a white coat for all

now that all the doors are finally in, it was time to give them all a fresh (or a first) coat of white paint.

so the gang (okay, just my parents and tim) came over to help me tackle the project.

in case you don't remember, i wanted to keep a consistent flow throughout my condo, so all of my doors and trim are painted a nice, fresh white. 

all in all we painted the double-door living room closet, the hallway closet next to the bar, the bathroom door, and the new bi-fold pantry doors in the kitchen.

i absolutely LOVE how the living room closet turned out! love, love, love!

a fourth of july surprise

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!

sit down and relax

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

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!

glitter and pink paint

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

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.