Baby Room!!

One thing we did a few weeks ago: paint the baby room! My parents were here in April and were kind enough to basically knock this entire project out for us. At that time, we didn't know the gender, so we went with a nice taupe/gray color.. neutral... This is a-okay with me because I'm not thrilled with pink or blue or with the idea of repainting it for when we sell. So, gray it is.. Don't get too upset though, I promise to use a bunch of stimulating colors in the accessories. Well, I also want black furniture.. but aside from that.. :) Jail-cell chic?

Mom hard at work Getting there
Ta da! Check out that brand new overhead light.

Another brush with reality TV

What could be more exciting to an avid HGTV watcher like me than getting to spend a weekend in a suite designed as part of the HGTV DesignStar competition? Well, several things.. but I digress.

This is the suite. Its at the insane Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. Sara Evans was the celebrity style influence or something like that...

And here's moi sitting right there.


Have you ever watch those HGTV design shows where they give tips like "Just take an ordinary throw pillow and hot glue a fancy trim on the edges!"? Don't you ever wonder if that really looks as bad as it sounds? Hot glue? Well folks, the answer is yes, it does look bad... as bad as an 8th grade OM project. And it holds up about as well as can be expected too:



That reference to OM is a great segway into the real reason I got to stay in the lovely suite:

A Groundhog Day Resolution

Be it known that I am hereby resolving to update this blog more regularly. Let's put a number to it: twice a week. That's right. Call me craaaazy but important milestones in the journey towards our finished kitchen are being missed, lost forever.

Here's a major milestone: All 8 drawers are designed, constructed, assembled, and resting peacefully in their forever homes. I thought this would be a major ordeal, but we impressed ourselves by getting all that done in the span of a week or so. How did we do it? Well first we nixed the "dovetail" idea. That would've been a nice touch, and a major time sink. Second, the fancy Blum drawer slides we bought are, simply, a work of engineering genius. They are SO nice. They work perfectly, with tolerance for error built in on all dimensions. And they install in a snap, even without purchasing the pricey Blum installation jigs. They even have a soft-close feature, which I'm sure will add major $ to our bottom line when we go to sell this place. Check this out:



Here's something else that's pretty cool. We made one of the large desk area drawers in to a file cabinet. August just loves filing things and keeping them forever, so this will be perfect for us.













That's all for today folks. I can think of at least 2 more important blog posts that need to go up, and more topics are coming every day. I think we've finally found our long-lost motivation... more on that later!

Abby's Christmas Vacation

We are back from a two week vacation. Abby had a blast. She got to play with all manner of other dogs: Yellow, Jet, Shadow, Hunny, Babs, Deuce, Oakley, Pete, Zoey, and Boomer. Several all at once, too. And by "play with", I mean: chase, start fights, boss around, and tear up their toys. Kind of like that bully when you were a kid whose mom was friends with your mom but you dreaded hearing that they were coming over to play... sigh...

"I got the ball... Don't bother me."

Here she's the smallest of the 4 dogs, probably a first in her life.

Oh yeah, she caught something called "flacid tail syndrome" after swimming in the freezing cold lake. Don't laugh.

The drive back: not nearly as spacious. We really needed to bring that deer head with us.

Obviously meant to be

Many congratulations to Bethany and Keith!

As you can see they make a great team. And yes, we make everyone who comes to our house earn their keep.

Sorry for the delay

We're still here, working hard, I promise!! I have misplaced the camera though. While you all wait with baited breath for new pictures of our messy basement, go check out lil sister's new blog:

http://www.cavaliermakeover.blogspot.com/

Visitors

Not much work going on this month. We had a great visit with old friends last week and are looking forward to 6 more visitors on Wednesday.

Way Overdue

We've done a lot in the past few weeks!

New table saw:

Stacks of wood everywhere:

One chair down, one to go:

Baseboards in living room:

Skiing for Thanksgiving:

Charlie Brown tree in front yard:

Fabulous week with Hanna:New programmable thermostat:

Cozy Christmas tree inside too:

Birthdays All Around

Dear Abby is officially two years old. Not that she acts her age or anything... What is that in dog years? 14? She may be a little bit developmentally challenged. We love her though.

Its been a busy birthday week, my new sister-in-law yesterday and sweet Papa tomorrow - its his 90th! Too bad only perhaps one of the three will see this post.

Regardless, a very happy birthday to all!!

Its Been Too Long

Just wanted to give an update on our progress, don't want anyone to think we're slacking off. So, projects:

Wedding - I was gone for most of last week to a wedding. It went well - Hannah and Daniel are officially married! I think Daniel turned out to be taller than anyone was expecting. But, apparently Hannah was still able to reach him during the ceremonial smearing of the wedding cake. Why do people do that any way? Not that I didn't expect Hannah to give it her best.. This sort of thing is right up her alley... :)

Living Room - While I was gone, August put a couple more layers of paint on the ceiling and started the walls in the living room. We went back and forth on this paint color. Its a little boring, maybe more beige than we originally intended. But its grown on me, and I think it will turn out nicely. Our "open floorplan" means the living room color will end up on half the house without some creative intervention. All the walls just flow together.. The ceiling is another story. Its now flat as can be, but little differences in texture show up everywhere. After much debate, we have decide to try to apply a spraycan orange-peel texture. The rest of the ceilings and walls in the house have this, so hopefully it will match well enough. So plan of attack: orange peel ceilings -> paint ceilings -> paint ceilings again? -> 2nd coat of paint on walls -> hang crown molding -> paint bay window -> pull up carpet!! -> install new mantel -> install new floor molding -> DONE!

Kitchen - We are now the proud owners of a used counterdepth stainless steel refrigerator. Its very swanky. Came off craigslist of course. Getting it home was a real adventure. We had planned to avoid the highways on the way home, since we didn't want to go over 30mph or so. But the path I had selected was obviously going right through a rain storm. (RAIN?!?) In Denver, no hills and no trees, you can see for miles... Luckily most all roads here go perfectly N/S or E/W, so we were able to make it home without too much trouble.

The fridge is fabulous. We are working on installing a water line for the ice maker. It is nearly done but not quite. I'm sure we'll be done this afternoon. Running the water line was easy - the hot water heater is directly below the fridge in the basement. Anyways, this picture is our new design inspiration. We'll see how it turns out in the end...

Rain - In addition to the rain storm in Denver, it rained here last night as well. This is the first real rain since late May. Its about dang time.. apparently not unusual for these parts, but sure seems strange to August and I. We are just excited about not having to run the sprinkler system. All the plants look nice and perky this morning.

Couch - I got a sewing machine for my b-day. So now I can finish the couch project. A place to sit - very exciting in this household! I've got miles and miles of welting to make up, and several box pillows to sew, we'll see how that turns out. My own grandmother, a great seamstress in her day, recommended I have an upholsterer do them for me..

For Purple Mountain Majesties

Did I mention that my parents were here visiting us all week? We have a guest bedroom now, complete with real mattresses and pillows - you should come visit!

Anyways, we very appropriately decided to celebrate the 4th of July by visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. How can you get any more American than that? We weren't the only ones with that idea either, but we managed to steer clear of the congestion most of the time.

It is amazing there in the summer. I highly recommend it. There are waterfalls and babbling mountains brooks everywhere, and still snow in some places. There are tons of hiking trails for all levels. Fortunately for my mother, you can get higher than 12,000 feet above sea-level without getting out of the car. (The Subaru was a real sport about the whole thing.)

We should really drive up to the mountains more often. They are only 30 miles from here.. Thats like driving from Columbus to Starkville, but somehow it seems like a real trek. (Note to self: Spend more time doing "Colorado"-type things.)

Here's a few pictures:































<< This is where some antler-ed
animal been scratching his head.
Now you know.















Ignore that "u-turn" sign.
These elk are WILD.