• We know, we know...

We know our birdhouse to-do list is super long.
We know we need to install the baseboards upstairs.
We know we need to paint the upstairs bathroom and hallway ceilings.
We know we need to paint the baseboards downstairs.
We know we need to start working on the bathroom downstairs.
We know we need to finish the open pocket door.
We know we need to install the quarter-round in the kitchen.
We know we need to get new windows.
We know we need to put a door handle on the front screen door.
We know we need to get a new air conditioner.
We know we need to get the light working in the storage room out back.
We know we need to get a new french door.
But...we decided to plant a garden instead!

While everyone else we knew were spending time with family, eating lots of ham, and going to church, David and I decided Easter Sunday was the day to be outside planting a flower garden! Call it divine inspiration! We actually started on Friday afternoon pulling weeds and getting the soil in tip-top shape. All the rain we've recently had did a wonder on our sliver of a dirt area in the back.

Saturday we were busy with a photobooth gig, which led us to Sunday. David and I had a general idea of what we wanted- plants- but that was about it. We spent a considerable amount of time wandering around Home Depot looking at plants and deciding what would work best and be the easiest to maintain. Finally we picked out verbena, salvia, snapdragons, and one other plant type I can't remember! Plus, we got a new hose and hose hanger. After we opened up the drip system kit we bought earlier we realized we needed more t's and drippers- so off to Lowe's it was!

The hardest part was digging up the ground where we were installing our main drip line. After that- piece o' cake! David punched holes in the main drip line and I followed up measuring, cutting, and installing the 1/4" line for the actual drippers. Back went all the soil to cover up the line and then dig more holes to plant the new plants!

All in all- not a bad looking garden I must say! We started about 3:00 and finished up just after the sun was going down. Of course, after we cleaned most of the items up we realized we needed to install the hose hanger. It actually didn't take us long- I held the flashlight, while David drilled the holes and attached the hanger.

Monday early evening David planted the three other plants over near the palm tree. Plus, he had to take back the first hose we bought because it was crap! So, we spent the extra money and bought a good hose that works great. David also ended up buying a few new spray nozzles too.

So far, the plants seem to be holding up well. We're a little befuddled with the snapdragons right now though. In the afternoon their leaves are droopy, so we thought it might be too hot- we planted them under our kitchen window where they're slightly shaded during the main part of the day. They do get afternoon sun though. But, we see snapdragons out in the sun all day and they look great. Now we're thinking maybe they're still adjusting. Who knows?! I guess we'll see.

So- now our backyard is getting there and we still have quite the list to do indoors. Maybe next weekend we'll go buy some patio furniture so we can sit outside and admire our garden instead of working on the inside list!

• and we're done...sort of!

This past weekend we finished putting all the office furniture together and moving the current items around to make it all fit how we envisioned.

I heard from a couple people how my last post didn't have any pictures- boo hoo. :) So- I've included a few pics to ease your pain! 

Here's the note I left David with two of the boxes of furniture I bought a couple weekends ago!!

David and I agree the island is our favorite piece of furniture in here. It went together really easily and is actually made from wood- IKEA bonus!! The shelf with bins we found in the kids area of IKEA and it fits in great with all the other pieces.

The walls are quite bare I know- that's the next big step! Of course, we'll have to debate and compromise about what's going on the walls. I was just so excited to empty a small box of stamps and stamp pads into our new drawers. That box has moved with me three times! I finally got to throw the empty box away this weekend!

On another note- I'm so excited it's almost spring! The Hibiscus plant in the front has 2 huge red flowers on it! Hooray!! But, much to David's dismay our rose bushes are coming back to life. If he had the chance he would take the rose bushes out I think. He says it's because they have thorns and will ruin any playground balls, etc. we have. I had to remind him that we don't even have a big enough patio to play with anything like that, nor do we own any of that stuff.

I don't think I thought much about rose bushes before except that everywhere my great grandparents lived my grandma had giant rose bushes. The first time we walked into this place and I spied the rose bushes it instantly made me think of my great grandma- even just the random smell of roses does that. :) Since no one lived in our place for quite a while there was no one taking care of the rose bushes. Since we bought the place I've tried hard to coax them back to life. I wouldn't brag about a green thumb- quite the opposite really- maybe my grandma is helping me out just a bit with this one!

a sweet surprise

Last Saturday David was working with his dad at a high school basketball tournament. When he got home he found quite a surprise- 3 boxes and a butcher block top. I left him a note on top of the boxes because I was at dinner with my mom and sister. Hee hee!

I had woken up that morning knowing that this would be the day I was buying our office furniture. After a quick check of the 'ole finances online I called my sister to come over and help me with my plan. Cyndie drives an Aveo- not sure what we were thinking exactly- but of course all of our items did not fit! A few people looked at us since we were hanging out in the parking lot, a cart filled with boxes and no loading of items into the car. Luckily my mom was available to help out. 

Putting together our first piece of office furniture was simple and didn't take us very long. I'm excited because it's one more step towards a finished home and now I'll have a space to scrapbook, wrap gifts, etc. Lucky for me David was happy I bought all the furniture! We have one last item to put together- well, put the legs on. Then it's time to reorganize the room and get things settled. I can't wait!

On another note: our rose bush that was pretty dormant this summer has suddenly bloomed with leaves everywhere and a huge pink rose! It smells so amazing! Another bud is working to bloom any day now. I guess I must have been doing something right with these rose bushes! Or, it's the excess rain we've been getting. (I'd like to think it's me though!)

• our latest projects

A lot has happened over just one month. Not really a lot with the birdhouse; just day-to-day things. I'm super excited that a few weekends ago we finally installed a glass shower door now in our master bathroom. (And by "we" I mean 95% credit should be given to David.) Since we moved in we've just had a shower rod with a curtain hanging on it. With the glass doors it is so bright now in the shower!! We've been looking at glass doors for awhile now but it was never the right time to spend the money on it. After looking one Saturday at 3 Home Depot stores and 2 Lowes I told David I was tired of looking and told him we should buy the one we were staring at. (Inside note: we bought the one we've liked since the very beginning.) I couldn't stand shopping around anymore- we always came back to the same one. This weekend our big purchase is a squeegee (spelling?)- gotta keep it clean!

Here's our before and after project pics:

I'm so excited that we've finally come up with a plan for our office! Sometimes it's hard when both of us have a vision for a space, but we've compromised. (Ahh...marriage!) We're going the IKEA route for the furniture because it's cheaper and it's exactly what we want. Basically one piece is an island (intended for a kitchen) with a pretty large workspace on top and open shelves below so I can scrapbook, wrap gifts, etc. and the other is a long table that will hold our computer but allow both of us to work there at the same time.

One BIG project we've worked on is renaming our photobooth company. We loved the name Picture This Photobooths, but found other people liked that name for their company too. So, we've changed now to NightOwl Photobooths. Earlier this week David created a new logo, which I love love love!

Become a fan on Facebook!

a little more paint

It really is amazing how much installed baseboards can calm the nerves! It just makes the birdhouse seem more finished! For the holidays I was on a two week break from work- hooray! The to-do list is always so long when it comes to the birdhouse and I really wanted to cross more items off the list. Didn't totally happen though- that's okay!

I finished painting the walls in both upstairs bathrooms. When we painted before we had the old light fixtures still up. Since then we've installed the new ones- much smaller- and there's been a large white rectangle just calling my name for paint. I also cleaned the ceilings in both bathrooms- they were totally gross. As you can see we're still waiting to install medicine cabinets and there's a hole next to the light fixture that needs some small patch work.

My favorite father-in-law wrote to everyone in his Christmas letter that he was fired for painting a wall the wrong color. It made us laugh- not only to be included in the letter this way, but also for the fact that he was actually "fired" for painting part of the ceiling yellow. Plus, he left the painting above the door frames for someone else to do. Who did that fall on? Yep, me! After some blue painters tape and a steady hand I took care of it.

So, the painting we now have left to do is: bathroom ceilings, hallway ceiling (that's half-yellow), and baseboards! Hooray!!

On our annual Christmas skiing trip this past week David asked me, "What do you want to work on next when we get home?" I'm so glad he's still into all this demolition/repair work. This past July went by so fast and so many things were done. Now that we're into the school year and I'm back at work it feels so slow. Things get pushed to the weekends and then other stuff happens on the weekend that slows the progress too. That's okay though- it makes it that much sweeter when something does get completed!

A few days before we went out of town we went to Ikea and scouted out a few items! Perhaps a new couch that we've been salivating over (especially now that the price has dropped a few benjamins!) and some furniture for our office. I really want to get back into my scrapbooking. Living in an apartment meant all my supplies have been stored in a rolling bag- great for when you go somewhere to scrapbook, bad for when you just want to work on a page here or there. So, hopefully we'll get our office furniture bought and put together and I can unpack my items. I think the last time I scrapbooked David and I was our trip to Vegas a couple years before we were even engaged!

BTW: I got the book How to Sew... (twice actually) for Christmas. It was in my stocking from David and in my stocking at my mom's house. Perhaps I should blog about a bedroom set I've been wanting or a new car...ha!

I can do that!!

Just found this book online and had to show you! There's a lot of times I wish I would have paid attention when my great-grandma was trying to teach me something domestic (baking comes to mind...), but instead I was outside building things with my great-grandpa. Don't get me wrong- the fact that I own more tools than my husband tells you I paid attention to grandpa but, there are times when grandma's knowledge would come in handy as well! This book will definitely be on my wish list!!

Plus, you can enter to win it!

(http://erincooks.com/an-erin-cooks-contest-how-to-sew-a-button-and-other-nifty-things-your-grandmother-knew/)

• baseboards...check!

Downstairs baseboards are measured, cut, and attached to the wall! Let me say that again- they are done!! Well, technically. They are on the wall and the edges and nail holes are caulked. Now, we have to go back and paint, but they're up and look fantastic. We're debating about now adding the quarter-round.

It took us all morning Saturday to measure and cut 90% of the downstairs baseboards. We had some other things to do Saturday afternoon so we called it a day around 2:30 pm. Sunday we slept in a bit and got back to work. After about an hour everything was cut, it started to rain a bit, so we moved inside to nail the boards onto the walls. Everything just looks so much better with baseboards!

David found a Craigslist ad about baseboards a week ago, checked out the store, and we decided to use them. $.50/foot for 4 1/4" baseboards- super steal! They come in 16' pieces - that was a fun trip home! One end stuck out the back of the 4-Runner (window down) and the other stuck out the front passenger window resting on a box and the side mirror. My arms were tired from holding them together!

I was in charge of measuring while David did the actual cutting on the miter saw. We have to go back for one more piece of baseboard to finish off the closet- since we added the 45-degree finisher piece to the ends of some of the baseboards we were a little bit short. The best piece was along our long wall- 29.5'. We cut two 45-degree angles off the ends of one piece and put the board in the house. Then we had to measure and cut down a second board to the right size. After we set those two pieces inside it already looked better!

We need to finish the upstairs hallway, office, and bathrooms and then we'll be totally done with baseboards. Hooray!

Now when we walk in the door the house just feels more complete and finished. I love it! Slowly but surely- we're getting there!