Now that we're mostly unpacked I have allowed myself to begin the painting process. I decided to tackle the fireplace mantel first, sanding the trim was just too intimidating. Last week after work I sanded, primed, sanded, painted, sanded and painted again. Here was the mantel before:
It wasn't terrible, but I really didn't like that it was painted the exact same color as the walls. I put the second and final coat of paint on it today:
The white is such a big improvement. It will be even better when I get all the trim painted as well. Phil, my mom, and my brother were kind enough to help me get all the trim in the living room sanded this weekend, so we're well on our way. I got it all taped off tonight and will start priming this week after work!
It's been far too long since we've updated! We have been very busy unpacking and enjoying our time in our new home! Now, I feel it is time to catch you all up on what we've been up to.
First! Some random photos that I had on my camera:
You can see the previous owners left us this...lovely...spice rack (and also the outlet covers). However, it's not really our style. So while Phil was napping I decided to pry it off the wall.
I began to seriously question how this thing was attached to the wall because I was able to completely tear it apart without it even budging from the backsplash. Ultimately, it came down.
It ended up being attached with some quite impressive foam tape. The important thing is...it's gone!
Next on my memory card: a quick landscaping project we completed today! First we need to remind you that we replaced our mailbox because the original one was located on the ground when we moved in. Some lovely neighborhood kids appear to have hit it with a baseball bat. Joy. We mentioned this mailbox project in a previous entry and the ever lovely Grandma Vi sent us a card!
Thanks Vi! It was great to receive some non-junk mail in our new mailbox! Anyways, back to todays project. As you can see below, this...tree(?) was eating our mailbox.
Believe it or not, there is a sign under there with our address on it. We felt sorry for the mailman and decided to do some "landscaping." While it may not be the prettiest job, it serves its purpose.
Look! We have an address!
More random photos:
Here is our new, aforementioned, front door hardware (also Finnigan's terrible Vanna White impression):
Philip being...himself:
Finnigan's Bucket-O-Goodies:
A hot tub filled with weeds:
Our new grill that we spent 3 hours assembling. Although, the BBQ with Andy & Becky afterwards made it totally worth it.
A very colorful, delicious looking, salad that Philip made for dinner:
Last, but certainly not least...Finnigan abandoning our game of fetch to roll in an ant hill.
After a nice long weekend we are mostly unpacked. Plenty left to do but things are starting to take shape. At the start of the weekend there were a few things on my 'to fix' list, and wouldn't you know it after 5 days I found about a half dozen other things to work on. I replaced all the lock sets so that they match now. The back yard should be Finnigan-proof enough now. (until we close off the bottom of the deck). And we now have a mailbox. ( the old one appeared to have been bludgeoned off its post.) There is plenty I want to do, like make all the interior door knobs match. Plenty left to unpack but overall, very happy with the house and looking forward to being here for a long time.
It's moving day!!! We began the loading process this morning at 9am and we unloaded the last item into our new home at 11am. 2 hours, done! That was an extremely efficient move and we had that truck completely full. It's safe to say next time we move we can't get a 17 foot truck again.
We closed on the house on Thursday and since then we've been bringing over car loads of items and fixing a few things here and there. Phil successfully put a new wax ring on the toilet in the master bathroom, good job Phil! He ran in to a snag replacing the faucet though. There was some rusted piece of something (that's the technical term) that he couldn't remove so he called my brother Ryan for help. Ryan came over and this happened:
They couldn't get the rusted piece off so they removed the whole sink! They then proceeded to hammer the crap out of it until it came off.
Finnigan even got in on the action.
Ultimately, they made it work and we ended up with this beautiful new faucet:
It doesn't even leak or anything. Good job boys!
Lastly, here is a sneak peak of the pretty chevron rug that was previously mentioned. After hours of barking and running around to see what everyone was doing, Finnigan passed out on it.
