Hurricane Irene

So our first two months of marriage have been an adventure! Hurricane Irene hit this past weekend and she was not so nice. We started getting rain and wind Friday night, and around 3 o'clock Saturday afternoon, Parker & I heard what we thought was the sink running. Not dripping, but running. Well... it wasn't the sink, it was our bedroom ceiling.

We moved everything out of our bedroom (our clothes, 2 month old matress set, etc.) and put trash bags, towels, and buckets everywhere. Our neighbors came over and helped. We poked holes in the ceiling (omg I just realized I wrote "poaked" on facebook...)

It was pretty much a nightmare. Did I mention that it continued to rain for 6 more hours?

Sunday morning I ventured out to survey the damage... This is the view behind us.

To the front right of us:

Oh, this is the enormous limb that caused a hole in our roof:

Our ceiling is sinking... and cracking... and will probably fall in the floor.

The front of our building:

A home down the street :(

The roof was fixed this afternoon, but they probably won't be able to fix the ceiling until next week!  Please pray that it'll hold until then!!  I'm so thankful that it wasn't worse!  We are super blessed!

We wish you a merry Christmas

We wish you a merry Christmas,

(We're a bit behind...)

We wish you a merry Christmas,

We wish you a merry Christmas...

(See our book shelf??)

And a...

 (that was for you Amanda!)

HAPPY...

NEW...

YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Living Room Pics!

At long last... Welcome to our newly painted living room!

I know you love the photo in the frame on the far left.  :)  haha  It's what I had at the moment people, let's be real.  Our awesome clock that we registered for will look more awesome when it's above the fireplace!

Boy would brown and white striped curtains look good on that window!

All of our mixed matched furniture in our sweet, very own, first living room!

 What color should I paint that TV stand?  I'm thinking dark brown.  Or blue.  What do you think?

What about this coffee table?  Today, I'm leaning towards white.  From this angle, it looks okay as it is, but from the other side... you'll see why it should be painted.

And just to keep it real... this is the guest bedroom.  The other side of it looks about the same.  Boxes, stuff, boxes, stuff.  A computer desk, with boxes and stuff.  One day we will get there.  Then we will paint it too.  One day.

Oh, and I'm going to paint the light too.  White?  Gray?  Blue?  Brown?  I have no idea.

I feel slightly better about having people over now! :)  haha. Thanks for stopping by!

Curtains

I know I stink at posting regularly, but you should thank me because I really have nothing interesting to talk about.  Seriously.  Unless you want to hear about my unit plans, studying for a three-day history exam, or driving back and forth to Greenville.

I promise I'll put before/after pictures of the living room/dining area up after this weekend.  Now that the painting is just about finished in the main living area (we still have to do the bedrooms and bathrooms... ugh), I've been obsessing about decorating.  I have a vision.  Most of our furniture doesn't match and everything is hand-me-down (we were going for free not looks), so we'll be painting a couple of pieces to make things look more put-together.   I'm fine with that because I'm definitely into the painted furniture look.

However, now I'm going crazy about what colors to pick for furniture.

This is what I'm loving today...

... it's likely to change tomorrow.

So far, I'm in love with what we've used so far.  The kitchen is Topsail (6217) from Sherwin Williams, the living room is Natural from Lowes (I forgot the maker), and the trim/cabinets/doors are Delicate White from Lowes (forgot that maker too...)  Kind of matches my blog, eh?

I'm also in love with antique looks like this picture easel.

I stumbled upon The Nester and let me tell you... I love this lady.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to copy a lot from her.  Look at this:

Love. It.  We have a coffee table (that is currently stained wood) that looks almost exactly like that table... but shorter of course.  It is going to be painted white.  And those plates!  And the pale blue!

The hydrangeas.  The chalk board.  But wait... my favorite part.  The curtains!

Oh how I've been wanting brown and white horizontal striped curtains.  Big thick stripes.  Sigh.
I have looked everywhere for curtains like that.  Ikea, Boscov's, Sears, Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Walmart, Kmart, JC Penny, Belk, Big Lots, Kohls, Anna's Linens, World Market, TJ Maxx, Overstock.com, Amazon, Ebay, Home Goods, even Pottery Barn (which I would never be able to afford).  They don't exist!  This is the best I could find on Amazon thanks to my sweet friend MB.

But it just doesn't fit my NEED for these curtains.  The harder it is to find them, the more I want them.  I'm fine with making them... but I just have to find the time and the fabric.

So if anyone finds thick brown and white vertical striped tab drapery panels for an affordable price (or at all), you will be my best friend for life.  At this point, I would even consider dark khaki and white stripes.

Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to hunker down and make 'em.

First Time Home Buyers

Every time I see this commercial I laugh... it reminds me so much of me and Parker.  :)

Our Kitchen!

At long last, the wallpaper is down, the walls spackled, and all is primed and painted.  Remember the horrid red textured wallpaper and dark stained cabinets?

Well, they were replaced by light and airy...

Hooray!  What do you think?

We will eventually replace the cabinet pulls and hinges with a silver-colored finish.  In fact, we already have new pulls, but we can't find hinges like the ones we have (they mount on the inside of the cabinet)... so that's on hold for now.

I don't know which I love more - the new look or Parker washing dishes... HA!  Just kidding.

Please excuse the Pepsi can and the missing door pulls (they're at my parent's house getting cleaned).

We have to do a little touching up here and there, but whew!  What a difference!  And I love it!

Wallpaper Removal 101

Parker & I spent three nights this week pulling down wallpaper in our kitchen.  Three nights!  The kitchen is tiny and it should not have taken that long!!  I cannot tell you how many times I thought to myself, "Wallpaper is a dumb idea!!  Who decided to put this hideous wallpaper up in the kitchen??!!"  I mean, really, wallpaper is not a good idea, especially in a small kitchen with lots of nooks and crannies.  It must have been a nightmare to put up, which is probably why it was still there... until we came along.

That is the only real "before" picture I have because we had the leak from the refrigerater valve and our fridge was in the middle of the floor when I took "before" pictures.


In the process, we learned a few things about removing wallpaper:

1. Besides requiring a lot of patience, wallpaper removal requires a squirt bottle, water and DIF (or any other adhesive breakdown spray - I've heard water/vinegar or fabric softener works also, but I've never tried either), scrapers... and twice as much time as you think you'll need.

2. Spray the DIF and let it sit for a bit and then spray it again.  Spray the area that you'll be working on next when you spray the area you're working on now.  Always spray ahead of the work area.  Make sense?  The more you spray, the easier it is. You can never use too much.

3. If you're pulling down multiple layers like we did, do one layer at a time.  It stinks and it takes more time, but you'll make less mistakes.  If you're taking down paper from sheetrock that wasn't primed before the paper was put up... it's really going to make you crazy you're probably going to rip some sheetrock layers apart.  If you do, its not the end of the world, you can fix it later.


What we wish we had thought about beforehand...

1. Start in an inconspicuous place (ie. behind the fridge, over a doorway, etc.) to get your practice in before ripping apart the most obvious areas.

2. If the bottom layer is smooth or has been up for 25 years or more just prime over it. 

3. If it looks like the countertops/cabinets/etc. were put in after a layer of wallpaper, score the paper with a knife to avoid pulling up caulk or having small bits of paper stuck behind the cabinets.

These lists are more or less for myself to refer back to when we start pulling down the wallpaper in the guest bathroom... which will be in a few months because I can only take but so much at a time.  :)  Any other suggestions/advice would be warmly accepted :) :) :)

Last but not least, a "during" picture so you can be glad you spent your weekend doing something besides taking down wallpaper.  Haha!  Fortunately, we did get a break in the middle of the day on Saturday to go to my sweet little cousin's 3rd birthday party.  Happy Birthday Walker!

Next on The To Do List - Sheetrock repair, priming & painting walls & cabinets!  Don't hold your breath for a post about that.  Haha

Our First Home - The Before Pics

Welcome to our first home!  I'm so excited that it makes me wish that Parker & I were getting married this June so I wouldn't have to wait another year before I could move in!  Hopefully it won't turn into too much of a bachelor pad before then.  :)  Anyways...  Saturday morning I woke up bright and early for two final exams.  Then I hopped into my car and drove to Greenville to start cleaning and moving furniture.  Please excuse our mess and the terrible quality of the following pictures :)

The entrance to our sweet little condo in all it's brown glory - Ha!

The living room with a chair, a couch, and a lot of other junk   :)  Don't worry, we're not leaving it like this!

The kitchen table area, minus the kitchen table.

The master bedroom (from a weird angle - sorry about that)

The master bath, also from a weird angle...

The guest bedroom/office space/where all our junk is right now.

Another bathroom with wonderful wallpaper.

I would show you the kitchen, but the fridge is in the middle of the floor because, well, we had a leak.

The valve for the fridge had a leak that we noticed Saturday night - as we we're cleaning the guest bedroom and noticed that the carpet was wet.  Oh yeah, we also met our downstairs neighbor when she came up to tell us she had noticed water marks on her ceiling.  Great, right?  We had the plumber come (yay for home warranties) and the inspector/realtor is paying for the service charge and we'll see what happens with the home insurance/repairs.

Yesterday when I left, most of the furniture was moved in, everything was clean, kitchen cabinets were lined with shelf paper, and the kitchen was partially stocked.  On The To Do List: paint the trim, paint the walls, take down wall paper, paint the cabinets, make some curtains... and about 100 other things!  Important thing is that we now have a home!!

A special thanks to Candice & Jacob who helped us clean Saturday night, brought their awesome Kirby vacuum (which they got used for $200 -  what a deal!), and dined with us on the floor in our dining area.  Haha!  Love you guys!