Casa De E
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Priceless?
Over the weekend we had a neighborhood yard sale. This happens 2x a year and I’ve gone to all of them since we moved in. I’ve managed to score some pretty cool items, for cheap too. Last year I got a bag of pink Christmas ornaments for $5.00, much to Matt’s dismay. (This led to the purchase of a white Christmas tree! 😉 ) At the same house, I found some really large 24×36 wooden frames. I think they were $1.00 for both! They are currently hanging above the buffet in the living room waiting to be made over.
This year, my usual partner was actually participating so Mom said she would go with me. I managed to snag a few free baskets from a friend at our first stop. Mom found a large outdoor lantern and some pics at our 2nd stop (and spent almost all of her money!) After that it was kind of slow. It didn’t feel like many people were participating this year. As we were headed back to the house we stopped at a sale just down the street. There was a large painting sitting off to the side. Mom and I were talking about it when the sellers came over. Apparently it had been “Aunt Ida’s”. They said they weren’t sure Aunt Ida ever liked the pic but she had had it for years. It was about the size I was looking for for over the guest bed but the painting was not really my style. While a nice landscape, it just wouldn’t work in the house. I asked how much and when the lady said $10.00, I knew it was coming home with me.
I told Mom Matt was going to kill me but the frame alone was worth probably $50.00 or more. So my grand vision, paint over the existing canvas. Yep! Matt didn’t care that I’d bought the pic but he was curious as to how long it was going to sit in the garage. I might have a fewor fiveother projects currently sitting out there. :OYesterday, I ran to Michael’s to get some Gesso. I knew I could use that to cover the existing print and also to add more texture. So right now it’s in the garage with a few light Gesso coats on it. Since I hadn’t used Gesso before, I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and get paints too. Plus I wanted to use a 40% off coupon for the paint set so I ran back to Michael’s at lunch to get some paints and brushes. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to paint. Or just see what happens. I want to go for something pretty abstract. I’m hoping that equates to easy.
I’m hoping to have it finished this week so we’ll see what happens. For now, let’s just hope the original wasn’t some priceless piece of art!~k
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One Round, Two Firsts
Well hello there! It’s been a while. Life has been kind of busy lately. Matt and I always seem to have something to do lately, whether it’s playing golf, doing stuff around the house, or just being lazy. I feel like we are so much busier now days.
Three weeks ago I started weekly golf lessons. Our club is offering a weekly Ladies Clinic this Spring/Summer. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I was going to sign up. I recruited a few friends to join me and the past few weeks we’ve had close to 40 ladies attend, which is amazing. The first few lessons have covered the short game, chipping and putting. Neither of which I’m great at but I think I might have picked something up from the putting clinics.
Anyway, I’ve made a new golf friend and we’ve been playing or practicing a few times a week since clinic started. We’ve even made the husbands go out with us. 😉 Since we are about the same level, she is a good person to play with.
I told Matt a while back my goal for this summer was to get my first Par. We have a couple of short Par 3 holes and I’ve had my eye on #3 for my first Par. Yesterday G and I went out with her husband to play a quick 9 scramble since Matt and a friend tee’ed off a few minutes before us. The goal was to eventually catch up to them.
We get to #3 and I hit a pretty decent drive off the tee. I end up right on the fringe of the green. All I need to do is 2 putt and I’ll have Par. Well, I totally ended up blowing my putts and finished with a Bogie. Boo!
Lately I’ve been hitting my driver pretty well off the tee on #6 and yesterday was no exception. I hit a great drive to the bottom right of the fairway. Now I just need to get it over the “schmutz” (aka the crap/rough/hazard) which is sort of a problem for me. I grab my 3 Wood and end up hitting a great second shot to the front of the green! Holy cow I’m on the green in 2! I’m about 20 ft from the hole and have a great first putt just short of the hole. Tap in the second putt for Par! YAY!!!! Of all the holes I thought I’d Par, I didn’t think it would be #6, a Par 4 hole!
At this point I’m feeling pretty good! I’ve gotten my Par. Now I just need to get my ball over the schmutz on #8, a short Par 3. The past few times I’ve played, I’ve completly jacked this hole and ended up not even finishing because I’ve lost at least one ball off the tee. I’ve been practicing hitting my irons off the tee at the range just for this stupid hole. I tee up and hit. “Just make it over, just make it over!” The ball clears the schmutz, lands on the green and rolls…..and stops about 5 ft short of the hole! Holy cow! I now have a shot at Birdie! A few deep breaths later, I tap the ball into the hole! YAY!!!! Cue minor freak out!
We finish #9 and Matt is waiting for us! I proceed to give him the play by play for my awesome accomplishments for our round! It feels pretty good to know that I am actually getting better at this game and that one day I might actually be able to keep score! 😉~k
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Frosty
I know I’ve talked about this a bunch so I won’t rehash all the details regarding our door debacle. Anyway, a few weeks ago, a car guy Matt knows, posted some window frosting he’d done for a local hotel. At that point, I had no clue how I was going to get our door frosted so I asked Matt how to contact him. He gave me his email and then I basically begged him to come do our door. He agreed and we started talking details. I already knew what I wanted so he drew it up. Matt and I agreed on a design and then I decided on a film. The film was ordered and once it arrived Matt’s friend cut it and set up a time for install.
Last Friday he came over around 10:30 to start on the door. It only took about 30 mins and man does it look amazing! It’s pretty subtle from the outside during the day but I LOVE how it looks from the inside and outside at night.
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Patience paid off!
For the past year I’ve been drooling over this one specific dining room table that I kept seeing on Pinterest. Of course, none of the links listed where the actual table was from. I searched high and low and one day I finally found a blog that stated where the table was from, Restoration Hardware. I immediately went to their website and found the table I’d been lusting over was the Salvaged Wood Trestle Dining Table. And then I found the price. No matter how much I loved this table I just couldn’t (and Matt said no!) see spending that much on just a table.
I began searching for something comparable, specifically with the same or similar style legs. I found a few that were similar but either they weren’t solid wood or they were out of my price range. If i was going to spend $1500+ I figured I might as well just buy the one I really loved. Here are a few similar ones I found: Harverty’s Avondale, the Randall from Wayfair (which is really cheap and mostly made of veneers), the Manor House also from Wayfair (which I can’t currently find online but was listed for $2500.00), the Arcadia Extension Table from World Market (again mostly veneers).
Once I’d decided I probably wasn’t going to find my table, in a price range I liked, I started looking at other options. There is a wholesale store called Nadeau in Raleigh that has solid wood pieces from India. A coworker and I would run over at lunch and look around. I finally decided that I’d most likely just buy a table from there when the time came and while it wouldn’t be my RH table, I could probably find something with that similar rustic feel.
I started following Nadeau on FB and IG since they get shipments in quite frequently. And then last week it happened, my table on their FB page! I freaked and immediately commented to see how much the table was listed for and how big it was. They responded and I showed Matt. The table was still a little more than I wanted to spend but it was THE table! I even waited another week before I went to check it out in person. I was able to get the guy to hold it for the rest of the day so I could go home and measure our space. Once we knew it would fit, I told Matt he had to go see it so on Saturday we ran to Raleigh to check it out. The table is made of solid mango wood and 7’3″ by 3.5′. Matt agreed it was nice and I bought my table. It was delivered yesterday and I can say it is spectacular! It looks beautiful in the space. Now I just need chairs and a rug. I’ve had the rug picked out for a few months now but I’ll wait to purchase it since the table was a little more than I was hoping to spend. I’m hoping the rug will help me decide on what chairs to buy. For now the dining room is coming together. 🙂
Empty dining room 
With the table! 
The rug I want to go under the table. -
A tale of two doors
Right after Matt and I moved into the new house we had a really bad storm come through and our front door leaked. You can read about that here. That was 3 months ago. Since then I’ve been waiting for my new front door. While we weren’t happy that the front door leaked, it gave me the opportunity to actually get the front door I wanted. When we bought the house, I had dreams of removing the grids from the front door and frosting it with our address in the middle. However, the grids on our door were glued in and the builder said they couldn’t remove them. I was totally bummed.
Anyway, fast forward to today. It’s been 3 months and I am just now getting my new front door. Somewhere in between the door leaking and our 2 month inspection, the warranty guy was let go. So when it came time to sand down the foyer floors by the door and replace the door, the door went missing. No one was really sure what happened to the door. It was either misplaced or stolen which meant a new door would have to be ordered. Last Thursday we got a delivery. A new front door! The CORRECT front door was delivered to the house. The builder picked it up to have it painted and now I’m waiting for them to come and install it. I was hoping they would be early but seeing as it’s after 9am, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Hopefully it won’t take long to replace the door.
This is the old door. You can see the silicone they put around the panel to try and keep the water out. I feel we are lucky it didn’t leak again. Of course the guys didn’t show up to replace the door till closer to 10. It look about 45 mins to get everything swapped out but I must say the new door is BEAUTIFUL! I love it soo much! I really wish I could leave the glass open but you can see straight up to the master at night. The full pane of glass gives the house a little move charm, I think. I know it’s not a huge difference but I’m really happy.
Old door on the left, new door on the right. SOO much better. I think the new door looks older with more charm. The glass is also a little wider. 
From the inside. I had the door painted the same color on both sides. As for frosting the glass, I realized last night the new door is tempered glass and the glass etching stuff won’t work on tempered glass. I guess I’m going to have to use the spray frost. This is not my ideal method but it’s also a little less permanent than glass etching. Oh and I should mention the sheers I had covering the front door don’t work now because the area around the glass is covered and not boxed off. Does that even make sense? Anyway, my tension rods don’t have a place to fit now. So we are totally ghetto and have suction cups on the glass holding the sheers. Whomp!
~k
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The making of a craft room
When we picked our new house I knew I was going to make one of the bedrooms into a craft room. Matt was getting an office and I wanted a craft room. We had the space so I decided to use the bedroom next to the the master. It’s the only bedroom not connected to a bathroom and I wasn’t keen on having a bedroom right next to our bedroom/bathroom so this was the perfect space.
For months I searched and searched for a desk. I found one at Ikea but due to the shipping costs I kept looking. Then I found one on Amazon that was similar and ordered it. Thanks to UPS, the desk was left in the rain by our garage, not on our front porch, and the desk was ruined. I shipped it back and continued the search. I also realized that one and the one from Ikea would have been too small for the space so it worked out.
I still hadn’t found anything when my mom called one day to tell me that her work was getting rid of their display tables. Employees would be able to purchase them for $20.00. I knew it was just a wooden table but for $20.00 I told her to get me one. Turns out it will work great for a craft table.
I decided to be lazy and not actually strip or sand the table down. I bought some Kilz instead and used that as my base. Next I painted the table with 2-3 coats of paint. I decided to use our trim color since it wasn’t quite white. I thought a bright white table might clash. I’m really glad I used the trim color to be honest. Everything flows nicely.
Since the table was going to be used for crafts I thought it might be a good idea to put a top coat on the top. Boy, that was a mistake! I bought a spray clear coat. I did several light coats but the finish wasn’t glossy like it was supposed to but so I decided to put it on a little heavier. Well the damn stuff turned yellow, the can said it wouldn’t turn yellow! Grrr! So I ended up having to sand the top down to the gloss off so I could then add another coat of paint. In the end it turned out fine but it was kind of a pain.
Before, with Julio photobomb 
Fast forward a few days. The table has finally been painted and I ask Matt to help me get it into my craft room. Well I didn’t measure the table. Whoops. After about 20 mins of trying every possible way to get the table in Matt decided it wouldn’t fit. Okay so that’s not really an option. I immediately told him to cut the feet off. He was hesitant at first but we took the table back downstairs and on the front porch he sawed off the bottom few inches. I found some casters to replace the feet with and I think everything will be fine now. This will also allow me to move the table around should I need or want to.
The chair for my craft room has been a little less dramatic. I found the cutest chair at the Flea Market a few months ago. It just needed a little paint and some new fabric. I’ve been on the hunt for fabric since I found it.
Over the weekend I was able to get the chair painted with the hope that it would make finding a fabric a little easier. Well today was the day. I was going back through my fabric board on Pinterest and finally decided to order one. I think it will look really nice on the chair. It should be here in a week or so. If I like the fabric, I’ll do a quick review on the fabric store I used.
Chair before paint. Notice the brass tips on the feet. I’m going to spruce those up with a little more gold paint. 
Chair after paint. I need to add the gold. 
Fabric for the chair seat. I still have more work to do but this is the start.
~k
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It was a doozy!
Thursday afternoon I was standing on the screen porch watching the neighbors film House Hunters, when a loud clap of thunder boomed. Made me jump. It had started to sprinkle and that probably kept me and a few other neighbors from being a bit more obvious with our stalking. 😉
I finally went inside and the rain started to pick up. Then the lightning started. Matt called me to come upstairs to the “viewing room” to see the show. I took a few pics as the storm started to roll in but I had no clue what we were in store for. A little while later the rain and wind picked up. And then the bottom fell out. The wind was howling, the rain flooding the yards and street, thunder and lightning and then hail. It was pretty crazy for a good half hour to hour.
The storm rolling in. As I was texting my friend who lived a few minutes away and she’s telling me the storms are normally pretty bad here, I notice there is water running out of the front door. Not around the front door but literally out of it. The front door has a screw on panel and the water is coming through. Then we notice water is also coming under the quarter round. Matt and I are trying to keep as much water off the floor with towels and paper towels.
Water running out of the door panel. This is the bottom of the door. 
Water coming in from the quarter round. Once the winds died down, Matt opened the door to wipe it off and see what was going on. We could tell the panel wasn’t sealed properly. I begin taking pics of the door and the floor and email them to our warranty guy. He responds that someone would be out the next day or the following Monday. When the storm is finally over, we do what we can to clean up the water and wait.
On Friday, the forecast calls for more storms so I email the warranty guy again and ask that someone come out that afternoon before anymore damage is done. Around 5pm the builder meets us at the house and we show him what’s going on. He goes ahead and adds some silicone to the outside of the door but tells us that since the door now has water in it, it will have to be replace. Talk about good news! I really wanted a full glass door without the crossbars so now is my chance to get one!
After he finishes his inspection he tells us that the sweep and part of the floor will also need to be replaced. The floor boards had already started to buckle. We’re not sure it was all from the storm. It’s possible it had been leaking for a while and no one was aware. Now we are just waiting for everything to be scheduled to be replaced.
~k
More on what I plan to do with the new door soon.
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Sunrise, Sunset
Wow, I didn’t realize it has been quite so long since my last post. We have been in the new house for almost a month and so far so good! We are just waiting on the new sofa to come and then I have to persuade Matt to buy a dining room table. My craft desk is on the way and then I can start working on that room (which I’m really excited about)!
Yesterday Matt was sitting on the screen porch and I was inside on the sofa. I hear him tap on the window and motion for me to come out. I figured Julio was doing something cute. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The sky was filled with blues, pinks, and purples. It was AMAZING! I knew if the back yard was that pretty, the front would be even more amazing, and I was right!
I grabbed my camera and we both ran upstairs to the Ensuite. The windows are almost even with the roof so we opened the windows and I sat on the window sill and took some pics. The sky was just beautiful.
It’s not just sunsets that are amazing at the new house either. Sunrise has been pretty good since the time change (when I’m actually up to see the sunrise). I took these pics the other morning as I was leaving the house. Needless to say, I think I’m going to like it here!
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Keys to the Casa
Well, it’s OFFICIAL! We have a brand new house!
Due to weather concerns, our closing attorney pushed our closing from 10:30 yesterday to 2:30. While I would have preferred to close a little earlier in the day, this allowed us to sleep in and take our time. We met the builder and warranty guy at the house at 12:30 to make sure everything on our checklist was complete. Once the details were finalized, Matt and I headed to lunch before going to closing.
Closing went smoothly and an hour later we had keys in hand. Since the locks are contractor locks we had to run back out to the house to re-key the locks. I also wanted to put down some contact paper under the cabinets in the bathrooms and “frost” the bathroom windows – let’s just say that was a disaster and move on. 😉
Gift basket the builder left at the house! I thought it was great they put some TP and paper towels in the basket. I was smart and brought those items but it was really fun to walk into the house and see our house warming gift! As we were leaving closing it started to snow. Once we got to the house the flakes were much bigger. It snowed pretty good for a few minutes and then let up. A little while later, I looked out the windows and the snow was really coming down. Big, huge, flakes. It snowed like that for 10-15 minutes and then quit.
I don’t feel like the pic captures just how hard it was snowing at this point. Matt worked on our driveway for a little while but didn’t make much progress. It’s pretty much just a big sheet of ice. Our driveway doesn’t get much sun and the concrete is too new to use a de-icer.
Temps will continue to fall tonight so tomorrow morning should be fun. Thankfully we hired movers and I can just direct traffic.
Sunset after the “storm”. I should mention, the new ‘hood looks beautiful with snow! Unfortunately I didn’t take any pics. My camera was at home and it was starting to get late.
~k
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#icepocolipse 2015
The last few days the forecast has been up in the air for what we were in store for this week. Some models had Raleigh getting a few inches of snow. Others had use getting up to .5″ of ice. Yay Snow, Boo Ice!
Yesterday morning my office sent out an email stating people could work from home that afternoon should they be able. Around 12:30 my coworkers and myself headed home. It was a pretty slow afternoon as we waited to see what was going to happen.
Around 4:30 the wintery mix started and then came the snow. We got a decent dusting of snow then the sleet set in. It sleeted most of the night and we woke up to a white Tuesday!
We got lucky that we got sleet and not ice. Ice would have been terrible considering closing is tomorrow! Oh yeah, we are closing tomorrow! Come Hell or Snow (or ice)!
The attorney called Matt earlier and they have pushed our closing back to later in the day. This should be better since we have to run over to the house for our pre-close walk through. Basically we just have to sign off that the things from our walk through have been completed. The list would also include ANOTHER microwave.
So funny story, the replacement microwave came in last week and the door was broken. That’s 6 microwaves between two house! Ya’ll it’s crazy. 😉 We did get the new microwave installed at the current house and it is operational!
I told Matt we would have picked the COLDEST week of the year to close/move! Wish us luck on Friday!
~k
