May 13, 2014

Work in Progress

 Living room is almost finished. Pictures need to be hung, and we are buying a new rug that I picked out at Pottery Barn. I think the color of this rug will really lighten up all the wood in here. Paris etching will go on that blank wall.

 Our tapestry will be hanging over the side board, with the candle sconces.
 This is looking down one direction of the kitchen from the dinning room.
 The size and layout of this living room was a head scratcher at first when the movers started to bring in all the furniture! I usually know exactly where everything should go once I see it empty, but this space was giving me some problems!
 This is the family room, with messed up blinds that the owner didn't replace, but after I complained, you can see the three little boxes of new blinds ready to go up.
 I will be getting some more selves for above the TV and I'll be putting the round clock that is next to Quincy up there as well. It will look very much like the old place. The other side of the fireplace is left natural, as you can see and since there was a nail in it, I put up a picture right away to make it feel less empty.
Other side of the kitchen. I still need to put up all the art work and shelves on those walls.
 These windows will be getting some curtains very soon! While I love them, I feel like I'm in a fish bowl!
 Still needing to play with the pantry situation in this house, because there really isn't any. Over in the corner where the oven is, there is some room, but it is deep and I'll need a stool to get everything.
Entryway, with one of the two rugs we own. The flooring is the original 1962  linoleum. They didn't clean it properly, so now I have to figure out how to make it a bit more sparkly.
 We bought this little table in France from a shop that I loved in our town. It is a great entryway table and at the other house, it wasn't used that way. I'm happy to be able to have a better spot for it this time. Above this will go our black framed mirror that use to be above our buffet in the other house.
 The main bathroom, is actually quite pleasant in how bright it is in there. I laugh now, because this was the one I thought was not bright and had pink tile, but neither are true! I think it will be nice when guests come over because it is quite spacious and has a lot of cabinets and storage facing the mirror.
 Guest room, that needs the bed put back together again.
 My workspace, still not unloaded but next on the list! I like how nice and cool it seems to be. We are having a heat wave right now, and when I go back there, it is nice and shady and not a hot box like the last room I had.
 Scary room with all our book boxes!!! This will be David's room for his music things and office stuff.
Last but not least our room. This is a really big room with two large closets and a pretty decent bathroom, especially after they repainted and put in a new toilet. It was the worst of the two, but now I prefer it to get ready in.  The last eyesore is that super ugly AC unit on the wall. It is non functioning, because the place has central air, but now I have to figure out a way to disguise it. In my work room, I put up the tall glass fronted cabinet in front of it, and you can barely see it, so that is an option eventually, or some linen over it? I don't know.....if you have any fun ideas please feel free to comment!

Last week was really tough adjusting to being here I must say! There were a few issues with the owner, and the cottage dweller, that happens to be the daughter of the owner. She is not bad, but she has two dogs, which I knew of and I was ok with. Then she tells me she got two rescue cats so they can roam and keep the rodent population down. I thought that was a good idea, as the yard is enormous and has many fruit trees that can attract them. She also has two chickens. OK, cool with that and I won't really see them because, like I said, the yard is huge and they will be tucked back there. Where I almost lost my cool was when she said she was going to get a pig!!!!! I said to myself, Oh hell no!!! I nodded and smiled, then called the property management, and I also looked up city ordinances. You can't have them in the city limits because they are livestock, and if you follow the code, she has exceeded how many animals you can have already. I don't want to start any wars with this animal lover, but seriously!!!! Oh, and btw, we can't have pets! They are also suppose to put up a fence dividing the property, which I sure hope is sooner than later, because as much as I really like her dogs, they have been leaving little presents on my side, and she hasn't bothered to clean up after them, even though I commented to her that they had done it!
I'm really trying to keep my cool and I sure hope things settle down with a bit more rules in place!

Mother's day was low key this year, and the day was pretty much spent at home relaxing. Caitlin came over later in the afternoon and we had a lovely dinner together in a new restaurant in Oakland called Camino  If you follow me on Instagram, there are some photos of the food. I really enjoyed it and plan to go again!
Well, I'm off to unpack some more boxes.

9 comments:

  1. The house is coming together, and from your photos it looks quite nice...but the room full of boxes gave me shivers. Our garage still is packed with boxes, thought they are full of things to get rid of. I weeded out 2/3 of my books, gulp. Im just so tired of carting them around. I'd have REAL problems with the dogs, if shes not cleaning up after them, its going to stink! Kind of sucks that she's the landlords daughter :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that was the melt down I was having last week (girl being landlords daughter) because how much will she get reined in with rules. She is friendly enough, but the animal thing is out of control. Once the fence goes up though there won't be too much of an issue, except the occasional barking. We truly had no other choice though, so while there are some of those annoying issues, we were lucky to get this place. I looked on Craigslist last week to see if we missed out on anything, and there still isn't anything! We do have some things to go through in the garage/storage area. After this move, I can't even imagine carting all this junk around again!

      Delete
  2. I like the new place--especially your outside area. Glad to hear that you have central air as I hear you need it right now.

    Best,
    Bonnie

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your new home is coming together so nicely. I absolutely love your kitchen! I have always wanted white kitchen cabinets. Your patio area is gorgeous! And it's so nice that you can enjoy the view from your kitchen. I really love your bedroom. The slipcovered chair, and nice bedding give it such a cozy and inviting look. I hope things settle down with the landlords daughter soon. A pig... Seriously??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Julia! I'm hoping that we can enjoy the yard after they put the fence up, because right now, I feel as if we can't because of the free reign of the dogs. Luckily the two breeds that she has are not bad, one is a lab and the other a dachshund.

      Delete
  4. Fences are wonderful! Good luck...hopefully things simmer down after both homes have there own spaces. Thinking about the air conditioning unit...could you not put a framed canvas over it and then create a bit of a gallery wall? Maybe stretch some pretty fabric over a frame that would fit around it nicely? Love the space and the light...sending positive vibes!! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking the same about a canvas situation with a nice fabric stretched over it too. I will have to take a trip to the art shop soon! Yes, I cannot wait until the owner puts the fence up.

      Delete
  5. That's a beautiful home! For getting the sparkly back into the old flooring I'd like to suggest Halloway House Quick Shine Floor Finish. It's made for use in heavy traffic areas and is not slippery like other waxes. We used to live in a 100 year old house with wood floors (before wood floors were popular) and this was the only wax available. I put from 5 - 7 coats down on all the floors that needed shinning - both wood & lino- and the shine lasted almost a year. We had 8 kids at home then so there were a lot of feet on those floors! You will want to get an inexpensive sponge mop, wet it, pour the wax on, then spread with a the damp mop. The mop only gets better & better as it gets wax into the sponge. Put a fan on to dry quicker and repeat. My mil taught me the damp mop trick - it is almost impossible to get all the wax out & won't mop well for future cleaning. You can soak it in water for the next time & all the wax still in the sponge will be a benefit. I never ever stripped any old wax off and never had any problems with yellowing. This is an older product so look on shelves knee high or lower - the bottle is white and the label is mostly green. Walmart is where I found it. Good luck! A good waxing will really brighten things up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stephanie! I will look for that product and see if I might be able to make that lino sparkly. I'm probably not going to bother with the wood floors though, because it is just to daunting right now hahahah.

      Delete