indoors outdoors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?