About 2 years ago: The beginning

We got married 2 years ago and we started our house renovation at the same year. That year, we started two things that need a lot of love and work. I'm pretty sure we're not the only couple living the first years of their marriage renovating their living place so wherever you are, cheers!

In summary, we started the project by lifting the house about 15 ft in the air to get out of the floodplain (I did my share of sandbagging along the shoreline) and add another story underneath it. Basically everything is like new again e.g., new flooring, new walls, and new kitchen (yes!). It's not done. I don't know if we will ever finish it (JIV said Of course! Little by little!) 

The pictures above show the back of the house while it was still in the air and after the first floor framing was done. My husband was standing in what would be the main door.

Off to start the morning.

TER·RAR·I·UM

If I want to display an indoor plant it needs to describe my personalities; fun, nerdy, beautiful, low maintenance. Anything that is slightly beyond low maintenance will result in the death of the plant and my paranoia. I am so bad that I still need my husband's help in taking care of my aloe vera plant. So when I told him that I wanted to do some kind of terrarium/succulent combo and excitedly announced, I have the perrrrrfect spot for it! he only chuckled. I repeat, he chuckled. 

That's why I am dedicating this post for him. I'll release the landscape goddess inside me so he can thank me later! 

Now, what kind of vase do I want? Which plants do I like? What materials do I need? Is there any special soils I have to get? Wait, how do I buy the plants? Hmmm, if only it's as easy as finding these inspirations....What to do...What to do......

1. via imgur | 2. via etsy | 3. via flickr | 4. via west elm | 5. via tumblr | 6. via midwestliving

Nautical Living Room

We have another living room on the first floor that we don't use (yet). Right now, we are using our second floor living room that looks like a standard living room. Couch and love seat in espresso faux leather material, espresso coffee and side table, and boring throw pillows (they came with the couch). Not to mention a bunch of speakers and electronic stuffs. We are planning on buying/making a long floating cabinet that will hide store all of those stuffs. But, that is the least of our priorities. Meanwhile, we're working on our kitchen, door and window trim, and throwing junks that we both accumulated throughout the years. Oh! And of course to prep for the coming of our own little monkey. Thus, in order to keep me sane, I have been dreaming about that first floor living room.

I have compiled several ideas of what I want to have. Obviously I focus too much on tables (I have the glass coffee table, the garden stool functioning as side table, and ship wheel side table). My husband and I for sure want a cowhide rug. I want accent chairs, for sure (wingback is preferred). But who knows when we will eventually get around to do this.

I guess it's time. Back to "work"

Master Bathroom Update #1

If anybody compares me and my husband, it is clear that he is more hard-working. (I don't say that I'm lazy). So when it comes to my ideas for a house project, he's usually down with it, as long as:

1. It adds values to the house

2. It's not too crazy

To say the least, my great idea of secret bookcase entrance was rejected. Not sure why. But several of my ideas, such as chevron pattern on foyer wall (this should have been a blog post), pot filler in the kitchen (we had to frame another wall before the drywall work could be done), the yellow side garage door, to have accent wall instead of backsplash in our master bathroom were accepted. Sometimes he even becomes more obsessed with it that I am. I guess somebody needs to do it (him) and not just to talk about it (me). 

The tiles that we picked out are the same styles as our floor tiles (Daltile San Michele - Dorato). We bought them when we bought the materials for finishing the first floor, which was in April. But, we didn't finish tiling the first floor until July, I'd say. Thus, we started with this project last month and we finished it in 3 days! That's a record!

He started by measuring up the wall and the tiles. Counting how many rows and columns we needed. We also knew that we wanted to have the cut piece at the bottom, not at the top, because eyes are usually drawn to the top. He then attached a piece of wood as our guide. The starting point as well as to make sure that they were level. He applied a thin set of mortar and started putting the tile. Since the tile size came in about 12 in x 12 in (1/8" spacing), we also taped the joint between the tiles.

It took us about three hours to complete the part above the wood. That also includes the cutting time. We then waited a day to make sure they were hardened until we unscrewed the wood and continued on with the bottom part.

The next step is to fill in the grout. We matched the grout color of this wall with our floor tiles. Grouting was not hard, but took time because he needed to step up and down the ladder. I then followed him with wrung out sponge to wipe the excess after 10-20 minutes.

 The last thing to do was to come back the next day and wipe out the haze caused by the grout sand. And here are before and after pictures:

I personally think it looks amazing (of course I have to stand by my ideas :p) But I do feel a spa like master bath. For bathrooms, we use Bianco Romano granite countertop and a dark maple cabinets.We obviously still need to find a vanity light and two small wall mirrors for each sink (and to put trims around the window!). But I am really happy with the way it turns out so far. 

Alright, I'm gonna go and think about his my next project!

DIY Friday: Nautical Glass Coaster

A while back, my mother-in-law passed this link along to me: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/good_day_wi/thrifty-thursday-rope-crafts. The project seems to be pretty easy and God knows I can only do easy DIY projects. Also, I really would like to add more nautical touches to the house. I pretend that our lake house is a beach house, minus the beach. 

It took me a week to get the materials I didn't have: the rope and the cork coasters. I went to Farm and Fleet and Hobby Lobby to get the materials, respectively. Then, it took me another week to start it. I'm blaming my baby, again. I become this really lazy person, which is weird because he is very active inside. So, as you may guess it, it took me another week to finish four of them. Ha! 

My mother-in-law also texted me that my father-in-law picked up a lamp that was thrown out that would be perfect for this project. Do I dare to imagine how long it will take me to do the lamp? 

At the beginning, I hot glued the rope before I placed it on the coaster. But it was a stupid idea. I realized that I could hot glue the coaster instead and wrap the rope on it. Much faster.

The nice thing about this coasters is that they are durable. I can use them outside, which hopefully will do fine under Wisconsin's summer season.

Go Badgers!

On Having A Yellow Door

To set the mood, I am also currently listening to Tie a yellow ribbon - Tony Orlando song on replay. Oh tie the yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree. It's been three long years, do you still want me..

But, I think that I am actually someone who's afraid of colors. Of bright colors, specifically. I mean, I prefer cloudy/ partly cloudy, remember?

So when we are painting our side garage door (it's on the side, basically nobody will see it except for the neighbor next door), it was weird that I came up with the idea to paint it color! It was just white otherwise. I could see sparks on my husband's eyes when I mentioned it (meaning he liked the idea). But when I said royal/ navy blue color, the sparks were gone (remember how I prefer not so bright color?). I wanted the sparks back badly, also because it means I have a final say on something, so I quickly said, "YELLOW!" and the sparks were back!

He then tried to send me to go get this yellow paint color by myself (because we took the doors of the hinges, so no lock), I had a panic attack. I said I couldn't do it, because I was cursed with choosing a color. I pretended I was crying out loud (or maybe it's because of the baby? Can't tell), so we decided on a range of color, between a screwdriver and a box of marigold seed. The screwdriver was a brighter yellow, while the marigold seed box was a yellow with a hint of orange. We like the color of the box better. I believe this is the fastest time we ever reached a decision together.

So I was off to Home Depot to get the Behr paint. I tried to pick the closest yellow paint, but I couldn't find it! (Cursed) so I asked the guy to color match it with the marigold seed box. I knew that my husband will not agree with that decision. But in my head, I just didn't want to screw it up. Actually, if I put the box right next to the door, the color matches!!

So here it is, a yellow door. We call it the marigold color :)

"Like it's meant to be......."

Hi, my name is Adeline and I'm addicted to thrift stores.

Before we begin, I confess that:

1. I am not the kind of person who says if it's meant to be then so and so will such and such. I always think that what I do or do not do will determine the outcomes. Sure, opportunities may come and go, but nobody will get married if nobody says hi to begin with (Well, except for arranged marriages).

2. I had never gone to a thrift store up until last year. Shame on me. 

Short back story:

- I went to St. Vincent de Paul in Odana Rd. 

- I fell in love with a copper vase/pitcher thing. 

- It was a little too much. Did not buy it.

- Couldn't stop thinking about it.

- Went back to buy it about 4 weeks later 

- It's gone. (4 weeks, duh!)

Yesterday, I went to SVDP, the one on Willy St. I was looking for an end table to be placed right next to the toilet in our master bath. I found this cute circular table that had the french provincial legs (Insert GASP! here). I looked further around. but then I got distracted because I saw not one, but TWO (A set! A pair!) rectangular table with those provincial legs (I started to cry by now). Nightstands! I did not buy them, though. Got to talk to the hubby yet. 

So today I went there again. I texted the picture to him........and then I saw it. There it was. A price reduction. It's now $7.50 a piece. HO HO HO. Easter bunny must have come earlier. Then, a text came, It looks good. Sale and Seal of approval? I tried so hard not to dance right there. Could it get any better? Yes. I spotted a copper vase/pitcher. (Insert another GASP!) Not the same. Not as weathered. But I grabbed it anyway. 

A worker helped me loading them in my car. He put it upside down and they fit just perfect on the back.  Then he said it,

Wow, like it's meant to be.

On the drive back, Like it's meant to be haunted me (not in a spooky way). How I found a pair of tables.  How I found another copper vase. How they juuuuust fit. Meant to be?

I don't know. But, what he said eased my mind a little bit. I have a lot of things in my mind right now. But, maybe if it's meant to be, then it's meant to be?

Spring, please come!

On finalizing our kitchen plan: what I'm obsessed with

Side note: I let my coffee sit too long enough, I got this great 'iced' coffee (as I poured the coffee from the mug to a glass)

I have been am currently trying to finalize our kitchen plan for 3 months. We are in a state of agreement, which is good considering I have to face Mr. I'm-going-to-criticize-your-plan. It's going to be an L-shaped with an island. The L-shaped cabinets will be in white, while the island cabinets will be in gray (I was going to go for red island, quickly turned down). All cabinets are shaker style door with slab drawers. The kitchen plan is shown in the picture below, the base cabinets are drawn with solid black lines and the wall cabinets are shown with dotted red lines (can't really see it). About 3 feet to the right of the fridge will be the pantry.

We ordered bathroom cabinets from Menards-Schrock, but we switched to Home Depot-Kraftmaid for our master bath, laundry, and 2nd floor wet bar. We personally think that the qualities are comparable. So, we'll see who has a better deal when we're ready to move on with the kitchen. Note: We need to build the soffit around the wall yet. 

One good idea (that will not happen because I did not see the picture until outside studs were built, which was waaaay back in Sep '12) was to have picture windows installed in between countertop and wall cabinets (the standard 18" gap), so that more lights could come in. Oh well. 

But, I'm obsessing with these now:

Let's discuss from top left corner, clockwise:

1. Pot filler. 

I gasped when I first saw it above the range in a kitchen design. What is this, I asked. To fill your pots with water when cooking, he said. Since then, I couldn't take my mind off of it. He though it was cool too (No good until I got the seal of approval. My ideas are mostly crazy according to him. Umm..creative, you mean?) So, he called up his plumber (J.J. Below - Madison Plumbing - Oregon, WI. Awesome and affordable, highly recommended) and asked for some thought as the plumbing will be on the outside wall. Problem solved! We need to rock that outside wall and build another fake wall (3 in forward) in front of it, so the plumbing will be safe from freezing. Hooray! I'll get my pot filler (Price to pay: I lost 3" of a cabinet)

2. Pendant lighting. 

For the kitchen island, 2 mini pendants. Nautical feel. Reached an agreement.

3. KitchenAid Stand Mixer.

Not urgent, especially if I count how many times I have baked in my life. In red (the accent color of our white kitchen). Red accent will be on the window roman shade, maybe on the stool cushion too.

4. Range hood

This is what my husband wants. Industrial look for the hood. So he'll get that.

5. Bar pull

If it's possible to have the cabinet pull extends as long as the cabinet, I'll love that. If not, I'll just order whatever the longest (cheap from pullsdirect.com). Second floor wet bar will have this look too.

6. White subway tile backsplash

We like the clean feeling. But, we don't know is if it's going to be porcelain or of glass tile. We  I don't know if it's going to be placed horizontally or vertically. I gravitate toward the vertical because it matches with our vertically staggered bathroom tiles. But, in doing so, it doesn't go along the longest span as it does with horizontal placement.

7. Sharp microwave drawer

We were not looking for anything fancy. Microwave is a microwave. The problem that surfaced originally was where to put the microwave. Placing it on the wall cabinet or base cabinet? If I placed it on the wall, the cabinet would stick out further and might be a challenge to work on the counter space. I browsed around to see my options and I saw this Sharp. We went to Brothers Main to check it out. It's super cool. It's a drawer instead of a door opening which is good since we're putting the wave in the base cabinet. This thing excited me the most, until I stumbled upon the pot filler.

8. High kitchen faucet.

This one is courtesy of my husband. He liked the look, again commercial and industrial look. No argument.

9. Wolf rangetop

We don't know if we have the money to get one. But we are obsessed. I, again, looked at a kitchen design with a front-knob rangetop (I really should stop looking around). Then he saw this Wolf rangetop, he couldn't stop admiring it. We even watched a video how to install this kind of rangetop. Maybe, we won't get a fancy fridge (I had my eyes on the Samsung fridge previously) and get this instead. It's easier to swap out the fridge later than swapping out the rangetop. Is it just our wishful thinking? Oh! Did I mention my kitchen accent color is red....and the Wolf knobs are red......Hmmm.....Meant to be?

10. Center pic - Apron Sink

This was my original obsession, before the Sharp microwave, pot filler, or the Wolf range. Undermount, of course (hihihi) I think it matches well with the industrial look that my husband is going for.

Once again, not urgent, not nagging, and not demanding. Just obsessing.

Cheers

Engineering Saturday

He put his arm around me and said, "Do you still remember 395* class?" "Yeah," I said. "Well then, we're mixing some concrete tomorrow."

I did not know what I got myself into. A little back story: The places where they put cribbing needed to be filled in. Concrete guys won't be able to come until next Monday. But, the carpenter needed to put the joists in. Solution: We filled in ourselves!

All I can remember is bagels, back pain, Menards, back pain, kiddie pool, back pain. We went to Menards to get supplies; 6-60 lbs sand mix, 2-90 lbs cement, 1-5 gal bucket. We used the kiddie pool that we bought Lucky that one time. 

1. We filled in the 5'x5' (we had to do 2 of them) with more crushed rocks, so we needed less mix.

2. Then we mix 3-60 lbs sand, 1-90 lbs cement, 20 gal of aggregate (the crushed rocks), and 1.5 gal of water for each 5'x5'. It was so hard to mix. And according to my friend, I did not do it right if my back is in pain. Well, tracing back my memory to 395*, I remember mixing much less of a mix in a group, a group of 4-5 people. Those 4-5 people would usually consists of 3-4 males and 1 female. We took turn and by 'we', I meant the male students. But I did the mixing too this time. (Picture shows John mixing)

3. We then poured the material, spread, and smoothed it out. Oh, we did not forget to put our hand prints.

They all sound pretty straightforward and easy. But, it left me pretty beat up. And yes, my lower back is still sore, but it's much better.

Looking forward to another. Engineering Saturday!


*CEE 395: Material for constructed facilities.

On our Minneapolis trip

This past weekend, we (with Lucky!) went to Minneapolis for a friend's wedding. We arrived at about 10:00pm. Lucky was looking super cute checking out this big reception hall at Hyatt Regency (thanks to Priceline). You know like a amazed and all. Wait, who in the world complimenting their own dog? It's like I'm saying to people: "My (future) daughter looks beautiful." It sounds wrong. Also, I want to comment on the hotel. I felt like it was a very pretentious hotel. This "fancy" hotel will charge for internet. I mean, nowadays they have free wi-fi in every other 3-star hotel you know.

Anyway, every time I go to a city, there will be a buffering time. It's like my brain forgets that I grew up in a city. (World ranking for Jakarta: 13th by population, 6th by population density, and 2nd by population with the official metropolitan area, according to Wikipedia - please don't judge my source). So naturally, I should not be wowed by tall buildings or should not feel uneasy about seeing more cars and more people. But I was......not for long, though......

On Saturday, we decided to take a walk around Lake Harriet. I'm gonna say upfront that I don't like walking that much. I'd prefer biking. But for that, we needed to rent it. So yeah, we made lots of  a couple stops as I needed to rest my legs (By the end of the walk, I had cramps). We took pictures along the way too and my fav. one was the shadow pictures. From left to right: Lucky, Mr. and me. Or as I said to Mr.: "Yeah this picture from left to right represents who likes to pass gas the most and whose gas is the stinkiest. I'm just kidding.......NOT!" I'm not kidding, Lucky's fart is toxic.

We then had lunch with my brother and his girlfriend at French Meadow. It was delish! I ordered grass-fed beef burger (I have always thought that it's obvious for a cow to eat grass????) Then time to get ready.

The wedding was awesome, we (my brother and I) danced and caught up with old friends. The next morning we had dim sum at Pagoda restaurant. Mr. did not eat, I'm sure because he never had one before and he found it weird. But I have not had dim sum in a while (spare ribs and chicken feet!). I still like Phoenix in Chicago better.

Anyway, we had fun, but it's just too little amount of time and a bit harder to bring Lucky.

On the bright side ...

On the bright side...my brother received Microscopy Society of America Presidential Student Award for 2012. So proud of his past, present, and future achievements!

We may somewhat still live out of our suitcases. But, on the bright side ... Lucky seems to be settling in just fine. Note: do you notice that she puts her paws underneath her head when sleeping?

We may have very warm weather this summer and our plants are not as fruitful, but on the bright side... we are able to work our magic and make our homemade salsa. Ingredients include varieties of peppers, tomatoes, red onion, lemon juice, and cilantro. That's it. Oh! and lots of love ;)

Life can be full of surprises. But at the end of the day, I know he (and my family too) will be there for me. I don't want to dwell in the hardships, but I want to look at the bright side...

the bright back side of our new tree fort 

Much much love goes to Rebecca G. who is currently in Uganda. If you read this, I'd like to tell you that I keep my calendar open, just in case...You know what I mean ;p

On keeping the chandelier

The chandelier was there the first time we took a look at the house. It might be the prettiest thing that came originally with the place (except for the lake, of course). I can't afford to throw it out just like that. So, we keep the chandelier. I will refinish it with new coat of paint and hang it in the new office room. That way, I still have a piece of memory from when the first period we lived in the house. I am that kind of person who is always trying to preserve memories* 

Even better, if we get a sofa sleeper for that room, I can get this cute chandelier-ish pillow!!

*Hopefully it does not turn into compulsive hoarding.

**I created this post yesterday morning. Previously, Mr. informed me that the tree will not be removed yet during the first phase of demolition. So, I was super excited to find this side table idea. I could not wait to tell him and maaaaayybe I could convince him to keep the tree trunk. But, yesterday evening when we visited the house for the first day of demolition, the tree was gone :'( I just can't get the tree side table idea out of my mind, though.

On harvesting the pepa!

Every summer, we grow peppers and tomatoes. This summer, the tomatoes are not doing good due to the excessive heat that we've been experiencing. But, the peppers are doing ok. We grow them 2 ways; in a hanging planter (L) and in the ground (R). We are testing which way grows more peppers. So far, we have concluded that growing them in the ground will produce more peppers. I don't know if this is the case for everybody, but we plan on growing them just in the ground next summer.

We grow more varieties this year and we have picked some of them. From left to right: Garden Salsa, Sweet Banana, Giant Marconi, Hot Banana, and UFO (Unidentified Familiar Object - We know it's pepper (and hence 'Familiar') but the name tag was missing, so we could not tell what it was (and hence 'Unidentified').  We haven't picked the jalapeño, habanero, and fajita bells yet.

We used the Sweet Banana and the UFO as topping on frozen pizza (sometimes too tired to cook and to eat outside). They were delicious. We can't wait to make salsa with this. I'm guessing we want to buy some tomatoes from Farmer's Market or somewhere since our home grown tomatoes are not growing.

Happy Harvest Day!

On the house project

We will be renovating our house soon :) I'm super excited and nervous at the same time. I will be likely posting a lot about this.

The one room that I would like try to design is the office. I'm starting to browse home office inspirations. I definitely like lots of lights and somewhat like NY loft design. The thing is that NY loft design is not really clear. I'm not clear myself. But, you know that high ceiling, maybe some bricks with light colors, vintage looking furniture, and pastel colors.

 I do love the sliding door. It has characters.

Source (from top left corner, CW): ©Freshome.com, ©Houzz.com, ©Better Homes and Garden (bhg.com), 

©Houzz.com

I wish to find more! Excited!