Ding Dong, the Entry is DONE!!!

...well, not all the way done. We still need to add crown molding, find a new light, and (eventually) change the front door, ...and decide whether or not to paint or re-stain the closet door, but for all intensive purposes, this project is done!

 Even Zizou likes it:

...or maybe he just wants to go outside.

Here is a closeup of the bench that I made. Want to see how I made it?! You can check that out here.

And now I have a nice spot to kick off those Sperrys.

Here's a closeup of the picture shelf.

Remember this frame? Now he has a home.

And here is a close-up of all the knobs. Don't mind the white paint on the back wall. That will get fixed once the crown molding goes up. I'm beginning to understand the phrase "housework is never done".

I still can't believe how different it is when you walk in the door. I'd say much more welcoming than the original wood paneling. Since the last post, I have sanded, painted and retouched the shelving and bench, installed the transition strip under the bench, and added some color with the frames, pillows and bench cushion. Over time and over many shopping trips to Target, Ikea, Home Goods, etc., we will find more pillows, rugs, and trinkets for the picture shelf to bring some more color into the space, but for now, I am SOOOO much happier when I first walk in the door. And I did it all myself! I can hardly believe it. :)

Until next time...

Come On In and Have a Seat!

There was a lot of thought that went into how to build the bench for the entry way. Initially, I wanted to the bench to span the entire length of the back wall. But after finding out that the jut in the wall was actually part of the third bedroom addition, I changed my mind. Rebuilding a wall for only three feet of extra bench seemed like a little too much work.

After that somewhat disappointing realization, I began to contemplate how to build our "plan B" nook bench. There were a few problems to consider:
1- I wanted the bench to be open underneath so that people could kick off their shoes and leave them underneath the bench. This meant that I had to still be able to support the weight of 1-2 people without the bench tearing off the wall.
2- The wall on the left of the nook is 8in, and the wall on the right is 15in. Obviously, an 8-in bench is not wide enough for even a little butt. I had to think about how I was going to allow the bench to be the width that we needed but also keep it securely attached to all three walls.

Considering both obstacles, here is what I came up with:

The bench was essentially a 2x4in. wood frame with additional 2x4s spanning the width for additional support. On the sides, I used two 2x8in boards so that they would go down to the ground and I could screw them into the wall. My bench will be able to hold a small army. Once again, I picture a (non-existent) kid jumping up and down on the bench. No skulls will be cracked due to my faulty handy work! However, if the next owners don't like the bench, they may have a real hard time taking it out, but it won't break while it's in there.

Incase you have a very similar lay out and would like to know the cuts that I made (or rather, made my husband cut for me), here they are:
1- 2 x 4 x 44in (for the back wall)
1- 2 x 4 x 37.5in  (front of the bench)
1- 2 x 4 x 6.5in  (angled side of the bench, measured from the inside)
2- 2 x 8 x 19in (side pieces spanning to the floor)
1- 2 x 4 x 4.5in (additional piece on the right side)
1- 1 x 4 x 12in (to securely connect the pieces on the right side)
5- 2 x 4 x 9in (support beams going the width of the bench)
1- 1 x 4 x 40in (face of the bench in front)
1- 1 x 4 x 9in  (face of the side angle)
plywood:
1- 47 x 13in (top of the bench)

Once the bench was put together, we fastened the bench to the studs using four, 4in. hefty bolts.

I also secured the legs to the wall with 3 1/2in. screws. You may also notice I found another use for a strip of our bead board: the flooring under the bench.

This bench is going nowhere! It can actually hold both Nabil and I with no hands (or feet), but no one was around to get that picture. ...but we tried it.

Next, I added the baseboard and trim pieces, caulked, mudded the holes/gaps, sanded the surface, and primed and the unpainted wood. This is the part that I hate the most because the end is in sight, but it always seems like this stuff take FOREVER! Once it was all said and done though, this place was actually starting to look like an entryway with a pretty kickass builtin bench if I do say so myself (and I do).

Here is the view as you walk in the front door:

To wrap this post up, let's look at that entryway to-do list shriveling away:

- tear out the bookshelf
- take out the paneling below where the picture shelf is going to be and add another texture to separate from the rest of the paneling
- build a picture shelf to span the length of the back wall
- incorporate hooks for hanging coats/purses
- build a bench to go in the wall "nook" with a place for shoes underneath (in progress, just need to finish painting and add the cushion on top)
- replace all the outdated trim and add crown molding
- replace the light fixture with something a little more modern
- replace the front door (eventually! Realistically, this is probably a few years down the line)

Picture Shelf

Aaaahhhhh... That is the sound of the heavens reigning cheers of glory on my half-way done entry way.

I have always loved the picture shelves in the dining room of old houses, so I knew that I wanted to incorporate one in our new house somewhere. ...and why not cross it off the list on our first house project right? When building the picture shelf, I had to keep a few things in mind. (1) The shelf had to be sturdy enough to support the weight of frames and other decorations over the years but also not stick out of the wall too much. In my mind I kept picturing an eight or nine year old boy doing pull-ups or just hanging off the shelf. I'm not sure who this boy is because he obviously isn't ours, but it seems like a prime idea for some pre-hormonal kid with bottomless, unfiltered energy. I don't know where I get these premonitions, but I wanted to make sure the shelf could support the weight of this non-existent child before he got hurt. (2) The shelf also had to have some kind of stopper on the end so that the frames didn't slide off the end hitting some un-expectant guest on the head. And (3) the shelf would be the divider between the gray wood paneling above and the white wall below where people would hang their coats.

Keeping all this in mind, here is what I came up with:

I use a 1x6in. board to cover the gap between the two boards. This would also serve as the base for the shelf, so I made sure it was securely fastened to the studs. Also, at this point, I had decided that I wanted to use knobs as coat hangers. Luckily I decided this before hanging the board, because with knobs, they have to be screwed in from the back of the board, so before securing the board to the wall, I drilled eleven holes and placed the screws where the knobs would eventually live.

To assemble the shelf, I used a 1x4in. board and two rounded 1x1in trim pieces. Once measured and cut, I wood-glued and hammered on the trim piece on the end of the picture shelf because that would have been more difficult to do once the shelf was already assembled. Next, I screwed the shelving pieces directly into the edge of the 1x6 support boards. If you do it this way, make sure to drill pilot holes so you don't crack the wood since the screws will be so close to the edge of the board. I then added the 1x1in. rounded trim on the underside of the shelf. This was mostly just for aesthetics, but I suppose it could be adding just a little more support too. Below is a cross-section of the shelf which probably explains it better on it's own than my long winded descriptions.

Just incase you were wondering, I do realize that the corner cut has a big gap. I quickly realized that the wall was not exactly 90 degrees, so my corners were a little off. Nothing a little mudd and sanding can't fix, right?

This is the view right when you walk into the house. The coat closet is on the left, and the living-room is to the right.

Once it was all mudded, caulked, and painted, here's what we have:

I love the look of the knobs instead of hooks. We also decided to use all different kinds of knobs to keep some interest. They are all bronze or oil rubbed bronze (or at least they look it), so it isn't too distracting. Love love love!

So there you have it, a step-by-step on how we built a picture shelf. If you'd like to see the before pictures, you can check them out here. Once it's all complete I will post more pictures of all the fun details, but for now, let's take a look at the things we have crossed off our enrtyway to-do list, shall we!?

- tear out the bookshelf
- take out the paneling below where the picture shelf is going to be and add another texture to separate from the rest of the paneling
- build a picture shelf to span the length of the back wall
- incorporate hooks for hanging coats/purses
- build a bench to go in the wall "nook" with a place for shoes underneath
- replace all the outdated trim and add crown molding
- replace the light fixture with something a little more modern
- replace the front door (eventually! Realistically, this is probably a few years down the line)

Phew, half way done! ...and all this was done in time for all of our Christmas holiday guests arrival (barely). Next up, the bench to go underneath the shelf.

Until next time...

Frame it up!

We are slowly decorating our new crib and with that comes new projects. This time, sprucing up that blah of a hallway. So here we go again. Remember my last frame project? Don't worry, this one was quite a bit easier. I didn't make anything from scratch. I used some old frames and painted, sanded and placed them to fit our style and location.

I'm mad at myself for not taking a picture of the frames before I painted them so that you all could get a true sense of the difference from start to finish, but alas, I didn't think about it until it was too late. Anywho, I started with a box set of about 10 frames. I think that I bought them for $5 at a garage sale. They were sitting in the hall closet at our old place for about a year until I could figure out what to do with them. Turns out, they were just waiting to be painted.

I bought a few spray cans of flat, white paint/prime. The hallway where I wanted to put them is pretty dark. The space needs as light much light as it can get, so bright white frames are the way to go.

One of the things that I hate most about spray painting, is that you have to be patient. That's not my strong suit. I want to spray a layer, and then spray the next one right after that. I feel like it take so LONG if I do it the right way. Turns out, people tell you to be patient for a reason. I found out that painting too fast can sometimes cause the paint to bubble up. It could have had something to do with the material I was painting on (cheap plastic), but nonetheless, when I was "almost" done with painting all the frames, I noticed a few splotches bubbling up and when I waited for it to dry, the bubbling flaked right off. Not a good look. You can kind of see one of the flake chunks that came off in the photo above (on the LOVE).

In order to salvage my project, I decided to sand down all the letters and "shabby chic" (as my sister calls it) them all. I used some gritty sandpaper that we had in our tool box to wear off the corners.

Here is the after effect:

In my humble experience, the worst part of sanding to "shabby-chic" is trying to decide wear to stop. I like the sanded look, but I needed to keep the frames mostly white so it would still brighten up the hallway. After a long process of sanding, sanding, and more sanding, I was finally ready to sort and hang.

You may notice in the "before" picture below, our hallway is pretty long. Because of that, I had to spread out the frames quite a bit. I think it will actually be better because then I can add other white frames through the years.

And there you have it. I brighter, slightly more decorated hallway. It's starting to feel more and more like home with each project.

Until next time...

The House Tour

I have gotten many requests to post pictures of our new house. It is afterall all I've been talking writing about the past couple weeks, and it has been a lot of sweat already. Luckily, no blood and tears yet. It has been a few months since we first put in the offer. It seems like it has been forever. You may remember my post about our adventures of being first time home buyers. It was a lot of work and effort, but it seems like it will all be worth it. So without further ado, here it is. Get a good look, because these will be the "before" pictures when we do all of our fun improvements.

Welcome!  Here we are from the driveway.

 Here is the front door with our plants in pots that we moved over. There is definitely some work to be done here. You may also notice our cute little kitty spying on everyone from the window.

This is the picture of the front entryway looking back in from the living room. We have some plans this winter to put in a bench and a place for the shoes.

And here we are looking at the living room from the entryway. Nabil is ready to turn some logs on the fireplace. The great wood floors are part of what sold us on the house. Now we just need to invest in a bunch of area rugs to make it a little more homey.

On the other side of the fireplace is the kitchen. Nice and airy with a side of bubbly.

Off to the side of the living room and kitchen is the sunken family room. It was a garage that was converted, and we think that with the exception of the strange 2 x 4 in the middle of the room, it is nice and cozy. Zizou likes it too.

On the other side of the living room is the bedrooms and bathroom. Below is the picture of the bathroom. Our first homeowner project was putting in the light/vent. It was a big pain in the butt for a number of reasons, but we finally have a working vent, which means ...we can finally shower!

Here is the first of three bedrooms. This bedroom is in the back of the house. We are currently using this as the master even though it isn't the biggest, but we don't have drape yet, and we don't really want the neighbors to be watching us sleeping since the real master is in the front of the house.


Here is the hallway looking down from the first bedroom. The other two bedrooms are through door number one and door number two.

The smallest bedroom is behind door number one. It will eventually be the nursery. ...but for right now, that is kinda scary to think about, so we just mostly keep that door shut.

The last room. This is the view from the little nook in the corner of the room. This room is actually the master bedroom, but we would like to get some drapes, a bigger bed, and a different wall heating system before moving in. ...more fun house projects!

And last but certainly not least... our yard! This is one of the big selling points of the house for us. We envision a big patio with a built in fire pit, raised garden beds, maybe even some fruit trees in the back. I mean the yard is huge. If you look hard enough, you can see Nabil mowing the lawn with our new riding lawn mower (we got a GREAT deal on Craig's List)! So much potential!

So there you have it ladies and gents. That is the house. There will be many more home improvement / DIY projects to follow so stay tuned!

Until next time...

First Time Home Buyer

I know, I'm sorry. It has been a while. It is the longest that I have gone without a post since I started. Don't fret, it isn't because I have given up. The reason behind the leave of absence is that Nabil and I have been house hunting. Eeek! This is not our first time however. No, no, no. We first looked for a place about two and a half years ago. We found a few places that we liked, but it just seemed like nothing would work out. We even put an offer on a townhouse, but the bank that owned the property never got back to us. We literally just never heard back. Eventually we had to stop looking because we had to either renew our lease at the apartment we lived in at the time, or get out. It probably ended up being for the best, because the housing market has continued to go down since then (which no one thought it would), so we are now able to afford a real house (said followed by a giddy "yippy")! This will be the first place that we live that doesn't have someone else living above, below or to the side. It's hard to image not having to consider the noise level of the TV at 11pm. Can you tell I'm excited?!

Anyway, we started looking for houses again at the end of last summer, so I guess it has been about six months although it feels like much longer. The last three months though we have been going balls to the wall. Our poor agents. Seriously. They are probably exhausted. We have been going through tour after tour, getting excited and then getting disappointed. I hope that it will end up being worth it because I can't wait until we get to turn the key and walk in to OUR HOUSE for the first time. However, at this point, I'm not sure we will ever get there. We are currently in the process of negotiating but because of a bad inspection, I'm thinking that we may have to walk away.

Through the process of purchasing a house, we have learned a lot. That is actually an understatement, and I think most homeowners would agree there is really nothing like buying your first house. So to those who are still on the brink, I impart my new found wisdom. Here are 8 things that I have learned from being a first time house hunter.

#1 - House hunting sucks!

I hate to say it, but it's true. It can be fun to look at pictures of houses and even go tour the houses in person, but for me the emotional roller coaster was not on my list of "fun things I want to do". House hunting is jam-packed full of getting super excited about a potential house and then having all your hopes and dreams crash to the floor in front of you. I always get so jealous of my friends that can do home improvement projects of their own, and it is exciting to think about the potential in each new house. I mean you have to picture yourself living in the house to see if it is a good fit. The shitty part comes when you find out that there is already an offer on the house, or someone just barely out bid your ceiling price. It's mentally exhausting, and it sucks. Enough said.

#2 - Find a good real estate agent and mortgage broker.
We picked our real estate agents, Mellisa and Carrie because one of their husbands played on Nabil's soccer team. It may not always be a good idea to go with a friend, but we wanted someone we could trust and would have our best interests at heart. Also, being first time home buyers, we wanted someone who would tell us if a house was more than we could handle. They have obviously seen way more than we have, so we wanted them to be very honest and open with us. Another good thing about our agents, is that they are two partners working as a team. That means if one of them is on vacation or sick, the other is available who has access to all of our past tours and knows what we want. To be honest, I was a little hesitant at first of working with two people, but it really worked seamlessly. I would highly recommend it.

#3 - Know why you are buying.

This one may seem obvious, but I think that it is worth thinking about. Think about why buying is better than the alternative. Owning a house is not the investment that it used to be. You are not guaranteed to get all or even some of your money back in 3+ years. For us, we wanted to be able to work on the little things. I like gardening and DIY home improvement projects. Since we've been renting it just seems like all that money, time and energy is going to benefit someone else. That isn't the only reason we were looking to buy, but it was a big one.

Also think about where will you be in 5 years. 10 years? Will the house suit all your needs for that long? What is your "must have" list? I think that it was a big advantage to us that we rented a house before looking to buy. There I things I would have NEVER thought about before. Things like looking to see if the backyard slopes towards the house. The rental that we live in right now does. Because of that, and because we live in Oregon and it is always raining, the basement has a constant stream of water running through it. All of our storage has to be on pallets to avoid any water damage. Also, while the windows in our rental are fairly new, they are cheap. They leak heat like crazy. The list could go on, but you get the idea. These are all fixable, but it's expensive and is something that is better to know sooner rather than later. Of course there are always going to be things that come up or things that were overlooked, but the more you look for at the beginning, the better.

#4 - Learn to compromise
We had our "must have" list of things when we first started looking. I'm sure our agents were rolling on the ground laughing after we left their office from our "beginning the house hunt" meeting. We knew we wanted to have a mini-fixer, and we thought that we were being realistic but we ended up having to compromise on a few things. We would have loved to have more than one bathroom and have a basement for storage, but in reality our first time home buyer budget didn't allow for everything. My best advise is to have a "must have" list, but be willing to negotiate with yourself. We may not have a second bath, but we have a HUMONGOUS backyard. We don't have a basement or garage, but we have a fireplace, and a very cozy sunken living room. In the end you have to feel at home and be excited about the house, but you also have to keep and open mind and be realistic.


#5 - Do your homework

Never underestimate the power of doing your homework! This process doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and energy. Look at everything! And I don't just mean look at everything in your budget. Take a look all over the map. Go to open houses that are way over your budget; although; I would not recommend telling the listing agent that your actual budget is lower. The first few times we did that, and we were met with a condescending attitude. I really think though that seeing houses in such a range helped us to know how to spot a good value.

Get to know the good and bad areas of town. Sometimes there are little pockets in an area that you may not have considered but could be exactly what you are looking for. When we were searching, Nabil and I would spend a Saturday afternoon just driving around the city finding neighborhoods and areas that we liked, and areas that we wanted to stay away from. There were a few areas of the city that we thought were great, and are known for being very popular for young families, but the commute to and from work would have been an extra 20-30 minutes. To me that's not worth it.


#6 - Prepare for the worst
Nabil makes fun of me a little bit for this one. He thinks I am going to turn into a Doomsday Prepper. But really, buying a house is scary. It's especially scary having seen the market crash and thousands of people losing their homes. It's true that some of this could have been prevented. You should know that it isn't smart to buy more than you can afford. In fact you should be able to budget in some savings. You never know when a pipe is going to burst. That being said, shit happens. You can prepare for the worst all day and night, but at some point it doesn't do any good to keep stressing out. I am a master at stressing myself out and over analyzing everything, but in the end, it is a risk. Life happens. Prepare for the worst, but don't drive yourself crazy.

#7 - Know when to tune out the input

When it comes to buying a house, EVERYONE is going to offer advise. It gets old quick. After a while, I had to just tune it all out. Like most parents, my parents tried to be helpful, and they were, but they just don't quit. I must have heard the exact same thing from each parent about 20 times. I just had to keep telling myself that they mean well. Then there are those people that think it's funny to say "oh the joys of home ownership". The next time I hear that I may slap that snide smile off their face. Yes, there were more than a few times I had to hone my inner teenager. You know when you keep saying "uh-huh" and "ya, of course", while you really have no idea what they just said. It turns out that little girl with the tude hasn't died off. She is alive and well. ...and very useful.

That's not to say I didn't ask or want advise from people. I did! I asked almost everyone I know including parents, coworkers, friends, our agents, etc. I'm the kind of person that wants to hear all the horror stories, the "I wish I would have..." stories, and the "I'm glad I did..." tidbits. I want to hear it all, but then I want to decide for myself. I mean, I think that Nabil and I are smart people. We do our research, and in the end it is our house. We're the ones that have to live in it every day. Everyone else may think it is a money-sucking, whore house, but we have to love it, and if that's the case, it will be a money-sucking, whore home.

#8 - Know when to walk away
We actually learned this the hard way during our first round of looking for houses (and potentially a second time). It can be so exciting when you finally find that house where you can see yourself living, starting a family, and  where you can generally feel at home. There are so many times in the process where I had to consciously stop myself from trying to picture fun DIY home improvement projects because it is heartbreaking when something doesn't work out. When you finally find a good fit, you want it to work out more than anything. Sometimes however, you have to walk away. There is a limit to every budget, and it is different with every buyer. Unless the home you are looking at is brand new, there are going to be things that come up during the inspection, but you have to learn where the line is rather than getting in over your head with a new sewer line that you really can't afford, or in our case, a crawl space that doesn't meet clearance and has a small stream running through the corner. Often the seller will fix major issues that come up before closing especially if they badly want to sell their property, but if they aren't willing to budge, it is important to know what is too much to handle.

So that's it. First time home buying is full of ups and downs, but fingers crossed, it will all be worth it when if we get those keys!

Until next time...

Update: Nabil and I moved in to our first house not too long ago. You can check out the tour of the house here. It was definitely a lot of time, effort, and energy that went into purchasing the house, but I think that it was all worth it. Now we have a place of our very own, that we can make feel like our own. A place that we can call home for a long time. A place where our kid(s) will call home for the first part of their life. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are very excited about it because it is all OURS!