make my house a home

My parents came on Sunday and Dad and I installed my storm/screen door! How wonderful to get ventilation without bugs!! It took MUCH longer than I thought it would, and I’m glad I didn’t attempt it on my own like I originally planned.

We also hung an old bamboo shade on the street-side of the porch. The neighbors across the street – though very friendly – tend to invite themselves over every time I’m on the porch relaxing. Now I can roll down the shade when I just want to zone out and enjoy the evening breezes. Although it doesn’t cut out the noise from the street like I had hoped it might, it does make it easier to ignore!

One day to laze around…
One day to do the boring errands…
And one day for BIG FUN PROJECTS!!

I finally started on my chairs! Spent the whole day sanding (kinda hard to see in the picture, the chair is about half-sanded here), and was able to paint it by early evening. I had NO idea it would take so long!! I still want to do each chair a different color, and I like the idea of covering the seats with the same fabric to tie them together. Haven’t found the right one yet though!

I finished painting the living room. The color is warmer and goes with my new couch. I also got rid of the ugly blinds and will get a slipcover for my chair. It’s going to be a much more welcoming room for me and guests.

FINALLY, my housewarming party is this Wednesday!! I kept on having reasons/excuses to put it off, but I’ll never be 100% ready unless I force myself!

Also, garden is aaaaaall planted! Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, spinach!

My parents will be here Thursday morning for our flight to St Louis, so hopefully there will be time to hang the hutch. I found a great rug at Pottery Barn Kids, now I’m trying to decide if the 3×5 size will work instead of the 5×8 (for less than half the cost).

My garden is taking shape! Of course, that shape includes a LOT of roots to be dug out, but I spent several hours at it over the long weekend, and I think I’ve decided it’s enough for this year. Now to get things in the ground, and I’ll be a happy Lou!

My container herb garden on the porch has a bright green crop of wheat grass, yay!

FINALLY hired the crazy guy across the street who happens to run a lawn care service. It looks GREAT to have the grass and overgrowth cleared out of the garden, and the hay field cut down!! It’s just a strip between the sidewalk and the road, but it was looking pretty bad.

So far:
furniture – acquired and arranged
pot rack – installed and filled
pantry – arrived and filled
windows – curtains in all windows, still need blinds in some
garden – kitchen herb garden half-planted, started to dig the veggie plot
companionship – Roger’s dog hair dispersed evenly around house

Still to go:
-painting?
-paint chairs
-housewarming party
-GUEST BOOK!! I’ve already had 4 overnight guests!!
-hire lawn care service (at least for this summer)
-living room rug
-install entryway hutch

As mentioned previously, I’m getting a couch on the cheap from some friends at the end of this month. Well, the time has finally come!! The couch is coming TONIGHT!! I’m very excited to have a little extra space to snuggle with my 65lb self-proclaimed “lap dog”!!

Our lovely garden fence catches all sorts of drifting newspaper, coffee cups, etc. It’s so nice and sunny today, maybe I’ll spend some time this evening fishing things out.

Went Saturday to get my coffee table and two chairs, and the manager gave me four chairs for the price of two!! Of course now my dining room sort of looks like a hotel…
Once it’s warm I’m going to sand down and paint the chairs; the dark wood is not to my taste. And I’ll recover the forest green-upholstered seats as well. I had planned on finding four mismatching chairs, so now I’m going to paint them each a different color!

The first – and at the moment most pressing – step is to furnish my house!! I’ve only ever lived in small apartments so I don’t have a couch, coffee table, etc.

I borrowed a kitchen table from my folks, but with chairs that are a bit too low.

The women upstairs from my old apartment are moving away at the end of this month. They’re happily selling me a couch for my living room and futon for my second bedroom! Unfortunately, that’s still several weeks away.

My real estate agent gave me a $100 gift card to Home Goods at my closing, and I had planned to use it for a coffee table. However, none of the pieces there are at all in my taste, and are pretty expensive. Instead I’ve decided to buy a bunch of little things with it (canvas crates for my closet high shelf!) and just find a cheap coffee table elsewhere.
I’ve been hitting up Craig’s List every day looking for the coffee table, and it might have finally paid off. A hotel in town is refurnishing, and selling the old stuff CHEAP. I put my name on the list for a $25 coffee table and two $10 kitchen chairs!