BlondeMafia

splish splash

2012-01-13T15:32:00.003-06:00

Warning: Adult Content in this Post!

as usual, i'm about threeee months late posting this, but then you already guessed that. Waaaaay back in November i got Terry to agree to help ME put the tile back splash up in the kitchen. and by ME i mean Nacho. i'd mentioned the tile here, so that tells you how long i'd had it sitting in the garagae. we don't do anything but hockey in a hurry around here.

i know i took a before photo somewhere but cannot find it. so just close your eyes & picture a plain, basically white wall. well that wall was starting to see some wear from spaghetti sauce, etc. so we figured we needed to get the lead out & get it tiled. let's see, the date on my photos say Saturday, November 5, 2011, so it was Wednesday, November 2, that Terry came over to talk through the layout with me. let me tell you something, there is nothing like watching someone who does this stuff for a living! i was amazed at how fast he'd figured all the field tiles without really measuring much of anything. he took one field tile, laid it against the wall, and basically drew all the rest free hand to get an idea of how it would lay. and remember, we had decided to lay these in a straight horizontal pattern - no brick pattern here. since we were going to intersperse the glass tiles around the wall, we simply took 10 pieces of paper cut to 4 x 6 & taped those up on the wall. we did change one thing; we decided to insert some of those on a vertical. again, impressive that Terry never flinched & just kept laying it all out in pencil. Terry said i had until Saturday to look at those pieces of paper taped to the wall & change what i didn't like, but i had to stay in the lines drawn for the field tiles. i didn't change a thing cuz he got it right the 1st time - this is why i picked him!

so Saturday the 5th rolls around and here we go!
field tile on the West & North wall. notice the little dots between the tiles? basic nails for spacers!

and here they are again looking mostly at the North wall. notice the blanks we left for the glass inserts.

the top row was filled in by field tiles cut in half.

Nacho had the glass tiles laid out using a field tile to cut that sheet into 4 x 6 pieces.

while Terry installed them.

Nacho was able to do most of the cutting for the glass sheets on the tile cutter that Terry brought, but he did have to cut some by hand. and there is 1 glass inset that i had to piece together tile by tile! so i really did help do the back splash in the end.

our project was not without peril! we did have 1 accident that i have yet to report to OSHA. Terry was wiping his hand across one of the tile sheets after Nacho cut it and, not even thinking about what he was doing, sliced his finger. not bad, but bad enough we had to break out the Finger Condoms for him!

truth be told i think he liked saying this was the only tile job he'd ever had to use a condom on!

after that it was grout, caulk (which yours truly did) & attaching the silver electrical & light plates that i got at Lowe's. And here kids is our finished wall!

we couldn't be happier!

the Envelope Please!

2012-01-08T20:37:00.002-06:00

i have finally decided to get the sewing machine back out again. i have a motivator though, banquette cushions. it seems i am the one holding the kitchen dining up from "Finished" since i don't have those done. well huh?

a few years before my mom passed away, she asked if there was anything in particular that i wanted. i knew nothing about sewing then (and not really anything now), but i'd wanted her to teach me the basics, like how to hem a pair of pants or....make a pillow. she was too ill at the time & i never got that lesson. but i did get her sewing machine & all her sewing goodies! i took the machine in shortly after i got it & had it completely looked over & tuned up. i've used it for a few small projects but have always been too intimidated to do any "real" project. well that banquette is bound to change everything now isn't it?

i've collected a few sewing projects on my Pinterest SewIt board & one is for a Simple Envelope Pillow in 20 or 40 minutes. i must say, this was the perfect project & one of the best written how-to's i have ever come across. Shannon was right, it took me more than 20 minutes for each one, but it wasn't because she didn't make it easy to read & do. i had a few machine problems that slowed me down, but i stuck to it got it done!

in my quest to reuse any & all things around the house, i'd used the center portion of an old chaise cushion to make the boxers a doggie bed/mat. that left the bottom/foot piece & the top/mid pieces for something else. so i decided to use the smaller foot piece for my envelope cushion experiment. the fabric came from a large quantity i bought several years ago when i bit off a project too big - making a new futon cushion. people, that is harder than it looks & i never finished it so i had a bunch of this fabric left.

So here's that dingy cushion

yuck! nast! but hey, it's an outdoor cushion! who cares! and, i'm about to make it look like new thanks to Shannon. about = 1 hour later!

now you can easily go check out her instructions cuz they are much shorter & i think her end product is much prettier, but here's my ugly duckling's transformation process:

Steps 1 & 2 = Measure
as Shannon instructed, i measured the Length & Width for my fabric adding about 5 inches to each.

Length - I added 7 to this to give me 35"

Width - I added 5 to this to give me 29"

i like how Shannon admitted adding lots of extra just in case. she's right, i'd rather cut fabric off after i'm done than not have enough.

Steps 3 & 4 - Fold & Hem

i folded the edges over twice like Shannon instructed & ironed them down then sewed along the edge to create a nice finished edge for the envelope back when done.

Steps 5 & 6 - Wrap & Sew

after sewing the edges, lay your pillow on top of your fabric, RIGHT SIDE UP, and fold one hemmed side over

then fold the other hemmed side over

Step 7 - Close It

with the pillow still in the "wrapping", use pins to mark where you want to sew down each side to close it up. remove the pillow sew the left & right sides. i did a back stitch over the hemmed overlap just to give it a little extra strenth. cut off the excess after you're done sewing & turn it right side out.

there's the old ratty cushion in the background awaiting it's new home! and here is the finished product!

Front

and Back with the overlap!

thanks to Shannon's "rather have too much fabric" mentality, i have about a 3 1/2" overlap on my 1st pillow. it didn't quite work out that well on my 2nd, but i managed to eeek out a little overlap & pretty much use the last large piece of this old fabric. and here are my 2 pillows that i'll be using on the chaise this summer!

i do have a couple issues to keep working on with my sewing machine. i think i have a tension problem because my top thread kept breaking on me multiple times. and each time, i made myself stop, rip out the seam & start all over from the beginning. no shortcuts this time around! i'm training myself to expect less than perfect, deal with it & try again! but also, there is something off on my stitches. like this

notice how uneven they are!? i have no idea what is causing that, so i'll consult the ladies in my swim group. for now, onto more envelope cushions as the 1st round/draft of the banquette seating!

Mad Props to Shannon over at Madigan Made! if it weren't for her awesome tutorial & pics, there is no way i would have stuck with this and certainly wouldn't be as charged as i am to start on the real cushions!

Happy Holi-DIY

2011-12-26T16:08:00.000-06:00

As usual, I should have posted this much sooner. I actually meant to post this before Christmas, but the fact that I did anything at all is a bit of a victory in my book! I don't know why, but every few holidays, I decide I'm going to DIY some stuff. I actually started doing this back in college when, like so many of us, I had no money to buy gifts for my parents. Although most of my gifts are cheesy-cheap, I actually take a small amount of pride in making them. One year I even went so far as to make my own paper for my Christmas cards. One year mind you, and it never happened again. So this year was the year for Holi-DIY but I spared anyone the tragedy of receiving one of my macaroni-necklace inspired gifts. These were all things just for me! I also noticed a theme emerging this year: Reuse what I already had & stick to the Dollar Store if I could.
First up & the easiest, a glass container filled with ornaments. I have always loved this. I love all the colors. I owe much of this container to The Dollar Store. Can i just say, that is my new 1st stop for Christmas decorations!? Seriously, they had all the best stuff!

Recycled Materials = Glass container from my sister & all bulb except the blue ones

In the same Dollar Store I found these really cute boxes! Meant for storage or gifts, I had Nacho drill a hole in the back & I strung Christmas lights inside. I did mine in 3 small 30-bulb strands so I could separate them if the grouping didnt' work out, but I love how it turned out!

Recycled Materials = sadly boxes & lights are all new but all from the Dollar Store!

I cannot take credit for this one! And truth be told, this is the one gift that I did actually present someone with. Someone of age of course! But my Reinbeer idea came from Fingerprints on the Fridge & saved to my Pinterest board.

Recycled Materials = ummm none here but the beer will be recycled i'm sure!

My Waterless Snow Globes came from Sweet Something Designs & I loved making these two. I could have made so many more, but had to be practical about it! Still, I might do these for gifts next year, creating a personalized theme for the recipients. I will warn you, even well before the holiday rush, I had a time finding the power snow/snow flakes, but now have plenty for next year!

Recycled Materials = Mason jars from Cherry Preserves projects

Each year a struggle with how to display Christmas cards. There are a ton of good ideas out there, but I wanted to keep with the ~~cheap~~ inexpensive and easy theme. I don't remember exactly where I saw this idea, but I love how it turned out. Just sticks collected from around the yard, painted with Red & Silver spray paint I already had & plopped into a planter I already had. This is probably my favorite!

Recycled Materials = all of it = 100%

And finally our door hanger. This is actually a hanger that we have had for a few years now so technically the entire thing is recycled. However, I made it back when Butterz was still with us. I could not bring myself to replace his "envelope" last year. No disrespect to Baxter, I simply could not do it.

But it was time & we wanted Santa to know exactly where to deliver his gifts. What you may not be able to tell is I made a new front & simply sewed onto Butterz's envelope so it's always with me. I've decided that is what I will do for any envelopes moving forward. That way I get to keep them all forever in some little way!

Recycled Materials = all of it = 100%

and yes, the misspellings are intentional!
Don't get me wrong, I didn't get to all my "want to do's", but thanks to Pinterest & my Holiday board, I have plenty of ideas for next year as well! Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday whether it was DIY or not!

ThankFull

2011-11-24T08:43:00.001-06:00

It's an unconventional holiday for me & Nacho. We're on the road today about 4 hours from my hometown. So while most people are either into their 3rd hour of holiday prep or still sleeping in, we are inching closer to my family.
Family. That word means different things to different people. My definition got a permanent rewording when my parents divorced almost 30 years ago. I learned that family doesn't have to be that group that you are born into. Family for me is the people you chose to surround yourself with. And I've chosen some pretty cool family members.
At its core, my family is my sister Renee, my brother Jimmy, my nephew Bryce, and, of course, Nacho. I am fiercly loyal to my family & grateful for each one of us. When I think of everything my siblings & I did to get to this family, it makes me smile. And I couldn't have chosen a better family member to add to our little clan than Nacho. For him I am most ThankFull.
So whether you are elbow deep in a turkey or doing your best today to decline "one more piece" of whatever, take a good look around at those people (or animals) you've chosen to spend it with & be ThanFull they chose you too!
Happy Turkey, TurDuckEn, ToFurkey Day!

Beer Me

2011-11-15T10:23:00.001-06:00

we interrupt this.....well, pretty much everything going on at our house, to bring you Nacho's first welding project. say hello to Todd's beer stand!

Todd has gotten serious about home brewing & since we decided to DIY our dining table base, this seemed like the perfect training project. Todd provided us with drawings & measurements & Nacho provided the welding. not bad for a first project i might say. you're looking at the future of 3 brewing kettles! we cal first dibs on the first batch!
coming up! the dining table base. yes, it's done & in place. i just don't have a decent photo of it yet - unless you'd like a photo even more blurry than this one taken with my phone!

TAG you're finally it!

2011-11-10T10:56:00.000-06:00

OMG!!! you have no idea what a big deal this is! Nacho has waited & watched that mailbox for just shy of 2 months waiting for this to come in!

and every day, he comes in the door sad & dejected! you would think someone had kicked his hockey gear! well, last night he finally got his wish & the tag that I PLANNED LIKE 5 YEARS AGO finally came in. we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief people.

Baby Steps

2011-10-28T09:17:00.003-05:00

at some point during the whole Kitchen Remodel, i stumbled upon I Heart Organizing. i have been obsessed ever since! i luv Jen! i think she is the best thing since chip clips! and i love seeing organization transformations. it appeals, well, to my sense of organization. i, however, am not exactly what you'd call an organized person! i am an organized-wanna-be! i aspire to a life of organization.
i have talked for some time & at great length about organizing & revamping our spare bedroom/office. our house is very small, only about 900sq/ft. it's plenty of room for the 4 of us, just not always room enough for the junk we collect. i'm often asked why we don't expand our house; do a upstairs master addition. you know why? the more space you have, the more junk you collect. but i digress. yes, i've TALKED about getting the office together and, i admit, i haven't taken one step in that direction. but i know why: i'm afraid of all that stuff in there! what if it retaliates against me, and while i'm at home alone? who will save me? the boxers? nay! so i understand & recognize that it has gotten to a point where it is overwhelming. and sometimes, seeing all the amazing things that Jen does, actually does not help. you don't get a space organized in the time it takes to read one of her posts! i see a nice pantry or office redo on her site & i think "i can do that!" and i can! just not in the 3-5 minutes it took me to read the post. so i walk into the office & i'm overwhelmed again!
solution? you gotta crawl before you walk! training wheels kiddos! so here are my training wheels: the bathroom closet!

our bathroom is HUGE. i mean HUGE with a capital HUGE! we have a freakin hot tub in our bathroom for cry eye! not a garden tub people, a H-O-T--T-U-B! you know? the kind you'd normally have outside? and the closet must be huge too right? nope! very small: 40.5"wide x 16" deep. and the door opening itself is only 23.5" wide & sits 26" from the hot tub, so a door is really not practical. while it is techincally 8ft tall inside, you lose about 2ft of that due to the sloped section at the bottom that is the adjoining wall for our entryway below. in our previous house, i got creative with a closet just like this & used strips of quarter round molding to make a nice shoe shelf. i'm sure i'll do something similar here, depending on what gets stored there. for now, we'll ignore that bottom part where you see the hose for filling the hot tub.
let's take a look inside shall we?

Shelves 1 & 2 (above): you can see the very attractive electrical panels in grey. who wouldn't want to stare at those beauties in the morning? at the top is a separate panel that has something to do with the fire alarm system & home alarm system. it's all very technical & while i work in IT, i couldn't care less about technology when i get home! we have my assortment of travel size items in the pink bag at top, my overnight bag next to it, followed by the little grey bag that keeps meds, band aids, etc. for when we travel. below that, a repurposed tool box that holds nail polish, files, cuticle cutters, etc. and then the assortment of tooth goodies!

Shelf 3 & 4 (above): you will notice at this point that my husband elected NOT to extend the shelves past the electrical panels. while i was not keen on that years ago, it is really practical. yes, Nacho, you were right! so we have the usual supply of contacts, vitamins, lotions, potions, & plain old junk. that pink/purple/teal thing you see is a very old Caboodles case that i repurposed years ago into our First Aid kit (this one does not travel). it actually works great holding Cold/Flu meds, aspirin, etc. so does this qualify for Jen's Free Organizing posts?

Shelf 5 (above): aka Scary Shelf! every time i look in this closet, i refuse to look below the 4th shelf. this last one is really what finally kicked me into gear. i mean look at all that! disgusting! you have the hot tub goodies on the right, and a bin for swim trunks on the left. here's the thing, everything in that bin? none of it belongs to us! it belongs to the kid (and a friend of his or two) that house/dog sits for us when we're gone. have hot tub, will bring trunks! so those will be returning to their rightful owners! in the middle is good ole TP! as i mentioned, we have a small house, so buying in bulk, while economical, is simply not a space saver for us! so i have to keep things like TP, soap, etc. to a minimum & that can be hard to do even when you don't shop at bulk stores.
so as we all know, to start any organizing project.......EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!!

well, everything but the electric tooth brushes because i forgot the shelves are attached to their brackets - probably for my own safety - & i just didn't feel like undoing them. okay, that passed & eventually i had to undo them because i knew i was going to spray paint those panels. before i started on this, i was really hoping that top panel (security/fire) was not actually in use & i could talk Nacho into doing away with it. he informed me later that yes it was all in use, so it has to stay. since it's up so high, and a bit of a bugger to paint, i simply ignored it &, you'll see, it will be hidden.
My Arsenal!
as i mentioned before, i already have some repurposed storage in here. and i'll be reusing that clear plastic bin holding those trunks. but i did need to purchase some additional storage containers. Target to the rescue:

obviously going with a brown/beige theme in keeping with what we already have in the bathroom. the brown containers came from the bathroom supply section of Target. the beige ones came from their container section & are cloth basket (i hope i don't regret that). i've used the cloth ones in the kitchen pantry & have been pleased so far.
after taking all the shelving out & wiping it down GROSS!!!!, i went through everything & threw out old, unused items. i consolidated things like cold meds where a box had 1 pill & there was a new box. my favorite was when i emptied the clear bin with the trunks

hey, anyone need an extra Vitamin while hot tubbing? apparently, we are saving that for emergencies. yeah, that got thrown out. i do have a few Rx meds to take for recycling locally at our pharmacy - REMEMBER NEVER PUT Rx MEDS IN THE GARBAGE OR SEWAGE!!!
i then taped off the breaker switches in both grey electrical panels. remember, i'm not going to paint the security/fire one up top, just cuz i'm going to "hide" it for now.

Nacho got the biggest kick out of this! the lengths i will go to on some stuff & then others...not so much. so it looked like this when finished:

not bad eh? and you can see the taller one to the right has been spray painted as well. i simply did 1 coat of primer & 1 coat of Satin just because that was what i had laying around. then really, it was just a matter of getting rid of stuff & putting stuff in bins.
And now we have......drum roll.......

Shelves 1, 2, & 3 better organized. i know that hideous single light up top has to go & it will - it will be replaced by LED strips on the inside of the door. my pink bag of travel toiletries is temporarily hiding the security/fire panel somewhat. i plan to come back & better disguise that with a stretched canvas DIY painting. it will be a nice little unexpected item when you look up there. that will mean pairing down more stuff on that shelf, but i'm up to it now. and actually, on Shelf 2, that box on the right? empty! just leaving it for decor for now! it also helps to hide the top part of the generator panel that you see most of on Shelf 3. speaking of Shelf 3, vitamins all collected in 1 bin (with tag showing). did i ever mention what a commitment-phobic i am? yeah, just in case i decide the bins weren't for me, i could always return them. i won't! moving on....

Shelves 4 & 5 now how much nicer is that! Boo-Yah! all the lotion/shampoo refills & smell goodies collected in 1 fabric bin. i think i will be getting another Small bathroom bin to replace that little wooden one. it's holding our "immediate" medical stuff like band aids, gauze, ointment, etc. so no more searching through the Caboodle when you have a cut, it will be right in the open, immediately accessible! the bin in the middle is the liquid medical stuff (alcohol, peroxide, Witch Hazel, etc.). and of course, Caboodle with the runny, stuffy, coughy goodies!
And finally, Scary Shelf! tamed at last! at least until Nacho needs the hot tub supplies, then it will all go to crap! i probably should just remove the saline solution from the box cuz it does kinda clutter things up all half open. oh well, post-production discoveries. and it's all finished off by another recycled item that just happens to fit in with the bathroom color scheme

that's an old sheer that i got from Pier1 EONS ago! i think they still make it but i have not seen it in that color in a long time. it's a perfect brown tone that works with the rest of the room. ahh destiny! and that is an antique leaded glass pane that Nacho built a frame for me some time ago. i have this weird mix of modern & antique stuff in my house. i had hoped to put hooks on it & hang it behind the bathroom door you see here so we could have towels right there at the hot tub. unfortunately, it's too wide to hang horizontal & i'm not sure vertical will look so good, but i'm still mulling that one over!
so there you have it! baby steps to working on bigger projects in the house! next up, under the kitchen & bathroom cabinets & cleaning out all the clutter that accumulates there! and eventually.....that office is mine!

Negative Outcome

2011-10-21T15:26:00.000-05:00

it's actually better than that title sounds. a few weeks ago i made the difficult decision, with the input of my doctor & support of Nacho, to have some genetic testing done. i'd been considering this for a couple of years, and finally made the leap. i'm sure any woman reading this can guess what it was - BRCA1 & 2 Genetic Test. my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer while in her early 30's. she elected to have a Radical Double Mastectomy at that time. consequently, i have been getting mammograms since i was about 29 - at the time the standard was to start mammograms 5 years sooner than your mother or sister were diagnosed; that standard has since changed to 10 i believe. let me cut to the chase, i tested Negative for both - ovarian & breast.
now, the rest of the story.....during a routine yearly exam, my doctor asked if i'd thought more about it & would consider getting tested. i told him i've always kinda felt that with my mom's diagnosis, i knew i was probably at greater risk than say someone who had no history in their family at all - i now know this to not be true at all. and also, so what? what if you test positive? what are you going to do about that? well, therein laid the issue - it was not the test that was scary, it was WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THAT INFORMATION?
so Nacho & i had some very lengthy discussions about it. i'm not one to live in ignorance. i have often said if ignorance is bliss, then i'm the happiest person you will ever meet. but not really. (1) i'm not a very happy person, ask anyone & (2) it's not so much that i'm ignorant as it is, i'm just not very bright. those aren't the same things are they? but i realized, i'd want to know. and as someone said to me during this, any information is GOOD information. so what if it comes back positive? at least you know what your options are. and what would you do? the 2 or 3 people that knew i was doing this asked as well. you have options. i would not hesitate to have my ovaries removed. i'm not having kids so that is a no-brainer. but would i have a Mastectomy? well, yes i would, but i wouldn't necessarily HAVE to. that was something i had not thought about. so this process was a good thing, because it allowed me to look at the multiple options available. i didn't have to think "radically". as my doctor told me, one path would be to have mammograms twice a year & not just standard mammograms, embrace some of the new technology in that area too. now, i wasn't so scared. and you know what? Nacho said it best: if i did have to "give up the girls" (my words not his), he'd rather have me here alive without them, than not! i'd be lying if i said i was pleasantly surprised or flattered. i was neither cuz i know exactly who i married! BOO-YAH!
but a couple of other factors that helped to make this decision for me: a friend from graduate school was diagnosed with Stage3 breast cancer a few weeks ago. Nacho posed the question that if i were to ask her right now if she would have had the test (i do not know if she ever has), what do you think she would say? he had a point. BUT, it's also important to note, a Negative result does not mean you will never get cancer, you just carry the same risk "as that of people in the general population." and that's important because i know someone else who tested negative for the BRCA1 & 2 & she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. so again, i had to ask myself, what good is this test? and the best answer i could come up with is, as someone else put it......it's good information either way! and, of course, i simply cannot live my life without saying i tried to know and do all i could about this.
so here's how it worked for me (and this is by no means the way it might work for someone else): my doctor's office took a blood sample & sent it to Myriad. i will not provide a link to their site, you can Google it yourself & read all about the testing & controversy of this company's genetic patent on your own. that is a whole other issue i am in no place to tackle! as my doctor explained it to me, Myriad checks with your insurance to see if they will cover the testing. if they do, then Myriad proceeds with the testing. IF YOUR INSURANCE DOES NOT COVER THIS, Myriad contacts you, tells you so, & asks if you want to proceed with the testing, paying for it yourself. the cost is estimated at some $3000.00 USD give or take. i was fully prepared to pay this myself if necessary, but i decided to contact my insurance company to start with - hey, why wait? indeed they did cover it due to my family history. i got as much family history from my mom's side & my dad's as possible - my mom's case was the only known case on both sides. and that was that! blood taken, shipped, test run, results received from my doctor 10 days later = NEGATIVE!
i should be through the roof right? well, i guess knowing that there is no way to know anything for sure, that i could still find a lump or have a questionable mammogram tomorrow, well, it kinda takes the elation out of it for me. but i'm am glad i did it & grateful for the results given to me today. at least now i can say not only do i refuse to live in complete ignorance, but, should something happen, well, i did all that i could, given the tools currently out there, to find out what i could. and as more tools become available with technology, i'll use them when they are & i'm not afraid of what to do with the information!

Flashback

2011-10-13T08:18:00.002-05:00

i was pretty shocked when i looked back over the skimpy postings i've done in the past year+. i will not lie to you, everything kinda went downhill after i lost Butterz. so top that off with all the chaos that came with the Kitchen Remodel, and you have a perfect Depression Soup! wala! Ina would be proud. served up in beautiful bowls made by Apathy! mmm, sure am good tastin' ma! it was all a bit more than i bargained for!

so i'm going to try to get my buns (as Miss Millie would say) in gear & post all the stuff from this summer into October. they will be my Flashback postings! perhaps this will get me back on my track of more regular posting.

Wine-OH!

2011-10-12T19:54:00.001-05:00

one of my most favorite parts of our remodel is not the windows. it's not the countertops. it's not really even my faucet that i have promised to marry! IT'S MY WINE STORAGE! i think i've mentioned before that i went a little nuts with the whole "storage" idea in this remodel. if there was an empty space under or behind something, i wanted to find a way to use it. i did actually hold back when it came to all that blank space behind the seating in the banquette. you have to stop at some point or people are gonna think you really ARE crazy. i like to think i stopped just this side of crazy.
the first time i mentioned the wine storage was in my little Check List of items. i actually did finish it back in August. okay, the top steps are finished. and although i have not taken a true After photo, with the steps painted & all, here they are, or rather here they were in August!

how cool is that?! keep in mind, these are the 2 sets of steps that separate the dining from the living room. and that's just the first step of storage. the step below that has drawers that are about twice as deep. so here's how i did it! oh, and forgive the pics, cuz, again, in a rush to get photos i used my phone & that's really not the best when you have the shakes from all that wine like i do!

Materials - aside from the drawers themselves that Tom @ PlumCreek made

i used cork shelf liner (to carry the wine cork theme, but also for grip)
Xacto knife or Box Cutter - aka Utility Knife apparently in the Mid-West!
Ruler
extra wine corks for spacers
and of course WINE!!!

oh, & btw, that is an original Charles Chips can holding my spare corks. i have 2 of them thanks 2 mom!

Assembly

make sure you have a clean drawer. i vacuumed it out & lightly sanded it.

Special Note: Nacho had to use the table saw & sander to the bottoms & front panel because i ended up adding thin felt strips to the bottom for glide - or else it scratched my beautiful Marmoleum floor. i found the felt strips at Hobby Lobby & it came in a sheet of 8.5 x 11, just like paper. even as thin as it was, this would affect the fit so he had to take a little off to make it work. this was trial & error so there were actually multiple trips to the sander & table saw before we got the bottoms & front whittled down so they didn't stick.

now, cut your shelf liner to size. the easy way for me was to actually turn the drawer over & trace the bottom. perfect fit every time - except for the 1st one cuz i didn't think of it until after that!

hold it down & peel it back as you go

and there you have it! a nicely lined drawer!

Spacers
since wine bottles vary in size, i didn't want to put anything too permanent in place where i might run into "accommodation" issues later. not that i can't drink my way out of any "accommodation" issues! but i wanted to leave a little wiggle room inside the drawer. to do that, i sized the drawer up by laying out a few bottles without everything being crammed bottle-to-bottle.

anyone want to guess my current favorite wine?

take 4 spare corks & hot glue 2 to each side, placing them close to the front & back of the bottles. i figured this keeps the bottles from clanging against the sides of the wood. i could have fit a 5th bottle in there, but, again, bottle sizes vary so i could run into issues down the road.

dab of hot glue on the bottom of the corks

THIS IS JUST ON THE RIGHT & LEFT OF THE DRAWER! don't hot glue anything in between bottles. i considered & even tried cutting some corks in half lengthwise & whatever the other direction is. wine corks don't cut so well, & since i've had some pretty serious run-ins with sharp objects, i'm restricted on how much i'm allowed to use a knife (just you wait Nacho!). so it was just easier to use the whole cork & glue it in place on each side.
now just lay spare corks in between the wine bottles as you need them. i used 2 like the sides - 1 to the front & 1 to the back!

and what's nice about this, is as i take a bottle out, if i don't have something to immediately take it's place, i just put a bunch of extra wine corks in the gap until i get replacement wine bought!

and since i have extra space behind the bottles (to the back of the drawer), i just move the spare corks back there when i'm restocking the drawer. that way i always have extra corks right where i need them!

....and just wait! i have more ideas for all those corks! bwah ha ha!

Diversion

2011-10-10T21:51:00.001-05:00

just call us 92%. we get 92% of a project completed & move on to something else cuz, like so many people i know, you just get sick of dealing with it. if someone opened a business & called it The Last 8%, they'd make a killing. i will claim to be ADHD until that business opens. i am an idea person & a demo person. so i have had the idea for some time that my trusty garden fencing really needed to be replaced. Korby & i had worked hard a number of years ago to cut a sh*t ton of willow branches & make a nice looking fence out of them. and in tru Me fasion, this is the only pic i have of one section of it.

taken at night of course with absolutely no patience for lighting, adjustments, etc. just the rush to get a before photo before i actually ripped it out. although i did find this one in the Gabion Wall files

see it poking up in the foreground? this was a pretty intense project at the time. it has held up nicely through countless floods & has that rustic, organic feel to it. okay, nice & all, but time to move on. not long after Nacho finished our cable railing system, i found railing system made out of hog confinement wire - the same stuff we made our Gabions out of. he's lucky he got that cable railing done before i found it. but since then, i have wanted some sort of railing system made our of metal & the wire panels. tada!
tear the old out!

and put in the new

now believe me, it did actually hurt a little to tear all that willow out. a LOT of work went into putting it in place to begin with. but i like the clean look of this so much better. we're still working on the rest of the panels, but 2 panels in & i couldn't be more please!

Fall

2011-10-10T21:13:00.001-05:00

we really have gotten more done than i've bothered to post here. i think i get worse & worse about taking photos then never posting any of them. so i needed a break from all that procrastination. Friday i took Baxter to Robinson Park for a really nice hike that frankly wore both of us out! so Saturday it was Nacho's turn to take me to Starved Rock State Park by boat!
We packed a nice little lunch of fried chicken, Gorgonzola potato salad, & cream filled cupcakes. well, there wasn't much cream filling to the cupcakes cuz i now need to buy a piping kit. we waited & fried the chicken right before we left & to keep it warm, we used the boat engine!

and then just below Henry we saw an even bigger bird than the one we had keeping warm on the engine'

sorry for the quality but he was quite a ways from us & i didn't want to disturb him. i only have 75-240mm lens as my long lens so this was the best i could get. anywho, after that it was just a lot of beautiful colors

of course we stopped off at Spring Valley Boat Club for a couple of Bloody Mary's. thanks for the hospitality Troglios! and then continued our trip up to SRSP. after an awesome lunch, we joined Tucker & locked through to visit Starved Rock Yacht Club. i'm still always amazed at the amount of height you cover in a lock. this is as the lock was filling up

and this is when it was full & we headed north to SRYC.

and even the change of seasons while you wait to lock through

ah, but the best was heading home

Barn Light Electric Giveaway

2011-10-10T20:47:00.000-05:00

i found this giveaway courtesy of Rambling Renovators & couldn't pass it up! i did some searching on their site when we started the kitchen reno. and although we are pretty much finished on lighting, i have one place in particular where it is not the lighting i really want, but more of a place holder. so what better chance to try & fix that permanently?

i've seen this Orb style from other retailers & think it'd make a great permanent fixture for the island (no offense to my DIY pendants!)

and i love the industrial edge of this pendant

DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED cuz this is what i started looking at all along & inspired my DIY fixtures over the island that really came from here.

and then finally, i've looked at this one as a potential replacement for our entry stairway for some time.

so now that i've listed mine, here's how you can try for yours....

How to Enter:

Look around online at Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own
Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!
Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article so others can enter
Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to: contest@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by reading the Official Rules

*I've confirmed that the contest is open to participants anywhere in the world over 18 years of age. If the winner is outside of the continental US, they will be responsible for any duties, taxes, fees, or additional shipping costs etc. that is associated with their country, as with any other order.

and Happy 10th to me!

2011-09-22T09:36:00.003-05:00

so this is what 10 years of commitment got me!

not bad eh? and i'll give him props, Nacho totally surprised me with this one! and no it is not a 1/19th model this time & it's not a rental. all mine!

photo update

2011-08-31T08:40:00.001-05:00

i did finally find some video that we shot of our surf trip last month down in FL. disregard the Tahiti reference, a typo on my part. whew! i thought we'd lost this forever. not bad for a first timer eh? sorry i couldn't get a tighter shot. we'll try harder next time!

have a seat!

2011-08-29T21:22:00.001-05:00

we bought these stools not long after we bought the house 10 years ago. they never fit the counter that faced the river. your knees were always hitting the crazy piece of trim that ran across & underneath that counter. i hate them

there's the crazy trim on the right! see how close the top of the stools are? we never did cut them down so sitting there was pointless.
so after we got the island in, we needed something to go on the end. we've looked at a few options for stools. lots of neat stuff at CB2, DWR, Crate & Barrel, etc. but i can't bring myself to get rid of these stools. so a few weeks ago, i found this

Source: blog.2modern.com via DeNacho on Pinterest

and knew i had a solution to our generic stools. so now this

became this

with a minor Denacho twist. i wanted to create an unfinished feel to it. i'd considered a "dripping" effect on the legs, but just couldn't muster the attention span & patience to do that. instead, i just dragged the brush down & stopped when i felt like it. the scary thing is, i already owned the blue paint! i'd bought a sample can & used it in our hallway to paint one of the flood lines from 2009. i've only got 1 done & it's not poly'd yet - i had a little issue with that yesterday so sanded the poly off the top & had to repaint a coat of blue. i haven't decided if i want to tackle poly again. i don't have good luck with it. so i need to finish the other one & get them in place for a true After photo.

see? i don't actually HAVE to spend a bunch of $$ on everything in this remodel! btw, tours of the faucet are still gonna cost you $20/person.

IT'S HERE!!!

2011-08-29T20:21:00.000-05:00

i had one of the most excruciating weeks of my life last week. a 6 day migraine that never let up. but you know what? even that couldn't squelch my excitement when this arrived

yeah, i know this picture is totally blurry. i was so excited to snap it right out of the box, that i didn't bother to adjust light settings or anything. so excuse me for having priorities. i've been laboring over this one for some time & finally admitted, you can't....or rather shouldn't.....DIY everything. some thing are just best left to Payin' The Man! and this is one of them. it was a bit pricey ($45) but worth every penny cuz i went from this

to this

and now i feel like this

or something very close to that

life altering event

2011-08-25T12:32:00.000-05:00

i just received my very first Jimmy John's online lunch order AT MY DESK!!! i never got up! well except to give the guy a tip, but i could have rolled my chair over for that. i have a new goal next time. I MAY NEVER LEAVE MY CUBICLE EVER AGAIN. damn work! they foiled me again!

Surf & Tuff

2011-08-07T19:48:00.004-05:00

i almost forgot to post...so Nacho & i took a bit of an unexpected vaca last weekend. we zipped down to Flagler so he could surf. did i mention the big surprise 40th i threw for him last year? i did not, so let me digress a bit....
last year Nacho hit the big 4-0. the year before, when i turned 40, we had planned to take a trip somewhere so i could surf for my 40th. i'd just always wanted to try it. not a bucket list kinda thing, cuz i don't have a bucket but i do have a list & it's not the type of list anyone or anything wants to be on. my list also ends in a T, but it doesn't start with a B. i digress yet again. so in my usual fashion, i cancel any plans for my 40th trip. have you seen me walk UP a flight of stairs w/o falling? never happens, so i figured surfing was $$ wasted on me. later that summer (2009) i decided it would be time, money, & effort better spent on TheMan! so i started a year in advance planning the Ultimate Surprise 40th Birthday Party EVER!!!
Dunaways provided us with the location because they'd been going to Flagler for years & put the kids in surf lessons a few years ago & the whole family just loved it - you can see Dan & his son Cole on the ZWave site. couldn't say enough about it. and since i've been trying to get TheMan to take a warm weather vaca for some time, i figured this was my chance! the more they talked about it, the more interested TheMan seemed so i knew that was where we had to go.
okay, so now i have to book us a place to stay & figure out how to get Nacho from Illinois to Florida without him figuring it out. remember he's always late, not stupid. so i finally find a really cool place right behind ZWave surf shop. i explain my plan to Vicki who owns the apartments & she agrees to let me wait & pay until we get down there. how nice! but then she offers to decorate the apartment that we rent with birthday goodies. really? i get my brother, sister & nephew to agree to meet us. the Dunaways are already there so they are gonna help out as well. here's where it got really tricky....
i have Nacho's co-worker Darrell promise to book his calendar for the days we plan to be gone. i also ask him to pretend to take vaca time as well so Nacho would not be tempted to plan something on his own birthday (July 10). about 1 week before the plan is set to go down, i find out Nacho has decided to visit one of his work facilities IN INDIANNA!! GOOD GOD MAN!!! so i have to go above Darrell & contact Nacho's boss, Todd, to try & get him NOT to go. Todd has to then contact HIS boss and somehow it finally makes it's way to the CEO of the company, all trying to help me keep Nacho in town. the CEO makes Nacho cancel the trip & he is not happy! but i listen & try to be "supportive" w/o losing it! so we're good right? nay!
the day we are to leave, Nacho goes to visit another facility they have about 30 minutes away. okay, fine, i ask his co-workers to schedule a 2p meeting so we can get him back to the office & i can show up & kidnap him. cuz 2p was the drop-dead for hitting the road - oh, i planned for us to drive cuz i hate flying so i had no intention of dealing with that! a little before 2p Darrell calls; Nacho has decided he won't be attending the 2p, got too much to do at this other facility **palm to forehead** long story shor...ah screw short, they all lie & say a big announcement is being made & he HAS to get back to the office.
Darrell smuggles me into the building & up to the conference room. here's where planning went down the tubes. so say your wife NEVER just shows up at your office. one day she does? do you think Happy Things or Oh My God Something Terribly wrong has happened? guess which one Nacho went for? i didn't think that part through, but if he'd done what he was supposed to do....so several "no no no there's nothing to worry about" and one SURPRISE later, we are out the door & in the truck.
but he still has no idea what is up or where he's going. he just sees the truck packed in the back & i'm driving so he can still attend a conference call. Flagler Beach is about 19 hours from here, so of course we didn't drive it all in one stretch. it wasn't until the 2nd day, right about Jacksonville, that he knew where we were going. you see i'm from northern FL & when we didn't hit I-10 heading West, he knew! but he had no idea MyFam was coming & everyone was waiting in the room. needless to say he was surprised! he even had a bottle of wine waiting from the CEO of his company. how cool was that?
i got him in surf lessons the next day & that was all she wrote! my warm weather vaca was a shoe-in! so where was i going with this? oh yeah, unfortunately we let the kitchen remodel this year get in the way of taking a trip sooner & when i was at the end of a very short rope, we snapped & said "let's bail!". and we were off to Flagler so Nacho could surf....and i could give it a shot too!

so where's the photo of Nacho surfing? well, i have a folder titled Nacho40, but nothing in it & i can't find the pics i took last year anywhere. as for this last trip....well....i didn't check the battery on my point & shoot & the only photo i got before it died was of a live sand dollar that i found first day. but how cool was that? and the only photo i got of us together, a little old lady was nice enough to take on my phone. so until i can find that 1 pic, i guess we all just have to assume Nacho really has surfed, but we only have proof that 1 of us actually has.

Dinner is Served

2011-08-07T17:07:00.001-05:00

thanks a comment i made on Chezerby's Kitchen Follow-up, another reader asked for some info on the Boxer Feeding Station we incorporated into our remodel. at least, i think she asked me. hmm, now that i say that... oh well, whatevers! you know i was gonna post this anyway!
let me tell you, in all seriousness, that we planned this kitchen remodel starting with the Boxer Feeding Station. really! ask Terry. when we sat down with him last Fall, i said "here are the things that have to happen in this remodel..." and first on our list was the Feeding Station. yeah, our kids are spoiled, but seriously, this is the smartest thing you can do if you have dogs & live in a small space - which we do. and this is not a new concept to us! in our original kitchen, we had a bottom drawer that was not being used. i had Nacho create a Feeding Station there that served us well for gosh, 8 years? in simplest instructions, he put a board across the open drawer, cut out 2 holes, then dropped the bowls in. it was probably the smartest thing we did in our little space because everything was put away when they were done eating.
now on to the show! BFS v2.0 looks something like this....

and the full cabinet...

okay, but here's the problem, neither one of us remember exactly how this was ordered, but here's the gist:

we started by using 2 upper cabinets for the "back side" of our island. we used uppers because base cabinets back to back would have created a 48" wide island & that was simply too big in our minds. so the wonderful people at IKEA, who also thought it was awesome we were designing a part of our kitchen with the kids in mind, suggested the uppers. we also saw a vignette in the store where they used this same config for uppers that sat right on the counter top instead of up on the wall. these uppers are 12" deep & that's just enough room for the feeding bowls. Nacho built a frame that sits down in the drawers & the bowls drop into that frame:

so you can see, it's simple plywood on top, a board across the back for stability, & 2 boards coming forward for more stability. where you don't have to get so fancy, is with the hinged top that creates the little storage place on right hand side in the above pic. you could simply do one solid piece across the top & cut your hole for your bowl in the center. i suggested the hinged piece so we can store extra collars, etc. there if we want...which we have not yet!

and it's nothin fancy people!

this was Stage1 before Nacho got all FancyPants on me & decided to cover it in the same Marmoelum we used on the floor. oh, and also, you can see he planned on them both eating out of 1 drawer! i mean really!? the nerve! it was the Inspector who said, that will not do - 1 bowl per drawer is code!

you can see it can't you? that look of "you really expect me to eat from the same drawer as her?" and so it was to be, separate dining facilities for each boxer! although SOME PEOPLE (ahem BOXERS) eat from whatever drawer they like!

this would be the boss for those that don't know!

the finishing touch is the little latch you see in the center

that's just a magnetic spring loaded latch. why you ask? we found that the glide on the drawers was so good that when they were eating, the drawer wanted to close. we never thought of that in our old drawer because that drawer was such a piece of crap, you actually had to lift the drawer up to close it. so they're eating & the drawer is slowly closing on them. now, we simply push down on the latch, it pops up in a locked position. when they are done, push the spring down & close the drawer!

and it's like it was never there. one word of caution though....it's probably just the combinatin of Nexus Black/Brown & Boxer, but our guys can get a little messy when they eat, so i have to make sure & keep the doors & drawer fronts wiped down.

and where do we keep the food? on the opposite side of the island

this was not our ideal size, but, again, because we didn't want our island to turn into a monster, we had to compromise on the width of this cabinet. we would have LOVED to been able to do the 24" wide with the 3 bins, but this has worked out nicely. we do keep a container of Senior food in the pantry behind (to the left) of this but since it's all right there together it works perfectly! and i love that i can keep doggie meds, brushes, etc in the drawers above the bins. it's all very convenient.

Projects Sneak Peek

2011-08-07T16:02:00.002-05:00

it's not like things have stopped on the kitchen, they've just ground to a halt with me personlly. but i'm working through that. amazingly enough, we are through most of the big reno items. i couldn't believe it when Terry told me they were pretty much through billing us. so here are a couple of catch-up pics & i have to thank Chezerbey's Kitchen Follow-up for getting me motivated to post SOMETHING, my god ANYTHING about where we're at!
Windows
when we last visited these, i think the interior had been primed but not painted. it took me an entire weekend, but i (and by i, i mean I, NOT NACHO) finally got them painted.

sorry the photo isn't the greatest, but i still don't know how to get an interior shot to look good when all that sunlight is pouring in. have i ever mentioned how much i HATE painting trim? and Nacho "loves to paint" but apparently that love does not extend to trim cuz i one point he said "i guess i should help you paint" & next thing you know he's out sandbonying the beach! **heavy sigh**
in addition i (and by i, i mean I & NOT NACHO) have gone the distance & painted the exterior as well! okay, props to Nacho cuz he did prime them!

and can you believe that at one time all we had was this...

what a difference a little glass makes!
Shelving
you may have noticed in the background of that first photo a little shelving unit hanging there. and while i could make this it's own post, cuz they are so awesome, i go ahead & give them to you here. i think i'd mentioned at the beginning of this project that our upper cabinet layout was going to stop at the hood thingy. i can't tell you how many people were wondering what exactly we were going to put to the right of that hood. well, here's what we did...

i think i also mentioned that the idea actually came from here. it's more decorative than anything, & i have a couple more items to put on it, but i love it!
we carried this same shelving idea over onto the big dining room wall...

KABLAAM!!! is that a statment or what? i mean the shelves of course, but it's hard not to notice The Kids isn't it? We actually designed the shelving unit around the portraits. i had those done as a gift for Nacho last Christmas. my plan had been to hang them side by side over our headboard, but when Terry saw them, he said you have to put them here so people can see them. you know what? i think this guy knows what he's doing!

Dining Seating

and while we're in this part of the house, i think i've found my solution to the bench cushions! i'm a beginner at sewing, but i did manage to make this a few weeks ago. i figure if i can wing my way through a zipper without looking at anything, then surely i can make seat cushions. and i found this posting at Sew Mamma Sew

Source: sewmamasew.com via DeNacho on Pinterest

after reading it, i really think i can do it! right now i'm trying to decide between two "fabrics" that i found at Target...

as much as i love the punch of color in the one on the left, i'm thinking i better go with the more neutral one on the right because that dining corner is all green! perhaps i'll do back cushions in various patterns/shades to add a punch of color. oh, and did you notice? these are shower curtains. funny thing is, i came up with this idea about 2 months ago and, wouldn't you know it, someone else did too!

Source: thecsiproject.com via DeNacho on Pinterest

and did you notice where she found her fabric? so i must be on the right track! i really hope i can report back successfully on this one!
okay, that's all for now. don't want to give it all away in one long post! i have all my pictures taken & downloaded from the camera, so there really is no excuse for me not to trickle the updates in right?

vaca couple

2011-08-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

and nacho was complaining how we NEVER get a picture of us together on vacation. well, here you go! i'd like to thank the nice old lady that took the photo for us using my phone. priceless!

Breakfast Blast

2011-07-31T19:54:00.000-05:00

we have a tradition of going to breakfast EVERY Sunday morning. like some people believe in church, we believe in breakfast. yeah, i know, i just offended a whole new set of people! well, it gets worse, jesus is my bacon!
so anywho! we refused to miss the tradition today even while on vaca. so we found this!

and really, how can you possibly go wrong with directions that include the word "Blast"! devine intervention i tell you!

disclaimer: i like to think God has a sense of humor. how else do you explain crocs!

dollar for dollar

2011-07-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

if you've never seen one of these before, and perhaps you have not, this is a LIVE sand dollar. most people only see the ones you can buy in the store, all white. this is what they look like pulled straight out of the ocean live.

i should know, we used to pick these up all the time growing up on the Gulf. today, i stepped on one while walking in the surf at Flagler Beach, FL & knew immediately what that feeling was. as many of these as i picked up as a kid, i was still amazed to find this today. i bet i haven't actually seen a live one since i was a kid! and of course i "set it free". took it back out into the surf, and buried it under water in the sand. hope it is never found again!

i like to call this Moser Airlines

2011-07-14T14:22:00.000-05:00

this one never gets old

2011-07-13T10:24:00.002-05:00

ahhhhh, if only i could reveal why this came up today. but alas, i will just enjoy!

booooo! YouTube took it down. well, IT WAS the scene from The Ref where Kevin Spacey tells his mom he's going to get her cross for Christmas. I love that scene. I know that woman!

temporary outage

2011-07-12T08:23:00.000-05:00

apologies! i do actually have some small things to post. just have not been up to it as of late. that's the downer of summer! so much to do & so little time to post it. i hope to promise to half way commit to maybe possibly getting some things caught up this week. but my word is only worth the air it's written on!

Pallet Goodness

2011-06-28T12:16:00.000-05:00

you know? i'm a sucker for shipping pallets. i love to see what people can do with them (including the shipping pallet office).

Curbly has some great postings on this.

all work and no play

2011-06-26T21:59:00.001-05:00

well, you know the rest. somebody has got to save those buoys!

http://dailyboxer.blogspot.com/2011/06/buoy-hunters.html

making a list, checking it off

2011-06-20T12:06:00.019-05:00

we had a little boxer emergency last week that took precedence over anything kitchen related. and after re-reading this i realized, there weren't really any pics to post. most of the links took care of everything, with the exception of the Steps pic below.

we're making progress bit by bit. you know, it gets hard when summer rolls around. not that we're out on the river boating, cuz we're not & it's killing us! it's just that it's hard to motivate yourself to stay inside this time of year. i'm actually enjoying cutting grass for the 1st summer in what 2 years since we lost our yard to the big flood? oh, i'll have to post that pic later as well! but here's what got accomplished in the last week:

Painting
okay, i was supposed to at least get primer on the windows last week while Nacho was out of town & of course i didn't. but we spent yesterday getting the windows primed. i know i know, we're painting natural wood. i really don't get the paint vs stain thing. who cares? color is color & i don't care how you get it on there. this task, i would hire out in the future. i like painting but i hate painting trim. i took a cue from one of the MANY design blogs i follow & decided it was much easier to scrape paint off a window than it was to tape all that off. i know, some of you are assuming the "palm to forehead" position as we speak.
update: Nacho & i did get primer on the windows last Sunday. but really who needs to see that pic?

Steps
Terry's guys got the steps installed including our cool little cubby storage underneath. i think we're going to actually have more storage than we really need! yippee! they primed those for me so i just have to paint them. yes, i haven't given up my love of a painted floor! this was originally planned for Monster storage of course, but we may change a couple cubbies to WINE STORAGE! that's a win-win folks! and GENIUS i might add - i think Tom came up with that one. so now i'm off to find some sort of horizontal goodness for wine storage that we can either make or fit into these drawers.

Dining Seating
that's all installed & secured, but you already saw that. i'm on the hunt for fabric for the cushions and, of course, found a terribly expensive mod fabric i love. i'm also thinking of doing something multi-functional. something i could take outside & use on paitio chairs but use on the banquette when not in use outside?? hmmm ideas anyone??? who wants to store cushions all over the place?!

Dining Table
Terry's guys delivered the bamboo top last Friday - sorry guys for my appearance. it was not my finest morning! seems the desire to repurpose our existing table base is not going to happen. instead we are having a base made to resemble this

Shelving (Dining & Kitchen)
this is the hanging ladder system that will go on the West wall of the dining room & NE corner of kitchen. the idea came from here. we still have to decide what the shelves in the dining unit will be but the shelves for the kitchen will be glass. the steel tubing is in & Terry's having those made as we speak. those could potentially be installed this week. to prep for that we have to repaint the walls in the dining room. update: and again with the boxer drama, this got put off as well. and we spent Sat/Sun (25th/26th) at Mosers helping him with a water heater install & getting Cookie Therapy Dog Certified, so we decided to relax when we got home today (26th). We have to get the dining walls painted by Wed.

Lights
Nacho got the island lights installed this weekend & we really like them. i'll do a separate post about that saga. suffice it to say, have you priced lighting recently? wholy crap it's expensive!!! so i found a cool DIY here that inspired me to use this light instead. i must say, i'm satisfied with the outcome & will post....i promise (wink nod wink nod) - they are installed & i realized i never took an "after" photo. DOH!. and as i mentioned in a previous post, we ordered the dining light jsut waiting for that to come in, oh and be billed for it of course! ugh!

Hardware
yes, i finally committed & we got all the hardware installed "permanently". my commitmentphobia paid off cuz we had to relocate 2 sets as they didn't work well the under the original config. so don't be harshin' on my issues man!!!

Concrete
Nacho sealed the concrete island top on Sat. whew! we'd had about all the "be careful" we could take. of course we didn't make it without a few stains before the seal, but i think it adds character! only 1 OCD item at a time people & i'm pretty heavily invested in my commitment issues thank you!

Backsplash
i was able to find a nice 4x6 tile for the back splash (Crossville WT07 Seventh Inning Stretch). we're going to lay it in a horizontal pattern & intersperse some 4x6 sheets of glass tile (MC Pacific frosted mix gray mix - i'm not having luck finding a pic/link for this) in about 10 spaces. i'm pretty jazzed about it cuz it's the color combo i was envisioning. so that spec is off to Terry & we just have to get it ordered & lay it out. i was surprised at how well we did on price for it. we're looking at about $300 for the whole thing.

i really should put together some sort of punch list at this point cuz i know we're gonna miss lots of little odds & ends that will show up at some horribly inconvenient time & we'll never get to. but for now, we have progress & i'm good with that.

Outdoor Bean Bag

2011-06-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

i wish i had the sewing skillz to make these. they would look so cool on the deck.

let there be light!

2011-06-08T08:18:00.003-05:00

well, we did it! pulled the trigger on the dining room light.

Ostrich

2011-06-07T11:39:00.004-05:00

i HAVE to have this!

WebCam badness

2011-06-06T09:47:00.000-05:00

i remoted in to check on some web cam stuff today & this is what i saw.

this is a new one on me! aside from the chair that we left sitting in front of the camera & the weird coloring we're getting, it seems to be working

sense of humor

2011-06-03T18:59:00.000-05:00

oh, and do not let it be said that Terry's guys do not have a sense of humor!

note to self: contrary to popular belief, these guys can read!

commitmentphobic

2011-06-03T18:56:00.000-05:00

it's no lie & definitely no secret that i am a commitmentphobic. it is by shear alcohol & an awesome prenup that i even made it down the aisle & out the door! actually nacho claimed he was pregnant. don''t believe me? about the commitmentphobic thing not the nacho pregnant thing. then take a look at this

i am so afraid of making an actual decision, that i would not even attach the cabinet hardware. i taped all of them in place cuz "i might change my mind". oh, not about what hardware i bought, but WHERE I WOULD ACTUALLY WANT THEM INSTALLED! really? it's not like there are a lot of options about where to attach this stuff. but you never know & i want to be prepared in case it becomes the fad to attach them all backwards & in the back of cabinets. Cookie agress with me completely

banking on it!

2011-06-03T18:52:00.002-05:00

no sooner than i started the bamboozled post, did Tom show up to begin installation of the dining room seating. magic i tell you magic!

and after a little dry fitting, whala!

but no one is perfect and neither is bankie. seems he's not the square we'd like him to be

that's about a inch and a half gap in the corner. truth be told, it's not bankie, it's wallie. who would have guessed our walls were not perfectly square? OH WAIT! I KNOW THIS ONE! PICK ME! PICK ME! so Tom will be doing a little work on Monday to "straighten" this out.
we also have an outlet underneath that right now is totally useless because of the depth for one.

so Tom's gonna moving that up to bench shelf in case we ever need it. and i hear there is going to be a shortage of outlets so SOME PEOPLE are stocking up. guess i should hang onto mine then.

bamboozled

2011-06-03T18:39:00.001-05:00

it's a week later & i'm finally getting around to posting the bamboo pictures. i know! you'd think after waiting 10 years to do this i'd be faster on the posting. you'd THINK! well, i am what i am.
i'm amazed how many people i've talked to through this process who have never heard of using bamboo for counter tops. i'd been thinking about it for a few years & not for the reason most people seem to gravitate to it - the environment. since we don't have kids, we got a free pass to use as much of this planet as we damn well please. matter of fact, i come home every day & empty out at least 2 aerosole cans just for laughs. so eat that hippie shoe smokin' tree huggers!
i was a bit surprised last Friday when i called Tom to ask a painting question & he tells me he's in my kitchen installing the bamboo countertops. no, i was not home, but wouldn't it be just like me to be standing there & not know someone was right next to me? i won't even tell you about how i walked into a fitness center today & couldn't figure out why they weren't the lighting store i was supposed to be in - NEXT DOOR! a-n-y-w-h-o..... Tom couldn't say enough about how good they looked, so i was pretty stoked to get home & see them. so stoked i couldn't write about it for A WHOLE WEEK! yeah, that's it!!! so here they are in all their glory & man, photos just don't do them justice!

NorthEast corner. so to the right of the stove. above this will be a really cool hanging rack. just wait!

little bit of a close-up for you. we got what is called Flat Grain. you can check out Totally Bamboo for other examples.

and this is the entire section complete! of course can't have a photo op without Cookie!
and when you put it all together....

so what are the blue tabs? tell you more about that later. it's probably what you think, but it gets worse!

hi-jacked

2011-05-27T07:39:00.000-05:00

meet our demands or the card gets it!

the process

2011-05-24T13:59:00.003-05:00

10 years of marriage has started to rub off on me. "i'll post photos later tonight" really means whenever i get around to it. around to it = now. so here's a step-by-grunt account of the concrete counter going in yesterday. when they come out with EmotionVision, i'll add it to this post cuz my anxiety level was through the roof!
The Prep
after much standing around, head scratching & looking all serious-like, Tom prepped the sink opening on the cabinets by making notches for the ~~crappy~~ clips that will ~~hopefully~~ certainly hold the sink in.

he then cut the "channel" where the front lip of the sink will rest

And So It Begins
6 guys, including an Elvis impersonator, start hauling the slab out of Tom's truck. i think Elvis will be performing at Summer Camp this weekend kids!

suffice it to say, this mother is heavy. 400 pounds of concrete + rebar & wire mesh for support. then begins the easy part, getting it up the stairs!

see how easy? they even had a guy to spare so he just hung out in the sink! next, get it in the door.

and by door, i mean my awesome double slider. we've apparently got this door for more than the view it gives us. it's our only means of getting lots of stuff in & out of the house!
now all you gotta do is set it down. oh, and without bowing any of it please, so it doesn't just SNAP IN TWO!

yes, this is where Elvis was especially helpful! and this is where i got really nervous cuz i could see the island flexing. it probably was not a sign of good faith when i asked Terry if this thing was gonna go through the floor. he assured me it would not. but if it had, our boat would be on par with the Powerses! they have a shower in theirs, & we'd have a kitchen sink in ours.
but they're not done! after setting it down & everyone releasing a collective sigh, they had to tweak it to get it positioned just so. this was pretty nerve racking too as you can't just lift a corner and slide it very easily. you have to be very purposeful about where you pick up on this thing. this is where it could have all gone wrong! and yet? it did not! they got it into position.

and to get me out of the bathroom & into the kitchen (for washing dishes that is), Terry & Tom installed the sink & my fantastic faucet!

i actually got to use the sink last night & guess what? you turn a knob & water comes out! goes down a little drain! GENIUS I SAY!! although it will be quite the habit to break me from washing the lettuce while i shower. that was rather pleasant in a not-perverse-at-all-way!
there are still some minor tweaks to do though. as nice as the sink basin is, it came with crappy clips that gave Tom a fit while installing. so we're going to have to do a little work under the cabinet to make sure this thing is supported well enough to hold Nacho's weight while bathing. also, we can't get anything on it for 3 weeks while the concrete continues to cure. thank god Ikea couldn't care less about the environment because i have enough cardboard to cover the entire island & deck if necessary - those hippies eyeing it for tents this weekend will be disappointed!
But Wait! There's More!
that's just the island counter top. we still have the wall counter tops to be installed. those will be bamboo. Tom told me last week that he thought those could go in as early as this weekend, but i'm thinking middle of next week at best. so hopefully i can structure things at work enough to be there for some of that install so i can get pics. after that, we move onto the dining area!

what a difference a morning makes

2011-05-23T07:03:00.003-05:00

what started out as this...

Now looks like this...

There's still a lot to do like securing the sink, tweaking the position, etc. i'll post more pics tonight about the process & the 6 guys it took to get it into the kitchen, but couldn't resist posting something quick now.

weekend update

2011-05-09T13:03:00.006-05:00

no, this is not an SNL skit. lots, i mean LOTS! of work got done this weekend. and here is the pic to prove it?

okay, it's late & it's crappy because it came from my phone, but i DELIVERED!

can't see those? guess it would help if i actually took some & uploaded them. well i did take some but got busy trying to salvage what is left of my gabion garden. i'll try to post those tonight when i get home.

so nacho got all the base cabs on the West wall finished - with only the top door of the pantry to do. we are holding off on that while we decide if a pull-out drawer is what we want to do. all "boxes" on the North wall are built but not screwed in place.

the white cab on the far left of the North wall was originally on the far right (by the small windows). this was where one of our miscalcs came into place. our Ikea person didn't think an 18" on the left would allow us to open the drawers without hitting the hardware of the corner base cab. so we changed that & got a 15". turns out an 18" will work. so we stole the 18" from the NE corner to verify this. i'll be going back to Ikea Friday to get an 18" cab. so now we have an extra 4-drawer 15" (the cab in the forground) that i'm trying to find a home for & therefore a blank spot on the NE corner.

the big push came Sunday when nacho got the range hood & stove installation finished; he also assembled the remaining cabs that will create our island. keep in mind we did our usual Sunday breakfast AND went to the Border Collie Trials (let me just say wow!) AND he had to pack to leave for Ind that afternoon AND it was mom's day so we still had to go to his P's. the man is good under pressure! we used 12" deep cabs on the East side & typical 24" cabs on the West. i'm excited about the 2 middle cabs on the East side because those will be the new dog feeding station that this kitchen remodel was really built around. i'm not kidding people! when i say my dogs run the house, they really do!

bathtub couch

2011-05-03T15:36:00.003-05:00

crafty indeed!

elaboration....

2011-05-03T12:00:00.002-05:00

i had a comment from M that made me decide to post an entry about our Ikea experience to date.

Don't try to get it all done in 1 trip: we made 5 trips in all (i think) to Ikea (Schaumburg & Bollingbrook, IL) to plan & buy. A couple of trips were recon - just to gather info & get ideas. We took a camera because i don't remember what i had for lunch; there's no way i'd remember i was even in Chicago by the time we got home! it was worth it because we found things several times that could have been costly mistakes.
Plan, plan, plan: between the online planner (which i hate btw) & the recon trips, i felt very confident when we finally decided to put the order in. oh, & that planner is not the end-all. when you get ready to purchase, you can customize some things that would not be possible in the planner. we had no clue about that & were thrilled when we found out. but we should have known after viewing our friend Rundle's kitchen - the ultimate Ikea hacker dude.
Measure, measure, measure: we ran into a snafu with our fridge that we hadn't planned on. even though it is counter depth, the hinges on top caused us to have to raise all the upper cabs up to accommodate this. we toyed with multiple levels of cabs, but that didn't look good in the end. oh, & we did not get our appliances from Ikea so that might have been solved if we had. just think about that! anywho, we raised all the uppers 1" & it looks fine. that rail install system made it so easy too!
Pull the trigger: i could have planned & measured forever & never bought a kitchen. I AM A COMMITMENTPHOBIC! so at some point, stop planning, stop the homework, & make the leap! they will let you come back (see later)
Verify the items are available in-store: Not all parts are right there in the store. ours were, but our friend's was not so they will be going back up this weekend to get back order items. be prepared for that!
Listen to those Ikea folks: so you have to work with a real person before ordering/buying all this stuff. did you know they have degrees/certs in design? i didn't. makes sense now, but i just thought they were sales people. when we explained that first & foremost, our kitchen had to have a feeding station for the Boxers, they totally got it & that changed our plan right there. they came up with a much more user friendly config to accommodate the Kids.
Avoid Sat/Sun if you can: okay, admittedly i was sick with the possum flu, but even well i don't think i'd do my final order & pickup on a Sat. that wait time formula that they post at pickup? let's see 8min for 1st cab, then add 1min for each line item? hmmm guess they meant the new math. our order should have taken 1:18 total. it took almost 4hrs. so be prepared for delays on a weekend or, better yet, go on a weekday if you can! although watching suburbanites try to figure out exactly how to cram pack their SUV's was entertaining.
Organization pays off: at least it did for me. afraid we were going to flood while i had all those flat packs in the garage, i spent last Friday hauling all the ones i could upstairs. i took the Build List that they give you & numbered each group (in hindsight i should have used the same #'s that you see on the planner drawing - oh well, that will come in handy for the office redo). anywho, i grouped the FRM (that's the box) and any cover panels together on the floor in the kitchen, writing a number on them to match a number on the Build List. i wrote the same # on boxes that were drawers or shelves (this was not necessary for hardware, dampers, etc.). this allowed Nacho to work quickly (ok, as quickly as he does anything) when putting them together. but it has been a huge help, per him, because he assembles the box, hangs it, then the panel(s) is right there to install as well. i admit i did it, not to be helpful, but because i'm OCD like that.
Expect to go back: we have already seen 2 cabs that we want to modify. the top pantry & the fridge cab. we're going to put pull-out drawers in there instead of static shelves. i don't plan to use those often, but when i do i want it to be easy.
Take your time & Enjoy! it's your kitchen & you have to live with it for a while - unless you have the balls to redo it again in 3 years. so don't rush it & really think about things before & during. i'd rather pay to have it right, than pay for a mistake i'm going to hate for years to come.

Oh, & because it's your kitchen, WHO CARES WHAT ANYONE THINKS BUT YOU! i was very conscious of not really asking anyone for design advice other than Terry & Rundle. i was picky about when i asked & who i asked. we got plenty of "looks" when people saw my flooring choice & design, and plenty more when we said the cabs were going to be black/brown. but you know what? DON'T CARE! THIS IS ME NOT CARING! CAN YOU HEAR THE SOUND OF ME NOT CARING? NO? DON'T CARE! it's your kitchen, do what you wanna do!

this one's for the ladies

2011-05-02T21:48:00.000-05:00

yep! nothing says sexy like knee pads down around your ankles! taken ladies.....and John!

it's beginning to look a lot like a kitchen

2011-05-02T21:46:00.001-05:00

it was a busy busy weekend & there's lots more to go. but nacho got a great start Friday night. after i spent Friday bringing flat packs up & organizing them (you're welcome nacho), he spent the weekend getting them in place. he was very impressed with this whole Swedish system! we made one miscalculation & that was very easily remedied by pushing everything up 1" on the wall - seems the fridge has some hardware on top for the doors & we didn't account for that. who knew? you do now!
so he got the first set of uppers in place when he realized we'd have to move it all up to accommodate the fridge, but no worries.

and before you know it, he had the first cabinet technically completed.

another thing we never even thought about....those side panels are meant to hang longer than the upper cabinet because most people would have some trim piece across the front to hid any under cabinet lighting. we're going to do a trim piece but it will be in stainless (gee, that's no surprise huh?). so we're toying with the idea of instead of cutting the extra off the side panel, we're gonna float it at the top of the cabinets (see it in the photo?) & run a trim piece around the top so we can do some sort of up lighting on top of the cabinets. i hate the dead space that you get up there & i can't stand putting stuff up there for decor. martha stewart i ain't!

and officially nacho had the uppers & the West wall "completed" last night. yeah, we still have to secure the side panel for the pantry & get the shelves & doors for it & the fridge cabinet, but i'll call this done enough. thanks Barry for helping move the fridge.
we did actually put a few things in a couple cabinets tonight. just some silverware, bowls, plates, & glasses. i don't want to start loading things up just yet cuz i still plan to go through & get rid of some stuff. but i had to get some things out of my laundry room. can't wait to move the coffee maker out of the bathroom - i'm sure we'll miss that little convenience!
what do we have left? well, the bottom cabinets along the North wall (in front of nacho in the last pic) & the island. no, we are not doing uppers on the North wall. we have a stainless hood & we're going to do a hanging shelf thingy that i will actually be responsible for welding. no pressure there!

Webbie finally working

2011-04-30T16:34:00.001-05:00

we seem to have the WebCam working for now. that is until i break it again. so you can view the pic here where you'll have to refresh the page for updated photos, or you can view it back at the old DeNacho site where it auto refreshes every minute....until it breaks again!

oh, and the web cam photo does not appear to work in Chrome browser. i think it's an inline frame thing. so if you use Chrome like i do, it could be hit or miss.

hey my kitchen is in!

2011-04-29T20:00:00.001-05:00

it's in the bathroom
it's in the living room
it's in the laundry room
it's in the garage
and now it's in the kitchen

oh, you didn't think i mean IN IN did you? i forgot to mention...
it's in the office/Moser's bedroom too cuz now most all the flat packs are upstairs, so, they too are spread out everywhere. now would NOT be a good time to flood!

Peanut Butter Coma

2011-04-28T21:20:00.001-05:00

roll 'em if you got 'em

2011-04-27T09:20:00.002-05:00

due to some crappy cheap paint we bought last week, we had to repaint the ceiling last night. to protect the floor we rolled paper over it. so if you've checked Webbie & wondered where the floor went, no i did not pull it up in some PMS induced rage! we hope to return to a normal view this weekend with cabinets added!

Webbie does Chilli

2011-04-25T10:35:00.000-05:00

more than one email has prompted me to post this. yes, the WebCam (Webby) is back....sort of. thanks to Brian, we have a "new" cheapie X10. but for those that like the larger upload you get on the original denacho site, you're out of luck. for some reason that ftp feed is not working. i hope to get that figured out & fixed this week. and remember it's just a photo so it uploads every minute & you'll have to F5 to see a more recent photo.

i know i know! why do i not do a live feed? cuz i'm cheap people! and i do this computer stuff all day so when i get home i like anything not involving 1's and 0's.

i goofed

2011-04-25T07:42:00.002-05:00

as Anonymous so aptly pointed out, i never posted a picture of the final floor! well, that's because i changed my mind about 8 o'clock last night & decided to rip the whole thing up & paint it! HA! but you could picture that couldn't you? so by the time i'd read that little comment it was dark & not enough lighting to get a decent photo. and i leave too early for the lighting to be good as well. oh, and there are no lights in the kitchen right now either. yeah, we're cutting back on items like electricity & indoor plumbing to pay for this floor. so the best i can do until i get home this afternoon is this little photo i took with my phone when all the pieces were together, but not welded yet.

burn baby burn

2011-04-24T11:44:00.001-05:00

and here's how it all comes together! so he starts by cutting a V groove where the seams come together

and then laying down a "bead" with the welding tool. you're looking at about 700 degrees here!

then the excess is cut away

and when it's 2 colors, you use the predominate color for your welding rod. so say Jeremy & since he watched the videos last night i guess we have to go by what he says!

and this is what you get when it's all said & done

he's got a few more seems to go, but we're almost there!

practice practice practice

2011-04-24T11:28:00.001-05:00

so those YouTube videos last night really did pay off huh Jeremy?

now on to the real deal...

the extra mile

2011-04-24T10:56:00.003-05:00

you know i lied yesterday. that was not the end of it. Jeremy decided to stay a little later & get the 2nd color (Oyster) down. cuts his time down for today & it's better to let the glue finish setting up for the weld today.
so watching the cuts where the 2 pieces come together was amazing. every job has the right tool right?

This cool little tool rides the edge of the Henna & scores the Oyster. Then he comes back & cuts the Oyster away.

And that's all there is to it kids!

First Cut

2011-04-23T15:20:00.002-05:00

today will end with this. Jeremy got the shapes cut out for our first color, Henna. i could not be more pleased. if i bothered to shoot video, you could appreciate how he does what he does. practially cut it all out in one shot.
he started by laying out 4 sheets:

so remember how i had to draw my design out with chalk last night? here's why. Jeremy pulled the flooring up as he rough cut the curves underneath. so he'd pull, check, cut, pull, check, cut. he'd then go back & refine the cuts so they were more smooth. all the while, cutting away the excess to reveal this curve. amazing that he could get it so close.

and here's the curve that really started it all. i've been doodling this curve since like 4th grade. why? CUZ I KNEW THIS FLOOR WAS COMING 30-SOMETHING YEARS LATER!

so here we are with the completed Henna cuts:

oh, and the man responsible for this!

he's now gluing the Henna down & will call it quits for the day. tomorrow we continue with the Oyster inset & the rod welding technique that sticks it all together.

my name is Mud

2011-04-23T11:45:00.002-05:00

the last step (i think) before the floor goes down is the mudding.

Jeremy is off to lunch now so we should see some flooring install goodness soon!

Underlayment

2011-04-23T10:35:00.003-05:00

and we're off! the first part of this process is to lay down new premium grade underlayment. so Jeremy started with a clean slate

and the install began

he's in the process now of nailing it all down, but here's the somewhat-finished underlayment.

no kidding, i could stop here, stain it & be fine if it weren't for a small detail called A BUTT LOAD OF CASH I FORKED OUT FOR THE FLOORING!

to be continued throughout the day/weekend.....

final prep

2011-04-23T10:25:00.002-05:00

thank goodness for having Good Friday off. we needed the day to get all the todo items done before the floor install started today.
so nacho removed the old sink vent since it will be moving to the island

i patched some spots on the ceiling where the fans used to be. our ceiling is textured so i mixed good ole Pensacola beach sand (i have a 5 gallon bucket that i brought back some years ago) in with our dry wall primer paint. so i get to have a little bit of home in this house.

more importantly, we spent the evening striking a gridline on the floor so i could draw out the design for Jeremy for today.

My Kitchen...for now

2011-04-23T10:11:00.002-05:00

i can't possibly move on without showing you the carnage that has become my kitchen for the past 3 weeks or more. as we've moved old cabinets out & into the garage, all their contents have to go somewhere. so we stick them........
in the laundry room

in the bathroom - which is super convenient if you'd like a latte while you drop a load!

in the living room - easy for getting to those snacks during a movie

there are some minor items in the garage & i'm using that as my litmus test for how much i really need most of the crap that was in the cabinets anyway. funny how something like this will teach you that out of the hundreds of things you have in a kitchen , you really only use like 5.

And so it begins

2011-04-23T08:35:00.002-05:00

Here comes the floor

lots of catch up

2011-04-17T21:14:00.003-05:00

where the hell have i been? oh yeah, let's see after the last post i had to head home to the Motherland because my 100-year old grand ma passed away, then i was sick the entire next week with some possum virus, and this week it's all been about catch up, no mustard, just ketchup! so here's what's happened since eons ago! oh, and to be fair most of these pics were taken mid-March but i'm always late posting so big whoop!

that Old Header between the living & dining room that used to look like this:

now looks like this:

it's funny cuz going up with the header actually makes the opening look wider. you can see we put a knee wall in to break up the space a little more for what will be the dining area. maybe it's the knee wall that makes it all look wider. i don't know, i'm just a girl & math is hard. and here's a pic of that dining corner:

the knee wall will also allow us to do something with that corner in the living room. before you couldn't really put a chair there because 1 leg would hang out over the steps - go back to the first pic & you'll see what i mean. I have to admit, it hurt to pull out the curved step that Nacho & I worked so hard to make, but it was worth the sacrifice. and speaking of stairs, here are the new ones the guys built:

we may be a little out there with this idea (okay, the whole kitchen cuz who starts their kitchen remodel off with a dog food drawer?), but we plan to make the area you see under the stairs, as well as that little pedestal thingy in the corner, into storage. I've seen some really cool configs where people have done this & the fronts of the stairs are just drawer fronts. yeah, crazy, but when you only have about 1,000 square feet of total living space, call me & tell me how creative you had to get for all your crap! there is not a square inch of this remodel that has not been considered for double duty where possible.

but it's not been all rainbows & unicorns, this adventure. no sir. with every remodel, some paint must be spilled. and with that said, i am sad to report that my beloved flooring is gone! gone! did you hear that? the sound of my spirit being broken! nacho started pulling that up a couple weeks ago. i don't even recall when, i have repressed it. as of today, all of it is gone. it is the single cruelest thing ever done to me. i don't have the strength to post that post-mortem photo. let's just remember her the way she was in happier times...

i'll miss you Wavey! and revenge will be mine!

Oh yeah we did

2011-03-28T19:31:00.003-05:00

And I will not apologize for it!

Pallet Garden

2011-03-16T08:11:00.000-05:00

i mean really? how cool is this?

infatuation

2011-03-14T21:19:00.002-05:00

i have found it & i can't stop thinking about it! who knew i could become obsessed with freakin faucet? but this thing is beautiful!

it's made by Jaclo & honestly i wish we'd never met. it's all i can think of now! one little hitch...it's super expensive. i cannot possibly justify purchasing this thing. i cannot even print the price of it. let's just say, it's about half of what my cabinets cost. shameful! i know! but i must to have! but it's still less than what SOMEBODY paid for a certain mountain bike, kiteboard, snowboard.......

progression

2011-03-14T21:11:00.003-05:00

there's really not that much to report. since we're waiting on the flooring, we can only do so much. we did pick up the cabinets from IKEA just over a week ago. so they've been sitting in my drive way for now. i like to call it Kitchen In A Can! my sister can appreciate that!

never let it be said that i'd hold up progress cuz i helped load this even with the monkey pox i was carrying that day!
nacho is trying to do anything at all at this point, so he started exposing the header between the dining room & living room this weekend.

Tucker will be glad to know, that header is coming out & going up! so we're raising that whole opening up to be flush with the ceiling like it should have been done to begin with. it's really in prep for a bigger change: the living room floor will come out to be even with the dividing wall. again, like it should have been done to begin with. and part of that opening (on the right in this photo) will be taken up by the banquet seating - you'll have to check my previous post & Sketch-Up drawing to see what i mean. so we're really excited about that.

other than that, the guys came & installed the drywall in the window area last week. what a mess! i don't mean the construction guys, i mean nacho's attempt to clean up their drywall dust! ugh!

i'm floored

2011-03-14T20:56:00.002-05:00

10 years later & several Sketch-Up drawings & this is what we have to show for it! yes, the flooring design is finally finished. i'm sure between our own changes & anything the flooring guy comes up with, we'll see something a little different before all is said & done, but for now it stands at this.

what that means for our timeline? i have no idea. i plan to check in with my flooring guy tomorrow or Wed to see where we're at & get an estimate on installation. i do know they are trying to find someone that can install it given the complicated curves i've put in. i've waited 10 years, i can wait a little longer. not sure if nacho & terry can cuz at this point, everything stops until this goes down.

Wilson

2011-02-15T19:07:00.003-06:00

much like the soccer ball in Castaway, look what "washed up on my beach" BITCHES!!! it's the Google Chrome CR48. now, how to use!

TaDa!

Stickers!

Pieces & Parts!

Charge!

Redneck Italian

2011-02-14T19:28:00.001-06:00

Happy vday to me from Nacho with his homw made pasta. This is how we roll in Chillsville

GoldMember

2011-02-14T19:19:00.000-06:00

well it's about time! and honestly should have happened a long time ago if i weren't so forgetful. don't worry though, i will continue to mingle with the common folk from time to time!

Testing123

2011-02-03T16:14:00.001-06:00

Testing the new blogger app from Android Market.

nice cans

2011-02-01T06:26:00.002-06:00

nacho has just about finished the wiring on the East & North walls. we now have a light for the North corner so you can actually find your way up the stairs - what a concept. more importantly, he got the pot lights wired up and working some time last night - i was so excited i fell asleep with anticipation!

no pic available

2011-01-31T13:17:00.001-06:00

but boy i wish there was....

Terry came over yesterday so he & nacho could work on the electrical redo after our window install. they ran some wire for outdoor lights and outlets & drilled holes for pot lights in front of the new windows. nacho spent the rest of the day running wire to said pot lights and interior outlets. so this morning as i was getting ready to leave for work, i look into the kitchen & there's nacho, up on a step ladder, running some wire for the outdoor light....wearing only his boxers. yep, nothing else! straight out of bed, and straight to work. that's commitment people!

let the sun shine in

2011-01-23T17:36:00.002-06:00

and how! we got lucky & had a window of opportunity this week to have our windows installed. so nacho began by tearing out the dry wall for the East wall last Sunday. Terry's guys came over Wed & Thurs to do the install and replace our siding. we made yet another trip to Ikea yesterday and we think we have the kitchen finalized. no, not ordered but all planned out. it will be another 3 weeks before we get back up there to place the actual order. sounds like we're moving right along? not so fast. i'm still trying to make a decision on flooring. more on that later! let's enjoy this sliver of progress though!

a call for help

2011-01-20T07:59:00.000-06:00

hey look who's posting made it onto Apartment Therapy!
we're down to the final flooring choices but thought i'd ask some the AT readers as well. you never know what you'll find.
i'll post pics of the new windows tomorrow when i can get some day photos. as Terry put it, Dramatic!

pRemodel

2011-01-09T19:57:00.002-06:00

we are finally doing IT! after 10 years of living in this dump and 6+ of talking about it, the kitchen has spoken! i guess today would mark the official start of our kitchen remodel. we have always hated the layout of our kitchen & knew it needed an overhaul, but then the cabinet doors started falling off, we'd had enough.
we have the bulk of the layout done & the cabinets are coming from IKEA. we knew we wanted (1) an island and (2) to open up the view to the river. here's the before

so everything on the right will be torn out and replaced with windows. to see how that would look, and to test the idea of an island out, Nacho began dismantling the entire right side.

and now they're our temporary island

with an OSB countertop

so this is what we'll be living with for the next month easily. the sad thing is, i like it much better already. the only thing that is not an accurate reflection of our future layout is the fridge & pantry on the left. those will move to the location of the current sink. the sink will move to the island. where you see the pantry & fridge now will be a built-in banquet dining area.
i highly recommend doing a test layout like this! we already resized the island based on what we've done today. the only thing holding us up at this point is flooring. that's been a 10-year odyssey for me! so somehow i have to do in 30 days what i have not been able to do in 10 years...find flooring for this project. wish me luck!

some things never change

2011-01-03T18:30:00.000-06:00

a much belated holiday wish! 2011 is starting off much the same way 2010 went....late!

Finis

2010-11-01T19:26:00.001-05:00

well it only took a year but we finally finished it. and we managed to use all the concrete we'd collected. it was only fitting that i threw my back out at the end. but it was worth it! wait, no it wasn't! so here's to all the new beach we gained! nacho couldn't be prouder. and that's 28 for those of you curious. 45 in all between the beach, the berm and the sitting wall. we figured, this is the equivalent of building your own sea wall BY HAND!!!

how do you make a gabion?

2010-10-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

Step1:
buy a lot of hog confinement wire from Tractor Supply. some times, just buy them out completely. they come in 16ft sections so you might want to cut them in half at TS so you can haul them in the back of THAT NEW TRUCK THAT YOU NEVER ASKED YOUR WIFE IF YOU COULD BUY!!! no photo needed cuz said wife is so over that truck!
Step2:
hire some hot chick (hey maybe that wife) to man the John Deere so you can bend them into place. drive the JD over plywood set to create the bend.

said truck can be seen in the background. that's all the coverage it's every getting here! but said wife is so over it.

Step3:

Take another piece of plywood, and, from the front, bend the front of the panel up to a 90.

and you're done! one of 2 sides

Step4:

wash rinse repeat 80 SOMETHING MORE TIMES!

or until you run through the most recent batch that you bought TS out of. in that case proceed to the other TS and buy them out too until you've made like 50 of these! tops and bottoms are made from additional panels and it's all just wired into place with a roll of heavy gauge wire like they use for securing chain-link fencing to posts. at this level, it was actually cheaper for us just to buy the big roll of wire and cut it into strips for securing the panels & tops/bottoms together. we went through 3-4 rolls of the stuff, but we never seem to run out of uses for it (some of you saw the Bug's Life costumes several years ago)
Why Would You Build Them Yourself?
as i said in my previous post, it really is cheaper and you can customize these to any size you want. most of ours were something like 6ft long, 4ft deep/high, and 2.5ft wide (i'm sure i'm off on that and nacho will quickly correct me). but the ones we used for the Sitting Wall, were half that height. so it really gave us some flexibility that we either wouldn't have had or would have paid out the nose for. nacho's research came up to about $80 a gabion (i have no idea the size) and this was WAY cheaper - plus it was kinda fun to keep buying TS out of this stuff.

flintstones meet them flintstones

2010-10-19T21:22:00.011-05:00

as usual, late posting this but i think i have an acceptable excuse this time: EXHAUSTION!!! 3 weekends ago we decided to give the beach wall a break and move our attention to the north end of our property, where the yard meets the beach. over the years, i've done 2 things here: planted a vegetable garden on the end closest to/against our patio/sea wall and planted tons of lillies on the other end (aka transition area). the idea has primarily been that the lillies would be a hold for when we flood. the truth of the matter is, they take a heck of a beating when we have beach floods - floods that don't make it over the berm and surround the house. we had 2 of those this spring/summer and my lillies did their job but they really started to suffer. at one point, i had to go next door to Ray's and pull some from the water. they'd been dislodged by the wave action we get when we have a beach flood.
so many weeks ago, on one of the design blogs i ~~stalk~~ follow, i found a family that had dedicated a section of their yard to a tortoise habitat. their goal was to not only provide a great living space for their pet but to make it architecturally interesting. and what did they use to make this possible? say it with me people: GABIONS! guess who has a little experience in this area? i ran this by nacho as a great solution to the transition area and added it would make for a neat sitting wall just as the Tortoise Family had done. nacho agreed and so it was done. we spent 2 weekends making this happen.
Sitting Wall
this is the best Before picture i have. you have to focus on the area to the left where you see the lillies and rock.

and now

Garden Wall

but we didn't stop there! after creating something that nice, it was hard to look at this

and say, "eh, just leave it". so we didn't. the 2nd weekend was spent pulling these temporary gabions out and redoing this section of the wall. it was well worth it don't 'cha think?

and so overall, we now have this!

i'd love to tell you we are all done, but remember, i said at the beginning that we decided to take a break. this past weekend while I was in The Motherland, nacho built the remaining 4 gabions to complete the Beach Wall. i'll post that work in it's entirety when it's done.

and the last thing i'd like someone to figure out, is how much concrete do you think we've moved in all of this? we estimate, when done, we will have filled 49 gabions, give or take. the "Sitting Wall" ones are not as tall as the Berm or Beach ones, but i'd actually hate to know the exact amount of concrete we've moved, cuz you have to realize we've done most of it by hand. yes, we're crazy.

oh and the innevitable question that always comes up: can't you just buy those things? yeah, no telling what it would cost us to fill them, but nacho said it'd run us $80 minimum just to buy the cages pre-made and the wire is not near as sturdy as the wire we used in ours. perhaps he's embellishing so i don't kill him for making me do all this work!

hose head

2010-09-27T08:59:00.000-05:00

i've decided to start my midlife crisis, so i went on my first motorcycle ride ever on Sat. big thanks to Tucker and Moser for taking me along. and thanks to Dykstra for putting us in the loop on this one. it's a really interesting story how the Road Apples came to be.

so this was the welcome sign at Stop1 in Tiskilwa.

and this was my escort for the day

when life hands you lemons, find a hose clamp!

heart and sol

2010-09-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

only Nacho will know what that title means (and maybe SilentG) but congrats to us for surviving yet another year together. and what a year it's been. i couldn't be more grateful for the words i said 9 years ago. and they mean just as much to me now as they did then. some would expect them to mean more, but that's kinda hard when they always meant everything. i could of course sit here and go on and on, but that's not really me when it comes to this. i'm not rainbows and unicorns and i'm not so certain feelings are that big of a deal (i'm more of an intent girl myself). and my intentions today are the same as they were 12 years ago. LM/TM/I+4

what did you do this weekend?

2010-09-12T19:48:00.002-05:00

they say when you own a home you never run out of projects. i hope that is not true. i don't know how much more concrete i can move. seriously. well thanks to Katie for the perspective on all our hard work. i wish i could say we were done, but there's more to do. maybe the hard part is behind (well, in front of us) now!

busy busy busy

2010-08-29T22:18:00.007-05:00

well, i'm no help these days. a kink in the neck that started Friday left me useless all weekend. i could barely lift my glass of wine Friday night and had to take my G&T without ice cuz it was simply too heavy. but i did my best to oversee (haha) the progress on the yard. and boy did Nacho move it along!

so far we've had 4 tandem truck loads and we have 1 more coming this week. we have to finish the berm at the northmost part of the yard and just some back fill in my vegetable garden and some low spots in the yard. then it's on to planting!! hooray!

but that's not all folks. wait! there's more! because we apparently have a concrete fetish around here, nacho has decided to completely redo the "rip rap" wall on the beach. he was so taken with the ones now buried under the berm above, that we wants to be more organized about the ones on the beach. yes, NACHO WANTS TO BE MORE ORGANIZED! i'll take what i can get. so here's the beginning of what i hope to be our final relationship with busted concrete!

so that's 5 of about 25 baskets that we'll be constructing to reconstruct the rip rap wall into something more solid and appealing. i have a few photos of how we actually make the cages but when i've got complete photos for the process, i'll post them. i know, a cliffhanger. how will you ever survive. it insures you'll come back for another visit though.

that's progress

2010-08-16T06:31:00.005-05:00

i know i've got some HUGE gaps in time for this season and i promise i'll go back and post a catch-up type of thing. but i couldn't let this major event go by without posting Nacho's progress on the gabion wall. he rented a Dingo (his word not mine) and it did not eat our baby. instead, it built the berm. this is a big deal at our house. we're so close to getting our yard back to looking, well, like a yard. here is his hard work paying off!

and this was how it all started...

quite the contrast eh?

online

2010-07-21T11:06:00.002-05:00

after a very lengthy and legitimate break, i'm gonna get back to posting. actually lots has been happening. some good and some heartbreaking. the heartbreaking would be the reason for the absence. but it is time to move forward! as much as i don't want to, that starts today.

ImaginationLand

2010-05-09T19:37:00.004-05:00

you would think that as much technology as i work around all day long i'd make sure we were all webified at home. top of the line shiny stuff. latest and greatest. you'd be wrong. my crappy, cheapy little web cam and stone age scanner are proof that i refuse to spend money on certain technology until it forces me to do so. i've had my little MicroTek ScanPro for at least 11 years. i can't even get drivers for it beyond Windows XP. therefore, we will always have a computer in the house that has XP cuz, well, the scanner works.

but i didn't come here to talk about the scanner. no ma'am. it's the web cam. you know, that thing producing the low-grade quality picture to your left. go ahead, look, i won't go anywhere. i have no idea how long i've had it. probably only 4 years. but let me say, it has been the most utilized $60 i ever spent...besides that spree in Swinger's World. this camera time and time again will not give me a reason to get rid of it. crappy software? nope, always seems to magically work the minute i say i'm trashing it. crappy picture? nope, you can tell that's tree can't you? horrible online support? nope, wouldn't use it anyway. this thing infuriates me constantly, and then pulls through at the last minute with the high-quality image you see today? it even got blown off the deck in a storm and it's still working. oh, the blank screen of late? well, that was just an experiment to force you to use your imagination. kind of a "think for yourself" exercise! you're welcome!

Second chemical attack on Asian carp is planned - chicagotribune.com

2010-05-06T09:01:00.001-05:00

Second chemical attack on Asian carp is planned - chicagotribune.com

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my new favorite blog

2010-05-05T16:32:00.002-05:00

i don't even know how i came across this one. i'm such rss whore that it's possible it got it in my feeder. but i LOVE this woman! i don't always understand her postings, but i love her stuff. i read the True/Slant interview this week and liked her even more. i think she is a blend of my friend Moser, my friend Leigh back in Tallahasse, and myself (cuz really that's about as well as i can draw).

Passthru

2010-05-01T16:37:00.004-05:00

with all the work that went into installing the new well, we gained a little space in the garage with the removal of the old one. we've long talked about doing away with the wall between "my" garage and nacho's. we decided a more practical approach was to widen the door between our garages. so nacho started work on that today. we hope to finish tomorrow.

so this is the start - tearing down the supports for the old door frame....

and this is the result. once we cut the cinder block this will be a nice opening and a lot easier to move stuff to and fro (how often do you get to use the word fro without talking about hair!).

and really, you can't post remodeling work without a photo of a hot carpenter guy!

must to have

2010-04-27T08:09:00.001-05:00

Aerial video with a Canon 5D , 7D helivideo.com from Eric AUSTIN on Vimeo.

our boat for Ride The Wake this year!

2010-04-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

Chambered Nautilus

2010-04-13T14:21:00.001-05:00

only i would care about this since it is the moniker for my alma mater.

my bday gift to nacho

2010-03-25T10:36:00.003-05:00

i buy him something every year on my bday so it's a win-win. this year's gift will be.....

World Water Day

2010-03-22T14:22:00.001-05:00

this is worth the 8 minutes!

pinecone fire starter

2010-03-17T11:34:00.005-05:00

i was tickled when i saw this in my feeds today. amazing how a good design site can take something we rednecks have been doing for years and class it up!

Espresso Maker

2010-03-16T13:33:00.001-05:00

I am in love with this. Not just for what it does but how beautiful it is!

Sarvers 2.1

2010-03-15T06:35:00.003-05:00

my apologies for not being able to shoot drywall better.

and apparently the theme of "you can never have too much deck" continues....

Sarvers 2.0

2010-02-22T19:29:00.003-06:00

between vacation and laziness, i haven't taken many progress photos but here are a few i snapped of the Sarver's progress.

Starting with their new deck. Yes this probably does look somewhat familiar. The inspiration came from our neighbor Ray who also used chain link fence rails/posts. This is the Sarver's "retro" twist on it!

Okay, it's impossible to photograph the interior of a place in progress. And when you never saw it to begin with, well, what's the point. But here will be Donna's new kitchen/dining room.

And here we have a view of the view from the new living room! Nice door guys!

Money doesn't grow on trees

2010-02-12T16:27:00.003-06:00

but apparently it can be found while shoveling snow at my house!