Loads of Fun!!

It's finished!! Our Laundry room is finished and I couldn't be happier! Having the laundry in our actual house as opposed to the basement makes all the difference in the world! I don't have to trudge down to a damp, dark smelly basement with spiders and God knows what else AND our living room smells of fresh laundry! All it really took was a little help from our friend Bill Clifford who helped move the monster to the other side and a $282 check to our local electrician who spent a hot five minutes changing the plug for our dryer and moving it over! Worth every penny though. We now have an amazing laundry room and more storage! Stacking the washer and dryer was definitely the way to go, not only did we gain some room but you only have to bend over once which definitely makes a difference! And oh the music it plays! I swear the dryer goes on for like 4 minutes with a little jingle, gently letting me know it's done instead of scaring the crap out of me with a siren like beep! And they have Wrinkle prevent! Best invention EVER! Instead of having the clothes just sit there when I forget or don't feel like folding them right away, the dryer goes on for a minute or two every five minutes and it prvents wrinkles! Amazeballs! It feels so good to finally have a room officially done with brand new appliances. Lots of rooms are coming along but won't be "officially" done until we get some brand spanking newness up in them i.e. new fridge, new tub, new bed... Even though its the smallest room in the house, it gets used every day and it prevents us from being nakie so I say that's pretty important!

At Least There Ain't No Hole In The Wash Tub!

Emmet and Ma Otter had it right. Don't sweat the small stuff. They were as poor as dirt but they were okay because there wasn't a hole in the wash tub! But can I just bitch about my own "wash tub" for a moment. Being a Nanny for the last thousand years I have seen my fair share of Laundry, and actually don't mind doing it provided I have a great laundry room to do it in! The thought of even having a "laundry room" made me do back flips! My whole life growing up and in every apartment I've had (that is if it even had laundry) I have been forced to take my clothes to a cold, wet basement. The point of doing Laundry is to have a basket of fresh smelling clean clothes, Nothing feels clean or fresh smelling in those basements - no matter how many dryer sheets you put in. So when we bought this house, the fact that it had an actual laundry room, well a large laundry closet, made me ecstatic!! No more dungeons!! The washer and dryer we were left with were okay, so we thought. But a few weeks ago Pete tried to dry his clothes from the rain and the dryer sounded like the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and it started to smell of smoke. I'm sure we could have had someone come over to fix it, But before Pete could take a breath I was on the phone ordering our brand new Washer and Dryer!! Obviously I had to assume the washer was bunk too, I needed a matching set after all. So we sprung for the Energy Star, front loading Samsung set! I was so overjoyed I actually cried a little. Last weekend we painted the pale yellow laundry room a gorgeous deep red in preparation for the delivery men! I felt like a little kid waiting for Santa as I jumped every time I heard a noise outside! I think I was most excited because once they were installed the room would be 85% done! I had dreams of hanging some shelves for storage, maybe a small table where I could fold things, a few fixtures to hold our broom and mop and maybe even a cheesy laundry sign that said something awful like "Put your duds in the suds" or "Colors free, Whites 50 cents" (who wouldn't want a somewhat racist laundry room?) Anyway the point is that in this seemingly endless battle over the house, we were so close to having ONE completely done and brand new room, and that felt GOOD! Finally they arrived and I was overjoyed!! I kept Hurley out of their way as they got rid of the old pieces of junk and installed my new gorgeous appliances that actually play a little musical diddy when they are done instead of that horrible beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. But then I heard it... "Uh, Honey... You might want to come check this out..." Not Good. They don't fit!!! They are Huuuuuge and take up almost the whole room. We stacked them to save space which isn't the problem, they are so damn wide they hit you in the face when you open the door and now the corner space is useless because you can barely squeeze by! Now we have to try to "walk" this behemoth bitch over to the other side of the room. But that's not all... The plug for the dryer is on the other side where it is now, so we either have to find a nonexistent plug extension for this massive beast or we have to hire an electrician to come and switch the plugs out - not cheap. And even when they are moved, I'm not sure there will be room for any shelves or a table if we want the doors to open. My Laundry dreams are slowly crumbling. At least the red looks good. One step at a time...

The Heart Of The Home

They say that "The kitchen is the heart of the home." And I fully believe this. Pete and I both LOVE to cook and entertain. In fact we fell in love while breading chicken cutlets in his kitchen. True Story. Anyway, every house we looked at, the first place we ran to was the kitchen. Now this kitchen DEFINITELY needs some help. It has some shaky bones and is small But I know we can make it work. When we first saw the kitchen during the open house it was lime green with a gorgeous vinyl floor (You know the kind that will NEVER BE CLEAN) and hunter green counter tops. But the blue bottles in the window, FIREPLACE and fun little chachkies (Which I just learned is Yiddish??) made it feel super cozy. I have always wanted an open plate rack too! Except for some reason these people only put SEVEN spaces!! I literally loose sleep over how much this bothers me, Why not EIGHT?! A Normal place setting you ding bats! Now I will have to take out the bars and move them closer together and pray that eight will fit because I can't live with that kind of malarkey. Pete wanted to get rid of the whole desk section completely and put in a big cupboard but I fought him. Don't get me wrong I am always one for storage and we certainly need it here in this kitchen, but I fell in love with this little nook! I want my laptop right there to look up recipes and Facebook stalk people while I wait for dinner to cook. Who knows, it a year or so I may be over it and want more storage but for now I'm pumped. A project in the future is to make a cork board out of our old wine corks for the wall. I would make it in a frame so that it can be removed, But I want to cover that back wall with a wine cork board to tack up pictures, coupons etc. And let's be honest, It'll only take a week or two to get the corks... As I said before we are working with a tiny budget for the WHOLE house, so we have to get creative and pick and choose what really needs to be done. The truth is, the kitchen is fine the way it is. No leaks or huge cracks anywhere and the appliances seem to be working - it does it's job. I just don't like it! I want brand new appliances that are shiny and not covered in old grease! I want a counter top that doesn't make me throw up a little!! I want cupboards that are functional and stylish that don't fall off in my hands when I open them! Sigh... For now I will have to focus on inspiration and things I can change easily! The whole inspiration for our soon to be gorgeous kitchen was a Tuscan Villa. I went back and forth between my love for things rustic and European and my love for things Bright and coastal. Europe won this war. And it's all thanks to this baby... I saw it at Anthropologie last year for over $900 and I found it at The Maxxsters on clearance for $250! I bought it before we even closed on the house! I just knew, without measuring that it had to be in our home! Our landlord called it "an old industrial sized storage unit" - he thought it was junk. He is an idiot. It just may be the most gorgeous table ever created. The top this beautiful untreated wood and the bottom is old almost rusted steel, and the shelves can be moved up and down. I was hoping to make it out kitchen island and I think it will actually work. The feeling of this table is what I wanted to puke all over our kitchen. The first step was paint. Our kitchen and dining room are open to each other in an L shape, so it was hard to paint them different colours. The kitchen technically stops where the linoleum floor stops. The area with the fireplace is supposed to be a "den". Whateves, I say its still part of the kitchen. But the point is I couldn't divide the spaces without it looking too compartmentalized. So all the walls were painted in Eclipse, which was that old yellow we saw in the Dining room. But we decided to keep the walls plain in the kitchen, instead of continuing with the pearlized look. Already it has made a huge difference. But now the counter tops look even more awful, don't know how much longer I can live with them! I'd love to see something natural like soap stone or concrete, I was never a fan of granite, especially not for the price, I don't care how "in" they are - they ain't IN my budget! I also need to put in a back splash. That is something I am fairly confident that with a little help from DIY.com I can do myself. I just can't decide what I want. Originally I wanted white subway tile with a few ceramic Mediterranean/Italian painted tiles thrown in. But now I feel the subway tiles would be too modern. But I would love to incorporate the Italian ceramic somehow, I absolutely fell in love with the gorgeous red, blue and yellow colours when I was in Capri and really want to showcase them somehow. I really like that the cabinets are white but they are made of really cheap wood and not painted in the inside. One thought would be to remove the cabinets completely in the corner to the right of the sink and have open shelves. Very farm house/cottage and I wouldn't have to worry about painting that section of cabinet, I'd also like to have a little more wall to make the kitchen seem bigger. OR we could just remove the doors from those cabinets - but the bases are so crappy I don't like that idea. What I would love to see is some sort of aging on the cabinets. They are pretty boring and since we can't afford new ones, I'd love to give them a cheap face lift with a little fancy paint. At first I though A crackle look, But that requires a ton of time and paint, and it was a bit busy. Then I thought good ol' distressing to give it that antiqued Provencial look - which is still a strong contender. But then I found this picture of an amazing kitchen, where they white washed the cabinets and it was the perfect combination of light bright cabinets with an old touch. I have to decide soon though because in less than two weeks we will actually be living there and will probably be wanting to use our kitchen! As you can see my design is all over the place. I Just can't decide, and am scared to commit! Once we are actually living there for more than a night and things start to get cleaned up, I'm hoping to have some more focus. Right now my brain is spinning a million different directions and I'm petrified of screwing up the most important house in the kitchen. Simple does not come easy to me. This Home's heart is about to have a triple bypass!

Two Kitchens I really freaking LOVE! Look at the DRAPER sign!!

Au Revoir Murs Rose!

Goodbye Pink walls!! Hello France! The previous owners of our house obviously had a thing going on for the country farmhouse look. I don't mind the old Farmhouse part, but the living room was a little too country, and certainly not enough rock n' roll for Pete! The trim and accent walls were a Muted Pink. I have no idea why they thought this was a good colour. Next to the light glossed wood it was just screaming for wooden apples and a cow theme. Which my mother would have adored! We are going for something a bit more Euro Modern Meets Farmhouse Rustic. I think. When it comes to design my brain goes in fifty directions even though I have my binder o' Design. Then I walk into HomeGoods and have a seizure because I am so over stimulated and want EVERYTHING. Pete is no help either, he almost convinced me to buy a 5 foot flamingo made out of driftwood?! I was so caught in the moment I almost said yes! But a new Designer friend (who has a fabulous blog herself Reckless-Glamour.com) suggested I make design boards to stay on track, which I think is a wonderful idea! It'll help tame my brain! The walls in the living room will stay how they are because they are at least 30 feet high and neither one of our asses are gettin' up on a ladder that high! But the trim and the accent walls will be a deep olive green. We painted our living room in Belmont a very similar colour, but just using it as an accent really makes it pop. If we had used it on the walls it would have shrunk the room! But We used the Valspar paint and primer in one and it was AMAZBALLS at covering up that pink (which is the hardest color to cover BTW) While I was poking around HomeGoods I found the perfect pillows! They have the European letterhead which I love (clearly by my blog background) and a lighter shade of the green in a silk damask on the back! At $30 I knew even though we don't have a couch, I still had to have them! Side note: When buying things off of Craigslist REALLY make sure you know who you are dealing with! On Sunday we left NH early to meet a woman in Medford to buy her gorgeous microfiber eggplant living room set! It would have been PERFECT!! The eggplant would have looked amazing against the olive! So we get there with the van, ring the bell and she opens the door and is all "Oh my God I'm so sorry! I totally sold it!" What the hell woman?!? She gave me her number and address. We set a price and time, she knew I was coming!!! I was so pissed. Now I have my heart set on an eggplant couch, when will another set just fall out of the sky in perfect condition for $450?? When I ask you!!

Anyway I found sweet HUUUUUGE ASS French Antique clock that I thought would be the perfect piece to be displayed above the huge windows in the living room. I mean this clock is BIG. But at $200, I can't really justify it, even though it was PERFECT! As Pete would say "I can't sit and watch the game on a giant clock!"He has said that about allot of pieces I want to buy! We really need some real furniture haha BUUUUUUUUT being the amazing TJX shopper that I am, I scouted around in the back of the artwork at Home Goods and found this!! It's not AS big, but it still makes quite a statement! And it has a gorgeous blueberry milk paint on it! Any guesses how much?? $24.95 bitches! I'll bring it up this weekend to see if the blue works with the green and see if the clock can hold it's own against the massive walls. Even if it doesn't work, that clock will have a place somewhere in our home!!

One thing the previous owners did that I LOVED was using birch sticks to hold up the curtains. They were various sizes and lengths and held together with white twinkle lights! I asked that the "window" treatments be included in the P&S. Not that I couldn't find my own sticks, but these already fit so well! Unfortunately the fabric for the curtains is just God Awful! They obviously took their pink from the fabric. Maybe they lost a bet, or maybe they were made from one of her Great Grandmother's dresses, But they needed to go! Now I have no idea how to sew, but while shopping around Savers (My new hot spot for deals) I found this fabric! 2 big panels for $2.99! And I had a 30% off coupon so these babies were practically free! I Loved the colours in the fabric and the pattern was just ugly enough to be retro! Pete thinks the house looks like our house! So my plan is to take the horrid fabric off the old panels and replace it with this! I knew sooner or Later I would have to learn to sew!

So we have no furniture for the living room, but a French/Olive theme is slowly being born. I think this means the upstairs will have to be of Spanish Influence. Clearly I am in need of a European vacation! Our plan is to put a wood burning stove in one of the corners, that was a MUST for our new home! Gas is great, but we need the smell of wood! Also I need suggestions for this strange space at the foot of the stairs. They had a desk set up there, but our office will be upstairs, I was thinking lining if with shelves like built-ins? I'm not sure, definitely need help here! I'll try to post a better picture of the awkward space! I will leave you with this!

How do you say no to that face??

Terrible Ideas... Don't You Just Love Those?

"The Trick To Overcoming Buyer's Remorse Is To Have A Plan. Pick One Room, And Make It Yours. Go Slowly Through The House And Introduce Yourself So It Can Introduce Itself To You." ~ Under The Tuscan Sun Kinda how I'm feeling right now. Completely overwhelmed with all that has to be done to this house. The truth is it has great bones, but there is just so much to do! I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but it would be really awesome if our new home could just come together. We have barely started and already it seems endless. I'm channeling my inner Francis Mayes. No I didn't buy a villa in Tuscany, if I had the money for that, I wouldn't be writing this now! But I did buy a giant farm house in Epping NH, which I would like to eventually exude the feeling of a villa in Tuscany. Having found my true self in Italy and having read and watched Under the Tuscan Sun over 30 times combined (I get obsessive when I find something that speaks to me) It's now time to project that feeling into the house. When we first saw the house the owners did an amazing job of staging it. I think she must have been an antique collector becuase nothing in that house was younger than 40 years! It had a fabulous "This Old House" feeling. Maybe not the most practical of placement for things - who needs a children's school desk from 1920 in the mudroom? But it felt earthy and interesting. We had to look beyond the staging to the soul of the house because that is what we would be left with. And at the end of the day the wide Oak floors, exposed beams and floods of sunlight are what called our name. Our own little Bramasole. This is how our dining room started, a lovely shade of lime/mint green. It wasn't awful but it was poorly done and was not singing to me. So the idea came from a leaflet at Lowes that was entitled Tuscan Sun! Un Segno! We would paint the walls in Eclipse (shout out team Edward) and then once dry we would go over the whole thing with a pearlized version. First in Xs then with a flat trowel in swirls. The idea is to create that Tuscan Stucco Look... After 5 hours of precise taping and another 3 of painting, the Eclipse No VOC paint (no fun getting high off fumes on a ladder)has been applied. VOILA! It took almost the whole weekend, But I think we did it! Once we get some furniture in here and stuff on the walls, it just may be the beginings of our European retreat! What do you think of the Antler chandelier? Pete says if you're gonna play that game you have to go huge. I say there is a fine line bewteen rustic and redneck. That should be on a t-shirt. I'm thinking a collection of Mason jars with lights is more what we need. Thoughts?

Buyer's Remorse?

No. No, no, no, no. But really?? Okay so we have owned the house for less than a week! And we spent our first night in the house on a blow up mattress. And now that the keys are in our hands and it's no one's problem but our own... The truth comes out. We have a MASSIVE infestation of HUGE ASS black hornets with long yellow legs!! They have made nests all over the house and are getting in every nook and cranny, and this house has allot believe me! And my big strong husband has one fear in life, can you guess what that is? When we were first dating he threw me down a flight of deck stairs to avoid a bumblebee. This is his worst nightmare, it's as if we bought a giant hive! There are also signs of carpenter ants and sugars ants are marching along without a care in the world in our kitchen and shed (where something may have died in the walls) The part that really pisses me off is New Hampshire is a full disclosure state. The exterminators said it was clear this was a massive problem and has been for some time but was never taken care of. NO MENTION of that in our disclosure. I'm itchin' to sue! Exterminator $385.00 Plus $105 3X a year for upkeep. Cost of roof and hole repair TBD It was pouring rain when we moved (of course) so Pete went to throw his clothes into the dryer and within 30 seconds it sounded like the 4 horses of the Apocalypse and the smell of burning plastic filled the air. New washer & Dryer $1350. Now that all of the furniture and gorgeous antiques have been removed from the property, it's clear that the whole house needs a good paint job. Something I was really hoping we could slide by on. I mean we were definitely going to cover the pink in the living room, because no one should have to live like that. But everything else seemed to be okay. But now the beer goggles are off and it's apparent that painting must happen. Paint & Supplies for the kitchen, dining room and living room SO FAR $365.00 Rest of house TBD. It's okay though. I am a Graycar and We Slovaks thrive on these financial challenges! I had set a budget of about $10,000 for EVERYTHING including the generator, wood stove and ride on more that we will inevitably need. Not much wiggle room left over. And we still need basically EVERYTHING as far as furniture goes! So I will have to start cutting coupons and hunting around in the discount shelves at TJMaxx and Homegoods! Craigslist here I come, Ima rape your furniture section! Right now I'm confident, but a few hours ago I was ready to put the house back on the market.