House Tour part two

Let's start with the bedrooms.  The master bedroom is still a work in progress, but I guess it will be considered finished now as we are selling the house.  The room is a nice size, big enough to fit a king bed which is key when you are as tall as Mark and I are.  When we first moved in there was a wall a/c unit cut high in the wall, it was a hideous eye sore, about two years in when we had the house painted we removed the wall unit and closed off the hole. The electrical outlet still exists but way better than the before.  The closet had sliding doors that meant you could never see the whole closet, we replaced them with actual hinged doors.  It made all the difference.

Hi there John!

Here is the opposite view.  The color is jicama from Benjiman Moore,  I liked the warmth of the color as many yellows tend to be very cool.

Next up the boys' rooms.
I just finished Alex's room about week before every started with the move.

The room is painted Yosemite Sand,  he picked out an orange carpet, so we went with it and added a couple of pictures that are orange as well and hung blue curtains to balance it out. Here is the opposite end.

The prints are Charlie Harper from our calendar, unfortunately now we do not have July and September to look forward to.

Here is John's room as it today.

We added a chair the same as Alex's and we have hung a picture over the bed. I made the curtains when we moved into the house 4 years ago.  They are falling apart, but I don't have the initiative to make new ones.

We are expecting the Realtors to come in this week to evaluate the house for sell price. Hopefully all will go well.  I will keep you updated.

Two done...fifty-eleven to go

Wishing all a happy mother's day.

We finished the back porch. We used BM Montgomery White, which was left over from the basement.
We had a ton of splatter as the boys wanted to help so badly. I found some stuff that breaks down the paint, it worked, but it turned the whole floor into a gooey mess.  After a mop up, here are the finished result.

I am pretty pleased with the results. Note the Hostas that I still have to plant.  I am sort of in a holding pattern as to the yard.  We are hiring a landscape company to come in help.


I finished the front door today, well not quite I still need to bog and paint the trim.  I may also put a coat of polyurethane to make it shine, the paint I used was a semigloss for exteriors.   What do you think??


Before: 

After:

It is a bit brighter than I expected, I will give it couple days to decide if it needs to be changed.  Any thoughts?

Now we are getting somewhere

It is official, we are moving to Miami.  The relocation company starts up next week.

As for updates around the house we decided to remove the storm door at the front door.  It was a relic from the 80's, maybe the 70's. So of course it leaves a big mess, we are going to need to repaint and caulk the door again.   I went ahead and decided to paint the front door.  I chose a dark blue to contrast with the brick, but there is a little blue in the brick as well. I hope it turns out well, if not I can always paint it back to white.

Just a couple more things to do around the house to get it ready to sell.  The basement office and playroom is a big mess and will definitely need to be organized.  Here is what it looks like today.


The mattresses need to be put in covers and stored in the utility side of and all the toys need to put back in there place.  Here is the other side of the playroom.

What a mess!  Maybe we should fix up the light fixture as well.  I will post another picture once we everything has been done.


One more thing, for you Mom.  I replanted the planters.  They look great, thanks for the inspiration.

House Tour part one - Living room

Brief overview of the house, three bedroom ranch within 30 minutes of NYC.  Whoo-hoo! Granted I have not been to the city in six months, it figures.

The azalea's are just about to bloom in a couple of days.  If you look very close, you can see Penny in the window.

Here is our living room.  This room has seen many incarnations.  We first bought the house it was red, I mean RED, in Crayola red.  Thankfully, my dad is a great believer in quick coat of paint goes a long way and he was game to help paint.

Here is the room from the Kitchen

 From the front door

And now from the dining room.  

I am still unsure about the Dandelion on the wall.  I love the idea and it was pain to put up, so I live with it.  It will most likely come down in the future.

Please be aware the mess is hidden strategically out of the picture.  

Living room breakdown:

Those two blue chairs, were once lime green velvet that I bought in NYC when I first got my own apartment.  I loved them instantly and though I planned on changing the material right away, I ended up living with them for 10 years before I actually had it recovered.  I miss the lime green but the material was worn and stained and there was no way to fix it. 

The coffee table was an obsession for two years before I finally bought them.  It comes with two nesting tables that I am currently using as side tables to the sofas.  It is a great combination of durability and looks.  I love the simplicity of the design, though it may not be everyone's favorite.

The sofas were to replace the one that Penny ate.  Literally, she would dig at the cushion till it broke apart and then eat it.  I have always had a love/hate relationship with a sectional, love the look, the function, and the way it builds a room.  The reason I got two sofas was the flexibility, I wanted the option to either face each other or create a sectional L.  I like be able to change the room up.

The art was won at an auction through work.  The thing I remember the most was the artist was an extreme close talker and was making us totally uncomfortable as we slowly backed up to get some space.  I think my co-worker ended up in standing in a Ficus Tree by the time we were able to excuse ourselves.  

The TV... I will give this one to Mark. enough said.

The TV stand is/was suppose to be a temporary piece, we have had it for 5 years.  It serves a purpose, as I can't find anything else I like.  In the meantime, it stays where it is.

In the beginning...

So Mark and I have decided to tackle some home projects lately, while neither of us are particularly useful at DYI, we haven't had the luxury of visiting relatives to work on our house.  Somehow, thousands of miles apart Mark and I had the same childhood of blissful ignorance of yard work, while both sets of parents are avid gardeners.  Now our yard looks like a bad haircut.

Our shame...

I spent today attempting to prune the trees and raking the leaves out of the ivy.  Yes, I know it is spring and fallen leaves shouldn't be on the agenda, but this is actually the first decent day since it stopped snowing that I could get out there.  It snow on April 1st remember, so I don't feel so bad.

Mark spent the afternoon painting the porch, it is still a work in progress more updates later. It was a dark moss green, nice but, it had seen better days.

Our boys spent the day getting progressively dirty in various states of undress.

I hope everyone enjoyed their May Day, now I am off to search for Tylenol.