730 in 2013

This post is mostly for us to remember how much time, energy, and work we are putting in to this house as the years go by.  You know, in case we both sustain major head injuries that lead us to happily forget the never ending planning and handing over of the credit card.

There have been updates in and out at good old 730 this year.  At the beginning of the year Matt finished the remodel of the half bath which was a huge project for such a small space.  In the end it went from a purple walled, cracked toilet nightmare to fresh, sparkling chrome space.  But it wasn't easy getting there.  Multiple layers of original tile, a tricky wallpaper pattern (the wallpaper guy's name is Damask.  Hello, perfect!), and an ancient sink contributed to the fun.  The guys at ACE advised Matt to get a new sink (to which he replied, no, this is the new sink.  It's "vintage".  Then I'm sure they traded knowing looks about it being "what the wife wants".  Can't you just see it?).  And when finished Mr. Damask had about two inches of wallpaper to spare.  But it's long since done and one of my favorite design projects to date.

bath 'before' shot.  nice 80's vanity

only took us two years to replace this gem

captain demo - the first bathroom reno without any trips to urgent care!

uhhh, how many layers you got there friend?

paneling up!

lovely little tile assistant

won't...stop...leaking...

here's one way to handle it

finished, non leaking sink with newly chromed legs

new glass and lighting

glorious carrera marble, how i love thee!

A LOT happened outside this summer.  We know enough about gardening to know we are neophytes, so last year we (paid people to) ripped out most of the gardens which were jam packed with junipers and other eyesore evergreens, and had a few Charlie Brown trees removed too.  This year we started filling the spaces back in including a Mother's Day red bud tree which I'm mostly sure is not coming back next spring.  Oops.  We will continue to add layers to the gardens year over year and my god the backyard is still the biggest weed pile on earth, but the front is starting to turn from haunted house to welcoming space.

hello gorgeous red bud.  you're now dead.

We ordered new paneled shutters to replace the heinous country blue, slatted versions, and chose a new accent color of black.  But as my long suffering husband expected, I didn't want just plain black.  I wanted high gloss, see my reflection, 10 Downing Street black.  So my fab hub toiled on scrap wood until he came up with the right combination of paints and shellacs.  It only takes about 8 coats to reach "Ooh, shiny!" perfection.  So just one set of shutters made it up this year but they look amazeballs.  Following suit was the front screen door and - just within the last week or so - the front door.  We still need to get new front door hardware and the chances of us having gone all summer without a lock on the front door are about 100%.   

Matt also repainted every window and sash on the exterior of the house.  Every.Single.One.  We had some screens re-done and he also did new finish carpentry on the big living room window exterior.  He is now a glazing expert.     

Part of the window-a-thon of 2013 included painting an accent gray around every window too.  It's hard to see from the street but when you get closer it looks super cool on the brick, especially the porthole windows.

i seeeeeeee yooooooouuuuu

While Matt was busy doing, well everything, I busted out my inner Martha and gave the breakfast nook a facelift.  No more chair graveyard for this space!

The least cool project this summer was an overhaul of the chimney.  Turns out we had a cracked cement cap on the top of the chimney which I guess is 'bad', so we had that whole deck replaced and major tuckpointing along the entire beast.  Just another three-day-turned-three-week project.  It also left us with a half-painted chimney.  Fortunately "repaint entire house" is on next summer's list so we won't have to be the neighborhood eyesore for too much longer.

nice scaffolding.  don't worry about the grass underneath (but notice the lovely new framed in big window, ooh, ahh)

repainting the entry with fresh white

i'll say it a'la chandler bing, can that blue be any uglier?

 

attack poodle allows us to go sans door lock

shhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiny!

love the shutters and trim

We are hoping to freshen up more of the interior paint this winter, and I'm working on dreaming up my fantasy living room.  But I think the big mamma jamma project in 2014 is the one we've been dreaming and scheming about since we signed on the dotted line: a 4th bedroom addition above the kitchen.  In which case, all of this year's work will look like child's play.  Wheeeeeee!

can't you see the bedroom right over the kitchen?  makes my symmetry-loving self so happy

Geeg Turns the Big 0-5

hi, i'm five and kind of a big deal

Our little lass turned five last month.  Translation: GG instantly took us up on our promise that she could have a 'for realsies' birthday party.  At first she wanted to go to a bouncy house or the children's museum but after a little price shopping we managed to convince her that really what she wanted was to go bowling with her princess friends.  YES, you WANT to go bowling.

So she invited five friends to join for bowl-a-thon 2013.  The morning started with me hitting up Sendik's to pick up the Hello Kitty cake I had ordered earlier that week.  Imagine the poor bakery guy who had to tell me that they had lost my order.  About 90 minutes before the party started.  But yay Sendik's for making it right and getting another one ready lickety split and for a much better price of $0.  Other than that the Hello Kitty decor was packed and our little bowlers were ready to kill some pins.

that's a lot of tiny shoes

look at these little cutie patooties

the girls all did really well at cheering each other on and waiting their turns.  i'm sure we won't be so lucky when luke turns 5

alana's ready for a strike

go team!

a+ parenting

We had the little party room ready for pizza and cake as soon as the game was done.  Hello to me not having to clean anything up!

proud birthday parents

what is THIS coming my way?

boom.  hello kitty roasted.

g and a

our little party goers

let's paaaaaaaaaarrrrrty!

Turns out two hours goes really quickly when there are several 4 and 5 year olds involved, so present-opening was more like a tear-a-thon with everyone involved.  So although I'm not exactly sure who gave what, the bottom line is that Genevieve was totally spoiled and has a lot of very generous friends (who have very generous mommies).

Later that night, because we hadn't had enough sugar, we all went to Red Robin for dinner.  This place makes Matt and me ill just because of the noise and the chaos, but Genevieve has been obsessed with going to dinner there for her birthday for months on end.  She has mostly been dying for the wait staff to sing to her.  It's the little things, right?  This is where Grandma and Grandpa Maio gave her her presents: the first was a pink fishing pole, and the second was a much beloved Barbie.  G had apparently been lusting after this for a while and immediately upon opening it yelled, "You tricked me!".  It was pretty dang cute.

yeah yeah, a fishing pole, that's nice

NOW this is something good

 

 

happy camper

if she gets all the attention i'm at least getting some sundae

happy kitten

The evening a success, we all went home and crashed.  The next day we took G to get her our gift - a very big kid bike.  This tot is turning into a little kid before our eyes!

dy.ing. for the training wheels to be put on.  we will be removing them in the spring, ready or not

giving it a practice spin

eat my dust

So GG at age five: she's a very bright, very grown up little girl.  She's an angel in school and around others and gives me almost 100% sassafras at home.  I'll take it.  She loves dancing and ballet, she's an awesome big sister, and she loves to do art.  She comes up with hilarious, very adult-like statements that keep Matt and me shaking our heads.  She can be extremely loving or...extremely bratty especially to mom.  She has literally turned up her nose at me as she stomped out of the room, and the other day Matt busted her sticking her tongue out behind my back.  But when I tell her to go to her room it usually only takes a minute for her to decide to change her attitude and come back and hang out.

According to GG:
her favorite foods are onions, ice cream, hot dogs, corn dogs, sausage, bacon and tootsie rolls 
her favorite activities are, play outside, do artwork, and play on the computers at st. mary's
her favorite songs are, Single Ladies by Beyonce, and Safe and Sound by Capital Cities
her favorite books are, Cat in the Hat, Pinkalicious, and If I Ran The Zoo

What a little nut our girl is.  But we wouldn't have it any other way.  Happy birthday Geegalicious!