project paint-the-walls

we're starting to get knee-deep in joint compound at the lantz household! after some minimal prep-work, we got right down to it with smearing joint compound on the walls in hopes of someday being able to paint on a smooth wall surface.

it was s-l-o-w going until we agreed that it will take a few coats, so the lumps, bumps, and other imperfections were okay. we've got the first coat applied and ready to be sanded. once the major ridges and bumps are smoothed out, we'll be on to round two of joint compound and then hopefully one last sanding will be enough to create a nice smooth, even wall surface.

as promised, i finally uploaded some photos of my thrift store dresser. it's a little rough looking now, but with some tlc it will clean up nicely. those scratches should sand right out - they look worse in the photos than they are.

and of course, i can't leave out the surprise "goodies" i found, stuffed behind the top drawer. some new and some "possibly used" baby items. socks, tights, a leopard print skirt, and a plastic diaper cover. nice.

good will hunting

yesterday we literally went goodwill hunting. love it! vince's sister kristin, who always has the neatest finds, was kind enough to share her honey spots with us. we hit up three columbus-area goodwills/thrift stores and made out like bandits.

i'll do my best to upload photos soon. at our first stop, we left with two milk glass vases (i LOVE milk glass) and a milk glass globe light fixture for $5. a sweet deal if i ever found one!

at our second stop, we found a three drawer, one cabinet solid wood dresser for just $25! it has a few minor little scratches, but is in overall very great condition. i can't wait to re-finish it for vince to use in place of the dresser for my childhood room. it's just a tad too feminine for his personal taste.

then, feeling optimistic we went to a third store and i fell in love with a pair of chairs for only $10. for.the.set! they were a club chair style and it really good condition, but definitely would need to be reupholstered. not for a lack in quality of material, they were in good shape, but because they were covered in a large brown, cream, green and orange floral pattern that screamed 1972. :) but, alas there was absolutely no way in the world we could fit them in the car since the dresser was already in there. and of course, the salvation army doesn't have lay away. and vince absolutely vetoed driving home, dumping the dressing inside, and turning back around to get them. be still my heart. i still miss them today.

and then, on a whim, we stopped at a new consignment store in town. before we made it in the door, we both spied an air compressor for only $30. i think we blurted out "i want that!" at the same time, without having any idea that we both coveted one of these! so, in addition to the air compressor i got a paint sprayer attachment (yay!) and vince got an attachment that can staple or nail, depending on your need. we are so pumped!!

as for house projects, we finally started attempting to skim coat the dining room. let me say, for the record, this is a slow going and very frustrating project. if we wanted to texture the walls, it would be fairly simple. but to try and get a smooth finish is more frustrating than my econ class during my junior year of college. and that was pretty painful.

hope your countdown to christmas is a happy one!

weeee wiiiiiish you a merry christmas!

merry christmas from ours to yours!

'tis the season

to decorate your house with obnoxius christmas lights! and we did!!

all that's left is getting our tree and setting it up. the stockings are hung and the pets have visions of sugarplums (and treatsies) dancing in their heads.

full bathroom makeover!

the full bathroom has finally been completed! (well, mostly. i am hemming the curtains tonight and we still need to paint or replace the light fixture. but who's noticing?)

here are the befores: notice the pastel "pepto pink", sliding glass shower doors, and oak cabinets.


and the afters: notice the new paint (every inch of the bathroom was pink. ceiling, trim, back of the door, everything!), the extended shower bar (yes, i removed the glass doors by myself!!), painted cabinets, floating shelves in the little 'nook' by the door, savannah photos from our honeymoon, and one of my favorite parts of the room - a patterned fabric detail on the cabinet that holds all our junk.



again, the room is so snug that it's difficult to get photos. it took a lot of patience, several coats of paint, some sweat, some tears, and a lot of compromise, but the room really took shape and we love it. well...vince doesn't like all the "clutter" on the shelves, but i do! the top shelf items all belonged to my great-grandma, the middle shelf shows off flowers from my bouquet, and the bottom shelf is a photo of my nephew when he was a tiny, wee thing.
and let's be real, we ladies spend waay more time in the bathroom anyway!

ta-da! makeover reveal is finally here!

after almost 3 months, the laundry room and half-bath makeover is finally done!!

vince truly is the best hubby in the world - taking on tiling for the first time, hooking up the washer/dryer numerous times, and doing his best to follow through on my 'creative direction' all while working part-time and going to school full-time (and then some - architecture is demanding!).

enjoy our before and afters! we sure are. this is truly becoming my favorite room in this house with it's calming, beach-vibe. i'm ready for vacation every time i do laundry. but who isn't, right?

our carpet got ruined due to a plumbing issue about three days into living here, so the first thing we did (well, vince did) was pull up the carpet. we knew we wanted to tile this area eventually, so we started researching our options. we decided on a white, basket weave pattern with white grout. to us, this pattern matches the old feel of the house and we love how clean and crisp it looks. at least, until our four-legged 'helpers' start tracking in dirt.

of course, before we laid the tile we painted the ceiling and walls. then we added the bead board and trim. the bead board actually seems consistent with the house because it's the backing of our built-in shelving in the living room. it also lines the inside of the laundry chute, which makes us wonder what the laundry room originally looked like 100+ years ago.

we chose valspar sparkling lake in a satin finish for the walls and a valspar white satin paint for the cabinets. (i'll have to dig for the exact name later.) the jar on the dryer is actually a vase with seashells from last summer's vacation, not a jar of change. :) in addition to the paint, tile, and bead board, we added a white Roman shade to the window, painted the medicine cabinet and sink, hung a wonderful watercolor painting from our friend john, added some fun decor pieces like the shells and candles above the sink, changed the light fixtures, and adding two cabinets for cleaning supplies!!! (i should totally verify that we pretty much means vince. although i did paint and put away most of this stuff...)

the room is very small, so it's difficult to get good photos. you'll have to take our word for it that it's like a completely new space. we'll be putting the finishing touches on our full bath this weekend, so those photos should finally be up soon, too.

happy howl-o-ween!

from our (not so) tiny dancer!


the lantz household celebrated it's first ever halloween and olive joined in the festive spirit, dressed up as a ballerina.

she kept watch all night on the porch and our neighborhood ghouls and goblins got a real kick out of a dog with a costume!

the weather was chilly and most kids go to the housing developments for "good" candy, but we had a loyal, if not modest, turnout of about 40 kids.

already we're planning for next year and we've learned some great lessons - like be sure to only buy candy that we'll be willing to eat. apparently i was overly optimistic because we have an entire bag that wasn't even opened. :)

first house renovation injury

we had our first renovation "injury" this weekend and surprisingly - it wasn't me!

i'll spare everyone the photo (trust me, it looks gross) and just share that poor vince cut his finger while he was cutting trim for the laundry room. praise God that my mother is a nurse(!) because vince never listens to my opinion on whether or not official medical services are necessary. (although that could be because i didn't even look at the cut- bleh!) so, my mother came, bearing all the first aid supplies that we don't have (basically anything beyond band aids and neosporin) and fixed him up, right nicely.

now vince just has to figure out how to make models for school with a huge bandage on his thumb.

super cleaning sunday...

... is well under way!

it's crazy how things stack up during a busy work week and luckily vince is home this weekend to help clean up. i think our "catch-all" dining room may be usuable space when vince is done with it!

flea market finds

my mom and i had a great time antiquing this weekend! it was very windy and a little chilly, but it was some great mother-daughter time nonetheless. there were some really great finds and i had to exercise a LOT of self-restraint to keep out of the old jewelry, hats, purses, and gloves. another day....siiiiiigh.

anyhow, i did find a great solid wood, mahogany stained desk that i've converted to a vanity. i still need a mirror to get ready in the mornings, but for now our mirror rested on top will work. i love the slight curve in the design and all the drawers. traditional vanities are just not high enough for a 5'7" girl nor do they have space for all my "stuff".










i really like the old metal pulls! eventually the whole thing needs sanded down and re-stained or painted (there's some significant scratching and missing trim), but that will have to wait for a weekend with no other plans.

we also found an amazing deal on some chairs. a set of 5 for only $125. they are a beautiful wood with a great line. the current upholstering is needlepoint in excellent condition. we're likely going to find a new print, but again, this will have to wait for another weekend.

olive couldn't stand to be outside the frame, but at least you can see the line of the chair from the side. just ignore her big mug. :)

here you can see the design of the backs, and of course, a close up of the needlepoint cushions.

i love almost anything "old" and i think i'm addicted to flea markets!

why, yes....

i did purchase yardbags, a rake, and a lawn mower by myself. and assemble said lawn mower by myself. and rake the leaves, trim the shrubs, mow the yard, and rake up grass clippings by myself.

thank.you.very.much.




















and now i will be enjoying some chocolate and wine, by myself. :) hope vince is enjoying that "school required" boston trip. (it is necessary, but he did mention the sam adams brewery, so one has to wonder what ohio state's curriculum involves...)

for a comparison, here's a photo of our nice, short grass and the neighbor's longer, darker green grass.i think i did well!

reality tv

olive spends about 85% of her time watching her "tv". she loves, loves, loves to sit in the front window with her nose smooshed up against the glass and watch the world outside. she enjoys the cars driving by, the kids playing across the street, and the occasional walker on the sidewalk.
















here she just realized i was photographing her. she clearly looks annoyed.
















aaannnnddd about .5 seconds later she's over it. and back in the window. away from my prying eyes. love her.

feels like home

it's been a little over one month and we're finally starting to get settled in. things are slowly getting unpacked and the house is starting to feel like home.

clearly it didn't take long for olive to feel comfortable. i think this was week one of home ownership and she hasn't looked back on the apartment days since!

vince has school stuff all weekend so i am looking forward to some serious cleaning and unpacking this weekend, without him in the way. (sorry, vince. you just don't get why i think it's necessary to wipe down the walls and ceiling. - more to that on another day.)

my mom and i are also going to go antiquing this weekend as part of my mission to find a vanity/dressing table for our bedroom. if you have any leads - let me know. craigslist has been pretty sparse.

with that, enjoy these teasers of our dining room. while it was nicely decorated when we bought it, the style isn't ours, so the wallpaper has since been removed. this will be a long term project since the wallpaper glue will need scraped off, so don't look for updates anytime soon.

coming soon

we said it before, but new photos should be up soon of our bathroom makeovers. we ended up re-doing the full bath and have just now started to tackle the half-bath/laundry room project we mentioned.

in addition to being busy with work and house projects, we were internet-less for a couple of weeks and now vince has started class at osu for that masters degree he needs. i look forward to the house really taking shape in the next few months.

stay tuned.

we moved!

we're really slacking on the posting front - but we have a great excuse. we moved!

closing went well and last week we started transitioning from apartment to house. a big, huge thank you to our family and friends who helped with the move. we appreciate you so much!

after much lifting, sweating, cleaning and packing/unpacking we are slowly, but surely, getting settled in. we still have a long way to go and some furniture shopping to do, but we love love love our house! the neighborhood is nice, our neighbors are just wonderful, welcoming us and saying hello.

olive is doing her best to get used to 'city living' and she still hasn't quite figured out the bells from the court house. earl is just now coming around after spending a few days hiding in the basement in a crawlspace we didn't even know we had. (go figure.)

and as for us, we're still finding surprises too. like the plumbing. after trying to hook up our washing machine and take showers, we quickly found out that our plumbing is just not right. imagine our shock at seeing the toilet in the half bath overflow as anyone attempted to take a shower. after several calls to our home warranty company, one plumber, and three hours of hard work, a tangled rat's nest of roots were cleared from our water lines.

stay tuned for photos of a major half bath/laundry room make-over. since the carpet in there was ruined by overflowing pipes, we're trying our hand at tiling. thank the lord for long weekends and pray that we have patience!

closed

we closed today! so now we are official homeowners. one celebratory lunch, trip to walmart and lowe's for house supplies, and one car load of boxes later and we are pooped! tonight will be spent packing up the remnants of the apartment and preparing for a looooooooooooong day of moving, cleaning, and unpacking tomorrow. closing wasn't nearly as long as we expected. we did some serious signing, but nothing as overwhelming as we were expecting.

on a side note, we met some of our new neighbors today and they were so friendly and nice. we're excited to have offical neighbors and can't wait to get settled.

walk through

we had our final walk through this afternoon and had the pleasure of meeting some family members of the current owner. it turns out vince and i know his granddaughter and we got to hear some neat stories from the family's history. it made us very excited to start our own history in the house.

only three more days until we close and we just can't wait!

box city

it's really starting to look like cardboard box city around the apartment! we've got stacks of collapsed boxes, half packed boxes, empty boxes, and taped up, heavy boxes littering every room. we keep reminding ourselves that after this move, we won't be going anywhere for a few years!

all the excitement of moving is getting to us, including earl, our cat. even if we're just packing for vacation, he seems to know that we are going somewhere and he isn't. with all the boxes i guess it's no surprise that he's getting antsy. but little did i expect what i woke up to this morning.

usually when i wake up, earl is laying on the other side of our bedroom door, as if he was waiting all night for me to get up and play. but this morning, no earl in sight. assuming that he's not hungry and decided to snuggle up in a closet, i head downstairs to exercise and start my day. about 20 minutes later vince lets olive out and she heads downstairs, without chasing earl, also not typical. so then i start to think something is really up. after doing a quick search, i start to fear the worst...we cleaned last night...what if earl drank a cleaner and crawled off to die...what if he's stuck behind the water heater in bad shape...what if someone broke in and he got out...and on. and on. and on.

my next step is to wake up vince and search our bedroom. still no earl. so then i take olive out for her morning routine. after sniffing each section of the yard, she wraps up business, and as we're about to head inside, i hear a faint, but unhappy little meow. i guess it's like mothers and their babies, because i immediately knew it was earl. i couldn't locate just where he was, but i could hear him. so i ran in, grabbed his food dish, and coaxed him out with breakfast.

somehow the little bugger got outside and spent ALL NIGHT outside! thankfully he's completely fine and he miraculously knew to sleep in the shrubs by our front door. we still have no idea when he made his escape, but somehow he did. now i'm even more sure that he'll have to be "locked up" as we move everything out!

approved!

we're so excited! we just heard back from our appraisal and we 'passed'!! the house was appraised for a whopping $10k more than our list price, so we are well on our way to homeownership.

vince and i were really worried about the garage being flagged and stalling the process, so this is a huge sigh of relief. in fact, our broker said this is the largest gap he's seen in his 10+ years of the business. we can easily tell him how and why; we only prayed 7593483728439455483 times that things would work out. so, praise be to god that we're in the clear!

our next stepping stone: home insurance. it just keeps getting better...

she's crafty

i'm very proud of how my gift for my friend's bridal shower turned out! each guest was given a room to help "furnish" and i was assigned the kitchen. i wasn't quite sure how i could glam up a gift for this area, but i gave it a go and i really like the end result.

here's the final package, complete with a fun and sassy bow for the ribbon bouquet she'll use at her rehearsal.





























included, for the culinary delight of my favorite new mr. and mrs., are a betty crocker cookbook (a must have, if i say so myself), miscellaneous kitchen utensils off their registry, metal measuring cups (i love how these look), a metal shaker and a yellow mum in a cute and modern looking white ceramic pot (you can't really see this).

i found this sleek looking basket at our local wal-mart and i think it can be multi-functional in a bathroom, office, living room, etc. after the other items are removed. to give my 'gifts' some height, i scrunched in a bunch of grocery bags and covered those with the crinkled decorative paper used for gift wrapping. to top it off, i picked out that sassy ribbon. if only i could master tying that bow straight... but i think it adds to the charm of the gift and it certainly matches the gift giver. now i'm just excited to give this to the bride-to-be!

so excited

during our latest stroll through the goodwill store, vince flagged me down to "show me something". with a bit of hesitance i followed him and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was something not architecture related. (sorry, babe - i just don't love it like you do.)

he found an old, green sears - kenmore sewing machine for only $15! i have been begging for a sewing machine for quite some time, so i am psyched. we have yet to plug in it though, so i can only hope it works. homemade curtains and pillow covers are this.close!

waiting it out

no real updates on the house front... we're just waiting on the inspection items to finalize so we can (hopefully) move forward with an fha loan appraisal. i suppose the name of this game is 'patience', which unfortunately is not a game i am good at. luckily, this will give vince and i an opportunity to pack and clean this weekend. if all goes well we'll need to be ready to go on aug. 26th.

think outside the box

let the packing begin!

we are very fortunate that our companies let employees have dibs at any boxes they receive from shipments. taking full advantage, i loaded up my car to the max with boxes galore. so tonight is going to consist of papa murphy's, oodles of boxes, and packing our possesions with the dark knight in the background.

i suppose next time it would help if i collapse the boxes first...

(thanks for pointing that out, mom!)

making the most of our weekend

our house enthusiasm has really carried over into our weekend. saturday we woke up early to hit up some local garage sales and a flea market. we found a rug that i LOVED for our future dining room, but it was just a tad too small, so vince made me leave it... thank goodness for his practicality in those types of situations.

then we dropped off some old clothes at goodwill and did a little 'trash to treasures' shopping in its housewares aisle. i'm happy to report that we found a cute little bird sculpture. we were able to look past the dingy gold exterior and envision a crisp white coat of paint. check out the before picture, but ignore the dinged up sewing machine/end table. that's a different trash find that still needs restored.

yesterday we managed to pack up a few boxes and clean the microwave! my hope is that if we chip away at things we'll be all set for a timely closing/move. then, we donated three bags of books to the public library (a very satisfying feeling, to have not wasted all those books!) and dropped into another goodwill.

based on the ease with which we painted our bird statue, i felt really optimistic about a lamp we found there and now I can't wait to get started on painting it. since i'm not sure which room the lamp will end up in, i'm having a hard time deciding what color the body should be. but i do know i want to paint the base silver.

so much to do and so little time, i suppose. we are absolutely loving every minute of it! in fact, vince wants to go buy the other identical bird statue for our desk in the office.

enjoy the "after" photo, after three even coats of valspar spray primer

we did it!

after several months of searching, we found our dream house! located in our in the quiet, charming 'historic uptown' area of our hometown, the house is a spacious 1904 Bungalow with loads of 'old' character and detail.
so now we are on to the nerve-wracking process of inspections and financing. with the inspection complete and the termite inspection early next week, we are waiting with crossed fingers for no termite activity and a successful FHA appraisal.
already we have visions of restored hard wood floors, newly painted walls, and bold, vivid textiles dancing in our heads... we are really looking forward to taking this house and making it our home!