Copycat

I love reading different blogs. They are such a fun way to read about different people and different families. One blog I have been reading pretty religiously lately is Young House Love a blog about a young family who buys and fixes up houses while they live in them....sound familiar???

I not only have been reading about their lives constantly I am now turning into a copycat of their decorating style. Maybe I should say they inspire me or something that sounds better than copycat but I guess there really isn't any reason to church it up huh?

Here is the Young House Love dining area of their last house. Check out the white shelves behind the table...love them? I did. So here is my rendition...

I took the same concept they had and added personal touches to it to make it very Mitch & Rachel.

Let's take a closer look shall we....
This project was not only super easy, just hang two shelves and stick stuff onto them, but it was really cheap as well. Here is the breakdown of what I spent.
Shelves: $15 each for a total of $30 from Ikea
3 Picture Frames: One purchased from Kohl's with some Kohl's cash from my Aunt and two black frames we already owned that I painted white total spent $0
Green Bottle: empty wine bottle that I soaked to remove the label total spent $0
White Dishes: Taken out of our kitchen total spent $0
White Vases: Taken out of our spare room total spent $0
Green Pottery: Gift from my Mom total spent $0
R&M Letters: from Michael's $4

Total Spent $34
Whoop Whoop!

Thanks Young House Love for letting me steal your style!

Junk Drawer Overhaul

Now that our cabinets have been installed we have been slowly but surely moving into them. Last night I tackled the hardest drawer of all...THE JUNK DRAWER!

I know I am not the only one out there who has a junk drawer that looks like this. Out junk drawer was packed so full you couldn't find anything...hence the reason there were about 20 expired coupons in there. I am all for the junk drawer but I just couldn't dump this chaos into the new drawer.



First we laid out everything we had into similar piles.

Then we starting going through each pile and making a decision about if it was going to stay or if it was going to go.

We ended up with new piles:
-Staying in the Junk Drawer
-Find a new home
-Rummage Sale
-Trash

Some items were things we wanted to keep but they just didn't belong in the junk drawer (read: golf ball.)

Some items we had duplicates of and didn't need that many so we stuck them in the rummage sale pile. (read: 5 pairs, yes 5, of scissors)

After we finished this step our pile was so much smaller. We snagged an old silverware tray we were no longer using stuck it in the drawer and loaded up our remaining items into it.

And here is our final product....

Little easier on the eyes eh? It is going to be so much easier to find the things and hopefully I will stop having anxiety attacks when I open up the junk drawer.

The Current State of our Kitchen

We are getting closer.

The kitchen project is coming to a close.

Last weekend we installed all of the cabinetry. It was so much fun to see the kitchen we imagined come to life.

We still have trim work to finish and appliances to install, tiling to finish, and a hideous light to remove but this is the current state of our kitchen...

Such a huge improvement....now we are exhausted though and need to step back for a bit and enjoy our lives again without being covered in construction dust.

The Current State of our Kitchen

We have color on the wall!



After a brief color freak out and change of heart and one quick run to Home Depot I officially put color on the walls last night.

Mitch spent the evening working on the tiling, all those crazy pieces with hard angles and little jaunts cut out of them. After a few choice words and a few math questions hurled my way "You're a teacher you know how to do fractions..." he successfully got the trickiest pieces into place.

Tonight my Mom and I will paint and Mitch will (keep your fingers crossed) get the last of the tile into place.

Smitten List

As we close in on the finish line for our giant kitchen/bedroom/bathroom/closet remodel I am getting excited to start decorating and putting some pretty back into my life, and I am totally smitten the All White Bed.


Mitch tends to think that we would buy this and I would destroy it within the first 46 seconds it stepped into our house.

He mentioned something about red wine, dirty feet, and my general clumsiness.

I had no come back besides to remind him that I drink white wine so I gave him the stink eye.


Oh how I love you Pottery Barn and your All White Loveliness. They even have a "How To Video" on their website on how to create the perfect All White Bed.

Some day All White Bed you will be in my life!

The Current State of our Kitchen

Remember this...



and this...


Well this is what our kitchen looks like today.

We offically have tile on the floor and primer on the walls.

Thanks to my Mom and Mitch's Dad for their help this weekend!

Next up is the cabinets!

Known

Having grown up in a small town I always knew people and was always known. Even to this date I cannot walk into the grocery store when I go home to visit without running into someone I know. When I moved to the city I was anonymous. I never ran into anyone that I knew. Part of me really liked this new anonymity, I could run in and out of Target in 10 minutes flat and have a whole cart full of stuff. If I was back home it would take me 45 minutes to get a gallon of milk after I chit chatted with every person between the door and the back cooler.

Today however I feel like I have turned a bit of a corner. We have a cute little hardware store that is just around the corner from our house that we use when we are missing a piece of PVC or if we need a few more screws. Tonight was one of those nights, we needed a bit more mud to finish up the walls so off to the hardware store I went. I grabbed my mud and up to the register I went. Here is the conversation that followed:

Clerk: "That it for you?"
Me: "Yep"
Clerk "Only job worse than mudding is plumbing"
Me: "Ya this mudding sure isn't fun."
Clerk: "So did you finish up all that plumbing you were working on?"
Me: surprised he knows me "Ya we did, and I will be happy when this part is done too."
Clerk: "Well Good Luck, see you later."
Me: "See you later"

He knew me and he knew the projects we have been working on and he wasn't someone Mitch or I work with. We have started to form a community, we have started to build a network for ourselves.

I thought I loved the anonimity, I thought I was annoyed with being recognized, but tonight I realized I missed that.

I miss hearing a horn honk and waving rather than figure out who is mad at me.

I miss walking into a restaurant and ordering a bowl of soup and having them leave the green onions out because they know you don't like them.

I miss walking into the hair salon to get my hair done and see my Grandpa sitting in the chair across the shop.

I miss getting pulled over and having the cop threaten to call my dad on me.
OK maybe not this last one, but it was kind of funny...

I miss my little town but the awesome part is I get to go home whenever I need a little piece of that back and I am lucky enough to have a hardware store right around the corner where, not everyone knows my name but at least someone does, or at least knows I am done working on plumbing.

Current State of my Kitchen

Last week my kitchen looked like this...


This is what my kitchen looks like now...


This weekend the last piece of Sheetrock went up into place and the first two layers of mud were put on and sanded. We are in the final push to get things ready before the cabinets get put into place. At this point we have to put on one more layer of mud, sand like crazy, prim and paint, and finish up with tiling. So cross your fingers and wish us luck on getting everything done in time!

What it is really about

I am not the kind of person that is anti-Valentines day. I love to show the people I love that I love them and have no problem with having a day in the year to remind us to recognize those people. That being said I am not the kind of person that gets all jazzed up about a dozen red roses (that everyone else gets) a box of chocolates (that my hips hate) and a crowded restaurant (that would take either weeks of forethought or long lines to get into).

Last night however was everything I think Valentines day is really about. Mitch and I have been in the thick of the kitchen remodel and had just planned on taking a rain check on Valentines day to get ready for an building inspection we had the next day. When I got home however Mitch had an entire evening at home planned.

Yes we did work on our home. We hung insulation together and as not romantic as that sounds I really enjoy working on our home just the two of us. We are building our lives together both figuratively and literally.

The part of the day that really touched my heart and made me realize he is one of the kindest people I know if that Mitch planned an awesome dinner at home for the two of us and for my Mom. I never mentioned the idea of spending Valentines day with my Mom but when I walked in the door Mitch said "I would like to invite your Mom to dinner tonight, you cool with that?"

Me: "Ya for sure that would be great, what made you think of that?"

Nicest Guy Ever: "Cause I love her, you love her and no one should spend Valentine's Day alone."

Yep, my heart melted and it reaffirmed that I have picked the best partner possible to spend my life with.

This is what Valentine's day is all about building the life you want to live with the people you love.

The Current State of my Kitchen

My kitchen is in a current state of chaos. We have finished with the complete demolition and are in the process of putting it all back together.

Living with things ripped apart like this truly isn't that bad, and I try and focus on how much better it will be when it is all done.

Next on the checklist is moving some vents and getting some electrical done!

A Dusty Weekend

I have never in my life been so happy to have a dusty house. The dust is more than just regular old dust it is SHEETROCK DUST, and having sheetrock dust in your house means that you have sheetrock. Yes it is true this weekend my very own Bob the Builder Boyfriend put sheetrock up in our house. It is such a great and satisfying feeling to see sheetrock going up after such a long haul of electrical work and plumbing.

Construction continues next stop DEMOLITION...this weekend the kitchen is coming down!

A Mouse in the House

We have a mouse in our house, I know this because I watched its little fury butt run across my living room as I was sitting on my tush after a long day at the spa. After coming home from my perfectly relaxed awesome three hours at the spa my blood pressure found its way right back up as this little guy sprinted across my hardwoods.

I immediately jumped and screamed for Mitch to "GET IT, GET IT, OH MY GOD GROSS, GET IT!" and pulled my legs up into a tight cacoon as if this itty bitty mouse was going to bite my toe off. Mitch did what any sensible guy would do. Put on his work boots, (in his boxers mind you) and grabbed a broom. He then threw another broom at me like I was going to be participating in the wrangling of this nasty little rodent. After some coaxing and a couple dirty looks I agreed to "play goalie" and make sure he didn't get past me into the bedrooms.

Now comes the part where we find out our mouse is actually Houdini and just flat out disappears and is no where to be found.

Now comes the part where I am going to bed knowing there is a MOUSE IN MY HOUSE!

Now comes the part where we wake up and check the 5 traps that we set up around our living room to find out not only is our mouse Houdini but he is also the world's smartest mouse and has figured out how to lick clean all five mouse traps of peanut butter and not set a single one of them off.

Now comes the part where we does it again the next night!

Now come the part where I am going to bed for the third night in a row knowing that all I am accomplishing by setting these mouse traps is that now not only do I have a mouse in my house I have a happy mouse with a full belly in my house!

Best Families Ever!

Mitch and I have the best families ever...without a doubt, no questions asked! As our Extreme Make-Over Home Edition has started on our new house they have been there for us every step of the way. Without our famiies stepping up to the plate we would be no where near where we are on the progress on our home. We love them and thank them all so so much!


Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork! Katie and I tackling the huge job (it takes a lot longer than it looks) of painting the trim.


Me putting up tile and Mitch checking over my should to make sure it is up to his standards..ha ha!


Jody and I in one of the dirties jobs to date...taking out the ceiling of the bathroom to be rained on my old, nasty insulation. YUCK!


My beautiful mother painting like crazy!


In this picture it may look like Mitch was painting but don't be confused he was never caught within 10 feet of a paint brush!


Kraig was the go to man for all plumbing and electrical needs. We have only had one shock to date!


Oh wall paper how I hate you! When we bought the house we thought we only had one wall of wall paper but as we looked around the house closer we started to realize we had lots and lots of wallpaper in our house that had just been painted over. We spent hours scraping and peeling some of the most interesting patterns off of our walls.


Aly could go into wall painting professionally. I have never in my life seen anyone with such a steady hand. Our paint job would look nothing like it does if it hadn't been for her.


We hope to actually finish a few rooms in the next few weeks and are excited to share before and after photos!

We are Homeowners!

I just realized it had been an awfully long time since I update my mom and my few other readers of whats going on in my life via blogging! We are offically homeowners! We closed on the house just over a month ago and have been working non-stop since. My goal for this weekend is to get a few pictures loaded onto my computer and put on here so I can show people all the progress we have made! Pray to the tool man gods for us that things continuet to go smoothly! Pictures to shortly follow!!!

Mr. Homeowner

I fell in love today. We went to the house today to have the home inspection and Mr. Homeowner came home while we were having the inspection, and he was the sweetest old many alive(well except my Gramps of couse!) While the inspector was looking around the house Mr. Homeowner decided to show me around the place and teach me the tricks on how the house works and where things are located.

Mr. Homeowner started to talk to me and I learned about his life, his time in the Air Core, how he met his wife, how he cared for his wife for 7 years while she was sick, and what his children and grandchildren are up to with their lives. I ended up getting all teary talking to this guy and hearing his life story. He reminded me so much of my Grandpa that I just got emotionally connected to him. So while Mitch and Kraig were learning all kinds of valuable information about the house I made a new friend in Mr. Homeowner.

Once Mr. Homeowner and I became friends he started giving me things. By the end of the day we were the pround new onwers of lawn chairs, two rakes, and even a bed!

The inspector did his thing while I was accumulating new things and making friends and basically told us we had found a great house. He found a few minor repairs we needed to make but we had expected that when we decided to buy a 60 year old house. We feel confident that this house isn't going to fall over anytime soon and are ever more excited to move in on September 18th!!!

A big thanks to Mitch's dad, Kraig, who drove down from Brainerd today to be an extra set of eyes and ears for us during the inspection. We really appreciate your help!

House, House, House, House

WE GOT THE HOUSE! It became officaly on Thursday....we have inspection tomorrow and hopefully everything will go swell and we will not have any other problems and we will be moving in September 18th!!!

Now on to Home Depot to pick out paint colors!

Will this ever happen?

For the past week we have been wheeling and dealing with an 87 year old man to try and buy his house. We are in love with this house and would probably give him our first born if he really wanted it but we don't want him to know how desperately we want this house. This 87 year old self proclaimed "stubborn Swede" seems to be beating us at this negotiating game. It isn't the big things that we are having troubles dealing with him on at this point such as price and closing costs, but now it is the little things like closing date that we are butting heads on.

To make my life easier I want to close on this house before the school year starts again and I am back to teaching full time. I would have time to move and clean rather then be exhausted after a day we the crazy kiddos and start moving furniture.

I am sensitive to the fact that this man who has lived in this house since the house was built in 1952 is having a hard time leaving it and has a deep emotional connection to this house. Worse comes to worse; we move in the evenings after a days work. If one more month will make it easier for this man to have closure on that chapter of his life it isn't that big of a deal. He has made wonderful memories in that house and we hope to make wonderful memories as well.

Could it be?

Well, my life has taken an exciting turn today and I felt the need to share the information and I figured the best way to share the information is by starting a blog. We found a house!

Mitch and I have been looking at house since February, yes six months! Six months of feeling uncertain, nervous, excited, disappointed, and all kinds of other crazy feelings. This is now house number three that I have become emotionally invested in (aka shed tears over) but I feel so good about this one! We went and looked at 11 houses this afternoon (by my estimation we have looked at well over 50 houses now) and when we walked into this house Mitch started giggling and talking really fast about how we could turn this house into our home. Here is where Mitch and I differ, I have no vision of what could be when it comes to a house. I can't walk into a house and look around and picture what it would look like with a wall knocked out or new cabinets in or when we rip the carpet out. I walk in and I see what is laid out before me; however, I would love to buy a house we can make our own and put our own touches into. This house is the house of Mitch's dreams; a small little house that an elderly couple is moving out of that needs updating and is in a great location close to the lake and to work for both of us. This was not the house of my dreams; I envisioned it all so differently, I pictured us in a cookie cutter neighborhood where all the houses were built in the 80's or 90's and all look the same, but after walking through the house with Mitch and him drawing me pictures and showing what all could be I realize this house will be better then my dreams. I may eat my words later but I am really looking forward to the hours we spend together at Home Depot, painting, staining, ripping out carpet, and planting our first garden together. We are stepping into a new adventure and their is no one I would rather be stepping into with then him!

Tomorrow I will sign my name 4,000 times and put an offer in on the house that could be my home. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us on this one!

http://www.edinarealty.com/Listing/ListingDetail.aspx?listing=40586446&Popup=1