My Halloween Mantel

I spent some time working on my Halloween mantel today. Mostly getting stuff out of storage and shopping for new decor.
Before:

During:

I've decided the second picture is a during because ...well.... I looks pretty uninspiring. I went to Hobby Lobby for supplies for a Halloween Wreath and got completely overwhelmed. I even had a plan. I still bought some wreath decorating materials, but I was unimpressed with my purchases.

On the way home I stopped at this little shop by my house (it is in an old red school house) and found a really cool wreath made of feathers and some sort of flower pod thingys. Loved it. I'm still gonna make that danged Hobby Lobby wreath, I've just gotta keep talking myself into it.

Here is a Close up of the Wreath:

That Cat Picture was quite a process and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I searched black cat images on line and finally settled on this. Printed it out. Then I gave it a coat of my husbands left over coffee to age it up a little. I went out to the pole barn and searched for a frame...which I found. I bought those letters for BOO from Hobby Lobby today. Had to Paint them out black. They were meant for the wreath I haven't made yet. They are just resting on the frame for now. I kind of like them there. That House of Voodoo print is from New Orleans. It's a postcard I bought about ten years ago that I never used.

I will keep you updated on any additions to my Halloween Mantel.

Eww!!! That Kitchen Was Nasty!!

I'm still finding before pics stashed here and there of the house. This is actually not completely before because we had painted the cabinets and got a replacement stove and fridge by this point. Look at that sink.....and the crap sitting out everywhere!!!!

Heres what we did (with some help):
completely demolished cabinets (wanted to keep them at first because original to the house but they were too far gone)
remove paneling and repair drywall
new lights and pendant light over sink
new appliances
new slate floor
new cabinets from Ikea (requiring several trips accross the state!)
new granite counters
paint (black wall is a chalkboard wall)
under cabinet lighting
new door to deck
new sink

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BEFORE:

Click on the pic to get a great close-up of the sink and everything else!

AFTER:

POOR JOSIE!

An Ode to my Dog Josie

This is my 7 year old black (obviously) German Shepherd. We got her 2mos. after we moved into our first house. She is a great dog. She treats Sydney great and puts up with constant ear pulls and eye pokes. Happy upcoming Birthday Josie!!!

I found some more before pics!!

When we bought this house and closed on it and moved in I cried and cried. We had just sold a perfectly nice house in a nice neighborhood to move to a stinky dump in the country. Think serious buyers remorse. It was beyond anything we ever experienced in home renovation for sure. At the old house Mark installed a new ceiling fan and we did a little painting... that was it. At the new house soooo much had to be done:

1. New Furnace

2. New windows

3. New siding

4. ALL carpet ripped out

5. Hardwood floors refinished

6. upstairs recarpeted

7. All rooms painted

8. Both bathrooms gutted with all new fixtures, floors, lighting, etc.

9. Kitchen completely redone, cabinets, appliances, floors, lighting, sink, and on and on

10. pine paneling in recroom sanded and repainted

11. tile laid in recroom.

12. ALL doors interior and exterior replaced

I think your starting to get it..... I thought when I was done putting my blood, sweat and tears into this place I would love it and never want to leave. I'm finding that to not be the case. I want out. It feels like a money pit. If someone buys this place they will be buying a really great place that requires almost nothing but I'm just done.

Anyway I found some before pictures of the dining room... well kind of before. It was after we pulled off the fake wood grain panelling.

Mark filling holes after scraping glue for days.

Did you see the beautiful light fixture?

Now I know you've seen the afters before but they have a little more meaning now having seen the before pics I think...

I got a new FLOR

The real reason for this post is to show you my new FLOR tiles. I've been wondering about carpet tiles for a while because I've got a pukey dog and a toddler and apparently these tiles can be pulled up and hosed off (AWESOME!!) We got them down last week and so far I'm impressed. I got 2 extras in case of emergency. While I'm at it here's some pics of the rest of the dining room. Yeah it's dull. Needs a sprucing up. It's a dream compared to when we move in. The before of this room had cheap paneling glued (very well) to the wall. We spent hours and hours scrapping glue and patching holes. Had the hard wood refinished and had intentions of putting up a crown but we got to the good enough point and quit. That's usually how we do projects.... quit before we get anywhere beyond ordinary.

Anyway the type of Flor tile is called "Home Movies" color is Chips.

http://www.flor.com/service/flor/shop/item/Home-Movies/16019403437.html

Before the tiles I had a West Elm Jute rug down and it was looking pathetic!!

Our House Transformation!!

I still can't figure out how to get the before picture off our inspection report. I had to take a picture of the computer screen. This is crappy quality but that's OK because the before is supposed to be crappy...right?

Here's the BEFORE:

This is after new siding windows and doors. We also removed the big over grown bushes.

Probably the pic at the top of my bog is a better after but I can't find it to repost.

After:

When we bought the house the front door was actually nailed shut because it wouldn't latch anymore. Really the outside wasn't anywhere near as bad as the cat pee soaked inside! It was our first attempt at a handyman special. It went pretty well but I don't think my nerves can handle another renovation. I think this is our first and last true Fixer Upper!!

My House

Thoughts for the Day

The house is on its fifth month on the market and today is a good day. I'm feeling like if we don't sell I'm not going to let that get me down. Yesterday I drew up a plan for an addition and I'm hoping that if we don't sell I can make that addition happen for us. This addition calls for 540 sq ft. to be added to the back of our house and it would bring in a big open kitchen, dining and living room area with pantry and a half bath. How great would that be?

If we do sell I'm reconsidering a house up in Plainwell that I kind of wrote off as not for us. It is close to 5000 sq ft of finished area which seems like way (way) to much but the price is right and the house is awesome. It has a great kitchen and master bedroom with 2 (yes I said 2) large walk in closets. I the negative is really the enormous size of the house, it's more north than I would prefer, and it requires some updates. But really updates are fun and with this house those updates aren't immediately necessary.I would be able to have a craft room and also there is a great guest room with attached bath. I'm high on the thought of this house all a sudden....

The other thing we've got going on is that we are considering trading in the Mazda 3 for some sort of AWD SUV. Winter's here suck and I don't want to ice skate back and forth to work . We've got Mark's Truck almost paid off so we could move the money from that payment to the new car payment. The 2 cars I've got on my mind are the Toyota Venza and Chevy Traverse. Venza is maybe a little smaller than I would like but the Traverse is about $10000 more than I want to spend. Decisions....Decisions....

Sydney and Josie (but mostly Sydney)

Around the Recroom

I'm still having fun with my new camera and decided to take pictures of some things hanging around my recroom.

Pier One Circa 1995

Shop in Downtown Kalamazoo Summer 2009

Lion Brewery: Ebay Purchase, Photo of my dog Josie, and a sign my husband and I found funny because we are both pharmacists (and dorks!).

Sign:World Market, and Grass???

Picture my husband took in Savannah a few years ago.

New Painted Front Door (well, side door really)

Mark painted our main entrance door this Labor Day Weekend. Looks pretty good.

BEFORE:

Lovely painted door! Bruce (contractor) will be fixing that Eye sore of a step this week (along with some other projects)

AFTER:
Also got a mum this weekend at Home Depot. Pray for its life please. I suck at plants. The harder I try the quicker they die...

My Front Porch

Mark has plan for this door tonight. It will become a beautiful burgundy color. If it were me I'd paint it lime green or some funky color but that is just not traditional enough for a house that we are trying to sell. Darn...

Our contractor Bruce will be here this week to give our front step some TLC. We will probably have him break it out all together and repour. It's is falling apart pretty badly. A friend of ours just did a good patch job on her step with concrete that contained some kind of vinyl or something to keep it from chipping back out. We may try that.

I'm noticing the funky paint job on the bottom where the siding doesn't go down as far as it use to. What to do about that???


Our Adirondack Chairs have seen better days. I'm planning an attack... not sure what color yet. Black or White???


Lastly my favorite drink. 32oz. Diet coke in a styrofoam cup. Oh so tasty..... I've gotta stop drinking out of foam!

P.S. Loving the new camera!!!

First Pic on the new Camera.

Sydney's napping so this is the first thing I took a pic of on my new camera. I know you're super duper excited. ME TOO!!!!!

Got this cute little sign at a craft fair in my home town a few years ago. I think its painted on a panel of an old door. I put it right next to the door to my garage so I can think about that when I'm cranky and on my way out to work...

New Camera!!!

I finally got a new camera today. The old one got wet and I thought it was broke. Then I thought it miraculously fixed itself. We finally realized that it had a short or something and was sucking up batteries in about 10 minutes. Bummer. New camera seems cooler though so I'm excited! It's a slight upgrade from our plain ol' cybershot and better zoom. I'm so camera illiterate though that I don't know much else about it.

We went to the park afterwards and I was wishing the new cam was up and running because today was the first time we've got Sydney in the swing and she loved it. In the past she SCREAMED like a banshee so that was a great new change. She also went up the stairs and down the slide all by herself a dozen or more times.

So far a great day today!!!

What are they selling at Goodwill these days???

Can I get you anything?

I noticed this on my way home from Daycare today. Had to stop for a pic.

My Cutie Pie

I Love this little lady

Some words from Anne of Green Gables

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"

Random Thoughts

Our house has been on the market for 3 months now. No luck yet. The house we were hoping to buy just dropped in price another 10 grand. Man I wish we could make it happen.... time for positive thinking.

My House:

The House I would Like to Buy:

This house that we would like to buy is open floor plan, bigger, and in a nice neighborhood. Our house now is very nice with a lot of land and 3 pole barns but not really what we want anymore.

And on to Weight loss.....

My weight watchering didn't go quite as well this week (fell off the wagon at Island fest and a friend's party) Still lost 1.4 pounds so no complaints. Was expecting a gain actually.

That's all for now,

Kelly

P.S. Mark turned on my camera Sunday and .... it worked. I'm geeked.

The Camper Broke My Camera!!!

We had a great weekend camping by Lake Michigan..... except.... the camper broke my camera. I'm so pissed. Actually I'm the idiot that left it by the sink and somehow water flooded the area (not sure how I got so wild washing the dishes). The camera is dead.... RIP. Knowing my husband and ...well.. myself, the next camera will be new and improved... and more expensive. I'll keep you posted. Now if I can get the pictures that were on there off I'll be thrilled.

My View on my way to work Monday!

This Picture doesn't do justice to my view monday! I was in a bad mood (as usual on Monday morning) The huge rainbow made my day. And I just happened to have my camera (which I never have)

My House

I'm trying to get the befores up but having one heck of a time.....