Thanksgiving

We finally have the computer hooked up and internet so I can post a few of the pictures that were on my camera. We spent Thanksgiving with our dear friends, the Butalas. We were SO excited to come back to Norfolk and spend the next several years with them, but alas, the Navy had different plans. A few weeks after we got back to VA, they received orders to San Diego. We are soaking up our last few months with our friends!

 

Amy made a delicious meal! I love our Navy family, but I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye so soon after saying Hello again!

 

A little privacy

Our front door is more like a window in to the entire house. The windows were huge and every time I laid on the couch, I felt like the entire neighborhood could see me. I'm sure that wasn't the case, but during our second night in the house, a neighbor stopped by and said, "Sarah said you didn't have a baby, but I saw a baby and had to come and see if I was right so I could rub it in her face." "Well, that is our friends' baby, not ours." And she saw that while walking her dog, so.... a solution was needed.

First I bought some tiny cafe curtain rods that I was going to put up, but I couldn't decide what kind of fabric. Then I realized that the handle to the door would be in the way of the bottom cafe rod. Then I saw this post on Bower Power. Perfect!

First I traced the pattern on a piece of paper so that I could figure out how far from the top, bottom and sides to start the pattern. Martha must know the size of my windows because it worked out to be 1/2 inch from each side and 3/4" from the top and the bottom. My brain can handle easy numbers like that.

Next, I taped off the edges of the window so that I could tell if I was going generally straight with the stencil. Having never stenciled anything before, I practiced once on a piece of paper and then headed straight to the window. I figured I could just take a razor blade to it if it was terrible.

I started in the corner and worked my way over and up. I realized quickly that I would have to let each section dry before I could continue since the stencil overlaps slightly in order to line up the pattern. 

So while I was waiting for the sides to dry, I decided that the middle window was going to take too long to stencil and I wanted a little more privacy than the just the pattern, so I just took my sponge brush straight to the window and went to town and painted the entire thing minus a 1" border around the edge. This had been my original plan for all the windows, but the safety smart guy that Glenn is recommended that being able to see who is at the door and whether or not you want to unlock it, is probably a good idea. Very true.

So here she is after the tape has been removed! Once we get a few more blinds on the side of the house, pants won't always be required when running down to get the clean laundry from the basement!

Living Room Updates

For awhile the TV was sitting in front of the fireplace, but then I couldn't see the stockings! The living room isn't very big either so it kind of felt like you were inside the TV. So, up on the wall it went! It is a little high, but the only place for the giant TV. We bought a mounting bracket for the TV and Glenn worked his handy man skills. I was really only helpful when lifting the TV and that was marginal I think.

I bought the wooden Japanese window shutter without any clue what I was going to do with it, but it works pretty well as a fireplace screen...well, until we get a gas insert for the fireplace, but that will probably be awhile since we would like to upgrade the stove to gas at the same time.

Here is a true BEFORE from when we were house hunting:

And AFTER:

We've since moved the cabinet on the left over to the right of the fire place to cover up all the ugly cords. Once Glenn gets a longer cable of some sort, we can move the PS3 and cable box off of the mantle too.

Only a couple more boxes to get rid of and we will be cardboard box free!

Master Closet

Since the house was recently flipped, a few of the "homey" touches were lacking. Most notably, any sort of window coverings and shelves in the master closet. The master suite is all new, a converted attic, so the closet was just an empty room.

We had lots of boxes of clothes to unpack and no where to put them so for awhile, it looked like this:

But by awhile I mean about 48 hours because apparently Glenn wanted to shower upstairs. Picky picky. Did I mention we didn't have any window coverings?

We on our first Sunday night in the house, we tackled the closet. Surprisingly, it only took us around 3 1/2 - 4 hours, not including the two trips to Home Depot for parts and a few more parts.

First we started with the support rails on top. We used all 6 screws even though it only says you need one every 8 inches, but that is because we have lathe and plaster walls and very few studs. In fact, of all the screws we Glenn installed, I think we hit a stud 3 times. We used huge anchors for every screw though. The laser level was also very helpful since our house was built in 1918, none of the walls are square or straight.

See what I mean? Glenn had to bend every upright to fit against the wall.

After the uprights, we added the brackets and then the shelves. We bought 2 8-foot pieces and one 6-foot piece and the same for the sliding pole and had to trim two of them down by just a bit with a hacksaw.

But now! Now we have over 20 feet of hanging and shelf space! It is glorious! We still want to install some shoe racks and long hanging space on the end walls and opposite wall, but now we don't have to use the shower to hang our clothes.!

I love Craigslist

We bought our lovely new home and invested a lot of our savings in it which means to furnish it, I turn to Craigslist!

I've lucked out twice so far. Last weekend I purchased the China cabinet that I mentioned in my bedroom ideas post and I did in fact put it in the master bathroom. The guy was a Former Navy pilot and sold it to us for $150. I think I'll paint it white and fill in some of the details once the weather gets warmer (or I get bored being jobless).

Our second find was just this morning after we decided to host Christmas eve dinner for 5 friends and we only have 4 dining room chairs. I found two Pottery Barn armed Megan chairs (now called Grayson chairs retail value $399!) for $125 each. Sweet! I call them grow-up chairs because they are one of the few non-IKEA/non-Japan bazaar furniture that we own. Perhaps a grown up would take a iron to the slip cover...?

Help please!

For those of you military families or anyone who has moved recently, I need your help!

You know those numbered stickers that moving companies number your boxes and furniture with? I need them!

I'm working on a little art project and need a few more.

If you don't mind sticking them to a piece of paper and sending them my way, I'd appreciate the help. Thanks!

Here is what I'm working on:

Happy Birthday Connor!

How is my nephew 6 years old already? Wow times flies! He's racking up as many moves as a military child as well. They are off to Illinois in early 2012!

Happy birthday little man! I love you!

No more suitcases!

We have officially stopped living out of suitcases! What a good feeling! We have moved on to piles of clothes on the floor with a few in the dresser.

We are getting there! Internet and hot water all the time come today! Happy Monday!

Second trip to Home Depot today

Glenn's making out second trip to the depot on our first Sunday in the new house. I think this might be a regular occurrence.

I'm working on cardboard mountain in the meantime...

We did manage to accomplish a few home improvement tasks.

1. Install washer and dryer. Both work after replacing the leaky washer hose!

2. Reset hot water heater. We didn't have any hot water because something in the controls keeps flipping the reset. The seller is having it fixed tomorrow but at least I don't have to take any more cold showers.

I'm hitting a wall...

All of our things showed up yesterday and mostly one piece! The only major casualty so far is a metal sculpture and our queen box spring. Well the box
Spring isn't a casualty but it won't fit up the stair case in to the master bedroom. The double fit so we are sleeping on that for now. The kitchen is almost done. Remember all those Japanese dishes I bought? Wow, I bought a lot.

The living room is coming along minus a mounting bracket for the tv.

This mess is going to stay a mess for a bit.

Unpacking is fun. For a little while.