Merry Everything!

Our decorations this year, by night (because it was night by the time we took the pictures and I'm sure I won't have time to do it tomorrow). Mostly the same as last year, but still worth photographing.  We inherited a few more outdoor ornaments. I think our house looks best at the moment in the daytime. We still haven't quite nailed the lighting, but the candy canes, window wreaths, and hanging ornaments look very festive during the light when they're most visible.

The whole scene, this year with more hanging ornaments (and less snow, sadly):

I so badly wanted to put lights on the tree that's on the right, the one that looks exactly like a Christmas tree. We strung up our white lights that we used to use along our gutters but apparently those don't want to light up anymore. Hopefully I can snag a new set on sale so I can light it up next year. Instead, we put up some candy cane ornaments, so I think it still gets the point across.

Now could it please just snow a little? Really that's the best decoration I can think of.

Happy Holidays!

A little late for many of the December holidays but still in time for New Year! We added to our outdoor decorations this year at the request of the pre-schooler, and Mother Nature contributed to making this a cozy wintery scene. Intentional or not, we ended up with a very candy cane-themed yard, thanks to some hand-me-downs (the hanging candy canes and the large ones nearest the house) and some new purchases (the walk way lights - these were by far the cutest inexpensive choice). Our icicles don't twinkle but they do have a white or a color lights setting. The whites, being cool LEDs, just do not seem festive enough (yes, I know they are "ice" but they still need a warm holiday glow). Plus they were so bright that they shone too brightly in our windows after we put the kids to sleep. So we went with rainbow lights - the first choice of said-pre-schooler anyway.

Because only the front two large candy canes actually still worked, we thought that looked weird also so we unplugged them and added them to the candy cane chain lining our flower beds against the house.

We probably should turn the lamppost bulb so that it doesn't stay lit, as I think it was so bright it distracted from the holiday decor. All the new lights definitely lowered the effect of the red and green laser lights - it's so bright around our house that they are barely visible (can you see them in the picture below shining on the house front?).

And an indoor picture - this year we didn't have a chance to get a shot until Christmas Eve, so here is the decor after Santa already paid us a visit. Good thing we remembered to unlock the child-safe fireplace lock so he could get in and leave us presents:

Very Belated Holiday Wishes

This holiday season has been a rather hectic one for various personal reasons and we had so many home-related updates to share that I never quite got around to putting up a holiday post. I had nearly no time to reflect on the year and our goals for the next one.

I realized this weekend as I took down the Christmas decorations that I hadn't even bothered to photograph them first. We didn't put up a tree this year because I just couldn't face the task of moving all the furniture around and getting glitter everywhere. And since putting up the tree is supposed to be fun - if it wasn't going to be, then it wasn't worth doing (I know I sound like a bit of a Scrooge). But we still decorated the house with lots of ribbon, candles, and greenery. Here's one of the few pictures to come out of the season - our candy cane and ornament centerpiece.

As an aside, let me highlight the cool work that went into the glittery pedestal on the right. Mom had a few old brass candlesticks destined for the donation bin. She had read an article about how to spruce them up and we gave it a try on this one - a few hits with a spray primer and then a few with Krylon Glitter Blast in Silver Flash made it a festive piece indeed.

Still, I'm a purist and had a moment of sadness for the loss of the pretty brass color. She gave us a few extra sets to paint various glittery and festive colors, but I lost my nerve and they are still sitting in my drawer in their tarnished brassy glory.

To keep with the Bah-humbug holiday theme we took the easy way out and found that Amazon had an instant video of a crackling fire. But of course it was only a joke - on Christmas day D still built us a beautiful fire in the fireplace and, according to my own tradition, roasted marshmallows.

May your year be a happy one full of fun home projects and no unexpected, expensive repairs!

Happy Independence Day!

Hope you are having a great day. We'll probably fire up the grill and cook up some burgers and corn on the cob.

A few weeks ago we got to try out our s'mores maker, which I originally planned to use on our fireplace. Works much better on a grill when the coals are starting to cool down. They were tasty and charred without being burnt. Yum!

Stay cool and enjoy the holiday!

Days 5 and 6: Walls and a Floor!

Two more days of hard work (8 to 5 every day!) but we're still not to the particularly exciting updates. On Thursday, we came closer to having walls up. They seamed and plastered the water-resistant board for the non-shower walls and cement board for the shower walls. They removed our old insulation and stuffed the exterior wall with new stuff. We noticed that we may have made a misstep here--the old stuff they removed was labeled R-19 and the new stuff they put in was R-13...Hmmm.... Our contract stipulated that they put in the insulation with the highest R-value that would fit appropriately, between R-13 and R-19, so we're going on faith that they know what they're doing. It certainly looks in better shape than the crud they pulled out. But then I guess 60 years behind a wall is bound to result in some wear and tear.

The floors in this picture, from Thursday, is still our original plywood. You can see they've sealed up all the seams in the wall.

Friday we came home to cement board on the floors and, more exciting (because it means we might get a working toilet soon), a new toilet flange.

The flange is the part that seals the toilet in place to the floor and the sewer pipe. We knew our previous one was going to need replacing because it was old and cracked and didn't seal well and because the height of our floor will be a little lower than before.

Photo courtesy of Monkey River Town

Finally, Friday the last of the wall was sealed up. Monday or Tuesday, the tile work begins!

Yesterday I came to to the annoying realization that all our Christmas storage boxes are hidden in the spare room behind the plastic that the contractors put up. So in addition to having a living room cluttered with tile, a vanity, and a toilet and fine layer of grime in the hallway landing, we are going to have Christmas decorations up until the end of the remodel. Bad planning on my part--Oops!

Have a Happy New Year! See you in 2012!

Decorations Montage

Happy Holidays!
(Too busy enjoying some yuletide cheer for a real update. Hope you like the way we decked the halls.)

December? Really?

It's December on the calendar and the leaves have finally fallen. (Remember this post about being done raking? Yeah, that was overly optimistic...we had to rake/mow/mulch twice more after that. But now it's really truly done for the year.) You'd never know from the temperatures though. Even though there has been an occasional frosty morning, days have climbed into the 50s. All those new bulbs have been tricked into thinking it's spring!!!

Even our established camellias, which I think should really know better by now, are sporting tiny buds.

I wish I could warn these little guys to stay in hiding for a few more months! Do you think that this will mess things up come spring by killing them off too soon?

Despite the warmth, it's getting to be that time of year again where I go crazy and decorate everything. If you're a very loyal reader, you may remember that last year, we put lights up outside by tossing them haphazardly in the wild shrubbery.

But that shrubbery is now history, thanks to our new landscaping. So I went a little crazy and decided to outline the house. Thankfully, even though D thinks I've gone totally holiday-bonkers, he agreed to help, since this was a two-man operation.

I'm hoping the little lights stay up until January and don't do any damage. We slid them under the slates, which is where the gutter guards fit in. They seem pretty secure and don't seem to be putting any pressure on the slates. Let's all keep our collective fingers crossed!

Wait, no "after" pictures?

Nope, not yet. That's something I'm saving for my Christmas montage post. Stay tuned!

I'm in love!

OK, a bit of an overstatement, but just trying to get in the Valentine's Day spirit. I found this picture cross-posted via multiple furniture and home decor blogs and it is the perfect piece for our living room. The size is about right, the color is perfect (our living room is teal and red), and the height is just enough to clear our baseboards and let heat escape out the bottom.

(Credit: Southern Living)

Unfortunately, it was only an "inspirational" picture to give readers decorating ideas and the cabinet is not for sale.

Here is what we have: an old Target wicker piece that actually was part of their bathroom decor line circa. 2004. It has served us well over the 6 years we've owned it. But I would love to get something a little more polished and with more doors so I can hide the clutter out of sight.

So keep your eyes pealed! It's hard to search on craiglist since "dresser" or "hall cabinet" or "entry furniture" type keywords are so broad. Finding a small piece with lots of storage space that stands at least 10 inches off the ground is tough. We're looking forward to garage sale season this spring, but in a meantime, holler if you see something!

Happy Holidays!

It's been a hectic holiday season of decorating the house and wrapping present after present. Last year we decorated a little but were still reeling from the move. This year, we could devote more time and resource to making the house look festive. And so I present a photo montage of what's been keeping us busy:

You can't see that well from the pictures, but the two upper windows have swags of colored lights. There are also colored lights wound around our lamppost, now that I'm qualified to operate solar-powered lights. And if you look closely, the little tree to the right of the house has some over-size Christmas balls hanging from it. Seeing those indoor/outdoor ornaments at Costco just about made my day, since a similar set from Pottery Barn was not in the budget.

Our other splurge this year? Timers for the lights. Because seriously who wants to plug in all the lights in each window upstairs as well outside and all the random inside sets every day? We still keep forgetting to plug in the snowmen over the piano, the window village, and the lights on the sideboard, which are all not on a timer. Even without those little extras turned on, it sure is nice to come home to a lighted Christmas tree and lawn.

Happy Holidays!

(Oh, and stay tuned as we redesign the blog's layout for the New Year. Please be patient as we fiddle with all the new templates and settle on something that works.)

Hello Stranger!

Before I tell you about the great peep-hole we installed, I thought I'd give you an update on my experience with solar panel holiday lights. You may remember that I could not get any light out of the Halloween set I put up and was about to give up on solar lighting. Lo and behold:

A little button in the back that could either be set to "auto" or "off." Apparently even though the box said that the lights automatically turned on at dark, the default setting in the back was "off" and I had to switch it before anything would happen. So I am stupid and now I know better. The solar panel does appear to work. The light set was jumbled up on our floor for days before D noticed the switch and turned it to "auto." And, like magic, we had little orange lights. A few days late, but at least we know they're worth storing for next October.

(Trust me, there's a button under the red arrow. It was hard to get a shot in focus without the flash, but I wanted you to see the orange glow.)

Now to the task at hand--telling you about the peep hole we (and, as usual, by "we" I mean D) installed. It was scary because it involved drilling a hole in our door. But it worked and now we can see who is knocking before we open up. I feel much safer.

The first step was a pilot hole. The instructions said to drill a pilot hole on both sides and then go right to the big, 1/2'' drill bit. Well the door was so strong, we had to drill two sets of pilot holes to work our way up to 1/2''. The tiniest one, which I think was 1/8'' (this was a few weeks ago--it might have been even 1/16'') and the first one to actually be able to make it through the door:

Then round two, which took off a little bit of the edges as well:

 And then round 3, the giant 1/2''. Scary stuff!

The final hole. Fortunately the bigger bit carved out most of the edges that got all wonky with the middle bit.

Here's the finished door. You can see the tiny chip at about 2:00--we filled it in with a marker and I doubt anyone will ever know:

I see you!