We can see clearly now, the crappy windows are gone!

We have windows!! Hooray! Here are some pics:

Our delivery:


The guys get to work... get to work smashing our peonies. Awesome. Thanks dudes.


Bedroom before:


And after:


Ripping out old windows:


Bathroom before... I will miss this style of window -- I won't miss the breeze that came through it in the dead of winter


Bathroom after (almost):


Old dining room windows:


And after:


It is so great to be able to open the windows for fresh air now. I am definitely glad we splurged.

In other news, the stoop continues to crack:


We called the cement company and approved their bid. We think they either a) forgot or b) are too busy with more profitable projects. Hubby will give them a call next week to see what the deal is...

In the meantime, the rails are scraped and ready for new paint.


Also, we finally painted our front door. Here I am, hard at work (I know, you like my style):


Hubby works on the frame:


And the finished product:


We are contemplating a new screen door. I feel the current door blocks the lovely green too much. Maybe something like this instead:


We also could use a new house number and definitely new landscaping. The dying bushes aren't really lighting our fire... though we do like the purpley leafy thorny thing on the left side of the picture. But new landscaping is for another year...

Door is green on the inside too, because I liked the color so much:


Here is another green door. My friend S recently resided her house, as well as got/painted a new front door, got new windows in the front, and added a hand painted sign. Check it out:

Before:


After:

View of front:


The emerald curtain (actually, kind of spring green):


Handmade address sign:


On another note, here are a couple of pics of spring in the backyard:


Barry's growing nicely... also, check out the deck... the next post will probably include an update on this deck...


Another mystery we're exploring...
We've started to get some significant seepage in the basement when it rains. I was tired of wet, smelly carpet, and freaking out about mold possibly growing behind the wall. So a couple of Fridays ago, we did some impromtu demo:


Tore off part of the wall and cut up a chunk of the carpet... This is what we found:


Interestingly enough, the previous homeowners were "not aware of any water problems". Yet there is a patch job and a new piece of wood there... hmmm...

Nasty stained carpet with a fan nearby to help dry the smelly, wet carpet:


We are still trying to super sleuth out the reason for this seepage. Having the basement partially tore up has lit a fire under me to $ave, $ave, $ave for a basement renovation. I have started to sketch out my plans... this is just an early idea...

Before:

After:

Essentially, we divide the non-laundry area a bit, add a room with a wall of closets for storage, and also add a 1/2 bath in the area underneath our main floor bath.

Finally... a tip:
When you paint multiple rooms in your house, mark the top of the paint cans with the room painted. Most people probably do this.

We did not.

Here, we tried to touch up the wall in the foyer, but kept picking the wrong color -- unfortunately light grey, light green and cream all kind of look the same-ish until the color dries:


The repainted foyer will probably be in the next post too!

TTFN!
C+A
(since the photos on here always make us look so rough, here is a cute one)


PS: If you haven't seen UP, stop what you are doing now and go see it.

Lazy Monday (Blog Update)

Hello friends! Here is my lazy blog update!

Adam created that nice arrangement of wooden eggs on the dining room table. Cute, huh?

WINDOWS!
After experiencing another very chilly winter in our bathroom...


We are finally getting all new windows on the first floor!
Here is me, finally breaking down and covering the bathroom window with plastic (quite fun, actually). The frost and cool breeze pushed me over the edge.

New windows to arrive hopefully in a couple of weeks! Hurrah!!

Spring = time to weed.
Here is what the side of the house flower bed looked like after a long hard winter:


And now, plants and flowers are starting to bloom!





(Before you ask -- Yes, that is a giant tire track running down the side of our flower bed. Ugh.)

STOOP!
Our stoop has seen finer days. Adam has done his best to patch it, but it is dying. So, we've got concrete peeps coming out soon to set a new stoop. Here's how crummy it looks now:



They will use the old rails. Here Adam is scraping off layers of paint, so he can refresh/repaint the rails before the stoop is made. New stoop picks coming soon...



Here's Barry the Tree, just starting to bud a few weeks ago...


Barry with some baby leaves...


Adam's nemesis. This squirrel must be REALLY hungry.
S T R E T C H!


We've gotten a lot of rain too, check it:


We're so glad spring is here. Adam's got his new reflecting ball in the yard and the bird bath is filled, if you'd like to stop by for a dip.

Window and stoop pics coming soon!
TTFN!
C&A

Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner

Wow! It has been over a month since my last post. I didn't realize it had been so long. I guess I was waiting for something noteworthy to post. I finally have a couple of things!

First, we are fresh off a plane from our vacation to Oahu and Maui. It was great! The picture above was taken by my sister Christine who just moved to Oahu with her hubby and two kids -- who needs a better reason to visit our favorite vacation spot?

We spent one week in Oahu where I managed to catch a wave at Bellows Beach:


And Adam was a daredevil (he is that speck on the cliffs):


And then, we spent the next week in Maui, where we had this beautiful view from our room at the hotel:


It was glorious! But, now we are back home and did not waste anytime getting back to business.

But first, another update:

I turned 30 last month. Whooptydoo! Here we are, on my birthday :)


And, Adam made me a birthday cake with homemade icing! AND... we even were fancy and put it in a cake dome. Lovely! Made me feel like a real adult! (Please excuse our wonky hair... must have been humid that day)


For my birthday, Adam got me a great house related gift! He powerwashed and stained the deck! We didn't have a great picture at press time, but I did find this one:

A giant praying mantis on the back door screen -- newly stained deck in the background!

I also got a coffee table (pic to come) and -- every girl from the 80s dream -- tickets to see Dirty Dancing the musical when it comes to Chicago. Hootie hoo!

Anywho --
As I mentioned, we flew home yesterday and promptly got back to business:
I literally got back to business by returning to work.
Adam had one more day off -- so he supervised two house adventures today.

Window Repair
We've finally repaired the window in the front. Hopefully tomorrow I am not posting a sad story about how it is broken again. *Fingers crossed*

Here's the window guy assessing the damage from the inside:



And in goes the new glass! Only 15 minutes to fix! We saved the receipt in case the hoodlums come back and want to pony up for the damage. Ha.


Fence
In more exciting news, today the back yard fence went up! We ended up going with Cedar Rustic Fence Co. So far, we are pleased with the job. Our yard looks a little trashed because of all the rain and the fact that we've been gone, so we need to weed and mow.

Here are some pics:





Note: ever since we cut down our original tree, little baby trees sprout up from the old roots (that's what all those little green guys are on the ground). Since we were gone, they are everywhere outside. Couldn't do any yard work yesterday with all the rain...

And, our flower beds need weeding badly.... Here is the gate:


Gate next to the garage:


Gate open!

Another big project checked off the list!

Lastly, we just realized this evening that, while we were gone, the Home Repair Fairy visited our house and installed motion sensor lights near our front door and garage! Wow!



Wow! Thank you Home Repair Fairy!

Now what? I think we done with projects for now. It might be a while before you hear from us next... so, here is a cute picture to remember us by. Enjoy!


Aloha! Mahalo!
C&A