House updates - Master Bedroom

Well we moved in on March 27th. Since then it's been tearing down paneling, painting, yard work, unpacking and organizing...and the house is still a mess! I finally got all my shoes organized today (all 75 pairs or so) lol. But it's time for some pics.

Ok now don't get too excited, just one before and a couple of after pictures of the master bedroom. I know, I know...I should have many more pictures of the house on here, but I just haven't been taking any. We're going to start working on the office soon (which needed all new drywall) so hopefully I'll have some before and afters of that in the next week or two. I'm also updating some furniture we had by painting it white so I'll have before and after pics of those too.

So on to the bedroom. As you can see, before we had quite a dark turquoise room and some lovely mirrored closets. Those suckers are heavy by the way! We took off the dark trim, patched some nail pops in the ceiling and used Kilz on the walls and ceiling.



Ok now I HATE painting that line where the wall meets the ceiling so we cheat and put a one inch decorative molding, four inches from the ceiling. It just makes it so much easier to paint. We installed all new white trim and white closet doors. We also replaced all the plugs/switches and covers and bought new heat/air registers. The interior door still looks the same, but that's going to stay for now.



We painted the room Behr's Silver Drop in eggshell. For the ceiling we just bought a 5 gallon bucket of Behr's flat ceiling paint.



We're using the same headboard (which we made), dresser and nightstands (both the Hemnes line from Ikea) that we had in the condo. Eventually we'd like to buy new stuff and move this stuff to the guest room (which is all paneling right now). The blinds were there which are nice, but I'm debating about adding some curtains too...curtains or not??



The carpet was already there and is in pretty good condition so that's staying too. The duvet cover is also from Ikea but I want something new. I just can't decide what I want. I REALLY like this bedding from West Elm in the amethyst color. We're both fans of purple and I think it would look really nice with the gray. I just can't pull the trigger on the bedding for some reason.

Isn't it pretty...



We also want to update the overhead light (which you can't see in these pics).

I'm kind of digging these lights...



And this one.

Well that's about it for this room. Next up is a couch. We really need a new couch!

Summer Sandals

I think we all know I have a slight obsession with shoes. I've been pretty good lately (since we have a new house to fill) but I had to get some new summer shoes.

I bought these Gladiator sandals from DSW online. I can't remember what the promotion was for, but I did not pay full price for them. They're my first pair of gladiator sandals and I think they're pretty cute.

Then I had a coupon that could only be used in store and I had to use it by March 31st. It was for $20 off a $50 purchase. Um, can't pass that deal up! I really wanted a fun color, but it seemed like there was more to choose from online than in-store But...I found these super cute bronze wedge sandals.

And yes, I need to update about the house, but we're still working on getting some rooms in order and getting unpacked. I'll have pictures eventually.

Purse and shoes!

I finally found these shoes!  I saw them on the Target website (out of stock of course) and new I had to have them.  It didn't hurt that I had a $50 gift card to spend either.  This was like the 4th Target that I tried and they finally had them in my size.  Well...not really but close.  I normally wear a 7 but all they had was a 6.5.  I tried on a 7 in the same style, different color and they were a little big.  So, the 6.5 was perfect!  Excellent!

And then remember the purse I posted about?  Well I did end up buying it.  I got it in the punch color.

I'm going to test it out when I travel to Ottawa this week but I think it will also double nicely as a place to hold an extra lens when I'm walking around with my camera.  I can't afford one of those fancy schmancy, pretty looking messenger type camera bags and I usually only need to carry one extra lens anyway.

Just wanted to share my recent fun purchases.

Come on March 20th!

I heard from the seller the other day that she plans on having everything out of the house by late afternoon on March 20th. So that means we'll get the keys that day! WOOHOO! Now I can finally get excited about moving.

Now we just need to:

Get a lease together for the condo - really just figure out how this whole renting thing works
Move everything out of the condo
Go back and clean the condo
Have the carpets cleaned in the condo
Think about the first project we want to tackle in the house

I'm leaving this Sunday for Ottawa for work and won't be back until really late on the 12th so hopefully Jim packs everything up while I'm gone, lol. A girl can hope right?

Everything's better with bacon

A friend of mine sent me this link today:

Bizarre Bacon: 12 Weird Bacon Products You Won't Believe

And I know Jill will love this! See, whenever Jill travels, she usually ends up having dinner at The Machine Shed. (I have had the pleasure of visiting this fine establishment once). The front of the restaurant is sort of like Cracker Barrel where they have a bunch of stuff you can browse through and purchase if you'd like. Well...Jill always ends up coming back with some sort of bacon product. Last time it was bacon band-aids and before that it was bacon chapstick. Oh and Jim has received some bacon toothpicks too.

Well... I am now the proud owner of Bacon Gumballs...

...they look tasty don't they? Yeah...not so much. They taste like a combination of the worst fake bacon flavor and dental tools.

I must say though, I did buy Jill some bacon mints. I couldn't resist!

You know you want it - XIII

Wow, it's been awhile since you've seen one of these posts huh? Well I have something I KNOW you'll want. Check out this awesome contest over at Epiphanie. The chance to win a Canon 5D Mark II? Yes please.

Ain't she purty...

Ok, maybe not EVERYONE would want this beauty, but I know some of my photography friends would love to add this one to their collection.

And their bags are sweet! They just look like cute purses...not like camera bags at all.

We officially closed!

Well, closing was on Friday and we now officially own two homes. Don't ya know? Everybody's doing it.

We also found out that the seller will probably be out by April 1st. Woohoo! That's the perfect amount of time for us to pack up our stuff and figure out how we want to go about renting the condo.

So, Friday after closing we stopped by Kuhnhenn's for a celebratory beer...or two.

Then yesterday, Melanie and I helped Jill (who also just bought a house) pick out paint colors for her house. She's got quite a lot of painting to do...pretty much the whole house. But I think the colors she picked will look great together.

Then we all went out to dinner at Bad Brad's BBQ. This place is SO GOOD!

And that's about it for the weekend. We're going to my parents house tonight for dinner and to watch the Canada vs. USA hockey game. Go USA!!

I want this purse

I want this purse. I love that it is both a cross-body AND a clutch.

I mean seriously...how awesome is that?

It comes in quite a few colors and I've seen some pretty decent prices on various websites...hmmmmm....thinking about it.

Moving on...

On the house front...we're still set to close this Friday. What I found out today though, is that the seller will probably use all 60 days occupancy we gave her.

Part of the contract states that we give her 60 days occupancy in the house after closing with her paying us $XX/day. So I know we'll get our payments eventually but I was hoping she wouldn't use all 60 days. Oh well...I guess that gives us even MORE time to clean and pack and get ready to move out. At least the weather will be nicer 2 months from now.

Oh and check it out...I actually updated all three blogs in one day today! Can you believe it?

And yes...a shameless plug for my own blogs, my food blog and my photo blog.

We found a house!

So the first day we went out and looked at houses was January 16th. I think we looked at like 7 houses that day. Sunday we went out and looked at like 12 more and then on Monday my parents came and looked at 3 that we liked from the previous days and then my mom and I looked at like 8 more that day. Well we decided to make an offer on the 4th house that we looked at.

So, referring to the checklist I posted of things we wanted in the house, let's see how it worked out.

Minimum 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths? - CHECK. This house has 3 bedrooms and 1-3/4 baths. What's a 3/4 bath you ask? It has a toilet, sink and a stand-up shower as opposed to a full tub.

Minimum 1500 sq. ft.? - CHECK. This house is 1732 sq. ft.

0.3+ acre lot? - No check. The lot is 0.25 acres, but we love the location and it's not in a new sub so we actually have trees :o)

All brick construction? - CHECK. Brick and some stone...looks pretty cool.

Basement? - CHECK. And bonus, it's unfinished so we can do whatever we want to it.

2-car garage attached garage? - CHECK.

I really wanted a master suite but didn't have it as a must have. This house doesn't have one but there are two closets in the master bedroom so that works for me. Sorry Jim...you'll need to put your clothes elsewhere, lol.

So after A LOT of going back and forth about this and that, we're set to close on Friday, February 26th. I'm so excited! We don't get immediate occupancy though. The seller gets 60 days occupancy to find another place of her own. That's fine by us though because it just gives us a little more time to pack and clean up the condo to get it ready to rent (hopefully!).

So I don't have any good pics really, but here's a few:

Here's the kitchen and eating area...


The kitchen definitely needs some updating but it's livable for now so that will have to wait. I really like the window over the sink.

Here's the more laid back family room. (There's a more formal living area at the front of the house)...


The stone around the fireplace is what the stone on the front of the house looks like. I like the stone...a little different that the typical brick surround. And ya gotta love that paneling and textured ceiling, but it will change...all in due time.

And here's the best one. Check out the tile in the bathroom!



Oh and the floor tile matches...awesome! This is the first task once we move in. Remodel hideous bathroom!

So for the past month or so, all this house stuff has totally taken over our lives. But I'm SO HAPPY to move on and can't wait to start making that house our home.

We're pre-approved

Yikes! It sure has been awhile since I've updated. Oh well...it's a new year so let's not dwell on the slacking I did in 2009, let's move on.

So Jim and I are officially on the hunt for a house. We decided to keep the new mortgage payment rather conservative so we can still afford our condo (which we are planning to rent) payment in case something happens.

We're currently in an 1100 sq. ft. condo and I'm ready to move. I realize some people say that size is fine, and it is, but it all has to do with the layout. Our condo is two stories and layout just doesn't work for us. We have a small, galley style kitchen which I hate. What I do LOVE about our place though is the 9x9 closet in the master bedroom. Our bedroom is pretty big too. I have a feeling we won't be finding a new house with such a large closet lol.

Here's what we're looking for in our new home:

Minimum 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms

Minimum 1500 sq. ft.

0.3+ acre lot would be nice

Prefer all brick construction but willing to compromise on that

Basement is an absolute must!

At least a 2-car garage (preferably attached)

I don't want to make the must-have list too long because I think it would just end in disappointment. I've already been getting listings from our realtor and we'll officially go out and start looking on the 17th. It probably would have been this weekend, but we're headed to our cabin this weekend.

We're so excited!!