After a short break...

... tonight we'll resume work on the house!

Wednesday night, we were too exhausted to do anything. I was in bed by 9pm. Last night, we had an event at the aquarium, so tonight, I better finish that laundry room! We've got a washer and dryer arriving tomorrow.

I'm planning to paint the washer and dryer black initially, then they'll get a fun pop art treatmentdown the road when I have some time. Wheeeee!

The laundry room is glowing.

We are getting a new (to us) washer and dryer on Saturday, and we're going to bring it straight to the house. Thus, I had to hustle and get the laundry room painted, because I don't want any white rooms in the house, and it would be a pain once we moved in.

So, off to Home Depot to pick paint. I already had an idea in my head for what I wanted, but I perused the paint chips just to be sure. Yep, still like the same color -- a really saturated aqua tone from the Behr Disney line called "Ariel's Song." There is some irony at play here since I am not a fan of the Little Mermaid (don't get me started), but I do love Ursula and am hoping to incorporate a little of her evil into the laundry decor later on.

So, I got the room taped off, and started painting. After a little while, I hear Brian's voice: "That sure is a blue room."

And then Andrea: "Holy crap it's glowing!"

I laughed, but just kept painting. A little while later, I went out to the living room to get a sip of soda. As I was walking back to the laundry room, I saw what Andrea and Brian were talking about -- the color from the laundry room was casting a blue sheen all over the hallway. That's one yummy saturdated color! The picture below only kind of captures the glow coming from the suds lounge:

Il y a beaucoup de purple doors.

Monday, 11/9 -- More purple paint on more doors.


How many purple doors can you spot in this picture?

The door to my sewing room is purple, as is the closet door directly across from it. Originally, I wanted all doors leading off of the main living area to be black, but as the door to my sewing room will stay open a lot and the room it opens into is going to be Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian themed, the black seemed too harsh. After a little panic on my part, Brian suggested using the same purple as is in the main area. He's a smartypants. Crisis averted.

I did, however, run out of purple door enamel and will need to buy more tonight. I need to start a running tally of how much all this decor is costing.

Brian in the meantime took the awful job of continuing to pull up tack board downstairs. Pulling the nails up from the slab is causing divots in the concrete, so we're going to have some patching to do for sure. Brian is awesome.

My beloved also assures me he can take down the ugly flourescent light in the kitchen and its wooden surrounding fixture box without destroying the ceiling. I am a little terrified.

House Log

Alrighty, here's what's been going on recently:

Friday, 11/6 -- Pulled up more carpet tack board. Continue to NOT enjoy doing so.

Saturday, 11/7 -- More of the same, PLUS our awesome cleaning crew of one, Andrea, began her attack on the skin of grime that sits all over everything in the house. Here's Andrea, hard at work in the kitchen and very good natured despite the horrors she discovered atop the cabinets:


We managed to get all tack board off the stairs and out of all upstairs rooms and closets. I hate carpet more than ever.

Sunday, 11/8 -- REAL PROGRESS THAT WE CAN SEE! Brian went to visit his mom after her back surgery, so Andrea and I were back at the house. She cleaned the "princess" bathroom (mine, and yes, it will be pink!) until it freaking sparkled. She also hit some windows, floors, the other hall bath, and the laundry room. I cleaned, sanded, and painted the front door. The exterior is black, and the interior is... PURPLE! It is awesome. This is the first actual color we're getting into the house, and it felt so good. It's like I can now see it becoming our big art piece.

Our 1st week of home ownership

Well, after a very long and arduous slog through the purchase process, we have finally closed on our home.

Now we are in the early stages of renovation. The kitchen will get a very serious makeover, and the rest of the place will mostly get paint, and some flooring.

Here's how things have played out so far:

Friday, 10/30 -- Closing! We had friends and pizza at the house to celebrate!

Saturday, 10/31 -- A little too booked with Halloween events to visit the new abode.

Sunday, 11/1 -- Pulled up carpet from 2 upstairs rooms.

Monday, 11/2 -- Carpet removed from two more rooms. (Carpet pulling is faster than I expected.)

Tuesday, 11/3 -- Rest!

Wednesday, 11/4 -- Last 2 rooms cleared of carpet (I hate carpet! None in my house, thank you!), plus carpet removed from stairs.

Thursday, 11/5 -- Pulled up carpet staples from stairs, guest bedroom, and sewing room. Removed carpet tack from guest bedroom. THIS WAS BACKBREAKING WORK! This is also where the time suck is on carpet removal, as it turns out. Those staples on the stairs really kicked my ass, and Brian was totally worn out from yanking up those strips of carpet tack. BUT progress is being made, and that feels good.

Every moment we spend working on the house, I feel more like it's our home.

I can't wait until the moment when we can just live in it and not have a mile-long list of work that needs to be done, but we'll get there, slowly but surely!

Sewing Draws a (Feline) Crowd!

I finally have weekends again now that my big project at work has launched! Huzzah! Time to catch up on chores and sewing!

I will admit, though, as many sewing projects as I have scheduled this year, I sometimes have a difficult time actually getting started. It's so easy to sit on the couch and pet the cats and watch tv. However, I DID manage to get in gear a bit over the weekend, and I had lots of help!

Zissou has always loved the sewing table. I don't know if she just likes the sound or vibration of the sewing machines or what, but the second I turn on the lamp above my sewing area, she jumps right up. Turns out, Mr. Burns can't be left out of ANYTHING. He has to be part of every activity, and sewing is no exception. He bites at thread (a little irritating), he paws the flywheel while it whirs, he sits and watches with that odd little expression. And then there's Ozzel. He sometimes is into the sewing thing, but not consistently. However, now that there are two other cats hanging out, he fears that he will miss something or that I will use up all my love and have none left for him. So now, he's regular as the sunrise. :)

The really great thing is that it's great motivation to get work done. I mean, who wouldn't want to hang with three fabulous cats?

Mr. Burns - Out and About!

Well, our new little pal is doing fantastic. He is cleaning up pretty darn well. We still have some work to do - he's still got stains from whatever gloop he got into when he was out in the world alone, but he looks a lot better already.

He has now had time to run around the house will all but one of the resident cats, and I'm thrilled to say, things are going well. We've had a stack of three baby gates between him and the rest of the crew for the last week and a half so everyone can smell each other and interact if they so choose. That's really helped get everyone familiar and has allowed them to interact in a very safe way. Ozzel seems to really like him (they have played chase and pattycake), Zissou is ok with him being around as long as he's not too assertively friendly, and Jiji seems aok. Now we just need to get Veers on board! That could take some time... we'll see what happens!