New Seating

I've wanted a bench for our dining room table for a long time. I've kept an eye out, but have never seen anything I really like or can afford. Our seating is a hodge podge anyway of craiglist Pottery Barn chairs and black IKEA chairs and now... a bench!

Look how pretty it is!

Glenn always says that I am the idea person and he is the one that brings it to fruition. That was definitely the case with this project too! I found the plans on this website. She's pretty famous in the blog world and her plans are free! This was our first Ana White project though and we definitely learned a few things along the way. For example, make the longest cuts first, otherwise, you have to go out to the store and buy an extra 2x4. Also, buy a little extra fabric because she is very tight with her measurements. I bought an extra 1/4 yard and used ever inch width wise.

I didn't take too many pictures because I was helping Glenn...aka I applied the wood glue and told him measurements.

Here are the legs before we applied the side pieces and the top.

The bench cost us a little money, but I figure it was cheaper than buying 3 chairs that would have otherwise gone on that side of the table.
     Home Depot (2x4s, plywood, stain): ~$35
     Jo-Ann Fabrics (Fabric): $29
     Jo-Ann Fabrics (Foam): $100, but I used a 50% coupon so $50
     Extra 2x4: $3

We already had the wood screws and sandpaper. The total time to build the bench was about 2-3 hours including staining (I used a stain/poly combo). Sewing the slipcover took me another 3 hours I think.

We modified the plans slightly by making the legs a little longer (15.5 inches instead of 14.25") and I accidentally bought 4" foam (the plans call for 3") so the bench is a little higher than most, but when we tested it out, it fits the table comfortably.

 

The hardest part of the project and most time consuming was sewing the slipcover. I followed the plans except for making the aprons 9.5 inches instead of 8 to accommodate my thicker foam. I wish I had had a couple extra inches of fabric though because after hemming and not exactly straight cutting, I ended up with exactly 8 inches of finished length with just grazes the bottom of the 2x4. Note: I should have stained up the sides a bit or I might still.

The directions are a little confusing but when sewing the slipcover, I followed these steps:
1. Sew the short sides to the top with 1/4" seam allowance by putting the right sides together.
2. Pin the long sides to the top by putting the right sides together.
3. Pin the long and short pieces together down the corner.
4. Sew from the center of the long side towards the corner, when I was 1/4" from the corner, rotate the fabric with the needle in and sew down the corner.
5. Repeat from the center to the opposite corner and the same on the other side.
6. Iron and hem the bottom all the way around.

These pictures don't really help much, but the idea was to get pretty corners! I think I did alright.

I love how it turned out! Luckily and accidentally, I chose a fabric with a geometric pattern that is the same both horizontally and vertically. This helped a lot when cutting the fabric, lining up the pattern and when I almost ran out of fabric, I could cut pieces in both directions. Otherwise, I definitely would have had to make another trip to the store.

 And here it is again. Let's see what I can get Glenn to help me build next....a bed perhaps?

More painting: China cabinet

I think I'm going to be covered from head to toe with paint before I put down the paint brush. The painting continues!

Now I am working on the Craigslist cabinet that resides in the master bathroom.

Here's the transformation it has made so far. I'm painting it with Benjamin Moore Impervo paint in White Dove. The research I did online said that the paint dries to a hard and washable surface that I thought would be good for a bathroom. It seems to good paint so far although at $22/quart. I won't be using it for a lot of projects. And it is oil based which I hate to clean up. I primed the cabinet first in a Zinnser primer. One more coat to go and then I'll reassemble it! I've got to let it dry for a full 24 hours between coats.

Bathroom Paint Job

So it all started with this. This little spot is about an inch and a half long and it's hard to tell, but it is a missing chunk of plaster/caulk whatever you want to call it between the wall and the door frame. I got out my wood putty and my putty knife ready to tackle that and above the door frame.

I know. Yuck. Every door in the house looks like this because the people that did the plaster apparently didn't have a ladder. So I started scraping that away, attempting to clean it up a bit.

Well, the scraping continued. And continued. And by then I discovered 5 layers of paint.

 

 And before I knew it, I had scraped the entire door frame and made a huge mess.

 

The house may/may not have lead paint (no, I didn't research this at all, I'm just guessing) so I wore my mask while using my new power sander (thanks for the Christmas present, Tim).

I scraped the first two layers off, but it most parts the rest of the layers seemed to want to stick. I'm guessing they used a latex over an oil based paint at some point. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the rooms in the house! Yikes.

So I filled in some spaces with a ton of wood putty. I should have bought the big size of that! Sanded, primed and put two coats of Benjamin Moore semi-gloss white on the frame and baseboards.

Then I finally started painting the walls! I had to send a text to my sister-in-law to figure out how I was suppose to handle the duct work in the bathroom. I painted the ceiling first. Benjamin Moore kitchen and bath paint in a white satin finish. I'm glad we have ladder for painting ceilings! I love the 9 foot ceilings, but wow, my arms were tired.

Finally! The walls! I finally decided on a warm brown color that has a little grey in it. The color is Benjamin Moore Driftwood, but I used Behr paint in a satin finish. I thought it looked best with all the tile colors in the bathroom. It is a little darker than a lot of suggestions I got, but I think it's still pretty neutral. Amazingly, it only took ONE coat. I'd buy Behr paint again just because of that even though it is more expensive than other options. I only used a quart and a half. I edged with a brush, rolled the walls and then went back with a tiny brush to fill in some of the textured spots that didn't get filled in. The textured walls covered pretty well with a roller though.

So after 2 days of literally standing on my head at times (while painting under the vanity), I finished! How did the tiniest room in the house take so long? I'm a little scared about even starting some of the other rooms!

 Is it weird that my favorite part is the ceiling? It's so white and bright!

 And of course the shiny baseboards are pretty great too. Only 4 more miles of baseboard to go.

 

I think I might replace the mirror if I find something fun and add a piece of art above the toilet eventually, but one room is painted!

Asheville Road Trip

 

After all of our traveling in Japan, Glenn and I were feeling a little restless that a three day weekend was approaching and we didn't have travel plans! We had passed through Asheville on our way from MN to Norfolk and decided that we wanted to return.

The Biltmore Estate has always been on my list of places I wanted to visit. Giant, old house? Check! It doesn't hurt that Asheville is a college, foody, hippy town that Glenn and I always seem to like. It reminded me in parts to Austin or Madison.

We hit the road around 1:00 on Friday afternoon which was great to avoid the tunnel and general traffic on a Friday afternoon. It took us about 6 1/2 hours to get to Asheville, but we kept busy by listening to the Steve Jobs audio book (side note: we listened to the abridged version which is 9 hours long, the unabridged is 25 hours!). We both enjoyed the book and were able to finish it on our way home.

We went to a cute restaurant near Pack Square our first night. We were staying in the Downtown Inn, a former Comfort Inn I believe, but at only $53 a night (including taxes!) and walking distance to a lot of the bars and restaurants, it was a perfect location. I think next time we go, we'll bring Stella because Asheville is a very dog friendly town. We saw dogs everywhere including at the Biltmore Estate (in the gardens, not the house).

On Saturday, we went to breakfast at a local shop and then headed to the Biltmore. Since it is their off-season, they don't open til 9:30, but tickets are only $45 ($35 with a military discount!). I think during the summer and Christmas they approach the $60-$70 range. The gardens were obviously not as pretty this time of year, but it is still worth going since the crowds are smaller.

We toured the house in about 3 hours. The audio guide is also free this time of year so we listened to that all the way through. If I were to go back, I think I would take one of the guided tours just to learn different things.

After the house, which was pretty amazing, we toured the winery. Free wine tastings! As many as you want! Always a bonus. There are also tons of shops that we walked through and picked up a few things. The Estate also has a hotel, a dozen or so restaurants, horseback riding and tons of other things to do. You could easily spend 2 full days here. We were there until after a late late lunch until 3 or 4.

We hit up a few shops in downtown before they closed on Saturday evening and then went to the Thirsty Monk for dinner/drinks before heading back to our hotel.


On Sunday we planned to drive part of the Blue Ridge Scenic highway on the way home. All of the things I had read said it is one of the most beautiful drives in the country. Unfortunately after about 10 miles, we encountered this:

 Boo. So we made u-turn and headed home on our original route. I guess we'll have to make the drive in the fall when the leaves start to change. I guess that's my favorite time of the year anyway!

We still had Monday back at home to relax and get a few projects done. A great weekend, though! I'm excited for our next long weekend when we head to Maryland to visit some friends.

Pinspiration #1

I always see beautiful and fun ideas on Pinterest, but for the most part they are just ideas. I saw this cute picture idea the other day and thought it would be perfect! I not only had a bag of spare Scrabble tiles with my scrapbook things, but it is also my favorite board game of all times. I love me some Words with Friends!

Found Here.

And here is my version! I had to add the word family because Smith was lacking a few necessary letters.

I hung it in our bedroom with a collection of other photos. Mostly our engagement pictures and pictures of the two of us.

We still have to figure out what to do with the space in front of the windows. Until we do, it's the perfect place for our Insanity workouts. Today is a rest day, thank goodness because I'm not sure I could paint the bathroom AND work out. 

 

Happy Birthday Brooke!

Miss Brooke is two years old today! Happy Birthday!

This is why

I was avoiding painting the trim...

More room for dresses

On Monday, Glenn and I hung up a few more shelves and rods in our master closet. This time, we needed a few higher shelves for medium length dresses and long dresses/flight suits.

It of course makes the closet feel a bit more cramped but much more functional! We were much more efficient this time too and hung both parts in about an hour.

I think the last part will be to add several shelves to the left of the door for shoes. The shoes are just making piles all over the floor for now, but putting in a closet system is not cheap so I'm glad we are doing it in stages. This closet maid system from Home Depot is easy to install (easier with straight walls) but we have invested about $800 so far I think!

New Blue

The living room has taken on a new look over the past couple weeks with the addition of a rug and a few blue accents. The gray and white was looking a little cold, so we needed another color. We also added more pictures to the walls. I think Glenn is getting tired of hanging things but were almost done!