Christmas Light Contest

So I haven't really had a chance to show off my neighborhood. For some reason people around here either don't put up lights (which I'm fine with), or they put them up and do a really sloppy job (which I find offensive). We thought it would be fun on Christmas Eve to go around and document just a mere sampling of what the hood has to offer. We did not have to travel far.

The honorable mentions:

It looks like Halloween, not Christmas.

Hmm. Not that bad. Just a little lazy.

A plus for the light placement. D- for the creepy santa.

And the winners are:

3rd place!

2nd place! Love the single string of lights connecting the tree to the house.

And the Grand Prize of all time goes to. . . . .

Really? Yep, really.


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Replacing a Window

Not only replacing. . .cutting the house open so we can have it in a different place! Here's the pics:

the kitchen is going to be L-shaped which means we would be installing the cabinets over the window that is there now. I did not like that idea. I'm also not one to let a window keep me from designing the kitchen I want.

this is the new window. I got it at the re-store for 10 dollars. It is vinyl, but the most exciting part is that it is double-paned. The likes of which my house has never seen.

first, we had to tear the plaster down. This is a really messy, dusty job. We wear masks but I still worry about it.

then jeff framed in where the new window will go.

then we removed the old window

and put in the new window!

ta-da!

It's kind of an anniversary

of the day I put a bid in for my house one year ago. And then three and a half months later it was mine. (but mostly the bank's).

and then I was like "oh no, the responsibility is crushing my spirit!"

but then I was like "now I don't have to move every 6 months. Yay!"

I love you, dirty old house!

A bit of progress....

...nothing too productive though, don't worry. Here are a few more pictures. We finished framing in the new kitchen opening.

Kitchen Demo Take 1

Last week Jeff began tearing the kitchen apart. I can't really do anything because I'm too busy studying. I mainly sit on the couch studying and Jeff gets down to business with the occasional outcry of frustration. Well, we'll just call it an "outcry".

This is the before picture.

I was really excited to see how much this opens up my house. Because really, why did the kitchen have a door again? Next we have to move water, gas, and electric lines. I'm also hoping to have no part in that! Did I mention that I'm mainly the designer?

Where did the summer go??

Update:

I'm sorry, what can I say? I've been really busy having a great summer/start of school year so not much has been happening on the house front. I really have been preparing for the kitchen remodel, though, there is just nothing to show yet. I have purchased all of my appliances (used) and did it for $1000 even. How did I do it, you wonder? With the help of my favorite classifieds, KSL.com. Craiglist has been dethroned.

My dishwasher is quite beautiful! Who cares if I have no idea if it works! I also went to IKEA to pick out cabinets, etc., and I think I am going to save a lot of money there as well. They would like to charge me $80 for one cabinet door, all because I really want the glossy red. But that is unacceptable to me - so I'm going to buy the cheap white doors and wrap them with a glossy red vinyl courtesy of Jeff's place of employment. And we will see how that turns out.

I'm all about finding alternatives if the quality doesn't suffer. With Ikea, the quality is usually already suffering so I have nothing to lose! See you soon!

Bathroom - so close!

Here is the most updated picture of the bathroom. There are just the small things left. It's so hard to work on when the weather is nice! But I'm anxious to finish so I can start my kitchen...

took this pic with a fish eye lens so you can almost see the whole thing.
i just realized that the color of my bathroom is exactly the color of this blog