Here are the promised pictures of what happened over the weekend! Miraculously the counter tops came and were installed. I waited for a whole 5.5 hours for the workers to get here. They were promised at 2:00 and showed up at 8:30 and just dropped em off! I was mad. They showed up the next morning at 8:00 and installed til about 3:30. But here is the story behind the granite counter tops:
We got our slate tile from a little shop down on 3rd west. The owner said that we could over-buy to make sure we could get the colors that we needed. We returned the excess tile a few days after our tiling project was finished. As Chris was waiting, the shop was having IT problems. He volunteered his services, and suddenly we had a trade agreement on counter tops!!!
In sum we did not fork out the couple grand this would have taken, we traded! A logo revamp, two banners, 3 business card versions, corporate email and a web site for these counter tops.
They are absolutely stunning I LOVE them! The granite type is called Verde (Green) Butterfly. It looks amazing.
Verde "Butterfly" Granite Counter Tops
I looked out the window and what did I see!?
No popcorn on our apricot tree! BOOO! Who else is DONE with winter? I'm ready for spring time.
This is a pic of our backyard, and no that's not a church. It's a charity. The woman who owns the business is also the person that we bought the house from. The money she made off of our house purchase went towards this PC (Pachyonychia Congenita) charity, and will fund research for a cure. Her daughter and some of her grandchildren have the rare disease. It is a little comforting that the seller didn't just pocket the money.
Hopefully this snow won't last too long
Food for Thought
EW SICK! Just in case you were planning on hitting Jamba Juice tomorrow afternoon or Chilli's on your date night. Click Here.
Read before you order.
Pretty impressive what we eat sometimes.
House Remodel Breakdown
If you click here, you will understand what was going though my head today. I had a rough day to say the least. My husband did come to my rescue in my darkest hour to dry my tears. Then my sis-in-law took me to 27 Dresses at the buck. I have to keep talking myself into this remodel thing being worth it.
So Big!
My favorite nephew! Almost 6 months, and he is just so much fun. I like it when babies become heavier and have more substance to em. He's getting to be so interactive and so fun to play with.
This kid is a chunk-o-love. Good job Mr. Mons(t)er
Check out our new backdoor
Our Saturday project consisted of mainly one thing: the renter's entrance. We helped our friends move in the morning. (Actually Chris got MSGed the night before so he was out and down with a migraine that morning, but I drove the truck + trailer to the site and back - kinda scary but it was fine) The renter's entrance to say the least was a production! Here are a few things that I remember, but not in order
-Stripping the 7 layers of OLD paint on the door jamb.
-Sanding the jamb smooth
-Scraping the bricks of all the old caulk and plaster
-Re-cutting a new front, and staining it
-Fishing the doorbell wires out of the attic (the blue one in the pic) from the roof. Allow me to paint you a picture: Chris on the roof, legs pointing up the roof line hanging upside-down so he could find the wire under the eaves, and me laying behind him holding onto his ankles so he wouldn't slip off. SMART I know!!
-Stuffing all the gaps with insulation
-Staining the jamb
-Hanging the door (which I never wish on anyone)
-The putting on the door's interior casing (see below on this process)
And the finished product!! I think we were probably a little more excited about the accomplishment than our renters...
I'm (base)BOARD
Since Chris has started his full-time gig at RareMethod advertising agency, I've taken over being the full time contractor. I've noticed that this includes taking at least one trip to Home Depot everyday, and listening to a lot of radio...
One of my biggest projects these past few days is the baseboard molding and door casings. So here's the rundown one how to do this:
1) If your molding is not pre-primed you must prime it
2) Paint it - don't forget the edges
3) Second coat paint it
4) Cut to the desired size - measure twice cut once. I am however an official member of the 1 inch shy club. It happens... I remember my little brother saying once "Darn, I've cut it twice and it's still too short!"
5) Brad that puppy on. I recommend using the brad nailer from Harbor Freight it's only going to cost you about $20
6) If your brads don't go deeper than the surface of the board you need to use a nail punch and hammer them in.
7) Spackle! This is the pink stuff that turns white, you can either use your finger or a putty knife
8) Sand the dried spackle down so it is even, and just the hole is filled.
9) Paint over the spackled parts that you just sanded, if you don't do this your spackle may discolor over time.
10) Caulk. This hides the space between the wall and the board. Keep a wet cloth handy, place an appropriate size bead of caulk along the top of the board, then run a wet finger over the bead. Practice makes perfect - so don't get frustrated, you can always wipe it up with a little warm water.
