Before and After Bedrooms

Moving into the house has definitely kept us busy. It's hard to believe it was only nine days ago. I have since painted the banisters and two bedrooms. Today I am working on the living and dining rooms. We don't have any furniture for them yet, but I'm plowing through all painting projects while I can. On Saturday, Michael and I went to Ikea in Cincinnati and got a desk, chair, and a table for behind the loveseat. We're picking up a couch and loveseat for the family room tomorrow evening. I'm so excited! A few photos to show what we've been up to:

Master bedroom (before)

Master bedroom (after)

I don't know what happened with the camera, but the wall is all one color despite what it looks like in the picture.

Bedroom 2 (before)

Bedroom 2/Guest room (after)

Bedroom 3 (before)
Bedroom 3/Office (after)

Painted the fireplace (sorry, Mark)

I debated long and hard about this decision. I looked at countless blogs, design and DIY websites searching for painted fireplaces and researching the pros and cons. It came down to three main points: 1 - I'd like to eventually remodel the fireplace anyway, 2 - the bricks were not really in very good shape or great looking to begin with, and 3 - I thought the white would contrast better and fit better with our plans for the rest of the house. A few before shots to refresh your memory:

the finished look

It was a tough, time-consuming project, but Michael and I are both really happy with the result. I also spent a day this week painting the master bedroom. The new color looked a lot like the old color when it was wet, which had me worried, but it dried quite differently. The original was a neutral beige-ish color with peachy undertones. We chose a neutral beige-ish color in the brown family. You can kind of see the difference in this picture. I had not painted the edging yet, so the original color shows near the ceiling.

Day 1 and 2 at the house

Little by little, we're making our way into our new home. Movers were supposed to arrive at 8am on Monday to get the last of the former residents' stuff. I drove over around 1pm with a carload of boxes thinking I would have the house to myself. Low and behold, there was a mix-up with the movers, so Mr. FR (former resident) and his daughter (little FR) were still there waiting. As eager as I was to get going on the house, I tried to be understanding of their situation. Little FR made it easy. She reminded me of a brunette Dakota Fanning at 8-years-old, telling me in a very grown up way all about her new room at the new house and how she was tired of the old room with its bright purple walls and painted dragonflies. (Don't worry, little FR, we'll paint over them soon!) I left the boxes in the garage and headed back to the apartment as I felt awkward hovering. I drove back around 4 and saw the moving van in the driveway, so I kept driving to a nearby park and waited another hour. By the time I was alone at the house, I only had ten minutes before Michael would be home from work. All we had time to do was put our paint samples on the wall, hook up the dehumidifier, and clean the laundry room (I scrubbed the floor on my hands and knees to prepare for the washer and dryer).

The top two colors were potential grays for the kitchen. The three blues below were contenders for the family room.






Little FR left us this adorable note on our sidewalk:
On Tuesday, I got to the house about 7:30am and spent the entire day painting. We picked Porcelain Shale (Valspar) for the kitchen and Celebration Blue (Valspar) for the family room. I didn't quite finish with the blue today, so I'll be wrapping that up tomorrow.

kitchen before
kitchen after

family room before

family room (almost) after

I'd like to paint the fireplace white but haven't settled on a shade yet. More to come. I need to rest now :)

Columbus Crew

This week I read Literacy and Longing in L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack. I picked it up from the library because the main character is a major bookworm, so I thought I could relate, but I really didn't like it. The characters were flat and/or underdeveloped and the plot just wasn't that interesting. I also read Stephen King's Misery though and loved it. Even though I typically prefer literary fiction over commercial fiction, I thought the book was better than just a suspenseful page-turner. It also had deeper, philosophical elements to it that I found intriguing. I'm also looking forward to renting the movie.

I had lunch with two of my new girlfriends on Friday at Mimi's, which was lovely. On Saturday Michael and I joined three other couples for a potluck dinner at one of their homes, and then we all went to a Columbus Crew (soccer) game. I had never been to a professional soccer game before and didn't think I would enjoy it, but I had a great time. Columbus doesn't save all its spirit for the Buckeyes, there was a great crowd cheering on the Crew to their 2-0 victory against FC Dallas.

our own Columbus crew after the game

Ohio State Fair

Michael and I went to the Ohio State Fair on Sunday. We saw a farm scene display carved out of butter- an impressive 1800 lbs. of butter!
We watched a comedian/magician performance, a retriever dog show, and pig races.

Despite all his talk, Michael didn't get any of the fried food he planned on trying (mac 'n cheese, mashed potatoes, pork chops). I did get deep-fried oreos though, which I've been meaning to try for a long time. They didn't live up to the hype, but they were pretty good. Seriously, what won't people batter and throw in a deep fryer? The afternoon was hot and sticky, and I couldn't wait to take a shower when we got home, but we had a great time while we were there. I'm glad I married someone who has the same aversion to stomach-churning rides that I do.

The Old Fashioned Way

I love getting mail, at least the kind of mail that isn't junk or a bill. Who doesn't, right? So, when a personally addressed envelope arrived yesterday from my grandma, I was quite excited. It's not even my birthday or anything! I opened it up, and inside was a newspaper clipping. It was an article from her local newspaper about redecorating in stages. I have to admit, I laughed out loud, not because I didn't appreciate the article or the thought behind it but because of how old school it is to send a person a newspaper article in the mail. I love my grandma, a woman who doesn't know what YouTube is. I am part of the generation that is killing print newspapers. I get all my news online, and if I want to share an article with someone, I email the hyperlink or post it to my blog or Tweet about it or post it on Facebook. I love that there are still people, like my grandma, who take the time to cut an article out with scissors, put it in an envelope, address and stamp it, and send it to a loved one. Hopefully, for her generation's sake, the print newspaper industry lasts a while longer.

Summer Weekends in Columbus

I think the interview last Wednesday went well, and I finished reading Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery and Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer for those of you who have heard of or seen the show) this week. Since Michael and I are going to get a dog once we're in the house, I'm trying to read a number of books about raising and training good dogs. Both books were really good.

While my weeks continue to be the same old, same old, the weekends have been fun. Two Saturdays ago Michael and I went to Columbus's annual Jazz and Rib Festival. Michael got ribs and I got a pulled pork sandwich from Willingham's, which is Memphis style BBQ based out of Minnesota.
With the live jazz music and the great crowd, it was a fun atmosphere, and we enjoyed being part of the community. The next day (Sunday), we went to the Parade of Homes. Each year numerous home builders bid for contracts, and the winners build these amazing custom homes that are then decorated by professional interior design teams. They are then opened to the public to come tour (tickets must be purchased). We went both to get ideas for decorating and painting our house and to admire these unique homes. Despite the grandeur, the most expensive house was still under a million dollars ($949,000). Try getting that in Phoenix, California, or New York. Ha!

The home above is from M/I Homes. It has 4 bedrooms, 4 full and 2 half baths, and a 3 car garage. With 4,700 square feet, it sells for $799,000.

It was crazy how many bathrooms each house had. And the basements! One of the basements had a full bar like what you might see in a restaurant and a home theater with leather chairs that had cup holders and beautiful HD projection. Michael would love a wine cellar like this in our basement some day.

This past weekend we went to the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational golf tournament and to the Dublin Irish Festival. Michael won free tickets for the golf tournament from work. They provided access to the Sky Box at the 18th hole and to the hospitality tent where we got free food.

I had never been to a golf game before, so it was very exciting just to be there. The Dublin Irish Festival is an annual event here in Dublin, OH where the whole city (or so it seems), plus people from other areas of Columbus, come to celebrate our namesake. It has a state fair meets Renaissance Festival feel to it. There is no end to the Irish food and beer vendors, and of course there is the staple funnel cakes and fried food available.

Pop?

Numerous stages are set up for a variety of dance and music shows. We caught an Irish rock concert, some Irish jig dancing, and a bagpipe performance.

I've got to say, taking part in so many of the events that are going on around the city makes it feel like we live in a pretty cool place.