Woke this morning to softly falling snow and cherry blossoms. Crazy Oregon weather!
Category Archives: Home Improvement
Whipped Butter
While Kevin was off in Montana being Best Man and his brother’s wedding last weekend, I decided to break out the paint brushes and finish painting the downstairs. The yellow I painted in the kitchen months ago petered out around the sliding glass door and the rest of the downstairs was the color of putty. It was awful. Picture a grey and rainy day. Now paint that all over your walls. Talk about depressing. I’ve wanted to change the paint since the day we moved in five years ago but never had the motivation to do it. Well, last weekend I got motivated.
Liza, bless her big heart, volunteered to come over and help me get started. She brought some much needed class to the operation. She was appalled at my lack of painter’s tape and drop clothes. She also shamed me into removing all the face plates around the sockets and switches. I was all about the doing, she was all about doing it right. (It’s very good to have friends like these.) We slaved all day Friday in wicked high heat and and managed to get the first coat on all the rooms. She then went above and beyond and had us over for an impromptu sleep over as my house reeked of paint fumes. Awesome.
Saturday and Sunday I painted, and painted, and painted. Kevin was totally surprised when he arrived home Sunday night to find the entire downstairs transformed from putty puke grey to whipped butter yellow. Awesome. So here are a few pictures of the new wall color. The girls, for whatever reason, wanted in the shots too. When I want to take their pictures, they hide from me. When I don’t, I can’t get rid of them. Fickle pickles.
Hello! Welcome to the New Front Room!
Kulia and the New Paint
Leina Loving the Yellow
It was a labor of love but so very worth it. Next up is some nice simple crown molding to top it all off. Then maybe some new carpet. Oh, and window casing. And, of course, new tile for the fireplace….. Just a few last minute touch ups really. Poor Kevin. He may want to head back to Montana if he knew what’s coming!
Worth A Thousand Words
I just got off Skype with my parents and I was attempting to impress upon them how much snow we have. How very very much snow. And no matter what I said, I could not convey the vast quantity of snow. I know I’m prone the exaggeration but I’m serious now. We have too much snow. So where words have failed me, I turn to pictures. Here is my very own photo blog of snow.
December 14th. A light dusting of snow begins to fall on our house. It is very sweet. Notice the shining snow flakes…the porch steps….heck, even grass is visible.
And today….
Still not impress? Fine. Back to December 14th. Again, notice the car tires…. the curbs…. heck just watch the car itself.
And today.
Still no awe? Fine. Fine. I’m getting serious here. December 14th. Looking off the front porch. Notice the bricks around the tree…the small bushes…the utility boxes.
And today.
Have I convinced you? Have I? What! Ok, ok. Backyard people. December 14th. Notice the sandbox….the red door on the play structure…the distance between the swings and the ground….the legs on the sand box.
And today.
Um, snow god? Yeah, I’m done. Please stop the snow. Please?
Snow Overload
Sometimes playing in the snow can be to much (yes, Sammy it’s true…). We now have almost a foot of snow. It snowed non-stop on Saturday. It’s been intermittent today. You know you’ve been snowed in too long when even your children aren’t that excited to go out and play in the snow anymore. Here’s a shot of the “Snow Recovery Procedure” at the McLaughlin household:
It’s Here!
I woke this morning the the squeals of delight from the girls. Large soft snow flakes were drifting by all the windows just as silent as feathers. We were all rushing from window to window to watch them dance by. After a hasty breakfast, we bundled up the girls.
Kulia didn’t want to wear mittens even though we warned her it would be cold. She’s a tough one that kid. She didn’t hesitate to jump right in and start scooping up snow with her bare hands.
Leina ran outside too looking for a snow ball fight. Unfortunately, neither Kevin nor I were inclined to join her. Artie, however, didn’t quite understand the ramifications of steping outside and Leina was soon chasing him around with snow in hand. Luckily, he is still much faster than her!
It didn’t take long for them to realize how cold it was so we all trooped back in for some hot cocoa and more gazing out of windows. Not, however, before Kulia the rascal decided to pelt her mom a good one.
It’s still coming down fast and furious here and it’s only 9:30am! I can only hope it sticks around for a while so we can build a Frosty or two. Wonderful, beautiful, snow!
Thanksgiving 2008 Recap
Wow, did we ever have a great Thanksgiving. The girls adored playing with their grandparents, we ate a fabulous smorgasbord meal, and even banged out some more on the kitchen project. Wanna see?
OK, to refresh your memory, this is where we last left the kitchen.
Not bad, right? For the most part, the upper cabinets were installed. The lower units….not so pretty. The sink corner was still the original worn oak cabinets and we had slapped the old linoleum counter top back on leaving odd gaps and tipsy surfaces. But it was workable. In addition to the old cabinets, I still had that awful paint all over the walls. Picture the sky on an overcast cold day. Now paint that on your walls. Because really, everyone who lives in the NW needs more reminders of dreary rain days, right?
With a few days off, Papa and Kevin decided to tackled the next phase of the kitchen. Install the final sink base cabinets and counter top. This was an ordeal because it meant they had to removed my sink for a few days and I had to take everything out of the cabinets. Chaos, chaos, chaos.
First, the sink and old disgusting cabinets were removed leaving a very large and ominous hole.
To make this space, everything had to be jammed all over the place. This is where the chaos started. What you see below is the dishwasher, kitchen table, displaced stuff and the kitchen sink sitting on saw horses. Not so nice, right? But do you see the new paint job? Sunny yellow! Yes!
The men worked quickly and professionally and after only a few days, order was restored. Here, now is the first official reveal of the beautiful new counter tops. Enjoy…
Pretty, huh? I was debating waiting on the counters and going spendy with granite but I decided to give these butcher block tops a try. The price difference saved us, literally, thousands and Kevin & my dad were able to install them in a day. What a deal. Now, when I enter my kitchen, instead of moldy and grey, I see sunny and beautiful. I’m so so so happy.
OK, there is still on thing missing. Can you spot it? The back-splash tile. I need to find me a tile store pronto so I can put this kitchen to rest finally. I’m thinking white with blue flowers or maybe a twining vine. We’ll see. But seriously people, my kitchen rocks!
Of course, while we were working in the kitchen, Tutu was off running interference with the girlies. I don’t know what they were playing but I know they were having fun. Can’t you tell?
