Auntie H, A and I spent the day together today. We went shopping, we went to lunch, we obviously had to buy A a jacket and some shoes, H organized my house a little and the best part is that we finally got some decoration up on A’s walls! Auntie H was there to document it all!
Mommy getting past her decorating block
Taking shape...
A helping!
finishing up
flower A complete!
Happy A!
Our house has a lot of windows. It has a lot of very big oversized windows. This is great in many aspects, but when we realized that almost all of the windows needed to be replaced, it wasn’t only an expensive decision, it was a very very cold one too!
We got 4 quotes, 3 fell very close to one another, and 1 was ASTRONOMICAL. It was an Anderson product, and I feel like I most definitely wasted 3 hours of my life with that salesman. In the end we went with Medallion, who was recommended to us by Auntie S2 and Uncle B2. Uncle B2 used to work for them. They were very nice, gave us a very competitive price, the most comprehensive installation and were very professional.
When they arrived on the first day, I requested that they complete the nursery windows first so that I could get A in for a nap. They obliged, but her nap was missed because it was a very long process, very cold, and very messy!
Here are some photos of A the week we had our windows replaced…she spent most of her days in PJs a coat and a hat!
Old single pane windows!
No window at all! I think it was about 25 degrees that day!
"Do I really have to stay in here in my coat and hat Mommy?!"
Warm in my fleece sleeper!
Finally…NEW WINDOWS! These are the windows in A’s room. She’s now warm and toasty!
These are some of our double hung windows…we also got some sliders, some casements and some picture windows too…pictures to follow! We need to still paint the trim and the radiator & add the curtains and we’ll be done!
Our last major furniture purchase was back in our first apartment together. We had a little 1 bedroom apartment and our bedroom had no closet. Luckily we had 2 huge armoires that were able to hold lots of the husbands clothes and the tv, but when I moved in, the place had very little “style”. I couldn’t handle the “dorm room” thrown together-ness and when I came in, we went to the great Ikea for solutions!
I know Ikea isn’t the most original, but it is pretty cheap and you get a lot of storage for your money in a decent style. We went with the black-brown Malm nightstands and some dressers. I hated those nightstands though! They were perfect for what we needed…which is why they have been with us for the last 3 years, but I’ve been on the search for something better.
In our new bedroom there are a LOT of built-in cabinets with mirrors and a cherry wood frame in arches. The floors are walnut colored. The windows frames and baseboards are white. We also have a guest room that we furnished with that old Malm stuff, so I found myself on the hunt for new nightstands again! I couldn’t make up my mind…its a problem! Everything I liked was VERY expensive. Another problem!
I came across a post somewhere in blog world where someone “hacked” an ikea RAST dresser. I thought…WHOA…I can make that work for my bedroom!!!!
Here’s where we started:
Rast undone...
Here’s where we ended up:
Rast A La LK
I stained the frame to match mostly to the built ins, and painted the drawers white to bring a more modern look to it. Finally, I added some antique brass knobs to coordinate with the built ins without being too matchy-matchy. Total damage to the house fund = $75 for 2 custom nightstands! The next addition to the bedroom will be a headboard that we just purchased and hopefully I’ll find a rug I like too!
More projects to come!
Tiny ants. But a thousand of them. I have successfully banished them from 2 bathrooms, my kitchen, my living room and A’s room. All the while having a peaceful retreat in my own bedroom. THEY HAVE INVADED MY BEDROOM. So now I have to leave this gross Terro trap in the middle of my floor b/c their colony is living in my floor boards and they are coming up from the center of the room and I have to step over the ant pile every time I go in and out. I have to sleep with Tyler on a leash so he can’t get out of bed in the middle of the night. I have to wear shoes when I walk in my own room. I have to turn on the light to check said shoes for ANTS.
I HATE ANTS.
Dear Ants,
Please get the HELL OUT.
kthxbye
Sincerely,
The LKs
This house has brought us lots of drama…but the sink was something we didn’t expect to be so difficult!
Mom....pick a faucet and lets go!
First we went to Lowes….which is where A had all that fun in the photo. My mom and I went to get a sink and a faucet…b/c the countertop guy was waiting for the measurements so he could cut the top for the sink. So we found the only 35″ stainless steel single bowl sink they sell. It was “Elkay” which was recommended to us, and we brought that sucker home with a pretty Kohler faucet.
When we got into the house next, I found a “Stop Work Order” on the front door. The city (or us) were very lucky I happened to want to let T out the front door b/c if I hadn’t, I would NEVER have seen this. The front door is “just for looks” and pretty much never gets used.
Apparently, someone from the city came by and spied into our windows without telling anyone and saw that we removed the BROKEN SINK. How dare we!
So now we needed a licensed plumber to install this sink. What was that you say…..yup…$$$$$$$$$$.
He came…and opened the sink box that I was so proud of picking out all by myself for a STEAL of $199, and said…”uh Miss…this sink is missing all the brackets and I can’t do anything with it…sorry…replace it and call me to come back…” True Story.
DAMMIT. So I bundled A up and met Aunt D at Lowes to return the stupid sink and even better news…Guy at Lowes: ” Miss, this is a horrible sink, and every box we have has a damaged sink inside. I think you should let us order a better sink for you” There it is again…$$$$$$$$$. So I need a sink right?!?! I really wasn’t enjoying washing 4 bottles a day in the bathroom riddled with ants (for another post). I agree to order a better sink. They tell me it will arrive at your door in 2 days. FF to the next morning, JUST KIDDING MISS……Can get it to the store in 5 days, and its going to cost more b/c its a rush.
Cue emergency freak out panic attack phone call to hard working busy in meetings husband. He managed to find a sink online and ordered it from CA and had it at our door the following day by 12pm. Pretty damn lucky I am!
I happen to love this sink. I wasn’t sure I could love a sink this much, but I do. I knew I could love bathtubs, and countertops, and floors, and shower heads & knobs, but kitchen sinks? I sort of thought they were all the same….
Introducing…my pretty sink!
This was what we passed on…
Isn’t ours nicer?!
ok….soon there will be an update on our whole kitchen…
Here’s part of what’s been keeping us out of the blogging world the past few weeks.
Our new house!
I’m in love – even though its been a LOT of work so far, and it’s going to be A LOT more work…I don’t care…and as crazy as the old lady who wanted to sell/didn’t want to sell/wanted to sell/didn’t want to sell/refused to leave/finally sold, I’m crazier, and I’m never leaving! A’s totally going to have to tie me up and drag me out! She said she’s cool with that.
Here’s a before tour:
View 1: Dining Room
More Dining Room
ok, that’s the dining room. Check out the SWEET paneling! its gone now, but what’s NOT gone is the awesome ceiling with all those pretty highhats. These people loved lights. The only thing they loved more than lights, is light switches. You can only see about half of the highhats in this photo, but there are 6 light switches. Some work for the living room, some operate only 1 light, most we’ll never know what they do! One thing I do know now is how freaking expensive highhat replacements are. If we had to replace all of them in the house, I’d have to figure out how to breast feed 7 months later because we’d have no more money left for A’s food!
Living Room
Living Room facing foyer
This is the living room, as seen from the foyer. Holy mirrors batman! I love them. They’re so 70’s and I’m going to channel Tim Gunn and make it work. There’s certainly no hiding from yourself in this house! Also, the floors were originally covered with a sexy white stained up carpet, but the other LK works very fast, and it was pulled up before I could pull out the camera!
Master Bedroom
Here’s the master bedroom. All I can say is padded wall. I don’t know who these people think they are, telling us we’re so crazy we need padded walls, but the biggest surprise came when we pulled down that padding. There are 2 windows behind there! Light!! Some more fun can be seen where the old owners decorated AROUND their furniture. I am pretty sure that any furniture they had, remained in place for 40 years. You can see the outline of the dresser & nightstand that was wallpapered around! Oh yea – and on the top left, there’s the start of the best closet system I could want in my house! There are closets for EVERYTHING here!
A's room!
Moldy wall around the AC unit….now GONE! A’s not going to know what to do with so much space! Her room now is pretty tiny, and she never really gets to play in there. I think I’m going to take some inspiration from future husband M’s room since A had such a great time playing in there last week! Now where will I ever find a “dreidel dreidel” singing teddy bear and a yodeling sheep?!
A's Bathroom
Fun huh!! This….has not changed! A gets to enjoy this pretty funky bathroom in all its 70’s glory for a while. I think with a few trips to HomeGoods, I can make this more “fun” than “funny”.
Guest Room
Pretty pretty formica right?! There was similar furniture in A’s room too. These took an entire weekend to take apart and throw away. Good thing our city has unlimited bulk pickup! In this particular room there were 3 separate cabinets specially designed for a TV. Why??? Oh yea, behind this, on the right side of the photo, they covered up another window!
Kitchen
More Kitchen
Oh my new old kitchen! The first photo is a real before, the second is my start to priming! We ordered new countertops and are going all white. Thats right Auntie E – more of mommy taking the color out of A’s life. I need a blank canvas before I can think about color! The floors are staying and so are the appliances except the oven. We’ll call them oldies but goodies!
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