I just made a purchase from Etsy that has me feeling like quite an adult. I bought these two vintage decanters:

I am a home owner now, I need to class up my liquor:) I am going to start creating a lounge type area in my family room (the room with the fire place). I have that huge wall that I didn't know what to do with but I think I am going to go for something like this:

I think a longer, thin rectangular table against that wall like that will allow a good traffic flow in that area, and it won't be the unused space that it is now. I want to collect more vintage glasses and decanters and find a metal tray like that to place them on. Of course now I also want to put two leather lounge chairs in front of the fire place to give it a Mad Men lounge like feel, but that will have to be done later. Still, I can picture what I want and that is the hardest part. Now I just have to be patient and collect things one at a time.

Patio Demo

On Saturday I was planning on just mowing the lawn but when I was out there I noticed that a few of the pavers had been removed when they poured the curb. Upon closer inspection it looked like the pavers would be pretty easy to remove and since they left an axe pick, I picked it up and went to town.

It only took me about an hour and 15 minutes but I removed all of them and stacked them at the side of house. I figured since this was something I knew I could do I would get the work done so the guys can do the stuff I can't. Plus I really like manual labor. The weather was so nice I really didn't want to be couped up inside doing housework either. So here is a before and after:



I admit, it was fun using the axe pick:) My grass is also starting to come back! I have been watering longer and the weather has been a little more forgiving so it is nice to not have all dead grass again. Very slowly the backyard project is coming along.

My back yard is currently getting demoed, woo hoo! The biggest perk of working for the family construction business is I get to utilize free skilled labor. We have 3 full time superintendents and 2 superintedents in training and occasionally throughout the year there will be a few days or a week or so between the end of one project and the start of another. When that happens my dad puts them to work on projects around his house so they can keep working and they aren't forced to take time off, so everyone wins.

Today I win though because I am expanding my patio to the west and right now all of the trees and shrubs that were in that area are being removed and a concrete curb is being put in. It might be a little while before I decide what exactly I want to put in that area, but some sort of pavers will be going in. Grass does not grow well in that area anyway so instead of it being a wasted space I am going to utilize it better with some seating and maybe some planters. It is also a fairly shady area so perfect to hang out. The area will be set by a concrete curb that will separate the grass from the new patio area. This will also help with mowing because the lawn will be a rectangle so I wont have to go around sharp corners. Oh and even more exciting, those stupid rose bushes and the Japenese Maple bush that are right off my patio to the south will also be going away and grass will be put there.

I am excited about getting this done and I think it will be a big improvement on what is there. I still don't feel like it is fully my house and I think this will help me make it my own. I will take some pictures tonight and post them tomorrow of the progress.

Every House Has Its Quirks

Now that I have been in my house for almost a week, I have come across some strange things that aren't necessarily problematic but just kind of quirky. First of all I have given up showering in the master bathroom, it is just entirely too tiny and believe it or not that shower is smaller than the shower at my old place. If I were a guy this wouldn't be a problem, but it is damn near impossible to shave your legs in such a tiny space. I was attempting to shave my legs the other morning and was balancing on one leg when I lost my balance and my ass knocked the shower door open. Apparently there is room for me in the shower but there isn’t room for my ass.

So I decided to start showering in the guest bathroom where my ass has plenty of room. That bathroom has quirks of its own though. I put up a shower curtain and turned the shower on and it came to my attention that there was a rather strong breeze in there. At first I thought it was maybe because I had the window open and it was somewhat windy outside so airflow must have been created with the bedroom windows being open and the bathroom. But when I closed the window the wind was still there. We aren't talking a light breeze either, my hair was being blown back and the shower curtain was whipping around. There is good water pressure but I wouldn't think that would cause such a wind tunnel! While I was taking a shower the curtain kept sticking to me as it whipped around it was so bad.

In conclusion, I either have water pressure strong enough for a fire hose or my guest bathroom is a vortex to another universe. You be the judge.