Happy Haunting

I must admit that since Bart and I have been married we have not been "into" Halloween.  I only buy one bag of candy and as soon as it's gone, we turn the lights out and go to a movie.  I assume that all of this will change once we have our own trick-or-treater but until then we like it status quo. 
That doesn't mean we don't like a good Halloween party with costumes, games, and great food though.

Many thanks to the hostess Lizzabeth (only I can call her that) who made cute invitations, decorated her house and INVITED us.

My mom and I spent hours making our matching Mr. and Mrs. costumes.  The only reason I had costumes was because of her and her expertise. Thanks MOM.

I think we are the best Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head that was ever made.

All of the party animals came in costume and we had lots of fun visiting, laughing, eating and taking pictures.  I am embarrassed that I already forgot some names but I did...

Carlene and hubby as crayon and paper

Michael and Jennifer Fong

 

Meg and Abe Ford

Cassidy and Nate Hansen

Tim and wife

Britta and Christian Weiss

Thanks again to Liz for all the planning and coordinating that she did.  If we get our house done by Christmas EVERYONE is invited to an ugly sweater contest/party.

Happy Halloween to us.



Sneak Peek

I got my wallpaper and I really really like it.  Now some of you maybe saying "Hey, that wasn't one of the wallpaper options" and you are correct.  I had to veto all of my first choices.  The imperial trellis was too expensive, the 3 trellis patterns only came in 20 inch wide rolls and my wall was 27 inches and the 2 Antonina Vella options would have needed to be trimmed and since I'm a novice that sounded too hard. 

I am excited for my mom to come down and help me put up my wallpaper!

We need a facelift

If you remember, I worked for plastic surgeon for a year. Thus, I should be considered an expert in the cosmetic/aesthetic department. With all my experience, I decided that our house needed a facelift. Sorry that I don't have anything else to post about besides the house- I forgot my camera for our trip to Hilton Head, and all we do is house projects...I guess I could blog about the fast food we've been eating this last year.

Bart pullout out all the overgrown phitzers when we first moved in and then we mulched and planted hostas and a Japanese maple.

Last week we decided to tackle the front door and nasty geometric window that terribly dates the house.

The window isn't complete yet but the new front door is great.

We will see what the rest of the weekend brings since it's only Friday night...I used to think the weekend was for dating and fun but Bart disagrees.

Kitchen's don't go in the garage

When we moved into our house, we also moved in a new kitchen that I bought off KSL.com into the garage and there it has sat for over 6 months.  We finally decided to put the kitchen on the top of the "To Do" list and here is a photo journal of the progress.

As you can see, we did some major gutting, wall moving and upgrading.  We still have a lot more to do-get water, power, counters, flooring and paint, etc. but I think we have made progress.

Warning: This is a vanity post

October 4, 2007

Happy four years to us.  Four years isn't anything compared to my grandparent who just celebrated 66 years or my parent at 34 or my in-laws at 39, but hey I'll take what I've got.

I have a lot to learn from these two, I am so grateful that they are in my life.

Thank heavens for my mom who followed us around to all our photo shoots.

I loved planning my wedding, I loved how everything turned out and I have learned more about love in the last four years than I thought was possible. XOXOXOXO

Saturday is a special day...

It's the day that Bart gets lots of work done day!

Welcome to my living room. This is a long narrow room with floor to ceiling windows that are drafty and not very energy efficient.

When my dad first saw the house, he suggested that we build a pony wall and install standard windows-so that's just what we did.

Bart bought three 4x4 windows from Home Depot and then started in on removing the old glass...and he didn't break one of them!

The windows were smaller than the opening, so Bart had to build out those red beams (pictured above) and build the wall under the new windows.

 

 One window down...only 2 more to go.



Don't worry, someday we will replace that nasty, old, green, roof-not sure if it should even be called a roof.





Bart was even able to insulate and sheetrock the wall AND put up blinds. I love the blinds because now we can have the window open (to let airflow in, the room was soooo stagnate before) and not have the neighbors look in.

Bart is a busy boy and I am grateful that he will tackle these projects. Thanks for all the comments on the wallpaper.  I think I have narrowed it down and I've learned a lot about wallpaper. I'll let you know how it turns out-when I actually get around to it.





Part of our vacation

Since I have been busy making Halloween costumes, I haven't had a chance to blog about our vacation yet. But, my mom did a post on Charleston, SC- it has some great pictures and historical facts.  Please check it out at www.neesnews.blogspot.com

To wallpaper, or not to wallpaper, that is the question.

I need to first start off by asking my mother for forgiveness for all the mean comments I made to her about how out of style her ice cream cone pants (aka- skinny jeans), bug eye sunglasses and wallpaper were. I have eaten my words because I have decided to try my hand/luck at wallpaper. I must admit I am nervous though, thus I am only doing wallpaper in one room and only above the wainscot.
Right now the room is the "2nd bedroom" and it is being used as the computer room, Bart's closet and my elliptical room. Someday when we have a child it will be the nursery, so I need this wallpaper to be gender neutral in theme and color and hopefully not too trendy-I would hate to have the wallpaper go out of style before we even have kids.

This is what the room looks like, I gave you a picture before the wainscot was painted so you can see what level it is. I want the wallpaper above the wainscoting up to the ceiling. Remember that the floors are dark brown and the walls are white-a very neutral color palate.

Choices, choices, choices. 

First up we have Imperial Trellis in charcoal, I left it running vertical like it is marketed.

2. Imperial Trellis in silver. I turned it horizontal because that way I would only need 2 rolls and I wouldn't have to piece any seams together...and these first 2 are pricey (don't tell Bart).

Next up, three different colors from Seabrook wallpaper in the same design.

3. Silver Lattice

4. Champagne Lattice

5. Tan Lattice. I again turned this wallpaper horizontal. I think it looks just fine-what about you? I should save a lot of time if I hang the wallpaper horizontal...and again it would be less expensive.

6. Antonina Vella in brown, turned horizontal.

This is the view from the hallway. I would like for the wallpaper to be noticeable and say, "Hey come look at me",-in a good way though.

7. Lastly Antonina Vella in tan, shown vertical, the way it's meant to be.

So what do you think?  Please, please help me. If you have never commented, now is your time! Any comments or suggestions are wanted and needed.
THANKS.

Score!

We scored a great deal on hardware the other week.  Bart and I were headed to the lighting department at Lowe's and I noticed a large cart sitting in the aisle.  Of course I stopped and looked...Bart kept walking (he is normally one track minded and doesn't like my detours). It turned out that Lowe's had just discounted their stock of last years knobs and pulls...I hit the hardware jackpot.

In total we bought 51 pieces of hardware for our 2 bathrooms, downstairs kitchen, upstairs bedrooms and I even got a knob for the hallway.

Our total for the hardware was $31 dollars!!! I figured that we saved over 220 dollars just by being in the right place at the right time. HOORAY.

This next week I hope to post about our fun trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, as well as all the electrical work that Bart has been doing. Thanks for reading my little blog :)