The canvas wrap came!

We haven't hung it yet (still need to have a new mantle made and installed by J) but I set it up on my existing mantle in the "art gallery" of leaning and interchangeable art work for now. :)

It is beautiful and these phone pictures aren't doing it justice!

Opinion

Is this really beautiful, or am I off-base? Rustic Botanical Fireplace Screen from Crate and Barrel:

Link.

Bye Bye, Condo...

Oh the times we've had...

We made it a home. We foraged for unwanted furniture items until we could afford to buy them. Josh proposed to me in this house.  We became a married couple living in this house. And now it's empty.

Escrow closed!

The deed has been recorded and we own a new home!!

I took a ton of pics yesterday to add to my "befores" stash before J starts tearing the house apart tonight. I am going to try to post one or two pictures a day so you can see our progress. My jobs (remember my tools?) consist of taking off the interior doors, pulling off the base moulding, cutting up and removing the carpet, and clean. J will be in charge of the demo of the master bathroom and the wall between the two bedrooms that are going to be combined into one master. Then he has to build it back up! After the house is as clean as I can expect it to be, I'd like to start on the yards. I will definitely turn on the sprinklers today and start getting the grass a little more...green!

Stay tuned...

Do you want to rent our house?

J&K's house is up for rent!

I am meeting with prospective tenants today in fact!

*Dog not included.

In escrow...

Well folks, we're in escrow! In fact, we're a good way through it...

Here are some pics:

From the front

It's in Orange, so we'll be close to the freeway, a little farther from my work, close to the Orange Circle (which I LOVE) and right next to In N Out and the Original Pancake House! hehe.

We're very excited. We've bought a washer and dryer already and we have big plans for the inside. Stay tuned because this blog should get VERY interesting!! :)

Closet disaster and makeover

So any of you that are on FB know that my closet broke last week. It snapped in the middle of the night and scared me half to death. It was terrifying, and sent a shower of shoes flying all over.
Here is the carnage:

So the pole separated from the wall on the left.

It warped the shelf above which is what sent my shoes flying.

Can you see where the pole used to connect? It's a brown circle, not too easy to spot.

So I took everything out of the closet. This was NOT easy.

J replaced the pole with two metal poles anchored by a nice piece of melamine in the middle. I am going to say that this was easy, mainly because J doesn't read this blog. :) 

[evil laugh]

Then I proceeded to put everything back. Also NOT easy.

Now I have what J calls "OCD" shoe boxes. I plan on photographing my shoes and affixing a picture of each pair on the box it is in; it was Nora's brilliant idea and I love it!

J also teased me about my hat collection. Umm skin cancer is not hot, okay?

Yard Work

The Ugly Befores!

To begin with, the condo had no lighting of any kind wired in it...so lights on stands were all there was. The ugly bedframe was left here, and J is in the process of scraping the popcorn ceiling.

Awful kitchen: it had never been updated (and I mean since 1964) and was complete with doors that didn't close, marble print formica counters, and some painted rod iron. Yuck. The appliances were terrible! So was this oddly placed soffit (the dark spot in the top of the photo) with a hood for the stove and very little storage. The picture above the sink? It was here too.
Wow fireplace. This is very 1970s. Look at the MESS!!

Bathroom Remodel: BEFORE

I only have a small piece of the before, and it's actually during the demolition phase. My medicine cabinet has been ripped out (on the left) and the big bin of "stuff" on the right was formerly located under the sink. Yes, I had a lot of crap. Give me a break. I'm a girl.

Notice how the doors didn't close? CLASSY.

Oh and the shower had chocolate brown tile. Brown. Yuck.

Bathroom Remodel: Afters

Because afters are much more exciting:

The theme in this bathroom was to be subtle-y feminine. I used photos of my wedding dress, and a painting I had made of it, as well as my bouquet. I'm very happy to get to look at them every day!

J made a small sink off to the left to use the space more wisely and give me the much-needed counter.
While still small, the amount of storage now enables me to fit everything in here (and I had a lot) with very little on the counter top. The glass shower enclosure and white walls also made the space look a lot bigger. Way to go J!

A glimpse: Kitchen

Some little glimpses of our kitchen when it was newly finished last summer...I should update these!

Glimpse

Just a little glimpse into what our house looks like these days...