twenty four twenty one

the story of the mysterious puddle

2011-11-20T18:19:00.029-06:00

it all started back in september: the puddle.

but where were the drops coming from? after investigating each unit one floor at a time, we made it up to the top floor. BINGO. water leaking under their sink. problem solved.

a few weeks went by with no more puddles (the top floor neighbors had agreed not to use their sink until a plumber came out to fix it). but then...it started again. and this time those tiny splashes of water had turned into constant drops, filling up the buckets underneath. we held an association meeting and decided serious action was needed. plumbers came out to investigate, as well as mold abatement specialists, and it turned out we not only had a leak, but mold as well. bummer.

in the meantime, a tiny hole was cut in my ceiling so the water could drain through and not continue pooling up and billowing out. by now it was a few days before the end of october. about a month and a half of water dripping into my dining room.

then one day i came home to this giant contraption, which i named: the monster.

apparently the leak had been fixed, which meant the mold abatement team could start their magic. they cut a hole in my ceiling, confined the space, and attached a special fan through the only exit so that the mold spores would be captured. ps: that fan was incredibly loud.

but unfortunately in the next few days i noticed water still dripping (and by dripping i mean there was more water pooled up in my dining room than ever before) from outside the monster. see the two buckets i set out? yep. another leak (or two) had sprung.

so the next day the mold abatement crew and the plumber were back. they doubled the size of the hole in my ceiling -- therefore doubling the size of the monster -- which was now taking up the majority of my dining room. you can see the section of plumbing that was repaired, the wood surrounding it was painted over with a special white paint.

fast forward almost another month when the mold was officially proclaimed obsolete, and i finally got to say goodbye to the monster...and hello to a completely useless dining room, taped off in plastic (note: this was not the first time this room has been plastic'ed off).

now it was the carpenter's turn. his task: repair the ceiling.

so far the carpenter's been at my house for six straight days, and i think the end is finally in site.

what's left? once the ceiling is ready, the carpenter will repaint the ceiling. then we'll hire a painter to re-texture the ceiling and then the carpenter will be back to repaint (both the ceiling and part of the teal wall). and then hopefully i'll have my dining room back.

unfortunately i've been told that won't be until quite a while after the turkey day holiday is over...

it's raining pots & pans

2011-11-19T22:51:00.001-06:00

it was a long time coming, but we finally installed my hanging pots & pans rack...making my kitchen one step closer to completion!

as you know, i bought the rack from ikea at least a year ago (probably closer to two), and once the hanging cabinets were put it, it was time for the hanging rack. i also bought a pendant light -- that matches the lights above my bar -- to hang through the rack. dad hasn't figured out how to hook up the electrical part yet, so that will have to wait.

fridgy cabinets

2011-08-30T21:53:00.042-05:00

finally the day arrived when dad and matthew came over to install my new cabinets. well, kinda new. if you remember back to when i moved in and found a wall of well-constructed, solid cabinets. we disassembled them and dad ended up using them to create new cabinets from parts of the originals.

this summer i painted them in my parent's garage, and there they've been until now.

now this side of my kitchen is almost complete, the nub is installed, and next up is the hanging pot rack and then hooking up the water in my fridge dispenser.

unflooring the floor

2011-07-02T20:39:00.004-05:00

so as you read in my previous post about the check valve, we finally figured out the problem with my plumbing! however, in order to do this we had to pull up my hardwood floors. and because they were installed tongue & groove, we had to remove entire strips of them (and hope not to break too many since we were having absolutely no luck finding matching hardwood -- originally i bought them from building materials outlet). such a hassle.

dad came up with the brilliant idea of labeling each plank as we took it out, so that it would be easier to put them all back in again.

we had to literally remove half of my floor. see all those rows with boards removed? yep, we had to take out those entire rows.

and then of course we had to put it all back in. we repainted with more killz odor hiding paint, wait for it to dry, then re-measure, re-snap the chalk lines, lay the mat, re-snap the chalk lines on the mat, lay the hardwood and secure it in. it took a few days.

thank goodness we labeled all the planks, made it go much much faster. my dad is a genius :)

painting cabinets

2011-06-26T20:26:00.008-05:00

the cabinets dad built. just waiting to be painted by me. once they're done they will live above my nub/fridge area. i can't wait for more storage so i can get my pots & pans off the floor of my pantry closet!

i painted them with a high-gloss white with a roller so they would be super shiny and easy to clean. dad's idea.

the finished cabinets and doors, hangin out in the garage, drying.

check your check valves

2011-06-11T21:07:00.010-05:00

as most of you know, i have had major plumbing issues for a few years now. and after much research, talking with expert plumbers (even having a few of them at my place), plus snaking my drains more times than i can even remember, we finally figured it out!

dad finally resorted to renting a video camera sewer snake so we could see what was going on down there (i apologize in advance for my lack of technical lingo).

basically, there is this section of pipe called the check valve, there in case the sewer backs up and starts coming back into the pipes. if that ever happens, this backflow valve will stop it from making its way into my place. the valve has two parts, and the back part (a rubber, circular piece) had somehow detached itself from the front piece. long story short, it was too big to get through the rest of the pipe, so it would just sit there, clogging up the drains!

once we figured that out, we had to tear up my floor and try to figure out where exactly that section of pipe was. then it was a simple walk down to ace hardware, buy the new parts, and put it together. i wish we could have figured this out a few years ago! it would have saved a lot of headaches, but better late than never!

breakfast bar

2011-05-01T10:23:00.003-05:00

because there's no formal dining room table, i decided i wanted another seating area to eat at besides the bar. so i invented "the nub." it's basically a breakfast nook, an extra countertop in the kitchen for help with cooking, a place to set my laptop while i look up recipes, or a place to read the newspaper (star tribune of course!) while i eat breakfast.

although it wasn't our original plan, dad and i took a stroll through ikea to spark ideas for the nub. what we could make it out of, what color it should be, etc.

we were originally hoping to find a similar counter-top as my main bar, a rectangular, dark wood counter-top that dad would then round off one side. but as luck would have it, we came across this half rounded, half straight-edged white counter-top. it was exactly the length we needed, and only off in width by 3 inches!

of course dad still had to create the bottom cupboard and paint it white to match. but soon enough, he installed it!

luckily when i bought my adjustable-height bar chairs, i bought six. i had the other two stored at my parent's. dad brought them over, and voila, perfect height for the nub! i absolutely love how it turned out, and i love the extra counter and seating space in my condo.

next up is the upper cabinets to frame in the fridge and the hanging pot rack (also from ikea) to hang over the end of the nub...and maybe a pendant light to hang above the rounded end of the nub.

17" is the new 60"

2011-03-05T18:55:00.006-06:00

i know what you're thinking..."why are those monitors so tiny?!"

well, when i got them, freshman year of college, they were the best you could buy! years later, after sitting almost unused, i decided to finally set up my computer desk in my dining room. i figured i could use it as a fake tv to watch movies from on my futon.

uptown style art

2011-02-13T18:44:00.025-06:00

for christmas this year santa bought me a completely one-of-a-kind piece of art...an illustrated version of uptown. and to make mine 100% unique, an "S Girard Ave" street sign was added to the bottom center of it. i love it so much, my parents...err...santa...did an awesome job at choosing a gift! it's from the uptown art fair, which i went to with them last summer. i fell in love with the print instantly, and must have made it obvious enough for them to notice :)

even though christmas was months ago, i finally got it hung over my exposed-brick wall. i plan on filling the wall with artwork, but for now i just have this print and a watercolor flower painting my grandpa painted years ago.

after green comes red

2010-12-18T19:05:00.021-06:00

just another update on the little jalapeno plant. even though it's winter, the lil fella is still chuggin away. in just over a month, he went from a fresh new green from bright red!

so now i have succeeded in growing tomatoes, jalapenos, parsley, oregano, cilantro and chives. if only they would have all been around at the same time so i can finally make some homemade salsa! maybe this next summer. only time will tell.

keep your quarters

2010-11-27T22:36:00.007-06:00

say goodbye to my old washer that didn't even work. well, i take that back, it did work if you stood right next to it and opened and shut the top every 30 seconds. literally. and even then who knows if the entire washing cycle would have EVER been completed.

and say hello to my new washer, delivered by the nice home depot delivery dudes today. unfortunately i can't try it out because of the ongoing plumbing issues in my condo (like..umm...hmmm...maybe the fact that my place flooded yesterday). oh well, maybe some day...

tinseltime

2010-11-26T22:18:00.002-06:00

not only is black friday a time for before-the-dawn crazed shopping, but it is also the day i am officially allowed to decorate for christmas.

now, i don't have many christmas decorations yet, but i do have a few boxes of ornaments and decor to spruce up my house for the holidays. plus, i already have up paper snowflakes, so i'd say my house is pretty festive -- and that makes me happy.

a vanity once and for all

2010-11-22T21:41:00.012-06:00

once upon a time a young girl and her father drove out to building materials outlet in eagan to pick out a sink top and unfinished vanity cabinet.

days turned to months as the girl waited for her new vanity, the last of the original cat-scented items in her home. but first her father had to rebuild the cabinet to fit between her shower and closet. plus, she had to buy the hardware: faucet, door handles, hinges from menards...

then one day, over a year later, her father showed up at her door with the newly remodeled vanity. painted a simple white, sink off to the side, and fitted with blackened bronzed hardware. a drastically new look, but the girl loves it.

on a side note: i also bought matching hardware (the black with bronzed edges) for all my interior door handles, plus other bathroom items such as a toilet paper holder and towel rack.

where's the rainbow?

2010-11-19T22:43:00.028-06:00

so i'm in my bedroom getting ready for work when i notice an odd reflection near the wall.

standing water.

the fridge must be leaking! i remember back to last night when i had too many lights and electronics on and ended up blowing a few breakers. the freezer must not have turned back on and leaked the ice (which turned into water) out onto the floor...

nope.

i run into my kitchen only to see that is definitely not the case. my entire pantry is flooded, along with the hallway to my back door, which then leads through to my bedroom. i open my door to find even deeper water covering the back section of my condo, and it seems to be coming from my laundry room.

sure enough, the floor drain is completely filled with about a half foot of water, and it has spilled from there, through the walls into my kitchen, then through the walkway and into my bedroom. my floor drain in my bathroom closet was also completely flooded, but luckily nothing flooded too far in there.

not exactly how i want to use my work vacation hours...

hello big screen tv

2010-11-18T22:25:00.002-06:00

not too much of an update, except it's time to say goodbye to my old huge tv, and hello to a much slimmer and lighter 42" flat screen from chadley.

a snowflake blizzard

2010-11-14T21:02:00.010-06:00

a perfect project while watching a movie on a chilly night...paper snowflakes. and because it's a "winter" craft versus a "christmas" craft, i can actually leave them up until spring, instead of a month!

luckily for me, my overly drafty windows and doors keep the snowflakes spinning in the breeze.

a tiny seedling

2010-11-02T22:40:00.000-05:00

it's been almost an entire year now since my dream of having my own garden came to be...

it all started with a little windowsill garden; comprised of oregano, parsley, chives and cilantro. next i bought a few succulent plants from ikea. then i planted a few more seedlings from the home depot, and before i knew it, summer was here. i moved the lil fellas outside, hoping to be able to use them for salsa with my hanging topsy turvy tomato plant.

and all along my jalapenos have been just stems and leaves. but look what just sprouted...a tiny jalapeno! and there are more budding!

pumpkins in the window

2010-10-31T23:41:00.001-05:00

i know these pumpkins aren't anything to write home about...but if you know me, these are pretty extravagant. the past few years i have either skipped carving pumpkins all-together, or drawn a smiley face on them with permanent marker. so i was extremely proud of myself for making my pumpkins and showing them off in my windows for all to see (and by "all" i mean, those few people who walk on the sidewalk by my place).

i even made a batch of perfectly crunchy, deliciously salty pumpkin seeds! yum yum :)

the white door

2010-10-19T20:21:00.016-05:00

among many other projects that dad is working on, he somehow found the time to come over and put up the door to my hallway closet. as you probably know, i am trying to keep a few themes running throughout my condo: white trim along along all the floors, and white interior doors.

now all i need is door handles.

clink clink clink

2010-10-05T19:33:00.001-05:00

i ordered two under-cabinet hanging wine glass racks from amazon and happily they arrived in one piece. each rack holds 12 glasses. i installed it right above my sink. perfect :)

tamatoe tuhmato

2010-08-21T19:31:00.000-05:00

the day finally arrived when my tomatoes ripened and were red enough to eat. now, since i don't really like tomatoes, some people might think it's weird that i even attempted growing them. but here's proof i actually ate them! raw with some salt & pepper.

unfortunately i didn't get to make salsa with my veggie garden (which was the reason i bought the topsy turvy in the first place), because over the course of the summer i only grew about 5 tomatoes. that's probably because I started so late in the season, i'll have to start earlier next spring...

vanity in the making

2010-08-18T20:53:00.000-05:00

remember back to last november when me and dad stopped over at building materials outlet over in eagan? well, we picked up a vanity base and sink top. the only problem was, the two pieces were different sizes. what does that mean? not much to me, but for dad it meant a lot more work: removing the doors, cutting it down, reassembling it in its new size with new hardware, and painting it.

unfortunately my vanity wasn't at the top of dad's priority list, and the two pieces got stashed away at the other house (aka: crappy house, for those who know what i'm talking about). but a few weeks ago as i walked into the garage at my parent's house, what did i see? my vanity! dad had finished the main construction!

now i just need to get over to menards or home depot to find some cabinet hardware and a faucet and we should be good to go at getting it installed at my place.

a peak inside

2010-08-08T12:12:00.000-05:00

most everyone who visits me has said the same thing: "what's with the paper hanging in your door?" well, we'll get to that in a sec.

here's the back story:

august 2009. summer. it was my first night staying here, and although it was under-construction, i was excited to finally sleep at my own place. i locked my bike to the fence right outside my door, ready to bike to work the next day. but as i opened my door on that raining morning, the bike was gone, and in it's place, the broken lock lay in two pieces on the ground.

i felt a little uneasy, someone had been footsteps from my door. maybe they tried the door handle -- just for fun -- to see if it was left unlocked. my mind was filled with imagery of what had happened the night before. even if it had been a somewhat innocent crime of uptown late-night carousing by excited bar-goers after last call, i couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been peeping through my windows, looking to see if there was anything worth breaking and entering for.

so i ripped a piece of lined notebook paper in half and hastily secured it over my window opening in the door with masking tape. phew! now no one would be able to peak in whenever they felt.

i finally decided that little piece of paper needed to be replaced. i grabbed the leftover fabric rachael had given me along with her circle wall art frames (currently hanging my dining room) and picked out a pattern with tiny flowers. i made it four sheets thick -- so it's not completely opaque, but also not thin enough to be see-through.

i also decided that since the fabric was so thin, it would need to be weighted down at the bottom (so the wind from my fans wouldn't constantly blow it about).

my solution? i sewed a little tunnel (i apologize for not at all knowing the proper sewing terms) just large enough to hold a thin magic marker. but one wasn't heavy enough, so i added another "tunnel" for another marker to hide, to help weigh my fabric curtain down.

next i sewed two small one-sided pieces of velcro near the top of the fabric, on the backside of course. then cut equal lengths of velcro to stick to each, and secured each of those with a 3M command strip to attach to my door.

and voila! my new door window covering. definitely a step up from the lined notebook paper and masking tape...

fried green tomatoes

2010-08-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

just a little update on my hanging topsy turvy tomato garden. there are a handful of little green tomatoes growing among the leaves, and i am patiently waiting for them to turn red. well, not so patiently...does red come after green? i hope so.

the last of the speckling

2010-08-01T15:07:00.000-05:00

like the tiny elves who fixed the shoemaker's shoes in the middle of the night, my dad and brother surprised me by starting AND finishing my ceiling while i was at work on friday.

the actual spray texturing process only took about 20 minutes, but a few hours of setup and teardown made it a much longer project. just like when we spray textured the living room ceiling last year, they first had to cover the entire place with plastic, then mix the putty, and then spray. they did the dining room and the kitchen, so now my entire place has been (as matthew calls it) stuccoed!

the next step is to paint and glitter it.

tipsy on twinkly wine bottles

2010-07-29T07:44:00.002-05:00

i'm back into the whole decorating kick again. (i think my whale coffee table gave me the push i needed to feel creative and inspired)

my next project: wine bottle christmas lights. i thought it'd be really cute to hang them on my railing along the stairs that lead down to my door. something like this:

materials:

empty wine bottles (with the labels peeled off)
strings of christmas lights (i'm planning on using the tiny white ones)
something to secure the bottles to the railing (copper wire wrapped around the neck?)

here's a tutorial i found from eHow: how to make night lights using wine bottles
and another from Wit & Wistle: http://witandwhistle.com/?p=1041

i know it's not as discreet to bring empty wine bottles over, but if anyone happens to have some laying around, i would be glad to take them off your hands :)

the tale of the fail whale

2010-07-25T14:11:00.000-05:00

it all started last summer when i bought a cheap $7.99 coffee table from savers and made a plea to anyone who drinks bottled beverages to save their caps. for months i would randomly received a zip lock baggy from a weekend party one day, or two forgotten caps from someone's jeans pocket another.

then one thunderstormy night i sat down in front of all my stacks of organized bottle caps and decided to go at it. i was going to first sketch it out and then lay out rough borders with the caps, but instead i just did it. and here's the final product.

note: i still need to replace some of the bottle caps around the whale so they are all darker colors since those seem to look the best.

PS: i have to give a shout out to jennifer of new home economics for suggesting the twitter fail whale idea!

salsa on a ledge

2010-07-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

my little herb garden has been through a lot in its day. if you remember back to the beginning of this year, i planted the tiny seeds in the windowsill of my dining room. weeks went by, and even though a few didn't make it, the surviving plants gave me the confidence to plant a few more varieties. right now my jalapenos, parsley, and oregano are growing strong!

now i just need my tomatoes to ripen and homemade salsa here i come!

a breath of fresh air

2010-07-17T18:57:00.000-05:00

it's been pretty miserable trying to get a good night's sleep in such a hot muggy bedroom, so i finally gave in and decided an air conditioner had turned from luxury to necessity. we picked up a soleus air 12,000 btu unit, complete with a remote so I can control it from my bed. how lazy am i?

anyways, turns out my window doesn't open...so dad had to go at it from the exterior of the building. he took the window off completely, cut a board to fit the empty space, cut out a square from that board to fit the air conditioner through, put it all back together, bolted it in place, plugged it in, and that was that. easier said than done of course (thanks for all your work on such an incredibly hot humid day dad! i know it was a lot more work than that).

it's been a week now and i can honestly say i am loving the latest addition to my condo. not only can i sleep straight through the night, but i have a new-found appreciation for hearing little birdies chirping in the morning (there's still a sliver of open air around the unit that dad has to caulk up) and rain drops pitter-pattering on the air conditioner. it's oddly comforting.

i spy a bottlecap

2010-07-16T07:09:00.000-05:00

first of all i'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who drinks bottled beverages and is nice enough to pocket the caps and donate them to me, you guys rock! (and now you have proof your donations have not been in vein)

alright, so if you remember back to last summer, i bought a cheap $7.99 coffee table from savers with the intention of collecting enough caps of various colors to create a cool design for the tabletop. and this past weekend i decided i finally had enough to get started on my diy table. an hour or so later, i finished stacking all the caps by brand...there were roughly 1,029 bottle caps.

any ideas for a design? i've been kickin around the thought of making a design of the twitter fail whale. for now im going to use my blue wicker table with the glass top so i can change the design whenever my mood changes. kind of like an etch-a-sketch for furniture...

a hanging garden

2010-07-12T19:02:00.000-05:00

i've had a topsy turvy sitting quietly in it's box since winter, and six months later i finally got around to purchasing the remaining ingredients: a few small tomato plants, a giant bag of soil, a few hours of my mom's time, and a cleverly chosen rainy afternoon.

word to the wise: don't try to plant anything that you have to awkwardly hold multiple feet above the floor while simultaneously pouring in soil while carefully keeping the tomato plants unharmed and above the floor so they don't get crushed, all while in your bedroom.

but no matter how my hanging garden began, one month later it's alive and kickin. tiny yellow blossoms are flowering (which i hope is a good sign...?) and i've been watering it religiously, praying for the day that i wake up to a baby tomato...that will one day make delicious salsa.

speaking of, does anyone know any good homemade salsa recipes?

the secret of happiness

2010-07-11T18:51:00.003-05:00

turns out certain people are worried that naming my dining room the opium den might hurt my reputation. well how about the poppyseed lounge? hmm, this might take some time, so as i ponder more socially acceptable titles to help you understand my vision, here are some photos from last weekend's project. what do you think?

here's a little background on my inspiration for this room: those who know me can understand why i ended up choosing a different (but equally vibrant) color for each of my four walls. as seen in my daily wardrobe, i am intrigued by mixing together as many patterns and colors as i possibly can. and now that i have my own place, it's starting to show through in my home decor as well.

the circular wall hangings shown above were a diy birthday gift from my lovely baby sis and i am so happy i finally got them up on the walls. i decided to have them hanging down from the ceiling, so i secured a string of hemp across the entire middle wall, and then hung each fabric circle down from there at different heights. i didn't plan it out in advance, and should have probably thought about their placements, measured, and used a transparent thread, but i was impatient and just wanted to get them up.

PS: for those of you still worried about the negative connotations of the term opium den, here's what a little google searching uncovered to prove that the word can be used to describe a design style:

a peek into the home of olga naiman via design*sponge
a post from the BBC's design inspiration section
an LA spot, the figueroa hotel
and of course, the one and only kitty cat klub in dinkytonwn

and i leave you with a quote (also found on my google search), which inspired the title of this post.

"i took it, and in an hour...an abyss of divine enjoyment suddenly revealed...here was the secret of happiness...at once discovered." -- thomas de quincey.

the philosophy behind paint color

2010-07-10T19:09:00.001-05:00

now i know that most people spend hours, days, months even when choosing their paint colors. they go to the store, grab swatches, use online color planners, paint test patches, investigate under different lighting, and repeat until they think they are happy with what the outcome will be.

not me. my philosophy is to go for it, and if it doesn't work, just repaint it. actually that's a total lie, my real philosophy is that i have no patience and im never going to get around to repainting. so whatever i decide upon is going to be there for the long haul. i didn't even decide where each color would go until in my dining room until we were already painting.

i guess i just depend on my designer instincts and tune out what everyone else says,* since all along people have been skeptical of my decisions (until they see the final product of course). case in point:

so without furth ado, here are my four wall colors:

very berry by glidden. for my largest wall i chose a really deep fuchsia hue. it might be dark, but i like it. and who says your rooms need to be light anyways? i want it to feel more of a lounge than a room anyways.

pink salmon by glidden. the name says it all, and as you know, this color has been up for a while, today we just went over it with a second coat. i originally ordered it as a sample and ended up keeping it after my dad surprised me by painting my bedroom-side wall one day while i was at work.

realm by behr. this is a rich turquoise blue. i decided to paint it on my bathroom-side wall as a gateway into the tranquility of my bathroom. even though it is probably last on my to-do list, i anticipate it being very serene and ocean inspired, so i thought this color would help set the mood.

home song by behr. if you've been a fan of my blog since the very beginning, you might remember back to my first paint task, the living room. i chose a very muted, pale green to compliment my dark hardwood floors. so we used more of that to finish off the walls flowing from the two rooms.

check out how it looks finished.

*and yes mom, i know you have always been very supportive of my choices

a perfect fit

2010-07-05T19:44:00.006-05:00

once again my family proved how much they love me.

bright and early the day after the fourth of july (on our day off) they showed up at my door at 10am, paintbrushes in hand. and despite the humidity and the fact that i have no AC, they powered through it all: putty, sanding, taping, priming, and painting.

along the way we discovered there actually is a reason i dealt with all the short comments throughout my lifetime: i fit perfectly into the window, my ponytail just barely brushing against the top of the window frame. matthew didn't fit quite as well.

by 2pm i had four finished dining room walls, in four different colors. (well, we still need to paint a second coat...but that can wait) and now i can officially introduce you to my india-inspired opium den dining room.

up next: creating a wall-length wooden storage bench, scattered with silk throw pillows of all colors and patterns.

my windowsill garden

2010-06-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

i ordered some herbies online in january...

...then i wished them luck as i buried them in soil. hoping they would grow big and tall...

a week or so later, they were already beginning to sprout :)

and here they are today! i've already had to re-pot a few of them. and of course some of their plant friends from ikea and home depot have joined them too.

two new places to hide things away

2009-12-03T22:22:00.006-06:00

tonight dad finished up the shelving in my two main closets! now i just need some doors to hide all my junk ;)

and as you can see, dad's already moved in!

the pink room surprise

2009-11-24T18:57:00.030-06:00

i've had a small quart-sized sample of "pink salmon" from glidden laying around for a while now. i'd been planning on painting at least one (if not more) walls of my dining room a pinky color, but wasn't completely sure what i wanted to do.

then today i came home...and bam. there it was. a pink wall. i guess dad got antsy and decided it was now or never.

any ideas for what i should do with the other walls?

mirror, mirror on the wall

2009-11-22T17:42:00.003-06:00

i went on a little shopping spree this weekend, and this mirror is one of the things i picked up along the way.

inside the plastic fort

2009-11-18T21:39:00.007-06:00

whenever my dad sets off to do work -- whether around the house, at crappy house (our other extreme makeover house), or my place -- he simply says with a smile "well, i'm off to play!" and heads out. i'm so glad he loves it.

anyways, tonight he was over working on my two main closets. first we hung plastic from the ceiling to protect the rest of my place from suffocating beneath a layer of dust. then he started sanding and puttying away behind the plastic sheets...

hey, at least he got to play in a fort ;)

walk with me, talk with me

2009-11-10T21:18:00.009-06:00

here's a little walkthrough of my condo so far...

let there be light

2009-11-07T21:30:00.006-06:00

the other day i picked out some pendant lights from ikea. but apparently they only sell plug-in pendant lighting (see above). what?!

but it didn't matter, because my amazing boyfriend turned to me and said he would hook it all up. so i bought two simple looking pendants and then went over to the home depot for two canopy kits.

finally chad had time to come over and do a little free labor :)

and after about an hour or so of work...VOILA! my bar lights are up and shining bright!

sink + vanity = happy girl

2009-11-05T23:43:00.002-06:00

most of you probably know that there was a crazy cat lady living here before me...which meant that the place had a somewhat distinct odor, if you know what i mean. luckily we've already replaced nearly everything reminiscent of her (floors, walls, ceilings, closets...) but there is just one thing left. my bathroom vanity.

so tonight me and dad drove over to building materials outlet and picked out a 48" vanity and a 43" sink top. wait. 48" and 43"? that doesn't sound right. well, that's because i have only 42" to work with between the wall and the shower. and apparently 42" is not standard (unless you want a really short vanity...) it's either 36" or 48". im sure i just lost everyone there.

anyways, after exhausting all ideas of what we could possibly do (like buying a 36" and a 12" tall cabinet and putting them side-by-side) we finally decided on buying the bigger one. now dad will have to cut it down, make two new -- slightly larger -- doors, and reassemble the whole piece.

have faith, it will all come together somehow. my dad is nothing less than amazing. and plus, then i can actually use my vanity for storage. what a novel idea!

birds on a wire

2009-10-12T20:37:00.005-05:00

i found this cute birdies coat rack today at marshalls and just HAD to get it. plus, it matches the wrought-iron wicker magazine rack i bought a while ago!

if only i had "clap on" lights

2009-09-30T19:28:00.007-05:00

today dad came over and worked on my lights by my main door. we put on two switches: one controls the top outlet (that i have my lamp plugged into) and the other turns on and off the outdoor motion-sensor light

i'm so happy to have actual light switches to flip on when i get home in the dark :)

bye bye open closets

2009-09-14T21:49:00.001-05:00

say goodbye to all the open inlets in the unfinished walls...because we are starting to sheetrock all three closets! so of course I had to take one final picture through the wall.

first dad put up the exterior walls...

then we measured inside the closets, fastened the sheetrock, and called it a night!

the real thing

2009-09-10T22:13:00.001-05:00

my chandelier arrived early, all in one piece, on the front steps. i was so excited that the next week seemed to take forever. but finally thursday came -- the day chad offered to come over and install it in my dining room.

during the week chad had picked up a converter because the chandelier is shipped from the UK. crazy right? i also bought some circular globe lights (i think the candelabra candle bulbs look creepy) and these spherical ones remind me of giant bubbles. plus, they make the light sparkle.

so after a few minor setbacks -- like the fact that appliances from overseas are opposite from ours, white is hot, instead of black -- chad successfully installed the light.

i love it! and it's even on a dimmer switch, how perfect is that! now i just need a dining room table...

gypsy chandelier

2009-09-03T07:29:00.005-05:00

i splurged.

i found this incredible, one-of-a-kind, gypsy chandelier at Urban Outfitters and i just couldn't get it out of my head. so after about two days of going back and forth whether or not i should buy it (and looking online for anything similar or diy), i was unsuccessful. so i bought it, and it's currently traveling through the US (SC, NC, OH and IN) and should get here by friday!

im planning on making my dining room somewhat eclectic. i already have a small bucket of this pinkish/salmony color for one of my walls, which i am thinking of texturing somehow. plus this colorful chandelier. any other ideas of how to make this room more funky?

like christmas morning

2009-08-23T14:04:00.001-05:00

i woke up way too early and was too excited to go back to sleep. it felt like christmas morning. i guess i'm just really excited to finally be moving in! i thought the day would never come.

anyways, mom had found some cute chairs in the jc penney catalog, with some special discounts that expire today. i was trying to buy them online, but the shipping would be insane (since i want six chairs), so me and dad just decided to drive on over to southdale and see what they had in stock.

sidenote: we were there by 9am, walked up to the doors, and were completely disappointed that the store didn't open until 10am. bummer. so we turn around and get back in the truck, and then i notice that other people are going in and out? me and dad look at each other, and then simultaneously get back out of the truck and head back in. long story short, it turns out since they have saturday 'door busters' they open early, but don't make any note of this on their signage.

i ended up buying six chairs, which are super cool because they have 360 degree swivel, and are adjustable height! now i can have matching chairs on both sides of my bar (the high top side, and the standard counter height side). perfect.

here they are [almost] all set up. thanks to matthew for assembling them so quickly!

bottle cap coffee table

2009-08-16T23:09:00.008-05:00

another great find at savers. this little coffee table has a great black base that should go with my living room decor. i wasn't impressed with the light wooden top (not in the picture), but that's ok since i plan to completely make it over anyways.

here's my vision: a bottle cap coffee table (see my progress here). and there's tons of inspiration on the web. for example:

i've begun collecting bottle caps, but it might take a while to get enough variety. so if anyone drinks a beverage with a fun bottle cap, send it my way!

and on the down side, if i mess it up, im only out a $7.99. man do i love savers.

dilly dally painting

2009-08-15T15:26:00.002-05:00

it had to be done. but i didn't want to do it. i finally forced myself to lay out the tarp, get out the paint and brushes, and get it done. no more cat-odored cabinets! hooray!

aussie fest reunion

2009-08-05T22:41:00.001-05:00

some pix from aussie fest reunion, held at my place. the festivities began with a Japan slideshow, narrated by mom. we took a break, played some games, ate some grub, and crowded into the living room for the second show of the day: the Australia slideshow, narrated by matthew.

some of the gang: rachael, ryan, kristina, matthew and adam.

the group of us 'kids' who survived the second slideshow. whew, what a long day, but it was a fun one!

the beginnings of the island bar

2009-07-27T22:01:00.004-05:00

today dad and matthew started my island bar that will straddle the living room and dining room step. the reason i wanted this was so that the island would be two-leveled depending on which side you sit on. the dining room side will be standing bar height, while the living room side of the island will sit at standard counter height. i ended up going to ikea and buying a table top and extendable legs.

so tonight they got started. first they had to draw out a template because the table will actually need a corner piece cut out of it so it will hug the beam.

on another note: don't ever buy contact paper from the dollar store. it was the worst $1 i have ever spent.

THAT took you three hours?

2009-07-21T21:44:00.001-05:00

since the parents are on vaca, me and matthew decided we could put up my bedroom fan (that chad scored me an awesome deal on from the HD). anyways, it looked pretty simple. but like everything that me and matthew attempt to do, it takes an insane amount longer than it should.

case in point: three hours later and this is as far as we got.

and we had to re-do most of it since the electrical wasn't hooked up right. bummer.

a few things

2009-07-19T18:35:00.001-05:00

i scored a few things this weekend...here's two of them (both from target).

painting with mickey mouse gloves

2009-07-15T23:36:00.003-05:00

matthew was nice enough to pick up a few bundles of trim for me, so tonight i decided to paint it. im planning on using the same trim for the entire place, and painting it all white for consistency.

so we set up the saw horses in the garage, and got started. we even used this cute mini-roller that worked perfectly. it was all going SO smoothly. too smoothly in fact. we had a system of moving the freshly painted pieces to the back and sliding the unfinished ones up. before we knew it, we had finished the entire bundle.

i brought all our supplies downstairs to the big sink to clean them up and that's where i noticed something slightly odd. when i took apart the mini roller, my hands immediately became covered in slimy paint...and it wasn't coming off as i washed the roller pad. i rubbed my hands in the water, and instead of rinsing them, the water turned them into what looked like mickey mouse gloved hands!

ooops! we must have used the oil-based primer instead of regular wall paint!

here's what happened: the paint can had already been opened, and was covered in paint so we couldnt read the label that said "oil-based primer." from now on we will double check what's in the can!

color ideas?

2009-07-12T23:18:00.005-05:00

im thinking of having some type of pinkish tropical coral or salmony color on my dining room and kitchen?) walls. since it will probably be a pretty dynamic bold color, i'm not sure if i want just one wall to be accented? or if i should do some type of other painting technique (like texture, stripes, etc)? or just be brave and paint all walls pink? i need help deciding!

ps: i photoshopped this picture...the walls are still white, but this is the general color family i am thinking of using. thoughts? love it? hate it?

just call us tom & huck

2009-07-12T22:25:00.006-05:00

around noon or so me and matthew headed over to the condo. we had finished taping down the flooring on friday, so our next project was to prime the walls. we had a little putty work to do, so matthew worked on that while i finished taping around the edges of the cabinets, etc. we also had to get the fridge and oven out of the way, which led to a little scare. matthew kind of dropped it, hard, and it stopped making noise. we were pretty worried, but i think it's working again. i hope.

we started painting — me with the lil brush and matthew with the roller — and we finished. phew. two rooms took longer than we expected, but i guess we were doing about half the condo! anyways, at least we're done...and i must say it looks 100% better than it did just a few hours ago.

indoors outdoors

2009-07-09T23:08:00.001-05:00

so i was at kohl's the other day shopping for fun decor — like accent rugs and scented candles — when i stumbled upon some vintage-inspired patio chairs. i thought to myself: "it's green. it's vintage-y. it has a giant button. i like it!" so i bought two.

and it helped that they were on sale too.

slowly but surely

2009-07-07T23:58:00.003-05:00

everytime i go to the condo lately i've been bringing a box or two of my belongings with me. i am slowly but surely moving in...and i finally get to use my dish set that mom bought me for my college graduation. they hadn't even been out of their original packaging yet! i didn't want to risk breaking or losing them with all my crazy roommates i've had over the years.

anyways, our main goal tonight was to get the bed put together — since this was one of the last "big" things that i would need help with. everything else i can pretty much work on at my own pace, without needing any boys or muscles.

garden state in my garden level

2009-07-05T19:02:00.001-05:00

i had bought a giant roll of vinyl laminate flooring from menards a while ago. it looks like a cobblestone path, and it's dark shades of gray. i can't imagine many people would use it in their dining room or kitchen area, but i have never wanted to do what everyone else does.

we went over to the condo for what was supposed to be "just an hour" according to dad. four hours later, we made our way home, feeling accomplished. we finished fitting the last strip of flooring in my dining room/kitchen area and used the seamer and double-sided tape on the four seams.

along the way matthew thought it would be funny if i made a shirt out of my flooring, and then take a picture of me standing there awkwardly, as seen in "garden state." this was my make-shift dress:

and this was matthew's version of the photo...looks more like a happy chalk line to me.

a fourth of july surprise

2009-07-04T16:42:00.001-05:00

while i was out relaxing in the sunshine— jet skiing, tubing, three-wheeling, playing lawn games, cheating at cards, and just enjoying a nice break from everything — at chad's cabin in darwin minnesota, home of the world's largest twine ball, guess where the rest of the fam was?

at my condo. working.

i had no idea they were planning on working until mom texted me with a picture of dad and matthew (i apologize for the low-quality photo) starting on my roll-out vinyl flooring (covering the entire kitchen and dining room). what a big project, and on a holiday?! thanks family, you're the best!

a calm cement lake shore

2009-07-03T14:52:00.008-05:00

by 10am we were already bringing the rest of our supplies into the living room. dad had already gotten everything set up for us: living room floor tarped over, cement mixing buckets ready, squeegee cut into slotted sections, etc.

a quick read-through of the directions, a final vacuum and we were ready to pour our 15 minutes self-leveling cement to cover the kitchen and dining room areas.

we had a whole system going: matthew would pour the cement into the pre-measured water bucket then stir it with a 1/2" power mixer for two minutes. then dad would pour a section of the floor, while i stirred it around with a custom squeegee dad made. it worked great!

it's looking so much better. and actually, it's a lot more reflective than i thought it would be. like a calm lake at the cabin.

all done! and it only took 45 minutes! wow. too bad we forgot to turn off those two lights...and the back door isn't even attached. hopefully we won't get any uninvited guests for a 4th of july party!

an unproductive day

2009-06-23T23:37:00.003-05:00

i don't know if today was actually unproductive or if it just felt like it since we have been going going going and now we're at a frustrating stand-still? either way, we spent a a few hours over there tonight, and didn't feel like we got anything accomplished.

the floor was too bumpy and uneven to sand down, or putty for that matter. and we couldn't even prime along the walls and ceilings too much because there was wallpaper in the way or damage that needed to be fixed first. grrr!

oh well, hopefully next time will go smoother.

scrub the floors cinderella & watch out for mice

2009-06-22T22:01:00.002-05:00

today me and dad worked through the hot hot heat scrubbing floors and vacuuming out the crevices of the entire dining room and kitchen.

now what are we going to do about that floor...we may have to pour self-leveling cement. that's gonna be a big project we weren't anticipating. bummer.

oh, and did i mention that when we went to take down the vent cover above the oven area, we got a special little surprise? dad grabs it to set on the floor, and on top is a nice little covering of mouse droppings. and what's behind it? a nice long chewed up hole in the sheetrock. doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy?

sit down and relax

2009-06-20T20:33:00.006-05:00

we went over first thing in the morning to work...and four hours later dad finally finished that last row of flooring. wow, what a pain! meanwhile, me and mom were painting the interiors and shelves of the kitchen cabinets.

i was so proud of myself for breaking down all the boxes the wooden planks came in and bundling them into a nice little stack. they sure are a lot lighter empty than filled with 325 square feet of wood!

finally...somewhere to sit down and rest. but not for long, back to work you two!

so then me and mom took off to go shopping for condo goodies. we went over to ikea to pick up materials for my island bar that will straddle the step between the living room and dining room. sidenote: the plan is that on the living room side the counter will be at normal table level, and on the dining room side it will be at bar height! anyways, i ended up choosing a simple black tabletop and extendable chrome legs (since the legs will be at different levels). it's a little more diy than i had intended, but it should be cool.

while me and mom were out shopping, dad and matthew finished the framework for the new squared-off closet areas. they also ripped out the last of the laminate floor (in the dining room and kitchen) and that's when matthew's allergies kicked in. cat stench. he started sneezing so constantly he actually had to leave and go outside.

all day long flooring

2009-06-19T18:51:00.005-05:00

i love my mom and dad! they headed over to the condo this morning to put in the living room flooring while i was at work. by lunchtime, they had only gotten four rows in (it was taking much longer than expected). by early afternoon my brother showed up to help. that really sped up the process.

after work i biked over, and they had completed all but the last row (by the brick wall). it was hot (no AC) and they were exhausted, so we headed home pretty quick, ready to finish the last row tomorrow morning.

by the way, it's looking amazing! thank you family!

snapping the chalk line

2009-06-18T22:37:00.004-05:00

more than a week since i've been to the condo. it felt like forever! but my dad has been there working (on stuff i'm not strong enough to help him with). i guess i'll have to start lifting soup cans and eating spinach.

none the less, it felt good to be back today. that same familiar cat smell in the air. at least the living room and bedroom are smelling fresh and clean!

so we did a little putty work and then broke out the ol' tape measure and starting creating a grid to find "center" in my giant living room. after more mental math than i thought i would ever need to do again, and marking tiny pencil dashes on the walls, we got to do the fun part: snapping the chalk lines!

to finish prepping the floors for laying the final planks tomorrow, we rolled out, trimmed-to-fit, and taped down the padding for under the wood planks. by the end, i had the urge to do somersaults and cartwheels across the soft padding...

the cat lady and her dishwasher library

2009-06-17T21:17:00.005-05:00

i just realized i never filled you in on the history of this place...so sit back, relax, and find out a little about what went on here before i ever even walked through the door.

the building:
well, it's actually two turn-of-the-century brownstone buildings; sister buildings, if you will. they sit side-by-side, with a small, wrought-iron gated courtyard between. in the back is an adorable little garden patio area, complete with grills and tables. the residents chill out there at night, drinking wine and chatting (everyone i've met has been extremely friendly and sweet, and invited me to join them). and there are lots of bbq's and people even bring out candles and other decor to give it that romantic evening dusk ambiance. there are nineteen condos total, ranging from one-bed/one-bath (like mine) to three-bed/three-bath. most of them have fireplaces and at least one wall with exposed brick. we even have a website.

the cat lady:
the previous owner, nicknamed the cat lady, turned a little eccentric towards the end (or maybe she always was). she not only loved spam (i found evidence throughout the unit), but she must have liked cats too, because what started out as two, multiplied into fifteen...at least! animal control was called a few times to pick up the extra cats, but soon enough there were kitties wandering around yet again.

one morning a neighbor heard her crying for help and found her on the ground, where she had been all night after she fell and broke her hip. after a brief stay in the hospital, she was adamant on going back to the condo. the neighbors helped out, bringing her groceries, and even finding books stored in her dishwasher (among other odd things), but it soon became too much of a burden on the caring residents of the building, so she was placed into a nursing home. however, in order to get medical help, she was forced to liquidate all her assets, which was basically the condo. that's where i come in, and you basically know the rest...

seal it in...once and for all

2009-06-09T22:05:00.004-05:00

today was messy: we used kilz odorless oil-based paint on the floor. but i think i was more soaked in paint than the floor. and oil is a pain to scrub off.

supposedly this stuff is a primer, sealer and stainblocker all in one, and we were told it would seal in the remaining cat odor. so if this doesn't work, nothing will (since we've already ripped out the original flooring, cleaned it with special odor-eliminating cleaners, scrubbed and vacuumed every crack, and now sealed it with this paint. goodness gracious).

1, 2, 3, 4 new appliances

2009-06-06T21:41:00.001-05:00

my appliances got delivered today. anyways, i don't really have any good before & after shots (since I never even had an oven or microwave to begin with, and because the fridge was in a different place)...but here's the best i have.

i heart stainless steal

2009-06-06T16:47:00.004-05:00

today we headed over to the state fair grounds where appliance smart was having a huge liquidation sale on appliances. i walked in, and there, in the middle of the floor, was a stainless steal & black accented fridge, oven, dishwasher and microwave. so i bought the set. sweet.

by the way, it's the frigidaire gallery collection. come see what it looks like it's all delivered and installed.

who's tony?

2009-06-05T19:57:00.003-05:00

dad spent quite a few hours this morning and afternoon (on his day off) to pick up that huge pile of garbage taking over the living room floor, and haul it off to the dump.

later on, me and mom painted the final coat of "home song" green on the walls, while dad uncovered a dark hidden space under the boards in my living room. in it was a wheel buried in dirt, and a paper tag labeled tony. i wonder who tony is? could he be one of the cat lady's cats?

the moment of "home song" truth

2009-06-02T22:39:00.002-05:00

the day me and mom have been waiting for. the moment of truth. after all the primer and putty and sanding, we finally got to paint my living room walls...in color! i was nervous about whether or not i made the right choice buying a light pale muted green, but i think it's going to look really nice with dark hardwood floors.

let's stay fifteen more minutes

2009-06-01T23:10:00.002-05:00

after working on primer for an hour or so, dad says "let's work for fifteen more minutes...and then we'll call it a night." well, in that fifteen minutes we got the entire bedroom pergo flooring out. wow, that was easy.

demolition derby

2009-05-31T21:32:00.001-05:00

the boys had a lot of work ahead of them. first, they finished up demo of the old closet between the living room and dining room.

then they got started on ripping out the living room coat closet and main hallway closet.

here's the plan with that: see the right edge of the closet where dad is? we're going to cut off that extra few feet and square it all off. then we'll remodel the hallway closet and one side of the bathroom (adding a closet, since there isn't one currently). this should really open up the space.

another view. this is the hallway closet that will be remodeled once we square-off the new wall.

meanwhile...i was all alone priming the bedroom walls with killz.

now back to where all the action is happening...the boys in the living room.

lookin good! right now we're deciding what to do about that last few feet of sheetrock on the brick wall. let's take it down and see what's underneath! bummer, nothing good. we'll have to re-cover it at some point...

might as well rip off the ceiling while we're at it! just kidding. but they really did tear it down, because then it will be easier to replace with sheetrock.

all done! phew, what a long day. tons of work, but totally worth it. and a totally giant pile of debris.

and the pile begins...

2009-05-27T23:13:00.002-05:00

tonight we went over and worked on a few smaller projects for a couple hours. my job was to rip off the trim throughout the condo. then we worked on puttying the walls, which actually were in much better shape than we had anticipated! when we were done it looked like the walls were covered in bandaids - as if a careless man was shaving his beard and nicking himself over and over again.

this is the start of the garbage pile in the living room. it will only get bigger.

and this is the bedroom so far. nothing too special, but i have to admit, im excited for my closet! so much bigger than any closet i have ever had.

glitter and pink paint

2009-05-26T20:28:00.013-05:00

memorial day. thank goodness stores are open! me and mom spent quite a while at the home depot narrowing down light green paint for the living room wall. i ended up choosing "home song" by behr for the walls....i hope it looks good!

oh, and we decided to get ceiling paint that goes on pink and dries white -- so we can see where we have already painted. im just a little skeptical about putting pink paint on the ceiling, let's hope the pink fades away like they claim it does!

so we headed over to the condo to get started on the living room ceiling. dad rolled on the pink paint while i followed behind him throwing glitter up into the wet paint for a sparkly ceiling! who would have guess i would get sore from throwing glitter into the air.

next we ripped down the big closet between the living room and dining room. we found a sewer pipe running through the edge of the wall, so that beam will have to stay, but other than that, the demo went really well. and meanwhile, mom was priming the walls and ceiling in my bedroom.

we finished up around 5:45 and headed home for a few hours for a yummy memorial day bbq of burgers, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. then me, chad, and dad were back at the condo moving in the fridge and dryer until 10pm. phew! what a day! but so much fun!

get the party started

2009-05-23T18:02:00.010-05:00

8:30 am: over to the home depot to buy supplies, then over to the condo. it's never too early to get started i always say...or wait...is that my dad? oh well, i was too excited to sleep anyways. like a child on christmas eve.

first up, the living room. we taped around the woodwork and lights, primed the ceiling with kilz, then took a break for lunch while the paint dried. we walked down hennepin a block or two until we saw a quaint little converted house-to-restaurant called duplex. the wait was longer than expected, but it was nice to relax in the beaming sunshine. plus, has anyone tried their sweet potato fries? three words: o.m.g.

after lunch, my gramma and aunt linda stopped over, somewhat unexpectedly. they got the tour, and even helped tear down wallpaper, how nice is that?!

last task for today: spray texturing the living room ceiling. we covered the room in plastic, beat the putty until it looked like oatmeal (i have to admit, i was pretty curious to see if it tasted at all like quaker oats), and then began spraying the ceiling...and my hair....thanks dad.

day one

2009-05-23T17:19:00.012-05:00

welcome to my new blog, thanks for visiting!

READ THIS: a tidbit about the condo

now, let's get down to business. i have officially been a home owner for about twenty four hours, and i gotta be honest, i feel pretty good. closing went quickly: an over-sized bowl of candy, lots and lots of paperwork, seven chattering people around a big oval table, and a jar of edina realty pens. that's about all i remember. they pretty much walked me through the entire process, handed me my keys (lots of locks: 3 different locks to the doors into my unit alone, a main entrance key, a back entrance key, a mailbox key), and that was that. nice.

now i just have to figure out which key goes into which lock...