I'm so excited!

Why do I constantly relate songs to how I'm feeling about purchases?  I've got the Pointer Sisters in my head when I'm thinking about the new chandelier I purchased.......that I have to wait for, for a little less then 2 months....boooooo.  But, just thought I'd share it!

Now, I know what you're thinking....a little country for Orange County.  But, we're going for an industrial modern look, which I'm sure will look like a mismash of wood and metal because I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing when it comes to interior decorating, but I thought this would be a great look for the industrial side of things, no?

Progress

Holy crap, I'm tired.  I should say, we are tired; Tige has been working his hiney off lately as well.  I'm not sure, besides college, when I've been this tired!  But, it's all forward progress, so YAY!

I must make a confession...wait, maybe you already knew this....we hired a contractor.  So, as much as I wanted to repaint the 1,600 (ok, maybe a slight over exaggeration) cabinets that are in the kitchen, I will not (I'm actually smiling on the inside).  When we sat down and thought about it, we spend a good portion of our lives in the kitchen.  You saw the before pics... it was pretty bad in there.  And as we started discovering, the lady that lived there before either asked a friend who had no clue what he/she was doing, or hired someone that had no knowledge in handy work/construction.  The repair work was really shotty and way more stuff then we realized needed to be done.  In the end, we decided we couldn't handle seeing that kitchen everyday in the state it was in; not to mention, my work on it would have been very slow, considering I would really only have the weekends to get things done.

Our cabinets are in really good condition, so no need to buy new ones.  Those are getting repainted (as we speak in fact, I was just at the house :)  I went to the granite yard today, and holy moly, if we didn't already know what color we wanted, we would be in a world of hurt....there are so many options, how do you make up your mind!?!  The old florescent fixture has been torn out and replaced with can lights and will get a nice moulding around the inset.  It will be my job, however, to paint the kitchen...no biggie.  I could go on and on, but the important thing, is that we are moving forward!  Here's some progress pic's:

Coming up next...the backyard!  Unfortunately, I was in LA celebrating my twin nieces first birthday when Tige ripped out the backyard, so I don't have pictures of that, but I'll at least have some before and after shots.  It's definitely something that will take time and be a work in progress....there is A LOT of work that needs to be done and no money to do it!  Until next time.....

Annnnnndddddd....we have hardwoood :)

My mom and I were discussing how funny it is how things change.  When my mom was growing up, everyone had hardwood in their houses, but what everyone really wanted was carpet, because it was expensive and highly coveted; you were doin' well if you had carpet in your house, lol.  Now-a-days, everyone wants hardwood, instead of carpet.  And it really is amazing how many different colors, styles and materials hard"wood" actually comes in.

But, guess what, that decision was already made for us!  Although the previous owner had installed carpet over the wood floor (as we all gasp), there was indeed, beautiful, never been stepped on hardwood, underneath all that white carpet.  Tige and I thought it was going to look just like the hardwood that is in the kitchen...blond oak.  Not our taste, but not hard to fix; we had picked out a gorgeous grey weathered look for our contractor to match.  However, when my dad and I pulled back all the carpet, what was revealed was a gorgeous, varied oak floor.  I'm definitely not a light oak lover, but this floor shows varying pieces of grey, cherry, yellow and a whole host of other shades running throughout.  How can we pass that up!  The other best part about the floor, is that, now we don't have to have the whole thing refinished.   The kitchen is a little worse for wear after 35 years, so that will have to be refinished.  But with the money that we've saved, we are now able to purchase new carpet for the bedrooms!

Here's the semi before, with just a portion of the carpet pulled back, and here's the finished product.  Well, in this picture, almost finished...my dad was pulling the staples out.  Luckily this room wasn't too big, because it definitely was a process.  Not a hard process, but time consuming.  And, if you try this at home, be very careful when pulling staples (make sure to pull straight up) and caret tack strips, because it's very easy to leave large wholes in the floor.  Nothing that a little wood putty can't fix, but it just adds even more time and money.  My dad was a pro at it, you can't even tell where the holes from the staples are!

 Tige and I plan on doing all the demo work for anything that we can't DIY ourselves (ex: installing a kitchen countertop, or anything to do with plumbing or electrial). This will help you save tremendously when having a professional come in; it cuts down on labor time, and usually, that is the most costly thing about a project.

Next up, painting stripes in the guest room!  I'll be finished painting the base color tonight, and will start on the stripes Wednesday!  I'll give you all details then.......

SOLD!!!

All I can hear in my head is “Aaaaaat Laaaaaaast” by Eta James.  Ok, so maybe she’s not singing about closing escrow on a house, but I digress.  Man, am I happy that whole process is over…now onto the fun stuff!

The day I got the keys, I already started painting the guest room…I know, I know, slow your roll Kate.  But, I was just too excited, I couldn’t wait.  And, I justify it in my head that we are moving in, in one week, so I would like to have the rooms painted, the bedroom carpet laid and the hardwood refinished.  Whew…what a undertaking.  Luckily, we’ve got my parents that have already helped us out tremendously and our friend Mark, who is a contractor.

Oh, but wait!!!!!!  You probably want to see the before pictures!  And, a lot of this “before” will stay a “before” for a long time, until we save for one project at a time.

Not the prettiest looking thing, but she’s got real potential (more pictures to come)!  Here’s our short list of things we’d like to do over the next couple years:

*Paint the bedrooms (IN PROCESS)

*Lay new carpet in the bedrooms

*Refinish the hardwood floor
*Hang new chandelier in dining room

*Re-face the cabinets

*New counter tops
*Remove florescent lighting and replace with cans

*Overhang off the back of the house (for the pooches)

*Remove the “siding” (or whatever that hideous thing is over the fireplace) and rock from fireplace.  Drywall and hang mantle.  Mount television

*FULL remodel of the bathrooms

*Make a functional garage

*Pull out backyard, level, sod and build planter boxes

*Gutters

I’m sure the list can  go on and on, but I think you get the picture….the house has a lot of cosmetic work to be done.  Luckily, only cosmetic.

So, off we goooooooooo………….