Day 179: White Christmas

We got a white Christmas in Atlanta this year - the first time in over 100 years! Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Day 169: Catching Up

Well it's been a little while since we posted anything.  We are right in the middle of holidays and have been pretty busy with traveling, visiting, shopping for gifts, etc. and working on the house but not so much with the blogging. 


So the picture of the upstairs bathroom is because we needed to do some hasty work up there about a month ago in order to keep our water turned on!!!  Unincorporated Dekalb County has an ordinance that mandates updating to low flow toilets and fixtures when a house in sold.  If everything is not updated at the time of sale you have 30 days to get it in order and inspected or you can't have any water.  We had been getting 30 day extensions while we were not living in the house but once they heard we had moved in they said no more extensions!  We had not planned to do any work upstairs yet but it was forced on us.  We had to take some areas down to the studs and tear our a few layers of flooring to run some new supply lines to the tub/shower, sink, and toilet.  We got enough done to pass our inspection so that's good but the upstairs bathroom looks pretty bad at the moment but functionally speaking it's in better working order even if it looks bad!   


Back to the other projects at hand.  The kitchen is primary focus.  The goal is to get it all finished up for Mary's big 30th birthday party.  The counter tops should be here tomorrow and if the weather will stay clear and warmer we can get to making some doors and drawer fronts to match the old stuff in the rest of the kitchen to go on the front of the base cabinets we replaced.  

Day 154: Christmas at Greystone Cottage

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Here's a sneak peek at the cottage as we begin to decorate for the holidays... don't you just love this time of year?

Day 144: Shan's Special Recipe

It's been awhile since Shannon cooked breakfast... he's gotten so used to his other tools I think he was a little confused ;) Nice hand-mixer, eh?

All kidding aside, he did make us a delicious brunch today, and we were able to wash everything up in our newly installed kitchen sink and dishwasher. Yayyy!

Day 121: Upstairs Bath

Day 120: Slowing Down

The good news is we're enjoying our new digs, including long walks, scenic parks and the first signs of fall. The bad news is, we're not keeping up with the blog post-a-day schedule so much these days... so while we're continuing to work on things throughout the week, it's at a much slower pace and we won't have daily updates any longer. I'm sure this disappoints no one but me, but just thought I'd put it out there in case our public is more demanding than I thought ;)

Day 119: The View From Here

Day 118: 3-week Mark

Last night marked three weeks since we officially moved in! We can't believe it. It's gone by so quickly. We better get back to work!

Day 117: Just in Time!

Shannon and Phillip got the gutter up just in time. We had awful thunderstorms roll through the first part of today. But luckily, just yesterday morning the guys put up a new section of gutter over the back exterior wall that runs along the kitchen, where the roofline from the old back porch used to hit (which is why there was no gutter there!).

Day 116: Open House

We can't believe it's Open House day already! There are plenty of projects that we haven't completed yet that we'd hoped to have done by now, but all things considered, the house really looks great. So we were thrilled to show it off today to a few of our favorite locals, and we're happy to report it was a hit! Everyone was nice enough to stop by and check it out, and had only good things to say - even if they were sandwiched in between boxes here and there!

We may or may not have questioned our sanity JUST a little bit this morning while rushing through some last-minute preparations (boxes in the doorway! really? really.), but we really are so glad we did this. We didn't even try to hide under the table with Riley a time or two (she was cracking us UP!).

Thank you all for the warm welcome to the neighborhood, and for celebrating our first home with us! It was a wonderful time, and we're thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful community. :)

Day 115: Happy Fall!

Day 114: Ace of Base

Cabinets that is!

Shannon is making great progress on our base cabinets (thank you Ikea!). The tricky part will be crafting the door and drawer fronts to match our existing cabinets, and of course deciding on countertops! 

Day 113: Bathroom B & A

It's come a long way baby! We still have some finishing touches to take care of, like re-installing the trim on the doorway and closet, touching up some paint here and there, and the final trim on the bead board vertical edges. Then we need to put all the bottom trim all the way around. And the closet needs its cubby with drawers installed. But, still - look how much better already!!!

Day 111: Monogram Madness

I'll admit it, I love a good monogram (and quilts, obvi). And my beloved Ballard does them for free (take it PB)! So maybe I went a little crazy? Our W pillow for the bench turned out so well, I thought it would be nice to get one for our bed. And then I had so much fun getting the guest room ready, that I thought it would be super cute to get A & E pillows for our siblings' initials. My sisters' names are Ali and Elizabeth, and Shannon's brother and sister are Emory and Audra. AND, Emory's bride of one year is an A as well (Angela)! Nice, right? PLUS, I had a coupon. And I couldn't let that go to waste ;)

Day 110: Yummy in the Tummy

We had our first warm meal at home last night. Thank you, Marie Callender! Your chicken, mushroom & spinach lasagna is quite tasty. Oh, and thank you Shannon for hooking up the appliances!!! :) Chicken pot pie is warming as I write this... yuuuu-um!  For self-proclaimed foodies, we don't mind slumming it for awhile. We're just excited to eat something besides subway, willy's, pizza or cereal!

Day 109: Sunday Strolling

So... not a super productive day. We've been lured away more than once over the past couple weeks for a nice leisurely stroll through our new 'hood, and this fall weather is proving to be too much of a good thing! We walked to brunch, came back and touched up a few paint projects, and then took the dogs on a nice long walk to Candler Park and ran them in the ball field. They LOVED it! Sorry, dogs (plural) this week because we're dogsitting sweet Gigi.

Then we got some more boxes from the dining room cleared out, put the finishing touches on our vintage window mirror (see pic - voila!) for the bathroom, and Shannon made good progress on the cabinets. Perhaps we redeemed ourselves?

Day 108: Hot in Here

Hot foods are in our future. It's getting cooler outside by the minute, which has us craving oatmeal for breakfast instead of cold cereal and hot tea instead of OJ... seems this was motivation enough for us to finally hook up the microwave and range that have been sitting in the kitchen for the past two weeks. Yippeee!!! This is *almost* as exciting as a kitchen sink. Almost. Shannon joked that we'll have to wash our mugs in the shower Cosmo Kramer style ;) 

Today was a big one - in addition to installing these 2 guys, we painted the front door (external side;), finally caught up on laundry, and got started on the vintage window mirror for the bathroom. Successful Saturday!

Many more pics for Thursday - Saturday here.

Day 107: Be Our Guest

With 3 rooms finally livable (our room, the bathroom, and now the living room), today I set my sights on the guest room. Mostly because it didn't involve heavy lifting, just unpacking and moving things around, clearing non-essentials out and making up the beds. Anyhoo, I'm happy to report it's now usable! Hurrah. Trolls welcome! Just in time for my parents to come visit next weekend. Don't worry, we won't make them sleep in the twin beds!

So, now the fun part's out of the way - status report: The kitchen is still very much a work-in-progress, as are the dining room and sunporch, but - priorities! We now have the computer set up (yay!), lighting in the bathroom (no more dark showers!), laundry set up downstairs (major!), and we are making headway on sorting through these many, many boxes to move non-essentials slowly but surely upstairs and out of the way.

The Green Concert is tonight, so that's it for today! 

Day 106: New Neighbors

Our new neighbors are wonderful. Each one is more friendly than the next! We'd had the good fortune of meeting most of our nearby neighbors on our street during renovations, but now that we're officially residents of the 'hood, we've met at least 10 more wonderful new neighbors on our afternoon walks. What an awesome 'hood, eh? Two of our fabulous neighbors were nice enough to bring by some welcome cookies and a bottle of wine a couple nights ago. Thanks James & Ashley - you guys are the best! :) Those cookies have been breakfast the past couple mornings since we still don't have our kitchen quite set up. Yuuuu-um!

We've been slacking on pics lately, lo siento. We have tried to catch up... see 10 days' worth here.

Day 105: The Sofa has Landed

The sofa has landed. I repeat, the sofa has landed.

For reals this time. After a slight delay due to a minor issue with the frame, I am happy to report said sofa is now in its proper home in our new living room. Hurrah!

<< Check it out! Naked, so you can see the adorable tufted buttons, and then with the PB pillows I've been dying to throw on since I first ordered this bad boy. It was naked just long enough for photo #1 and a brief inspection by Riley the chihuahua.

Doesn't it look lovely? Shout out to Brett & John at Interior Impressions who took such great care of us. They run a fabulous shop in west midtown - check them out online at http://www.interiorimpressionshome.com/.

I know someone who's loving it already!!!   :)

Day 104: Top Ten Tuesday

For today's post, we thought we'd give a nod to our old 'hood, which was pretty awesome in its own right. So we put together this top ten list of the things we'll miss about Jefferson Park! Enjoy :) 


10. Our (professional landscaper) neighbors' ever-changing perfectly manicured golf course yard
9. Afternoons on the porch drinking PBR or "whatever ya got" as long as it's not 'mexican' or 'foreign' beer with Chuck talking about girlfriends, neighbors, Brenda Wood, parades, boat motors, native americans, campers, or wherever else the conversation meandered
8. Our street cred (Riley included) -  I sometimes got laughed at when carded
7. The entertaining trips to the nearby Kroger, shopping amid strippers from Pleaser's
6.The daily e-mails from the Neighborhood Association notifying us of lost and found animals and/or attempted home robberies
5. Friday Night Lights - listening to the local HS marching band from our front porch in the fall
4. The newly revamped Brookdale Park, complete with new playgrounds, tennis and basketball courts, plantings and of course the restored-to-its-natural-path-and-splendor creek. You can't fight nature.
3. Munford, our friendly neighborhood possum. We watched him grow from a tiny baby possum into a freakishly large, disgusting adult possum. Yay.
2. Our neighbor's decorative yard goose, whose wardrobe changed with the seasons (and sometimes the weather within a given season. He does love his rain gear!).
1.Our awesome neighbors, including Melissa, Tiffany, Charles & John to name just a few. And of course, Chuck, who loves a good swing at Brookdale Park.

Day 103: The Great Chipmunk Huntress

Riley is loving the new yard, including the previous occupants, chipmunks and squirrels galore. With each squeak, she pounces into the ivy with a vengeance. No luck yet, lucky for us ;)

Day 102: I Spy

I am so pleased with how adorable our bench looks in its new home in our entryway, and last night I finally found the pillow that I ordered to go with it so I had to post a pic for you to see.

As you can see, it's become a resting place for many other pillows I haven't placed yet. Anyway, not long after I put it there, I heard Shannon chuckling and he snapped this pic of someone who's made it her favorite napping place. She was there again when I left this morning, not on top of the bench, but on top of a suitcase, tucked in on my pottery barn pillows. At least she has good taste ;)

Day 101: Kitchen Sneak Peek

So here's a great shot of our empty, but newly refinished kitchen. Still need to put in the base cabinets, but doesn't it look great? We also got most of the kitchen unpacked over the weekend, which makes it feel much more homey :) Except that it's lacking the basic kitchen necessity, the kitchen sink. We do have our appliances (somewhat) in place, though we haven't taken the wrapping off completely. And the dishwasher's still in its box. But we are using the fridge!  The dishes look great with the colors and I'm loving the open look for now.

Day 100!

It's day 100!

I can scarcely believe it. And I kind of want to hide under the table with Riley ;)

Day 99: Floors re-finished!

Here's a little video walk-through of the 'after' from this weekend. Floors re-finished and looking good! javascript:void(0)

Day 98: Tales from the Move

Well, we're moved in and loving it! Three hilarious stories from the move so far. Well, hilarious to me anyway. ;)

See, we have this desk. I would love to say we had this desk, past tense, as in have it no longer. But Shannon had other plans. I told him I didn't want the desk anymore and that it wasn't moving with us. He, however, hates to get rid of ANYTHING that's not broken (and even then it's tough!), and thought he could use said desk in the basement. Yep, the tiny unfinished, full of stuff basement. I haven't yet mentioned the desk weights about a billion pounds.

Well, Riley and I went for a walk when the movers came so we'd be out of the way. On the walk, I discovered that the Hallmark Channel is filming a movie down the street from us called 'The Lost Valentine,' starring Betty White and Jennifer Love-Hewitt. We even saw them filming in the yard, it was very cool (see pic of new neighbor friend w/ Betty). We spent some time with some other neighbors who'd gathered to watch the movie crew in action, and when we got back from our walk I walked up just in time to hear the head mover saying, "Uh, sir? You know that desk you wanted in the basement?" My eyes catch Shannon's. Eyebrows raise. He asks, "Yeah?" Mover responds: "Well, it won't fit. Like through the door." See pic. Words can't describe how funny I thought this was. The desk is still sitting in the backyard, much to my amusement ;)

Hilarity # 2 is Riley's fun new game, to which she's lost 3 toys (1 was recovered). She loves playing and likes to roll her ball under things just enough so she can get it back out. Inevitably, we have to retrieve the ball when it goes too far under something and she goes insane until we do. Cut to Riley in the new house, where none of the vent covers are on because the floors were *just* finished last week. Shannon totally busted her rolling her ball to the edge of one of the vent holes and told her that was not a fun game. Fast forward five minutes and she's going insane at one of the vents. Yep. Because she rolled her ball a little too far. This happened a couple more times and the vents are now covered. She cracks me up.

Hilarity # 3 involves numerous Betty White sightings and encounters, including one in which Julie and I, along with two high school girls whom we're now facebook friends with, sang 'Thank you for being a friend' to Betty and another where my friend held Betty's hand while gushing how much she loved her while Riley and I looked awkwardly on. All I have to say is Betty is super sweet and loves dogs, now including Riley :)

Day 96: Moving Day!

We're ready!

Day 95: 'During' floor pics

Day 94: Hold, please

We're not allowed on the floors until Monday morning, so we're in a holding pattern for the weekend. Which is fine, because we have plenty of packing to do! The kitchen is taking forever - so many breakables. Though I do love marking the boxes 'fragile' or 'fra-gee-lay.' Because I'm Italian. ;)

We made plans for the weekend months ago when we naively thought we'd be moved and settled by now! We have volunteer orientation for the Eagles Green Concert at the park this afternoon and Bobby Cox's last home game tomorrow, followed by the REO Speedwagon concert. Score!

I'm hoping we can sneak a few pics between now and Monday so stay tuned. And we'll definitely have a TON of pics Monday. It's so close we can taste it! MMMmmmm....

Day 93: Friday Update

Shannon went by the house during lunch and the guys were screening and prepping to put the final coat of poly down. We should be ok to (finally) move in on Monday. Here’s a sneak peek. Not the best pic ever, but we’re not supposed to be on the floors so it’s the only pic we have right now. The color looks gorgeous, and the whole place just looks like a completely different house. It’s amazing. So excited!!!! 

Day 92: Move-in Day Moves Again

Move-in day is delayed.... again. The weather is not cooperating with our floors curing, and we have 3 more days of poly coats before our 48-hour final curing and drying period. Throw in rainy weather, and it looks like we're not moving in till next week. I can hardly stand it!

Day 91: Floors looking good so far

The crew started work on refinishing the hardwoods on Monday - we've checked in every day and taken plenty of pics (they totes love it), and the floors look better already!

<< Here are a few sneak peaks.

We've picked the stain for downstairs (provincial - bottom left in the samples pic) and upstairs (natural) and the guys are moving right along. Upstairs is heart of pine, much wider planks and just a different wood altogether. Thus the different stain. There's also not as much natural light up there, so we didn't want it to be too dark.

We have our fingers crossed for good weather to allow for good curing for all three coats of  poly after the stain. This has delayed our move-in date though. Looking like next week. Fingers crossed!

Day 90: Phone Nook

Here's one of my favorite features in the house - the phone nook. I just love it! And now it's all painted and gorg. Behold! I've even outfitted it with an over-the-top light switch plate. It deserves it. The plate was originally IN the top of the trim, but I removed it, bondoed over and smoothed it out and Shannon moved the switch up. It looks AWESOME.  I can't wait to put flowers here :)

Day 89: A red front door

We've always wanted one, and now we've got it!  On the inside, anyway. Our paint guy was a little confused... that's OK we can enjoy it from within :) Until we get around to painting the exterior ourselves, that is. We did specify inside and out... which is a little unusual. But we wanted to enjoy it from both sides. And as Shannon pointed out, everything else was interior painting only... Anyway - it really is the perfect color for this awesome door.

Day 88: Bathroom Finished... er, Usable!

Today we installed the toilet, gigantic vanity, sink faucet and drain! The bathroom is now officially usable! We still need to install the wall sconces so we can have light (kind of important!;), hang the mirror, put up the shower curtain rod, install towel bars, TP holder, and put up some final trim. Then it's on to the closet! And the bathroom will be D-O-N-E. But for now, it's usable and that's what counts. :)

We also cleaned out the entire house, clearing the way for the floors to be re-finished starting bright and early tomorrow morning.

Also, joy of joys, we discovered the A/C did not break as we suspected last week, but rather by toying with the breakers we inadvertently turned off the cooling system, but not the fan. Now that we're done with all the electrical work and have everything switched back on, the A/C is working just great. Hallelujah! 

Photos from today's progress are here.

Day 87: Work Continues

We had the tub reglazed yesterday, and it looks great! It was pretty cool to see the whole process take place.

We also took some more pics of the paint crew's finished product. Lookin' good! We still love our palette, but I think we're in shock a little. We're going from khaki colored walls (in current house) to full-on color, everywhere. We keep saying 'It's just so GREEN...' every time we walk in. Ha ha! ;) 

I will say - Valspar's Hemingway color is our definite favorite. On the paint chip it looks so plain and khaki-ish. But on the walls, it has such a gorgeous greenish yellow glow. We just love it! So glad we went with that for the ceiling colors too.  Same story with the cabinets - the bottom cabinets (woodlawn charm) are pretty bright right now, but once the countertops are in place, and the appliances (coming next weekend!), everything will look fabulous.

We also got the call yesterday that our couch has arrived. Perfect timing :)

You can see more photos from yesterday here.

Five more days!!!

Day 86: T minus 6 days (eek!)

Chandelier casts a fancy shadow on the DR wall

It's here already.

Our last working weekend before move-in day. This time next week will be our first full day in the new house.

We're not sure yet whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a fact!

The painting team is done. The floor guy is MIA. And maaaaybe 1/5 of the house is packed in preparation for the move. Things are crazy busy at work, and at home.

We're kind of freaking out.

Just a little.   :)

Day 85: Kitchen Motivation

Here are some nice ideas to keep in mind with our kitchen re-work.  Although we don't like all of them, there are some ideas to be taken from most:  Cottage kitchens

Day 84: Painting preview

Finally some visual progress that doesn't involve making a bigger mess!  The painters are making headway.  From the looks of it they got a coat of paint on all the walls and closets.  They still have trim, cabinets, and windows to paint but here's a little mid progress shot.  AMAZING what a little paint can do to a room. (More photos here.)

Day 83: This Weekend's Progress

This weekend's progress was mostly in the bathroom, but also cleaning up for painting to begin. Here are our photos from this weekend:

Day 82: Painting begins!

Day 81: T minus 10 days!

We're getting close!

We've spent the weekend prepping for the final touches, including bondo over the many holes in wooden windows, drywall mudding our wall patches, beadboard mania, and clean-up.

The painter comes tomorrow, and the floors are being refinished Wednesday - Sunday.

And then, we'll FINALLY move in the following Monday-Wednesday. We can hardly wait.

Appliances will be delivered that Friday, and couch should be delivered soon thereafter.

Yippeeeeee!

It will be a mad dash between now and then, and we'll pretty much be working non-stop on the bathroom while the painter and floor guy do their thing. The beadboard is up, the paint soon to follow. But we still need to install the sconces and the mirror, and we'd like to acid etch the tiles in the shower, and possibly the floor as well. Some re-grouting, some accent tile strategic placing, and finally the tub re-glazing. And THEN, friends, we can bathe :)

We're planning an Open House to share our progress with you all in mid-to-late October, so stay tuned!

Day 80: Rocket Science

Turns out, it actually DOES take a rocket scientist to install beadboard over ceramic tile in an 'antique' bathroom.

Behold, the beadboard hold-in-place, apply-pressure-while-glue-dries contraption my brilliant husband created to do just that: hold the beadboard in place while the liquid nails adhesive dries, while assuring an even coat due to pressure applied evenly across the length and width of the board.

The man is a genius. And he's already finished installing all the beadboard and trim in the bathroom.

Love. Him.

Day 79: REALLY?

How hilarious is it that these two pieces of mail arrived on the same day?

Exhibit A: Advertisement for Fidelity Mortgage. Yeah, we did choose you Fidelity. And you promptly sold our mortgage. Thanks. Glad we spent all that time poring over companies only to be sold within weeks of our closing. Nice.

Exhibit B: Advertisement from our old agent at Allstate. A few weeks after they canceled our policy.
Well played, Allstate. Well played.