Drum Roll, Please

Since moving into the house last summer, we've continued to work on projects here and there.  Some are really just small and require nothing more than a bit of decorating 'polish'.  Others are a bit more complex and require expertise that neither Kevin nor myself possess.

Case in point: the drum room.

This one little out building has run the gamut of incarnations.  In a former life, the little room in the back was a playhouse for me and Deb.  When we got a bit older, it was still a playhouse, but most of the 'play' revolved around playing school where Deb was always the teachers, and I was always the student.  (Huh, little wonder that she fulfilled her prophecy and has been a teacher for, oh, ever!)

When we had the pool put in, we transformed the room from a playhouse to a pool cabana.  The front of it came off and a tiki bar went in.  It stayed that way for a number of years, even though the tiki bar wasn't getting a whole lot of use.  The tiki bar got the heave-ho when I decided that I wanted to turn it into an office for me; I had big plans to run a home based business.  I was going to be a 'Girl Friday' of sorts, and run errands for busy corporate types.  Hey, it was the mid/late 80's and this was a hoppin' idea for that time!  I eventually talked dad into this being a great (okay, somewhat viable) idea and he agreed to help me with the construction.  We worked side by side re-building the front of the room so that it would be fully enclosed once again.  Moreover, he worked and I schleped, but we did work together.

After a while I decided that the business idea had kinda fizzled, as had my enthusiasm for it, and the building just sat for a bit.  Not long, though, as shortly afterward dad turned it into an office for himself while he ran a home based business.  I often teased him by asking "Aren't you glad I had the bright idea to run a home based business?  This sure is a nice office!  ;o)"  It remained dad's office until he passed away.  When we moved in last year, we knew that eventually we'd be turning it into Kevin's drum room, but we had too much on our plates to begin working on that right away.

Late this past spring after a false start (a wacky story all on it's own - trust me!), the planets finally aligned - or rather the finances and the contractor - and the drum room began it's new life.  Kevin had been storing his drums in there since our move and used it to practice, but it wasn't ideal and didn't have enough insulation/sound deadening material to satisfy our little neighborhood.  Besides, after all these years, it really just needed a general overhaul.

So without further ado, here are some photos of the transformation ...

Before:

In upgrading the space, we removed all of the old wood paneling, replaced some damaged wood and added new wood where there should have been studs but they were missing, raised the floor 2" (to help with sound and help alleviate any rain flooding), installed a TON of insulation, added can lights, installed a new a/c unit, painted walls and stained the wood floor.  

The 'After' pictures only tell part of the story as Kevin removed the piece of rug and stained the floors after these photos were taken:

What a H.U.G.E. difference!  It looks so nice now, and is so much more functional for what Kevin needs for a drum room.  Although he wouldn't like the drums in his office, I know that dad would be really pleased with how the room turned out.

The Maxwell Files

Dad's office used to be in a small out building in back of the house.  He set up shop out there years ago and ran a very successful home-based business until just two months before he passed away.

After we moved into the house, one of the monumental tasks was to sort through everything in the office to see what we needed to keep and what could be tossed.  Eventually we would be turning this space into Kevin's drum room, so we needed to move out all of the furniture.  We were able to deal with most of this last summer - at least the larger pieces (desk, large wooden filing cabinets, etc.), but knew that we still had a lot to work on over the spring.

We narrowed it down to boxes and boxes and boxes of files and old binders, and one small filing cabinet that was in pretty rough shape.  The paperwork in the files and binders we organized and boxed up for our credit union's annual 'Shred Day'.  I was wondering what to do with the small filing cabinet when it dawned on me that we could really use it for our own paperwork, but it just looked terrible.

I then remembered that many years ago, I'd acquired an old filing cabinet - about the same size as this one - from my dad's old business.  It, too, was in pretty rough shape but I was able to bring it back to life simply by covering it with Contact paper.  I covered this particular cabinet about 18 years ago and it still looks great!

Yep, I had another spring break project ahead of me =)

All in all it's a fairly simple process.  The thing I love about it is that the Contact paper is sticky and adheres well to the cabinet.  The think I hate about it is that the Contact paper is sticky and adheres well to the cabinet!  It takes a bit of patience, peeling and unpeeling until you have it just right,  but the end result is so worth it!  For the small investment of $7.00 for the roll of Contact paper, and about two hours of my time, we ended up with a very respectable filing cabinet that I don't mind having out in the open.

See for yourself.

Before:  

And after:  

Kinda cute, right?!

...now I just have to work on getting our paperwork dealt with and placed inside the filing cabinet.  Good thing summer break is right around the corner!

Outdoor Livin'

It hasn't quite been a year since we've been in our new/old house, and we've accomplished quite a bit.

When we moved in at the beginning of July, obviously our focus was to have everything moved into the new, out of our old, and have everything - or at least almost everything - painted/put away/hung up/etc. before we started back to work in August.  And for the most part, we did just that.  Everything was painted; pictures, etc., were hung, and most things were put away.  As with most moves, there are still things to do over the months - like arrange bookshelves and the like - but it all happens, little by little.

Since we were mainly focused on the inside of the house, we really didn't do too much with the outside - specifically the back yard.  Over the winter and early spring, we began making lists of things we wanted to do in the yard.  Whoa!  Those were growing into some pretttty long lists!

When the calendar hit March, we finally began putting our plans into action. Our goal was to have most  things completed by Easter.  A lofty goal, certainly.  But we figured with a plan and lots of hard work we could reach our goal.  And we did!  Sort of.  I kind of think that your home and it's surroundings are always a work in progress.  You never really 'finish' things - you're still always tweaking this or that; making adjustments here or there.  At least that's what I find myself doing.

I'll have several posts highlighting our projects, but let's start with just one.  It's one of my favorites!

A couple of years ago some friends of ours bought an outdoor fireplace.  It's not a firepit, or a chiminea - it's actually a fireplace.  So cool!  We were invited for it's inaugural fire and enjoyed it several additional times that year.  Over the winter when it rained, it stained the front of the fireplace making it look weathered.  Yeah, I know - outdoor fireplace, right?  But there is a difference between having the whole thing weather over time, and have streaks that look dirty just across the front of the fireplace.  It really did look ... well, odd.  Bev called the company, told them what had happened and they gave her a few suggestions of things she could try to remove the streaks.  She tried each one of their suggestions, but nothing helped.  After she'd tried the last suggestion, she phoned the company to let them know that she'd tried all of their suggestions, but nothing had worked.  They told her they would send her a replacement.  She was a bit shocked and asked what she should do with the old fireplace.  They told her she could do whatever she wanted with it.  Keep it, give it away, throw it out - the decision was up to her.  She asked if we wanted it.  Ummm...YEAH, we sure do!

Of course, right after that, first mom fell ill, and then dad.  We were so caught up with the health issues, and then their passings, that we never did move the fireplace.  Which, in the end was a good thing because, at that point, it would have been moved to our old house.  Last summer, we would have had to turn around and move it over to this house.  And, lest you think it's simple to move, let me just say the thing is a BEAST.  It's rather large and solid concrete.  It does come in several pieces, which makes it easier (easy for me to say since I didn't actually have to move it!), but it's still very, very heavy.

With a bit of help from a friend (and a nice gift card =), we moved the fireplace to it's new home last June.  Of course, it was one of those projects we never quite got to .... until March.  While Kevin was away one weekend at an umpire camp, I went up to the hardware to get a little advise and some paint.  I explained to the guy at the hardware store what I was going to do and he told me that any exterior paint would work fine, but I'd have to prime it first to cover the stains.  It actually took 2 coats of primer to cover everything, and then one nice, smooth coat of paint; but the finished product was totally worth it! It came out just beautiful!  Our friends saw it recently and said that they think it looks better NOW than when they got it brand new.  I have to say, we agreed!

I completely forgot to take 'before' photos, but I was able to find a photo at the company's website that shows how it looked before:

See the streaks?  It's so odd because it doesn't really look 'weathered' anywhere else - which make the streaks stand out even more.

So, here is our fireplace after I painted it:  

Isn't it just beautiful?  I absolutely love it!  I even like the new color better than the original.  This photo doesn't do it justice, but you'll be able to see it better in another post (coming soon).  It's a really warm terra cotta color that goes perfect with the colors we have in our outdoor dining set and seating areas (those photos are coming soon, too!).

The black wrought iron piece is one that I already had - it just happened to fit atop the mantle and look great!  Almost like I'd planned it ... but I hadn't =)  I have two more of the same pieces; I'll have to find someplace to put them as well.

I felt so accomplished when I'd finished!  One project down ... lots more to go.

Preserving the Season

One of our teachers at work has been bringing in fresh, homegrown oranges from her tree.  Let me tell you, they are addictive!  Thankfully they're good for me because I can't stop eating them.  I'm not sure why oranges that come from your own (or a friend's) tree taste so much better than the ones you buy in the grocery store, but they definitely do.

Last week when she stopped by the office, I thanked her for bringing them in and told her how much I'd been enjoying the oranges.  I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to learn how to make orange marmalade.  She thought that sounded fabulous and asked how many oranges I'd need.  I told her that the recipes I'd been looking at required 8 or nine oranges.  Two days later, she left a bag of oranges on my desk =)

Since I'm definitely one who is always up for a challenge, I knew that my first attempt at orange marmalade was in my very near future.  I mentioned it to Kevin and he thought it sounded like a great project for us for the long President's Day weekend.  Having given donated all of my canning jars in our move last summer (I know, I know, but honestly we were too darn tired to move and/or find a place for one more thing), I stopped at OSH one day and picked up a dozen canning jars and some paraffin.  (Yes, I know that paraffin is not 'the' standard for canning, but it's what I've always used to make jam.  If it was good enough for my grandmother, it's good enough for me!).

When the weekend finally rolled around, we were ready.  Kevin and I were both very excited to attempt something new.  Moreover, we could hardly wait to taste the end result on a warm, buttery biscuit.  Mmmmm.

What we discovered is that orange marmalade is not difficult to make.  Compared to other jams we've made in the past, it's a bit more time consuming (particularly preparing the ultra fine strips of peel that go in the marmalade), but certainly nothing prohibitive.  And with only three ingredients - oranges, sugar and water - it's an inexpensive way to preserve the bounty of the citrus season.

If you have an abundance of oranges, why not give it a try?  It's a cinch, and you'll be glad to have those gleaming jars of yummy orange marmalade lining your pantry shelves.

...maybe a little cottage garden

With spring just around the corner, we've decided that now is the time to start working on the back yard.  I've plotted out a little cottage garden with lots of colorful flowers, a couple of wrought iron obelisks, (hopefully!) an awesome section of wrought iron gate, bird houses on posts of varying heights, and a few stepping stones to round out the works.

For the most part, things are in really good shape back there.  However, there is plenty that needs to be done.  For instance, because Kevin's been working on his studio, we have all of the old files and things from the room when it was dad's office housed on the covered patio.  We've ... errr ... Kevin has been shredding old files here and there, but it's really an overwhelming task for a small home shredder.  We've been waiting for our credit union to host a shredding event, but in the meantime, he's been working away at taming the paper tiger.  Once this area is cleared out, I'll clean up the dining table and chairs, as well as the sideboard and wash all of the outdoors dishes housed in the sideboard.  I'm also debating the pros and cons of an outdoor rug in this area.  

Additionally, along the very back - which is the perfect spot for the cottage garden! - are several shrubs that have become overgrown and were never really all that attractive to begin with.  They've been there for years and I'm not sure why mom and dad never had them removed.  They are really rather random; with the exception of one of the plants, they don't flower, so they're not attractive in that respect.  One is a large, overgrown fern that is only green on the top half - the rest of it is brown and woody.  Two of the shrubs have housed plenty of plastic Easter eggs over the years, but really, they're all well past their prime.  Definitely time for a new, updated look.

There are also lots of random pots that are either empty or contain dead plants, an old (very old!) low voltage lighting system that hasn't worked in years, and the remaining tubes of a drip watering system dad had set up throughout the back yard.  We kept part of the watering system intact, but the portion along the back wall is not a section we'll be using.  I'd rather plant a garden in the above area than have plants in pots along the deck in back of the pool.

We have a small white cast iron bistro set that is in need of a good cleaning and a small umbrella to lend a bit of shade.  The brick patio outside the master bedroom needs some sprucing, too.  Mostly just cleaning the furniture and such, but there are a few not-so-healthy potted plants over there that need some tending as well.  Plus, we'll be working on some new outdoor lighting, in addition to the sweet little lanterns I'll be stationing throughout the patio and yard. The list just goes on and on.

...and so, the big clean-up is on.

Here's a look at what we'll be working on.  As you can see, we have our work cut out for us!

The goal is to have everything finished and in place by the time we return to work after Spring Break.  Wish us luck!  I'll keep you updated on our progress.

Whadyawannado This Year?

I know this post is a bit late, but ...

Each year early in December, I begin thinking about what goals I'd like to set for myself for the upcoming year.

Some people call them 'resolutions' but I tend to shy away from that term.  Why?  I'm not exactly sure, really, but I think it has something to do with the fact that it sounds so final.  When you say "I resolve to...", it makes it sound as though if you don't stick to the resolution, you've failed.

Conversely, when you say "My goal is..." it sounds more like something I can actually accomplish because goals have stages.  For instance, if your goal is to play the piano, you would start with baby steps.  You learn what sounds the different keys make.  When you've got that down, you begin to learn how to read music (Every Good Boy Does Fine).  Next, you begin working on playing an easy piece.  Then you practice, practice, practice.  Each step of the way, you accomplish part of the goal, but not the actual goal itself.

Make sense?

Anyway ... on to the list of goals I'd like to accomplish this year:

~  Read at least 2 books per month.
~  Learn how to make orange marmalade.
~  Plant a cottage garden.
~  Learn how to make Greek yogurt.
~  Learn how to make ricotta and mozzarella cheeses at home.
~  Participate in our city's 'One City, One Story' book event.
~  Drink more water.
~  Get more fiber in my diet by eating more fruits, veggies and beans.
~  Try more new recipes.
~  Be better about filing papers in a timely manner instead of having them stack up.
~  Make time to work on my crafts.
~  Participate more.

These are the things that come to mind, though I'm sure the actual list will grow throughout the year.

What do YOU want to do this year?

Are you there, blogger...It's me, Randa

Well.

Sooo...

Holy smokes it's been a long time since I've blogged!!!

I'm so sorry. Just after my last blog post I was off work for the summer and on the 2nd of July, Kevin and I made the big move. And yes, I do mean B-I-G. I don't think either of us has ever worked harder in our entire lives than we did preparing the house to move into, and then actually moving.

I've told everyone that this was the most difficult move we've ever made. The difficulty was not because of the emotional circumstances of moving into the house, but in the sheer magnitude of 'stuff' that we moved. It wasn't like a typical move in that we didn't move into an empty house. Because we kept some of mom and dad's furniture and home goods (not to be confused with Home Goods, Deb and Vicky - don't get too excited ;o), we basically had to take everything that we'd kept out of the cupboards, combine it with our things and *then* put everything back where it belonged. It was something of a monumental task, especially considering we'd put a lot of work into the house before we moved: stripping wallpaper, painting, refinishing the hardwood floors, adding carpet to a couple of rooms.

BUT. Now that it's done, let me just say this: It's AMAZING! Not only is it a darling house, it's our home. It's our *family* home where everyone is welcome and surrounded by love. Mom and dad are definitely both here with us and it's such a nice warm, comforting feeling. More than once we've said 'Well, George (dad) helped me with this', or 'I could just hear mom laughing when I did that'. It's ... good and right. Pat said 'it's a good mix of Grandma & Papa and Aunt Ran & Uncle Kevin' - I think that about says it all.

As for the 'hood, well, it's wonderful. A couple of people asked me how it felt to move back into this house since it was the house I grew up in. I said it felt normal. Many of the neighbors are still the same, several of the kids I grew up with in the neighborhood now live in their parents and grandparents homes, and the new neighbors who've moved in over the last couple of years are great! There will definitely be lots of fun times in our neighborhood in the years to come. In fact, we've already had several neighborhood get togethers over the last couple of weeks and it's we've had a blast. There are lots of kids around so it will be fun watching them all grow up. We hosted a neighborhood movie night this past weekend (more on that in another post), and it went really well. On Monday, my boss asked how the movie night went and I told him it was great. He said he'd love to do those kinds of things in his neighborhood, but he didn't think it would go well. As he put it "not everyone lives in a golden knoll like you." Ahhh, so true =)

I know I said this a few months back, but I really will post some pictures of our new home very soon. We've got nearly everything put away and spruced up - just a little bit more to go. WooHoo!!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

As you may recall, Kevin and I were going to move in with dad before he passed away. Originally we'd set a target date of the end of March, but discovered that was a somewhat unrealistic goal. I'm not sure if you're aware of it or not, but trying to paint, pack up two houses, and work two full-time jobs, well ... it's a bit stressful to say the least. By mid-February we knew we'd have to extend our target move date to June.

In the meantime of course, dad passed away. But - we will still be moving into the house. It was kind of the plan that, when the time came, Debbie and I would split things down the middle. We would buy Deb out of her share, since her family's roots are in TO, and Kevin and I would keep the house. Sounds easy, but trust me, there are a ton of paperwork issues. However, the fact remains that when all is said and done, this is what will have happened, and Kevin and I will live many long and happy years in our family home.

Initially when we were going to move in with dad, we were just going to paint a few rooms. Now that dad's gone, we're painting them all, which, while it will look fabulous and be hugely rewarding when we're finished, for the moment, we're absolutely and utterly exhausted.

But.

We're beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel and realize it's not a train on the other end. These last nine months have been a crazy, confusing whirlwind. Now that we're beginning to reach the end of the tunnel, we are ready to get back to our somewhat normal lives and relax for a bit.

This weekend we will pretty much be finished with the painting. We still have one hallway, one ceiling and lots of trim work to complete, but we're getting there! Tomorrow, the furniture that we're donating will be picked up; Monday, they will begin removing the carpet and getting ready to refinish the hardwood floors; the following Saturday, the bedroom carpeting will be installed. Then, all (all?)we have left to do is finish packing our current house, move furniture, and put things away. We've been taking some photos along the way and I can hardly wait to begin sharing them with you!

Luckily school is nearly out and we'll both be on vacation soon. Our goal is to have everything finished by the time we return to work in August. Wish us luck!

Coming Out of the Dark

In preparation for our big move, we're painting some of the rooms at mom & dad's house - the biggest room being the den.

The den is an add-on that mom and dad had built in the early to mid-70's. It's a nice, big room, but it hasn't been updated since it was first added on, and was definitely in need of a makeover. The room has wood paneled walls and brown wood blinds on the windows, which make for a 'woodsy' feeling, but definitely make the room fairly dark.

After much discussion, we've decided to paint over the wood paneling and spray the blinds white to update and liven up this wonderful space. It's a huge job which required a great deal of prep - time which none of us really had - so we hired a painter and his crew to prep and paint both the walls and the blinds. And we are SO glad we did! It's a HUGE job, but they worked really, really hard and had the whole thing finished in just TWO DAYS! Amazing. While we're not finished with this room by any means - we still have furniture to change out and things to hang on the wall, here's a quick peak at the difference between the (old) dark, and the (new) light. These photos were taken before the finish coat was added and before the blinds were hung, but still ... you can easily see what a difference it makes!!

Den Before:

Den After:

Pretty incredible transformation, right? I can hardly wait to see what it's going to look like when we have everything put together.

Things are coming along, but it's quite a long process. We have all of the wallpaper off the walls in the master bedroom, and the wall repairs done. Now it's just a matter of washing the walls down, taping the woodwork off and then actually painting the walls. We'll be finishing that up soon - which will only leave us two more rooms to do: the dining room and the mancave. Kevin and I both have spring break coming up, so hopefully, we'll be close to finished with all of the painting by the end of April. I think that's a fairly realistic goal. After that, it will just be a matter of packing up and purging cupboards and drawers from both houses, and getting rid of some furniture.

Bottom line: by summer we'll be all moved in. Let the pool party begin!