The Kohlmans

When we refinished the deck last summer, I knew we would need some furniture to put on it. But outdoor furniture is expensive, and we didn't (still don't) have much of a budget for those things. I also knew that my parents had some outdoor furniture that they hadn't used since the tornado hit in 1990. The original cushions were full of glass (which makes sense, since they were on the sun porch, which had three walls and a ceiling of glass, I think). Mom and dad never got around to buying new cushions (cushions alone are almost as expensive as a set of actual furniture). Yes, folks, these beauties were sitting out in farm storage for over 20 years! So, I put on my sweetest face and asked my mom if she would mind it if we took these off their hands. She was happy to oblige. We brought two chairs and a glider home and spent quite a bit of time hosing them off and wiping them down. I took a few cans of spray paint to them (before I was pregnant, no worrie...

Once upon a time, I used to post about things that were not baby-related. Times sure do change... It's been a while since we did much home improvement (minus the nursery preparations, of course), so it was about time we had a minor mishap. On Saturday I got home from lunch with a friend. Brad came around into the garage from the front door and told me I'd have to go around... the doorknob was broken. It turns out that the spring in the latch (if that makes sense) broke earlier when Brad went out to get the mail, which meant that, even though the doorknob would turn, the door would not open. It was as if it were locked, since the latch wouldn't come out of the door frame. We had to take off the doorknob, then pry the latch out of the door frame piece by piece. I'm sure we looked pretty comical with our screwdrivers and pliers, one of us on each side of the door.  Eventually we got the whole thing out, made a quick trip to the store, and Brad installed this much-...

Baby's room is almost done. There are just a few details left to finish up (some of which you don't get to see quite yet), just a few things left to get, just a few things to wash... Here's the current state of the room from the doorway: Brad just finished painting the dresser and replacing the handles with knobs on Monday. The dresser will double as a changing table, once we get a changing pad. It's amazingly large - we've fit blankets, crib sheets, towels, changing pad covers, swaddle blankets, burp cloths, newborn clothes, 0-3 month clothes, cloth diapers (about half of what we hope to have eventually, but the rest will fit once we're out of disposables), a couple packages of newborn disposable diapers, some wipes, and a few random things that I don't know where else to put in there. I'm so glad my parents were willing to pass on this piece of furniture (along with a number of others in our house)! The 8x10 frame will eventually go on the wal...

The deck's a done deal. And we love it. Brad just commented the other day, after it had rained, that it's a little weird to see water on the deck. Before it had soaked into the wood immediately - pretty much no matter how much rain we got. Before... (yes, it was also full of junk, mostly belonging to our dog) After..... the steps and the balusters are a slightly different color because they are new. It was totally not purposeful, but we hear that "two-tone" decks are in. :) Yes, that Cheezit box is now in the recycling. It was part of some spray painting operations a while back. Sometimes I like to just look at it. Because, when I'm admiring the work we've finished, I don't have to think about all the work that's on my to-do list - like cushions for the deck furniture so we can actually sit out on the deck and enjoy it. One thing at a time, right?

Since it's been over a month since we painted the bedroom and almost two weeks since the carpet was installed, it's time for some "after" pictures. Here's the van full of the nasty old carpet and pad. Good bye and good riddance! The gray-blue walls and new carpet. We really wanted just plain gray, but it turned out to be really difficult to find, at least with our lighting... eventually we gave in to the closest sample we had. (It was spring break, and we knew we had limited time to paint.) It's not a great picture of the carpet, but we love it! It's a light tan with darker browns in it. Of course, considering that the old carpet didn't feel much softer than our hardwood, it didn't take much for an improvement. It's just nice to finally not have stains everywhere . The room right now. We haven't put much back up on the walls. Part of the reason we repainted was to have a color that would work with different bedding, if we ever w...

When we bought our house we knew that, despite being fairly new, it was a bit of a fixer. We started in the day we closed and have worked here and there ever since. I have said several times that I never knew what I could "live with" until I was going to have to be the one to figure out how to fix it and pay for that fix. We've lived with a lot of less-than-ideal quirks. Some of them are big, like three bedrooms worth of stained carpet. Some of them are small, like the rusted and broken vent covers: before...  after.... (yes, the wood is the same color. the second picture is just a bit darker, lighting-wise.) before... (the slats just started to come out in the last couple of weeks, so we haven't been living with this for three whole years)  after... I had no idea how nice it would be (and look!) to have those replaced. Sometimes it's the little things (that tide you over until you have the energy and money for the big things).

There's nothing to thrilling going on around here today, just some more adventures in my attempts to de-clutter. My feelings won't be hurt if you don't read any of this post.  The only other space that my de-cluttering made a noticeable difference in was the sewing room/guest bedroom. This room is pretty "blah," but it's functional, which is what we're going for right now. Before... (although the fabric on the bed is actually a couple of "projects-in-progress" so it's not really clutter, just a mess - there's not a good excuse for the cutting mats, though.)    These are several boxes of miscellaneous supplies and fabric from both my grandmas. Just sitting where I put them when I brought them home.  This is the box I used to keep my fabric and supplies "organized." It worked well... not. (Remember when it was cool to say that - you know, say something you didn't mean and then add "NOT!"? Obviously I do.)  ...

This is our Christmas gift from Jim and Sheila (Brad's aunt and uncle/godparents). It was just delivered on Saturday. I once mentioned in that I would love to have one, and, presto! here it is. (Edit: the embroidered jean quilt was my high school graduation present from my parents. My mom designed it and drew most of the pictures; my grandmas embroidered it.)

I've been working on the living room just a little bit. This is what the room looked like when we first moved in: This is what it looked like before we got the piano... And this is what it looks like now... I'm loving our little "collage" above the piano. It will grow as we take more pictures we love.

Well, things are getting a little bit crazy here on Rushwood Dr. This is my third post today. Our dining "room" is basically officially done. (Well, someday I want some sheers to cover the doors - the sun gets bad right around supper time. But other than that, it's done.)  This is the only before picture I have of the dining room area. And here is the after. Sorry it's a little dark - I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to take pictures and post. If you look closely, you can see the chair rail we cut, painted, and put up this weekend (and you can see Susan's painting - a wedding gift from my siblings). We love our finished product!