Lindsay & Drew

Pinterest Dinner Night...

2011-10-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to celebrate my last few weeks of fall... (That's what it feels like, seeing as how it snowed last week) By taking an unintentional blogging break... The leaves are losing their vivid colors... The air is getting colder... And men are exposing themselves to runners up mill creek canyon.... What can I say.... Winter is upon us! To really get into the cozy spirit, we house sat in Park City this weekend. It was perfect.... I decided to take a whack at some pinterest recipes I've been saving... The first is a cauliflower crust pizza....

Dynamite! Seriously was amazing... Drew gave it his seal of approval... Recipe can be found on eat-drink-smile.com... Amazing!

For dessert I made these blueberry cupcakes, with a blueberry cream cheese frosting.... This one took quiet awhile, because I kept getting distracted by muddy puppy paws running through the house.... When I finally finished, it was worth the wait! This recipe came from weekofmenus.blogspot.com. Both are pinned under my recipe board, pinterest.com/lindsayredd!

Fall!

2011-09-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

I have been spending as much time outdoors as possible... More specifically up Millcreek canyon... On odd days you can take your dogs off leash up the trails... Cleo, Polly and I have been hiking to dog lake every other day...

The colors have been so amazing... It's almost too much to take in. Every other day the colors just get deeper and richer.

You can't keep this much beauty all to yourself! These pictures are dedicated to Lindsey Miles! I'm enjoying the mountains enough for the two of us!

...inspiration...

2011-09-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

via

One of the reasons (of many) I cannot wait to finish the house.... I want to hang some art! I have been gathering via pinterest, some pieces that I either want to buy or recreate, to hang for constant inspiration in my home... I think all to often we get stuck in just getting through the day... Next thing you know its been weeks then years later, when life has just happened to you.... Or you think you simply have to follow in the steps that are laid out for you.... Instead why not live the life you imagine? Do it, and live it confidently... No one can argue with that...

via

So simple.... So true.... I believe so strongly in self fulfilling prophesies... Believe it, and do it!

via

Oh Jillian Michaels.... I heart you, my girl crush.... Why not you.... Why not me....I want to display these quotes somewhere in my home... To see every day, to remind myself to live each day with purpose, and live the life I want.

... Inspiration...

Dog Lake

2011-09-22T00:23:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the overload of instagram pictures this week! I haven't been carrying my camera around, and I most certainly wasn't going to lug it around on this hike... Although it would have been lighter, and a lot more useful then the nalgene water bottle I hauled up, full of sudsy water.... Blah!

The pooches and I headed up to Dog Lake after work... The leaves are changing, and we weren't about to miss it! My pooches are major fall nuts! Crazy dogs!

It was a terrific 6 mile round trip hike... It was the longest hike I have done in my fivefinger Vibrams... I love them! The most comfortable hike I have ever done... The muscles in my feet are sore, I didn't even know the muscles were there.... Learn something new...

As did Polly who decided to fetch sticks out of the water... She thought it was okay... What was really fun, was hunting dragonflies... She's a natural pouncer...

This was the first time I've been up to Dog Lake without Caesar... This was our hike... He loved it! He loved getting up to the lake, running into the water.... Drinking as much as he could, and then throwing it up! It was his tradition! Silly pooch!

Birth Month part ...

2011-09-21T04:49:00.000-07:00

And now to wrap up the moat fantastic birthday weekend ever!

We started off with breakfast on the porch... Drew put away some major travel size boxes of cereal! So proud of him!

We went and looked for stumps to use as footstools, end tables etc... Which we ended up completely forgetting....

We made one last morning hike up to the waterfall... Gorgeous as always!

When we finally made our way down to the lodge we, arrived just in time for the Sunday brunch.... Oh my... It was amazing! And look baby desserts! Too great!

We hung out by the water for a long time, talking about life, and the pursuit of happiness! Truly, it was picture perfect!

Just Drew and me.... And the fishes!

A weekend of perfection!

Birth Month take FOUR

2011-09-20T05:34:00.000-07:00

We happened upon one of those fortune teller machines in Provo, on our way out to dinner.... Felt like we were dropped right onto the movie set of, Big!

We ended the night, sitting underneath the pretty lights, being serenaded by a man, his violin, and computer.... Sounds wacky, but it was absolutely lovely! Provo.... You did real good!

Birth Month take THREE...

2011-09-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

My heart belongs in the mountains!

Everything is right....

What a terrific birth month!

Untitled

2011-09-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

Wow! Yesterday was awesome! So many nice compliments from design sponge followers and better after followers! It was like a second birthday! I have always loved this quote, and decided a little while ago I was actually going to implement it into my life.... Yesterday was a day that manifested from doing more of what makes me happy! I'm glad I could share it with all of you! Thanks for reading!

Readers Digest Catch Up!

2011-09-15T05:08:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled beyond thrilled to be featured on designsponge.com today.... I can check that one off my bucket list! Seriously so amazing... I thought I would do a quick recap for any new comers to tell you what we are all about!

We are living in a basement apartment while we rent out the upstairs... We are fixing it up in between jobs... Here is a look of the kitchen before... Not fun! The best part is this picture is taken while standing in the bathroom... A little too close for comfort!
The kitchen was tiny, huge fridge and stove, washer and dryer were in there as well... Along with about a foot of the bathtub jetted into the room, creating and awkward jut into the kitchen. Little storage, little countertop space... With a lot of wasted space behind the stove and fridge...

We gutted the whole place, and did countertop to ceiling glass mosaic tile back splash. With tile we found at Home Depot on sale for $2.00 a square foot. Bought a farm sink from online classifieds, repainted the existing cabinets, and built a few more... Trimmed out the window and voila! New kitchen!

We bought the tiny stove from classifieds, and the smaller fridge from a second hand appliance store, and got the butcher block countertops from ikea.

And now everything about it makes me happy!

The awful washer and dryer got replaced with some trade work Drew did... And the were moved to the wasted space under the stairs. Previously blocked by giant fridge and stove...

Still a work in progress!

In the kitchen staring into the bathroom... Not awesome... We closed off that door, and completely re arranged the bathroom... By taking a closet from another bedroom, we now have so much more room... Win win!

We went tile crazy and stenciled the walls!

We did a curved ceiling in the bath, with herringbone accents...

We found this green tile in classifieds, for $60, it adds so much spunk to the room.

Along with the interior we have been working on the exterior. We removed the massive pine trees, ripped out the fence, added new trim and paint...

The yellow is a little more buttery in person... Less orange then the picture, it makes me happy!

Thanks for visiting! We love comments and followers...Any questions? I hope to be able to answer right away!
Thanks, Lindsay and Drew

Birth Month! Get Excited!

2011-09-14T04:35:00.000-07:00

How cute is Drewpy? He set an alarm with a cute little message to wake me up!

I went out opened my iPad to find another little note...

Baby Johnny got in on the action and sent his own message... Yes he wrote it... Savant!

Then Drewpy called me with the best surprise at all! The cabin was open! Another birthday miracle... More to come!

My Birthday Gift... Complete with Good Karma...

2011-09-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

Drew bought me this beautiful vase for my birthday from the artist co-op The Old Flamingo... The woman selling it was able to tell us where the vase came from, which was a little added bonus to the vase...

She told us, her mother in law, back in her prime was once noted as Utah's number one florist... And this vase came from one of her very favorite arrangements she had put together for a very prestigious party. She gave it to her daughter in law, and told her to find a good home for it... And now this beauty is ours, sitting in the corner radiating good karma for us!
Happy Birthday to me!

Waterfall...

2011-09-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

Drew was out of town (boo!) for a friends wedding (yay!)... So the dogs and I took a lovely Sunday hike up to Stewart Falls... Hasn't it been far too long without mention of my favorite place on earth!?

Provo seriously has some of the prettiest mountains.... Fact!

Start off the week with some lovelies!

Week, Brought to you by Instagram!

2011-09-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

El Cheapo! Drew was out of town and I still managed a visit to the Home (away from home) Depot!

Picking up food for the littlest pooch, I discovered that Fisher Price makes puppy toys! I totally get that!

While Drew was gone the pooches and I took a cruise up to Sundance for a hike... More on that later... Love the Provo mountains... Not so much Provo!

I tried a spray paint picture... To be Continued...

Became a convert of the polar pipe... Blows my mind!

Cruising around in my favorite artist Co-op, came across this creepy beauty... The arm.... That's what kills me! But seriously the old flamingo.... Is ah-MAZING! Go to there!

Have a happy weekend!

I Love Spray Paint!

2011-09-08T04:52:00.000-07:00

Since my dream mirror can no longer be a reality... I dug this little number out of the garage! The mirror, not the pooch!

I'm rebellious... I don't play by the rules... Never have.... Like gold and silver don't go together.... I say why not? I love grey and Gold together, and green (our floor) together.... The only problem was finding gold fixtures.... Everything is silver or chrome! Ugh! Well I thought I'd take a whack at gold and silver... It's only paint after all!

I don't know.... I want to love it... We'll see....maybe a bathroom ceiling would help... And windex to remove the goof off.... But how subtle is our stencil? Love IT!

Tactile Matching!

2011-09-07T04:14:00.000-07:00

What I thought would be an easy free way to spend 30 minutes turned into hours of fun!

I saw this idea in tutusandturtles.blogspot.com! We filled balloons with a bunch of different items! Each item filled two balloons... I used this cylinder toy to fill up the balloons... I couldn't find a funnel, and necessity is the mother of invention...

We filled the balloons with tiny gravel, grass, mud, cheerios, and quinoa... And added a puff of air into each balloon...

Threw the balloons in the yard, and they went crazy squeezing the balloons! "Dis ones keenwah! I knows it!" ("This one is quinoa, I knows it!")

They had a blast feeling matches, and starting over....When they were done feeling for matches, the balloons turned into impromptu bean bags! Major score! It was like an awesome Payless sale! BOGO!

Canvas Painting!

2011-09-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

With the big kids back in school, and the babies in preschool only twice a week, we did a fun project for the newest big kids!

I guess they're not babies any more, but they will always be these cute, chubby babies to me!

So we decided to do a little canvas painting! We bought two canvases from WalMart for $7 total, a bag of brushes for $3, and some paint for $0.95. We made an impromptu smock out of our old duvet cover that I keep in the car to cover the seats with... Just cut it to size and cut arm holes... Perfect!

Ready to work...

Bag O brushes...

They had a great time, picking out which brushes were theirs, and which they would use first!

Then laid out a garbage sack, and secured it down with rocks on the corner...

Poured on some paint and let them at it...

They had a blast! It was fun watching them paint, very carefully, then realize they could do whatever they wanted, and they became totally engrossed in it. Kate's started off as a rainbow... But like we all find ourselves, unable to step away, they rainbow was soon completely covered...

And then we painted the rocks!

Beauty...

2011-09-05T04:41:00.000-07:00

click

In love... This has become our motto.... Doesn't get any more simple or beautiful...
Happy Labor Day!

The Week... Brought to you by Instagram

2011-09-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

Polly helped to keep the tiles anchored to the floor, and warm up the cold tile with her potbelly...

We installed sconces.... Not the way they were intended to be hung, but they look awesome!

I heard "Yinzee (Lindsay) watch this!" Over...

...and Over....

....And over... Times 900... And I loved it every time!

Drew always call this "Soakin' up some sweet tasty rays!" and I laugh every time!

And I loved on pictures of this chubster, button nose, baby....

Smiling with a blanket/lion I gave him... I might have only held this baby once but I love him to pieces!

I went to Home Depot with ~~Dr. Emmit Brown~~ Drew for what feels like the 9 millionth time, to look at wood working tools.... Cool things coming in the future!

A puddle of Polly...

A ball of Cleo...

As an early birthday gift to myself I subscribed to ANTHOLOGY MAGAZINE!I luff it!

With my little patience... I spray painted a mirror gold... Now to buy goof off for the part that I got on the actual mirror...

Uhhh, Doesn't this Johnny boy just kill you... I know right!

Cleo's new favorite spot... In fact as I type, she is lounging there right now, in this exact position... Silly pooch!

Batman's pet sabertooth

Honda twinners! I don't know why I do this, but whenever I see the same car as mine, I have to park by it.... Weird, this time was extra special! Just like my car part of the Accord decal had fallen off but all that was left of theirs was the cord, and I just have the AC..... Soul mates... (Katie Redd, did you just hear your own voice reading that? Ha!)

Drew and I go... Almost daily to our local Holiday gas station and get refills on our drinks... We have made some great friends... Chris tells us funny stories of his time in couples therapy, Cody calls Drew and me "the soulmates", Marni gets disappointed in me when I forget my refill cup.... And Scott's just working for the weekend! Anyway dot dot dot one awful horrible day they were out of Diet Coke.... I think it's a bad omen!

And I'll tell you what that bad omen was.... Drew dropped his iPhone off the roof and it exploded! Now he's stuck waiting for the upgraded iPhone... Good news is, I don't ever have to be teased about being more responsible with my stuff... Sure I left my iPhone on Drew's truck bumper and we drove away.... Sure we found it in the middle of the road two miles later... Whatevs! I've still got mine!

I saw one of these electro thingies for the first time in real life... Check that off my bucket list...

And we had a 3 year old Do Your Own Hair Day! And they nailed it!

And that was my week dumped on you!

Mirrors and Towels...

2011-09-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought of something you think is pure genius.... Only to find you start seeing it EVERYWHERE?

I had the idea of finding a mirror that hung over half of our marble wainscot... Previously I had only seen vanity mirrors that stopped right above the wainscot.... Next thing I know, the overhanging mirrors are everywhere.... I love them.... Major bummer this week, I have had this mirror I wanted for the bathroom... It was basically my jumping off point for the bathroom.... After we got the vanity installed, I measured and the mirror is too big! Bah!!! Major heartbreak hotel over here!

(above pictures are from thingsthatinspire.net)

havenandhome.blogspot.com

However I did find this picture that I love, with a smaller mirror and a glass shelf underneath the mirror.... Pretty pretty! Now back to the drawing board for mirrors....

(anthropologie)

In good news, I love these towels from Anthropologie.... But they are $38 a piece....

I stumbled upon these look a likes, (much prettier in person) at Cost Plus World Market for $8! SOLD!

(two photos from Cost Plus World Market)

When I found the pictures online for the towels, I stumbled upon these chevron towels! Win! Happy September, Towel Hunting and Mirror Hanging!

Stencil.... Yet Again!

2011-08-31T04:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to finish grouting the tile, and install the faceplates, but Drew has had some crazy busy work week... And the stencil just turned out too awesome to hold out on you!

This first picture shows how subtle the paint looks... The other pictures are taken from angles that emphasize the gloss and matte...

We love it... We just stand in the bathroom and admire it! Patting our own backs, and self high fiving!

Stencil 2

2011-08-30T04:04:00.000-07:00

Stencils Continued...

This is where a little bit of magic happened.... Drew took over... I am not one for details and patients when it comes to projects... In fact just tonight I spray painted a round mirror.... I got one strip of tape on it and said forget it.... Why else did they invent goof off?!

I will say that i did paint the walls in the bathroom first, point me! Again, I chose Sherwin Williams, light french grey... We chose a satin, and gloss finish of the same color... We painted on the gloss first, and then when we painted the stencil we did the satin which is a flatter sheen... So Drewpy took the reins... Found the center of the wall, and placed the new stencil paper over it...

The stencil paper is more of a plastic, so it doesn't warp when wet with paint, and clear so you can trace easily...

We used a high density foam roller, we kept an old pillowcase next to the tray. After you get paint on the roller, we rolled it on the pillow case so that the roller had minimal paint on it...

Too much paint on the roller and you would get paint runs, underneath the stencil...

Drew did super light strokes, multiple times... We ended up going back through and painting two coats...

Drew just pushed the stencil in the corner and rolled it... I kept telling him to wait until the end and cut it so it fit in the corner easier, but this seemed to work for him...

This is in the middle of the second coat of stencil...

A sneak peak of the stencil drying....

It is so nice to have a busier pattern, toned way down because the color is the same, but just a hint of gloss....
Final pictures hopefully soon!

Stencil

2011-08-29T04:08:00.000-07:00

So I decided to try my hand at wall stencils... Love the look, don't love the price... $60 for a stencil.... However let me just say, that after I started in on my DIY wall stencil, I now understand the price, and might invest in one.

laylagrace.com

I found this pillow, and loved the pattern, I liked that there are two shapes in one.

So I saved the picture on my iPad. Used my app, ArtRage, enlarged the pillow, and snapped a screen shot of the pillow pattern...

Then I measured my walls, there is not a lot of room in between my crown moulding and marble tile wainscot. Which will hopefully make for and easier painty job.

After measuring the wall, I picked the scale I wanted for the design, and sized the picture to what I needed.... Then came the super sophisticated iPad way of tracing.... I slapped my piece of paper on top of my screen and traced it.... Oh to have an HP Wireless printer.... All of these champagne problems...

The real problem was I was nervous that I didn't trace it exactly even, or that the image because it came from a pillow would be slightly skewed, which would end up throwing off the whole wall... So I measured one "corner" of the stencil, and then traced it four times.... Flipping it over and turning it upside down to get perfect proportion.

I then took that tracing and made a few more cut outs to see if my proportion was on.... It was...

Then I bought a cardboard box from Home Depot, for $1... I wanted something thick, so the paint wouldn't warp it, but something I could cut through with an exacto knife...

This is where I turned it over to Drew.... My brain doesn't work the way his does.... He's a gosh darn genius... He squared up the cardboard using the 1,3,5 method.... Whaaaaaaa? Then measured my stencil, and spaced them out evenly and traced them all for me... I got out the exacto knife and cut out his tracing...

Well I'll give you a spoiler alert... Cardboard was crap.... Too thick, and we would have had to press the roller too hard to get the foam roller to get it to paint the wall... So we made a trip to the Hobby Lobby to buy some stencil paper....
Part deux.... To... Be.... Continued....

Instagram Week

2011-08-26T04:23:00.000-07:00

This week I watched a three year old beam with pride as she rode her bike all the way to the park... I beamed a little too...

I love my job...

While vigorously a knife, I ended up jamming it into my hand, in-between my thumb and pointer finger... In hung in there for a second while I talked myself into not fainting... Pulled it off, and tried to swear off doing dishes forever...

Come to find out we are I'll prepared for bodily injuries... I found a t-shirt and painters tape for a bandage... Not the best...

Drew helped me make a wall stencil... Walls are primed and ready... Hopefully to be finished this weekend...

On a trip to Home Depot we spotted a free couch.... Which I believe to be perfect for our home office.... Drew insists it smells like urine..... Drama Queen!

Have a happy weekend!

Drew's Paneled Wall

2011-08-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

Drew did a finish trim job that I just had to share...

Boring, plain beige wall, no trim around windows... Boring, boring, boring.... I'll tell you what wasn't boring, was the owners, houndstooth, tufted headboard... I had no idea the houndstooth would translate so well onto a tufted piece... No to make the wall match the headboard.

Drew had a shelf from another room, made out of a super expensive wood. Drew took less expensive wood, and stained it to match.... Plank by plank....

And Bam! The big reveal! I should have given you a little bit more warning it was coming.... It's dangerous to thrust that much beauty on a person all at once.... Smiley face!

But seriously.... Come on, isn't it incredible? Yes... Yes it is!

Any home improvement needs? Call Drew...
801.244.8790

Repurposed Entertainment Center Turned Vanity

2011-08-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Drew had an old entertainment center he was hauling away from a job he did. The entertainment center was super long and had two glass doors.

We dismantled the entertainment center, which came apart easily into two cabinets.

We cut the top down to size...

The only tricky part was getting the edge detail match all the way around. So we cut the edge off of the scrap piece we weren't using, and glued it onto the edge.

We bought 4 legs from Home Depot, for a few dollars each.

Painted everything, with Martha Stewarts paint line, zinc.... Perfect grey.

We still have some knots to fill, and paint touch ups... I am thinking about painting the inside of the glass grey, I love the look of the underside of glass painted... Gives it a nice depth.

Now to build our sink and the vanity is complete!

Gold Bird Branch Mobile

2011-08-23T04:15:00.000-07:00

For a high school/sorority friends shower I decided to make a felted mobile... It started with cutting a branch from our Aspen tree.

Plucked the leaves from the branch...

Lightly, lightly sanded the branch, and cleaned it off. And sprayed it gold with Rustoleum's metallic gold, spray paint.

Then sealed it with modge podge's spray sealer.

I then tied my birds and clouds that I felted to the branches with fishing wire. I stacked the branches on top if each other to give it a little dimension.

I love how it turned out... Now just to get it to my friend!

Bathroom

2011-08-22T04:07:00.000-07:00

We are nearing the finish line.... Last week we finished the tile room.... Or bathroom.... There is SOOOOOOO much tile! If you follow me on instagram, you have seen more of the day to day process of tile.... I love that little visual journal!

The first detail I want to point out is the "window" opening on the end of the shower. I designed this for several reasons, the first is, we have so much detailed tile in the bathroom, I want to have multiple angles to view it. Our bathroom is small and having a window opens up the view when you first walk in. It also allows light to enter the shower which would always be dimly lit otherwise. And lastly I fell in love with the photo below of the industrial style shower stall, so by adding this window feature it will allow me a space to put in a paned window in our bathroom... Function and style.

(remodelista.com)

Imagine those panes in that space.... Perfect!

This herringbone was a major headache! But it was worth it! Then we designed the mosaic marble tile to accent the herringbone tile, but I wanted each layer of the marble mosaic tile offset to add a little more aesthetic dimension to the design.

The ceiling.... Oh the ceiling... I love it... The bathroom because we are in the basement has some plumbing from the upstairs that causes the ceilings to be lower in some spots... However we placed the tub where there were no pipes or vents, so we were able to make the ceiling higher when we stepped into the tub. To add a little extra pizazz we arched the ceiling.... And then to pizazz the pizazz we herringboned the arch. Tile PALOOZA!

After I have a design in my mind, I start research to see if others have been able to create the look I want. The photo below had the arched ceiling I wanted and my marble tile wainscot... This gave me the reassurance to go for it...

(newlyweddiaries.com)

Below is something I stumbled upon while studying tile design. I fell in love with the curved herringbone. This is one of those inspiration pictures, that is fun to look back on when you realize you recreated it.

(pink-to-green.blogspot.com

Another curved ceiling... What I really liked about this tile is how they staggered the square tile with the rectangle to give it a shingled look... People are so creative.

(simplyseleta.com)

We have our marble wainscot trimmed out with two layers of mosaic tile, topped off by a bullnose rounded tile to give it a nice finished line.

And our tub storage... It is my belief that we don't need massive houses, we just need to use our space better. I would rather have a small home, done well to the last detail.... Then an oversized home, mass produced with cheap finish work. By adding storage in commonly wasted space, we are able to live more comfortably in a small space, and be able to afford marble wainscot!

The tub below has square panels on the side, this Is what the doors will look like that cover our tub storage.

(houseofturquoise.com)

And our green tile...... I love, love, love it! But oh boy, laying each tile on by one, was quite a job... And can you see how amazing Drew is.... Those grout lines are near perfect.... Okay, let's just call them perfect... (Need a tile guy? Hhmm? You know who to call... 801.244.8790) I love the mix of shades in this tile.

In the picture above you can see on the right a space cut out of the wall, that is where Drew is building a hutch like the one below that will sit inside the framed two by fours. By setting it in the wall, and having a little built out we are able to get 8" of storage space, while only taking up four inches of room space...

(laylagrace.com)

And isn't it lovely?!

And this is the sink we are going to make, form it out of melamine, and poor it out of concrete.... I really like this design, first because it's different, I have never seen it anywhere, and second because when the water is off it adds more table space while getting ready. And that is our tile room....

My Week... From My Phone...

2011-08-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

We took our marble run and jazzed it up by adding a loop-the-loop...

Polly.... Being the cutes springer spaniel I've ever seen...

I watched a woman try and convince her baby sitting on the train was fun, by cramming her body in the train...

Notice her foot up on the table? Awesome!

Two cute twins in helmets...

Sisters sick to death of house construction.... Someone just take them on a walk!

Kate drew a face with eyelashes! What a doll!

Sister snuggles on the way to go camping! Long drive with no AC and standstill traffic! Troopers!

Hit up a matinee with Drewpy, only two in the theater.... Amazing!

The last freaking tile! And a sneak peak of our bathroom!

It's a tile Palooza!

Closet

2011-08-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Although this picture is frightening, it shows one of the hundreds of projects we are working on... We took 5 feet, from our awkwardly long living room and made a master closet from it... The living room is still big, and our storage is awesome!

Drew indulges me in all of my storage nook and crannies... This one he sheet rocked around and in the two by fours, so we can install some slanted shelves for shoes...

Something kind of like this...

(marcusdesigninc.blogspot.com)

These closets are beautiful, and I love them....

(savedbythesouthernbelle)

(cannot find source)

(homegoods.com)

Don't they just make you happy, imagine walking into those in the morning.... I do.... It's okay.... It's only a little weird...

(bookshelfporn.com)

...and I found that boy.... and he did..... and more...

Mumford....

2011-08-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

When the house is torn apart, and your toilets in your hallway.... Sometimes a cuddle time with Mumford is needed.... The world according to Polly!
P.S.... Cleo threw up an entire stuffed animal.... Cool party trick.... Beat that!

Camping...

2011-08-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

Drewpy's parents were in town last weekend. For a little family fun fest Drew's brother and sister-in-law arranged for us to go camping up American Fork Canyon.... I don't think I have ever been up there..... It was AMAZING!

Seriously so lucky to live in Utah, just thirty minutes from our house.... Reminds me of Europe...

We had an awesome time, eating great dutch oven meals, talking, laughing about Vibram fivefinger shoes ads.... Or maybe that was just Drew and me.... Either way it was funny!

Fun to take the pooches into the wilderness, let them sniff and dig to their hearts content, while we hung out and squeezed an adorable baby!

But seriously the views........ Incredible..... Definitely requires a return trip.

And upon returning home, I lost my iPad camera connection.... And found it again, so radio silence will end...

A-Frame Pup Tents

2011-08-11T20:10:00.001-07:00

Drew really pulled out the big guns on this one... I asked him to build some A-Frame tents... Or pup tents... I don't know... We found some online, but didn't like them 100%. We wanted them to collapse, and be made mostly out of wood...

Let's say he nailed it... We started off at WalMart buying twin flat sheet... Only $5, and I think these sheets go on sale sometimes.

Then it was off to Home (Away From Home) Depot...The sheets measure at 96"X66". We bought fir strips, or 8 ft 1X2's and cut them in half for the A-Frame, and then at 60" for the bottom middle. We bought 3/4" PVC and cut them at 60", so we could fold the sheets over and staple them to the wood so they wouldn't tear as easy. We also bought two 3/4" PVC end caps. Drew drilled 3/4" holes, two inches from the top for the PVC.

Drew cut the tops on 22 degrees, so that when opened the tops were a straight line, except for the one shown, I put those on backwards.... Oops! We left the bottoms flat, when the tents are opened the bottom is on an angle, but when collapsed and stored the bottom sits flush with the ground.

Drew drilled the bottom into the frame, wrapped the sheets over and stapled the fabric on the bottom... And voila! Insta Fun!

Later that night we painted we painted the insides of mason jars with Glow-in-the-Dark paint, for lanterns.

Huge hit... We just used the Crayola Glow-in-the-Dark paint, next time I'll look for paint that can be "recharged".

Instagram....

2011-08-10T21:55:00.001-07:00

I'm totally hooked on instagram... If you have the iPhone app, you can follow me, lindsayredd, and catch a daily glimpse of what I see.... Above is Lilly rocking her pink high top chucks, and dress... She rocks some awesome outfits...

Drew's concrete countertop sample! We are going to make some awesome stuff, hopefully soon!

Doodles on drywall, while Drew figures out angles that are WAY over my head!

Still loving my $7 calculator watch!

Sidewalk chalk kind of morning!

Polly and her monkey baby, Mumford... This is like Caesar's baby doll! She takes him everywhere to cuddle! Cutest thing EVER!

My wine cork collection, slowly gathering enough to make a bathmat.... Feel free to send any my way... Getting antsy to start!

Laying the first tile...

....And then....

And then.... Drew risking fingers to get the little corner... So worth it!

Just a little sneak peak at the tile! It's AHHH.....Mazing! Stay tuned!

Cleo.... Love her!

Where We've Been...

2011-08-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

Drew was standing outside talking to a neighbor one day, when he saw the google maps truck drive by. I am fascinated with google maps.... Way excited for Drew to become a superstar, caught on google cam! haha just kidding, but I pulled up google maps to see if it was updated yet, (wishful thinking) and see if I could see him, but instead I was shocked again, by before pictures of our house.... I truly forgot what it used to look like....

Yep.... That's it, somewhere behind those two massive pine trees, there's a house I promise.

There's a little peak at a window, look how scary and hidden it was! That chain link fence was the worst!

Those trees were beyond enormous!

And here we are now, not finished, but so much better! You can see the house! And I still love my yellow door.... And my camera hungry pooch! Thanks for following our journey!

Cardboard Loom Weaving....

2011-08-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

After making the hula hoop loom for the 7 year old, the 3 year old twins wanted to weave....

So I got the cardboard box that our organic milk from Costco, comes in (it's amazing stuff!), cut half inch slits on both sides, about half an inch apart, then wound the the yarn around the slits. One of the 3 year olds LOVED it... She took to it right away, and figured out under over under over quickly. What I helped her with was making sure, when she pulled the yarn through not to pull it too tight.

Her favorite part besides saying under over, under-over, was pushing the thread down after it was pulled through. She was so thrilled when we were done, she said it was a blanket for her tiny, blanket, lamby. So fun, project time was about 2 hours (would be much faster for an older child with help.)

Lava Lamps...

2011-08-08T05:35:00.000-07:00

This idea came from http://slsmithphotography.typepad.com.

We reused the bottles from water bottle bowling, to make lava lamps. Then we got vegetable oil, water, food coloring and alka seltzer.

Fill your bottles a little more then half full of vegetable oil, fill the rest of the bottle, leaving about an inch of space, with water. Add food coloring, to make desired color. Again, food coloring was a huge hit. Add half of an alka seltzer pill at a time, and watch the "lava"!

The good news is, the bottles can be stored and saved for more use later. The kids also liked watching how the water and oil didn't mix.

....End of an Era....

2011-08-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

Drew and I saw the last Harry Potter.... And I cried! I first read Harry Potter in 7th grade... I sat next to a kid who's aunt had sent him the book from London.... I read the first chapter... And was hooked.... I can say that I convinced a lot of people to give it a try.... I was a Potter pusher! From the third book on, I was at the midnight release of each book... Went to 5 of the midnight releases of the movies....

pinterest.com

http://www.hadilaksono.bigcartel.com/product/hogwarts-at-night-18-x-24-print

http://society6.com/qbfox/Lightning-never-strike-twice_Print

pinterest.com

theoldonetwo.tumblr.com

And now it's over... I finally convinced Drew to read them... He loves them, as I knew he would! Thank you J.K. Rowling.... You were my childhood.... The Harry Potter generation.... Fabulous!

Pom Poms... And Balloon Cup Shooters....

2011-08-04T04:03:00.000-07:00

Another easy and possibly free activity! This one is from Real Simple magazine.

We started out making some pom poms. I was surprised by how much the kids liked making these. I thought I would make them, and they would use them, but making them turned out to be a big hit! All we did was wrap yarn around a for, as many times as you'd like. And then thread yarn through the fork teeth, and tie the yarn you wrapped around the fork up with the yarn you just wove through.

Tie it into a super tight double not, then you can trim the loops to make a poofy pom pom. For this activity we left some of the pom poms uncut so they would "fly" better.... You'll see....

Now for the cup shooters... We took just regular paper cups and cut put the bottoms...

Then you cut off the tip of s regular balloon.

Stretch the balloon over the cut end of the cup, and tie the other end of the balloon into a super tight knot...

Load up your pom poms and fire away!

The kids really ran with this one, they set up all the stuffed animals and went on a hunting safari around the house.... We'll be finding pom poms around the house for years!

Water Noodle, Marble Run....

2011-08-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

FamilyFun magazine has got it all! Seriously, this marble run idea cost $1.00 per noodle, and duct tape.... The kids played with this for HOURS! Awesome!

The set up was as easy as it was cheap! Just cut s noodle in half, ( you can see I didn't do it perfectly in half. I did better on the other noodles. I wasn't paying very close attention.... Always smart when using knives.

We took the family fun idea, and ran with it, we ended up connecting four water noodles. Going up two flights of stairs.... Amazing! Seriously, so easy, so cheap and so worth it!

Check out the family fun site for more details...
http://familyfun.go.com/playtime/marble-launch-708146/

Stairs....

2011-08-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember the movie Money Pit, with Tom Hanks? Being the youngest child of a large family, I was able to view excellent movies at a very young age. Altering, forever who I am....

During the remodel of our house, I have found all to often, myself resembling Walter from the Money Pit.... In fact I had to take a double look at the picture and make sure that wasn't me standing at the top of the stairs, holes in the walls, looking smashing in my blue sweat suit.... It's not me.... It's Tom Hanks...

One of the great lines in this movie comes from Walter... "Stairs! Ha! A Staircase! We have stairs! Oh, hello, Mr. Stairs. I've missed you." Complete irrational love for stairs.... That's how I felt this weekend, when I came home to this!

Didn't Drew do a good job? Answer yes.... We haven't put the fronts on the last few stairs because Drew is working on building our DRAWERS for the stairs! They're going to be wonderful!
But before we get too far off the topic of one of the Greatest Movies of all Time... May I share with you a few more quotes from The Money Pit? And maybe these are only funny to my siblings, remembering bonding while watching this movie at the cabin eating too many red vines.... Anyway, they are amazing!
*"Ahhh, Home Crap Home"
*"We have weak trees"
*"Honey, this isn't a home, it's Swiss cheese with a door!"
*"You testing missiles here?"
*Tom Hanks laugh when he watches the tub fall through the floor.
*"Two weeks!"
*"What has Max got that I haven't got?"...."WALLS!"
Great movie!

And just a little treat for the eyes.... My yellow glass pitcher.... I luff it!

Trailer Love!

2011-07-31T21:29:00.001-07:00

Because we don't have enough project going on right now.... We decided to buy a trailer, to renovate! Hooray!

HA! Renovating a trailer has been something I have wanted to do since we have been married... Drew kept telling me, you buy the trailer, and I'll fix it..... I'm not sure Drew knew how serious I was... I have been looking up renovated trailers for a long time.... Using the law of attraction to welcome one into my life.... Smiley face.... For the last few years, every now and then I would check the classifieds to see if any were available for the right price... I text a few people about their trailers, but never really followed up with any... One morning last week, out of sheer boredom I looked up trailers.... And this little beauty was for sale! Posted 15 minutes before I looked... I text the seller and asked if they would go down $100 on their asking price.... They said O.B.O., so I didn't feel bad going in low. They countered with going down $50.... And Drew was on his way to pick her up! By the time Drew got there, the seller said he had 15 other callers, offering him MORE then his asking price! Luckily he was a man of his word.... And the camper is now ours! Hooray!

Want to see what sold me on this trailer?! The turquoise stove and fridge! What a wonderful starting point! All of these other colors can be changed easily, but a good stove, fridge and sink color.... That's pure gold!

Isn't that color adorable?! I am thinking about finding some redd knobs to put on the stove.... Well there is a whole lot I'm thinking about doing, I just can't get redd range knobs out of my mind! Funn thing is, this stove is about the same size as the one we just put in our kitchen.... Cutie!

We're missing one burner, other then that everything else is accounted for, and working!

The counter and backsplash need to replaced, but there is a large amount of counter space (for a trailer) and an extra cutting board.... Major score! I think we will make a cutting board for over the range, and sink, to double the counter space.

There is a little chip in the sink that isn't a big deal, but maybe we can find somewhere to refinish it.... In the turquoise color obviously.... In renovating the trailer, I want to make it new and different, without losing it's charm....

I'm thinking about using our extra glass mosaic tile, from our kitchen, as the backsplash in the trailer.... I think the brown will go really well with the turquoise....

I'm thinking about painting the walls and cabinets white... Or maybe just the bottom half of the walls white, and refinishing the wood on the top with a nice stain. Almost all of the renovated trailers I've seen keep the wood panel.... So maybe it's a trailer society thing.... I don't want to be the n00b who tries to sell a camper with painted white walls, and have that be a major faux pas in the trailering community!

Look how adorable and vintage these original seats are! Definitely keeping them... They might just need a little TLC to get them in tip top shape..... But that top triangle.... Adorable! These seats lay flat and slide together and make a large full size bed... The table can be moved to either side of the camper.... Above these seats is a twin bunk, that folds away.

On the other of the camper is another couch that folds out to another large bed, and above that is another even bigger, fold away top bunk. We have just been beside ourselves, we are so excited about our new project.... Drew walked out side with his hammer and cat's paw ready to demo.... I reminded him of our bathroom with no walls, and the 10 sheets of Sheetrock in our hallway.... Let's finish the house before we rip apart our trailer... Who knows, we may be living in it until the house is finished.... It does have more intact walls.... Smiley...

T-Shirt Rug (Update)

2011-07-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Oh Pinterest... You've done it again! This time I found a Kids DIY, t-shirt rug. One afternoon we found ourselves searching a thrift store looking for 12 Boys Large t-shirts.

We gave them a good washing, to remove the thrift store smell, and make sure they were all as small as they were going to get.

This project was for Georgia who is 7, I probably wouldn't do it with anyone younger, unless they are great weavers already.

First we cut the t-shirts into one inch strips off of the shirts mid section. Cutting off the hem, and ending underneath the armpits of the shirts. So you have a bunch of one inch loops.

Then you loop 11 loops over a hula hoop, starting with one at 12 o'clock and 6 clock, then cutting those in half, 3 o'clock and 6 o'clock. Then continuing around the hula hoop in halves. When you start to weave you loop the t shirts through the warps.

The instructions told us to do 11 loops, I personally would have done a few more, so we could have had a tighter weave at the top of the rug. They also say to stop 8" from the hula hoop. We went almost until the edge of the hula hoop. And when we got to the end, I went back in the big gaps between warps and wove little strips in and tied them up at the top to match the warps. To give it s little more stability at the top.

Better instructions can be found on familyfun.com, this is just a brief tutorial to see if it's something you want to commit yourself to! It was a fun and cheap project. I'm actually thinking about finding grey and white t shirts, and making a rug for our bathroom....
(Small pictures from http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/hula-hoop-rug-995304/)

Sprinkler

2011-07-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

When we have kids, those are going to be some of the most entertained kids on the block.

Whatever crazy idea I come up with, Drew can make it a reality. Another pinterest find was a PVC waterfall/tunnel. I showed Drew the picture and we were off to Home Depot 5 minutes later. Rounding up PVC and glue.

And voila! Instant fun!

We improved off the pinterest idea, and put a slip and slide underneath the falls. Little kids trying to figure out how to slide provides hours of entertaiment. Both for the watcher and the slide attempter.

Polly enjoyed the never ending supply of cold water.

...Bubbles...

2011-07-27T19:46:00.001-07:00

I saw some bubble recipes on pinterest, and thought we would try them out. I had no idea super bubbles were so involved. I got this recipe from an awesome party website: http://onecharmingparty.com/... Check it out for awesome party ideas! The recipe calls for:
5 Gallons Distilled Water (I guess hard water makes the bubbles break easier. So if you have soft water I guess you could use that.
10 Cups Dawn Dish Soap (not antibacterial)
2 Cups Karo Syrup
1 Small Pool
1 Hula Hoop
Let Bubble solution sit over night for best results.

This was a fun activity because kids love adding ingredients, and this was just like a giant mixing bowl. One bit of advice I would add would be to check your pool for leaks before you start. Our first attempt at the bubbles ended with sudsy sidewalks.

After letting it sit over night it was time to test out the bubbles.

It was a huge hit!

We started out standing in the bubble, and moved onto trying to create monster bubbles. We got some crazy big bubbles.

Summer memories made.... Check!
The actual post I got this from is here:
http://onecharmingparty.com/2011/05/27/human-bubble/

Succulents and Savers

2011-07-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

A Savers just opened by us, and Drew and I stopped by to welcome them to the neighborhood... And welcome them we did!

I picked up three glass bowls for $0.50. So I started little terrariums.

With a little bit of research I learned you could raise succulents in a bowl without a drain hole if you layer the bottom of the terrarium with gravel. This let's the roots have room to grow and space to dry out. If you don't have gravel the roots will rot in the moist soil. Little FYI for you to put in your Michael Jordan notebook...

I also scored this cute porcelain bowl for a dollar! Perfect for perfect jewelry! How great is my Mother-in-law who sent me this necklace, while Drew was in Houston with them! I love it!

And I love my new Saver neighbor!

Water Bottle Bowling...

2011-07-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

with my job I have the best of both worlds... I get to play, bond and love four adorable kids.... And I get to go home and sleep through the night... Smiley face...

Another benefit is I get to think of fun ways to entertain kids. Yesterday we made an at home bowling alley. It started with Drew and I saving our ICE drinks... From Costco... It's flavored sparkling water... And it's Ah...Mazing! I had my Oprah, "wow" moment when we sampled them.... Just kidding... I shouldn't joke about Oprah.... That's sacred....

Then we added food coloring to the water... Probably their favorite part... Each kid picked a color they wanted and they tried to figure out how to make the colors... They did great.... And we had A LOT of purple!

It was fun to watch the color sink into the water. The kids had a blast shaking the bottle, and magically have colored water bottles.

Then we lined up the pins.

And used $0.99 water noodles as bumpers. Not entirely necessary... But added to the overall aesthetics...

Then we got our game faces on.... And it was on!

The whole process produced about 3+ hours of fun...We learned about primary colors and math by keeping score... Adding and subtracting the fallen pins.

And we got really excited when we would knock down the yellow one... Not sure how that started... But it added an extra element of fun....

And Kate kept watch of her flower that got wacked by a rogue jump rope earlier in the day.

Things That Made Me Laugh So Hard... No Sound Came Out...

2011-07-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

Mattress sliding at camp... I was the impromptu sled... So scary... So amazing!

These last six are brought to you via pinterest.

Darn that Narnia! That onesie.... kills me! Harry Potter and Mean Girls.... No better combination!

No bath! At all cost!

Oh I thought your paper would protect you! Ha!

...This one is for you Sophia...Just a little sneak peak at what makes me smile, or laugh until I wheeze!

Home Tour Layton

2011-07-21T08:50:00.001-07:00

Driving to and from the Great Salt Lake, we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful houses we saw.

How beautiful are those windows! And the porch is stunning.

The detail on this house is phenomenal. I wondered if it was restored to this, or built new.... We should have stopped and asked.

This modern barn was such a brilliant new twisted on an old design. I love the double door opening... But my favorite part is the attached guest house, or office.... Across the drive way....

Is this beautiful modern red silo.... Brilliant! How creative is that?!

Again, love the windows on this house. Especially how they continued the windows on either side of the door. The top windows are also incredible. The little details that add so much.

I'm always a fan of those pop out windows on top. The colors scheme on this house was perfect!

One thing I can't stand about a lot of houses now is how they make the garage the focal point. Front doors are hidden behind enormous garage doors! Why are people okay with that? Houses like this make me happy. Where the garage, on the left, looks just like the rest of the house. And the garage doors are away from view... Much better. I'm curious about the interior of this house, two chimneys! I bet it could be amazing!

Great Salt Lake

2011-07-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

Drew and I took our Sunday drive out to the Great Salt Lake... In all of my 25 years of living in Utah, this was only my second excursion out to the lake. It was Drew's second time as well.

The drive out was a lot prettier then I expected.

We drove around Antelope Island looking for buffalo.

We spotted one lone soldier, hanging out by the side of the road. The rest we saw from a distance.

Apparently there are around 650 buffalo in this herd. The view from Antelope Island was incredible. Drew and I are making plans to go out and float the lake. A first for both of us!

Then we cruised home with the windows down, in the warm 101 degree heat.... Lovely... Picked the hottest day of the summer to go on a road trip in Drew's truck with no AC! It all adds to the magic!

...Fixing a Leak...

2011-07-15T08:15:00.000-07:00

No More Flooding! Drewpy rented a life sized toy and got to work. Drew using the excavator was 10% business 90% pleasure. Kid in a candy shop happy.... And I won't lie, it was pretty amazing... Drew turned the power off on me when I almost put the shovel through the window twice.... Kill Joy!

Drewpy dug...

....And dug....

....and dug some more.... Sexy arms huh? I know right!

...and ~~played~~ dug a little more...

Humoring me with pictures all along the way.... What a guy!

Then he sealed the concrete with tar, to form a waterproof barrier.

Cleo worked on being beautiful on the porch!

Then Drewpy reluctantly returned his rented toy... Al in a days work!

Homes

2011-07-12T09:34:00.001-07:00

Our home is finally starting to look like one, not so much a forest hiding a meth lab...Not that our house was ever a meth lab, but I'm sure onlookers had their doubts with the piles of rubble we were removing from both the interior and exterior.

Drew was in Houston for two weeks working on his parents house, and I was doing anything I could to pass the time... A lot of trying to go to bed at 7 P.M. Drew and I love to drive around and look at homes, while he was gone I did my own Salt Lake Home Tour.... I'm thinking of buying a Le Bus and starting my own touring company. When I stop my bus, a bunch of elderly Asian women, with straw hats and cameras will unload.... One day... One day..... I tried to get some super stalker pictures of some houses, but I had my zoom lens on my camera, and my windows don't roll down, so not the best, but you can still see how pretty they are.

I have a love hate with pergolas.... I love the shape, look and style of them, but I hate the function. I get that they are for shade and sitting on the porch during nice days, but I want a porch that I can sit on in not so nice weather.... Maybe we can build rotating pergola slats that you can close when it rains.... Hmmm... Patent that! I think a pergola and porch like this white one would add so much to our exterior.

There is a lot that I love about this house, I love the wildflower landscape.... This is my favorite landscaping theme ever. I love the style of the house, and the perfect orange, door. Very well done.

I wish I would have had my portrait lens so I could have taken one whole picture of this house. Isn't it beautiful? And the sun porch on the side, in the picture below. The balance on this house speaks to me. And thats my 2011 Summer Home tour!

City of Rock, Part 3

2011-07-08T18:49:00.000-07:00

Where we ended up camping was very high into the Sawtooth National Forest... We were trying to figure out what little town that was on the other side of the mountain. We obviously didn't try hard enough because we never found out... (That sentence was so random, I'm going to leave it because it's so awesome!)

We trekked back into the City of Rock campground to explore. Polly had her first ride in the back of the truck, She loved it! And I was again reaffirmed that Drew is going to be the anxious mother hen! That poor guy creates worries as a hobby. I'm not even sure what that means, but Drew will probably worry about it... At least our future posterity will be watched over by someone.

Polly ended up hunkering down on one of the bins we brought with all the dog items. Cute girl.

The rocks were so neat. It is crazy how they just come out of no where. It would be fun to go there with people who have actual climbing experience. And know how to use all the equipment.

Another Polly Picture Crash moment. I don't know how she even sees that I have my camera out. She was busy chasing Cleo around the rock, and I snap a picture, and next thing I know she is in it! Hilarious! And she is always looking right at the camera... This dog.... She's a funny little pooch!

How cool are those sparrow nests on the rock? Answer... Way cool! All of the sudden they would shoot out of the nest and circle the rock.... Crazy nature!

Pooches

2011-07-08T14:29:00.000-07:00

The dogs had the best time camping. We bought those red collars they are wearing that you can make light up. So they were free to roam as they please, and we could always see where they were. I highly recommend these collars. They have come in super handy for late night or early morning walks. We got ours at REI.

Polly became one with nature, and had her nose to the ground sniffing they entire weekend. Her nose came in very handy when they discovered a dead cow. We should always know better, when they dogs are occupied with something for more then five minutes, you can guarantee they are eating something you don't want them to. When Drew finally walked over to see what was keeping their interest, he saw them eating the dead cow. He walked back to me and said, "At least Cleo was just licking the bones, Polly was tugging with all her might on the hide." Nasty! When they got in the tent, the smelled like death.... It was awful, we almost considered packing up and going home. But we just shoved ourselves as far into our mummy bags as possible, and avoided pooch kisses for a week.

Drew for some reason kept Polly's collar light on all night. And Polly for some reason paced in circles around us inside the tent. Probably trying to work of those extra cow calories before bed. So every so often a little red light zoomed past our heads, followed by a whiff of decay... Silly pooch.

Isolation at its finest.

Searching for more remains... You would not believe how long it took me to get this picture loaded up in the right position.... It better be worth it for your viewing pleasure!

Do you find this hummerus? Just a little anatomy giggle. I actually have no idea what bone this is.... It was very pretty. I wanted to bring it home and dip it in enamel.... Drew broke it.... Fail! To... Be...Continued!

Camping, City of Rock, Idaho

2011-07-06T10:56:00.001-07:00

We had our first legitimate camping excursion. Um... A month ago.... Just getting around to posting it, because a certain Springer Spaniel confused the power cord to our computer for a chew toy. I have to say, she chewed that cord into very neat 1" pieces... Impressive, no? We're keeping a running total Polly... As soon as your destruction out numbers your worth.... You might be finding yourself turning tricks on the street.... I tease.... Maybe....N E who.... Camping.

We were planning on camping at Strawberry reservoir. The weather in Utah was supposed to be awful, so on a last minute, whim we headed up to Idaho, City of Rocks. It was awesome... We pulled up to what appears to be the smallest town in the world. Giant bulls sitting on the side of the road, men hand watering their yard while riding in an antique tractor.... Amazing. We didn't make reservations at a campsite, so we stopped at this general store to ask the locals where they camp. Their instructions were basically drive up the mountain as far as you can, and hike as far as you can.... Perfect. We drove until the road was blocked by a giant snow patch.... Parked and walked into a giant clearing, and set up camp. It was gorgeous.

We roasted the best tasting hot dogs, I have ever tasted..

And played frisbee until we couldn't see the frisbee anymore. Our only neighbors were the deer who watched us from afar. I think they were trying to figure out if Cleo was one of them. This is how Polly carries the frisbee to the park... Our own little Saturn.

My favorite camping experience so far... To... Be... Continued!

Kitchen

2011-06-17T08:28:00.001-07:00

It's all finally coming together!

Drew rebuilt the drawers... The current ones you see are bowed. But it's almost finished! Hooray!

Spice Rack

2011-06-14T09:18:00.001-07:00

Our sink leg, spice rack is finally installed!

Drew built the cabinet next to the spice rack, and we got it all installed yesterday!

There are still a few touch ups that need to be made. We need to build face frames and some paint chipped, and paint runs along the side of leg need to be fixed... I don't want to point fingers at anyone..... But it was me.... Oops... I'm such a huge help! Haha! When I watching Drew in the shop build and paint (and repaint all the cupboards I painted).... I stated.. "I need to learn to use all your tools.". Drew shut off the saw he was using, turned to me and said.... "That's the last thing I need." Well same to you Drew, stay away from my exacto knife and glue gun.... Haha love that guy!

Almost as much as I love my spice rack!

Laundry Nook

2011-06-10T09:42:00.001-07:00

We are living in the basement of our house, while we have a lovely tenant pay most of the mortgage upstairs... (winky face). While it is so nice paying a fraction of the mortgage it makes space limited. The flow of the basement was horrific, we had the bathtub jutting into the kitchen, the only way to enter the bathroom was to go through the kitchen. There was no room in the kitchen for a table because the kitchen was also the laundry room, and the washer, dryer, enormous fridge and stove took up all the room. In our remodeling, we used wasted space underneath the stairs as a laundry nook. As the kitchen is (finally) wrapping up I really want to tile the laundry nook. I had envisioned subway till g with big 6X8 tiles. I found them for $1.08 a sq/ft. And I thought that was the set price... Nope that was a sell price... Eff! We did see that 3X3 square tiles are around a dollar a sq/ft. Not as lovely as my dream. I don't like the look of these square tiles in a grid pattern, that's a little 1960's for me.... We are trying to find different patterns to lay the tile. I really like the staggered subway, I think I would want it even more staggered so they appeared more like shingles... Diamond would be neat and a little different.

Vertical subway would draw the eye upwards maybe making the nook appear a little bigger. I stumbled upon the pattern below that I have never seen before. Imagine it twisted 45 degrees so that the mix of square and subway make a chevron pattern.... I think I might be in love....

So many options, I really want to use the average material in a new way... Opinions?

Pinterest Love

2011-06-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Some of the lovelies I have discovered via pinterest.

I love this color, It makes me want a yellow brick house... And I've NEVER wanted a yellow brick house. With this door it would make me happy everyday!

Made by Girl, Jen Ramos....

White washed, wood paneled walls. I'm not sure that it gets prettier.

6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com

Striped walls that accent the perfect brown.

Style at Home... I found it on pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com

Giant houndstooth is to die for.... I think I would literally take a bullet for this rug... Jk, lol, roflol... Smiley face...

6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com

Okay, let's just talk about how beautiful this piece of furniture is....Ah-Mazing! The color, shape, and the glass front with all of those individual drawers... I want to use this somewhere in our house. I'm trying to make it work as a built-in in the bathroom... If course I've got to check with my contractor Drew... (As you should too... 801.244.8790). And see how to make it all work.

Layla Grace.... Found on copycatchic.com

This color speaks to me, and tells me to find a spot for it in my home... I will listen! I think the nickel hardware is a perfect combo...

Houzz.com, found on materialgirls.blogspot.com

Its just fact... This chevron wastebasket would be perfect in an office.

6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com

And simply stated... I want to go to there!

Tuscany, found on the-bath.tumblr.com

P.S. Who is extremely excited for the Apple Keynote in 15 minutes?? ME!!! Although I can't say that they will be announcing a new iPhone that I've been hoping for. I think they might because they are introducing a new iOS and iCloud and new hardware to go with it would be a huge selling point. However there are no real rumors to back up a new device being announced. I wonder if this is because every device that has been released for the last little bit have been leaked so maybe they kept this phone on super lockdown... I also hesitate to think they will come out with it because Verizon just signed and the white iPhone was just released. Although after the iPhone 4 was released the iPhone 3Gs still sold... These are the things I think about... The End!

I Hate Goodbyes!

2011-06-02T13:51:00.001-07:00

This little nugget and his parents are gone (frowny face).... I guess we'll just have to find lots of excuses to visit Washington and Oregon!

I Swore I Never Would....

2011-06-01T17:08:00.001-07:00

But now I promise I'll never go back!

Drew had his little heart set on these five finger Vibram shoes. I didn't support the decision, but I didn't talk him out of it... The only time I had to shun him was when he snuck them past me to hang out with friends.... Uh uh, that's a no go, exercise, okay... Social, not acceptable. Then I found out they made Vibrams for hiking! Yes honey! I can't even begin to tell you the number of hikes I've been on where I take my shoes off to finish a hike, because my shoes rub wrong, or get wet and uncomfortable... These are a dream on my feet. It's like being six years old again and living the summers barefoot. They were perfect for camping where we were in and out of water and sand. It was the free movement of barefoot, with the protection of hiking boots.... And terribly funny looking! That is all!

St. George

2011-05-31T21:47:00.001-07:00

After our first successful night of camping we headed to St. George for some fun! While it was snowing in Salt Lake, we were throwing babies in pools... Fabulous!

The weather was perfect and the company was even better.

We were on our way to hike the Red Cliffs, when Drew's key wouldn't turn in the ignition.... Lovely... We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Drew dismantle the steering column of the truck. No luck on fixing the problem. So I headed back in a lawn chair in the back of my brothers car... No joke... And Drew stayed behind to get a hold of our mechanic after the holiday. Thank goodness for the iPads FaceTime! I could say goodnight to my Drewpy and pooches! Look how cute Polly looks with her head cocked trying to figure out where I am... Silly pooch. And a virtual goodnight kiss from those gorilla lips I love so much!

Sandhollow, UT

2011-05-31T18:52:00.001-07:00

We did it!!!! We finally had our camping adventure! We headed down to Sandhollow Lake where my brothers and there families met up with us.

Isn't our tent cute? We had so much fun watching Polly swim. She looks like a baby hippo in the water. Making s'mores, looking at constellations with the iPhone Starwalk app, and my brothers laser pointer. Laughing, building giant bonfires and watching Polly and Cleo dig in the sand.

It was fun, but might have been more fun, had it not been such a crowded weekend where we had to camp with 1.7 million other people! It was crowded. But a good practice run for us! Hooray for adventures.

Take the Pooch to Work Day!

2011-05-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Drew has been working at home on a kitchen island, our cabinets, spice rack and other treasures for me!

Polly loves the shop! She digs nest in the piles of sawdust, sniffs and chews scraps of wood.

A puppy paradise!

When our main water line broke, the city workers had to take out a tree.

Drew, even though he had a lot better things to do, has chopped it up for me. So I can make all sorts of trinkets!

A crafters paradise!

The stumps are placed in the garage drying, and our cabinets are not yet hung, but we are excited for our weekend adventures. Hopefully we will have a whole lot of finished product shots next week!

Son of a ........

2011-05-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

.....(And if my mom wasn't a loyal follower those dots would have been filled in with a word that had would show my frustration. However, for courtesy of my mom and my two female dogs I'll let you fill in the blank!)

As luck would have it, our basement flooded! Even better it was in a wall that we were NOT going to demo! (Why isn't there a font for sarcasm?). After our CampOut in the living room, we took down the tent, and noticed that the carpet was wet halfway through the room. I mean soaking wet! Nasty! So we got to work, exploring where the leak was coming from. When we pulled back the carpet, pools of water were left on the concrete, not to mention a lovely odor... (Insert sarcasm font.... Maybe a reverse italics...)
Drew went to tap the wall above the wet carpet to see if it was wet, and his little tap turned into a squish. The dry wall was soaked, and moldy.... Followed by moldy insulation.... Followed by moldy cement! This is not a new leak.... Years.... And years... No wonder I'm constantly sick... I probably have mold spores on my lungs... Isn't that a nasty word? Spores....ew.

We (read Drew) suspected ground water... So Drew went outside and turned on the hose, three minutes later nothing. He came inside, and then we heard the water, in our cold storage, that has always been a little funky, I just never open the door, water was POURING out of the walls! Through these holes, you can see it spout out...

With the outrageous amount of moisture we have had this winter/spring, we have been having water continuously coming into our basement... Lovely (reverse italics)... With old carpets removed, moldy sheet rock, insulation and bleached walls we are on our way to a mold spore free home!

What I'm Loving!

2011-05-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

The color of our kitchen walls... Accented by our red clock... And That at 6:20 PM there is still a lot of day left!

And branches from my lilac bush, in my shiny vase, with a backdrop of turquoise/green frame and beige tile. Our kitchen's almost finished! Update soon!

Camera and Kids

2011-05-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

While in the midst of our home remodel I have been having a great time figuring out my camera. I bought this ebook, from a blog post from kellehampton.com. I think she takes beautiful pictures, and I want to soak up any advice she has. So far I have really enjoyed it, it is plain talk, and some times dumbed down even more then that so it's super to follow. What I like most about it, is it's how to work with what you have. Not telling you all the expensive equipment that is available.

Practice attempts, with two adorable models.

Crazy about these girls.

Below is a cheat sheet I found on pinterest. It's helpful to have as a quick reference on hand!

Pooches

2011-05-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Just because they are so darn cute!

All day long...

An outrageous amount of tongue!

I will say it until I'm blue in the face. I love these dogs.... Drew and I wonder all the time, how can you live your entire life without a dog? Not an animal who you leave tethered to a rope, leave outside, day and night, or treat as a burden instead of part of the family! Rather a companion who loves you unconditionally, has intense loyalty, and gives a tremendous amount more then they take if given the opportunity.

However an apology needs to be made to our future children... I am so sorry that Polly is so adorable, loves to be held, falls asleep on our chest, nuzzles in our neck, loves to be snuggled and held, sleeps through the night and is potty trained. She has taken every ounce of being baby hungry from us. (Is it wrong to delay trying for children because you love your dogs, and husband so much.... Not in that order.... Rhetorical, because we know the answer is, NOPE!) Our dear neighbor, 85 year old Stormin' Norma waltzed over the other day and said, "I see both of you kissing on that puppy, and I think to myself, those two need a baby!". To which we responded in unison, "Who needs a baby with a puppy this cute?". (I know, we're adorable, we talk in synch.... That happens to us at least several times a day... Which then leads us to turn and stare at each other and do our secret handshake... It's so cute it'll make your teeth hurt!). To which Norma, in her infinite wisdom responded, "I guess you're right!" And Norma knows all!

Our Yard!

2011-05-22T04:12:00.000-07:00

Glamorous!

2011-05-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

This is Lilly..... And I'm her chauffeur.... She's glamorous!

Living Room CampOut!

2011-05-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

Drew and I are finally getting around to achieving our dream of become granolas! Haha just kidding, but we have both been tempted at one time or another to grow dreadlocks, walk around in chacos, spending most of our days at farmers markets and Whole Foods... AKA... The good life!Baby steps are being taken on our quest to become Enviro's... We set up the old tent in the living room to get us, and mainly the pooches ready for sleeping in a tent. I don't want to be secluded in the wilderness to find out Cleo hates tents and burst through the seems of the tent to escape! I would say the night went well... I woke up once to find Cleo had cleverly slid me and my sleeping bag off my pad, and was completely stretched out on it! Dogs a gosh darn genius!

These pictures above just make me laugh! I was trying to take a picture of the tent, and I told Cleo to get out of the way. You can see she is in motion to move on out, when I snapped a picture to test the camera settings. When I checked the picture I saw Polly had run in last minute and took a quick seat to get her picture taken... She did the same thing in the next picture! This pooch loves herself some camera... I love how quickly she runs in and immediately sits, like she has been there the whole time. Quite the opportunist! The last picture, after we finished setting up the tent, Polly ran out to get a toy, and I'm not even how this is possible, but she set it here, and just left it, perfect storage!

And again another snuggling pooch picture to rip your heart out (woah, that got graphic in a hurry.). I think these dogs snuggle on purpose just to make Drew and I yell to one another to "hurry and run into the room, look what the dogs are doing!". Polly probably snuggles up and whispers in Cleo's ear, "watch this!" love them!

And as all indoor campouts need, a little iPad time! Truly Earthy!

Drywall and Art

2011-05-19T09:36:00.001-07:00

You might be thinking, why is Drew patching a wall that looks like it was newly finished. Just kidding, you weren't thinking that.... I was.... But I'll tell you why he is... Drewpy was being super awesome and repairing our dryer. He was holding the top of the dryer when it slipped out of his hands, and the metal sliced open the skin in between his thumb and pointer finger. When the lid slid all the way down a screw on the corner of the lid, snagged the sliced skin. Did you dry heave? I did. I had to go lay down when I saw it! Anyway, Drew being the manly man he is thought the best way to deal with the pain of a gashed hand would be to take the same mangled hand, and slam it through a wall! Ahh, I bet that felt soothing. Sliced hand through drywall, is pretty much the equivalent to taking a nice warm bath after a long rainy day!....

I would love to spend 15 minutes inside Drew's brain!

So....... After another round of taking two steps forward and one step back.... Story of our remodel...I have moved onto trying to find some art for the house. I have picked up a few pieces on etsy, but couldn't find an affordable painting at the size I was looking for. So I bought a 36X48" canvas at the art store. And did a pastel drawing of some lemons. I didn't like how it turned out, so I used by step backward, and painted the canvas white, with our enamel paint we used on the trim. And went for a more modern painting, that will bring in a whole lot of yellow to the room! Simple, crisp, and yellow. Check, check and check! Wait until you see the frame Drew is making for it! Awesome!

Sprinklers

2011-05-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

Drew spread seed on our front lawn, and doing the final touches on the sprinklers. And I'm SO ready for grass! No more mud yard!As always, the pooches were a tremendous help!These pictures are very monochromatic. I have always loved brown!

With my new portrait lens, I figured out how to adjust the white balance setting on my camera. I couldn't figure out why my pictures were coming out so orange. This one of Cleo had zero touch ups.

This face makes me too happy! She has the most incredible disposition! Our plan was to spay her, but her personality, and appearance may be too incredible to just give up on. We are going to watch her health and personality for a little longer, and if she stays this well behaved, and her health stays good, she may be continuing her bloodlines. Even the vet commented on what a remarkable build and especially wonderful personality she has! Who wouldn't want a puppy like this?Even when she looks like this!

Our little mud puppy! This pooch loves water and mud. When we turn on the hose, Cleo runs for the hills, and Polly runs to sit under water!Again..... I can't wait for grass!

Nursery

2011-05-16T19:01:00.001-07:00

In honor of sweet John Wesley's birth, I put together a room board of pictures I have been collecting on pinterest account.I think these colors are so great. Greys, with yellow, blue and red accents. I would have the random letters spell out adventure. Mixed in with the gallery wall of those pictures. And that grey and white map, would take up an entire wall on the opposite side of the gallery wall.

The sail boats are in honor of his dad, who is the Coast Guard.

Park Days

2011-05-14T20:17:00.001-07:00

Tanner park waters are crazy. Someone's poor labrador drowned last week, and there are warnings everywhere about letting your dogs swim! Luckily Cleo isn't too fond of swimming. And Polly follows Cleo like a baby duckling.We did find a spot where Polly could wade into shallow water. Where they are standing is 10+ feet from where the water usually ends. It was quite the winter this year!

We are now enjoying the sun to it's fullest! These two are smitten for each other!

House

2011-05-12T08:43:00.000-07:00

The most beautiful house in all of Utah

At least in my opinion. Drew and I have been stalking the progress if this house. As we drove home from our vet appointment, they had taken down the giant fence that had surrounded the construction! I am so impressed with the attention to detail that this house has. Individually stained grey shingles, beautiful corbels and beautiful windows. This style wouldn't be my first pick for a house, but now that I see in person just how well it can be done, I may need to be re-dreaming my dream home.

Untitled

2011-05-11T11:17:00.001-07:00

I had fun with my new portrait lens, taking some quick shots of my sweet nephew Johnny, before he demanded to be fed.

I had to brush up on my high school photoshop classes.

It was mostly trial and error, but a lot of fun to figure them out. I'm hoping to just get better with the settings, so that I won't often need photoshop.

Isn't he such a cute, chunky/naughty baby?...... He's actually an angel!

MudRoom

2011-05-10T10:24:00.001-07:00

Here is a mudroom Drew did.

As always before pictures were an after thought. Basically this was just a long room with no storage.

Drew built two tall cupboards for vacuum, brooms and mops. A bunch of smaller cubbies with individual slats, to hold stuff in, but be able to peek through and see what's in there.

The other side has different size shoe cubbies to store big boots, to little shoes. Above are more cubbies. And the middle is a bench seat and beadboard with individual hooks for coats.

All built in our garage.

Trim

2011-05-08T15:32:00.001-07:00

A little while ago, we went down to St. George, and Drew did some work on my brothers house.

Here is the trim around the windows.

Drew also did beautiful wainscoting down their hallway, but I need Michael to send me finished pictures of that.... K Mike?

Doesn't your heart just melt seeing that picture with Caesar in it!? Darling!

Camera

2011-05-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

We invested in a camera, in hopes of being able to further promote our work.

We purchased a Nikon D90. Wow, there are a lot of buttons. Figuring out the manual mode has been challenging and fun.

These are some pictures I took at work the other day, when we were able to go out and enjoy the awesome weather.

If anyone has any advice on camera settings, functions and lenses, I would love to hear some advice. I'm not going to be a photographer, but nice pictures of our lives and work will be needed.

Can't get enough of this dog!

So, here's to clearer, brighter, sharper blog posts!

Spring

2011-05-03T20:35:00.001-07:00

I don't know that I ever remember a longer winter! Oh My Word!

We decided to go for a little walk around the block, to wear the pooches out, and I could practice the settings on my camera! Finally starting to get a hold of the manual setting. There are a lot of settings!

Can you guess which direction we were headed?

I'm sure you can tell, but we are completely taken by this little girl... Who in this picture looks like a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog.

She has been a total dream puppy, sleeping through the night, not skittish, but don't aggressive. She has been man handled and loved to death!

But look how sweet she is!!!!! Get real! Beautiful!

She is a bird dog at heart! This duck knows who's boss!

Happenings!

2011-05-03T19:37:00.001-07:00

The newest member of the Redd Family is little Johnny! Isn't he a doll?

Little Johnny is a little bit naughty, he decided to get an infection... Then pneumonia.... Then Jaundice... Little stinker. He'll be in the NICU for seven days while he gets his rounds of antibiotics.

But he sure is cute! With his dad's nose and mom's chin! Love him already!

After a visit with my tiny nephew, it was off to introduce Polly to her cousins! To say the loved her is an UNDERSTATEMENT! I don't think her feet touch the floor!

Seriously, even when they put her down to sleep, she was placed on the coffee table, but kindly given a blanket!

Cleo got her fair share of loving!

Cleo got her own, hex nut collar, and she looks smashing! I'm gathering my ideas for an etsy shop and these collars may make the list!

Cleo snuggled with her dad, so the puppy wouldn't out do her for affection.

And Polly sends you off with a wink and a smile!

Welcome!

2011-05-01T07:37:00.001-07:00

Meet Polly!

We weren't sure we could get another dog. Losing Caesar was just too hard. But Cleo was so lonely. Then we saw this face, and that was that.

Polly is our 8 week old Bench Bred, English Springer Spaniel Puppy! And she is a dream.

She has the most laid back, yet playful personality. She loves to cuddle, and sleeps through the night! A miracle!

And that face! Have you seen anything sweeter?

Meant To Be...

2011-04-28T19:33:00.001-07:00

After we lost Caesar, I started looking for Great Dane art work. We didn't have the best camera, so pictures of him may be plentiful, however pitiful. There are some interesting Dane pictures out there. And then I was stopped dead in my search, when not only did I find a great painting of a Dane, but it WAS Caesar! Every detail down to his crook ear! Seriously, this artist Judith Stein, must have summoned Caesar for a muse. Those of you who had the pleasure of meeting Caesar, tell me, is this not his portrait?

Needless to say, this 11"x15" portrait is ours! Now to find the perfect frame!

The crafting bug is still in full force!

These coasters are made our of magazine pages, rope and change. I need to seal them, and then thinking that I may want to try and sell them. Similar ones can found online, but you never know, the coin in the middle may catch someone's eye. That little beauty was from my own little mind!

And then came this hassle! I had this "genius" idea to make a piece of art out of Pantone chips.... Boy was that an epic nightmare... One by freaking one, I cut out the colors, and then one by freaking one, I glued those little beasts onto the board.... In. Way. Over. My. Head. That was my mantra while working on this beauty. Now that it's done, after I put it in the corner and glared at it for a week because my thumb was callused from the Hair scissors I was using (only ones I could find), and my fingertips burned from countless glue gun mishaps. I quite like it.

I painted mat board gold, and need to paint the frame gold. I might also recruit Drew to to cut some crown moulding to out around the one inch frame, to give it more bulk! What do you think? You likey?

P.S. Kami, those clear pictures are for you!

Craft Palooza

2011-04-16T14:53:00.001-07:00

I went a little craft crazy... I have a pinterest folder dedicated to D.I.Y stuff, and I finally got around to making some.

Saw these cute Pantone chip magnets, and thought I better make use of my expired Pantone swatches. And because our fridge is a slightly different white then our cupboards, I like to cover our fridge with cute pictures, with these Pantone magnets, it just makes it all the better! This DIY is from howaboutorange.blogspot.com. She has all the step by step instructions, so I won't post them here. The above are hers, and below are mine.

I will admit, I used scissors instead of an exacto knife, so my lines aren't as crisp, but I still love them.

While the glue gun was hot, I slapped a magnet on anything I could get my hands on. Above is an extra 1X1 glass tile that we used in kitchen, that now looks darling holding up the sweet picture of Lily.

Above, I glued a magnet on Drew's money clip that he got in Bluff, UT. I LOVE IT. It and my Pantone magnets hold up the cute picture of my grandpa.

Next I saw a hex necklace I believe online at Nordstrom. I looked online for a how to, and this cute bracelet popped up from honestlyWTF.com. Love that name, anyway, I went and gathered supplies and made my own.

Above is a picture from honestlyWTF, there camera is much better, but I love how mine turned out, and I get a lot of compliments on it wherever I go. It's been a great DIY week. Up next are my magazine paper cup holders!

I'm Ready for the SUN!

2011-04-10T13:29:00.001-07:00

I'm ready for Spring, enough of the snow! Until mother nature is ready to cooperate, we will on a mini vacation in Park City, where the weather may be awful, but at least here we have a shower, Internet and a t.v. Heaven!

Sun by Lilly 2 y.o.

Our House...

2011-04-10T13:20:00.001-07:00

In true Lindsay and Drew fashion, we have bounced around from project to project...

We started on our bathroom tile, while waiting on some of Drew's tools that were out on a job site. I am loving how the tile looks, we have been waiting on putting this tile in for almost a year. It looks like it will be worth the wait.

Drew got his tools back home and we were able to install the three drawers he built and the hardware on the cabinets. I fell in love with a new product, I painted the cabinets and trim with an oil base enamel paint! This stuff is so incredible, it goes on thick, and dries rock hard. And is SOOOOO easy to clean! It does take longer to dry then regular acrylic paint, but is so worth it.

We have the side cabinets Drew made hung, and one of the glass doors he made installed. I love it so much, the amount of storage we added has been life changing! I need to finish painting the glass doors, and find a fun wallpaper to install in the glass cupboards.

We are getting so close to finishing! One project down, hundreds to go!

St. George

2011-04-10T12:55:00.001-07:00

Whew, it seems like we are finally pulling ourselves together. We still miss our big guy. We made a trip to St. George so Drew could tie up some loose ends on trim at my brothers house... More on that later.

It was such a great break. With some much needed sun. Cleo loved having someone to follow around... Even better, someone to follow around who was constantly dropping food... And was more then willing to share licks of suckers.

Mike and Hill are great hosts, especially to people with dogs... We could have stayed there forever! Well, until summer hit, and the I would be miserable.

I love how much these boys love our dogs. We would look over at them, and without fail, one of the boys would be laying on Cleo... It was too cute.

Love it!

Cleo got some major sun, and wind in her hair.

She loves adventures...

Sunday I taught the boys the fine art of duct tape sandals...

They loved it!

So many uses for duct tape...

Love those boys.

We had an awesome bonfire in the backyard, where we roasted some reeses s'mores.

We went on several bike rides, poor Cleo ripped her foot pad open on one of the runs... Hopefully we can build up her pads, she is a great biking companion.

And then we spent a lot of time, lounging in the sun... It was amazing! It was a perfect vacation, except for the sick feelings I would get when I would panic thinking we had forgotten Caesar, or needed to get home to let him out.

Then watched in amazement how much energy this sticky little boy had! We miss them, and the weather already.

Our Guy

2011-03-22T20:54:00.001-07:00

This is our buddy... This is the picture we fell in love with and we knew we just had to have him.

We got him for Drew's birthday 3 years ago, and the day after Drew's birthday last week we had to say goodbye to him.

Caesar was there from the start of our little family. We had only been married 2 months before we got him. He went through the good and the bad with us. Happy to be part of the ride.

It was so hard to make the decision to put him down. He got bloat, that's where their stomach twists. It was worse to see him so sick. As many of you know Caesar had a pretty sensitive stomach, and the vet told us even with surgery, he would have even more problems and be more uncomfortable. We couldn't put him through that.

So we had to let him go. I hated it, I am not sure I have ever cried so hard in all my life. Especially not in such a public place. I was a wreck, Drew was a wreck, but while I was alone with Caesar while the vet was preparing the meds, and Drew was signing the papers, Caesar laid next to me while I sobbed. He picked up his paw and put it on my shoulder. I was a goner. I wailed and told him over and over what a good boy he was, and how much he meant to us.

He was probably just happy knowing I wouldn't be making him wear clothes anymore... Ha, he loved it.

We love our fat guy, Big C, Caesar my Naesar, big bear, big bear-o-potomous, big bear with no hair, old Mr. Grey beard, big fat fat fattegan, and will always miss him.

We will miss his snuggles, and we nose in our faces, I'll miss him saving me from moose, and scary dogs at the dog park, I'll miss telling him what a good boy he was for sitting like a gentleman. I'll miss telling him to leave me alone in the bathroom. I'll miss listening to him toot with every step he takes down the stairs. He ate our couches, shoes, got sick in our house, and I would do it all over again. To see his excitement he has in his eyes every time we got home. To see him wake from a dead sleep because he heard Drew's truck before anyone. To see him be so enormous and gentle at the same time. Parents loved him because kids could step,fall, tug and pull all over him without him even batting an eye.

I always had this vision of when we got around to having kids I would hire someone to take Caesar's picture of him looking into the crib, because for sure he would be tall enough and curious enough to take sneaky peeks in a crib.

We are so grateful we have been lucky enough to experience his love for three years. It would be a sad life not knowing the love of an animal.

We are so so so grateful to our friends and family who have made this hard time just a little easier. Friends and family who called or text us letting us know they understand that it wasn't just a loss of a dog, but a member of our family. To my siblings, all I had to do was tell one of you what happened and the news spread, so I didn't have to be the one to repeat it. Thank you for checking in on us everyday to see how we are doing. It means the world to us. Thank you to our friends for the treats, presents and the flowers. Thank you for knowing what a huge part of our life our pooches are. We miss you Caes, and always will!

The Things Fatal End...

2011-02-10T10:54:00.001-08:00

We poured a concrete floor in our kitchen/laundry room.

And it looked like "The Thing" (from the Fantastic 4... Thanks for the reference Drewpy!) met his match.

"The Thing" is splattered all over our cabinets.

"Bloody" handprints can be found every. A forensic teams dream.

A final blow to "The Things" carotid artery left cement remains on our ceiling. It was epic...

But seriously... We went with an acid stained concrete floor. Something we hadn't tried before.

We mixed in some, not nearly enough brown dye. Turned out a "St. George, Utah" redd.

This was before the acid stain.

During the acid staining. The clear coat is drying, as well as killing my brain cells while we slept. I'll post after pictures soon!

Felting is My Bag...

2011-02-07T16:05:00.001-08:00

I have picked up a new hobby... Felting, I felt, I'm a felter.

With Meghan's baby coming I saw this cute idea from my friend Annie. She made these cute little animals and made a mobile.

So I got to felting. Jabbing my finger many times with the barbed needle, my blood went into this project for my little nephew. You better be grateful little one.

The alligator my mom told me looked like an ant eater.

Lion! Are the captions helping you?

Hippo with his birdy friend on his back to show little one about symbiosis. This baby will be brilliant thanks to me.

Zebra.. Now I just have to figure out how to rig these suckers up...

Tiger and flamingo! I totally burned out in the end. I hope I never have to see wool felt again! I started thinking I was going to sell these on etsy... Give me a week, I'll get felting fever again!

Awesome Blog Stalking Find...

2011-02-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

Ever have those days... where your husband is scrambling around your kitchen yelling in his "adult voice"... about the cement that he is pouring... and you decided to take a nice relaxing bath... and he runs in and drops a bucket full of cement water on your leg... making said "relaxing" bath, not so "relaxing"... So you start blog stalking... Because that's probably the greatest use of time EVER! Well I'm here to tell you it was for me! I scored a major blog stalk find! There I was just clicking through links of friends and landed on this one!

Friend of a friend situation here... We grew up in the same neighborhood, etc. etc... And she has just published an album and I LOVE IT! Bought it on itunes and jam to it all the time! Her voice is awesome, lyrics are fun! Fabulous... go check out her blog for yourself... julesmorrow.blogspot.com. Buy her album while you're at it!

Sick

2011-02-04T10:03:00.001-08:00

I think I've been sick since December. I got the stomach flu... Twice... And have an awesome cold that has stuck around for two weeks... Blah!

This is how I feel...

These faces sure are cute...

But those little noses sure can hold a lot of germs. That lovingly get passed with boogery kisses, and well placed sneezes into unsuspecting eyes and mouths. Love these two. School has started and took my first test. I was in such a head cold haze I had to read every true and false question 4 or 5 times. Awesome.

Loved waking up to a heart attacked door from the Young Women.

The upside about quarantining myself inside is that Drew and I started Greys Anatomy. Nothing like trashy hospital drama to make you feel better. I think Drew and I are equally in love with Dr. McDreamy.

I get personally offended whenever Drew makes fun of Meredith. I heart her... He says she looks like a platypus. Jerk.

We bought the dog fence and have yet to set it up. (All that set up requires is to plug it in.) What's the point? It's been freezing cold, and the dogs want to be outside as little as we do. Drama queens...

And this one (as seen above) got knocked up, and is here while her husband lives on the coast guard ship until baby is born. I love it, we are about to start hypno birth classes. I'm the stand in for husband. I'll probably make her take some awesome prego pictures, she'll regret it if she doesn't.

We just need to find the perfect tree branch.

This ones a little tricky because Wes isnt here to lurk in the background.

This one has both elegance and fun.

When Wes is here this will be the first thing we do, head straight to Olan Mills and take this classy, yet informative picture. Brilliant. Maybe is shouldn't blog while sick. That should be on the warning label right next to, "do not operate heavy machinery".

Better Office Pictures...

2011-01-25T18:39:00.000-08:00

My awesome sister in law took pictures of the office for us. The blurry ones just weren't doing it justice! There are, as always, minor tweaks we are going to make. I am picking out new chairs, that second armoire is being returned and I'm picking out a new couch. It will look awesome, when we're done!

At least now you can see all of the details.

Thanks Katie for the pictures!

...Random...

2011-01-21T08:26:00.001-08:00

I'm looking for curtains for the kitchen. I don't know whether I want to buy fabric and sew some. Buy some plain ones and paint them. Or just use some plain ones. I love these patterns.

I found some cute cheap plain ones at ikea.

Hmm.... These are only $14. I might just buy them and experiment with them, paint a pattern etc. Because the windows down stairs are so small I would only need a portion of a curtain for each window.

As always I love Caitlin Creers choices!

I used to think it was weird when people displayed their own art work in their own house. I'm thinking about doing it just because I can't find art I like that is big enough for a good price. I need a LARGE painting of lemons for my kitchen wall.

I think yellow would be a perfect accent to the silver green/blue in the kitchen.

I'll have Drew build a frame for it out of 5" crown moulding. The size I want I just can't find a good price.

So I'm thinking about a good DIY project. We'll see how it turns out. I want to try it in oil pastels.

I also might try making some fun prints in Photoshop with yellow themes.

These fonts are a little too comic sans for me. But the general idea I think is fun.

I scored big time at Anthropologie. After I posted on my wishlist on pinterest, the latte bowls from Anthro, my friend told me the bowls were on sale for $1.95!

I made out with 16 bowls for $30. Why did I buy 16? For a few reasons, my sister wouldn't let me go to the bathroom before we went in the store. All my rational thinking went into not wetting my pants. Second, when I was loading my bag, I had visions of bowls crashing on tile, so why not buy more then you need, they didn't have the yellow when I went to buy them when my Anthro angel set four yellow bowls down on the counter next to me. Wahoo! They're so cute they could be little candy dishes! Very versatile! So clearly I had no choice! I had to buy 16!!

I will eventually need this ping pong door for my house.

Just look at the pure joy on their faces. Not staged... Brilliant.

Finally scored a wireless dog fence from ksl! This may save us! No more standing out on our porch in robes and having dogs run wild in the streets.

And finally, my dream bathroom. For when we add our addition to the top of our house. That will give us an incredible view of the city. This will be my master suite. I'm willing it into my life. Isn't that ceiling gorgeous? The chandelier to die for? The colors?? Amazing. Someday!

The Dream Team!

2011-01-12T13:46:00.001-08:00

***i don't know why these pictures are so bad??
Why did I not take before pictures??? Well probably because it was just supposed to be a simple paint job. Knowing my dad I should have known better. My dad needed an office overhaul and he let me design it and Drew create it. Our first job as the dream team.

This picture is a during shot. We had painted the walls from a nasty creme to a silver green. And the trim from red to white. So already it was better then before. And then we really started thinking... We needed more lights a different wall color and a different theme to the room all around. So drew started removing the ceiling panels and we were sold on the industrial look.

I love restoration hardware lighting. Just not prices.

These lights are perfect but the size we needed runs $499 a piece and we needed 6!

This is my ikea look-a-like that's $29. Awesome.

These lights are also $499. And we needed 4. That would have run us $5000, for all of the lighting.

Ikea version $20. Our total for lights was a little over $400. And that included 3 art lights, and bulbs.

We finally convinced my dad the nasty brown ultra plush/shag carpet had to go. He brought in some wood samples and I ok'ed the mahogany brown with a silver hue. It's perfect.

Drew installed the flooring. It was neat to watch how you can glue hardwood right onto concrete. Below is our exposed ceiling with the industrial lantern lights on.

And this is with the circle lights on. The lights look so incredible. I was nervous about choosing two different light fixtures, but I'm glad I went with my instinct. They look so amazing and add great detail to the room.

Finally below is our close to final picture. (We still have paint touch ups, etc.) Drew and I stayed up until 4 am installing moulding, creating the magnet board, building the frame and putting the room back together.

It turned out perfect. The trim brought such an awesome dimension to the room. And brought out the detail of the ceiling. And added much needed light to the room.

The magnetic board is my favorite. I dreamed it up
In my mind and Drew created it. The frame is a 5 inch poplar crown moulding. I am still deciding on a stain color. I want it light like the actual color of the poplar. I may end up just clear coating it. Such a fun/functional accent piece.

The whole board is four feet high by eight+ feet wide. This project was our first project start to finish that we did for someone else where all of the decisions were completely up to us. It was scary and incredible all rolled up. Love spending all those hours with my Drew.

How Pinteresting!

2011-01-05T21:26:00.001-08:00

I've got an obsession! It started with adding subscriptions to my google reader. I was excited to wake up and read it like the morning paper. People do and teach amazing things. And the more engulfed I became the more awesome starred blogs I had saved. The only problem was that it was a huge process to go back to the picture you liked. Or the article you saved. And then I was turned onto this little beauty!

Pinterest.com has become... What would you call it... For some reason I'm only pulling up the Harry Potter term pensieve... Where Dumbledore stores all of his memories... Nerd alert! Ha! I guess what you non wizarding folks would call a journal. But it would take a ton of ink to print out all the wonders I've found on the Internet.

What pinterest does, is when you find a picture you want to save you click on your "pin it" butting saved to your address bar and it let's you save you picture to your page, or more specifically your board. And then when you want to go back to the original site you found the picture on you just click on the photo and it pulls up the site. Now no more wondering where you found something. Or typing random descriptive words into google to try and find something.

I have finally loaded it with all of my starred google reader entries and have added some wish-list accessories and ideas to be used on further dates. So if you want to dip your toes in my brain head on over to pinterest.com/lindsayredd. And if you want to start your own pinterest page let me know. Right now they are by invites or a wait list. Be sure to check out just pintrest.com people have found some pretty awesome things. Happy Pinning!

Lights!

2011-01-03T14:25:00.001-08:00

Lights have made all of the difference in out little kitchen. Especially since we are in our basement apartment. In our true fashion we like to accomplish 3 tasks and then redo at least one of them. We had "finished" the lights and rehung the Sheetrock, but it was just not enough light.

And I really really really wanted art lights to accent our tile. So my dear husband with "little" hesitation ripped out some Sheetrock to put in one more recessed light, and three art lights. And it has made all the difference.

This is a progress shot, but you can see two of the art lights on the left tile wall. They look so good! We didn't put art lights in because of price. At Home Depot they really aren't too expensive but they are twelve to nineteen dollars a light. I just didn't want to spend almost $60 on art lights. And then I stumbled upon these beauties!

From ikea! They are the blixt lights, and they are 3 for $19.99. And they are awesome. They are about the same installation as remodel can recessed lights, where once they are wired they just pop into the ceiling.

We also found a great light for our laundry nook. Super flat and puts odd good light once it warms up.

We got this from ikea as well. $9! Steal! Drew hooked up all the electrical. I am so impressed. He can do it all! We bought some lights for under the cabinets that we haven't installed yet. Our cabinets are being rebuilt. Yes Drew made them once and they were just what I wanted. But then I realized if they were just a touch bigger we could reuse some old cupboard doors. So Drew rebuilt them. What a champ!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T08:48:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure when exactly it was that Drew and I became so... Well boring. New Years Eve we celebrated with painting our cabinets.

Now all they need is a finish coat to keep them nice and white. We also sanded and sealed our countertop. I'm crazy about them! The tile on the ground, by the stove, was the tile we were looking at. I found some on ksl for $0.99 a sq/ft so we'll probably go with that. Sorry our pictures are always taken at night and kind of have a weird yellow tinge to them. I'll work on law of attracting a nice camera into our lives. How else are we going to showcase our work and lives?

...Changes...

2010-12-29T15:19:00.001-08:00

So I finished school at the U. And as a graduation present to myself, decided to apply to go to more school! Hooray!

I spent the last month pulling together my application to LDS Business College, Interior Design program. I had to put together a color board to be accepted into the program. I think it turned out nice. I wanted to make it stand out and not just be on black foam board, so I wrapped the board in canvas so it looked like a linen board.

To maximize space on the 9"X12" board I stacked the upholstery fabrics and made them into a little booklet. I glued the furniture onto the fabric they would be upholstered in.

This is a picture of a collage wall and the accent pieces used to decorate the room. I had my sister write all of the labels, her handwriting is very architectural in style. Does that make sense? It does in my head!

I had to make my own white furniture. I couldn't find a picture I liked. I wanted this trellis wallpaper inside to add some special detail. Love it!

These are the accent colors to be used throughout the room.

My darling husband ripped down a sample of wood so I could make my wood floor into a herringbone pattern. I was scared for Drew's finger tips. He made it out with all his digits. Phew.

I ended up cutting my own dental moulding. Snipped every detail... Worth it... I think so! Well after all this work I got my acceptance letter! Wahoo! Onto the next big adventure!

I can't wait to bump into Hannah on campus. She pretty much runs the school. Trust me! She's even on the website!

That's Some Dog!

2010-11-29T19:02:00.001-08:00

Poor pooches have been neglected. Here is Caesar on his knees begging for some attention.

Look how long he is! What a guy!