Faking our Foundation

Jason has hated our foundation since we moved into our house. It's never really bothered me but apparently, every time Jason went outside his OCD kicked in and he found himself staring at all of the imperfections.

We never really addressed our curb appeal. So far, nearly all of the work we've done in this little Cape has been interior work, except for the landscaping around our pool, which isn't looking too shabby if I do say so myself.

Anyway, you might remember that the front of our house looks like this

 

 

 

 

 

We have been stuck on what to do about those awful steps.

So we've done nothing.

I'd like a porch -   not really so I could sit out there because we have some very unsightly apartments across the street from us  -- but because:

A.) I think it would look nice

And

B.). I want to decorate a porch for all of the holidays.

 

I've got visions of pumpkins and hay for Halloween,

 

 

Source: google.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

 

 

white lights, a sled, and buckets of pine cones for Christmas

 

Source: blog.styleestate.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

 

 

Source: authentichomeblog.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

 

And rocking chairs for anytime

Source: flickr.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

 

But it's unlikely to happen because

A.) Jason doesn't want anymore building projects anytime soon. He values having the rest of his teeth

And


B.)  We just dropped a bunch of money on improving the unsightly foundation. To build a porch would be to cover Jason's beautiful foundation work.

 

So the steps remain.
 

But the foundation is getting a face lift. At the beginning of the summer we had a quote from some masons on how much it would cost to do stone veneer on our foundation.

 

After getting the quote, Jason decided to do it himself, even though he's never done stone veneer before.

 

So we placed our order at Lowes and a few weeks later, pallets of fake stone were dropped in our driveway.

And they sat there all summer while Jason finished the deck and we enjoyed ourselves doing all kinds of summery things.

 

Now that Fall is here, the pressure is on to get those fake stones up before the cold weather hits.

So Jason is busy at work. I've wanted to help, but having a one and a half year old running around doesn't exactly make helping easy.

 

 

The other added pressure is that Imani completed her summer reading challenge. (I'll explain in another post, but let's just say we have our part of the bargain to uphold).

We were worried it might look cheesy, but I'm loving the new look of the house. I can't wait to show it to you!

 

 

 

 

Most Expensive Deck Ever

In the Spring I posted about Jason's freak accident with the deck. If you missed it, you can read about it here.

Believe it or not, his tooth could not be saved. That's right, the dentist had to extract Jason's front tooth because the nail shattered the tooth all the way up under Jason's gum line. Since the accident, J has had to wear what is called a 'flipper.' It's a temporary front tooth that pops in and out (kind of like dentures but with just one tooth on it.)

He is in the process of getting a dental implant, but it takes a long time because you have to wait for the bone to heal before the oral surgeon can drill into the gum line. It will be almost a year before the implant is complete.

Yup, it sucks but what can we do? I have a beautiful deck and a beautiful husband minus one front tooth.

For those of you who have ever had a dental implant, you know how costly they can be. . . So our DIY deck ended up costing us the same as it would have if we hired out for labor. . . And Jason would still have his front tooth!

Anyway, the old deck was small and we didn't like that the railing ran horizontally and wasn't very child-proof.  In an attempt to make the deck safer in case Noah ever got out of the house into the pool area, we wanted to install vertical rails. We also wanted more space on the deck since we like to entertain.

 

Here is the deck just before Jason was about to start working on it.
 

 

 

 

 

Here it is from another angle . . . equally ugly and unimpressive.

 

 

 

 

 

Jason never built a deck before and everyone told us it was really easy. Jason says it was as easy as everyone reports, but the freak accident(s) made it one of his least favorite projects. Not only did he lose his tooth to the deck, but he also had a drill bit break and he drilled through his finger.

 

I was starting to think the deck was cursed. 

Yeah, I'm glad the deck project is over. To be honest, it was over at the beginning of the summer but my home computer is ancient and is running extremely slowly. Now that I figured out some iPad and iPhone apps, blogging just got easier!

Anyway, our go-to guy Kelby explained everything to Jason to get the deck built.

 

To make life easier, Jason used the existing framework of our old deck for what would become half of the new deck.  First, he removed all of the old deck boards, which were in pretty rough shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After J removed all the old deck boards, he dug post holes 42 inches deep for the new deck addition. The town building inspector had to come out to check every step before Jason could go on to the next step. After approval from the building inspector, the post holes were filled with concrete.

 

 

 

 

Kelby and Jason framed up the new 12x12 section and the new deck boards were run over the entire 24x24 frame.

 

Once the deck boards were on, Jason installed the vinyl railing.   

 

 

 

 

And here is the final deck (you can see our building permit still hanging on our sliding glass door because we have yet to have the building inspector come out and give us the final approval).

 

 

 

We still have to stain it, but you're supposed to wait a year before applying the stain to the deck boards.  I'm already stressed about the color! 

 

 

And we need to buy a larger table so that we can enjoy having meals on the deck.  Currently, we only have a small bistro table.  I enjoy having my breakfast out there each morning but if we want to entertain or have dinner out there as a family, we will need a bigger table.

 

If you can suggest where we might be able to find a nice table online at a reasonable price, do share!

Storage Dilemma

If you're a regular here, you know we almost sold our house.  You also know there are a lot of things I love about this house. 

But, like anyone, I have a few things I hate about my house too.

The biggest thing I hate is that we  have a damp basement.  We used to have a wet basement until Kelby helped Jason address drainage around the outside of our house.

I hate having a damp basement because that means we can't finish it and use it as a toy room as many families do.  Very little even gets stored in our basement because it's musty and gross.

The other thing I hate about my house is that, since it's a Cape Cod style home, there is very little storage in general.  This, coupled with the basement's dampness, makes the situation with toys and clutter especially challenging.

But I am on a mission for a solution.

I've heard of people with Cape Cod style homes using the space behind their upstairs bedroom walls as storage by building in dressers or cabinets.

On Apartment Therapy, for example, they feature how one person built drawers and bookshelves into the unused space in their upstairs bedroom in their Cape.

And, here you can read about how Michael found storage for his daugher in their 1950s Cape.

Oneprojectcloser.com

So we are hoping that we might be able to do something similar to help store Imani's toys but keep them accessible to her.  Wish us luck!

If you have found storage in a Cape, please share how! 

I also need suggestions on how you store toys if you don't have a finished basement.  Do tell!

Bed Alcoves

Although the color scheme we selected for Imani's room seems very mature, I am hoping that we will be able to add some touches to make it feel fun. 

One idea I have is to somehow create a bed alcove.  What kid doesn't like having her own little alcove to climb into and read or draw or pretend?

So this isn't a definite yet . . . because I still have to convince Mr. Can Man to actually create this.  He is still a bit resistant to the whole color scheme . . . and since I am in Dallas, it's hard to really sit down and show him all of my plans for Imani's room.  Hopefully, he reads this blog at work each day.

And hopefully, Imani DOESN'T read this blog at day camps each day.  Otherwise, there won't be much of a surprise when we reveal her room to her!

So here are some bed alcoves I found to inspire the project.  I figure at the very least, I could hang some curtains to make the bed feel like an alcove, right?

I like the curved arch around this one:

http://www.philaantiques.com/


I like the red curtains here:

http://www.writersrefuge.com/

Absolutely love the curved arch around this one too.

1.bp.blogspot.com

I like that the next photo has a light in the alcove.  I also like the mirror in there on the wall and the storage beneath the bed.

3.bp.blogspot.com

Again, the next one is framed in but I like that it has the pillows up against the wall like a day bed.

cdn0.matters.com

This photo also has the bed framed in and also has storage beneath the bed. 

decorpad.com

Hopefully, we can do something similar in Imani's room because I think she will love it.

Only one more night and I am home from Dallas. Yippeee.

Imani's New Room

Well friends, by now I am in Dallas for work until late Thursday night, but lucky you that I planned enough in advance to write a few posts and schedule them to post in advance (God I love that feature!)

So the story of Imani's new room . . .

Imani's room should have never been painted pink.  Imani is not a "pink" girl.  She's not a frilly, girly girl.  She's never liked princesses or barbies or anything else stereotypically marketed for girls.

She likes digging in dirt and finding fossils.  She likes treasure hunts, baseball, basketball and skateboarding. 

And most of all, she loves music.  While most kids her age save their money to buy toys or candy, Imani saves her money and asks us to take her to a local music store to buy her instruments.

She lays awake in bed at night and writes lyrics for rock songs.  We hear her whisper-singing for hours in bed.

So it seemed appropriate when she said she wanted a music-themed bedroom.  At first, since Imani plays the violin quite well (she's been playing since the age of 5 and she's nine now), I thought I'd do her room in soft browns and pinks.

And then I remembered: Imani is not PINK!  I am pink.  I needed to let that go. And, although she is most fluent in violin, her favorite instrument is guitar.  She has an acoustic and a cherry red electric guitar.

So I asked her what color she wanted her room and she said she didn't care -- that we could keep it pink if we wanted.   She is very much eager to please me.

I explained that it was her room, so she could pick whatever color she wanted but she wouldn't budge.

"Pink's fine Mom, just as long as it's a music room" she said.

A few days later, we were in Target and her big brown eyes locked onto something down one of the aisles and I saw the excitement in her face.

She reached for the red electric guitar wall hanging.  "Mom, this would be PERFECT in my music bedroom!"

My response?  "Yeah, but it's not pink . . . and it's $29.99 so you can forget it."

"What about this? This is sooooooo cooooool!!!" she said, pointing to a piece of canvas wall art in red, white, and black that said "I am Rock."

Price tag: $39.99

"Nope; this DEFINITELY doesn't go with a pink room," I told her.

I waited and waited and waited for the guitar and wall art to go on clearance at Target, as all of their trendy items always do, but finally I caved and bought them at full price.  I couldn't believe I was spending $70 on two pieces of wall art made in China.

Imani has no idea, of course.   I asked the nice cashier at check out if the items went on clearance if I'd be able to bring in my receipt and be refunded the difference.   She assured me that as long as it's within seven days, I would be refunded the difference and all I would need was my receipt.


TWO days later . . .

I'm strolling through the aisles at Target and I peer down the aisle where the music decor was and I see a bunch of red clearance tags!  50% off!  I was so psyched and Imani wasn't with me, so I marched my proud little self up to the service desk to get my refund.  The lady informed me that price adjustment refunds are not allowed on clearance items, only on sale items.

What?!  Was she really telling me "No?!"

"I need to speak to a manager,"   I said in my calmest voice.

Sure enough, Mrs. Manager came up and told me the same thing.  No price adjustments if something goes on clearance.

Me (in my longest run on ever . . . ):  "So, what you're saying is that I can go home and get these two items and bring them back and return them and watch your stock guys put them back on the shelves and then pick them back up and buy them for the clearance price?" 

Mrs. Manager: "Yep."

Time: 9:35 pm and Target closes at 10 pm

Apparently, Mrs. Manager didn't know that I live less than a block from Target.  I was back in less than five minutes with my two items.  I returned them and re-purchased them and saved $35.

I hate nothing more than policies that don't make sense.

And to anyone who reads this who regularly sees Imani . . . shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  This is a secret!  Imani loves surprises, so we hope to complete her room while she is at a friend's and then reveal it to her.

Maybe I'll even videotape it and attempt to post a video here on my blog.

Anyway . . . since she chose the red electric guitar and the black and white wall art, I figured that would be a good color scheme.  I'll show you the inspiration pictures next!

Keeping the Cape

As many of you know, Jason and I put an offer in on a big house out in the country and it was accepted.  The house was beautiful -- it was a renovated 1840s colonial and I was excited to have found it.

The entire process of listing my house and putting it on the market was far more emotional than I thought it would be.  I never realized just how attached I was to this little cape.  But we forged ahead, excited about our new venture.

To make a very long story short . . . as beautiful as a house might appear at times, what matters most is the home's structure.  Unfortunately, the home we were about to purchase had major structural problems.  Sometimes, when you want something really really badly, you try deny reality.  I was denying reality for quite some time in the process, but it became very evident that the structure had more damage than we were willing to take on and we decided to back out.

We thought about looking for another house, but after such an emotionally draining experience, we began noticing all the things we love about this little Cape and we've decided we love what we have.

Grace, at Sense and Simplicity is hosting a little blog party to list the five things you love about your home, and in looking around . . . I realized there is a lot I love about my house.

My house isn't overwhelmingly unique or awe-inspiring like this barn that was converted to a house (one of Jason's favorite type of houses by the way)

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

contemporary exterior design by dc metro architect Blackburn Architects, PC

And my house isn't some 1800s Tudor revival mansion with a manicured lawn

traditional exterior design by chicago architect Eifler & Associates Architects

traditional landscape design by chicago architect Eifler & Associates Architects

My house doesn't have any incredibly fancy amenities, like an infinity pool.
 
(Who in the world owns these places and what do they do for a livng?!)

tropical pool design by hong kong architect Original Vision Limited

contemporary pool design by George W Girvin & Associates

contemporary landscape design by vancouver landscape architect THOMAS KYLE: Landscape Architecture

 My house is just a cozy little Cape Cod in a small town in Upstate New York.

I know, we have GOT to do something with those steps!

So, in looking around, there are a lot of things I love, but I will narrow it down.  You'll find that I'm not that difficult to please.

Probably one of the single best features about my house is the enormous family room with cathedral ceilings.

 

With skylights, sliding glass doors, plenty of windows and a big bay window where we sit and watch unusually large herds of deer roam through our backyard, what's not to love about this space?

 

But the best part about this room is that at Christmas time, we get the biggest tree we can find!
 

Another feature of my house that I love is my deck.  It's not big or elaborate, but I enjoy sitting out there and having a cup of coffee in the morning or reading in the afternoon on the weekends (sorry for the rain in this photo . . .)

Another feature of my house that I love is the gas fireplace in our sitting room.  I have to confess that we cannot use it to actually have a fire because, although it's new, it sets the smoke detector off every single time we start it!  We need to address that this year, but I still love having it. 

I love the slate tiles Jason put in and I enjoy having a mantel to decorate (which currently needs an update).

Okay, the next thing I love is really silly and Jason will likely make me remove the photo if he reads this.  I love the marble tile he installed in the entry of my house.

Jason didn't really have any experience tiling and I picked out marble for the entry.  If you know anything about tiling, which we obviously didn't at the time, you'd know that marble is difficult to cut.  It is very soft and breaks really easily.  What should have been a small project turned out to be quite costly because of the many cutting mistakes.

To make matters worse, Jason wanted to just lay the tiles all straight and perpendicular.  I, of course, wanted a diamond shape in the center with little tiles bordering the center tile.  I haven't laid a single tile in my entire life and I am not the greatest at math with angles and cuts so I had no idea what trouble my idea would cause.  All I knew was that I saw something similar in a magazine and thought it'd be cool to have it in my house.

Jason argued with me that it was too difficult, so being the brat that I can sometimes be, I said, "Fine Jason. Just don't do it.  I'll just hire someone who can do it the way I want it done.  Forget about it."

But my good husband set out to tackle what he didn't know how to do and, in my opinion, it came out great.  I love this tile;  Jason hates it.  He sees his imperfections, but every time I look at it and see that diamond, I see my husband figuring out how to make my wish come true.

Like my bubble-gum pink toes dangling off that step?!  That pedicure was a celebration that recently, I survived lay-offs in my job .. . but I digress!

Back to what I love about my house.  Of course, I love my new tiled bathroom . . .

with a pebbled-floor shower. . . .

But what I love most about my house isn't any particular room.  I love that this house sat on the market forever and everyone laughed at it because it was so hideous and smelly.   But I had a vision, and Jason made it happen.

Every inch of my house has my husband's time and love poured into it.  He obtained his degree in Fine Arts and I often complain that he isn't doing anything with it but when I wake up each day, I realize his art is all around me. 

Our house has been his canvas.

Hiding Bad Ceilings

When we first moved into our house, there were so many areas that needed to be addressed immediately.  We all slept in one bedroom because the other two were in such disrepair. 

We fixed a lot of the aesthetic stuff first just so we wouldn't be embarrassed when we had friends and family over -- like removing these fish that were decoupaged on the walls.

After we'd been in our house for a while, we started addressing other areas, like crazy ceilings.

Whoever lived here before us had no idea how to sheet rock a ceiling.  The seams that showed were an  eyesore.

Here's Imani's bedroom ceiling, which still hasn't been fixed (and we also would love to change the light fixture but we're resisting, since we are planning to sell our house soon).     See that seam running down the middle of the ceiling?  It drives Jason crazy every time he's in Imani's room.

One of Jason's least favorite home improvement projects is sheetrock and spackling and when it's on the ceiling, that makes him even more miserable.

So what have we done to address these crazy, bumpy, seamy ceilings?  In some cases, like our kitchen, Jason ripped down the old ceiling and started over.  But another thing we've done that we've been equally happy with was to use a quick fix that gave some rooms more of a cottage feel.

We used wood panels to cover up the ceilings.

Here is our staircase ceiling.  You can see the section that isn't covered isn't looking so hot.

So rather than rip down the existing sheet rock and start over, Jason went to work covering the ceiling with wood panels. 

If Imani and I are busy, Jason always has company from one of his biggest fans -- Maggie.  Maggie never leaves Jason's side, even if stuff is falling down from the ceiling all around her while Jason works. 

After we get all of the boards and trim up, Jason paints them white, although we have friends who stained theirs and they look great that way too. 

Here's Herb and Cindy's house.  You can see that they installed wood throughout their home -- on their walls as well as on their ceilings. 

While we were looking at houses, we saw a lot of ceilings we didn't like.  Some had ceiling tiles, like what we used to have in our closet under the stairs.

Jason fixed those with the same wood panel solution and painted them white.

Some houses had textured ceilings, which I know some people love, but they just aren't our style.

And other houses just had owners who lacked sheet rocking and spackling skills..

Here's a picture I found where people covered their walls and ceilings in beadboard.

beadboard.com

Another solution I like is covering the ceiling with tin.

Image: This Old House

Have you looked up lately?  What's the deal with  your ceilings?