Now, I ain't sayin' he a Golddigger. . .

Rob thinks he is too cool for school in this picture. Even if he's not, our new epoxy floor in the sun porch is. We love it! My dad told me he secretly thought I was crazy for putting that type of flooring in. But even he loves it. And we all know if Jim's happy, everybody's happy.

They actually have to come back and redo it though. I guess one of their rollers disintegrated while they were doing it so it looks kind of bumpy in places. You can't really tell unless you're staring right at it, but I plan to do a lot of mindless staring in that room.

Here are a few other pictures of how it turned out. P.S. Sorry the quality of pictures in this blog are all ghetto fab. I've been using Rob's phone for a lot of them. My charger got lost when we moved and I was too attached to the old one to replace it. Or just lazy.

My grandparent's had a sliding door with vertical blinds to separate the room from the kitchen. We're going to put white french doors instead.

Top the room off with my new capiz shell chandelier and some wicker furniture and we'll be laughing.

We also added the epoxy downstairs in the laundry room and bathroom. It wasn't very much more to add it, and I think it will look cool in the basement. People hanging in the family room will be dying to peek in there when they see the splash of color hiding under the door.

I had plenty of other pictures to add of the basement epoxy, but I wanted to stress how freakishly skinny Rob's legs/body are. This is what I'm up against, people. And it's not right.

Light it Up

Doesn't Rob look glorious basking in the afternoon sun? I can't find a picture, but we ditched the light bulbs and the molding from the sky light. Our electrician said it was weird to have them. So rude, yet so smart.

With the kitchen remodel and moving around appliances, we found out we had to do some new wiring. Apparently Virginia's house is "illegal" in the world of electricity. What a rebel, huh? Or just unsafe. You decide.

Rob decided to upgrade all the light switches and outlets while we had the electrician over. Fabulous idea, Bob! I can't believe how much it modernized the place.


We also decided to add can lights in the living room and kitchen. The living room already had two-- which have produced pink lights all their days. Gorgeous. My dad told me years ago they burned out and he replaced them with regular lights. Virginia wasn't having it. She sent him straight back for the pink ones.


Here's some shots of the existing and new lights in the LR:


And the kitchen:

At first I was worried the kitchen might be a titch too bright, but then I read a study last week that said you're likely to eat less food in a well-lit room. I'll take it.

And check out our bonus nightlight for when Rob (me) gets scared at night:

We have one on both sets of stairs. He insisted.

Eat, Drink and Remodel

A lot has been going on lately in the home of Virginia. A few fights (Rob and the barefoot floor sander), a few tears (me when I thought the sun porch floor was ruined), and a lot of Jim/Rob bonding time. I get a really strong feeling Virginia's loving it all. I catch myself standing in certain rooms of the house just smiling away at the changes we've made. I also seem to be high fiving my dad and Rob whenever I see them. Just letting them know I appreciate their work.

I haven't posted anything lately, but I have some good reasons why:

1. This time of year is really busy for me at work.
2. My laptop died.
3. I've been deciding whether or not to cut my hair.

Just your usual stuff.

So anyway, I'll be back with a blogging vengeance this week. Get pumped.

Rob's pumped about it (and the new lights):

My dad's pumped about it (and the fact he's almost done putting together all those cabinets):


We're all pretty pumped about it.

Here's a shot of how great the kitchen is looking. More to come!

Bare It

Just one more shot of the floor guy in his realm. Because it really cracks me up.


I'm not going to lie, though. I'd take his legs.

Wood Workin' It

What seems like forever ago, we pulled all the carpet off the already there wood floor. All of upstairs, the main floor and two sets of stairs have wood floor from the 60s. It actually looks pretty good, but it doesn't match the color of the kitchen wood floor (which was an update Virginia did years ago). We decided to sand them down and stain them all walnut. Great, right?

I was all for hiring out. Rob and my dad were all for hiring themselves. I walked by my dad's office on more than one occasion with a YouTube video pulled up on how to sand a wood floor yourself. Oh, dad.

They ended up renting a couple of sanders from Home Depot and went to town.

This is me filling all the holes with some paste stuff. Just doing my part.

This is how the wood floor turned out after sanded and stained by Rob. 'Grim' is what the professional called it who we had come look at it. I know, I know- listen to me next time, guys. Just kidding, they actually did a great job sanding and this pic isn't really fair since the floor is dirty. The Home Depot sanders just don't have the oomph needed to do the job, though.

Lesson learned I guess. Don't let some old guy at Home Depot (or a YouTube video) talk you into it.

So we've hired out the sanding, and then we'll just stain it ourselves. Here's our guy doing his thing.

Is anyone else creeped out he's sanding the floors barefoot?? My dad thought maybe he liked to feel the floor. I think it's because he wears these kind of shoes:

A guy wearing Birkenstock style shoes? Please. Going barefoot is his way of life.

Cuckoo

I'm cuckoo for this in my kitchen.

Holy Cabinet

We picked up our cabinets from Ikea last night. Has anyone ever had to do that?? Those Swedes mean business. Before you leave, you have to go through EACH box/item, find the SKU on your checklist and then cross it off. We had four huge carts to go through. Whew.

Gina was nice enough to come over and help me with the process. She is a-mazing at doing crap like that. Thorough little bird. For some creepy reason, I kind of enjoyed doing it. Just me and big sis doing a little team work.




So I guess I'll see everyone over at my place this weekend to have a cabinet assembling party? BYODC.

Also, we spotted this guy running through our new neighborhood in church clothes the other day.


I'm sure it's only a matter of time till we're hanging.

Inside Out

I'm really excited about the furniture we're putting in the house. Rob's really excited for me to stop buying it. Dream on.

Here are a few pics of some beauties that will make their home in Virginia.

Two of these for the living room.

The lamp, not the couch. Although, that's pretty close to what my couch looks like except in ivory.

Two of these painted red and put side by side for the coffee table!

Large area rug for the living room. (The ivory one)

With this guy layered on top of it! Maxine thinks Jodee has lost. her. mind.

To put above the fireplace.


A few of these for the entry way and sun porch.

Isn't Virginia looking SO 2009??

Island Fever

Matt, the cabinet guy from Ikea came the other day to give Virginia's kitchen a new layout. In the process, he crushed my hopes and dreams of using this island. He "claims" it's too big and would run into the wall creating a walking hazard. Whatevs, Matt.

He did give Ginny a nice new look though, even without the island. We're going with the Lindingo cabinets in white. I'm pretty pumped about them.


Here's a few pics Matt sent me of the new layout. Not what I had originally envisioned, but I think it's going to look pretty great.





We're making a few minor changes, like adding glass doors on the cabinets above the dishwasher. Jodee told me she was watching Baby Mama, and they used all glass in their kitchen and it looked incred. Besides, it's like I've always said, "If it's good enough for Tina Fey, it's good enough for me." That, and my kitchen is pretty small so why not open it up?

I'm still up in the night on what to do for counter tops. Laminate? Solid surface? Granite? The cabinets are ringing in a tad higher than we hoped, so I'm not sure I want to pull out the big guns. I've toyed around with doing butcher block (WAY cheap), but Matt said they're a lot of upkeep. I mean, I'm pretty busy...especially with fall tv starting.


Any suggestions? Anyone know a guy? Help Virginia out.

Whatta Man

Rob came home today saying he “hates paint”. I told him to get over it then got him an orange soda. Worked like a charm. I think he's still harboring bad memories from his childhood summers. His dad is a house painter, and apparently he had to wake up at 5AM every morning to go work for him.

Personally, I think he should be thanking his dad. Look how much great stuff he knows how to do for me now.

Speaking of great stuff-- if anyone ever wants to try a light blue/grey color of paint, I’m your paint pimp. I’m not going to tell you how much I spent on samples. And this isn’t even all of them.

We had the color all picked out and then made a life-saving-last-minute switch to this:

And if you're wondering if we only had it mixed at 20%, then you're right. It's coming along beautifully. I can't wait till the windows and all the trim are painted white. Just make it pop, ya know?

Here's a little preview of how it turned out in the basement:

Thanksforeverything.

Country Roads, Take Me Home.

I used to l-o-v-e country music. I could listen to it all day, every day...it's like each song was written for me. I think my love stemmed from working on my grandpa's farm for a few summers up in in Newton with my cousins. Here is how a typical day went:

• Really Early: Wake up and go pull rye or move pipe.
• 10:30ish AM: Come home and nap.
• The Rest of the Day: Call and prank cereal companies and/or do whatever we felt like. Also. CMT was on THE ENTIRE DAY.
  

We would leave it on and then hurry and press record on the VCR when a tape-worthy video came on. Here are a few of our faves.

• Karlee: Independence Day, Martina McBride.
• Christie: Tell Me I Was Dreaming, Travis Tritt.
• Katie: The Dance, Garth Brooks.
  

Another favorite of Katie's was 'Standing Outside the Fire' (of course by GB). I was DYING to see this video. Katie had really hyped it up-- a cute handicapped boy who is running in a track meet. He falls just before the finish line, but gets cheered on by his mom and coach to finish. I know, right? I had to see it. It's like CMT knew it was a fan favorite though and never played it. One day after another great nap, my grandma told me Katie had called to tell me "the video" was on. WHAT!?! It was like taking a bullet. Grandma grandma grandma. Rest assured I did finally see the video, and yes- it was everything I had hoped it would be.

Years later, I began to h-a-t-e country music. No reason, really. My friend Lindsey and I decided it was lame and made a vow to disown it. I really don't think I listened for a good 3-4 years. Working on Virginia has changed all of that, though. It's like my soul was screaming for it as I was getting down and dirty with all the work the house has offered us. At first I almost felt guilty pressing play, but before I knew it I was singing right a long. Total bliss. Alabama, John Denver, Keith Urban...I need it all!

So thanks, Karlee and Katie for getting my love started. And Virginia, thanks for bringing me home.

Christie's Cafe

My cousin Karlee and I used to always play "restaurant" and that was the name of my establishment. Delicious food. There's also been a lot of delicious food emerge from Virginia's kitchen. She truly was one classy cook. Rob requests her oatmeal raisin cookies on a regular basis. Um Rob, I'm kinda busy with a home remodeling project last time I checked. JK, guys. I'm a sucker for baking cookies.

Anyway, on to my new cafe. I don't know how my dad's family of 5 kids (4 being boys) survived in that kitchen! Talk about crampville. It was a U-shaped kitchen, with a bar that was from the devil. It had cupboards above the bar so it really closed you in. Here are some shots of the kitchen and the disassembling process. (Side note: my grandma wasn't a hoarder. They were cleaning out the house the day I took some of these)

The oven didn't fit a cookie sheet. Unacceptable.

V really loved her pink.




Right through there is where the dining table went.

Jim's loving life. Ahh. Much better, right? Instead of the U-shaped kitchen, I'm going to have the counter tops and cupboards make an L-shape and put this guy where the bar used to be. Top it off with barstools on the other side.

The kitchen is really going to be fab. Jodee came up with an amazing new seating arrangement that really opens up the room. Just you wait.