This will be short, so don't get too excited...
When we first saw the house, we noticed the microwave was white.. we were slightly confused, since all of the other appliances are black, but since it's above the rangetop, and in where the cabinents are, we've decided they wanted it to match the cabinents. Well, we want it to match the other appliances. Luckily, our friend, Ryan Huff, had heard his buddy was getting rid of a brand new black microwave, that was the same over the range kind and the same size we needed. We were supposed to drive up on Sunday, to Vero, to pick it up, but after working so hard on everything else we just ran out of time. What a blessing in disguise that was... The guy actually had to go to Ryan's work yesterday, and brought it with him, and handed it over to Ryan, who in turn, brought it over last night. While it would've been nice to go pick up the microwave in Vero, and get sushi (our fav!), I think it would've felt like a waste of time. Once the new microwave is hung up, I'll get some pictures on here.. Steven's off to C&T, and I'm off to St. Lucie Elementary. Have a good day, yall!
PS- Only 2 more days until Bruce and Karen are here!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Project-ing
As our good friend Rose would say, we spent the whole weekend project-ing... not projecting like speaking loudly, but project-ing, as in the act of completing projects. We last left this blog with a to-do list, "The rest of the weekend's agenda includes, but is not limited to, painting the guest bath, painting the ceiling trays, tiling a portion of the backsplash in the kitchen, pressure washing Silver Oak, and Ocean Dr (our old place on the beach), as well as finishing up cleaning over there, picking up our washer and dryer, and picking up our microwave." We got a majority of that list completed! How exciting! We got the backsplash all tiled (pictures later in this entry), Ocean Dr. is all set to turn over the keys to our old landlords, washer and dryer are now in our possession. Things we didn't do are pressure washing the outside (it rained today), and picking up the microwave. As far as painting is concerned, while we didn't get the actual paiting done, we did get the hardest part taken care of: choosing a color. We made some final decisions after painting 3 different swatches, and we plan on getting that tackled Monday (1st coat) and Tuesday (2nd coat). Something really great that got taken care of is the utility room (ManBox); it is completely organzied, and what a relief that is. We're almost ready for Bruce and Karen's arrival.
Like previously mentioned, Pat got the backsplash done, and it looks absolutely amazing. Here's a progression of photos:
The Before (Saturday)
Being tiled
The post-tiled ta-da (please ignore the apron, so dorky!)
Grouting (Sunday)
Final (amazing) product:
Initially, we just wanted the tile behind the sink and stove, but are glad we were convinced to go for the whole wall (Thanks, Pat and Angel.). We loved the tile job, but really love it now that it's grouted... the white grout makes the colored tiles stand out so much more. We're pretty sure a more perfect glass tile mosaic color combo, for our place, does not exist.
This place is really coming along, and with every design decision we make, it's really feeling like our home. After the guest bath is painted, we'll get a video tour on here. :)
We've had a very long and exhausting weekend, and have an exciting week ahead of us; time for some rest... finally :)
Like previously mentioned, Pat got the backsplash done, and it looks absolutely amazing. Here's a progression of photos:
The Before (Saturday)
Being tiled
The post-tiled ta-da (please ignore the apron, so dorky!)
Grouting (Sunday)
Final (amazing) product:
Initially, we just wanted the tile behind the sink and stove, but are glad we were convinced to go for the whole wall (Thanks, Pat and Angel.). We loved the tile job, but really love it now that it's grouted... the white grout makes the colored tiles stand out so much more. We're pretty sure a more perfect glass tile mosaic color combo, for our place, does not exist.
This place is really coming along, and with every design decision we make, it's really feeling like our home. After the guest bath is painted, we'll get a video tour on here. :)
We've had a very long and exhausting weekend, and have an exciting week ahead of us; time for some rest... finally :)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Craigslist and other developments..
Craigslist has been a Godsend for us! We've had a little bit of money to play with, but we've had a lot of things to purchase, so it's been a battle of picking and choosing, as to the things we want to spend money on. For those things we've needed, but haven't had enough money to purchase brand new, we've gotten through Craigslist. I know some people are intimidated by it, but for us it's been great. We've gotten a couple things off Craigslist, most importantly our washer and dryer, a loveseat, and as of yesterday, a dresser. It's an antique dresser, with dovetail drawers. It was white, but now is a pretty crazy aqua color. I saw something in a Coastal Living magazine, and I've decided to try it out.
Here's the dresser before:
and here's a couple photos of the painting progress:
.
Sure the color is kind of outrageous, but it looks so great with the blue in our bedroom, and it really gives it a beachy feel. A little bit of sanding, to give it a weathered look, and adding some hardware, and the dresser will be good to go!
Mom (Angel) and I spent the entire day on Friday, getting stuff done. I have ADD, so it's nice to have someone keep me on track. We completely cleared out the guest bedroom of all of the boxes that were living in it. Now it looks much less like a place where boxes go to die, and much more like a guest bedroom, which is perfect timing... because... Steven's Dad (Bruce) and Karen, his long-time girlfriend, are coming in town next Thursday, and we could not be more excited. They're a lot of fun, and Bruce is an incredible carpenter. He's going to (hopefully) build us a banquette (which is a fancy word for breakfast nook/booth) for the dining room. The dining room is an awkward area, and we've decided a banquette would work best. Bruce does amazing work and we can't wait to see what he builds us :)
In addition to Bruce and Karen's arrival on Thursday, the new 52" TV we purchased this week will be arriving. We got a Sony Bravia LCD HDTV, which is rated one of the top TVs.. this is a picture from Sony's website:
.
That means the 42" we currently have in the living room
is moving to our bedroom.. which is one of the reasons we had to get a dresser. I know it seems a bit extravagant, but the 52" will look much better on the large wall in the living room.
We've done a few things in the guest bath, which I'll post when we're closer to finishing up.. which should, hopefully, be by tomorrow night.
The rest of the weekend's agenda includes, but is not limited to, painting the guest bath, painting the ceiling trays, tiling a portion of the backsplash in the kitchen, pressure washing Silver Oak, and Ocean Dr (our old place on the beach), as well as finishing up cleaning over there, picking up our washer and dryer, and picking up our microwave.
Back to work.... Bye for now, yall!
Here's the dresser before:
and here's a couple photos of the painting progress:
.Sure the color is kind of outrageous, but it looks so great with the blue in our bedroom, and it really gives it a beachy feel. A little bit of sanding, to give it a weathered look, and adding some hardware, and the dresser will be good to go!
Mom (Angel) and I spent the entire day on Friday, getting stuff done. I have ADD, so it's nice to have someone keep me on track. We completely cleared out the guest bedroom of all of the boxes that were living in it. Now it looks much less like a place where boxes go to die, and much more like a guest bedroom, which is perfect timing... because... Steven's Dad (Bruce) and Karen, his long-time girlfriend, are coming in town next Thursday, and we could not be more excited. They're a lot of fun, and Bruce is an incredible carpenter. He's going to (hopefully) build us a banquette (which is a fancy word for breakfast nook/booth) for the dining room. The dining room is an awkward area, and we've decided a banquette would work best. Bruce does amazing work and we can't wait to see what he builds us :)
In addition to Bruce and Karen's arrival on Thursday, the new 52" TV we purchased this week will be arriving. We got a Sony Bravia LCD HDTV, which is rated one of the top TVs.. this is a picture from Sony's website:
.That means the 42" we currently have in the living room
is moving to our bedroom.. which is one of the reasons we had to get a dresser. I know it seems a bit extravagant, but the 52" will look much better on the large wall in the living room.
We've done a few things in the guest bath, which I'll post when we're closer to finishing up.. which should, hopefully, be by tomorrow night.
The rest of the weekend's agenda includes, but is not limited to, painting the guest bath, painting the ceiling trays, tiling a portion of the backsplash in the kitchen, pressure washing Silver Oak, and Ocean Dr (our old place on the beach), as well as finishing up cleaning over there, picking up our washer and dryer, and picking up our microwave.
Back to work.... Bye for now, yall!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Weekend #1
We're at the end of our first weekend in the house, and what a great weekend it was. Yesterday (Saturday), we headed down to South Florida, with intentions of meeting up with our good friend Chad McKimm at the Dania Beach Marine Flea Market (marine as in fish stuff, not like the armed forces). We left early, so we could check out IKEA before heading to the Flea Market. My oh my, how overwhelming that place is. There is so much to look at, and because of a great sale, a whole mess of pushy people. Because of Steven's great eye, we ended up in the As Is section, and came across 2 amazing chairs. These were chairs we wanted, but couldn't afford at their full price. We were trying to figure out why they were in the As Is section, what was wrong with them? How were they damaged? Luckily, they were just the floor models, so nothing is wrong with them. We got them for about 40% off their original price. We almost got 2 for the price of one! Here they are:
Because of miscommunication and such, we didn't get to meet up with Chad, but he's planning on heading our direction this weekend, so we'll make up for lost time :)
Today, we had the opportunity to have the company of some of my old friends, Claire and Lindsay. Trish came all the way down (1.5 miles) from her end of Silver Oak, to see the gals also. We all went to high school together, so it's neat to get together after 7 (YIKES) years, post-graduation, and chat about being grown ups, the people we've seen, and the things we've heard over the years. Facebook has taken a bit of the mystery out of these sort of chats, but there's always a couple "Wow, really?"s in there. Claire brought handsome baby Jack, and I got to spend some quality time playing with him.. my, my what a cutie that one is! Lindsay's one of my favorite people from high school, so it's always great seeing her. I made brunch for everyone, and we had a great time chatting, while Dad and Steven hung some of our artwork up; it's kind of crazy the amount of guesswork that's taken out of the equation with a self-leveling laser (Thanks, Dad!). It's amazing how much more it feels like home with some of our favorite pieces on the wall. Now when you hear artwork, don't let your mind wander to Monet or Dali, we fish therefore our artwork is fish! Once we get a couple more pieces up, we'll post some pictures :)
In other news, we had to get a new refrigerator. The day we closed on the house, we flipped on the fridge. The following morning we showed up and were met with an uncool fridge. We had an appliance guy come out, and for $75 he informed us it'd be about $400 to repair. We definitely didn't like the style of the fridge, so it became a battle of, pay $400 to repair something we don't care for or fork over $1200 for something we'll love. After much pros and cons weighing, we decided to purchase something we'd love, brand new. Lowe's offered us no interest for 12-months, so it seemed silly not to take advantage of that. They also offered us the floor model, at a discounted price. On top of that, Steven's Mom and Step-Dad had found us a 10% off coupon. Lowe's is running a delivery rebate offer right now, so we had it delivered. While they were delivering it, it kind of fell off the truck (that sounds way worse that what it actually was), which resulted in 2 scratches on the freezer door, so we got an additional 10% off. After all is said and done, instead of paying $400 to repair something we didn't like, we paid less than $1000 for a fridge we love.
Bye-Bye Old!:
Hello New!: 
Last but not least, we've been into checking out the antique stores around town, and picking up some really great stuff. In the kitchen, there's a bar type deal, and we knew we'd need some barstools. Luckily, we came across 2 barstools at the Antique place on Midway for only $35. When I saw that price tag, I thought it was a little steep, but sent Steven to check them out on his lunch break. When he filled me in on what the price tag actually said $35 for both, I said to grab them. The seat was covered in an early 90's teal, so Steven showed me how to cover them. Steven's Mom and Step-Dad have a slipcover business, and he used to help them out, so he knows quite a bit about this kind of stuff. Actually, for my birthday, they gave me a sewing machine and some fabric to practice on.. I can't wait to make a little room in the spare bedroom, and a little time to learn to use it. Anyways, back to the barstools... we used some of the cute coral fabric they gave me to practice with, to cover the seats. This is what they looked like before:
and this is what they look like now:
.
I know this isn't really house related, but I'm pretty proud of my sister, Lauren. Today, she took the big leap and cut off 10 inches of her hair to donate to Locks of Love. Her hair is shorter than it's ever been, and it's amazing how much older she looks with it shorter. It's a very cute and trendy cut, and after about an hour of freaking out, I think she finally realized it. Im very proud of her! I forgot to upload those pictures, I'll try to remember tomorrow ;)
Well, that's about all for now - just going to try to finish up unpacking some of these boxes this week, so we can video tour this place without tripping :)
Because of miscommunication and such, we didn't get to meet up with Chad, but he's planning on heading our direction this weekend, so we'll make up for lost time :)
Today, we had the opportunity to have the company of some of my old friends, Claire and Lindsay. Trish came all the way down (1.5 miles) from her end of Silver Oak, to see the gals also. We all went to high school together, so it's neat to get together after 7 (YIKES) years, post-graduation, and chat about being grown ups, the people we've seen, and the things we've heard over the years. Facebook has taken a bit of the mystery out of these sort of chats, but there's always a couple "Wow, really?"s in there. Claire brought handsome baby Jack, and I got to spend some quality time playing with him.. my, my what a cutie that one is! Lindsay's one of my favorite people from high school, so it's always great seeing her. I made brunch for everyone, and we had a great time chatting, while Dad and Steven hung some of our artwork up; it's kind of crazy the amount of guesswork that's taken out of the equation with a self-leveling laser (Thanks, Dad!). It's amazing how much more it feels like home with some of our favorite pieces on the wall. Now when you hear artwork, don't let your mind wander to Monet or Dali, we fish therefore our artwork is fish! Once we get a couple more pieces up, we'll post some pictures :)
In other news, we had to get a new refrigerator. The day we closed on the house, we flipped on the fridge. The following morning we showed up and were met with an uncool fridge. We had an appliance guy come out, and for $75 he informed us it'd be about $400 to repair. We definitely didn't like the style of the fridge, so it became a battle of, pay $400 to repair something we don't care for or fork over $1200 for something we'll love. After much pros and cons weighing, we decided to purchase something we'd love, brand new. Lowe's offered us no interest for 12-months, so it seemed silly not to take advantage of that. They also offered us the floor model, at a discounted price. On top of that, Steven's Mom and Step-Dad had found us a 10% off coupon. Lowe's is running a delivery rebate offer right now, so we had it delivered. While they were delivering it, it kind of fell off the truck (that sounds way worse that what it actually was), which resulted in 2 scratches on the freezer door, so we got an additional 10% off. After all is said and done, instead of paying $400 to repair something we didn't like, we paid less than $1000 for a fridge we love.
Bye-Bye Old!:
Hello New!: 
Last but not least, we've been into checking out the antique stores around town, and picking up some really great stuff. In the kitchen, there's a bar type deal, and we knew we'd need some barstools. Luckily, we came across 2 barstools at the Antique place on Midway for only $35. When I saw that price tag, I thought it was a little steep, but sent Steven to check them out on his lunch break. When he filled me in on what the price tag actually said $35 for both, I said to grab them. The seat was covered in an early 90's teal, so Steven showed me how to cover them. Steven's Mom and Step-Dad have a slipcover business, and he used to help them out, so he knows quite a bit about this kind of stuff. Actually, for my birthday, they gave me a sewing machine and some fabric to practice on.. I can't wait to make a little room in the spare bedroom, and a little time to learn to use it. Anyways, back to the barstools... we used some of the cute coral fabric they gave me to practice with, to cover the seats. This is what they looked like before:
and this is what they look like now:
.I know this isn't really house related, but I'm pretty proud of my sister, Lauren. Today, she took the big leap and cut off 10 inches of her hair to donate to Locks of Love. Her hair is shorter than it's ever been, and it's amazing how much older she looks with it shorter. It's a very cute and trendy cut, and after about an hour of freaking out, I think she finally realized it. Im very proud of her! I forgot to upload those pictures, I'll try to remember tomorrow ;)
Well, that's about all for now - just going to try to finish up unpacking some of these boxes this week, so we can video tour this place without tripping :)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
All moved in..
On Sunday we moved 99% of our stuff to the new house. Since it was Sunday, that means our house is about 50% in boxes still. It's kind of overwhelming to still have so much stuff to go through and unpack, especially when we're so exhausted and just want to rest! No pictures were taken of moving day... while that might make us terrible bloggers, it does in fact make us great movers. With the help of some good friends and family, we it all knocked out in one day!
With all of the overwhelming-ness of moving, there has been one great getaway - Trish and Philippe's. They also bought recently on the same street as us, and have put some serious time and effort into turning their house into something gorgeous! They have a daughter Brianna, who is 1 1/2 and very smart, and it's pretty neat to be able to implement some the educational strategies I'm learning with her. They are also expecting their second baby in May, and I can't wait to feed the fam casseroles when mama and baby first come home from the hospital. We're definitely looking forward to summer BBQs and having a neighbor to call if we need to borrow something. It's great to have friends so close!
As soon as we get most of our stuff put away, we'll take some photos and hopefully, a video tour, and post them on here!
With all of the overwhelming-ness of moving, there has been one great getaway - Trish and Philippe's. They also bought recently on the same street as us, and have put some serious time and effort into turning their house into something gorgeous! They have a daughter Brianna, who is 1 1/2 and very smart, and it's pretty neat to be able to implement some the educational strategies I'm learning with her. They are also expecting their second baby in May, and I can't wait to feed the fam casseroles when mama and baby first come home from the hospital. We're definitely looking forward to summer BBQs and having a neighbor to call if we need to borrow something. It's great to have friends so close!
As soon as we get most of our stuff put away, we'll take some photos and hopefully, a video tour, and post them on here!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Eve of Our Big Move
The big day is finally here! After a week of hard work, our new place is finally painted in colors we love. Today, after finishing up our to-do list for the morning, we decided to take a little break and headed down to the Art Fest by the Sea in Juno Beach. We've attended this festival the past two years, and have purchased most of our artwork at it. Today, we made a small purchase from a local artist, that should work well in the dining area. Hopefully the wall colors we've chosen will look great with all of our artwork.
This might sound cliche, but we are so excited to finally be moving into the new house. We're ready to live in one place; driving between the two has become a real chore. As excited as we are, we're equally nervous... will we have enough stuff to fill the new place? While we are growing out of our current place, we're not sure our stuff will be enough, especially the 489302493 cabinets in the kitchen; we might have to store other stuff in the kitchen. If you come to our house, open a kitchen cabinet and find something unrelated to the kitchen, say fishing lures, don't be surprised.
Time for some packing and then, finally, some shut eye! Check back soon for some photos and a video tour :)
This might sound cliche, but we are so excited to finally be moving into the new house. We're ready to live in one place; driving between the two has become a real chore. As excited as we are, we're equally nervous... will we have enough stuff to fill the new place? While we are growing out of our current place, we're not sure our stuff will be enough, especially the 489302493 cabinets in the kitchen; we might have to store other stuff in the kitchen. If you come to our house, open a kitchen cabinet and find something unrelated to the kitchen, say fishing lures, don't be surprised.
Time for some packing and then, finally, some shut eye! Check back soon for some photos and a video tour :)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
It's Official...
...we're bloggers, and more importantly, homeowners!
Welcome to our house blog!
Incase you are wondering, Silver Oak is the street on which our new house is located. Speaking of new house, what a roller coaster of emotions we've experienced since closing on it last Friday (3.6.09). We've felt everything from happy about actually (read: finally) owning this particular house after waiting since November 2008, to sad for the people who lost it; mostly, we've felt overwhelmed. Every homeowner knows the to-do list increases by at least two tasks for every one task completed (that's science), and that's something we're figuring out. We watch a lot of HGtv and they make it seem so easy to pull a room together, but when you're without designers, the logistics get a little fuzzy. We're taking it one step at a time... that's all we can do, right? Unless of course someone knows how to take it like two or three steps at a time, please let us know ASAP :)
Onto what you probably came here for... the before pictures!
(click the thumbnails!)
Stay tuned for the mid-project photos, and of course, the after photos (should be available at a half past never... j/k! Optimism, Christina, Optimism...)!
Yall take care,
Steven and Christina
Welcome to our house blog!
Incase you are wondering, Silver Oak is the street on which our new house is located. Speaking of new house, what a roller coaster of emotions we've experienced since closing on it last Friday (3.6.09). We've felt everything from happy about actually (read: finally) owning this particular house after waiting since November 2008, to sad for the people who lost it; mostly, we've felt overwhelmed. Every homeowner knows the to-do list increases by at least two tasks for every one task completed (that's science), and that's something we're figuring out. We watch a lot of HGtv and they make it seem so easy to pull a room together, but when you're without designers, the logistics get a little fuzzy. We're taking it one step at a time... that's all we can do, right? Unless of course someone knows how to take it like two or three steps at a time, please let us know ASAP :)
Onto what you probably came here for... the before pictures!
(click the thumbnails!)
Stay tuned for the mid-project photos, and of course, the after photos (should be available at a half past never... j/k! Optimism, Christina, Optimism...)!
Yall take care,
Steven and Christina
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