Category: Random

Add-on Unit

Ah, man.

Check out this New York Times article on ADU’s, or accessory dwelling units. Instead of an elderly relative moving in, I am envisioning renting a single studio-apartment type of unit to a college student.

Another pipe dream that may come true somewhere down the road. Our backyard (which we affectionately call “the back 40” is huge and it would be so cool to add another unit back there to rent out. A parking spot can be created with alley access, to keep any extra cars off the street. Several homes in our neighborhood have apartments above the garage, set on the back half of the property.

Look, this Denver-based company (got the link from the article) even specializes in this stuff. So awesome!

Image copyright Sidekick Homes

Of course, a cheaper alternative would be to upgrade a vintage trailer like so:

 

Sneak Peeks

Yes, that’s a plural “peeks” up there. I have many projects on the docket and hope to complete several of them–gotta build up the momentum. This also helps remind me to take “before” pictures. Now that the whole house exterior is painted (more on that another day) I can do some “fun” and necessary projects. Okay, not all of them are necessary.

This dresser:

Snagged this dresser at Goodwill for a “landing pad” to place next to the front door. It’s not this blurry in real life, I promise. I’m going to prime it and paint it a deep gray, using leftover paint from the master bedroom or guestroom (the colors of the 2 rooms are slightly different. Honestly thecolor will depend on how much paint we have left of each color). It used to have a third drawer but it got broken at the last second after we’d gotten it into the house in transport so I’m going to remove all the drawer components and use it for a shoe corral. This will be especially helpful during the winter months when nasty, wet, salty (from the de-ice product) shoes must stay by the front door for the sake of clean floors. The drawers will be helpful for storing winter gloves, scarves, hats etc and freeing up space in my closet and Doug’s wardrobe.

This fireplace:

I’m going to paint the inside of the fireplace teal to mimic the front door (which isn’t currently teal but will be as soon as it warms up enough to leave it open for long periods of time so the paint can dry… Which means next spring). I haven’t decided if I should continue storing the records here (they do look kind of cool, but too short) or go the candleabra-in-the-fireplace route. The fireplace is non-functioning so we can’t build a real fire in it, so painting and styling it is the way to go!

A compost bin:

Totally ripping off John’s method from YHL, this weekend we hope to build a compost bin out of pallets. It will be an upgrade from the cardboard box we’re currently using, and a great place to put our leaves after we rake. Another thing to check off the list before snow and ice set in for the next few months.

A mobile:

For my friend’s baby room. Since they didn’t know the gender of the baby until she was born, most of their stuff is a tasteful green and yellow. Time to dial up the PINK! I found a ton of awesome inspiration projects on pinterest, and it’s hard to pick just one. Maybe i’ll create a hybrid, or put my own spin on one! Can’t wait to get started!

Doggy Halloween

A few days ago, we got an invite to the Kansas-Missouri IG Rescue halloween party. A fancy new humane society complex recently opened up in Wichita, complete with a “party room” where Mosey met with over 20 other Italian Greyhounds for a “small” get-together. The dogs that Mosey fostered with were there, (we call them his “brothers”) along with other IGs from the region. Mosey always seems small to me until he gets around other IGs; at 17 pounds he was among the 3 biggest dogs there!

You might be able to tell that the bumblebee costume proved popular (there were 4 of them). Mosey’s “brothers” all had on skull-and-crossbones hoodies and two other IG’s came as a boy and girl scout. Very cute. Mosey just wore his Chiefs jacket that I made him (I’ll post DIY instructions sometime) which he’s been wearing a lot since the weather has started to cool down. It was impossible to get a good shot of the dogs because none of them would stop moving!

Mosey was a little bit of a bully, he is definitely the alpha type and finds it necessary to be the center of attention. We had to take him outside once so he could chill out a little bit. He always gets really worked up when around other dogs! Not in a bad way, he just gets really excited.

Now, before you get too worried about our social lives. Doug and I did attend a real halloween party on Friday, complete with actual human beings. I went as a lumberjack (drew on a beard with makeup) and Doug went as a pile of leaves. No pictures though since my camera battery is low (haven’t found the charger since the move) and I wanted to save my battery for the dog party :P

What did you do or are you doing tonight for Halloween?? This year will by our first year passing out candy since we’re in an actual neighborhood!