The Pink Sink Project

Let me start with a big "Thank You" to everyone who has sent me a message to say how much they like how the office turned out.  What a boost to our confidence you have been!  Thanks for reading and supporting us in this crazy venture. We were fortunate enough this past weekend to take a much needed road trip to visit good friends and get away for a few days.  At first, the thought of losing steam with the renovation projects scared me, but it turns out we needed those few days away from the house.  Nothing like a few days in a tiny hotel room with two kids to make you appreciate your own house!  I've come back refreshed and ready to take on the next project. So, what's next you ask?  The Man Cave! When we first looked at the house we didn't quite know what we would do with this space, which is on the lower level.  My husband pretty quickly decided it was where his video game-playing and football watching would take place.  We started joking about it being hi

I can't even tell you how excited we are to have the office done.  This is the first top-to-bottom room renovation that we have completed.  It took nearly the entire month of July to complete, working nights and weekends to keep it going.  Kind of like our part-time job on top of our full-time jobs and raising two kids.  It was so worth it, though.  We've learned a lot about the process and are already starting the next room (more on that later).  It's a huge boost to our confidence to have the room done and looking amazing. OK, less talk, more pictures. This is what the office looked like when we first moved in. Here it is after we removed the old, stinky carpet. I found a picture of the totally retro red and black carpet that was hiding underneath the beige carpet.  Awesome, right?! (The rest of the stuff in the picture above is the other old carpet and carpet pads that we tore up from other rooms in the house.  Some day I'll show you how muc

OK, first bit of news:  We finished the flooring in the office!  Just need to clean up the room, finish a few minor details, then we'll be ready for the big reveal.  I can't wait to move in tomorrow! What I am almost as excited about, though, is that I successfully used a table saw for the first time!  Successful in the sense that I accurately cut a piece of flooring, and also successful in the sense that I didn't hurt myself!  Those of you who know me know that I can be a bit clumsy at times (see yesterday's post as evidence). I was totally holding my breath, can you tell?! Notice my Tough Mudder shirt?  I wore it to give me the courage to actually use the saw.  This last picture isn't of me sawing, but I finally used that nifty little tool to "tap in" the boards.  That little "click" they make when they finally fit together is such a satisfying sound. I am totally ready to tackle the next room!

You know it's Monday morning when this happens: Just spilled an entire mug of hot coffee all over the dining room table (aka, office desk), rug, and floor. This may be the universe telling me to get the office renovation completed faster.  Or, it could just be evidence of my clumsiness... Happy Monday!

It's been a busy and exciting week for us.  We finally finished the paint in the office and are "this close" to finishing the floor. Here is what the office looked like when we moved in: Notice the awesome brown 1970's painted trim around the window.  The trim along the floor, on the right in the photo, was an awesome plastic-like material that had been adhered to the wall.  Other than that, it doesn't look too bad, right?  All the walls in the house had been painted white before we bought the place, which gave us a nice canvas to work with.  Can you see the lines from the wood paneling under the paint, though?  We decided to leave the paneling in place and just paint over it.  The thought of pulling off the paneling and having the put up new drywall was more than we were willing to do.  Plus, we don't really have the time to re-do the walls - I am currently working out the dining room and it's starting to get really old, really fast... At first

This is our new house. We've bought the place about five weeks ago.  People have asked me if I love it, and I tell them, "No."  Honestly, I don't love it.  Don't get me wrong, I went into the purchase of this house fully knowing what we were getting ourselves into.  We even fought for the house with a weird bidding war.  I am in absolute love with the neighborhood.  Our real estate agent accused me of "stalking" the neighborhood, but when this house went on the market I wasn't interested. For starters, I really didn't want a split level.  I'm just not a fan of the style.  Something a little too 1970's for me.  Second, it was a foreclosure, and had been abandoned for about 18 months.  It needed work, but had a lot of potential.  In the real estate world, "having potential" means it looks like crap, but if you sink enough money into it, the house will someday look great.  From the first walk through, we could see all of