Weekend Project: A Bit of a Scrape

So, as I mentioned in my earlier post the foundation people left several big holes in our floor when they left and now it's up to us to decide what we want to do about covering them up again. We've been told that ceramic tile is not a good idea as this house will most likely need to have the foundation "tweaked" at least every few years or so and tile will crack at the slightest slip past level. If we had decided to stay here I would have opted for hardwood throughout, but cost-wise that just isn't practical in the situation we now find ourselves in. So instead we are going with a top quality (not terribly ugly) linoleum tile (hah! oxymoron) in the kitchen and bathrooms, and we'll most likely do a laminate in the rest of the house.

In the concrete bald spot left by the foundation people in the spot where the fridge once stood, we noticed that this house has had at least 6 (that we can count) layers of new linoleum laid over the years. Now if you consider that the house was built in '85 it means that we're talking a new layer about every 4 years without a single person taking that extra step and removing the old layers before adding the new. Now ordinarily P and I would have done exactly the same thing and slapped our layer on top of the pile... alas the hole being completely stripped bare would have caused a noticeable dip underfoot. (I know this because my lazy nature caused me to check before going ahead with plans to remove old lino) Rats! Foiled again!

Admitting defeat we traipsed off to Home Depot to find the necessary lino removal accoutrements. We were advised by a perky sales clerk that all we needed to do was stab a few holes in the surface with a Stanley knife, spread a bottle of linoleum removal liquid, wait an hour and then commence scraping. P had a better idea. Something he learned while researching the project online (I know...) he wanted to try lots of soapy water... I don't know why I let him talk me into it... I mean, isn't soapy water also what you use to clean this kind of floor? How much soapy water is it going to take to loosen 6 layers of lino from their home of 25 years.

We did decide to get a... well... scraper I guess is what it's called. There were two options... the $8 version or the $30+ version. Here's where being thrifty sometimes bites you in the bum... "Why pay more just for the extended pole?", I asked. "I plan on doing it in small intervals anyway," P agreed. Together we chimed, "We don't need the longer handle!" And with that we walked out of the store with the $8 model complete with spare packet of blades.

Turns out, 6 layers need a heck of a lot more than some soapy water and a tiny scraper. We're definitely going to have to bring in the big guns on this one. We're going to need to get a few bottles of the toxic remover for a start, some spare blades for our Stanley knife, and at least one Big Boy Scraping Implement... Judging from the smell coming from under those layers, it probably isn't a bad idea to look into some Kilz or similar primer too... just in case we have a damp issue as I suspect. But most of all I sense the need to stock up on pain killers and Band Aids for surely we're going to need them before this project is over.

Weekend Project Update!

So it's Monday and I am a day late on the update. As I said, it's been crazy around here with me playing catch up on the day I missed last week.

I made some incredible progress on the spare room. (Nope, still not "guest room" worthy).
So again, you remember the before:


Here is the "after":

Look! Much more carpet to be seen in this one. And I believe you can also see the blue of the sheet.

Here is the detritus after the battle:


SEE! I got rid of a bunch of stuff. Just not enough to completely free the bed, but getting there. In fairness three of the 4 boxes on the bed need P to take a look. Also, there is a bunch of stuff that will go out to the shed, just as soon as we get one... like the tent for example.

And honestly, I did get a little distracted...
This cute little rooster plate was sweet, but absolutely didn't go with our decor at all. It was a gift from my mom, and I was sure I could find a use for it, but it has spent the better part of 2 years in a box in the garage, until this weekend!

Armed with my new best friend a can of white Rust-Oleum spray paint and some scrapbooking rub-ons, I created....


a cute little plate to corral the hubs' keys, change and sunglasses when he walks in the door. (He has the annoying habit of emptying out his pockets onto the nearest surface as he enters the door). Ultimately, I feel that I could have used a bigger rub-on, I just didn't want to have something too ornate competing with the detail of the plate. One day I may scratch that off and replace with a nice vinyl "N" decal... but for now I am happy with it.

On Saturday we had gloriously cool weather and thunderstorms (and it's been pretty cool ever since). It was the perfect day to whip up some soup. Chicken and brocolli. Yum! Oh, I should come out with it and let you know that our new chicken stock (never tried it before) is so intensely salty that it completely overpowered the flavors and was much like eating a bowl of sea water... but it looked good, didn't it? I ate it anyway... nothing that some buttery bread and a splash of milk couldn't fix!


I also tackled this project (sneak peek below), but I want to do a proper post on this, so I will save it for a day when I have more time.
SO there you have it... our no-cost weekend project update. (Another confession... I DID end up spending money... although it was VERY well spent. Hint: There are some "giveaways" in some of the pictures above. More details soon, promise.)

HOLY COW!!

It's 1:30 am on Friday morning. We should be in bed dreaming about our awful road trip today, but we're up and our adrenaline is pumping. Why you ask?

At around 10pm we decided to call it an early night to rest up for tomorrow. Before we went off to bed I wanted to make sure that I had all my papers together so that there would be nothing they could ask for tomorrow, that I wouldn't have on me (You'd be surprised at the things they want to see). I gathered all my immigration files, did a quick check for our passports... and discovered that they weren't where they should be.

PANIC STATIONS!!!

We just spent the last 3 hours going through the boxes in the spare room taking each item out and digging right to the bottom in search of our passports... then we realized that our social security cards and birth certificates were tucked into our passports as well. I know... a tidy little identity theft bundle pack just waiting for someone to pick up.

My dear husband, always looking on the bright side (hah!) proclaimed this a good thing... if someone was using his social to pay taxes, we might get a refund this year! haha

I, on the other hand, could think of nothing but the 1 year wait to get a new South African passport ordered from the consulate in NYC. Except, I hear that the wait on passport applications from within South Africa are taking up to a year at the moment, so who knows how long this could take if I apply abroad!!!

We traced our steps and wracked our brains and finally remembered taking them to HR Block when we filed our taxes... then I remembered that I had taken all my business receipts on that trip... then I thought to check my tax archived documents and discovered that my 2008 business receipts weren't in there... and so thankfully we then had a bigger item to look for... a large clear plastic folder instead of two small books!

We headed back to the black hole to recommence digging when my incredibly smart husband thought to pick UP one of the boxes we had gone through three times and voila! The clear plastic folder was hiding underneath!!

SO we have all our important documents AND my 2008 business receipts. And, on the plus side, I managed to remove a further two boxes and one HUGE bag of unnecessary papers from "the hole". Progress people!!

If I wasn't fired up enough to get that room sorted out this weekend, this little incident was just the cherry on the sundae. We also realized how much old crap we're holding on to. I think the garbage men are going to hate us come Tuesday morning, because we'll be doing some serious purging this weekend.

I'll show you the pile of trash on Sunday! (It's pretty impressive already, actually).

Weekend Project: Spare Room, and Only Spare Room

I know it's only Thursday today, but we have to take most of tomorrow off as we need to take a trip out to San Antonio to do some icky visa stuff. I can tell you that we need this trip like a hole in the head, however it absolutely has to be done. The trip out there and back, coupled with the wait time once there is about 7 hours and will leave us out of the office for MOST of the day.

I am kind of happy about this, and kind of annoyed. However, MOST of the day means that we are likely to have a couple of hours free on Friday which technically makes this a long weekend for us.

Now I am sure that with this being a long weekend, you're thinking of all the amazing projects we could tackle. Alas, we're on a saving kick now. This week we sat down with our finances, and for the first time in months tallied our total debts. We were shocked to discover that we currently owe double what we thought. We immediately set about drawing up plans for total debt obliteration and I think this 4 month plan will work well for us if we stick to a tight budget and put some of the house-y stuff on hold for a while.

Ultimately, there are plenty of odds and ends that we can do around here without spending a penny and I am looking forward to sharing some no cost before and afters with you in the coming weeks. I am debating whether to set a small weekend project stipend of $10 or so, for incidentals... but I am going to try like heck to do it all at no cost, at least in the beginning.

This brings us to this weeks project. Remember the spare room?
Oh hell, here's that picture again to remind you...


While I have made progress this week as promised. But it still pretty much looks just like the picture with tidier, more organized edges. Hah!

My mission for the weekend is to get that room sorted so that I can at last refer to it as the "guest room" in place of the "spare room".

We're going to be out of the office for most of the day tomorrow, but as soon as we get back, I am going on the attack!

Will be back on Sunday with a weekend project update. Stay tuned!

Weekend Project Update!

We made some progress on the porch this weekend! One coat of white trim paint down, one more to go... well, we're going to wait until after we put the new decking on the porch before we go with the second coat, in case of nicks and bumps during installation.

The bench looks fabulous out there, don't you think? I am a little nervous because the bicycle chain that we bought won't fit between the slats, nor the tabs I sewed into the cushions. Dumb me forgot to measure properly before buying the chain, but another one is not going to be hard to find I am sure.


For now, I will just hope for the best and pray that no one would think of messing with our cute little porch.


In other news I went ahead and painted the last of the coffee table paint onto the dining room wall and LOVE it! There wasn't enough to do the whole wall, and it still needs a second coat, but this gives me a good idea of how it will look when it's done and I love it! What do you think? I know it's not a great color for resale, but we can neutralize it when it comes time to sell.



So far the progress on the spare room is still limited. I did manage to empty two boxes and get them out of there, but if you could see the state of the room, you would know that this really isn't much progress at all in the grand scheme of things. It is literally wall to wall boxes, bags and stuff in there and we're nowhere near to calling that room "done" just yet. I want to make it my mission to remove at least one bag or box per day this week and see how I do with that. It's probably a good thing that my mom is coming out for my birthday in July as I HAVE to have the room finished by then, so that will light a fire under my butt.

Ohhh what the heck... here's a picture of what is becoming known as the black hole...
... don't judge me....

Weekend Project: Porch & Spare Room

Hallelujah! It's Friday!! And it's time for another weekend project to-do list.

This week, we'll be trying to keep the costs down as we've kind of gone a little hog wild over the last few weeks. We have a big visa application coming up soon, so we need to hold back a little on the cash.

In this light, the plan for the weekend is:

- Organize the spare room.

Yes, I know this has been on the list for a few weeks now. But we have now identified the problem. We need to get rid of a ton of office stuff, papers and things that we don't need to hang on to. I also have a secret plan to share some of my rarely used scrapbooking supplies with a friend who actually scrap books and could use some to add to her stash. I know that I need to go through my fabric stash with a ruthless eye and throw out any, and all fabric I am unlikely to use.... ok, except for those pretty vintage sheets... I may decide to throw a quilt together at some point. LOL

- Front Porch Beautification

During our recent trip to Pier 1, we stumbled upon some cute outdoor throw pillows that I love, love, love. It brought up an idea I've been toying with to add something to our decidedly boring porch. Trouble is, my plan involves moving one of my fave pieces of furniture that really doesn't fit in the house to the porch.

Now, the porch is covered, and rarely even gets wet when it rains (which, let's face it, it never does in Texas). My real issue with bringing it outdoors is that the South African in me won't shut up about the possibility of it being stolen off my porch. I know, I know... Round Rock is number 19 on the list of safest towns in the country so what am I worried about right? The bench I have in mind is gorgeous!! It needs some rehabbing, new poly stain, etc. But lately, everywhere I turn I see this bench on display in some magazine, or brochure, etc. It's a hot item, and I want to keep it in my possession, but I also need to make more room in our house.

Enter the master plan... We're going to Walmart to pick up a bicycle chain.... I have already sewn some loops into the back of the cushions, and we will (subtly) chain both the bench, and cushions to the porch railing. Problem solved! LOL Don't judge me! I am a product of my childhood environment.

And look, it's not just me... Here is a picture of my mom and step father's camp site in Calgary, Canada. See that picnic bench? They brought that with them... See the chain attached to the tree? They brought that too! (What you can't see in the below image, is that there is also a fully built shed and a plastic storage/seating bench too!)

Please note the deck in front of the RV... they built that too. You can't be without a deck for the summer,
even if it's only 3 months long in your town, and you'll only be visiting the RV over weekends!
What can I say, it's in the genes people!

I also have plans to slap some fresh white paint on the railings, and possibly also paint the living/dining room wall... But I make no promises on these two, the porch and spare room are main priorities.

My gorgeous rugs arrived today and I must say I am surprised. The leafy one is actually a totally different color to what I thought, BUT.. it's gorgeous and actually I like it more! I want to hold off on showing you pics until I have painted the wall in the dining area and done something with the table top in the living room. Pics on Sunday.

xoxo

It's the Little Things that Make Me Happy

Like this for example...


When we had this house inspected our home inspector pointed out that some of the insulation on our a/c unit needed replacing right quick, both on the outside unit as well as inside.

We also needed some other a/c fixes and had a quote drawn up for this as well as the insulation repair. Well, summer got here quicker than we thought and we aren't ready to get started on the large a/c project just yet so the insulation remained untouched until a recent trip to HDizzeepo where I found this and for $2.25 I did it myself!

This was one of the first things we did to the house and it took only a few seconds, but I cannot tell you how proud I am of this little thing. Saved me $7.75 of the $10 the a/c guys were going to charge and I had enough to do both pipes AND have enough insulation left over to replace them next year as well if necessary.

:) We need to get planting and weeding back there...

A Bar in the Desert

You know, I find decor blogs sooo inspiring. Lately I've spent WAY too many hours reading through archives of some of my favorites and I've picked up so many great ideas. Also, my Domino Decor book has been incredibly helpful. (TOTALLY love that book, just wish the free year's subscription to the magazine could actually still be honored. :( )

Anyway... we have this odd little corner in the living room. It's sort of in no mans land between the couch and the dining area, but has a prime spot next to the window. I've been wanting to do something with this area, other than plonking a lamp there where it is neither attractive nor necessary. I have admired Katie's bar nook over on BowerPower blog and tucked it away in the revolving to-do list that has taken over my brain. Then I stumbled upon this cute, keyoot idea in the Domino Book and put two and two together. (Bar tray on pg 69 for those of you who own the book).

{photography by Deborah Jaffe for domino}

We happened to be in Pier 1 yesterday for some placemats that I needed for another project -- pictures soon -- when I came across this beautiful little tray and eureka, a plan was hatched. (See those little birds? I am totally bird obsessed lately and don't care if they're passe')


Last night I grabbed one of our TV tables (previously used as guest room nightstands), plonked my little tray on top and grabbed everything I could find that was remotely bar themed. Yes, it's sparse. Yes, we only have one bottle of rum (Yeugh!). No, we still don't drink alochol. But I feel like this once awkward little corner now has a purpose, albeit one rarely used by us.

I've never been a big fan of formal living rooms that are only used for special ocassions and rare guests, and I realize that the bar is just a smaller version of a formal living room for our lifestyle. But I figure what the hell, the corner makes sense now and bridges the gap between the living space and dining space and best of all it's pretty, so there! haha

I love it so much I am almost tempted to crack open a bottle of wine or something just looking at it!