PotD: Under Construction

Picture it: a room with a dark blue (some might call it "admiral blue") accent wall, the matching tray ceiling glowing with thousands of twinkling stars (or however many glow-in-the-dark stars come in the package...), a white ceiling fan cooling the air...

That's actually as far as the vision goes right now.  We've tentatively picked out the color that the rest of the room will be, and are debating ideas for new furniture.  (I *know* we need an awesome white headboard against that wall, Scott's pretty sure we don't want white because it'll look like a farmhouse, and I'm pretty sure I don't even want to put our existing bed back in there.)

What's on the wall now is just tinted primer, but I love it so much I worry that the actual color won't be as good.  Scott's convinced it's the same exact color, in which case why are we not just buying primer? Either way, "real" painting is tomorrow's project, and I. Can. Not. Wait!

This project hasn't been easy so far - the carpet is fo' shizzle on the to-do list, since it's got some blue spots that'll probably never come out even with the use of the Kilo Memorial Steam Cleaner; Scott can barely lift his arms (apparently paint-rolling the ceiling uses muscles that he doesn't usually use); and I, as the designated cutter-inner, took so many trips up and down the ladder that my thighs are still burning.  Oh - and if you attack a spot of blue paint on the white wall voraciously enough with a wet rag, it WILL come off, along with the white paint, leaving a spot of bare drywall behind.

For now, I'm enjoying our "vacation" in the office.  It's cramped - I'm typing this at the computer desk while sitting at the foot of the bed - but it's sort of fun to wake up and not see the same old things.  And perhaps sleeping in here will inspire our next paint decision...

One Year Later

What were you doing a year ago today? If you were "Balloon Boy," you were not floating high above Colorado in a giant Jiffy Pop bag. If you were Scott and Jamie, you were signing your lives over to a mortgage company whose ability/professionalism left a lot to be desired. Then you went and spent more money at Rooms to Go, and then you visited your brand new house before going "home" to your apartment.

Has it really been a whole year? Has it only been one year?

It didn't take that long for me to feel like we've been here forever. After all, once there is clutter on the counter and a cat puke stain (or 20) on the carpet, it's basically "home." But the past year has absolutely flown by.

I love it here, with the windows open and the sound of the fountain (and the turnpike noise) floating in on the evening breeze. I love that my drive to work is at least 80% tourist free. I love that the cats have room to run. I love the water dispenser in the refrigerator door. I love having a garage for my car to live in.

The only thing I don't love is seeing what the houses on the other side of the pond are selling for now. And the goober next door. I don't love him either!

Happy Birthday, House!

Doing Something

Both the PSU and 'Bama games start at 8:00 tonight, so Scott and I are going to leave the house today and do something. We just haven't decided what. We're both a little sore from our little furniture moving party* so I'm not sure I'm up for anything that involves walking a million miles in the heat.

Movie? Mall? IKEA? I know for sure we're going grocery shopping, but we haven't made any plans beyond that.

I hear my stand mixer going... I guess I should go find out what's for breakfast. My money is on biscuits.

* Our one-year house warranty expires this month, so we brought up a laundry list of little broken things that needed to be fixed. The sink faucet in the upstairs guest bath now has full pressure, the cosmetic cracks have been caulked, there are baseboards on the landings of the staircase that weren't there before, and the painter who did the baseboards was nice enough to run around with a bucket of paint and touch up some scratches and dings.

Last but not least, the horribly squeaky floors in our hallway, master bedroom, office, and stairs have been eliminated (again) (for now). But in order for us to make that happen, we had to move all of the bedroom and office furniture into the cats' room and move the cat box into the bathroom (and then the hallway). It was actually fun in a weird way, and now that everything is put back together, the upstairs is actually neat and tidy.

Shades of Beige

Exciting color palette, no? In real life, up close, these are all very different shades of beiges and yellows, painstakingly selected one at a time by holding them up to my tile sample. In the photo, they're more like different shades of boring! I'm ok with boring though, because I've come to the conclusion that paint shouldn't be the decoration in the home. It should be the foundation.

Even if you wear blue eyeshadow, you wouldn't color your whole face that way.

We had always considered yellow for both the living room and the kitchen, bot never at the same time. And it will make things easier to choose one shade for the whole downstairs. Yellow/beige will also look good with hardwood floors, should we ever decide to go that route. And once we pick a paint, we can figure out what to do with the empty walls.

Next step: finally deciding to use the tile above (or not) and actually ordering it. Once we have it in hand, we'll decide on the paint color. And then after we've painted? Our next door neighbors bought scrap marble at Lowe's for windowsills and it's beautiful. We're totally stealing that!

And then once the weather cools down, we're finally going to paint (or more likely just white prime) the garage. The bare drywall out there is really starting to annoy me.

Early Morning Money Post

Remember our visit from the AC repair guy last month? The one where he informed us that our system was installed wrong? I want to find that man and hug him! I just got our new electric bill and it's only $7 more than the previous bill, and $25 more than the bill before that, which I'm pretty sure was during open window weather.

I was terrified that the electric bill for this house would bankrupt us, but keeping the house at a balmy 78 when we're home and 84 when we're not seems to be working. While the bill here is definitely higher than at the apartment, it's not nearly as noticeable as I thought it would be. I expected it to be double, and so far it's been maybe 20% more.

I'm so glad we had that problem when we did...otherwise I shudder to think what that bill would be like now.

Cool Surprise

We just had an A/C tech come out because there was a puddle under our upstairs air handler. It turns out 2 pieces of the handler were either installed wrong or came backwards from the factory. He fixed it, and as a result, the actual air coming from the vents is actually cold now.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that this solves the problem of our super-heated bedroom.

Sample Sale

I ordered some sample sheets of glass mosaic tile - potentials for an accent for our kitchen back splash. Here's a photo of what we're going for (a Facebook photo of a high school friend's recently remodeled kitchen), followed by some of the tiles we're considering:



Disclaimer: when I say "we" are considering these options, I really mean Scott hasn't vehemently objected to my ideas. As it turns out, red isn't an easy color tile to find. This means we're really going to have to find and commit to the tile and then find a paint color to coordinate.

Anyway, I'm quite excited to get our samples. I'm absolutely in love with the ovals (picture them sideways, in a row maybe 4 ovals high), but tile is one of those things you can't go too crazy with. It's forever-ish.

I'll update when the samples come in!

Math and Money Monday

I'm not really good with interest rates, so I'm hoping someone can check my math here:

Scott and I have been bouncing around the idea of taking $4,000 of our new home buyer tax credit and dumping it straight back into our mortgage. Our interest rate is 5%. So 5% of 4,000 is 200. Now this is the part where I'm fuzzy. That's 5% annually, right? So $200 per year over 30 years is a savings of $6,000?

That's a lot of money!

A quick look at our most recent mortgage statement shows me that only $172 of our monthly mortgage payment actually goes to the principal, with 4x that much going to interest and the rest going into the tax/insurance escrow account. So $4,000 is like 23 months of principal payments. Right? Wow, that's insanity!

Plus, when we can afford to do so, I over-pay by $150-200 each month, and that goes to principal. So...if I do that every month, does that mean our 30-year mortgage would be paid off in 15? That can't be right!

I'm done geeking out with numbers. If I'm way off, will someone please let me know I shouldn't be so excited? Thanks!

(just one) Mission Accomplished

I did our 2009 tax return today. Of course, I couldn't file because the IRS now requires paper documentation to prove that we bought a house. Because apparently last year they didn't require any proof and - surprise, surprise! - people claimed houses they didn't own! So now I just need to print, attach copious amounts of paper, and send via certified mail.

My 'honey do' list today was much longer than just that, but I fizzled out early. I didn't re-texture the patches on the bathroom wall, or tape & tarp the bathroom in preparation for next weekend's painting extravaganza, or grocery shop... Today was pretty much an epic failure.

But boy, did I need the rest!

So now I embark on another four-day work week, followed by the aforementioned taping & tarping (now scheduled for Thursday while Scott is at work), priming on Friday, and painting on Saturday. Then all that's left is the mounting (heh) of the mirror, the new towel ring, and the artwork above the toilet.

Actually...

Here's a list of actual things that Scott and I did today:

1. Trip to Lowe's to buy paint, primer, and a new towel holder for powder room.

2. Removal of old towel bar, using sharp blade and new pry bar.

(also bought pry bar and mallet at Lowe's during #1)

3. Discovery of two perfectly rectangular holes behind old towel bar.

4. Discovery that builders installed vanity light without a junction box and that installation of new vanity light without a junction box is impossible.

5. Googled "install vanity light no junction box," and got great instructions from diynetwork.com on how to install a junction box.

5a. Curse like a sailor, throw brief tantrum.

6. Trip to Lowe's to buy wall patches, spackle, and aerosol can of "orange peel" wall texture to fix holes where old towel bar was. Also bought new junction box. The girl in the drywall section was quite helpful. The guy in the electrical section was dumb as a box of rocks. And he looked like the boss from Office Space. Luckily, there was a nice middle-aged customer who came to my rescue. Twice. I say "my" rescue because, as a man, Scott can't ask for help. So he disappears ("hey - we NEEDED a drywall saw!") while I ask for help. It's ok. At least then I get to hear the instructions first-hand and don't need to second guess later.

7. Scott patches holes in one wall while I cut a big circular hole in another wall.

8. Realize plumbing is close to the wall and that junction box is too deep and therefore won't fit.

8a. Curse like a (&$%(# sailor. Lament that we're stuck with ugly Broadway-style lighting forever.

9. Scott uses drywall saw to cut the back off of the plastic junction box while I watch two hours worth of DVRed TV shows. Yep...two hours. The man is dedicated!

10. Anchor junction box into drywall, install light fixture, and test out lighting.

11. Go to garage and do some test-runs of orange peel texturing on cardboard (and on the garage wall). Damn, it's cold out!

12. Eat dinner of chicken tenders and fish planks at 9 pm while mocking the Olympic opening ceremony.

13. Blog about day that was supposed to be fun but, like most home improvement projects, turned out to be frustrating.

I took lots of pictures today, but I'm saving them for a full before & after. Tomorrow while Scott is at work I'm definitely going to texture over the wall patches and tape off the baseboards and ceiling. I might prime, but it's likely I'll wait for next Friday and Saturday to prime & paint when Scott is there to help. Not that there's room for two of us in there at a time...

Illuminating

So... remember this fixture that I had fallen in love with for the powder room? It's been replaced. I actually tried to buy the original this morning, but the website I had originally found it on (not the one linked here) wouldn't let me buy it. I took that as a sign that maybe the one we found at Home Depot for half the cost was the one destined to live in our bathroom.

I have 3-day weekends for the next two weeks, and am determined to at least do a dry-run of the new light install and the mirror install this week so that I can paint next week.

Sure, it's just the powder room. But I'm so excited to get it started I can hardly stand it!

Bird Watching

It's what we do!

And why are Kilo and Milo so fascinated? They're watching our new friend Harley fishing on the edge of the pond.

Why the name Harley? Well, mostly because I'm bird-ignorant and have no clue what type of bird Harley is. Also, because the feathers on his head look like a tied bandanna. Harley, it seems, is a biker bird. He weathered the gray afternoon out here today, mostly hunkered down against the cold rain.

Harley stops by fairly often, and is one of my favorite birds to watch. I am beyond fascinated with the way his (her?) neck curves, and the long crest feathers on the head.

In other bird news, Scott and I watched a snake bird the other day catch and eat a fish that was at least three times the size of its head. Those things have a flip-top jaw and necks that stretch like one of those egg-swallowing snakes. It was neat, but I found myself swallowing really hard - sympathy swallowing I guess - for a while after.

Eventually I'll figure out what all these birds are. There's always something new stopping by for a drink or a fish.

Another Post About the Future of My Powder Room

Please try to contain your enthusiasm until the end of the post!



Back during NaBloPoMo (November edition), I shared a photo of some paint chips and some other design choices we were considering for the downstairs bathroom. What I didn't mention was that we were skewing the bathroom theme a little towards Japanese. Really, it's not supposed to be like a Zen garden or anything (not that that wouldn't be cool...) - just simple and elegant, and really dark purple. Basically, the only addition to the room (after the light fixture, which has cool pagoda lines) was going to be a single white orchid (fake, obviously) in a simple container on the back of the toilet.



Did you catch the "was?"


Yeah...this is why Scott and I shouldn't go to World Market:


I guess it's not that far from the original design idea. Instead of a single orchid, now it's a single cherry blossom branch. With a very yellow background. I loved it. And Scott says he loves it, though I'm never really sure whether or not he's placating me. The print itself was cheap. I imagine framing it will not be. Have you seen the shape of this thing?!?

And though you can't tell from the pictures above and below (because of the fact that my camera does not like CF light bulbs), that print is going to look un-be-freaking-lieveable on the dark purple wall. (also, no, it's not going to live on the sink - that's just where the paint chips are stuck)

I think it's almost time to buy the light fixture and the paint and get cracking on project #1!

Pop Quiz

Which is a worse answer to the question, "guess what I just killed in the garage?"

a) a small child who was hiding under my car. I need you to come home and help hide the body.

or

b) a black widow spider.

Of course "a" is the worse situation. So hey - on the bright side, Scott just found a black widow spider IN MY HOUSE. Nothing bad about that, right? I'm not nearly as freaked out as that last sentence would lead you to believe. The first thing I said was, "ooh...did you get a picture?" Of course, Scott and I are wired differently. Bloggers are a different sort. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember the tree-frog-in-the-garbage-can incident can attest to that!

We went out last night, and when we came home, he pointed into the corner and said "that's what's left." And of course, I immediately look at the dead black spider and questioned him on why he said it was on the bottom of his shoe. "That was her mate." He was already dead. So...looks like he caught the spider before our garage became a set from Arachnophobia II: Jamie Never Comes Home Again.

*shudder*

Next Door

Given the choice, Scott and I would have put tile or hardwood floors downstairs. We bought too late in the building process, and ended up with the generic beige plush carpet instead. We've been pretty laid-back about the carpet, figuring when it got destroyed, we'd have an excuse to replace it.

Right now, there's two workers in the house that my office window faces. They're painters, doing final touch-ups. One was just sanding paint off the tile right inside the front door, and I thought about asking him to come over and scrape the ridiculous amount of paint on my powder room and laundry room floors. But I digress...

While they had the door open I noticed something else - their voices were echoing like crazy. I'm not so sure I want to live in an echo chamber. Those echoing voices also reminded me of babysitting the four Whirling Dervish kids when they lived in the house with the hard wood and the vaulted ceilings. No matter how well-behaved they were, every time I left I would soak up the quiet in my car on the way home. I craved it. Squeals of delight bouncing off every wall... *shudder*

Maybe hardwood isn't for me. And as for you, no cola/juice/red wine in the carpeted areas!

Like Living at the Zoo!

Scott is officially jealous of me now. Why? Because I was home to see the OTTERS and he wasn't! That's right - we have otters in our pond! This is only the second time I've seen one in the wild, and the first time it was running across the road. This time, well, they were frolicking just like they do at the zoo!

wrestling on the shore

have fish, will travel

(again, photography through a window screen isn't the best idea, but there wasn't an alternative)

This definitively answers the "are there fish in the pond?" question. Also, Milo senses there is another cute animal vying for my attention, so he's curled up on my lap and purring, as if to say, "no more kittens needed." That's how he rolls.

The View from Bathroom #2

Since I shared the view from the master toilet yesterday, I thought I'd share another toilet point-of-view today. I call this particular view, "Meditation in Purple."


Yes, we were at Lowe's today. How did you guess? We are contemplating this color family for the powder room, along with this lighting fixture. Below is an enlarged, white-balanced, and brightened picture of the paint colors. Anyone have a favorite? (I still think the photo is darker than the real colors)

And while we're on the subject of colors, check out today's home-tastic purchase: throw pillows!

They are actually matching reversible pillows. The orange is iridescent, and turns red and yellow depending on the light and the angle. If World Market had more than two in stock, we definitely would have bought more. Sadly, what you see is what we were able to get. The house needed a color outside of the beige family, and the pillows are definitely a (small) step in the right direction!

Photus Interruptus

I realized sitting here this morning that the office window has a great view. Well, if you look straight out the office window, you just see the building next door, in all its orange stucco glory. But if you look between the buildings, there's a lovely view of the "lake." I wanted to take a picture to show off the view, but Milo had other ideas.

Nature Photography with Jamie (and Milo)

Step 1: grab camera

Step 2: focus on beautiful view

Step 3: recoil in shock as your viewfinder is suddenly full of orange fur...Step 4: Go back to what you were doing on the computer. There's no sense getting the cat all pissed off by shoving him out of your way.

Step 5: Realize the cat has left the windowsill and it's safe to try again

Step 6: Grab camera

Step 7: Focus on beautiful view

Step 8: Get frustrated thinking the only 'beautiful view' you'll be photographing today is the cat (who this time managed to obstruct the view so fully that the auto-flash came on)...

Step 9: When the cat finally leaves the room and you have the opportunity to take the damn picture, you realize that the screen in the window really messes with the auto-focus. Oh well... I guess you'll have to take my word that it's a beautiful view! Here's what I got...

Busy Morning

I had a date at 9:30 this morning with a guy I've spoken to on the phone a few times, but never met. I tried to set him up with Scott, but Scott is working crazy overtime this week, so the date ended up being all mine. Some of the shelves on our b.f. tub had developed cracks, and since water damage terrifies me, and since the house is under warranty, we called it in. So after multiple rounds of phone-tag (as it turns out, I'm a hard gal to get a hold of), we set up a time for this morning.

And so I awoke at 8, showered in the other bathroom (Suave body wash? it sucks as much as their conditioner. I smell pink, and was still sticky after rinsing off), started a load of laundry, and started a batch of cookies. He called at 9:30 to say he was running late, but I didn't care. West Wing was on Bravo, and I was in full-on cookie mode.

When he got here, he said hi to Milo, who declined to politely return the greeting, and I showed him the damage. He assured me that there's no possibility of water damage. There's a full plastic cover behind the surround. And he went to work doing whatever it is he did. I think tape and epoxy were involved. And I went back to my cookies.

Now the bedroom smells like the inside of a bottle of nail polish. Luckily, it's cool, so I turned off the a/c and opened the windows wide. The bathroom window is wide open, the fan is on, and the door is closed. Hopefully by the time Scott comes home, the smell will have gone away.

As for the cookies, there will be no baking today. I made a batch of Toll House dough, split it in half, and made a half batch of orange-chocolate chip and a half batch of chocolate-toffee chip. I rolled them into slice & bake logs and stowed them in the fridge. This way I can make a dozen at a time and the house will smell like cookies during the open house. And of course, then people can eat the cookies. After all, it's one of the few things I make well!

I have a fine coating of flour, sugar, eggs, etc. on my hands and arms, and I'm convinced there's still dough under my nails, but that's the joy of baking, right? Yet another reason it's good to get that step out of the way today.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I seem to have forgotten the clothes in the dryer. I think they're going to need a fluff!

Casa ParkHopper

A Tour by Scott*

Hi there! Welcome to our new home! Pardon me while I finish installing this incredibly frustrating ceiling fan. While I do this, please feel free to take a look around.

From where you are standing now, you can see our living room and dining room. During our tour you will also see all of the cats. Keep your eyes peeled! Also, please excuse the boxes and other displaced items. We're still unpacking.

Downstairs you will also find the kitchen, powder room, laundry room, and garage. Those aren't part of the current tour.

At the top of the steps, the first room you come to is the guest bathroom. This is where the orange shower curtain ended up. If you can't find a cat, this is usually a pretty good place to look. They find the area behind the toilet a quiet and comforting place to hide.Next up is the office/game room. The blue chair is where you could find Jamie and at least one cat in the dark days between move-in and furniture/cable install.The cats' room is basically empty, except for some fun toys. None of us really spends much time in here. Elphie brings out whichever toy she wants to play with and likes to leave them on the stairs for us to find!
The picture of the bedroom was taken right around 8 am. The light coming in through the CLOSED blinds should give you some idea why we were in such a hurry to buy curtains. They don't really match the quilt-of-many-colors, but I defy you to do better!!And here is the master bath. We're short one towel bar, so we're using a hook on the back of the door right now.

This concludes the tour. Please come back once the boxes are gone from the kitchen. There's still more to see as we continue to settle in and make our house our home. Thanks for visiting!

*not really by Scott, but I took some artistic license with the pictures. It's like historical fiction...or something like that!