The Garage Project - Or the Devil That Has Consumed Our Lives

Oh wow, where do I begin this post?  I want to begin by moaning and groaning about this stupid never ending garage project.  But instead I will begin with the positive.  Because of this stupid garage project, we unearthed my old collection of Barbies.  And with that a whole lot of happy has been brought to my children's lives.

Shall I begin by saying that in looking at my old collection of Barbies and clothes, I was relieved to find that even 25+ years ago, Mattel was making scandalous and inappropriate outfits for my Barbies to wear.  Just take a look at this gold lame severe extreme cropped top, complete with matching skin tight sparkly leggins.  Here I thought the trampy outfits Barbies come with today were just a sign of the decline of our civilization.  Nice to see we've been on the decline for over 2 decades yet we're still hanging on.  Even Syd was dumbfounded by her choice in club wear.

By the way, can we take a moment for Syd's big boy haircut?  He looks so grown up with all his curls and waves chopped off!  The mowhawk and red tips are temporary; our tradition every time he gets his hair cut is to let the stylist do this.  He loves it and it gets him all excited to visit the salon.  I can't believe he'll be 5 in less than 2 weeks!     

But clothing choices aside, the bin of Barbies has brought the kids a lot of fun playtime over the last few days.  Look at our family breaking stereotypical gender roles, with Syd playing right along side Taylor.  Makes me proud.

My mom saved my Barbie Corvette!  Rad!

I had forgotten that I used to have a thing for chopping off all my Barbies hair.  Most of the time I gave her a very stylish and on trend asymmetrical bob.  But I went a little nuts with a couple and gave them more of a punk rock do.  You know what's scary?  In my box of Barbies we found a razor blade!  The kids picked it up and were all "what's this?!"  I guess I must have used the razor blade to give them their buzz cuts?

Whoa!  It's Michael Jackson!  I completely remember getting him for Christmas when I was about 9.  Neither of the kids were impressed.  Art was.  He suggested I list it on eBay.  Never.   

Makes me laugh hysterically, and makes me sad, all at the same time.  

I also used to have a thing for designing my Barbie her own clothes.  We found lots of strapless dresses, tube tops and maxi skirts I had made from old tube socks and stockings.  I thought that was pretty genius and resourceful on my part.  Talk about being ahead of my time with the upcycling.  Apparently, I also used to take a free hand to some clothes with a tube of glitter glue.  As you can see I was really into music and wanted my Barbies to show my love of new-wave.  KROQ, Rock of the 90's.  Their slogan back then was "I Rock with KROQ."    

So down to serious business.  Here is where we stand on the garage.  People, it's not perfect and it's not 100% done, but we are so close I can taste it.  This is what we've accomplished:

• Floor is epoxyed
• Entire garage was rewired and all new outlets and switches were installed
• The drywall is complete  except for a small piece of ceiling
• The cabinets are installed 
• Every single bin and box in that garage has been gone through, thrown out or donated, cleaned up, organized, labeled and put in place. 
• We've replaced every bit of cardboard with plastic air tight bins to keep critters out.

We still need to tie up some odds and ends including:

• Finish drywall on one ceiling section (should take 1/2 day)
• Paint the walls (we're putting up the white flag on this one and having it done)
• Hang the wire grid that will run along side of the left wall and above work bench
• Put final pieces in place (bikes, tools, etc.)
• Sweep and clean up
• Buy a ping pong table for backyard fun!

Every time we finish up a home project I always say "wow, that was a tough one".  But this one was. a. tough. one.  Probably one of the toughest.  Toughest in terms of stress level, time commitment, and overall tediousness. No one wants to spend hours upon hours going through boxes, bickering over what to keep and what to toss, making HUGE messes in the backyard in the mean time.  Sunday was the breaking point for both of us.  We were both tired and stressed and so cranky we snapped quite a bit at each other.  We were both mad at each other and disappointed in ourselves I think, for letting it get as far as it had.  I really don't think of ourselves as hoarders or pack rats at all.  Just since we've moved here we kept holding onto things "in case we remodeled", or "in case of this or that".  We had to finally be realistic with ourselves and let go of the " just in cases". 

We each narrowed down our childhood-memory type stuff to 1 bin each.  This included yearbooks, photo albums, toys, general memorabilia.  After seeing how much the kids are enjoying my Barbies, I'm convinced that some stuff from our childhoods has to be saved.  I feel good about this.  Things like craft stuff and old party decor that I had been holding on to "in case" we had another Hawaiian themed party, or a garden party, etc., all went bye bye.  Only toys we want the new baby to have were kept and spared.  We are saving each of their bikes in case we have a boy or a girl, then once we know we'll get rid of one or the other.  The old ride-on toys that had become really junky were sold at the garage sale.  I have no idea why we had so many ride on toys and push toys??  Most tools were kept, but Art is finally getting rid of his tile saw he used to tile both of our previous homes.  We don't foresee any tiling in this home's future, so good bye to a bulky piece of machinery.  Obviously things like the stroller, changing table and crib have to be saved.  

I wont bore you with the rest of the details and inventory, but as you can gather we thought about everything we kept and tossed/donated.  Whether we still have a lot of stuff or too much stuff is no longer up for debate.  Everything has been gone through and agreed upon, so what we now have, we know we have for a reason, and we know where it is, and this has been such a mind altering relief.

Our drop dead due date for completion is next weekend.  We'll see if we make it.  Wish us luck!  Linking up with my friend Jules for the William Morris Project.  Come on over, you should see what she did with some bookshelves!

Are you all working on any projects right, and are you ready to pull your hair out?

House Goals Progress

This post is going to be a bit random, but I wanted to fill you in on some progress we've made on our house goals in the last couple of weeks.  I'm not sure how interior decorating is supposed to work, but I always had a vision, most likely from the countless hours I've spent watching HGTV, that it went room by room, in a very orderly controlled manner.  My mind does not really think that way, it's a bit more scattered, so it makes sense that we haven't progressed that way at all.  Plus, in trying to keep with my goal of choosing intentional items that have meaning and are unique, not things I just pick up at Home Goods because I want to get the room over and done with, I've been taking my time and as me and Shelly see things we like, we order them for this room or that. 

Because of my somewhat scattered way of thinking, Shelly had the idea of just going in phases instead of trying to get everything done at once.  Phase 1 consisted of ordering bar stools, fabric for throw pillows in the family room, lighting for the dining room and pendant lighting for above the bar area.  Phase 2 will consist of ordering a dining room table and an area rug for the family room and dining room. My budget for the area rugs is making it quite interesting to find something we like, but I'll be patient because I know it's out there.

Shelly chose this fabric,it's Hot House Flowers in Spark and Bleecker in Spark, both from Schmacher.  I wasn't in love with the floral at first, but after taking home a huge swatch for a couple of days its boldness started to grow on me and with the contrasting graphic, I figure it would help it not be so "old ladyish".  I now love it and can't wait to make some toss pillows.  I have to admit I felt very fancy when she called and said my fabric was in.  I've never had 'fabric come in'.  "Dahling, you're fabric is in."  I'm such a dork. 

This is the area rug for the living room to help break up all the red tones.  It's got gold and silver leather and suede weaving in and out.  It's amazing.  I've never loved an area rug so much.  Now to just put it in place...

These are the pendant lights she found for above the bar area.  They were a steal, well under $100 each and they are the absolute perfect size for the low ceiling. 

Two will hang here and replace that silly recessed light that rotates and provides minimal lighting. 

The bar stools are on back order and so the kids have been having to eat on the counter.  Really I don't make them eat here, I swear.  But for the last couple of weeks they've been eating here every morning, it's the weirdest thing.  It's like it had never occurred to them that it was a place to eat until they heard us talk about ordering bar stools so they could eat there.  It's quite unsanitary but I do clean it really well after they get down ;)   

The biggest progress has been made in the garage though.  After tearing into the paneling, Art discovered termites, so we had them spray 2 weeks ago.  They suggested we don't drywall for a couple of weeks to let the treatment seep in, so in the mean time Art epoxyd the floors.  This is what they looked like before.

The epoxy process is quite simple.  You first wash down the floors with an acid treatment to get them primed for the epoxy.  Then you just roll the epoxy on with a paint brush and sprinkle on little flecks to give it a more professional, finished look.

Art working hard rolling away

The kids took turns sprinkling

And this is a glimpse of what it looks like when complete.  They're not the greatest pictures so I apologize, but the idea is just to get a more uniform looking floor.

You still see some of the cracks in the concrete, but there's no more stains or blotches showing through like before.  The kit for a double garage is $100 at the Home Depot and it took about 4 hours of prep work and about 3 hours of painting/sprinkling.  We've had friends have this done professionally and it runs about $1000 so we saved ourselves quite a bit of cash by doing it ourselves. 

And so that is where we are at my friends.  This weekend Art will start to hang drywall and I will be a very good supervisor :)

I'm linking up to Jules' William Morris Project because with the little reminder to "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful", we're on our way to creating a home we both love and find functional.  Thanks Jules, and thanks Mr. Morris :)

Closet Organization

Last week I posted my home goals for 2012, and while quite lofty, it was nice to get some encouragement that maybe it is possible to achieve most, if not all of those goals this year.  Thank you all so much for that.  In the last week we've made some progress on a few of those goals including:

• ordered an area rug for the living room space - it ships soon, I am giddy with anticipation
• ordered our barstools and pendant lighting to create a functional 2nd eating area in our house
• continued work on the garage, only to discover we have a termite problem that is being treated today

So while we've made some progress on making decisions, nothing is quite yet complete so I thought I'd talk a bit about the kid's closet systems that I showed you last week.  I had a few friends email me with several questions about how they work and cost, etc, so hopefully this is somewhat helpful.

After doing a lot of research online and in store, we found that the best quality and most customizable DIY system was from Martha Stewart for Home Depot's line.  We loved that the lining came almost all the way to the ground, creating that true custom look, there were endless configurations available, 3 different color choices to choose from, and the cost was mid range; not as high as custom closets, but not so cheap you doubt their quality.  We first designed each closet online with their awesome design tool.

You begin by choosing your closet type, either walk in or reach in, and then enter the width of your closet.  It spits out a design that they think would be right for your space (coincidentally their design is also the most expensive, but that's okay, they're trying to upsell).  You can see the price for each design in the bottom left hand corner.

The drawers are quite nice, but since each kid has their own big chest of drawers, we deleted the drawers and went with more shelving.  We also did some adjustments to the type of hanging configuration we wanted.

This is essentially what the closets each look like, but we wanted to add one of those nifty laundry baskets to our design, so we went to add accessories.

That laundry basket added $50 to the total, but still within budget and it's probably the feature we love the most, so well worth it.

When your design is complete, you simply click on the Kits Needed tab to show you a list of all the items you will need, which you can print up to take to the store and shop, or you can order online and shipping is free.  The espresso pieces are all available in store, but most of the white pieces were only available online for some reason.

Syd's closet was the first one Art installed and because the walls weren't quite plumb, he had to add some shims, which took a bit more time.  Installation on Syd's closet was about 6 hours total from start to finish.

Taylor's closet went much quicker and only took about 3 hours.  Both closets though did require some cutting with a standard table saw, so beware, depending on the size of your space, some cutting will most likely be involved. 

As a frame of reference, this is what Taylor's closet looked like before the installation:

The bars were not functional for a kid's wardrobe, with not enough bottom hanging space that she could reach.  The shelves were spaced very far apart as well, so not maximizing all the available space.

And after:

Shelves are perfectly spaced apart for maximum storage space

and shoes fit perfectly in a row, with some room for her growing feet

our favorite part of the entire system, eliminating the need for a big bulky hamper we previously had

tip: if you have a young girl, get one of these to avoid the tangled masses of jewelry.  I picked up this one at Marshall's, and while not the cutest in the world, it was cheap and functional, saving me hours of having to untangle necklaces she collects from goody bags and craft projects.

Syd's closet is in the espresso wood and is just beautiful.  He has a lot less "stuff" so his shelves allow us to actually display some things, and yes, they always look like this (NO!).   But for the most part, Syd's room is able to stay a lot cleaner than Taylor's. 

So there you have it.  I know it sounds like I'm trying to sell you on this, but we just really love how they came out and how customizable they were.  Art loved how easy they were to install.  A win-win for both of us, which is a plus for our marriage ;)

I'm linking up with Jules for her William Morris series

2012 Home Goals

Aside from the skincare goal I shared with you on Monday, to get better skin and look ten years younger within a month, my main goal this year is to conquer this house.  Oh this house.

Let me preface this post with the simple statement that I know I don't live in squalor by any means, despite how I may talk about my frustrations with this house.  I know we are lucky to have our home and quite frankly I get uncomfortable talking about this house and my vision for it because I worry that I sound like a whining ungrateful suburbanite, when all I really want to do is have this house live up to its potential and create a home that we can happily function in and be comfortable in.   And let me say we loved our last house.  Almost up until the day we decided to sell we were doing things to that house to improve it, many of which we did ourselves.  We brought both our kids home from the hospital to that house.  Aesthetically we loved its unique characteristics and its vast storage space.  It was hard to leave that house and when we got to the new one, quite frankly I think we were burnt out from constant home improvements in the prior house to dedicate the time and energy this new one deserved.

But that's going to change in 2012.  We both feel that now is the time to create the home that reflects us as a family, and we feel refreshed and energized to dedicate the time and resources it's going to take to get there.  We've spent the last two years looking around, scratching our heads and feeling perplexed as to what to do.  Afraid of making any mistakes, wasting any time or money we simply did nothing.  In April last year, still undecided, we took the backyard on because we at least knew what we wanted there.  But now we're ready to tackle the inside, because even in California you can only spend so much time in your backyard.

• The overall goal of this house is to first and foremost improve functionality by gaining more storage and work space.  After living in the house for 2 years we have realized that we don't necessarily need more space, we just need to use the space we have much more efficiently than we currently are doing. 
• Goal #2 is to make it our own.  Hang artwork, place interesting pillows, area rugs, and decorative objects that represent us.  In other words all those finishing details that make a house a home.  Fun, quirky, traditional but with a modern flair, we want the house to feel warm, inviting and have a sense of humor to it. 

The list broken down by room looks like this:

Master Bedroom - create a calming yet functional room where we can rest and refresh, not just a place to sleep in.

     Recover window seat cushion
     Hang artwork
     Get a bedskirt to cover the underside of our bed
     Install some sort of overhead lighting so we don't trip on things at night on the way to the lamp
     Install swing lamps on either side of bed
     Find new nightstands that would offer more storage since we lost a dresser in the move (doesn't fit)

Kids Rooms - place the last finishing touches on them

     Order and install closet doors (same goes for linen closet)
     Replace ceiling fan in Syd's room

Entryway - create a landing zone that is functional yet still inviting and manages to be clutter free
     Ideas include hanging hooks, adding a secretary that could hold mail and paperwork & be closed up at
     night, and a single chair instead of the bench with some type of storage cubbies next to it.

Living Room - this room probably requires the least in finishing touches even though the list seems long, I really want this room to have the most impact though since it's the first room you see when you walk in.

     Area Rug
     Reupholseter chairs
     Make pillows in coordinating fabrics
     Get rid of that piano and figure out where to put the keyboard (perhaps in the corner)
     New coffee table - thinking a glass top with gold gilded frame perhaps from flea market
     Replace that stupid fluorescent light with recessed lights
     Guitar stand for Art's guitar which for now sits upright in its ugly case
     Find actual furniture feet to replace those ridiculous furniture mover pads with

Bar Area - create a secondary eating and arts & crafts area for the kids, primarily to preserve our dining room table

     Barstools
     Install pendant lighting

Family Room - this room has the most potential for design impact, centered around the aqua couch

     Area Rug
     Make pillows in coordianting fabrics
     Replace ottoman
     Hang artwork
     Move buffet over to become media storage and hide those stupid cords!

Dining Room - the grass cloth and shutters are our most recent addition and instantly made the room feel warmer.  It also made the old beaten up dining room table and dated ceiling fan really stand out like a sore thumb

     New dining room table
     Install a built in hutch to hold china up top and hold kid's craft supplies on the bottom
     Replace ceiling fan with new chandelier
     Area Rug

Office - it's any wonder I'm ever hit with any type of creativity juice working in this dreadful set up.  the room works as an office for both Art and I, a guest room, storage room for laundry baskets and a vacuum, all our important bills and filing system, and stores all the kids and my craft supplies.  This room is severely overworked and needs a break.

     Knock out closet to create more space
     Get rid of Queen size bed and replace with a daybed for overnight guests
     Build a dual desk for Art & I that runs the length of the wall
     Hang monitors on the wall for more desk space
     Create a working craft island/cut table for me
     Organize all craft supplies

Garage - this space has caused the most amount of stress for Art and I and also caused the most fights.  I hate, hate, hate the garage and I hate living like this.  I look inside and I think we're too young to have so much crap!  Since we lost square footage in this house when we moved, several pieces of furniture didn't fit and so we shoved them in the garage, hoping to sell or use them one day.  Then things just kept getting shoved in there and as Art said "it's already a mess so what's the point in trying to keep it clean?"  I'm thrilled to report though that last Friday we ordered one of those pods that's delivered to your house.  Everything has been cleared out of the garage and all the shelving has been ripped out as of last weekend.  This weekend Art will start the process of dry walling.   

     Hang drywall and paint
     Hang cabinets and work bench for Art
     Seal the floor (we did this at our last house and it makes such a difference in the look & feel of the garage)
     Buy a ping pong table and have fun!
   
Of course there are other little odds and ends that we'd love to do some day like replace the floor in the kitchen with hardwood and build a proper mantel for the fireplace, but for now this is what we want to tackle this year.  I don't know if we'll even get close to all of it, but if we could at least conquer the garage and the office, I'd be very, very happy.

When I look at the pictures I took yesterday of some of the rooms, especially our own room, it makes me sad that we've basically spent the last two years paralyzed out of fear to make any decisions, and so in a sense we've lost out on 2 years of creating a home that we could feel happy and proud with.  I know that's a little dramatic sounding and all, but you know what I mean.  I'll show you an updated progress report of the garage next week.  It blew my mind when I saw how much he accomplished in a weekend, all on his own.  And so now for your viewing pleasure I'll share with you our home...I think it's the first time I ever have shared this much here on the blog?

Our master bedroom has a very cool slanted ceiling above our bed and it feels very cozy sleeping underneath it, especially when it rains.  We need to take advantage of it and hang some pretty antique framed artwork, more rustic looking nightstands and I'd love to hang swing lamps on the wall instead of table top lamps.  Our duvet is simple and clean, which I like and the red quilt is left over from Christmas.  I would love to recover the bench seat in a romantic yet bold pattern to offset the plainness of the bedding.    

I seriously can't believe I've looked at this thing for 2 years.  I really don't know why I just haven't removed the pad and left it empty.  Oh I know, because there was no more room in the garage!

This wall and dresser looks so pitiful.  And that artwork on the floor?  It's been there since the day we moved in 2 years ago.  God forbid you put a nail in the wall and change your mind down the road and have to putty the hole.

We installed these Martha Stewart for Home Depot closet systems in both the kids rooms and we love them.  Now some doors would be nice.   

This house had zero linen storage up until 2 months ago when we knocked into part of Syd's closet and built this one.  Again, a door would be a nice finishing touch don't you think?

I'm thinking a secretary on the wall where the mirror is so we can dump mail and school paperwork, and then close it up so we don't have to look at it.  Move the red piece over to where the bench is and place a slim single chair next to it, instead of the bench and then hang some hooks above it?  Still trying to figure this are out.  

There is way too much red going on here, between the coffee table and the red cherry floors and the chairs.  The area rug in here is crucial I think.  It will break up a lot of the red tones. 

We bought these chairs years ago for $300 each at Macy's.  They recline and are so comfortable, no use wasting them.  I have a very cool bold graphic stripe picked out.  

We love the grasscloth so much and this picture really doesn't do it justice.  Once the grasscloth was hung though, it made that stupid ceiling fan stand out like a sore thumb.  The buffet is moving under the TV and the plan is to have a built in hutch built for added storage.  We've got to go vertical to gain as much storage as possible.

Oh this office is so sad.  This is the view as you walk in.  There is so much furniture in there it feels like a tunnel.  We have the queen bed from when my mom used to spend the night all the time when I was working full time.  It's now no longer needed and will free up a ton of space in here.

I have no idea where this desk even came from.  One day a few months back Art declared he needed his own computer here at home and so he moved the bed in the corner (it was previously in the center of the room) and brought in this hideous beast of a thing.  

Notice how small and petite my desk is, made even more quaint by the printer encroaching in on my feet every time I sit down.  Feels so cozy though! ;)

And this my friends is where I hold my vacuum, laundry baskets, sewing machine, fabric, paper and jewelry supplies and kids aft supplies.  Talk about a hard working closet!  Oh these pictures make me cringe.  No wonder it feels like a chore sometimes to craft.  

And I saved the best for last...the garage.  Get ready for it...wait for it, wait for it, man this is so embarrassing

BAM!  Here you go. 

This is the American dream isn't it?  

To have so much crap you can't see the backside of the wall?

The idea to get the pack rat was in fact brilliant though.  We were trying to figure out the logistics of how we were going to take everything out, organize and have a garage sale during January when the weather can be unpredictable.  Art finally had the idea to rent a pod so we could have a month to do the job right the first time, and it has been the best thing we could've done.  I can't wait to show you guys the progress pictures next week. 

Linking up to the Nester's Home Goals Party
I'm also linking up with Jules' William Morris project, because the garage alone screams William Morris.  Go check out her series, it's been incredible.