Not The Way You Want to Spend a Sunday

Progress on the Craigslist chairs came to a halt this weekend for two reasons, and procrastination was not one of them. (1) I came down with a nasty cold which knocked me on my butt for 2 days & (2) torrential rain was in the forecast for Sunday (the day which I hoped to paint 2 more chairs).

Instead of painting chairs on Sunday, we spent the afternoon sopping up water in our basement (good times).

We managed to (frantically) borrow our neighbors wet/dry vac (a bonus of having GREAT neighbors in the 'burbs). The hubs vacuumed up most of the water in the basement and the drain that was overflowing outside the basement door. What did I do? Ran and got my camera, DUH.

First and foremost, YES, duck boots were the perfect shoes to wear for such crisis project.

Here is the drain that was the culprit...

It's hard to tell from the photo, but there is a small drain hole outside our basement door (strange, I know, but all the houses in our neighborhood have this). It never gets clogged because this area is included in our screened in porch. Also, I keep a "crumb catcher" thing in it to make sure NOTHING finds its way into this drain. So what seems to be the problem then? We have no clue. Oh the joys of being amateur home owners. 

The hubs was so worried that we'd get more water in the basement that he set his alarm for 2am and got up to check the basement for water. It was dry, THANK GOD. Great way to start off the week, wouldn't you say?

UPDATE: A plumber is coming today to asses this "issue" and look at the drain. Oh joy. Here's to hoping it's a quick and easy fix.


UPDATE #2: Plumber came. We required a new sump pump (which, by the way, is the stupidest word ever). I can think of a MILLION other things I would RATHER buy with the money we just paid for this ridiculously named object.
  

I feel like I should be OOH-ing & AAH-ing over this stupid new sump pump but I am far from thrilled by it. Couldn't they at least manufacture it in PINK? 

Sitting Pretty - Update

Progress has been made on re-vamping the craigslist chairs! Thanks to he hubs, again, for giving up his Sunday afternoon and sanding more chairs. I painted 2 of the sanded chairs today. Here is a sneak peak....

This is the first time I used this paint technique...not sure what to call it exactly but it involved using a "dry-brush" technique and a glaze. The final step (which was not completed yet) is a coat of polyurethane. 

Here is what the chairs looked like before......

Stay tuned for further updates!

Sitting Pretty

Thanks to the hubs for giving up part of his Sunday afternoon last weekend to sand down one of the six dining room chairs we got off of craigslist. Although we plan on painting and recovering these chairs, it already looks 1000x's better! 

Here is the before and after:

Our inspiration came from these Pottery Barn chairs which I just adore!

More chair refinishing progress to come. Stay tuned... 

The Adventures of Emmit & His Siblings!

Like I mentioned in my last post, I was able to track down 2 of Emmit's brothers and schedule a birthday bash/reunion that was held this past weekend. All 3 of us (dogs and families) met at a local dog park for a reunion/birthday play session. It was SO GREAT to meet Emmit's brothers and their families! It brings such joy to my heart knowing that such caring and loving families rescued these dogs.

What a great lookin' hound group....check 'em out!
Emmit looks most like his brother Brady only because they both share the brindle coloring. But after meeting everyone and seeing them all together, I definitely noticed they all share the same mannerisms and bark! What a hoot it was to see them all together. Whether or not they remembered each other, it was difficult to tell. But I would like to think that they did. 

This was the best photo we could get of all 3 brothers together. 

Trying to get 3 energetic dogs to sit nicely and look at the camera is near impossible...but thought this was a decent attempt! We hope to make this (at least) an annual event. Can't wait to watch these boys grow up! 

Birthday in the 'Burbs

Dear Emmit,

Today we celebrate - what we think - is your 1st birthday! What many people may not know, and what we've been told, is that you were born in a median on the side of the road along with your 5 brothers and sisters. Well, you've come along way and have settled in quite well at your house in the 'burbs. You've brought such joy to our lives that we often think back at how dull our lives must have been before you arrived. There is no doubt that you have tested our patients & our sanity at times, but the love and joy you have brought to our lives is immeasurable.


In honor of your 1st birthday, we managed to track down several of your brothers that were also rescued and adopted into loving and wonderful homes. A family reunion/birthday celebration is planned for this weekend. We are thrilled to have connected with them and CANNOT WAIT to see you all romp around and play at the dog park together. Happy 1st birthday to Emmit and his siblings! 

Much love,
Mom & Dad

A Year In Review......

Change of Plans....

As I wrote in this post, the plan was for me to get my mom's circa 1970's sewing machine after it made a little trip to the service shop to get fine-tuned. Pump the breaks...hard. We are now on to plan B. The cost to get the old machine serviced was going to cost more than a brand new machine. Boo-hoo. 

So thanks to my wonderful mom, she scoped out a new machine for me and delivered it last weekend. In a million years I never thought I would own one of these.....

 

Erika, this is Janome. 

Janome, this is Erika. 

This should be interesting! Stay tuned! 

Master Bedroom Paint Project

The hubs and I have been talking about painting our blah cream colored master bedroom for quite some time - I'll be honest. 

This room, being the 2nd floor of a cape-cod style house, has interesting ceiling lines and a large dormer window cut-out (not pictured). So we were a bit confused as to where to end the paint color and where the ceiling actually began. Our main concern was not making the room look smaller with the new paint color. 

After agonizing over several paint chips, we finally found our color! Martha Stewart's "artichoke heart". 

We finally tackled this paint project this weekend. We decided to have the color matched in Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint (sorry Martha). We went with this paint because it already has primer mixed in it. It's a bit more expensive per gallon, but when you think about it, you don't have to purchase primer, AND you save time with not having to paint on a coat of primer.

Oh - and as you can see, I taped the wall where the paint color ended and the angled ceiling started. I used the green Frog Tape instead of blue painters tape. I've heard great things about this tape on other blogs and decided to give it a try  - and I will admit that I will NEVER go back to using the blue painters tape. This tape FAR exceeded my expectations and left crisp straight lines with almost no bleeding paint at all. (I was not paid by Frog Tape to give my review!)


After two coats of paint, 50 yards of Frog Tape, 1 expert paint roller (the hubs) and one confused and curious dog - here is the finished project. (Please excuse the lighting in photo below...it was taken at night! Against photography rules, I know!) 

The color appears (to me) to be slightly more mint green than "artichoke heart", but perhaps we are splitting hairs here? This picture was taken at night by the time we got all the furniture back in place, so I think the color is a bit off in this picture. The jury is still out with me as to whether or not I like the new color. It's a bit more "mint" color than I had hoped. But I am trying very hard to like it.

Better "after" pictured to come....bare with me :)