Category Archives: House

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Doorless Pantry

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Do I have to hide my pantry? I don’t think so, not as long as I keep it clean.

And especially when this is what I’m working with:

So we ripped the lame plastic fake wood doors down. I painted the trim and the inside support beams. And I like it. This color is my current favorite, I also painted both our railings/banisters with it (the dark grey/blue) and keep looking for what else we can use it on.

So yes, you see my cookbooks and the tons of coffee we drink, but I don’t mind.

I need floor mats/dish rags/oven mitt type accessories that match that color, keep an eye out for me.

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Really White Fireplace

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Per request, this is the first picture of the white fireplace, after three coats. I put the silly vases and the whale for reference. As in, LOOK HOW WHITE IT IS! AND HOW BIG! And clearly not decorated!

I have a couple of ideas.

First, where I put those itty-bitty vases, GIANT vases. Some kind of large tall glass stand, either to hold candles or some sort of those sqiggly sticks. I think it will add height and hide the massive amount of white brick.

Something like this, maybe:

And then, a new mantle. To cover the two rows of brick that the whale is resting on, that hardly counts as a mantle. Either some wood that we make ourselves and paint black, or something dark like this:

In fact, I like that whole picture. I wish that was my fireplace. *sigh*

We’ll get there someday…

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The Gift Of Art

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There are a few rules that MK and I made for the house. We had to ditch a few that were made deliriously in the UHaul on the way from Austin (it is way too cold for the nekkid rule). 😉

It was hard having to settle down, we might not still be ready for it. We weren’t excited to go to the store and get stuff that just hangs or sits around. One of our rules was to have a story behind our things. Even wherever we rented, the things that were most meaningful were never just things. They had a story, and not just that they were on sale. Each koozie is from an event. Front and center in my kitchen is the vase my Grandma gave us for our wedding. Now, the table by our door is funny because we got it at an auction. And I swore I wasn’t going to buy crap at Bed Bath and Beyond (I don’t think we have, yet!). I was going to make our own art.

But here’s the thing: I suck at art. I am a perfectionist. It is possible that getting a Thank You card in the mail from me will take months because I’m trying to choose the right words. And have a good handwriting day. It’s true. Things I paint have a great idea, but the execution, not so much.

SO THANK YOU JB! JB painted two pieces of art for us that are going to be a part of our house, and our story forever! You remember that JB is freaking artsy, I told you about her soaps here. So she was willing after skiing like an awesome lady to paint me a painting that I mentioned that I liked, and a monogram I tried and sucked at.

How lucky am I? The first painting will go in our living room over the arch (of course first we have to tear down some wood) and you’ll see it when you first walk in! And how cool is the monogram? It matches our bedding! It’ll get a big black frame and hang in the master bedroom. I am so blessed!

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Paint It White

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Maybe the funniest thing about painting the fireplace was MK’s Dad. Not that I fell over a bunch, not the bruises, not the empty wine cellar. Almost the three trips to the store for more primer. But no.

MK often calls his Daddy to fill him in on the hard work we’re doing. And to ask him the right way to do it. Or redo it. He mentioned that we decided to paint the fireplace. Remember when I asked what was worse than yucky brick? I answered smelly wet brick. MK’s Daddy answered “PAINTED BRICK”.

Thank goodness he doesn’t have to live here, right?

So three coats of primer later, the fireplace is white. And the walls are white. And the room is empty. So it’s a giant empty white basement.

We have plans, eventually it’ll look swanky and loungy like this:

But for now, we have nothing.

My ideas are to put huge vase/candle holders that go straight up the sides of the fireplace, and mount a cover over the mantle, either a slab of granite or a hunk of wood. With a streamlined modern insert, we’re hoping Daddy-in-law won’t see it as just a brick fireplace.

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Side Tracked

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Nothing is better than my company! It has been too far and in between this year. We’ve talked to people that handle resort bookings and say it’s picked up this year from last year. I happily correct them and let them know we’ve never waited in line at our ski resort and our guest room has not been used nearly as much as I imagined.

Last year we had over 30 people come stay with us in under 6 months. This winter, less than 10. Maybe everyone knew the house was new and not as fancy as the rental, but I would think we could have hit maybe 20. Maybe they got the word we were having a weenie snow year.

Whatever the cause, MB and JB were probably our last ski guests this past weekend. I cried when they left, since they are the total awesomest, and since I knew I’d be back to house work. We skied The Canyons, had a girly shopping day while the boys did The Canyons again, then trekked out to my new favorite totally amazing place, Solitude.

We ate well, ran around town, and played some Wii. SB came over and beat us all, of course. I love a full house. I love having company. I don’t even know if I’ve gotten any better at it after all these guests (80+ and I lost count after trying to add up Seattle, San Diego, and Park City…). I try to let my company lead, and I follow. You fall asleep, I do. You say you’re hungry, I cook. You say it’s gross, we get take out. I’m not too pushy, not too overwhelming. Your trip is as jam-packed or calm and slow as you’d like it to be.

Each time someone leaves, I get sad. I clean the bathroom, wash the sheets, notice how my best friends leave the place cleaner than they probably found it, and pour myself a glass of wine they brought me as a gift.

It makes me ready to work on the house again after a day or two. It has a ways to go, but remembering that I’m happy if my guests are happy, I’m willing to strive to make this place as cozy as it can be. For us and them.

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Lowe’s Isn’t PetSmart

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This might be a SLC thing – I’ve never spent so much time at Lowe’s and Home Depot as I have here. But seriously, people act like these stores are for dogs. I have seen more pets in HD than in an actual pet store.

Who thinks that’s a good idea? Where there are all kinds of dangerous objects I even almost walk in to? To bring your pets? Some people don’t even put them on a leash.

I like pets. I think patios are made for pets. You can bring your pet almost anywhere and I won’t mind. But I don’t see the logic of “I need tile. I’ll bring the dog.”

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Walls

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We know how to make them. MK did an amazing job finishing out a small three walled closet space in the master bath. I just did the corner beading and joints. I need a superstar badge.

We found this space behind a wall that we were investigating. The best part? A hole in the wall. Like, from the inside to the outside. At first I thought we had a peeping tom of some sort… but it was behind some insulation so I survived the initial shock of MK showing it to me.

It got closed up. Can you believe it?

We can now use the space for shelving and the old shelves can get torn down when we move the shower – giving us more room for a bigger shower! We also get to install a new fan and lights.

As a matter of fact, MK doing the walls took some time, and we’ve been living without a toilet in our master bath. We figured the walls could be done easier without the toilet in the way. So we get to put a toilet in now too! That one I’m a little nervous about.

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Beginning The Basement

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The last major unresolved  project (thing we hadn’t even started) just happens to be our entire basement. Other than the wine cellar, guest room, and bathroom, there is a giant open empty room on the lower level of my house. MK has taken the reins on this one. 

(Sidenote: If I didn’t mention it before, we picked rooms the way you pick a basketball team, I got living room, he picked basement, I picked guest room, he got his office, etc. It is hilarious, but so far a totally effective way of solving debates, until we start finishing out the basement, when it’s going to get ugly.) 

He sealed the trim and the windows and air vents and we cleaned the walls and the laundry room. We had to shut off the crappy fireplace and will have to get a new one. He FINALLY let me paint over the nasty maroon walls – since we couldn’t really agree on a final color we used three… One wall that is actually IN the basement living room is white now to match the rest of the basement, no idea why it WAS ever red. The hallway we used leftover grey, it may be temporary, but I like it. I made the upper half of the hallway match the kitchen since we had the paint, why not? We pulled down some wood that might have hung doors at one point and I painted the entryway to the basement living room and the hand rails, which were just plain wood before: 

Better than Maroon!

 Then I drew the short straw or whatever and while he was working on the master bath I had to paint the ceiling. Twice. And that’s only primer, I’ll have to do another coat of paint. The fireplace had made the ceiling really dingy, and with snow covering the windows we need to brighten the basement up! 

It was super painful, my neck still aches, and yesterday I skied with bruised shins, seeing as I kept knocking my legs in to the stupid ladder. I’m a hot mess right now, totally. But I did it, so I rule. 

Beats sooty brown!

 That’s the ceiling. What is that brick? The fireplace! Gross, right? Have you seen the WHOLE thing? Super gross! 

Painting = cheaper than tearing down.

 Today, while he’s out skiing in awesome snow, I’ve been put to another nasty task: 

washing the brick to prime and paint it. 

In case you never knew, DIRTY BRICK IS GROSS. The only thing grosser is THE SMELL OF WET BRICK. Today is not making the top of my why I love living here list.

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One Room Done

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It’s official: We have one room 100% completed to the point we have no plans for it, it’s finished. We painted and hung a curtain to hide the water softener, and transformed our under-stairs storage in to a wine cellar. It was a large project that involved hanging drywall and sealing leaks that were letting cold air in from under the house.

MB and JB gave us a lovely wine cooler as a house warming gift, and it fits perfectly. I’d show you a picture, but can’t on the grounds I may incriminate myself…

Yay!

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Two New Things

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My new living room art that is not quite big enough to cover the wood on the wall we need to tear down, but at least makes it less conspicuous from the street:

Seriously, we drove by our own house at night with the windows open and lights on and freaked out. All people see is that wood!

So, a little trump l’oeil with the mirrors and ta-da! 8% less painful for others. Still mostly painful for me. Our company keeps saying it’s ‘ski lodge-y’ and they like it, then I say we’re tearing it down, and you can see the breath of relief they emit.

Then my office got a new bed! It’s an uber comfy couch bed that folds a bunch of different ways, from Costco. Getting that thing in this house was a riot, up the snowy stairs just the two of us after I drove it home in BB’s monster truck. Yikes! It’s staying in the house forever even if we don’t.