with holes in it.  Classy.
-Find a skinny bench to store shoes under so I can hide the shoes I like to kick off when I come in the door though (Not too skinny of a bench though, I have big feet)
-Paint over terrible crackle finish 
-Paint weird white trim brown
-Paint front door 
-Paint closet & laundry room door 
-Paint ugly barnwood door frame 

 Kitchen
-Rip out skanky old vinyl flooring.  It's covered with paint and has holes in it.  So attractive!
-Replace sub floor by dishwasher that is soft from the great pre-dishwasher installation leak of 2011.  Ug.
-Beg best friend's boyfriend to install pretty new wood laminate floor
-Bake best friend & BF's BF butterscotch brownies in appreciation for new floor installation
-Try to convince someone that building a seat under bay window for better kitchen seating is a great idea and that they want to help me build it
-Paint trim
- Paint walls 
- Paint cabinets 
-Repaint ceiling fan fixture and overhead kitchen light 
- Install new backsplash 
- Build exposed shelves on end of cabinet 
- Replace ugly pink Formica countertop 
-Replace brown cast iron sink with a shiny new sink 

 Living Room
-Find art
-Hide light sconce cords (yes, there are cords for our light sconces, it's tacky and I can't help it)
-Paint fireplace mantle
-Paint built-ins by fireplace
- Replace movie theater light sconces with normal ones 
- Rewire overhead light in a safe way 
- Paint walls 
-Paint other ugly barnwood door frame 
- Hang pretty curtains
- Buy new couch and chair

 Master Bedroom
-Find a bed frame and start sleeping like a grown up.  We are too old for our bed to sit on the floor
-Get organized, that room is a disaster!
-Learn to put away my clothes.  Geez.
-Paint
- Install double closet rods and built in shoe rack 
- Hang pretty curtains 

Master Bath
-Find real curtains to replace blinds
-Buy bathroom rugs that actually match the bathroom
-Paint walls 
- Repaint built in cabinets
- Hang art 

Basement
-Finish painting bar
-Paint door (inside and out)
-Think about refinishing trim on stairs
-Desperately wish for a good way to paint the top half of the walls in the stairway
- Paint walls 
- Paint bar (most of it anyway) 
- Knock out weird shelf in the bar and put in a mini fridge 
- Hang art 
- Buy fancy new TV
- Make curtains out of sheets because I am cheap and it requires no sewing 

Outside
-Paint outside of house -- shutters, trim, siding
-Power wash house (that should probably come before the painting)
-Power wash deck
-Stain deck
-Paint and install trim around sliding glass doors
-Demo front side walk
- Trim shrubs 
-Plant flowers (and actually kept them alive!)
- Buy pavers to replace front sidewalk X Put in pavers to expand downstairs patio 
- Desperately wish to rip out shrubs
- Pick shutter color 
- Repaint garage doors (it's so fancy now!) 

home improvement

So we have owned our house almost a year now.  It has definitely been a year of big changes!  We bought our house from HUD.  That meant it was kind of an adventure of a house.  There was lots of improving to do.  I spent my entire spring break last year cleaning and painting.  In one week my sister and I painted the entire upstairs.  We had no heat for that week, I was busy trying to get a propane tank installed so our gas furnace would work.  That also meant no hot water.  We worked half of the first day with no electricity.  Fun stuff.  We were lucky to have an unseasonably warm March.

There are lots of changes to still be made.  Last night my husband and I made a list.  A lot of it is small finishing up things.  But there are still some major changes we want to make.  And I'm sure our list will continue to both grow and shrink.
-New kitchen, living room, and hallway floors. Ideally wood laminate.
-Redo front sidewalk.
-Paint siding
-Paint shutters and trim
-Paint outside doors
-Finish painting trim inside
-Paint kitchen, dining, and basement light fixtures
-Landscaping!  Lots of landscaping!
-Paint mantle
-Install new outside lights
-Stain deck
-Get rid of brush and random weird stuff in yard
-Paint basement storage room
-Paint inside of garage
-Rip out ugly basement carpet and paint the concrete
-Finish painting basement bar

Most of my spring break projects this year will cost no money at all. 
I am going to paint the light fixtures - my dad gave me paint and I already have a can of spray paint I will be using = FREE
Paint mantle - I have paint left from another project = FREE
Landscaping - I have some stuff I've already bought but will probably end up spending a little bit on some pots, flowers, etc.
If I paint the inside of the garage or the basement storage room, I have a gallon of paint leftover from painting the basement living room so = FREE
Paint kitchen trim.  I am out of the black paint I painted the cabinets with so... $10
Painting the bar in the basement.  Well it's halfway painted now.  But I already have the Adhesive Primer (the bar is made out of paneling) and leftover paint from the rest of the basement = FREE


So this year will be another great Spring Break of home improving.  I'm pretty excited.  I'm especially excited about the exterior improvements.  If my computer would cooperate this would be followed by some before and after pictures.  But apparently that will have to wait for another day.

dieting

Okay, I am not skinny.  I have never been skinny.  I will not tell you what I weigh, but I promise it's not a pretty number.  When I was in high school, I wore a size 11 and I thought I was so fat.  Now I would desperately love to be a size 11 again.

Food is a constant struggle.  I love food.  I mean I really love it.  And my husband and I like to cook.  I really do try to cook healthily -- stir fry, grilling, lean meat, veggies...  But then there's ice cream.  And dinner out at Buffalo Wild Wings.  And family dinners with my in-laws.  It seems like as soon as I get really into the groove of making healthy choices something else comes along and distracts me from it.

I had been using this great calorie counter app and I had lost like 6 pounds and it was great.  Then it was the Super Bowl and the month of February was lost.  I ate exactly what I wanted.  Which was not good.

So today I am trying something new -- Juice.  Well, sort of juice.  I had a Special K protein shake for breakfast.  Tons of water.  Orange juice for lunch.  Three pink Starburst.  Tons more water.  I'm planning on more orange juice later.  And then maybe some real food for dinner.  So far so good.  I haven't really been hungry at all today.  It's going pretty good so far.  So I guess we'll see.

donuts

So on my way to work I drive past the most wonderful donut shop.  Okay, I don't actually drive right by it, but it's close.  If I exit the highway and drive a little ways, it's right there.  And it's wonderful.  I don't stop often, but when I do, holy cow it's amazing.  They have delicious donuts, bear claws, fried pies, donut holes and so much more.  The best thing they make though are sausage rolls.  It's a breakfast sausage (more like polish sausage style) and cheese inside of a plain donut.  I ate two.  They are most definitely terrible for you but I very rarely give in to temptation, but when I do it's totally worth it.  The only thing I can think of that might make the sausage roll is better would be a little donut glaze.  I would like that as an option.  It would be extra tasty.  Kind of like a McGriddle.  Except better.

In other food news, I am in a total cooking slump.  My dinners have been terrible.  I haven't made gross food or anything like that, I'm just out of ideas.  I am tired of everything I cook.  I could live a long time and not eat any more pasta, it's the go to when we're lazy, I am so sick of it.  We're having my in-laws over for dinner this weekend and I have no idea what to cook.  Heck, I don't even know what to cook for dinner tonight.  I'm considering a bowl of Special K Red Berry.  Wait, my husband expects real food for dinner.

We have a rampant flu bug at the school where I work.  That means I stay in my office, hiding from the germs and only drink bottled water (the water fountain might kill me).  I hate buying bottled water.  I feel like a terrible person every time I do it.  I usually just fill up a cup at the water fountain.  And I love drinking water.  It's pretty much all I drink.  But I feel so guilty drinking bottled water that I don't drink hardly anything at work and then I have to drink like a gallon when I get home.  It's ridiculous.  I almost stopped at the gas station on my way to work and got a Sierra Mist with a pump of cherry syrup.  Right now I wish I had.  I wonder how long I need to stay at work before I can reasonably run out for a drink.  My bottle of water from yesterday tastes like old water and I didn't bring another one.

That is one thing I absolutely love about my job -- the flexibility in what I do.  For the most part, I make my own schedule while I'm at work.  Sure I have to be here at a certain time in the mornings but once I'm here, it's all me.  Usually.  Sure there are things that have to be done.  But I can usually do them while I listen to music.  And with my shoes off under my desk.  And since I work with kids it gives me an excuse to decorate my office with fun colorful stuff.  And animal print fabric on my bulletin board.  Hooray.  It's pretty amazing.  

in the office

I am terribly terribly behind.  I write things, email them to myself and then they never go anywhere.  And now I'm playing catch up.  I wrote this the Monday after the Super Bowl.  Sheesh

I am a grown up.  I don't really believe it, but other people seem to.  I am twenty-eight and I have my own office.  I want to say I am wonderfully organized and I have it all together.  Lately I have been reading all these blogs about organizing things.  And it makes me feel a little bad about not being more organized.  But then the counselor side of me thinks these people must have some serious OCD to be that organized.  I mean, I love me some organization but there is a point when you have to say enough is enough.  

Yes, I organized my office on Friday.  I have magazine files labeled for each grade for guidance lessons.  I have a shelf of binders and two shelves of books.  And then I have a shelf that is neat piles of stuff that I don't know what to do with.  I also have little baskets to put my clutter in -- one on my desk for post its and such, one behind my desk for my coffee cup, spoon, and instant caffeine & sugar free coffee, one with random CDs and hand sanitizer (because that goes together) and one with play-do, silly putty, and a couple stuffed animals.  To me, that is organization.  I still have a pile of files on my desk that I am always needing to get to.  I have an over flowing box of things to be shredded and another box of stuff to be filed.  And yet I'm okay with it.  No, I am not nearly as organized as my mom would be, but I'm still more organized than most people.

We had a Super Bowl party yesterday.  I love having people over and I love getting ready for people to come over.  That sounds kind of weird, but I love the excuse to really clean my house and make it look amazing.  It's hard for me sometimes to get the motivation just to clean it, but if I know people are coming over I kick into high cleaning gear.  And it's great.  Cleaning products make me break out though, like really bad and I have to quit cleaning and take allergy medicine.  So I've started cleaning everything with vinegar.  It's fantastic.  I would do a commercial for all the magical cleaning properties of vinegar.  I really clean everything with it -- I have a bottle of vinegar and water that I use in the kitchen for pretty much everything.  Then I have a bottle with straight vinegar that I clean the bathrooms with.  It makes them sparkle.  I even mop with vinegar.  My favorite though -- baking soda and vinegar on the stove.  I have a gas stove so I really hate to use chemicals on it anyway.  But stoves get so gross sometimes with grease or whatever other gross cooking stuff.  So I sprinkle baking soda all over the top, spray it with straight vinegar and wait for magic to happen.  Then you can just wipe off literally any gunk, no scrubbing required.  It's the best!

Cleaning Frenzy

So I redid the basement over Christmas.  Not to brag, but compared to how it looked before, it looks amazing.  This has inspired me to unclutter the rest of the house that has already been redone.  There were rooms that just got stuff shoved into them when we moved.  Things were crammed into closets to make rooms look presentable so we could host my graduation party a month after the move.  This has been slowly driving me crazy.

Over the weekend I cleaned the laundry room.  I know, it shouldn't be a weekend long project to clean the laundry room.  I had started a new project in there and it had just caused a bigger mess.  I am a laundry failure so I thought it would make life easier and more efficient to pre-sort all the laundry so I could just throw a load in every day and it would never be a huge job.  Great idea.  Except I hate doing laundry.  I don't mind the washing and drying part.  I just hate the folding and putting away part.  So clothes would stay in the dryer for days and I would end up dumping clothes on the floor because the right basket wasn't available.  Well, I tackled the laundry somewhat over the weekend.  And organized my laundry room closet.  I threw out tons of junk, sent other stuff (like tools and screws?) to the basement where they belong.  That made space for me to store some of our excessive amount of small appliances in that closet.  I also tucked some, more used and lighter ones, into the upper cabinets in the kitchen.  Pretty excited about the way that room is looking.  All that's really left is to tackle the basket of mismatched socks and decide to just throw them away or something.

Today it has been the hall closet and the office.  The hall closet is not very big, we store all of our coats there, some luggage, and a random assortment of accessories.  Oh and hunting gear.  That's kind of a lot for a little closet.  For some reason it was also where I chose to store clothes that don't fit.  Those got weeded out and put in a bag for Goodwill.  I also cleaned out a bag of stuff to just throw away -- mismatched gloves, old sunglasses, just junk.  And I sorted the closet.  Now there's a his and hers side.  Then each side is organized by occasion -- Chiefs games, hunting, casual, and dress.  I put a hook on the door and hung up all my scarves.  Then I have a bin for purses and another for winter gear.  I shoved the luggage up on the upper shelves.  I keep opening the door to admire it.

And now it's time for the office.  Ug.  I organized the closet and threw away more than I really would like to admit existed.  Let's just say I emptied at least two milk crates full of stuff that I'm not sure why I still had.  It would look like I have achieved more if I hadn't pulled out the huge box of wedding stuff the other day and dumped it in the middle of the floor.  Maybe not my best choice.  But I'm making progress.  We don't use our office  very often but when we do, I don't want it to feel chaotic.  Right now it's still terrible.  But I'm thinking a little more time this afternoon and I will feel so much better about it.  It's one of the few rooms that is actually decorated.  You just can't really tell for all the mess.