Getting Crafty: The Reveal

Back in this post, we started talking about our copycat CB2 light fixture we were attempting to recreate.  Well, it's been up for a few weeks, so we thought we should do a quick reveal.

Since we weren't quite ready for a full-on electrical extravaganza, this was a great option for this area because we only need to add tea light candles, and it gives off a pretty amazing glow at night.  It's definitely not something you can turn on everyday, but when the mood is right, we think it looks pretty cool.

Plus we scored some battery operated LED candles at the dollar store, so all in all this was big fun with a little price tag. 

A bright idea you might say.

Here is the one from their blog/catalogue:

And here is ours, a little longer vs. wide, but we may add a few more down the road...





Half-Bath Bliss - Our dreams come to fruition!!!

Finally!!!  Our half-bath project that seemed to last all summer is complete!!!  (ok...it was complete about a month ago but I'm just now getting around to posting the reveal)  :-)

Rather than bore you with all the gory details up-front like always (I'm talking about MY blog posts of course, Kelly's are always witty and entertaining up-front!), I decided to hit you with the finished product right off the bat!

Voilà!!!

(and yes...that's a tarantula in our wheat grass for all you Halloween fans out there!!)

Now...here is how we got there...

After all the drywall was done and the walls were painted a fresh and clean "Extra White," I put down some flooring and framed up a "vanity-ish" thing for our future sink...remember that terrible angle-y wall thingy I had to contend with?  No big whoop.

Then with the help of a returning Two Six E project champion...my old man...I framed up, poured, troweled, sanded, sanded some more, stained, and finished a concrete countertop...in our basement.   The black and white holes you see will come into play later...they're supposed to be there.  ;)

I'm very proud of this thing...including all the natural variations in the finished concrete!  This was a NEW kind of project never before attempted by me or my old man!  It was a task deserving of an entirely separate blog post that is forthcoming.  THANKS MY OLD MAN!!!

Then with the help of a NEW Two Six E project champion...our friend Erik W. (in the foreground...the one struggling less than the other), we carried the now 150 lb. countertop UP the stairs and dropped it into place with only MINIMAL wall scuffing!  :)  (the scuffing was my doing)  THANKS ERIK!!!

(sample backsplash tile at back of countertop)

Then I wired up a new IKEA light fixture...(I was the only project champion on this step)...

Then with the help of yet ANOTHER returning Two Six E project champion, our good friend Chip C., we added the mosaic tile backsplash (natural slate + glass tile mix)...  THANKS CHIP!!!

Then I finished building the shelves and shelf fronts for the "vanity"...

...there's more rocket science involved here than it looks like folks!!!  Measure 4 times...cut 2 or 3 times...get new piece of wood and cut again I always say!

Then finished the door casing and base trim.  Notice we tried to replicate the traditional style found throughout the rest of the house, replacing the more modern, boring, cheap-o door casing that was in place previously...

Then I set another Glacier Bay dual-flush toilet from Home Depot like the one we used upstairs...GO ENVIRONMENT!!!  

...set the sink (a Kraus vessel from csnstores.com), hooked up the faucet (a Glacier Bay from HD), connected the drain...

...and let Kelly start making it pretty!  :)  These are watertight, porcelain vases from CB2.  Perfect for orchids!

And what would a bathroom be if not a place for reading some fine poetry by Alex...???  A tribute to our feathered friend we found during the first phase of demolition.

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For one final look (if you have a strong stomach)...the BEFORE...

...and AFTER!!!

Here's to happy flushing...and washing of course!!!  

-EJ

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMD!!!



Happy Birthday to our beloved Evie!  We love you so much!!!! There couldn't be a sweeter, more charming, more handsome, more handy, more loving or more incredibly deserving guy to wish a very Happy Birthday to!  

And there couldn't be two luckier girls than us, to celebrate with you, and call you ours. :)

We had an early celebration for Ev Thursday night, complete with homemade cards of spotted rabbits, pop-up trees and red carrots....



...lots of hugs & kisses from the ladies! 

 ...and a delicious feast of Mexican food from our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Jalapenos, followed by decadent gourmet cupcakes!  

That's a chocolate cream cupcake with whipped frosting and candied bacon.  Yes, bacon.  :)

Happy Birthday to the Man of My Dreams. 

May it be equally as sweet as you are.

xoxo

Brown BEGONE! Bring on the “Golden Fleece”!

Sorry we've been quiet for a while...busy time of the year for all of us!  A few weeks back, we decided we wanted to paint our front door BLACK!  But we couldn’t do this until we put on a new storm door.  We couldn’t do this until we painted over the terrible brown exterior trim around said door.  And if we were going to lose the brown around the door trim…we might as well get rid of the brown on the porch columns!  So BASICALLY…what started as painting the front door turned into 3 evenings of nightfall painting fun.  J

Picked up the new black storm door at Lowe’s the last day that they were 15% off…KA-CHING!!  Used a “standard” 81” storm door as opposed to the 83” “custom” one I replaced.  This meant about half the cost of a custom storm door, but also that I needed to frame down the top of the door/sidelight openings.

On the plus side…this means that we’ll also be able to replace the entry door with a “standard” (cheap) 80” door down the road…double KA-CHING!!  Or who knows...maybe we'll find an all-wood vintage 83" at our local Habitat Restore one of these days!!

Always be sure to prime (exterior KILZ)…in the dark…after 11PM...while hanging upside-down off the porch roof!

Porch BEFORE primer 

(OK...technically on the day we took possession but you get the idea):

And AFTER primer:

Then after the new full-view storm door went on (see in final pic below), it was finally time to paint the front door!  I still wouldn't call it BLACK...but "Dark Kettle" is as dark as Valspar gets.  

Steps to paint a front door:

1.  Sand  

2.  Prime

3.  Paint

4.  DO HAPPY DANCE!!!

Every house in our neighborhood blessed with these square, wooden porch columns with the square corner trim is painted with the trim color on the corners, and the body color in the middle…so in an effort to blend in historically, we followed suit.  In went the “Golden Fleece” yellow paint…God love it.  Thanks for leaving 2 gallons downstairs guy we bought the house from!  J

So…what do you think?! :-)

Say Cheese!

I love photo booths.

For as long as these things have been around, they still manage to entice people to climb inside and press their faces together to make a silly statement in 4 frames or less.  What I particularly like about them is they have just one purpose to serve: Silliness. There aren't many things you can task with that one, single objective. 

Ok silly string, but that requires clean up.  A photo booth is just good clean fun.

We frequent another DIY blog of two twenty-somethings who like us, (this is the last year I can say that, so better get it in while I can) have decided to re-hab an older home.  The only difference between them and us is--- they are wildly successful with their blog, have attracted media attention and now write for DIY magazine, have a stint on HGTV and are supported by numerous big name advertisers.

So....

We're basically the same.

Anyway, I mention them because I was inspired by their equal love of photo booth-ery.  They even had one at their backyard wedding.  Two important points need to be made here: 

1. I LOVE backyard weddings
2. I LOVE the idea of a photo booth at a party/wedding/celebration
3. (ok...3 points) They cost about $1200 to rent for 4 hours! Say what?!

And that's where my love of them ends.

Evan and I have never actually been in photo booth together.  And in an equally as horrible example of terribleness, I have never done one with Alex either. 

Until now....

The aforementioned bloggers would place this on their sofa table in a tall goblet/jar/thingy where they keep and display all their adorable film strips. 

An adorable idea.  But with this being our very first photo booth experience, we are not ones to be outdone by amateurs--what with their incredibly easy to follow step-by-steps, fancy site features and money making advertisers-- we decided it was best to: Go Big or Go Home.

We went really BIG!

Okay...so in the end, we still haven't actually been to a photo booth.  But that's ok.  With a small (and finally complete!) first floor half-bathroom, a little imagination and Google Picasa, just about anything is possible. Even 3.5 foot photo strips. 

The best part: it didn't cost $1200 to rent a booth. And yes, we realize for a mere $4.50 we could have actually gone to the mall and started our very own mini-strip collection (which we may still do), but to make them life-sized would have easily set us back a few hundred dollars. So, we opted for the bigger and better DIY version, by making a relatively small investment ($28 including frames!) we saved some cheddar and just said cheese!

I Have A Kindergartener

This little girl and her little piggy tails went to kindergarten today...

My baby girl, who has grown into this little person with an enormous imagination, began her very first day of schooling today.  Maybe it's cliche, but really I wonder where the time has gone!?  It's true---they really do grow up so fast.

She looked absolutely adorable in her "French Toast Plaid" jumper, posing after bagels, right before heading to her French Immersion school---complete with matching hair bows for said pigtails, white socks and Mary Jane's. 

Clearly the only thing missing was a catwalk.

Getting to school was a breeze.  She did the summer enrichment program for 6 weeks and walking into school, seeing several of her friends from that, was super exciting for her.  And it made me feel pretty great too. 

Last night we hung out for a while before bedtime, awaiting the return of our hot water ....more on this later......and we watched Homeward Bound.  I lose it at the end of this movie, I'll admit it. Nearly 20 years after seeing it for the first time, it brought massive tears to my eyes.

Apparently me crying is "so weird and embarrassing" for Alex, and she didn't miss the opportunity to tell me so.  I told her there was a good chance I would also cry dropping her off in the morning...so just to be prepared. 

She made sure to tell me, I "better not embarrass" her on her "very first big day."

Ah...it starts. :)

And I have to say, we've done the preschool thing before.  And as a working mom, I'm used to dropping her off in the mornings somewhere.  But there is just something about Kindergarten. 

 So while I held it together pretty well, while dropping her off....

I did however cry "Oui Oui Oui" all the way home. :)

And luckily for her, her reputation was spared.

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My Darling Alex,
My dreams for you are bigger than I could ever type, write or say.  We've been through so much together in 5 short years and I look with hope, anticipation and excitement at all we're sure to experience in the years to come.  You are incredibly talented and amazingly beautiful and I just love you so stinkin' much. I have been a fortunate witness to all of your firsts...and today is no different.  As you begin your first year of school remember always how proud of you I am and how much I love and adore you. You are a gift.

Your future is wide open, your dreams are always within reach and your mom is always by your side.


xoxo

Getting Crafty

I know what you're thinking...where have we been!?!? Right? Well, we've been pretty busy with lots of end-of-summer things, some celebrations and projects galore! But we're back to update on a few things we have been working on and some projects currently in progress.

When we last left you Evan was detailing the half-bath renovation.  Well, its still in progress but we should be ready for a reveal in a week or so, and all I can say is I'm really excited about how it's coming together and can't wait to put the finishing touches on it.  More on that later....

So.... we'll begin with our favorite used furniture website and the official deal of the month.  Good deals are always exciting, and we're still in awe of our super-duper mother of all scores from a few weeks back, but we love being thrifty and we love breathing new life into old or not-so-great furniture, so when we find a good deal, we can't wait to share!

Now I'll be the first to admit, we have found more exciting things on CraigsList, but at $5, this was pretty sweet!

Ok, so "kinda ugly" is more fitting....but wait for it....

Now normally I would jump at the chance to sand, prime and paint a piece, but it just so happens that Evan is the master spraypainter of the house!  I actually never knew what a huge difference a can of spray paint could make until I let him loose on a few projects, and he rocks! The finish always turns out fantastic and I definitly prefer it to the brush.  So I picked out a few replacements knobs from Anthropologie, and after a nights sleep, we had a new addition to the entryway and a great place to showcase a few items including all the wonderful congratulatory cards we received on our engagement!

Voila!

Not bad for 5 bucks eh?

Moving on.... after Evan surprised me with the mother of all chandeliers back in May, I became a big CB2 fan.  We recieved a catalogue in the mail a couple weeks back and another light fixture really caught my eye.  And when this one came with step-by-step instructions via the CB2 blog, and incorporated tea light candles into the design, I couldn't have been more excited.  Super cool, super affordable and super DIY----doesn't get any better than that.  So here is the advertised "after" shot via cb2.com...

Pretty cool huh?

And the Step-by-step shots:

And here is my box 'o CB2 globes...and our Meatball taking a nap. 

He loves CB2 too.

And a sneak peak at this work in progress....

And the rest...well you'll have to stay tuned for that. We're anxious to see if it actually turns out as cool as the advertised look and we're pretty excited to have a lighting option where there currently isn't an easy option for one. 

AND!!!! we have yet another really awesome project in the works; this one is happening in the kitchen and in the basement....simultaneously. Intrigued? We will definitely be raising our glasses to this one.

To be continued....