Sad news

Hi everyone,

Sad news.  Our home was burglarized.

If you remember from our early posts, I did say we lived in Baltimore City. And that we got an alarm system immediately after we purchased the house.  We knew this would happen someday.  It finally did.

First of all, it was a minimal theft.  Someone walked onto our porch at 3 am and stole some of our new potted herbs.  Two basil plants and another plant.

No one was harmed.  We actually caught the robbery on our new Ring camera/doorbell, but did not wake up to the alarm.  We reported it to the police.  We know the thief - she walks her dog in our neighborhood at odd hours in the morning.  We are pretty sure we will catch her.

Our neighbors have been incredibly supportive.  A few other neighbors have had plants stolen before and after our theft.  A neighbor offered us some replacement basil that is now potted and sitting on our porch.  It has been a blessing getting to know people on our block in this madness.

We are going to continue to leave our potted plants and herbs on our porch.  The previous basil was growing so well that the boyfriend had repotted some cuttings to give away to our neighbors.  If the thief had just asked, we would have given her some as well.  We are not going to let her actions change our lives.

We are incredibly grateful that the crime was so minimal and that no one was harmed.  Still, I have trouble understanding why anyone would steal plants.  The pots were small, inexpensive, and lightweight.  The plants were small but bountiful.  It is difficult to conceive.

I am working on a few other projects that I will be sharing with you soon.  A new fall wreath and hopefully some completed rooms.  I've been buying more pillows.  And we've been traveling.

More soon,

E

Outdoor space redo...in progress

It's hot.  Really really hot.

So why would I choose right now to start revamping our backyard?  Because I'm looking forward to fall, that's why.  And once it gets cool enough and the mosquitos go away, I want to get right out there and enjoy it.  As soon as possible.

Again, thanks to the previous homeowners, as we had a pretty awesome slate to start from.  The brick planters, the shed, and the fenced fountain all stayed.

Photography credit: Jaime Gervasi & Associates of Long & Foster Real Estate

We, like many others I'm sure, initially tried to make the outdoor furniture from our old place fit into our new place.  The rental backyard was much larger and had a separate dining area and sitting area, where we were able to put a portable fire pit.   The dining room table was a craigslist buy that we bought, touched up with spray paint, bought a new glass table top for, and added fabric colored seats too.  It looked great...in the old space.  In the new space, it was just a little too big and in the way.  And there was no room for my fire pit!

So we sold it on Craigslist.  :(  It was our first DIY as a couple living together, but it didn't fit the new place.  It sold quickly and well, so I wasn't that sad.

Then it was buying time!  *rubbing hands together with an evil laugh*  After some Craigslist's searching, I really wanted wood furniture that would stand up to the elements and still allow for personal touches through fabric and color.  We lost out on a couple of sets that were online but...World Market came through with their end of summer sale!  We got their Santiago Club Chairs (note that the canvas is sold separately in some cases), St. Martin bench (no longer available), and some outdoor pillows to start.  I already had these outdoor lights and fire pit from Amazon.

I did Scotch Guard the cushions, canvases, and pillows and used a spray sealant on the wood before putting everything outside.  We are seeing how the canvas holds up (White! Nail biting!) and have already had to wash one cover that the neighborhood cats seem particularly fond of.  We may dye them a darker color if continued increased care is required.

I plan to add a colorful garden stool and either touch up spray paint the firepit or build a new one.  But I think that can wait for cooler weather.  Any other suggestions?

One final look...

Bedroom Makeover

Hi everyone,

I finally did it.  I revamped our bedroom.



When the boyfriend and I combined households, we decided to use his furniture in the master bedroom instead of mine.  He was worried the cats would destroy my beautiful bed (and he wasn't wrong) and did not want to chance it.

He had dark wood furniture with clean lines, so I was fine with the plan.  In our rental, the master bedroom had green paint and brown trim.  It was like living in a forest, all the time.  I strongly considered painting the room and ended up trying to "go with it", as I spent money painting over the living room feature red wall and the dining room peach color.  It was money well spent, but there wasn't enough leftover to paint the master bedroom also.  Also, it was a rental, so I wanted to limit my home improvement of someone else's property.

The colors in the bedroom in our new home are the same as the rest of the house, beige.  While its nice to not be restricted in terms of color palette and decor, it has been challenging to be bold with colors and patterns.  The boyfriend is a big fan of neutral everything, but a roomful of brown makes me nauseated.  For a while now, we've gone with the same palette as in the previous green master bedroom at the rental.  His furniture, my old green knit blanket, his grey and black quilt and shams set.  He had an old Moroccan lantern that I liked, so I bought a few other ones and some wooden carved wall hangings to try to build on the theme.  I had been "on hold" in that place for a while.  It has been killing me trying to come up with something to go with these color options.  Green, grey, and black are just not my thing.

Here is the old bedroom.  You can see my nightstand redo on the left and the boyfriend's IKEA hack where he stained the IKEA Rast and added new knobs on the right.  I purchased the purple and silver throw pillows to try to work with the silver and black, but it wasn't enough.

Here is my jewelry cabinet, from value city furniture.  It has held up nice over the years.  Above it is a picture, vaguely french with green colors and two beautiful ceramic pieces flanking it, both from the boyfriend's collection.  These were in the living room of the rental and here we decided to try it out in the bedroom.  Nice, but random.

 This is the Moroccan feature wall we transplanted from the rental bedroom.  I got the carved wall hanging from World Market and the lanterns from various places, including Amazon.  The boyfriend's lantern came from a friend, the same one who gave him the ceramic pieces pictured above.  I pretty much have liked and used everything she has given him.  Poor guy.

So...transformation time.

I decided to use what I already had and buy small budget items, getting rid of only the items I truly could not stand anymore.  The room was also a bit bare, decor wise, but I only wanted to add things that truly updated and complimented the existing space.

I kept the Moroccan wall carving and lanterns on the dresser area the exact same.

I switched out the ceramic figures and painting for a mirrored sconce from World Market.

 

I got rid of the black/grey quilt and shams and replaced them with a stone grey quilt/sham option with a Moroccan pattern from Overstock.  I also got a wooden medallion to hang over the bed to add some texture and depth to the space. I used the same purple and silver throw pillows, and they look really great now.  I also used a white knit blanket I got a few months ago from Overstock for the living room.  The cats were just waiting to destroy it anyway.  I really think the bed is now the focal point to the room.

This room we use every day now makes me smile.  Between these changes and the closet redo, I think the master bedroom is 90% done.  The boyfriend considers it 99% done, in a minimalist style.  He clarified the difference between minimalist and spartan for me as well.  Smile.

Bye!

China Cabinet Redo

 

Hi everyone,

We have been hard at work the past few weeks.  Our amazing previous homeowners had a lovely front and back garden with trees, flowering bushes, and other niceties.  We are NOT garden people.  I have killed many a plant.  The boyfriend has actually taken over plant maintenance.  He is better, but we still killed a nice viney thing in the backyard within a few weeks of taking ownership.  Recently, we realized the yard was looking scraggly, so we tried to hire a guy in the neighborhood to help us out.  Instead of taking our money, he gave us excellent specific instructions on what to do ourselves, free of charge.  Now, I didn't really want to do it myself, but, it seemed fairly straightforward.  We pulled weeds, mulched, trimmed bushes and...voila!

We were rewarded with some beautiful late blooming hydrangeas.  And more weeding.  Weeding forever.  My brother's words before we bought a house: "Don't say I didn't warn you".  You did, bro.  You did.

We also finally decided to upgrade to some "adult" furniture.  We had been using the boyfriend's old classic IKEA bookshelf to store our alcohol and barware.  After scouring Craiglist for weeks for a china cabinet that met both of our criteria, we came across a perfect one.  Our specifications were glass doors on the top to display glasses (me), hutch area to pour drinks (boyfriend), additional storage for liquor and wine (both).  There are a LOT of really old really ugly china cabinets on Craigslist.  Similarly, there are lot of Pinteresters remaking old ugly china cabinets. 

The one we found was a very contemporary hutch with some antiquing details.  It had lighting in the glass cabinets and hutch areas.  The seller thought it had been originally from Pier One.  He was moving and did not have time to fix it up anymore.  He had matched the paint, planning to paint over the antiquing aspects to lose to "farmhouse" feel.  He even helped us transport it home after the top half wouldn't fit in the car. Craigslist win.  I feel like this is karmic payback for the time I took my Ikea bookcase to a woman with a newborn in Laurel because she couldn't coordinate fitting in the bookshelf and the baby seat. No bueno.

I was able to finish his paint job in our dining room.  I do not recommend this technique, as I had to protect it from the cats for a few hours after painting.  I painted the top half first, with several touch up coats, and then moved on to the bottom half.  I would make sure the cats wouldn't come near it for an hour, then do a touch up coat.  After 3 days of painting and touch ups, it was done.

The boyfriend expressed some distress about the "aged" knobs.  I thought they were a nice touch to the newly painted cabinet, but I could not win him over.  We agreed to spray paint them in an oil rubbed bronze color, in keeping with the original color and the rest of our fixtures in the dining and living room.  Pinterest came to the rescue in the form of this post from The Snug.  This spray paint was amazing - I am only going to buy Rustoleum Ultra Cover from now on.  No leaks, minimal smell, fast drying time, amazing results. 

Aged knobs pre spray paint below:

Check out the finished product pictures below.  Ah, adulting.  Time for more weeding now.

On to the next one.

Closet Makeover

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile, huh?

I've been hard at work with a few projects.  We got one zone air conditioning from Ductless America for our downstairs combined living room/dining room.  Its been really nice and the unit is pretty unobtrusive above a doorway as they recommended.  We changed the layout down there so that the cat litter boxes are in front of the windows.  The cats seem to really love sitting in front of the windows, particularly when we pull the curtains back.  They try to pull the curtains back themselves as well, which doesn't work well with claws.  Oh well.

We've been using the front bedroom of the house as the master.  It has a little alcove that fits our dresser perfectly.  The previous owners used the back bedroom as their master, though, and upgraded the closet in there to match.

Ridiculously nice, isn't it?  Our master bedroom closet was not quite as spacious and accommodating.  We stuffed the existing closet full and were still keeping a lot of clothes in the guest room and hallway closet.  Even with the dresser, it was not meeting our storage needs at all.

Pinterest helped out with ideas on how to design and organize our closet to meet our needs.  "Just a girl and her blog" and "View Along the Way" had some great ideas that got us started.

I took inventory and realized that we needed shelving for folded clothing, additional storage for bags and other gear, more hanging room, and shoe shelving.  We don't really need hanging for long items, as I don't really wear dresses very often, so they could stay in the guest room closet. 

We went to home depot and got various sizes white wire shelving to match the shelving in the rest of the house, for under $100.  The boyfriend and I considered upgrading to nicer cabinetry, but since that meant upgrading all of the closets in the entire house, we decided against it.  We did have to modify the sizes of some of the shelves, which was easy using a saw.  We also got caps for the shelving to finish off the sawed off edges - we had to go back for more supports and caps.

First we moved up the existing wide shelf to the top of the closet.  We put it just high enough that we can still reach it, but that little used storage (bags, etc) can go up there for now.

 

Then we added a second wide shelf to the middle of the closet.  This shelf adds double the hanging room to our closet, a huge help.  This took a few tries to get it exactly where we wanted it and we still have to do some patching.

We then added 4 side shelves to both of our sides of the closet for more folded items.  I think the boyfriend is just stashing dirty clothes there when he comes in late at night and doesn't want to wake me by putting them away.  Yeah, right.

It took us a few hours to get everything done.  We had about 4 screws to go when our neighbors kindly asked us to stop at 8:30 pm on a Sunday because their 6 month old infant had gone to sleep.  The boyfriend finished up without me the next day, putting in the final side shelf and shoe shelf.  I then fancied it up by switching out the old plastic and metal hangers for all wooden hangers.  I had several previous sets of wooden hangers from Bed Bath and Beyond and got a few more from Amazon to get the boyfriend's stuff up to snuff.  He does not understand or appreciate the uniformity and class that the wooden hangers bring to our closet.  He does understand that it brings me joy every day to open the closet and start off my day with order instead of chaos.

Voila!