All we need is a hurricane...

...and we'll have a good chunk of natural disasters covered.

First there was Snowmageddon.

Then there was Snowpacolypse.

The strongest earthquake in DC's history.

And now? Tornadic force winds that knocked out power for over 265,000 ppl and most of the stoplights in the MD/DC area. Some pics from my street:





We were very lucky and did not sustain any damage. Like the good Kansan I am, when they announced the tornado warning and I heard the high winds I went outside to check it out while most Marylanders hung out in the basement. :)

Our Newest MCM Funiture Addition!

Okay, so I am in LOVE with this chair.

Obviously it's the kitties' new favorite chair too! Funny story - the person we bought our fabulous new buffet from, who had all the cool MCM furniture in her house had this chair in their family room. Micheal and I were both oogling this chair pretty seriously. Imagine my joy when I saw it listed on CL!! I'm going to recover it with something that is more in line with our decor plan (we're not big stripes ppl) but otherwise just sitting in it makes me happy.

If you're in the DC area and looking for mid century furniture or accessories check out her blog! A Little Elbow Grease

Just Paint It Challenge! - FAIL

So I signed up for the just paint it challenge on my friend Ashley's blog Decorating Obsessed.

It was my goal to have the kitchen and cabinets painted by now and we're well on our way but not quite there yet. So I'll share some "in progress" pics and ask you to come back soon to see the final result!
Walls

Before:


In Progress:


Primed:


After:


Cabinets

Before:


This is a painted drawer next to a primed cabinet. It's still hard to tell the difference but I tried!


Follow my progress as we work on getting it done! (Sorry Ashley!!)

Weekend Update & WWL 7/26/10

What a weekend. After my post on Saturday things started to improve. As we started making visible progress I started feeling better. We were doing really well on Sunday and then BAM(!!) WDC/MD/NOVA were hit by a tornadic strength thunderstorm that knocked out power for over 265,00 residents including yours truly. So at 3:30 when we had just run out of gray primer the lights went out for Team S. We didn't give up though, we painted cabinet doors with the waning bits of sunlight and then finally gave up.

Goals from last week:

• Prime and paint upper cabinets. - Haven't committed to a paint color yet and I want to paint it all at the same time. Paint color has been chosen and the painting process has been started.
  
  Swiss Coffee from Glidden
  
• Repair, sand and prime kitchen walls. - 99% of the walls are primed...then we ran out of gray primer and power.
  
• Prime all cabinets and cabinet doors. - DONE!
  
• Paint walls. - I'm going to blame it on the power going out. ;)
  
• Order hardware. - DONE!

Not too shabby!! We actually got another big thing done too:

I love it!

Goals for this week(end) - Micheal will be helping out his friend Jeff one day this weekend install a bath fan (maybe I can talk them into taking pictures for a "how-to!") so I will lose him for one day. But there is PLENTY of painting to do so I'll be busy.

• Finish painting all cabinets (it's taking 3 coats.)
  
• Finish priming kitchen walls.
  
• Buy hinges.
  
• Finish the window pass throughs with sheetrock.

WWL:

1. Jeff makes a great vacuum holder (usually my job!)
   
   You can't see it...but he's holding the vac while Micheal cuts.
   
2. People in Maryland go to the basement when there is a tornado warning - HA!
   
3. Most people don't know or don't care about the "if a traffic light is out treat it like a 4 way stop" rule.
   
4. I have bugs in my squash plants. :( They're dead.
   
5. Target has generators to be able to run their cash registers in case of a power outage! We went shopping in the dark. :)
   
6. Kathleen and Jeff are big chickens and didn't jump at the chance to use the sawsall or the Dremel multi-max!

Who's idea was this?

Ugh, I'm so tired. If I had to sand one more cabinet door I might go crazy. Micheal and Jeff have broken out the sawsall so my pass throughs should be fully open soon. It's almost time to paint the cabinets.

Sold the old ugly handles and hinges on CL to help pay for the new ones I just ordered!


Really I'm just posting so I can sit down for a minute and avoid going back downstairs to my sanding, priming, patching, sanding priming dungeon.

So now I go back, it's going to be worth it...right?

Some Kitchen Hole Pics

I would have more pics for you but my camera just died and I can't find the charger. (Mom is it at your house?!)

So just fun kitties discovering the new hole pictures:



Just that small opening improves the air flow, and I can see the TV! If you look at the pictures you can see the outline for how big the opening will eventually be. Micheal and I are currently in disagreement about the final size and structure so I might put that question about to you guys (in as neutral a way as possible) and see what you think!

Weekend Update & WWL 7/19/10

We're busily working on the kitchen and got quite a bit done!

• Prime and paint upper cabinets. - Haven't committed to a paint color yet and I want to paint it all at the same time.
  
• Repair, sand and prime kitchen walls. - We ran out of steam before we got to priming.
  
• Purchase new counters! - Tomorrow or Tues (although the website says everyone is out. :( )
  
• Replace light switches and outlets in kitchen. - Waiting until after we paint.

Man...what DID we do?

• Sand all cabinet doors, begin patching all old handle holes.
  
• Sand all remaining built-in cabinets, fill all holes.
  
• Double prime 6 out of the 13 doors.
  
• Remove all the nasty contact paper.
  
• Cut a mini-sized version of our future pass through!
  
  Sneak Preview for ya - Have super cute pics of the felines discovering the hole that I'll share later.
  
• Buy all the tile for our guest bathroom renovation at Community Forklift at a major discount!!
  
• Buy the tile for the mini-backsplash I'm going to do in the kitchen for $9!

Goals - Keeping the list pretty reasonable:

• Prime all cabinets and cabinet doors.
  
• Paint walls.
  
• Order hardware.

What we learned:

1. Community Forklift has BAD ventilation - the section by the tiles was like an inferno.
   
2. Be careful around exposed outlets when working with metal tools! Don't mess with electricity - it'll win every time!
   
3. Moshe likes having the cabinets empty.
   
   
4. All contact paper sucks.
   
5. Deer like hostas...grrr... X-(

Reciprocating Saw Fun (Insert Manly Grunt Here)

Micheal needed to use the reciprocating saw to cut a screw in one of the cabinets where the head had broken off. So we headed to the store and got a few new blades.

Once he turned it on he got that gleam in his eye...(ladies you know what I'm talking about) and after the small screw cutting he looked outside and said. "You know, we could always cut down the basketball pole in the backyard..."




WOO HOO! After that was done he looked up at the roof - "You know, we could also cut down that ugly antenna."




Gotta love it. :)

We have VEGGIES!!

After having lost my first set of tomatoes to Bloom End Rot

I was super excited to be able to pick a few nice 'maters! The issue I think was with over watering. Now I'm letting them dry out between waterings.


Not enough to feed an army or anything, but they tasted good in our omelets last night!

I also picked two zucchinis last month:

I was excited. :)

Dining Room Chandelier

Now, you might be shocked to hear that we're not currently in love with the 80's fabulous brass chandelier in our dining room:

But it doesn't exactly jive with our new style so we've been searching for something to replace it. Unfortunately mid century inspired light fixtures don't pop up on craigslist too often. :( So we've been searching the internet but since the popularity of this stuff has gone through the roof, so have the prices. Micheal found this one though yesterday that we like and the price is kind of reasonable (it's all about perspective) at $115.


We found it at allmodern.com which has an abundance of mid century decor! We're not clicking the ship button quite yet (free shipping, woo hoo!) but it's added to the saving goal list!

Weekend Update & WWL 7/12/10

How is it July 12th already?! This summer is flying by and we're almost one year anniversary in this house! We had a VERY busy weekend and I feel like we made some great progress.

I didn't set any goals before I left for KS so that makes anything we did this weekend gravy! Woo hoo! So what did we get done?

• Remove, sand, prime all upper cabinets.
  
• Sand and fill all upper cabinet doors and remove lower cabinet doors.
  
  
• Empty all cabinets and set up our new "pantry."
  
  
  
• Cut down the basketball pole in our back yard.
  
• Cut down the huge ugly antenna on our roof.
  
• Finish repairing the buffet turned TV cabinet.
  
• Sell the old buffet on craigslist!
  
• Watch Couples Retreat. (Great movie!)

Whew! And now we're exhausted... But we're on a roll so no stopping now! Goals for the next week:

• Prime and paint upper cabinets.
  
• Repair, sand and prime kitchen walls.
  
• Purchase new counters!
  
• Replace light switches and outlets in kitchen.

WWL:

1. Selling stuff on craigslist can be super annoying.
   
2. I have VERY little patience for prep work. I know it needs to be done but I get all irritable with sanding...filling...sanding...taping...sanding...
   
3. Our hornets have relocated into a rather curious and annoying place - the bathroom vent pipe in our roof! That made for some nervous homeowners who gently exited the roof.
   
4. As much as I complain about Moshe, I would be heartbroken if we lost him.
   
5. Under the teapot contact paper there was psychedelic mushroom contact paper! Where did they get this stuff?!
   
6. It takes two run-throughs of the Glee 1 CD to paint six cabinets.
   
7. A clean window is a thing of beauty!

It's getting serious people!

We're cutting holes in the walls.

Unearthing hidden parts of our crazy security system.



Getting ready to break out the orange paint!! It's going to be a busy weekend!

A Great 4th of July Weekend

I made a quick trip home to good'ol KS this weekend to see my friends and family that for most of them I haven't seen since gathering to celebrate our nuptials. It was a wonderful weekend and with fun, food and fireworks it flew by. Here are a few snapshots (Disclaimer - it rained ALL DAY so I'm soaked, my hair is soaked, no make-up left, but I had so much fun I'm still sharing these pictures so no laughing!):


My Crew


Everyone SQUEEZE!!


No Kari...It's MY TURN!!


She's gonna be a heart breaker one day.


I love this picture - the best 4th of July crew eva. Period. (Minus one awesome husband who stayed home to take care of the kitties.)

I miss you guys already. Much love from Maryland.

When the Wife's Away the Husband Will Play...

...with power tools!!

Whoa!! If you want you can head back HERE to see some befores.

Evidently there was some sawsall action with the bushes in the front yard. I can't wait to jump in when I get home and get my hands dirty!!