Upstairs bathroom before & after

Before:

The soap dish had fallen off so we did what any self-respecting home-owners would do until the re-bath.. covered it with saran wrap and tape.

Dirty old grout..

After:

We had the "re-bath done" where they make a mold of your tub and the walls and put in a shiny, new cover. We also got a new light fixture, vanity and new tile flooring.  We love how it turned out and the tenants will too! W always intended on taking off the wallpaper border, but the tenant liked it, so that makes it easier!

Life Lately

It's been awhile since I last posted so here are some of the pictures I've collected over the last few weeks.

* A little artist at the Spring Celebration on Saturday - it was an awesome Easter celebration for the shelter residents with activities for parents & children (I did the art activity), an Easter egg hunt and lunch. 

*RJ and I working from our couch before we had our offices set up a few weeks ago. 

*The Black Keys concert at the Quicken Loans Arena

*The cats sleeping in the bassinet Grandma brought for me / Harvey doing what he does best

*Making roasted red pepper hummus and eating it while we put together my clothing racks

Not pictured: 

*We celebrated Chelsey's birthday (a big one, 30th!) and Easter yesterday at Reed & Laura's. It was such a great evening.. I forgot to bring my camera so I didn't get any pictures unfortunately! 

This is a crazy week for us because our renters are moving into the duplex this weekend. That means we have to have it empty, clean and ready to go. Our closet doors are still off from when we got the carpet installed. They need to be sawed off and put back on, so that will definitely be a project. We also need to take down some shelves off of the walls and fill all the holes in the whole place, then repaint over those holes. It will definitely be quite a hectic week because I have a new session of art classes starting next week and have to get all the instructors ready for those. We are just trying to check off the <long> list one task at a time! We are excited to be totally moved out and done with the duplex after this week.. It will all be worth it!

Progress..

Well it has officially been one week (and a day) since we moved. We are so much further along this year than when we moved last year. I guess we are getting better at this moving thing! Hopefully we won't have to say that again next year (or even the year after that!). I can definitely see us staying put for awhile, unless it would really work out in our favor financially (and lifestyle wise) to move, which is basically what happened this time. 

Because we weren't worried about big projects this year (like new floors and paint through-out!) we were able to focus on things like bringing boxes over early, hanging drapes and actually decorating.

Here is our progress on the new place so far:

Looking into the kitchen:

Dining Room:
Linds, do you recognize the table? :)

The built-in in the dining room with some special & pretty items:

Close-up on a special tea set from Mrs. S (and the little suitcase I love from Gmom B!):

We (ok, I) have decided I don't love the rug that we got for the living room, so we're going to exchange that.  We picked out these other two and still have to decide which one we like the best for the room (if any.. I  may exchange them all! Stores love me and my indecisive decorating style, haha.)

Living Room:

Drapes & Wall Sconces in the Living Room:

RJ hung blinds in both of the bathrooms:

The cats love the window seat in the dining room, they are always sitting up there! Unfortunately, the were getting a little too friendly with our plants, so I came up with a plan to keep them out - putting little rocks on top of the dirt so they can't play in the planters and make a mess!

More soon!

Moving Day!

Saturday - March, 17th

We had the perfect weather for moving day last weekend - mid 70's and sunny. We did it all in about 3 or 4 hours. Halley, Laura and I took the first load over in my car and their Element. We just unloaded everything into the main living room area and I stayed behind to put the boxes (etc.) in their proper rooms. That made a big difference! Last year, boxes and furniture sat piled in the main living area until we had time to unpack. This year was also better because we moved on a Saturday instead of a Sunday, so we had the whole next day to unpack and get settled. 

Here are some pictures from moving day..

Loading up the truck

Halley carried my house plants on her lap to make sure they stayed safe and sound!

Shawn & RJ loading up the truck

Big Reed, Laura and a bunch of our stuff!

It was hot that day, Harvey was worn out!

Unloading the furniture into the new place

The moving crew afterward!

THANK YOU ALL! We couldn't have done it without you!

RJ's trip to California

RJ had to take a 4-day trip to San Diego for a work conference a few weeks ago and I was so proud of him for taking pictures! Before you get too envious of his trip, they truly were working (too much! The conferences and meetings start at 7 and go til 5pm and then they have to do dinner and all that jazz.. so he was exhausted!). They did, however, get to do one activity afternoon in which they rode 4-wheelers in the sand dunes. The only thing I had to say about that was "wear a helmet!!".

While I'm on the subject of patting him on the back for a job well done, I'll go ahead and mention that RJ single-handedly fixed the neighbor's oven and their toilet last weekend! It's funny, we had the side with the older appliances and have never had any trouble. They had a leaky toilet and an oven that needed some sort of valve. RJ's mind works in a way that he can look at their oven, take the part he thinks is the problem to an appliance store and talk to whoever is working there about what needs to be done.. and then do it himself. I thought for sure we would need to call an electrician, but he did it and took care of the toilet too, all in one Sunday afternoon. Very well done, honey! We have really been lucky, other than those issues last weekend we haven't heard of any issues from either of our tenants in months! 

More on the move soon!

Getting ready..

Since getting the keys last week, we've been over at the house everyday either giving tours, bringing over a few boxes or doing a few minor projects. The place is basically move-in ready except for hanging a shower curtain rod upstairs, rods and shelves in the closets and drapes downstairs. That's it! We couldn't be happier about that.

On Sunday RJ had his drummer and bassist buddies over to jam for a few hours while the house was empty. He went next door to introduce himself to the neighbors who said they were ok with the noise. He said they were a young couple in their early thirties, so that is good.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days at the house:

From the pictures you'd think the hardwoods were shiny and new, which is not the case. I love that about them. They are scratched and worn and you can tell the house has been lived in. It was built in 1916 so things like that give it so much character.

On the other side of that built-in shelf in the dining room is a built in breakfast nook. We'll have to find the perfect old table to fit in that corner. 

We both love this house and can't wait to make it home!

First week of March

On Sunday we celebrated Big Reed's birthday with lasagna (with the meatballs on the side for us birdetarians!), antipasto salad, presents and of course.. cake. I didn't get a picture of the cake but it was so good (both that night and the leftovers we were given to enjoy the next day).

Saturday we saw a few local bands play at a Battle of the Bands event our friend Ryan's YMCA was co-sponsoring. It was definitely interesting.

We also made the best pasta this week - it was whole wheat lemon-pesto penne with asparagus and tomatoes. On Monday night both of us had our evening programs.. I did the art program at the shelter and RJ works with the Urban boys who (clearly) wore him out (and the cat too). 

Yesterday we found out we got the place we saw last weekend - different from the other one we thought we would get as of last week. We decided we should look for a middle ground between the expensive place and the cheap place.. and found the perfect one! We put our application and deposit in that day and get the keys tomorrow morning! We can't wait. Pictures promised!