I'm a slacker.

Hi everyone.

Yes, I know... I am a slacker. BUT, in my defense, I did say we'd be MIA for a little while.

Not much has happened since September. But here is a little somethin' somethin'.

In chronological order:

AUGUST:

Adam got me *new* Crate & Barrel coffee table (*new* to us from Craigslist!) for my birthday:

(Thank you Joann for the bee-yoo-ti-ful birthday flowers!)

SEPTEMBER:

Our less-than-one-week-old-super-expensive fence mysteriously gets a hole in it (?!?!). Thank heavens for warranties.


We finally mowed our lawn. See how pretty the new fence is?



OCTOBER:

Fall came. Barry changed color. Pretty.


Our fence gets ANOTHER hole in it. Good golly miss molly. Again: bless you warranty. (Is any one suspicious of the hoodlums? I am.)


NOVEMBER:

Our front door -- which we purchased in the summer of 2006 -- is finally installed! Praise the Lord! And Adam's dad too! (BTW, have no idea if this happened in November. Just trying to follow the pattern here).



Here it is, though unpainted (I picked an olive green paint for it. Just waiting for a warm day to paint.)


Adam's dad passed down to Adam his prized Christmas train. Here the proud men are with their handy work:


While trimming the tree, I dropped Spider-man on the ground and broke off his feet. :( It's okay though, he'll hitch a ride in the train. (And, Adam's got about 23 other Spider-man ornaments).


I know you are jealous of my snazzy Las Vegas sweatshirt. AHHHHH YEAH!

DECEMBER:

For one of Adam's Christmas gifts, I decided to commission an artist off Etsy to create a portrait of him as a boy.

The story:
. When Adam was small, he liked to chase birds.
. Adam's mom would require him to wear mittens when trying to catch said birds -- so as to not catch a bird disease, of course.
. So, it would be summer -- Adam in his shorts and all -- walking around the backyard, trying to catch birds with his mittens on.
. Said mittens have been displayed in our house, unceremoniously, until now:

Framed and hung:


Adam checks it out:



Ready for bird catching:


Find the artist brighthousegal at Etsy.com


In terms of gifts, a close second was the Spider-man alarm clock I got Adam as my yearly contribution to the comic room. Spidey's head projects the time on the ceiling (so you can tell time, in the dark, without getting up). Here he is setting up Spidey:


And testing out Spidey (this is just after he ripped off the wrapping paper):


Adam got another snowman item for the house. Thanks Aunt Karen and Uncle Frank. He loves it so!


Here it is, blocking the draft in our bedroom that comes out of Adam's closet (old house, little to no insullation). They look so happy and now Adam's feet do not freeze when he gets out of bed!



Adam and his bro Joey put up some lights. Adam fell off a ladder while doing this. I had just pulled in the drive and screamed really loud. He was okay, thankfully :)



On Christmas, we saw reindeer at Adam's parents, in the front yard!




And lastly, Adam and his mom Sue enjoyed a Christmas sword fight (WARNING: wrapping paper tubes can cause big paper cuts. Try at home, but with caution!):



I know. I know. Not too exciting.

What can I say. It is cold in Chicago, so we are not doing much around the house except for making "heat tents" (blanket. heat vent. bliss.) and watching TV.

We are managing to escape for a long weekend in Cabo next week. So we'll post some pics of that soon after. As for the house, we are saving, dreaming of how we might spend our tax return, and sketching our basement renovation plans out on a napkin while out for pancakes (don't get too excited. That project is YEARS away. A girl can dream, right?).

Until next time. Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take you to... Oh wait. That is the Carribean. Uhhh... Mexico... Mexico... oh yeah!



C+A

A Misadventure in Homeowning

The yellow circle above indicates a hole in our front bow window.
A hole that was caused by a rock.
A rock that was thrown by an angry teenager.

Yes, C & A had a misadventure in homeowning.

Good Lord.

Summary:

1. C & A come home from the gym to find a swarm of rowdy kids fighting in the neighbors front yard. The boys proceed to move into the other yards, the street, C & A's yard... A tries to break up the fight but this only angers the boys -- who threaten A, C and to "break the house" if we call the cops.
   
2. One boy is getting severely roughed up, so C calls the cops.
3. Cops come. Boys run. Cops can't find anything and leave.
4. A minute after the cops leave, one rock hits the window. Then another. C calls the cops again. Two more rocks hit the window.
5. Later, when the cops show up we find out that one of our neighbors was heading to his car to grab something when he saw a boy in our drive getting ready to throw a landscaping brick -- either at our house or car. Yeah, real nice. Thanks to the neighbor for stopping that one. Ugh.

Anyway, there are more details to this story, but all in all, at the end of the night, we were left paranoid and with a broken window. Awesome.

Lesson learned: If you see a situation, quietly go inside and call the cops.

Here is a zoomed out pictures of where the window is broken:


After our misadventure, we decided it was time to take some protective measures with our home sweet home. Thanks to A's Dad, we now have motion-sensored lights...

One behind the garage:


And one on our deck:


Up next: time for a fence... we must protect Barry!

We got our first estimate Saturday and will be talking to a couple of other vendors. Anyone have any good fence advice? I was just talking to my sister, who advised that a 6' privacy fence isn't always a good idea, since it makes it so no one can see who is in your yard, if you are not there. I never would have thought of that.

Oh, the drama.

In other news:

We finally hung some of the art/mirrors that I've been collecting. It's not perfect, there are some holes, but it is looking better, me thinks:

View from the front of the front room:


Blue/brown/white bird is from a thrift shop. $8. The blue matte was tan, and the frame was gold. I spray painted them both. The birds on the sides are from my sister, Christine. Another vintage find.

Another view:



Dining room:


"Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining" print matted on Martha Stewart wrapping paper and in a frame from Michael's. Surrounded by vintage metal frames, spray painted silver.

Another view:


Entry way mirror:


Salvation Army. $25 and some change [ for spray paint :) ]

View from front door:

New mirror over buffet:



Another Salvation Army find. $40 (yes, it is spray painted too).

Also, A and I now know how to hang a 100 lb. mirror if anyone needs lessons. It only took us 2 hours and 2 trips to Home Depot to figure out.

More adventures soon...
C + A

Happy House-aversary!

Today marks the two year anniversary of our move in!
Happy House-aversary to us!

We've been starting to think finishes for the kitchen. So, this weekend we went to the granite place to choose our countertops.



We took a stroll through the warehouse and there was only ONE I liked. But guess what?


The price grades of granite were not indicated and of course, I picked an exotic stone (Azul Arun, to be specific) that was about two price categories above what we were supposed to be looking at. Oy vey. It was a beautiful, big patterned stone, silvery grey with some warm flecks of color. It was very nice.

However, we wanted to stay away from an upgrade. So I described what I was looking for to the granite lady and this is what we ended up with:


It is called Blue Pearl... although the stone we picked isn't so much blue as it is grey/black with silver/pearl flecks.

Here is a picture of a kitchen I found online that shows a modern cabinet (wood color is close to our cabinets) with blue pearl counter tops:


Now, we gotta figure out our floors and back splash!

We also went to Abt Electronics in Glenview to check out the Maytag appliances that Bill the Kitchen man suggested.

Of course, we like to be difficult -- we ended up finding a suite of LG appliances we liked better:









A little bit sleeker, cool handles and cool fridge. This means I had to email Bill and say, "Can we please get these instead?"

See *NEW* poll above... what will Bill say? Will he "okay" the move to a different suite of appliances? Will it come with stipulations? I will post a follow up after he responds. It isn't so easy, switchin' this up. Appliances have not been ordered yet, but we have to make sure these will fit in the layout and also -- find out if we can get these for the same cost (they are comparable in price).

Oh the drama.

Does anyone out there have LG appliances? Any thoughts? Good? Bad? All I know is they look cool but the price is right. I likey.

Two final things:

ONE: it is good to have a husband who works in special events. He brings home pretty flowers for the house when the events are over:



TWO: Here is a new print that I ordered from Keep-Calm.com.


I am super excited about it. Frame is from Michael's... Instead of matting it, I mounted the print to a piece of Martha Stewart metallic wood grain wrapping paper (also from Michael's).
They have really cool MS wrapping paper there. It is cool and CHEAP! A buck for two sheets. I am planning to hang this behind the dining room table (near our swanky silver chandelier).

Now, just gotta figure out what to do with the rest of the barren Living Room/Dining Room wall...


More to come...
C (+A)

Hip. Post-Modern. Sculptured.

Do you feel cool enough to read this blog? "Hip. Post-Modern. Sculptured." is the description from the manufacturer of our cabinets.

Not our old cabinets:


Our soon-to-be-NEW cabinets! See Adam and sample of cabinet door:


He is just as excited about this rehab as me -- really!

So, we've chosen the Bella style door, in Maple, with a Hazelnut finish. Ooo la la.

And here is the hardware style we'll be going with:


All of the hardware will run horizontal, like this picture:


We had a meeting with Bill the Kitchen Man a week ago to discuss the final contract. At that time, he let us take a copy of his drawings:


He comes to take final measurements on April 1. Construction to begin June 16!

Bill the Kitchen Man will also be sourcing our appliances, so that he can control the timing and delivery of them. (No he is not marking them up). Right now, we are looking at stainless steel Maytag appliances:

So, things are coming along! The cabinet style/color is really the only decision will be set in stone after April 1. Then, I think our next big decision will be granite. Oy vey -- so many colors!

OH! Bill the Kitchen Man also gave us references! Three to be exact. I called two of them on Friday and within the first few minutes got invited to both of their house to see Bill's work. So Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be seeing two kitchens done by Bill. Both references were really pleased with their kitchens. We are excited to see them in person. On another note: if we disappear on Tuesday or Thursday, well, check the address scribbled on the notepad on my desk :)

Decor updates:

Look at these guys! Aren't they precious?

I found these wonderful animal portraits on etsy.com, my favorite source for original artwork. The artist Ryan Berkley also writes these silly descriptions for the portraits he sells, so I printed them and hung them underneath the portraits. I originally planned to hang these in our stairway. However, they are SO special, I decided to hang them in the hallway by the first floor bathroom, on the way to our bedroom.

Neato! The frames: $10 for all eight from the Salvation Army. Plus a $3 can of bronze spray paint. Viola!

Also, after a visit to my grandmother's house, my mom brought me some quilt squares she found that she thinks used to belong to my great Memeré Airoldi. After thinking and thinking about how to display them, I found inspiration on one of my frequently visited design blogs. So, here they are:

The quilt squares are hanging in embroidery hoops, which you can purchase at Michael's or Hobby Lobby for about $1 each. Hip. Post-Modern. Kitschy. No?

And finally a shout out to Sandy, a faithful blog reader. She saw our wall hanging:

from Textile Arts and snatched one up for herself. Here's her new wall art:

Happy Easter everyone! If you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you had an awesome weekend. Here is a cute picture of us from Easter dinner:


PS: Dear family, some of you emailed to ask how our Easter was... I am married to Adam, right? Here is a little taste of our holiday at Grandma Nemec's:


Till next time --
C (+ A)

PSS: Like the new blog layout? I hope so. See the poll up top people! Vote! Vote!