Be Back Before You Know It!

Yep, we're on vacation!!!  We've been gone since last Thursday and we'll be coming back this Friday.  (Hence the lack of posts on this here ol' blog.)  So far, we've spent two nights at Massanutten resort where we took a time-share presentation (we didn't buy, I'm way too cheap for that), went mountain biking and went to a driving range.  After that we moved to a campsite along the Shenandoah  River.  There was a big WVU game the night that we moved to the campsite... and we had no TV!!  So, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, which was filling up fast because there was also a UFC fight at the same time as the game.  We had to get there early to get a seat, so we spent 5 hours in the restaurant.  Let's just say, I felt like I had to leave a mighty generous tip to the waitress whole took great care of us the whole time.  The next day, back at the campsite, we set off on our 18 mile kayaking trip.  We did 10 miles the first day, ended at our campsite and 8 miles the second day.  Yikes... that's why I'm so tired!  After coming back from the second day float, we packed up camp and headed to Williamsburg.  In fact, that's where I'm sitting now, looking out the window at some horses :)  Now we have 4 days to chill out and relax.  Just what I need after all that physical activity!  I'll be back with a new post next week, but right now I gotta get me some breakfast! ;)

-Brooke

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

Oh yeah, from my title are you thinking of some sweet, sweet mullets?

Like this one....

Photo from here.

Or who could forget the lady mullet...

Photo from here.

Now did they know how to do hair or what!?!

Sadly, the reason for the title isn't because Chris is getting a mullet of his own... or me either for that matter.  Actually, "business in the front, party in the back" is how we hope to one day describe our house!

I'm about ready to share a pic of our house that is a little embarrassing to say the least.  We've been focusing all of our time/energy/resources on the front yard.  The front is about 2 acres of flat with our house being at the very back.  The house goes over the hill, the first floor being level with the front yard, and the basement going over the hill.  The front yard is FAR from finished.  When we first decided to build here, our property was nothing but woods.  We had a logging crew come in and log what we wanted to be our yard.  (We still have plenty of woods, we have ten acres and about 3 of them are clear.)  Well... when they log your property, they take the big logs, but leave all the tree tops laying there.  Not to mention the stumps!!  We've been here for a year and 1/2, and we're still having bonfires and diggin' up stumps!  Granted, we don't do much burning when it's summer.  Fire when it's 90 degrees out= heat stroke.  We actually got all of the stumps out and planted grass right in front of the house so we would have some kind of a yard, but we haven't had much luck gettin' it to grow.  Grrr... I hate rocks/ mud/ dirt!  But enough about the front yard... now to the poor, neglected back yard. Sadly, here's a picture of it.

As you can see, we don't have doors or windows in our basement yet, and we have piles of construction materials still back here from building.  There's still some excavating that needs done and grass needs planted.  Oh, and watch that first step out of the top door, it's a doozy! (Don't worry, we have a key lock on the inside and out so no one can open it without a key.)

Being so high up makes for a great tree house feeling in the kitchen.

It feels like your living in the trees.  That would be quite a drop from the door though... and it wouldn't be a soft landing.

(Yes, that's a squash that was too soft, so I just threw it out the back... I know... lazy)  

Trust me, we may not have much done, but we have big plans... now are you ready for some mad Photoshopping skills???  Well, you won't see any here, but I tried.  First comes the windows and doors.

Looking a lot better already!  Then we need grass, decks, trees, and.. oh yeah.. a pool!!!

I know, the editing is really bad, but at least it gives a general idea.  We're gonna have an upper deck with a screen room at the far end.  That deck will have steps (not pictured) that go down to the lower deck that will lead to the pool.  Of course, we're going to put a deck around the pool, and add a whole lot of fun furniture.

Hmm... so where are we gonna to get a pool this size?  What did we do last weekend?

We got a pool!!  Actually, we got a free pool!!  One of Chris' co-workers was getting rid of his pool and said if we took it down, we could have it.  Oh yeah baby!  I might actually be tan next year....

Here are some pics of the actual pool.

It's 15' x 30' and 4' deep.  We had planned on buying a pool next year, but it wouldn't have been anything like this, we were planning on one of the $300 pools from Sam's Club.  

So, we're putting the pool away until the Spring.  We have lots and lots of work to get done on the back yard before then.  I'll keep you updated as we go through this torture journey.  Yay!!  Business in the front, PARTY in the back!!

Very sad side note- up until yesterday, we had a very sweet little goat that was keeping the back yard clear.  We'll miss you Ecko.

-Brooke

Let's Go....Mountaineers

Hey guys!  I'm not gonna be able to post much this week, my great uncle Emmett has passed away.  So, I'm heading out of town for the funeral.  Our family appreciates your prayers.  I'll be back Friday with a new house post, promise. Today, instead of my usual, I thought I would share some pics of the WVU game last weekend.  I know, I know, pictures of other people's lives... boring... at least my mom will want to see :)

On game day, the population of Morgantown, WV explodes from around 30k to around 80k.  It's ca-razy!!   If you're not going to the game, you can basically forget about doing anything else in Morgantown that day, traffic is a nightmare.

Since WV has no pro teams, WVU is our pride and joy.  The whole state shows love, unless we're playing Marshall (our in-state rival) then the state is divided.

Until this year, when the players came out onto the field, they ran through this helmet.  New coach= new traditions, so now it's outside the stadium where yahoos like me can get their pic with it.  Look at those muscles... I think I could take some of those football players in a fight.

The pilgrimage to the stadium. 

Pre-game show.  We have an incredibly talented band.  Everytime I see 'em I'm amazed.  Look at the state of WV formation!

Here come the boys!!  Let's get this thing going.

Since the game was on September 10, the half-time show was all devoted to America.  It was pretty cool.

Fly-over!

The band made different formations for the different branches of the military.  This one was for the air force.

It was a good day with the hubster. Did you do anything exciting last weekend?

Small Changes

Hmmm... happy Saturday!  I slept in this morning, my house smells like chocolate chip muffins and I have a WVU game to go to later.  It's a good day :)

I mentioned in my post here, that I was gonna start making some changes to my family room.  I love the family room with it's big furniture, pool table, big tv... but it's still unfinished.  So I've been slowly making a few changes/ additions to make it more cozy.  I haven't done anything major... Chris still won't let me paint all the trim white.  (I've painted the office and the pantry trim white, so white trim is slowly taking over our house without him realizing it.) Insert evil laugh here.  One of these days I'll have white trim and white cabinets... and then I can take over the world! (Pinky and the Brain reference, if you're from my generation, you know what I'm talking about.)

Anyways, back to the family room.  So here's a picture of the family room before.

Now here's the new picture.  Wanna play Where's Waldo?  Can you spot three differences in this room?

If you said a lamp, throw pillows and the coffee table centerpiece, you got it!

In my adventures with this house, I've realized that nothing adds the cozy factor quite like a lamp does.  Lamps cast soft shadows and add a warmth to your room.  I was looking through our basement and realized that we actually had a side table that matched our coffee table.  Chris' parents gave him the tables when he first moved out on his own.  Later, we took the coffee table and re-finished it, but never got around to the side table.  Eventually we will refinish it to match the coffee table, but for now, I went ahead and set it out as-is.

I'm still in love with the Fairmont brick I found :)

The next change, throw pillows.  Okay, I'm not satisfied with the trow pillows that are on the couch right now... too many solid colors, we need some pattern in this joint!  But, I wanted cozy, and I'm still looking for the right fabric for pillows, so these will do for now.  Actually, since I'm having trouble finding fabric I like, I'm thinking about painting some pillows.  Might be my next project.

Before-

After-

As for the coffee table, I brought out my beloved mason jars.  Here is a picture of the old table decor.

I like this candle holder, but I've had it on my coffee table for 5 years... it was time for a change.  And you know how I love mason jars!  So here's what I came up with.

I just put some white candles in the bottoms of different size mason jars, and put a piece of scrapbook paper underneath.  Simple.  Cute.

One more change I made was to my bookcase.  Since the bookcase is dark, the dark picture frames on it weren't doing it for me.  So I painted a frame antique white and added a family photo.

Before-

After-

On top are all of our tv components.  Chris ran the wires through the wall, so you can't see them.  (I love being married to an electrician.)  The next shelf has a little basket and the family photo.  And the bottom shelf has some photo albums, maracas from our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic and a candle.  

Small changes can sometimes have a big impact.  These small changes have really amped up the cozy factor in our family room.  More changes to come!

Brooke

Hallelujah! The Pantry is Finished!

First of all, just let me say... WOW that took a long time!!!  This pantry thing was a BIG undertaking!  So, I left off last time right after I had painted the first coat of paint in the pantry.  It looked like this...

 

I also left you with the teaser about something special for the paint job... oh the suspense....

So what was the big plan?  STENCILS!!!  As I scoured Pinterest for inspiration, I noticed that all of my favorite pantries had some sort of a pattern behind the shelves.  All that Pinteresting (new word??) had me itching to do some stenciling.  I had never stenciled anything before, so I figured the pantry would be a good place to start.  It's a small space that I could easily hide if I didn't like it.  With all that in mind, I headed out to Michael's for a stencil hunt.  Let me tell ya', some of these things can get expensive!!  I ended up choosing one out of the cheaper section for $5.99.  

Like I said before, I'm a newbie when it comes to stenciling, so I wasn't sure where to start.  First of all, I knew I needed to hold it against the wall somehow, so I put a little piece of painter's tape on each corner.  Then came the decision of how to actually paint it.  I started off with a cheap-o foam paintbrush, kind of stomping the paint on it... I quickly realized that this was anything but quick.  So, I decided to try out my roller.  I used a 4" skinny roller, and it work perfectly!  

Once I had the process down, I was on a roll!  10 minutes later and I had that row done!

Then, I realized that I had around 5000 other things that I had to do.  I work a full-time job during the day, so I only have evenings to work on things.  My week went about like this-

Tuesday- First coat of tan paint

Wednesday- Second coat of tan paint

Thursday- First row of stencil, church

Friday- very stressful day at work, so when I got home it was all about ice cream and Drop Dead Diva on the DVR... until 6:30, then I had another church service to go to.

Saturday- left for my Mom and Dad's house (2 hours away)

Sunday- still at Mom and Dad's house

Monday- got home from Mom and Dad's house, then work on stenciling

Tuesday- FINALLY finished the pantry!!

So, after a long, but good week, I finished the pantry and finally got the kitchen back into shape.  After stenciling the entire pantry, and painting the trim, here was the result...

Hallelujah!  I LOVE it!!!!  Seriously when I look at it, it makes me wanna sing, dance in place, jump, run around the house... you get the point.  I put everything back in place with some new pretty storage solutions and..... drum roll please.....tada!!

I was afraid that after all that work, you wouldn't even notice the stencils behind all the food, but I think it really adds depth to the space.  Here's a little breakdown of the organization.

• Potatoes and onions went in a basket in the bottom.
• Water bottles went in a basket in the bottom. 

•  Sugar, flour, brown sugar and powdered sugar went in air-tight canisters that I painted with chalkboard paint here.

• Spice packet and gravy mixes went into this cute little wooden container I scored at JoAnn Fabrics for just $1!  If you look at the overall picture of the pantry, you'll notice I had a couple bigger boxes that match these, they were only $2!  Gotta love Labor Day sales!

 

• Snacks went into a photo box re-purposed as pantry storage. (I still have to make a label for it)

•  Since I didn't want to spend any more money on canisters, I used mason jars for pasta, rice, chocolate chips, basically anything that I couldn't close back after opening. (I love mason jars, I think it gives a nice vintage industrial charm)

•  Stuff that I've canned went on the top shelf, mainly because it's pretty :)

• All the small stuff needed for baking went into a pretty basket.  (vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, food coloring)

• Store-bought canned foods went on the bottom shelf (they're not real pretty).  

So, after a week of hard labor, I finally have a pantry that I can be proud of.  Hey, I can even leave the door open when people come over!  I'm sure I'll be tweaking things as I work in the kitchen, but for now, it's perfect.  Sigh....  I told Chris I was gonna sleep in there... haha...

Just cause I love 'em so much, here's the before and after.

Before-

After-

Next project- I've gotta clean out those kitchen cabinets... the pantry is putting them to shame!

OPERATION KITCHEN ORGANIZATION continues!!!

Brooke