Category: Uncategorized

Bright, Fresh Blue

The first room we tackled in the new house was the kitchen (and “kitchen part 2” room where the oven will go). We bit off a small chunk to gain some momentum and have one room under our belt before beginning the daunting project of tackling the living and dining rooms (including arched ceilings).  This was a smart move because painting the other two rooms (over the 3 day weekend) just about knocked us out. More on that another day, though.

First, let’s get a little glance at the kitchen and kitchen part 2. Excuse the haziness of the photos–I feel like my camera’s quality just gets worse and worse every day. I guess I did buy it in 2008. Here’s Doug, faithfully washing out his roller (I had to get on his case about it…)

Here’s the kitchen and “kitchen part 2” from by the exterior door in the dining room. Please excuse the mess from painting and rehabbing the house–it only got worse as the weekend progressed…

In the second picture, take a good look at that light-sucking beige/taupe (in the dining room) because you won’t be seeing much more of that around these parts.

The color I chose was part of Valspar’s Historic Colors line. It is called La Fonda Mirage, and it is taken from a famous hotel in Santa Fe. I thought it would really pop once the front two rooms were painted white–it was easy to see the immediate effect even with the beige paint still hangin’ around. It’s a much crisper color in real life, very cheerful and it will be a joy to cook in a bright, light kitchen!

Labor Day Weekend

We are taking the “labor” part literally and getting most of the painting done in the new house this weekend. More posts later this week–we gotta get to Lowe’s this morning and buy more paint!

Oh my aching muscles… I do not volunteer for the “cutting in” job, especially when doing it with white (because it takes multiple coats). Saturday I “cut in” the living room and dining room multiple times! Lots of crouching, getting up on a chair, getting off the chair, crouching some more… I look like a little old lady walking!

Wouldn’t You Know It

“As soon as we __________, then you know __________ is going to happen”

Haven’t you heard this phrase? Like, you’re standing in line for ages and ages, then the moment you sit down, the line moves.

Well, over a month ago we decided to buy a queen-sized mattress. We had been saving our pennies for a while, and spotted a great deal at Ashley Furniture. Poor 6-foot-plus Doug had been sleeping, for more than a year, on the full-sized mattress I inherited from my roommate when she moved. (Never mind the fact that she had inherited it from someone else. Sketchy…) His feet dangled off the edge and totally messed up my perfectly-tucked-at-the-bottom-of-the-bed sheet, wreaking havoc on my psyche every time I decided to make the bed (playing a contributing factor to the crash-and-burn of this new year’s resolution). So, the mattress arrived, we drove to Salina to pick it up (thus saving around $60 in delivery fees) and we put it in the storage unit.

Why the storage unit, you ask? Well, at the time, we thought the new house was going to be a swift turnover. We intended on staying with the full until we moved, which in our minds was going to be a few weeks, thus sparing ourselves the effort of lugging the new mattress up (and down) the 27 steep stairs to our apartment. However, once we got word from the realtor (via Doug’s parents) that the closing date had been pushed closer to the end of October, we decided we didn’t want to wait that long for the new bed. Not to mention we were eager to donate the full-sized to a community outreach that gives furniture and appliances to those in need. So Doug enlisted the help of a friend (who we’d helped move twice, by the way) to cart off the old mattress and bring the new one upstairs.


Step one: adjust bed frame and situate new mattress in it’s new home.

Step two: cover new mattress with waterproof mattress cover from Target. In April I never would have admitted it, but we are now “those people” who let their dog sleep in their bed. The pup has had one or two accidents in the last 5 months so on goes the waterproof sheet. And there you have it. Protecting our investment for only $20.

Step three: Put on brand new queen-sized sheets snagged on sale from Crate and Barrel. Admire the vibrant green and crisp white. Feel a minor pang of sadness for the dearly departed light green bamboo sheets, which were, admittedly, softer.

Step four: Make bed, then mess up the freshly made bed by laying down and enjoying the firm-yet-soft big new mattress!

Anyway, to conclude this post, and to tie-in back to the first statement, we kept saying “Oh, you KNOW as soon as we lug that mattress upstairs we’ll get good news on the house.” Sure enough, approximately one week after we made the big move, we got the good news that we could get early possession and get into the house whenever. Of course. Well, the good thing is that the news came after the 15th of the month (the 15th is the cut-off day for notifying our landlord about moving out) so we have all of September in the current apartment. I’m relieved because this way, fixing up the house and moving in can be two separate processes instead of trying to do both at the same time.

PS: Beirut has a new album out, and I’m liking it. Listen on Spotify.