New Planters

It took a little longer than planned to pick up our planters, but finally our Madagascar palms are happily potted in their new homes.  I think both the pots and the plants make classy yet sassy additions to our newly painted house!  

Appearance numero dos

This past Saturday Jonathan and I made it back into the papers, pictures and all.  Not bad considering we've been in the state for less than an year and have had our happy mugs in the paper twice.  The article as well as photos can be seen by clicking on the link below.  Some of the pictures may look familiar as they were taken from the blog : ).  Enjoy!

The article title is: Remodels turn foreclosures into gems
http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/

Exterior Beautification

Reader advisory: The final color, as seen in the slide show to the left, may take some adjusting to. But, give it time, perhaps come back tomorrow and give it another look because I'm guessing it will start to grow on you with time.

When we first bought our house, it was covered in white vinyl siding. Jonathan ripped off vinyl siding and discovered what is called board and batten. Initially we thought about sandblasting the block, but it would have required parting with a few too many Benjamin's for our budget, so after a few paint options and much consideration we decided on one of the "Suburbon Modern" color palette combo from Sherwin Williams.

As with most projects, the prep took way longer than expected. We've been working off and on since December, and once we got to painting I started with the window frames on the very front of the house. I then tested out the green to be sure it was a keeper and moved on to prime/paint the board and batten. One task at a time is never enough so I decided to start priming and painting the under beams that support the roof.

As if painting wasn't fun enough, the beams that support the overhang of the roof are not only over head, but are broken into about 30 subsections by vertical beams and include a gap between the horizontal beams that cannot be painted with a roller like the beam itself. No no, you have to dip a brush into paint then smoosh it between the boards. Its quite the lovely, repetitive, awkward process.

Two Saturdays ago I managed to both clean and prime all of the block in the front of the house. Since blocks are porous surfaces I had the pleasure of painting with a 3/4 inch thick roller. This thick roller saturated with paint is akin to painting with a soaked beach towel on a stick. By the time I finish painting the house I just may have forearms that would make Popeye jealous.

This weekend Jonathan and I tackled the first application of the main color, Stratford Blue, and continued painting Plymouth Green on the beams. After I peeled my slightly cramped hand off of the heavy roller, post first layer completion, we stepped back to the street to admire the color and I am the first to admit, I was a bit overwhelmed. Did I really want to live in a play house? I know that the hideous red rock front yard wasn't helping the situation. This isn't your grandma's beige, and its it takes some time to warm up to.

Its now Monday and the blue has won its way into my heart. Yes, its a bold choice, and a bit out of the norm, but its quite fun and definitely catches your eye when you drive by. I dare say the marketing of the color palette is right on the money when it says the colors are "Bright, sunny colors from the 1950s reflecting the optimism of a nation." I can't speak for the optimisim of the 50's, but I like the sounds of "bright", "sunny" and "optimisim".

Eventually (sooner rather than later) the red rock will be replaced with something more neutral, calming and less distracting. As of last night Jonathan ripped up some unattractive stone between the house and the front walkway and filled in the void with river rock. This minor change has already made a big difference in the look of the paint. To continue with the beautification, tonight we'll be purchasing planters for the Madagascar Palms we bought this weekend with the intention of accenting the front. Slowly but surely its coming together. (Check back tomorrow for planter pics)

Operation Kitchen: Complete

We walked through the threshold of "our home" Friday October 30th and promptly demolished our kitchen to nothing but walls and floor (and windows) on November 1st. We had electrical rewiring and walls refinished around December 13th. We had cabinets/appliances and a countertop installed/completed to form a working kitchen in time for a family holiday dinner December 27th. Jonathan, his dad and his uncle installed the kitchen floor December 30th which was followed by a long anticipated range hood installation around February 20th. March 10th we went ahead with our tile backsplash install and also completed our custom made back door using a doorlite kit. As of May 3rd we've managed to pull together the finishing touches by decorating a recently purchased tchotchkes shelving unit, setting up a new, more room appropriate, custom kitchen table, painting the interior milk deposit door and finishing the application/painting of the floor molding.

After nearly two months of dining out for just about every meal and saving leftovers in a cooler to be reheated with our microwave, it took about 4 months of kitchen projects to piece together an inviting, highly functional, pretty modern kitchen. There were battles over this and that and many a lesson learned on patience and compromise, but I think I can safely say our kitchen is finished. I realize the word "finished" is more of a hypothetical term because when it comes to home ownership, projects never really finish, instead they get close enough to completion to make you convince yourself that they're done. One room down, plenty more to go. Check out the slide show to the left for a visual trip through our kitchen re-do.

Next project to be completed: painting the front of the house before triple digits set in.