Redo

Aaron had me scared this weekend when we went on a Panera breakfast date. We were discussing house stuff and he told me that the $8,000 first time homebuyer’s tax credit was just that, a credit, and not a refund. I had assumed that it was going to be an additional $8,000 I was going to get back as part of my tax refund. But he tried to explain to me that it was just going to go towards the taxes I owe on my condo or something like that. It made more sense the way he described it to me because they are calling it a ‘credit’ and not a ‘refund.’ I was in a bit of shock about it but couldn’t do any research on it until I got back to work on Monday where I had internet. I should have been terribly upset because I am saving a lot of home projects (blinds, curtains, bathroom and kitchen redo) and trips (Seattle) until after I get that money. But I figured I would just have to suck it up with the money I had and just save more of it so I could put it towards these projects.

But I looked it up on Monday and luckily Aaron was wrong and I was right. Whew, what a relief!

I told Aaron about what I wanted to do in my bathroom and kitchen and the prices I found for materials, etc and what my estimate was going to be to do both rooms. But he told me I was missing the bigger costs of doing electrical and plumbing work and hiring a contractor. Sigh. But he named off several people he knows who have worked with contractors and said that I could probably get a good rate from them. I wasn’t planning on having a contractor for an extended period of time. I don’t think I need one for my bathroom but I need one to hang my cupboards in the kitchen and install my countertop (since my walls have a lot of bump outs). I wasn’t planning on doing any electrical or plumbing work. But maybe I should have my electrical system put into my wall in the kitchen while it is under remodel. I guess I’ll just wait and see how much that will cost when the time comes.

Synopsis

These forthcoming and past posts are going to be in random order. I was having trouble for quite some while with getting Word to copy the text I drafted and pasting it into blogger. But I think I now have to drag and drop rather than copying. So there are going to be a lot of posts coming but I’ll warn you now that some of them do not have photos to accompany them.

Last week was Thanksgiving. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

On Saturday Mom and I were going to run around town and buy stuff for my condo. Well there is this new antiques and consignment shop in Clear Spring that took over our penny candy store. Heidi and I went there before and I got a painting and a silver bowl. So Mom and I went there first on Saturday to see what they had and they had everything. I was so excited! I got my desk, a lamp, chandelier and 4 fabulous picture frames all for $66! Each of these have a story of course. My desk is still in Hagerstown because it’s old and if I were to take the legs off to fit it into my car it would fall apart, but it is definitely an Ina desk full of character. And the lamp I need to spray paint because it has some type of abstract wheat painting on it. And I need to refinish the brass chandelier (like the one in the photo) and buy some little lamp shades and wait for Mom to come down and help me hang it. And I need to collect more frames to hang around my tv.

But it’s a very big step in finishing my decorating and I’m very excited about it!

Autumn Lunch

This past weekend I hosted my first luncheon at my condo and think it was a great success! I completely maxed out my table space and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves and stayed until dinnertime. I summoned my inner Ina and prepared a pecan and walnut salad, herb rubbed pork tenderloin, rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. I had the ladies bring drinks and desserts and there were plenty to go around.

The cooking was easy, but the whole cleaning and getting my condo ready was what took weeks of preparation. Neighbor James has a maid service come to his condo every 3 weeks and he had me look at his place recently after they came. I told him that maybe when I’m rich, I’ll get maids too. He said it really isn’t very expensive. So I was thinking that maybe I’ll look into jumping on the maid service bandwagon especially for parties I host. I wonder if I get the same company as him, if they can do our condos at the same time and give us a discount.

Shelves!!!

So I figured out what I’m going to do with my blank wall in my kitchen (where the mantle currently is). I was looking through a Better Homes and Garden publication at Heidi’s house this past weekend and got my idea. It’s simple but clever. Shelves!!
Just put a few open shelves on that wall to display pretty dishes, photos, potted herbs, elephant watering cans, and baskets for vitamins and such.

And I have assigned the aunts the mission of finding me a desk for my ‘office’ area. They are frequent auction shoppers and thought that they would be able to find one with character that would be nice for that space. And when I get one I can set up my lamp and actually be able to turn a light on quickly when I enter my house rather than stumbling up the stairs till I find one (light switch works an outlet by my office).

The Inn at Perry Cabin

So I was sorting through my internet favorites this morning, trying to clear out some of the old useless links so my favorites list isn’t so long. I had a link entitled “Kiwi Collection – pretty places” so of course I had to check out the site to figure out exactly what I was talking about. Well to make a long story short, the Kiwi Collection is a site where you can search through the world most luxurious hotels and resorts. And I flagged a image of one of the hotels, come to find out it was for The Inn at Perry Cabin on St. Michael’s Island. It exudes a relaxed but upscale (Chesapeake) beachy vibe. And of course, I couldn’t help but dream of one day owning a place similar to it (but maybe a teeny bit smaller) on the beach where I could escape on long weekends and sit in the front yard in my Adirondack chair with a cup of coffee or tea, just gazing at the water. But don’t worry, you can come and visit.

Kitchen

So I was thinking about what to do with my kitchen floor whenever the time comes to redo it. One of the contractors who I got an estimate from for painting said that laminate flooring would be the best in my kitchen not only because it’s easier to clean, but also because it would be better on my back and legs if I’m standing a lot. And when I cook, I do stand a lot and my lower back pays for it (even though I have laminate now).

So I thought I would look up some images of how smaller kitchens look with black and white tiled floors. And I came across these pictures from Newman and Wolen which look GREAT and also include a lot of the other elements that I want in my kitchen. And I like how the floor doesn’t scream black and white tile. I think it makes it more understated this way. And they incorporated some of the vintage elements into it such as pendant lighting. And they used white cupboards with glass fronts and subway tile as the backsplash.
I originally was inspired by Molly’s kitchen in “You, Me, and Dupree” but wasn’t sold on the flooring until now.
Now I just have to wait until the timing is right to redo my kitchen and hope that I still love this idea as much as I do now.

Rug

So I think it’s time to update.

I believe when we last left off I was complaining about Ballard. Well my ottoman came and I cancelled my rug. But I really liked the rug I ‘bought’ from them but I just didn’t want to have to wait so long for it, especially for how much it cost. So after doing some research I tried to use multiple discounts to ‘buy’ the rug again. Btu I wasn’t allowed to combine multiple offers. So I ultimately bought a rug from Overstock and I LOVE IT! (it's more subdued than the picture here)

I wasn’t sure how the coloring was going to be since it seemed like the comments from people how bought the same rug varied. But I decided due to the price and extra 9% discount I could get, I would go for it and just pay the $2.95 shipping and return it if I had to. Well I purchased it last Thursday and it was waiting on my front steps on Monday. I brought it inside and tried to gently remove the wrapping since I might have to return it but I eventually just cut off the plastic and slightly unrolled it and it’s great! Samson loves it too. He already started to claw at it so I had to roll it back up so he wouldn’t ruin the 2 foot section that was unrolled. Now I’m just waiting on someone to come by my house so I can have help unrolling it and laying it out. And tonight on the way home I think I’m going to get Samson a new scratcher toy so he will play with it instead of my rug.

And I also made some tablecloths and had my summer tablescape completed. I’ve moved onto my fall set up now but am still working on a centerpiece.

I’ll post in progress pictures sometime.