Ohio AGAIN?! An Anniversary Party

We were not planning another trip to Ohio this Summer, (after flying up in July and August) but when my parents mentioned a surprise anniversary party for my sister and her husband, how could we not?

25 years!!! That is a big deal right?

Their daughter Kelli and her boyfriend Brandon, arranged a night out for them in Columbus (where she lives) with dinner at a "really nice restaurant." They suspected something......maybe that my parents were going to be at the restaurant when they arrived....NOT that [almost] the whole family would be waiting for them in a yoga studio.

Uncle Bill let the kids know we needed to be quiet and once we see the door open, we could yell SURPRISE! We all waited by the door.

It's hard to believe that I was 17 when these kids got married. Lips and Lips as they affectionately call each other.

It was kind of a theme...On a side note- does Scott not look like Caitlyn Jenner with those wax lips? Its uncanny.

These guys were empty-nesters when we were just starting our family. Kelli is now 24!! wow! They really did a great job as parents and I know that [as usual] my sister will always have great advice for me.

Kelli is a yoga instructor and also manages the social media\marketing for Grow Yoga in Grandview and she arranged to have the surprise party at the very serene yoga studio. It was a perfect location!

My dad whipped up his famous pulled pork with all the delicious sides. Then my mom and aunt Margie made cookies and decor. Barbie made this beautiful cake (which was delicious too!), the chocolate lips suckers and lips cookies.

The Ohio locals really put everything together. The out of towners assignment was just getting there!! Brrrian and Kyja (and her brother) drove up from Asheville! And of course we flew.

As soon as we arrived, the fun started!

The laughing didn't stop either. Especially when we all sat down for a freindly game of "The Newlyweds." So funny! Nester and I were the winners, thank you very much!

When the music was turned up loud, the dancing started and didn't stop! So. Fun!

And we couldn't let this special night slip by without a picture of everyone!

We actually didn't think we were going to make the party. We tried for three flights saturday morning and didn't get on. We went home for a few hours and then headed back to the airport for a flight that looked NOT POSSIBLE. However, just my luck, we squeezed on somehow! (you never know flying standby!)

I would've hated to miss this party. First off because I love these guys ....

But also, because I hate to miss a party and so does the rest of my clan.

The festivities continued until 1030p and my little party animals lasted the whole time (without a nap!). But! By that time Mateo was asking to go to the hotel...I do believe he was worn out!

The fell asleep on the 10 minute ride to the hotel and I used the stroller to take them right up to bed.

Ernesto was "tired." My little boys were TIRED. So much so that Mateo slept later than he has in is life. Blinds were open, everyone was up in the room and that means it was loud! I leaned in close a couple times just to make sure he was breathing.

Notice the clock says 914a. Yeah. And he slept another 15 minutes. Unheard of I tell you! Once we all had breakfast at the hotel we headed over to hang out at the OSU oval (huge grassy area) and spread out blankets.

What great memories I have of my college days at OSU. The campus is only bigger and better now. I felt excited for all the young kids walking around. Oh those were the days! GO BUCKS!

So glad we made it up there, and actually both flights were so easy and uneventful...which is a good way to leave our last flight as a family of 4! My sister and Scott were so touched by the awesome party and all of us who came to celebrate them.

 

House Stuff

Well, first let me give you the sad update for our dream house. We got an estimate back from our contractor, which was totally reasonable and exciting. BUT! In the time it took us to figure this out, the owner had put up a sign in his yard (unbeknownst to us-or our realtor) "for sale by owner" UGH!!

Of course the house went under contract 8 HOURS after he put the sign up [because the house is FREAKING AWESOME!] So that is where we are. Which is no where! Wha-waaaaaaa

You know what though? I had fun dreaming and imagining about this house for a month, so there is that. You have to dream right?!

The fact that the house went for about $100k over our pre-construction budget (price for land and unfinished house) made it a little bit easier to swallow. Like I said, it was fun while it lasted.

We will still be keeping our eyes open for a slightly bigger house with a yard, but there is no rush.

In an attempt to help me focus on the good of my current house, (and get me excited about it again) I bought a few things.

First! Wallpaper! Back when I showed you my plan for little 1/2 bath redo, I was ready to pull the trigger on this wallpaper from Lowes.

Well, wouldn't you know, it is now discontinued. Ha! It makes me laugh that it takes me so long to make desicions and then this. Oh well. New plan.

I actually stumbled upon another wallpaper at Serena and Lily last week. I immediately liked the design. It's simple. Like, so simple that I could draw it myself if I just painted my walls navy. BUT! The price was so good, I couldn't pass it up. Yes, I made a quick design decision [which almost never happens].

Also, Im afraid painting over my half stenciled wall will leave a texture from the design, so wallpaper is really the best way to go. AND I have been wanting to use wallpaper for years. Did you notice the price? $20/roll reduced from $88! After searching for so long for a wallpaper, I was beginning to think it would be impossible to wallpaper my tiny bath for under $300! My four rolls arrived the other day and it's even better in person. $80 for FOUR rolls!! That is unheard of...if you like the design, there are four other color ways, so check it out! I think it's a really cool graphic design for little investment.

I'm hoping my sweet 'can-do-anything' mommy will help me to install it the next time she is here, as I am a wallpaper rookie. (Also, I can't seem to get things done without her)

Another quick satisfying project I am looking forward to completing is painting my stairwell. It is tall and BORING. Also those sconces need to go.

I love these wide stripes from Honey We're Home.

I am also loving these different sizes...doesn't that look great?! (couldn't find source)

And then there is this. just half black and white.. (again no source)

Now my walls are a light gray, not white, and I dont wan't to repaint it because it connects to all of the 1st floor, but I know it will still look great with black. Which one do you guys like best?

While the kids were in school last week, I wandered (because that is what I do with my free time) into the new Anthropologie at Ponce City Market (have you guys been there yet? So cool!) I love Anthropologie's home decor, and their store displays are always so inspiring. There was a basket of knobs on sale for $2.95/each with an extra 20% off.

Immediately I thought these Clandon knobs would be great for our kitchen refresh project (that has not been started yet)

I know I want brass hardware, and this is actually the shape I was looking for. The brass/iron mix on these is unique, although I may try to do something to the iron side because they have a little reddish tint. As you can see below though, that seems to be a coating that scrapes right off. Hopefully I can get down to a more black colored iron, which would be a great contrast to the shiny brass.

Still $45 for 18 cabinet pulls is a steal, so I HAD to purchase them [even if I wasn't 100% that I would use them].

The other thing that I am trying to procure...

...from Asheville Craigslist (thanks Fenella!) is this vintage Turkish runner for the kitchen. I love having a rug in the kitchen. It's 3x7 feet long and would be just enough dark to my white cabinets. (when they get painted)

I ordered some of this Braemore Jamil Natural velvet fabric too.

I have been loving it for a while but wasn't sure what for...I am still not sure, but maybe if it is in front of me I can decide. I'm waffling between making a removable cover for my kids snack table ottoman or for the awesome parsons chair that I FOUND ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD!!! You saw this right?

Ally, a fellow blogger in Atlanta has a set of two of these that she had recovered in the same fabric. (incidentaly, she also inspired the geode wallpaper that I waited to o long to buy- I can't let that happen with this fabric) Aren't these unbelievable??

Right? RIGHT?? Ok folks, that is all. Have you done anything exciting to your house lately?

 

 

 

 

Curb Appeal : A New [Craigslisted] Front Door

Living in a historic neighborhood, I am constantly reminded of how much character a front door adds to your home. And then I pull up to our house. Waa-waaa

Ok...this is an old picture, like 2 years old, and the fact that my plants aren't in full swing does make a HUGE difference. (Plants are everything!) But it also allows you to focus on the bad. The door and the small sconce.

We never did like our this door. Just another touch of boring from the builders. It was dark brown when we moved in. Dark brown with an army green house...what were they thinking? Black paint was applied, which was an improvement, but we still knew we would change it one day.

I guess it's not the style I dislike so much. This door could be fine on other houses. For example, my parents have it on theirs, and they have a matching palladium window in front with rounded shutters. It looks cute. But on our house it looks generic, especially when driving around our neighborhood and seeing all the gorgeous old doors.

I saw this on CL and although it has the same shape window [as our current door] at the top, it has SOOOOO much more character. Solid wood, stained glass, brass knocker and kickplate and the aged bronze handle. I think they were asking $100! Of course I would have painted it, and I could do without that middle carving detail, but I think it would've added a lot to our curb appeal. It had character! It's not cookie cutter.

I really like a door with windows to bring in as much light as possible. I was inspired by this one (above) that I saw at The Painted House and what do you know? Not too long after seeing it, this one popped up on CL for $90.

Of course I knew immediately that this could be the perfect door...if we could cut those wood panels out. Ernesto had mentioned that our accountant had done this to his door, so he called to ask him directions. His response was "bring it over, I have all the tools and will help you do it." Yes!

So one Thursday they got to work. Here is a mid process pic after using a router to cut out the panels.

And with all 6 panels out....

A heavy duty sander took the gray paint right off and a day later, we had a clean door ready for glass and paint/stain.

At this point Ernesto put the new door up to make sure it fit correctly in the existing frame. A little sanding was needed in a few spots, but otherwise an easy fit. I was so excited by the amount of light coming into our living room.

Our dilemma then was color. The inside we decided to leave wood, but we had to pick a stain.

I thought we should get a walnut stain. In my mind walnut is the color of midcentury dressers that I love, like this Broyhill Brasilia dresser.

I WILL have this beauty in the future, by the way. I'm on a serious hunt! (Mom, if you ever see this while you are thrifting, please don't hesitate to get it for me!)

Anywho, I bought a "light walnut" stain by Varathane and it was way to red for my liking. Shown here on the right.

Ernesto brought home a mahogany (shown on left), which, when put against this walnut, I liked much better. With that being said, I was not so sure once I saw a coat applied liberally with a brush.

It was DARK! The color is nice, but much darker than I wanted.

I was scared to tell Ernesto that we may need to try a different stain. He has put in a lot of time on this door. BUT he said the same thing...too dark! He sanded it down pretty easily and I headed to Lowes and brought home this "special walnut" stain.

BINGO! This stain had that mcm color I was looking for. As most of you know, I am still new to introducing wood into my home, and there aren't a lot of colors that I'm crazy about at this point.

We applied 2 coats of the stain -this time using a cloth (instead of the brush)- we were able to control the color a little more this way. Ernesto finished this side up with two coats of a satin finish poly and it was good to go.

We decided to paint the outside of the door, so we can pick and switch colors as much as we like. We are planning to paint the exterior of our house, if not this fall, for sure in the spring. In the mean time though, we needed to pick a color for the door that looks nice with the army green color of the house.

Color options for the exterior is a whole other blog post. It's going to be a tough decision because I like light and dark. White is in our top 3 choices, but I have had this picture saved for a while. It looks so fresh and pretty. 

There are several other gray houses on our street though, so I may have to save this color scheme for our [future] beach house.  I do like the look of the Ben Moore Paint on the door called Robin's Nest, however, it is more on the blue side than mint. On the BM website though, it does read green, right?

Oh well,  it was a little more saturated than I wanted anyway. One more sample I picked (but can't remember the name) was light enough, but still on the blue side. A few days later, I picked up a sample of Behr's Jade Mist and this one seemed like the right shade. (Very close to the color my dresser at the front door entry)

Here are the three colors painted on a canvas. It isn't a huge difference, but can you see how the top [front] color is the more minty color and the others blue?

I bought a quart of Behr's exterior semi-gloss (paint + primer in one) in Jade Mist and Ernesto applied 2 coats with a roller.

Whew! Next was the glass and hardware. We were referred to Dixie Glass Hoppers in Decatur, and they were super nice and helpful. They had many many glass designs, however all of them cannot be tempered, which is what is needed for a door [so it won't shatter]. Ernesto wanted to go with clear glass, but I thought something that could blur the view a bit would be good, because I do not want a curtain or shade on the door.

We agreed on something that had a little blur, but when it came in [bigger sheets] I wasn't loving it. I didn't remember it looking like this. It reminded me of a patio table top.

Dixie Glass Hoppers said they wanted us to love our glass, so if we didn't like it we could bring it back. (not normally their policy) We decided to give it a try before reordering, and it looks much betting IN the door.

I think we are going to keep it. Once in the door and with light shining through it, it doesn't seem so 'patio table' anymore. Unfortunately, one of the six glass panels was not exactly the correct size and wouldn't fit. Ernesto even sanded the door a little with hopes of squeezing it in. Of course, glass doesn't really squeeze and the piece shattered.

So! Needless to say, we aren't ready to reveal the "before and after" pics yet.  Plus, there are still a few other details.

I am pretty set on this brass handle from Lowes and we will be attaching the brass kick plate back in place.

We aren't stopping with the front door. (curb appeal!) New house numbers, a new (but probably vintage) doorbell, and Im really loving this light fixture (above), but may continue searching for a more economical version. (Sorry RH, I will eventually need three of those lights!)

This awesome cement/gold planter from Target will be hung on the right, above the doorbell.

I also need to majorly trim my garden down for some curb appeal. I usually give up gardening once it hits 90, and it has been for the last couple months, so needless to say, my beautiful garden is not looking its best.
Stay tuned for the final pics coming once our new glass order comes in!!