So Long and Farewell

We live in a house that is dwarfed by two huge Evergreen trees. In fact our neighborhood was apparently infested with these trees. Everyone has a story to tell about the enormous trees that they removed from their yard. Well this is our story.

I forgot to take pictures of our house with the trees infront. So google maps came to my aid. Above is a satellite view of our house. The road infront during the winter was always just ice because the road rarely saw sun.

Our house is in their somewhere.

Don't mind the construction debry on our back patio. You can't miss the trees towering over the house.

One of the beasts.

We have been getting bids on tree removal and some places have been outrageous. We got a bid from Discount Tree Removal and they gave us a great deal. They infact just showed up on our front porch one day ready to work. No appointment needed! Haha

Can you see how itty bitty our house looks underneath those trees?

One tree down.

And voilà. A house emerges! It doesn't even look like the same house. It's going to look so amazing when we get the lawn all put back together. You can finally see all of Drew's handy work.

Portico Update

Drew put the finishing touches on the trim for the portico. And it looks better then I could have ever imagined!

He put a belly band on the bottom of the portico, and individually cut the shingles for a more authentic look.

As Drew was ripping off the aluminum siding, we found some very nice wood trim that was original to the portico. It worked perfect for the moulding around the shingles.

This is our test patch for the paint color for the house. We got the paint sample from one of the families I work for. It is the color of the house they used to live in! I think it will be just perfect!

Better After... Feature

My leather chair makeover was featured on this awesome blog, betterafter.blogspot.com. I love before and afters, and what's better then a blog dedicated to just that! Check out Lindsey's blog! It's super fun!

Drew Can Do

Drew got some major work done on Saturday.

He trimmed out both windows. I started scraping off the windows to be repainted.

And it's crazy how much they changed the look of the house.

Then he moved onto the porch. The part I was most excited for.

The door is framed, now the actual door needs to be sanded and painted. I have the prettiest color in mind.

It is all coming together so nicely.

The posts were inspired by my friends basement trim. Shout out to Texas St! I am loving drastically it is updating the look of the house. Next on the list are the shingles for the portico. Stay tuned.

Arm Chair Makeover

Perhaps you remember this little guy, who we snagged from a lady as she was about to unload him into the landfill.

Well he was in perfect condition (yes objects in my life have genders.) but was very sun faded. And next to our other couch which wasn't sun faded, our yellow table, and our funky rug it was just a little too much color for me.

Well we bought leather dye a long time ago, I just never got around to it.

Well I was in the middle of scrubbing baseboards, and about to scratch my eyeballs out I hated it so bad. I decided, no time like the present to dye our chair. And because, like my sister says, I have the attention span of a Yorkie puppy, I couldn't be bothered with trying to find gloves. Big mistake... More on that later. So I applied the dye in fast circular motions and BAM it's like a new chair!

I love it... I'm just sitting here admiring it in our living room!! It was too easy! But with every project comes a battle scar.

Just hope I can find a way to get it off before Wednesday for Drew's sister's wedding. Yikes.

Maybe I'll just tell people it's frostbite. Look at Drew's toes, sneaking into my pictures!

Guess Where We Are!?!

Yep, our home away from home... Wanna know what we (again I mean Drew) are doing?

We are giving this sad little lady a face lift! And it's going to be amazing...

We got so excited that we have already ripped off the iron posts and the plastic shutters on the windows. Ps, I always thought those were wood, they are not. We decided that we are going to blog the whole process to keep out loyal followers up to date. Prepare to have your mind blown.

As I write right now we, Caesar, Cleo and I are sitting outside of Home Depot waiting for Drew to pick up some drill bits. I guess I have just gotten so used to our dogs that I am always surprised when people walk passed the car and say how big they are.

Everyone comments.

I know they are big, but how do they tell from so far away?

Tonight we picked up some wood, glue and brackets to get started on the framing.

Drew got right to work ripping off the exterior of the portico.

And installing the 4X4s.

Below is a mock up of how the porch will look. Very well sketched by Drew.

We will keep you updated on the progress! Hopefully the weather holds out like my iPhone weather app promises.

Rocking Chair

The rocking chair is finished! The before...

And the after...

I'm not sure I'm in love with it yet. It may take a while to grow on me. Most likely it will stay this color no matter what, because it took me 3+ hours to paint it. Good night!

Rearranging....

Well now that most of the projects are wrapping up (or so I thought) we have been trying to pull out house back together. But I just kept getting hung up on the placement of furniture. My sister Kami has 'the eye' and I kidnapped her on Sunday to come redo our arrangement. She space our furniture, when we lived in the upstairs of our house, perfectly. As shown in the picture, that has been seen many times, below.

I had our couch next to some built in shelves, but it was just too heavy in that corner of the room.

And the table behind the couch was just okay.

Well in 30 minutes Kami (pronounced like Amy with a K., Remember that name, she's going to be famous when we start a staging company) transformed our home.

Flipping couches around, angling chairs, unrolling carpets, widdling small dolls out of wood. You name it she did it! And I am in awe. I would have never placed furniture where she placed it, but some how after she does it, it's like... How did I not think of that, it was just meant to be there.

She even convinced me to keep a rug I thought might be too loud.

Then she put a painting over the mirror and made this side table complete. It always looked like it was missing something. (This side table is my next project. It was given to me by a family I nanny for, and I want to put silver leaf on it.)

So it looks like this. (I cannot remember where I found this picture. So if anyone knows let me know so I can site it and give them credit.) Kami's (Amy with a K. Keep up with me) next stop was the built in shelf unit. That I have hated for as long as we have lived here.

My pathetic attempt to decorate, it is much better here then what it was a year ago, bleak.

Kami's vision which will be complete after pictures are developed, and those 2 cream frames are painted black... There might be something else but I'm not sure. Kam, (that's what I call her. Like aim with a K. I think your getting it ; ) ) I'll call you tomorrow to check. Now to the bedroom.

Our sad little dresser top. A stolen picture from my mom. Even though she said I could borrow it, but now denies it. And sand from out honeymoon in the Bahamas. It just needed something more. So perhaps you remember this nasty mirror from our bathroom. That Drew literally with his two hands ripped from the wall. Well I cleaned it off and found a new home.

A perfect resting spot for my perfumer. It's like I have my very own Nordstrom.

Of course Kami came in and adjusted everything.

Even put my perfume at a perfect angle. For a final touch she even found a perfect home for our H that my friend Carly made for me.

And just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone... In a whirlwind of style and grace... Thanks Kami for finally making our house feel adjusted. In other news I got my peg board hung and bathroom organized.

Finally some method to the madness. Now all I have to do, after all said projects are completed, is paint this rocking chair. I think I found the perfect blue.

Another Martha Stewart special... Should be just delightful.

So much to do....