One out of three aint bad

So I still feel like my head is going to implode and my stomach has decided to turn against me, but I'm toughing it out.  I went to work today and I even biked in.  Which was probably a bad idea, a very bad idea, but oh well.  It's over and done with.  Now I'm regretting even getting out of bed, but when you're the lab manager, there are certain days you just can't call in sick.  :-(

But enough of my whining, nobody wants to hear that.  Let's move onto more important things, like how our little ol' cafe chairs look painted all pretty like.  While I was huddled on the couch waiting for death, J was outside taping off and painting the first color on the chairs.

Taping took a little while, but it was worth it.  Then he applied a coat of hammered bronze spray paint to both chairs.  Both chairs took one can of paint.  So, we'll have to pick up a second so we can do the table.  You can sort of see the hammered look above.  It was actually pretty hard to photograph.

We then let the chairs dry over night before painting the second color.  Also because it was dark when J finished painting, so he had to call it a night ;-)

After letting the first coat of paint dry, I taped off the seats and cracked open the celery spay paint.  See how we both worked on this project, yeah we're a tag team like that :-)

I really like the little bit of contrast that the colored seat gives the chairs.  It's a nice little pop of color and the celery is so pretty.  It's an extremely light green, but it will look so nice when the porch is finished.

Okay, so it's kind of hard to see the chairs because of the dark walls, but imagine the walls are white.

We still need to paint the table.  The table top will be the celery color and the legs will be the hammered bronze, like the chairs.  But then hopefully it will look more like a set.  If you look closely, you'll see that the table and chairs do not match, you have to look pretty close to see it.  We're hoping after they are painted matching colors, you won't even be able to tell the difference.

 Now unfortunately, I'm going to have to re-scrape the one chair with the pealing paint.  You can see in the picture above that the edges are still visible and need to be sanded more.  J said that when he removed the tape, it just pulled all the old paint off.  So off to Menards to get some sort of sanding wheel and then we'll have to paint again.

But overall I'm pretty happy with the results.  At least we know we like the colors together and the one chair did turn out really well, we I guess this wasn't a total loss.  Now we just need to finish up the table and redo the one chair and we'll be done.  So all that work and we only have one completely finished chair, but oh well.  That's how projects go.

A Little Cafe

Okay, maybe not the whole cafe, but we do have a new cafe table.  We were in the market for a little table that would fit in the corner of the sun room behind the door.  Something that was small enough for the space, but would be large enough for us to actually use for sipping coffee/tea or even small meals.

Then as luck would have it, we stumbled across one at our local thrift store.  J's mom and I had been out shopping for the housewarming party all day and decided to stop in the thrift store up the road from our house, just because.  And low and behold, there she was.

This is the picture that J got as soon as I saw her.

It's a pretty crappy picture, but I was excited when I saw her.  And you can see J's mom in the back trying to more things so that we could get a better picture.  And they only wanted $15.  It needed a little TLC, but it was structurally sound, so I didn't even wait for J's response.  I just took the tag up to the front desk and packed her in my car.

She's been sitting in the sun room for a few weeks now, but now we're at the point where we have to decide on what color we want to go with.  It's going to go out in the sun room where the walls will be bright white and the carpet will be a neutral color, either tan or grey (or we might just install hard wood or tile).  If it was up to me, I would probably just paint them ORB and then dress her up with a little table cloth or something.  But we both decided we wanted to do something a little different.

So we decided to go with two different colors; a hammered bronze and celery.  Okay, so the hammered bronze is pretty close to ORB, but it's has a nice texture and isn't as dark.  And the celery is just so pretty.

The chairs have a inlay of glass in them.  It's a nice little touch.  I was a bit scare about using a green as an accent color, but after thinking about it, I think it will work, fingers crossed.  I guess if it doesn't we can just paint over it.

Can we paint yet?  Not quite, I need to clean all the old paint that is chipping and pealing.  So I got out the handy wire brush and various scrapers and went to town on the old paint.  For the most part this set was in pretty good shape, only one chair had a lot of chipping paint.

After scraping as much paint off as I could and then using the wire brush to finish up, I washed them to get rid of all the dust from scraping and all the years of dirt.  I wanted  to make sure they were very dry, so I'm letting them dry overnight.  Then they should be ready to paint tomorrow.

Well they should be ready for paint, but that's if I'm feeling better.  I have come down with a lovely cold/flu.  I only made it two hours at work this morning before I had to come home stopping only for some meds.  Now I'm just hoping that I caught this early enough so I can get back to working on this little project.  I can't wait to see her all painted.  :-)

200th Post

This right here is my 200th post.  I'm not really sure if that is much of a milestone, but I'm not one for turning down and opportunity to celebrate.  Cake for all.  Mmmmm cake.  Okay, is everyone done with their cake yet?  It's okay, you can finish it up while I ramble.

I wish I had something really exciting for this post, but I don't really.  I actually didn't even know it was coming up until I sat down to do a little weekend wrap up.  Oh well.  Maybe at 300 posts, I'll have something fun.

Anywho, this was a pretty lazy weekend (again, I know).  I have just not been in the mood for doing things around the house.  Okay, for doing anything.  I guess it's work.  It's been so crazy and hectic at work, that I get home and just want to crawl in bed.  But that's how the life of a researcher goes; one day you're running around like a crazy, the next you have nothing to do.  Le sigh.

We did put together our new patio table.  Look at her, isn't she a beauty.

Okay, she's a standard patio table, but she only cost us...wait for it.....$25.  Yes, you read that correct, $25 for a glass top patio table.  You gotta love year end close outs.

And the chairs were a gift from my mom, so our whole patio set up only cost us $25.  We would like more of a substantial set someday, but for now this is fantastic.  I love me a good deal

We are still on the look out for some furniture for the sunroom.  We have a few ideas if we can't find anything we like at the thrift stores.  We've considered getting a day bed from Ikea or even making something, maybe from pallets.  First I have to get that room painted, then we can make a final decision on what we'll do out there.

And finally while we enjoyed a nice bowl of Soba noodles, Yoda enjoyed some left over watermelon.

Oh she loves her watermelon.  She was nibbling on this for hours before we finally took it away from her.  I love having a dog that goes nuts for carrots and watermelon, it's so much easier to keep her in shape this way.

I hope your weekend was as enjoyable as Yoda's.  Did you get any projects done or enjoy a big ol' watermelon?

Tzatziki Sauce

I'm back with my Friday recipes, well I hope I can keep up with them.  I'm going to try.  This week I have one of my favorite recipes.  It's not a meal, just a sauce, but it really does make the meal.  I'm taking about Tzatziki sauce, or cucumber sauce.  It's the delicious sauce that gyros have smothered all over them.  Oh it's so good.

I love dipping pita bread in it, adding it to a Greek salad, or topping off a chicken gyro.  And when it's homemade, it's even more delicious.

So let's get started shall we.

Ingredients
~ 1 large cucumber
~ 8 oz of Greek yogurt
~ 2 cloves of garlic
~ 1 tbs olive oil
~ fresh lime juice, 1/2 a lime
~ 1 tsp fresh chopped dill
~ salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1.  Chop your cucumber into very small pieces, a food processor works great for this.  I don't peal or de-seed mine, just pop it in and chop it up.
2.  Let the cucumber drain for at least and hour.  You want to get as much liquid out of it as possible.
3.  Mix in the Greek yogurt, olive oil, lime juice, dill, and garlic.  I just fold this in using a spatula or wooden spoon.
4.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
5.  Chill for an hour or more, if you can resist waiting.

Make sure to use the Greek yogurt for best results.  You can use regular yogurt, but it won't have that bitterness the Greek yogurt adds.  Also, if you use regular yogurt, you should drain it before you use it.  You don't want your sauce to be runny.  And if you forget to drain the cucumbers and/or yogurt, you can drain the Tzatziki sauce itself.  Don't ask how I know this ;-)

I sometimes add some red pepper flakes for a little kick.  Experiment with different flavors to see which you like best.

Feel free to double or triple recipe based on your needs.  It's just the two of us, so this is plenty for us.

Recipe adapted from allrecipe.com

Things just got serious

I've always wanted to say that.  Even if things aren't all that serious, they are a little bit more serious.  J's back in class, so he's busy with that and our housewarming party is over, so no more fun for a while.  Or not.  Last weekend was our last weekend before the new semester (okay, we get it shut up about school), and we decided that we've worked so hard and we probably won't get another chance until winter to relax.  But who wants to go anywhere over labor day weekend.  It's so busy everywhere.  It's not all that relaxing fighting the crowd.  So we opted for a little R&R at home.

We started our weekend out with some thrifting.  Even if it was move in, we thought maybe we would come across some furniture that would work in the sun room.  We didn't.  We didn't really find anything that exciting.  We did find this awesome A&W root beer jug.  I'm not sure where we're going to put it, but it was so cool we couldn't pass it up.

We also looked stopped at a few furniture stores to see if they had any patio furniture on clearance.  We didn't find much.  But I did find these awesome lanterns.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but they were huge.  HUGE.  And they were only $20, marked down from $199.  I begged and begged, but J just wouldn't let me buy them.  I guess he's right, where would I put these ginormous lanterns.  Sometimes he keeps my accessory buying in check, just like I keep him in check sometimes (like the motorcycle he wants, it's a long story I'll tell some other time).

We also looked at some premade bars.  They had a Guinness one that we both fell in love with, but we couldn't stomach the price.  But after inspecting everything they had, we decided we could easily build a bar.  I think we've proven we can build things (our vanity), so that might be a winter project for this year.  I think it's about time we start thinking about the downstairs.

Then on Sunday we ventured down to Taste of Madison, only to realize there was no reason for us to be there.  We can eat at all of these restaurants all the time.  So we grabbed some jerk tofu and pork and headed down to the Terrace for a while.  And after enjoying a few hours sipping local beers enjoying the lake, we got some Babcock ice cream and headed home.

And the rest of the night was spent "camping" in the sun room.  We set up the air mattress, covered it with blankets and pillows, lit a bunch of candles, set up my laptop for movie watching, made some root beer floats and popcorn (romantic, I know), and settled in.  It was so nice.  We were enjoying the nice cool night without the bugs and rowdy camp ground neighbors.  It might have been the best camping trip we've taken in years.;-)

Some of the candles we had going for our "camping" trip

It was so nice just spending time together, sometimes it seems like we don't actually get a lot of time just for the two of us.  It was nice to slow down, not worry about house stuff, friends, family, work, and school.  Just a nice laid back weekend.  Wonderful.

But now we're back to the daily grind and things getting serious.  There are still plenty of house projects that need to be stated and finished.  Luckily we enjoy working on the house.  It's one of the reasons we wanted a house, to make it the way we wanted it.

So how did you spend the long weekend?  Did you go away for one last vacation or stay home and relax?

August Recap

Wow, August is over already. It just seems like the months are flying by.  Maybe it will start the slow down a bit since summer is (almost) over.  Classes have already begun here on campus, so things are back to the normal routine.  J's back to class, so that means house projects will slow down, but school is much more important then remodeling.

But lets take a look at what we accomplished this month.
   


Made the vanity and installed the sink

We decided to make our bathroom vanity from scratch.  It wasn't the easiest project we've taken on, but it wasn't the hardest either.  We were finding it difficult to find a vanity we liked in a price range we were comfortable with, so what else could we do?  I mean the one we really liked was $5000.  Yes, that is three zeros.  We didn't have that kind of money in our bathroom budget.  So after two trips to Menards, we had all we needed for under $100.  You can't beat that.  And well, it looks amazing.  


Finished up the new coffee table

We picked up a coffee table at the ReStore for $25 back in July.  It was nice, but not the right color for our taste.  So after a little bit of sanding, okay, a lot more then expected sanding (completely my fault), and a little staining, we have a lovely new coffee table.  Not bad for $25.



Install all the trim in the bathroom
  

We had to replace all the trim in the upstairs bathroom due to mold.  But the good thing about replacing the trim, we got to choose a much more substantial trim that really stands out.  And then we went with a really thick trim for the mirror, which just looks amazing. 




Installed the new garbage disposal

This was one of the simplest projects we had this month.  It took J about an hour to take the old one out and install the new one.  He didn't even need my help.  It's so nice having a new disposal, and lets hope this one doesn't start leaking any time soon.


Painted the trim and doors in the upstairs hallway

This wasn't on our list of goals for the month, but I decided that since I was painting the trim in the bathroom I might as well paint the trim in the hallways as well.  It looks so much better then the stained, chipped, fading trim that was there.  It really brightened up our dark hallway.  J's parents were very much against my painting the trim, but have come around and admit it looks so much better then the worn out trim that was there.
   



Planed and threw a housewarming party

This was the best project we had all month, I mean who doesn't love a party?  It wasn't without it's troubles, but overall it was fantastic.   It was so much fun having so many friends and family in one place.  And the house went over really well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and were amazed with the amount of work we have done.  And we ended up adding quite a few gift cards for our deck/patio fund for next year.  I guess we'll just have to another party for the christening our our new backyard. 


We didn't accomplish all of the goals we set for ourselves this month, but we got close.  We had a few "surprises" with the bathroom remodel, so that took up more of our time then we had planned.  But that's okay, we still accomplished so much.

What projects did you tackle this past month?  

September Goals 2012

I'm going to do this a little backwards this months because I didn't get the pictures of all our August accomplishes.  So I'll post our goals for this month before I post our accomplishes for last month.

I can't believe it's September already.  I feel like we were just scrambling to finish everything for our house warming party and now J's back in class and summer is almost over.  Summer really does go by too quickly.

But anyway, lets get back to our goals for this month.  We need to really tone down our goals since J is back in class, he just doesn't have the time to help me like he does during break.  But that's okay, we got a lot done over the last couple months.

Let's see here, what are we going to try and accomplish?

1. Paint the sun room
I had planned on starting this in August, but with the hot summer weather, it was put on hold.  Which is okay.  Hopefully September will bring a little bit cooler weather.


2.  Finish trim around the upstairs tub 
When we removed the wood trim around the tub we found quite the surprise.  The tub install was awful.  So instead of an easy take down the trim and install non-wooden trim, we ended up trying to figure out a way to fix the bad install.  This has proven to be a lot larger job then expected, but we think we can get it finished up this month.


3.  Install fan/light in upstairs bathroom
Our upstairs bath doesn't have a fan, which was one of the reasons we found so much mold in there.  We picked out a nice modern looking on that still needs to be installed.  But just like painting the sun room, the heat has held up back with this project as well.  No one has wanted to crawl up into the attic in the heat we've been having, and I can't blame them.


4.  Install new outlets and light switches in the upstairs bath
So with the new fan/light we need to add another switch to the bathroom.  Well actually we need to add three because the fan has a light, a night light, and a fan.  We also want to move the current outlets down a bit so that they are at a usable height.  This one will be done the same day we install the fan and with the help of J's parents, it should only be a one day job.


5.  Make Roman shades
I have been putting this off for months, but I need to just suck it up and make them.  It's now become a priority since we have neighbors again.  I don't want them peering into our bedroom, creepy.


6.  Finish painting trim in the our bedroom
This is one of those projects that I started over a year ago and have failed to finish.  But I have promised myself I will work on this while J is busy studying.  This will get done this month.


7.  Look for furniture for the sun room
We love our sun room, but with it unfurnished, it's not really usable.  We would like to change that.  So this month and the next I'm going to keep my eyes open and I'll be checking the thrifts stores as well as craigslist constantly.  Hopefully we'll find something be next spring :-)


8.  Get carpet for the sun room
Okay, maybe carpet, maybe hardwood, maybe tile.  We just need to replace the old warn out carpet that is in there.  So maybe this month's goal should be to decide on what we're going to install out there.  Hmmmm.


9.  Caulk the tile in the kitchen.
This is one of those projects that has been around for a while (you know, since we finished the tile), but we just haven't gotten around to finishing up.  So my plan is to tape one night and then caulk the next night.  I should be able to get these done easily after work.


10.  Prime and paint patches on ceiling in the kitchen
So I guess there is a trend in projects this month.  The majority of them are things that should have been finished long ago, but we just haven't done.  I patched the kitchen ceiling months ago, and we still haven't primed and painted.  Bad homeowners.


11.  Paint cafe table and chairs
This is going to be an easy one.  I picked up a cafe table and chairs at the thrift store a few weeks ago.  It's in good shape but still needs a little TLC.  The paint is flaking off and well, it's not really the color we're looking for.  So a couple of cans of spray paint and a nice weekend will take care of that.  


So it looks like we have a lot to accomplish this month, but really they are all left over projects from before.  They are those easy projects that seem the hardest to convince yourself to do, you know the ones.  But as long as I can get back into the swing of things, most of these should just practically finish themselves.  Now let's just hope I can stay motivated.

What do you have planned for this month?  Are your projects also dependent on the school year?