by Amy | Jun 6, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
The bedroom is pretty much done.
I know, can you believe it? I can’t. I did it. And I will even have a few days to spare before my family arrives from out of town. I pinky swear I’ll show you the {nearly} finished project on Friday. I just want to get a few things prettied up in there, and the guest room {aka temporary tool shed} cleaned up before I take you on a tour.
In the meantime I’m looking ahead to my next project{s}. Now that the weather has warmed up a bit I’ll be taking this project train outdoors. Coming up first…window boxes.
I’ve spent time combing the Internet for DIY window boxes and good things to plant in them. Here’s what I found.
Let’s start with one from one of my favorite sites: This Old House {fitting, right?} I love that this is a salvaged project. They used vintage base trim…but it could easily be created with new trim from the hardware store.
This next one is from Lowe’s. I love the texture on the front…and that it’s classified as an “beginner” project. Video instructions don’t hurt either.
Isn’t this box from How Does She just scream fresh and clean? Better yet, she made two of these bad boys in 30 minutes! Best yet, each one cost less than $5!
I showed you these dresser drawer planters a while back when I did a round up of things to do with dresser drawers. Kammy’s Korner did a great job!
I love this last one from Just So Lovely. It’s simple and so pretty. The tutorial here also goes into detail on hanging the box…which is helpful!
Speaking of hanging your boxes, take a peek at this step-by-step guide for putting your beautiful box on display.
Apartment Therapy has a great list of 10 low maintenance window box plants. Drought resistant, shade lovers, sun lovers, they are all there.
Even more exciting is this planting guide from Better Homes. They’ve laid 17 planting recipes for your new window containers.
Lastly, the Impatient Gardener gives a great list of tips and tricks for planting the perfect window garden.
Here’s the thing. Googling and Pinning are one thing…but building and planting are a different creature. I’ll keep you posted on how things go. Because if I can do it, so can you. Be sure to come back tomorrow. I scored some free pallets for a couple projects and I’ll be tipping you off on how I did it!
Amy
by Amy | Jun 3, 2013 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
Isobel’s Newborn Session
Isn’t this precious? Remember the sneak peek from this adorable Mother’s Day session? Well here’s a full look. In case you missed it…this is Isobel. She was less than a week old at the time of our newborn session together. Isobel is so sweet {not to mention beautiful}. Although she was pretty sleepy throughout our session, she did wake up several times for a quick snack. {I’m happiest and sleepiest when I’m well fed too.}
All of these images were created in Isobel’s living room. I love packing up my mobile studio and taking it to my clients’ homes. While we were downstairs snapping photos, Isobel’s older sister was upstairs napping. Parenting is a challenge, capturing these first moments shouldn’t be. If you loved Isobel’s session…go on over and like the Amy Allender page. And be on the lookout for the full session album over there tomorrow!
Amy
by Amy | May 30, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Adventure, The Art of the Moment
There are few places that I’d visited are sweeter than Seaside, FL. It’s so quaint it’s nearly surreal. Have you seen that Jim Carey movie, The Truman Show? You know that precious too-cute-to-be-real town Truman grows up in? Well, that’s Seaside, FL.
Seaside is like no other place I’ve ever been. It’s got the atmosphere of a dream. I guess, because that’s what Seaside is: a dream. The settlement that we know today was the vision of J.S. Smolian. After his passing, his grandson carried out their shared vision. They dreamed of a place where everything you needed {including the beach} was within walking distance. A place where people biked, lingered on porches and relaxation reigned. Mission accomplished. More than 30 years later Seaside still exemplifies this attitude. (more…)
by Amy | May 22, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Things are coming along quite well in the project department. As you can see, I’m not sleeping on the couch any more. As you may also be able to see…there are cords coming from my blanket. That’s because at night it’s only been around 40 degrees and it’s an electric blanket. In May.
Anyway. I found myself dreaming tonight about what it’ll be like when this is all done. And about how I’ve come this far. Let’s take a look back at the last few days.
Okay, so here is our new closet and the hallway. On the right side you can see where the door to the office once way. The photo on the bottom right is the finished product after it had been all textured and painted.
The left column is upside down and I apologize. The bottom left photo is of the new closet going in. That’s the chimney on the left side of it. The door to the hall used to be there. The upper photo is after all the drywall went up.
Again with the backwards layout. On the right you will see the mortar process. Because the chimney is old and crumbly I needed to coat the whole thing with mortar to keep all the nasty inside. Once all the drywall was up, the joint compound put on, walls textured and floor cleaned up the painting began.
The worst part of this whole process was the dusty, disgusting floor. You can see just how gross it was in the mortar photos. I really don’t like sitting around in piles of dirt, but there was nothing I could do about it. After all the drywall had been cut I was free to sweep and mop. {Thank goodness.}
I painted Saturday. If you follow along on Facebook you probably know that I had quite an afternoon. The whole thing took lots longer than it should have. I fell off a step ladder, I knocked over a gallon of paint, and a shocked myself on hot {mislabeled} wires. But by midnight all the walls were painted and the floor had been polyurethaned.
I put together this final image to show the before and after of my traumatic day. The top image is my very first roll of paint onto the walls. Only 45 minutes later I fell onto my love handle and ended up with this shiner. Gross!
All in all it’s coming along very nicely. Today I {spent more time than it should have taken} cutting and putting baseboards and trim in place. I’m terrible at math, so measuring and cutting and visualizing angles is a nightmare for me. But now they are all in place. And tonight/tomorrow installing my closet system!! I cannot even begin to express how excited I am to access my clothes again.
xo
Amy
by Amy | May 17, 2013 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
If you follow along on the Facebook page you probably saw this gorgeous photo.
It’s from a newborn session I did on Mother’s Day. Isn’t little Isobel precious? The answer, of course, is YES. So hang on and have a big dose of cuteness.
Stay tuned the full session will be featured on the Facebook page next week!
by Amy | May 14, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Dear Mr. Gorbachev,
I tore down the wall.
So it’s almost 9pm on Monday night and I haven’t had dinner. {Strike one.} And I haven’t seen yesterday’s episode of Mad Men. {Strike two.} I’ll show you progress on the second floor renovation…before I strike out all together.
I had an amazing crew of 5 friends and one visiting mother {a friend’s, not mine}. And one awesome contractor. Together, with professional guidance we tore through my wall and made one nice sized master bedroom. Here’s what I started with:
To clarify, that’s two rooms. One is blue, yes…very blue, I know. We used it as an office. The other room is the “master” bedroom. It’s pink. Pink floor, pink walls. I took this photo from the very corner of the room. I drew in those fancy white arrows to show you what wall was torn out.
Now…if you missed the previous post when I talked about ripping down the closet wall…you should go read that now.
1. Demo started bright and early on Saturday morning. That’s Darell. He’s starting in on the wall with a giant sledge hammer, nbd.
2. My house is old. So, go figure, the wall is old. We we a dirty mess from ripping out all the plaster and lath.
3. I’m very bummed this photo is blurry, but I love it anyway. As you can see, the girls were posing for a photo…leaving the boys to work.
4. Once we tore into the wall, we realized that there was originally a door connecting these two rooms. I just can’t figure out why. If you have any inkling why a doorway would connect a bedroom and a very small room {that had a closet of it’s own at one point}…let me know in the comments.
5. Good bye old closet!
6. Hello new closet!
I was so amazing how quickly we got the wall and debris out. It took about 90 minutes total. I told you I had good help.
This picture cracks me up. At a certain point there really wasn’t anything left for us rookies to help with. So we were pretty much just standing around telling awkward stories while Darell did the skilled work.
So now that all that is done, where does that leave me? Good question. I’m doing a lot of the easier tasks myself. Easier…meaning they don’t take years of industry experience. Not, easy like…easy on the body, un-time-consuming, or won’t make you sweat.
That means I’m piecing in hardwood between the rooms. Putting a thin coat of mortar over the chimney, which became exposed after removing the wall. I’m mudding and texturing all the drywall. Oh, yes and resealing the hardwood floors. And of course, doing the fun jobs like painting, picking finishes, installing a closet organization system and moving all the furniture back in.
Remember. The due date on this whole thing is June 8th. {And I’ll be gone 7 days of that…Florida calls to me…} I really hope I can make it. Who am I kidding…I’m Amy Allender. Of course I’ll make it.
{I hope.}
I’ll keep you posted.
Amy
by Amy | May 9, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
I think we all have an Achilles Heel. Mine is board games. I may have alluded to it a few weeks back when I told you about Mall Madness. Really, though, you have no idea how much I love games. I love them. All of them. Not like, “Oh, I love to have game night.” Every night is a game night. Derek plays games with me all the time. When we first got The Game of Life we left it set up on our table for two weeks. We just kept playing it over and over.
We love games.
And cards. I hate to think about how many decks of cards we own. It’s a collection of its own.
Anyway, I’ve amassed a sweet board game collection. The problem was that all my precious games were hidden away in the back of our coat closet.
And for a collection as sweet as this, the back of the closet just wouldn’t do. So I made a new home for my games.
Back in 2006 my mom’s office was getting new furniture. This bookshelf was given to Derek for his college house for free. Since then it has moved five times and is on it’s last leg. When I took everything out of the office to start renovating, the bookcase was up there. The books are now stashed in the basement until next winter when we finish the basement. Until then I figured I’d either throw this piece of junk away, or pretty it up and try to get another year of use out of it. Being cheap, I did the latter.
After a coat of paint and adding a few extra nail and screws when it started to totally fall apart, I had a new place to stash my games. All of them.
I totaled them up last night. And you won’t believe this. We own 58 games. I could host a game night every week for a year and never play the same thing twice. Yes, they are all fun. Yes, I’ve played them all. They range from the common {Monopoly, Life, Checkers and Chess} to the obscure {Pipeline, Punchline, Hoopla and Picture Picture.} I have vintage games, discontinued games, new games, card games, easy games, hard games, word games, party games. I just love games.
So, just tell me when you want to come over and play.
Amy
by Amy | May 7, 2013 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Have you ever dealt with carpet glue?
Me either until just a few days ago. Now it’s my new arch enemy. I’m vowing here and now never, ever, ever to allow anyone ever, anywhere to use carpet glue in my house. It’s just the worst.
By now you probably know that I’m in the midst of my upstairs renovation. If you missed my intro post, read that here. Things are coming along. But I’ve really hit a road block. You guessed it: Carpet glue.
See, here’s the thing. Our house was built in 1911 and has beautiful hardwood floors. But over the century that has past between then and now those floors have been covered. The downstairs hardwood was unrepairable. {See the brown carpet here.} Pink asbestos backed linoleum stopped us from restoring it. {See the pink here…I’m not even making that up.} Instead we covered it with a fresh update. {See that here.}
The second story held more promise. When Emily and I ripped out the master bedroom carpet we uncovered that beautiful hardwood. The salmon pink {no joke} carpet was held down with a tacking strip around the edge…so it came up swimmingly. The hall was the same. But the office is a different story.
Here’s the office before we took anything out. Yes, very blue, I know. Very soon the wall dividing the office and master bedroom will be gone and I’ll have a bedroom that can actually fit all of my furniture inside. (more…)
