Garden

I've been threatening to start a garden for the last few years and never seemed to find any time or energy to actually do it. Add to that the fact that my thumb is not green, it's black, so me getting anything to grow is pretty much not going to happen. Until now! It was a bit of a late start getting everything into the ground but I should have a crop of about 16 different things. SO excited! I'm even getting ready to start pickling and canning in case I end up with more than we can eat or share this year. I tried to stick to all organic and heirlooms because I think the flavor is so much better. If everything grows we're going to have cucumbers, red peppers, jalapenos, pumpkins, honeydew, cantaloupe, tomatos, buttercup squash, zucchini, basil, rosemary, um... and some other stuff. I forgot to label everything and can't remember them all. We should have a few surprises come up over the next few weeks.

Here's a wheelbarrow full of plants and herbs that I actually watered!

Who knew water was so critical to success....

Here's this little guy looking so small and fragile.

He's going to hopefully grow into a wonderful pumpkin patch for the kiddies to visit in October and choose a jack-o-lantern to carve.So far, so good

Cody hates tomatoes, but I love them so we have three plants and I'm considering more. These are all heirlooms and I'm looking forward to all the different colors and flavors.

Looks like we'll have some soon!

During

A view across the cluttered floor toward the soon to be walk-in closet

Dungeonous corner - the bed centered on this wall

Closet (the next project is to push this out about

4 feet so we can have a walk-in closet)

The bathroom wall where the vanity will live

View into hallway

Here are some pictures of the "during" stages of the master bedroom and bath remodel. We started this projects months ago, but for some reason we have lacked the energy for this project that we had for the living room/kitchen. Maybe because we have a bathroom and another bedroom to camp out in. It's by no means comfortable. but with the kitchen stuff washing dishes in the bathtub and having no walls was a huge motivator. Anyway, we are moving again on this major project and we turned a corner this week - we're actually hanging drywall and should have the bathroom tiled within two weeks!! Cody actually tried to put off hanging the drywall until "next weekend" which is how we have ended up taking so long to even get this far, but one massive temper tantrum by me is all it took and miraculously the ceiling will be finished tonight! I wasn't thinking clearly and forgot all about taking "before" photos which is why there will only be "during" and "after" pics to share, but trust me, the room was hideous. It's the home stretch, people!

Appliances!

We have a semi-functioning kitchen! With the exception of the kitchen sink and dishwasher our kitchen is now in full effect! Yesterday I deflowered the stove and made healthy huevos rancheros that were the best thing we've eaten in a while. Then we went shopping and stocked the new fridge with tons of FRESH food and I'm already planning all the delicious dinners we'll enjoy over the next few weeks. I still had to wash the dishes in the bathtub after breakfast yesterday, but with an awesome stove like this, who cares? We also installed the chandelier that I got at WestElm home decor and am completely in love with.

Here's the wine/beverage fridge. I don't know how much we'll actually use this thing, but I still like having it

Lovely capiz shell chandelier - one of my best purchases
We need to be very careful not to light the cabinets on fire with this thing

I forgot to mention that I found this Thermador on Craigslist for a mere $300Cody modeling our well stocked fridge

An external view - it's so shiny and lovely :)

Sorry, again with the cooktop, but I love it so much!

And last, here is the double microwave/oven which was another steal I found at the Sears appliance outlet. I saved a ton of money shopping there. If only I had noticed the missing racks and missing side panels at the time...

Finally Made a Committment

After hiring a colorist and then changing my mind about 100 times a day about the wall color we finally committed to this bluish-grayish-slightly greenish color and couldn't be happier! The colorist helped me choose a taupey-grey color and I thought it was all settled until Sunday morning's hangover when I got up at 5:30am and discovered a sample of the blue we eventually decided was The One. I had actually been adamantly anti-blue, but look at it! I described it to Kate as a deep blue like the blue of a Smurf's eyes at midnight under a full moon - kind of smokey, kind of calm, and kind of rich. Now I just have to commit to a floor and counter tops and we'll be home free!

This white patch will be painted over and then the giant tv will live here

Inspiring Tile

I went out the other day to look at counter tops and kitchen tile for the back splash and came across so many tile choices I couldn't believe it. Basically, for the kitchen back splash and fireplace facade, we're going to do simple white subway tiles for a clean and elegant look, but the bathroom projects have been on my mind a lot since those are the next big things we're doing. I am so full of ideas and excitement for how they'll turn out after seeing all of these choices below.
Here are some nice bubbles that I think could look really good in the master bath. We're not doing a tub in there and instead will have one giant shower with two shower heads. I love how all these circles look together and can imagine doing circles on the walls, using the bubbly glass bricks, and the circle floor. What do you think, too many circles?

I also really liked these glass tiles below. The Moroccan feel was really cool and I can imagine these on the walls forming a sort of mural with rich paint and a frame less glass shower.

For the guest bath I'm going to install a giant white soaking tub with a shower over head and I thought these glass tiles below were so pretty. I especially liked the amethyst color and hadn't considered purple for the bathroom until now. I love it against that pretty green and the creamy colored tile to the right.

My aunt would have loved this red tile! I think it'd be better for the master bath, but I guess it could go anywhere. It's so dramatic and gorgeous. I can see it covered all the walls and the shower. Not sure what sort of floor would go with it though....

And last, I thought these swirly tiles mosaics were so cool. I wouldn't have to do much if this was covering a wall. In fact, I could probably get away with just doing one wall in this and then doing plain, creamy travertine or whatever on the floor and in the shower. Or even doing ice blue glass tile in the shower and a neutral floor. Can't decide if this would be for the master or the guest bath though.

Oh, and no, I didn't pick the counter tops or the back splash/fireplace tiles yet. I had my heart set on white marble, but the guy kind of talked me out of it. It's super expensive and I guess it's hard to maintain, cracks easily, and stains like crazy. But it's SO pretty I may just do it anyway...

Before and during...

We're not quite finished, but we're definitely more than halfway done. I think since I see it all the time and am always working on the house I don't see it's progress quite the way other people do, so when Kate said "look at your amazing pictures" I had no idea what she was talking about... until I saw her new post. So I started rummaging around my photos and found some before and durings to share so we can see the side-by-side evidence of what's been done so far... I guess it is pretty amazing.

demo is fun

the conversation went a bit like this:

Melita: we're going to Hollywood Farmer's Market next weekend, wanna come?

me: cool, where's that?

Melita: in Hollywood, LA

me: we really need to get stuck into the house, we keep going away and come back, look at the house and feel guilty about not getting anywhere...

Melita: that's how I feel everyday even with a hammer in my hand

me: you're crazy, you need to look at your before and during pics, you'll be amazed at your progress...

so here are some photos I took when we went to Melita's house in February, to remind her, how much they've actually done (oh and how silly we got at the end of that day)

we walked into this
girls with power toolsboys with hammers

then crazy people and the continuous shooting mode on my camera...