Go Hoosiers!

We have issues.  Storage issues.  We have four closets.  In the entire. house.  There is a small pantry-esque shelving area built into the hallway by our bathroom, but we have no linen closet.  I don't want to use that entire shelving area for towels and sheets, because I feel like it could be so much better utilized.  We bought this Hoosier style cabinet from craigslist last week and have it in our laundry room.  I'm using the top cabinets as a medicine cabinet, and will use the bottom for towels.  I want to put some shelf paper in first.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of shelf paper, but this puppy is straight out of the 1930s, and has some 1930s grit that I have tried to scrub off.  I just feel like I want a layer between our towels and the actual shelf in this beauty.  The finish is white with some blue faux-finish-gone-bad on top.  It's not terrible, and I have much bigger fish to fry at this minute, so it's staying the current color for a while.  I think eventually I'll freshen it up with some crisp white, but for now it's perfect.



First Projects of 2011

We've started our projects already this year!  We added some tie backs for the upstairs landing area window.  Previously they just hung straight, which was fine, but I wanted them to be opened up a bit more.  There are no blinds on this window, so we're still able to easily close them at night for some privacy.  I'm glad we did this, because it makes the whole upstairs hallway more bright.  And at $6.00 at TJ Maxx, they were a steal. 

Our second project was an all day project.  Henry has no dresser - he and David share.  Their clothes are just getting too big for this to work anymore, and they are wearing different sizes in pants, so it gets confusing for them when they're picking out their clothes.  I don't have an extra dresser, and don't have a lot of patience so I wanted to make something work now until we get another dresser.  (Because you know I'm too damn cheap thrifty to just go to the store and buy one. . . it will have to come from craigslist, Goodwill, etc. )  We had two of these cube organizers in the playroom.  And lots of crappy broken toys, McDonald's toys, things nobody plays with anymore, and just junk filling them.  Chris and I cleaned out allllllllll of those toys yesterday and condensed two organizers to one.

I moved one of the cubes to the boys' room to use as clothes storage for now.  It's worked really well!  And I like how it looks in the room, which basically looks like a dorm room at this point.

We've also added that solar system painting to their room recently.  We saw one just like it at Homegoods several months ago for $40.  I was tempted to buy it, but didn't.  I think at that point we were still in our old house and hadn't even considered buying this one.  I didn't really have anyplace to put it in their old room.  We got this one at Goodwill for $4.00.  FOUR DOLLARS!  I was so excited.  I know that David won't be into the solar system forever, so I'm much happier to pay $4 for something like this.  And it's really cute - it was definitely a steal.  This room will be one of the next to be painted.  I'm thinking khaki.  And I hate that the bedding doesn't match on all of the beds, but David really loves that solar system comforter.  I'm picking my battles here, people!

We rearranged the playroom to give them some more actual playing space.  You may note the two different curtains. . . They will eventually be the blue, but the other is hanging in the boys' room until I finish making the panels for the second window.  My mother made the plaid curtains 10ish years ago, and they've been in several rooms (and houses!) since then.  I have them hanging in our guest room as well, my mother has a set as a shower curtain in her house, and my sister has a set in her living room.  I love the fabric, and it's oddly still available in the store.  I may use a corresponding fabric in our guest room to make a cushion for the window seat.

We have hung some canvases that the kids have painted in their playroom, and hung a wire system we bought at IKEA ages ago and never used.  I get SO MUCH art, papers, etc. sent home from school, and D&H never want me to throw it away.  This gives us a good way to display their favorites.

We did a MAJOR toy purge yesterday and had to sneak two huge garbage bags of toys for Goodwill out of the room.  David was whining all day that he didn't want to give any of his toys away, but I promise he won't even notice what's gone.  We will do some sort of larger storage system in this room when we get to the playroom on our redecorating list.  Right now we have small things in the bin organizer, and I made round tags for each bin so they will know what's in them.  We have larger toys, train tracks, and costumes on the floor next to the cube.  One issue in this room is that the closet has no shelving.  It's a decent closet, but it's virtually unusable until we shelve it.  Chris is going to cut down some shelves this week and put them in so we can get some of that put out of sight.

The boys got this Lego table for Christmas.  We found it (where else?!) on Craigslist, and it was in excellent condition.  I was going to make them a Lego table, but this table cost less than the materials would have cost me to make one.  And it came with two chairs!  The same table new on Amazon.com retails for $289.99, so my slightly used table at $40.00 was a steal!  They have already gotten $40 worth of playing out of it.  I'm so, so happy we have this space for them - the boys love it, and I love that their toys aren't scattered all over the house.  I would love to paint this a cheery color - maybe yellow?  Chris and I can't really agree on a color (big surprise!), so this room is on hold until we do.  I also want to recover the little couch, but won't do that until we decide on paint. 



Happy New Year!

We started the new year of with a bang. . . or several bangs actually.  First, the upper trim of our guest room window, on the second floor, fell off.  We knew this would need to be repaired, but weren't really planning to do so right now.  This is not something we can DIY.  The people who owned this house prior to us did extensive work inside the house.  And essentially none outside.  Clearly the outside is where we'll be focusing some attention in 2011 when the weather gets warmer.

Next, I woke up on New Year's morning to find several leaks in our breakfast room.  We have a metal roof, and we had a drip in one small area when it rains hard.  One small area.  When I woke Saturday morning the greater portion of the room was wet.  And there were probably seven leaks.  (Please note, we did have extensive heavy rain for probably a 12 hour period, which is not normal for this time of year.)  This we will try to DIY.  Thankfully this part of the roof is not thirty feet in the air.  Chris is not excited about climbing onto the roof.  I'm more excited about him doing it than paying someone else to do it.

 On New Year's Eve, the kids were jumping on their newly constructed trampoline.  The dogs were in the house.  David went into the house for something and, when he came back out, Max escaped out the back door.  He ran through the neighbors yard.  Where he was cornered by at least two other dogs who consistently roam the neighborhood without an owner in sight.  Apparently the dogs attacked Max, and had him up against a chain link fence.  Max had an eye injury and looked like this later that night.

When we woke up Saturday, his eye was completely swollen shut and leaking puss.  Awesome.  Of course it was a holiday.  What does that mean?  Our vet wasn't open.  One trip to the emergency vet and $217 later, Max has four prescriptions.  And can see.  And I'm seriously contemplating bringing the owners of the dog that did it the bill.  I did call animal control, for what it's worth.  And I think I'll continue to do so whenever that dog is in our yard.  I cannot wait until we get a fence up.

Here's hoping that 2011 only gets better from here!

Best and Worst

There are lots of wonderful things about owning an old home.  The fabulous wood floors in each room.  The character it has with the moldings and trim work.  The big rooms and high ceilings.  I could go on and on.

There are some downsides as well.  One bathroom.  Virtually no closet space.  Lots of repairs needed.  Like, for instance replacing the trim work around our guest room window.  Outside.  Because it FELL OFF OF OUR HOUSE.

Happy New Year.  I'm looking for a contractor.

Top Projects of 2010

In keeping with some other blogs I've seen, I'm going to list my top 10 projects of 2010.

1.  My bench re-do. 

 We took a cheap craigslist bench that looked like it came from a hotel lobby and made it a cute bench for our (old) kitchen. 

Now that fabric matches nothing in our new house and the bench will be recovered again!

2.  Buying our new (old) house!

This was the project to start projects for the next thirty-ish years.

And it's a good thing I don't have buckets of money at my disposal.

I'd be buying houses every day. 



 3.  The packing project.

Moving with three children, two dogs, and a full-time job is a treat.

4.  My craigslist project!  

This is an ongoing project. 

I love me some craigslist.

We've gotten a ton of great, inexpensive things this year.

Like what?

Eight dining chairs for $80.

An enormous braided rug in like new condition for $40.

The bench in project number 1 for $20.

A desk for $20.

Three matching twin bed headboards for $40.

A hoosier cabinet for $150.

I know there's more, but those are the things I can remember off the top of my head.

 5.  Unpacking. 

6.  Our Fall front porch.

 7.  The Living room.

 8.  The picture project in the stairway.

9.  The dining room re-do.

10.  The island. 

This project is still in progress, but has already added a lot to our kitchen.

I know 2011 will bring us several more projects. . . the biggest will likely be to fence our backyard!

I'm linking to Rhonda's top projects post at Southern Hospitality.

And to A Little Knick Knack's Everything But the Kitchen Sink party. 

 And to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday

And to Dittle Dattle's: Amaze Me Monday

Christmas, The Finale

As you can likely imagine, there was a lot of Christmas excitement around this house.

Each of the boys opened a gift (or two) on Christmas Eve.

None were too excited about their Christmas pajamas.

Whatever.

Christmas morning was another story.

And they sure looked cute in those matching pajamas. . .

 The Bat Cave was a huge hit. 

With all of the boys.



Our tree looked like we were having Christmas for 20 people.

We weren't.

Just eleven.

The gift opening was a whirlwind.

Nobody was interested in "laundry".

You'll note the Gymboree boxes piled up, unopened. 

If they saw a "laundry" box it just went to the side.

Everyone seemed pretty happy with their gifts.

Even Max was a good boy.

He must have known Santa was watching.

He hardly peed inside at all. . .

Despite the serious look on his face, David did have a nice Christmas.

Little Jack. . . who wouldn't want this fireman to save them?!

The boys got a trampoline from Nan and Gramps.

They're SO excited!

You can see Bingo on the hutch behind them - this was the hit gift.

David LOVES to be the "caller".

And, the aftermath.

Why don't I remember having to clean this up as a child?

Oh right, because I DIDN'T!

The mother has a lot to do after Christmas. . .

The aftermath seemed to trickle through the house.

And Jack realized that opening presents all day is hard work!

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!