by Amy | Sep 26, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
I like progress. I love to be able to see results. That’s probably why I’m so obsessed with B&A photos.
The dining room/living room paint job is still a ways from being totally finished, but it’s coming along quite nicely. The white is all up {save for one window casing and a door frame I haven’t made my mind up about} and tomorrow I’ll start in on the color. Ideally, this whole thing will be done by Sunday. I’d really like my table back.
Here’s how it looks now.
Just to refresh your memory…here’s where we started.
Yes, I realize that that’s a sloppy job and that I’ve splattered white all over. But here’s the beauty..the wall color will cover all that. The downside? Tomorrow I pull out the big roll of blue tape and start quarantining that pristine white from being tainted by a color called “Filmy Green.”
It’s prettier than the name implies.
Amy
by Amy | Sep 16, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house, Uncategorized
You know I’m a bit of a color-phobe. The one color I’m not afraid of?
White.
It’s fresh. It’s clean. It’s timeless.
When something is dated beyond repair, the first thing I want to do is paint it white. I like color on my walls, but I adore a room framed in pretty white. It’s so crisp and neat looking. Like a well ironed tablecloth.
So, we’ve started sloshing white around the living/dining room. Starting with the dark, sloppily stained built in hutches in the dining room. I know, it’s a rough preview…but it’ll have to do. And as Der-Bear and I like to say…”There’s no going back now.” The white is officially on and we are only going up from here. Our next victim? That wood paneling!
This project will be on hold in DIY purgatory until next Monday. Why, you ask? Well, friends…let me tell you. I’m lucky enough to have two wonderful friends who live in California and let me come visit. I leave today. I’ll be home in a week. I can’t wait for all the adventures in store. With this girl.
And this guy.
I’ll be posting on and off, but forgive me if I’m hit and miss this week. I really will miss you dearly.
Amy
by Amy | Sep 12, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
The other night I was talking to my dad about my carpeted stair situation. He said something that kind of scared me: “Well, if there’s one thing I can say about carpet….it’s that it’s usually hiding something.”
And it was. Brown stairs, a broken tread, a million staples, and some nasty wallpaper.
But it was also hiding something else. A pleasant surprise, in the form of nice, warm wood flooring in the upstairs hall.
I finished ripping up the stair carpet today and it led all the way up to the hall. So I figured it might as well go too. And I’m glad it did. Not only did I find these gemly {is gemly a word…as in h”like a gem”?} wood floors, I also took out a lot of gross smell.
Since day one in our house I’ve noticed a smell. And I think I know where a lot of it is coming from. These shag carpets. They soak up bad smells like a Sham Wow. I would be lying if I said I didn’t dry heave at least a half dozen times while tearing up the hall carpet and pad today. It was bad. I cleaned the wood and things smell much improved.
Now, on to the second order of business. I wanted to paint this week…but that is going to be put on hold. It turns out that Sherwin Williams is having a 40% off sale the weekend of the 21st. To me {queen of the cheapskate clan} a savings of 40% is well worth the wait. Fo-Real. So I’ll take it easy on the prep.
I did, however, bring home these sweet paint samples. Tell me what you think.
Now, before you ask…yes this is a photo of the same colors. They are just on two different walls and the light hits them differently. Isn’t it crazy how the colors seem to change?
We are putting one color in the nook with the stairway. And a different color in the dining room and living room. All the trim will be crisp, clean white…as will the wood paneling and the built in hutches. Opinions welcome!
Amy
by Amy | Sep 11, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Nope. I’m not talking about that classic Jodie Foster flick from the early 00’s.
I’m talking about what lies beneath all of the surfaces in my house. In preparation to paint the living room and dining room I needed to do a little removal. Which led to quite a few unsightly discoveries.
All clues about the history of my home. The transitions it’s gone through. The fads and trends that have graced its walls. On second thought, I don’t know if “graced” is the right word for pea green carpet, striped wall paper and thick wood paneling.
As with most home improvement projects, this excavation job began with a simple, “Well, before I paint, I need to remove this chair rail.” Under the railing…I found
Believe it or not…we are leaving the paneling. Just adding a little class in the form of white paint and a sweet chair rail.
After this discovery, I moved to the stairs. You may remember my strong disdain for my carpeting. In case you don’t…I hate the carpet in my house. All of it. It’s in nearly every room, wall to wall shag in a variety of browns. So to paint the walls, I needed to remove the carpet hanging over the wall. Starting with this weird furry block.
Once the carpet was off the block, I decided that I needed to pull it off the bottom of the stairs as well.
So I kept pulling.
You know what was under all the brown carpet? Brown paint. Once I got to the bottom, it just kind of wrapped around the first tread.
And then I just kept pulling. Until my stairs were bald.
Along the way I discovered that the wall on the other side of the stairs was papered with brown stripes. Under the brown paint is mustard yellow. Under the brown carpet I found remnants of pea green runner. Woof.
It seems like my house is just begging to be pretty again. Not trendy pretty, but classic and simple. I can only imagine what I’ll find next. As soon as my hands recover from pulling all the staples out of the stairs…
Amy
by Amy | Aug 22, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Design, The Art of Projects, the house
So you may have heard me mention my first ever garage sale this weekend. Up until now, I’ve had no reason to sell anything. Our house has always had room for our things, it always seemed like we were on the verge of another move. So I always used the excuse, “Well…maybe we’ll have room for this in the next place.”
But alas…here I am settling in to life in Minot for four years. In a house that refuses to accommodate all my goods. So, I’m having an intervention of sorts, before my hoarding collecting gets out of hand.
I’ve read some really great posts from fellow bloggers and done quite a bit of research on the art of the yard sale. And here on the blog I’ll be having a mini series about the topic. So be sure to come back tomorrow for a great guest post from estate sale guru: Amanda Kuzak from Kuzak’s Closet!
But for today I’ll share what I’ve learned. And I’ll share my yard sale signage and a tip for Craigslisit-ng your sale!
I read two articles that I adored. One came from Vintage Revivals. {Which is an amazing blog if you’ve never visited before.} Author, Mandi stresses the importance of standing out from the crowd. When there is a yard sale sign on every corner how will you make your signs stand out? She gives some insight on how she did it.
Here’s what I’m doing. Minot has two online yard sale Facebook Pages. So I created some graphics and posted them to those walls. Then I made a Craigslist ad and included one graphic there. I’ll update the listing Friday and Saturday leading up to the sale.
Here are my signs.
You can get a blank copy of my signs here: This is the Gadgets & Gizmos flyer…and this is the Awesome Stuff flyer.
Just download the file, insert it into a Word document and use a text box to fill in your information. I get my fonts from DaFont.com. The font that the word “awesome” is typed in was downloaded from there. It’s called “Budmo.
Now that you’ve got a cool flyer, advertise your sale. Post your flyers on community boards and the all important craigslist! To make your flyer stand out on Craigslist, post your version of the flyer to a free photo hosting site…like Flikr or Photobucket. Then use this tiny snippet of code in your ad: <img src=”put your picture URL link here”>
Simply copy and paste the URL of your image {in this case your flyer} between the quotation marks. Do this in the screen that you type your text. Don’t add it as an “image.” It’s just that easy.
The other article I loved came from Better Homes & Gardens. If you are planning a sale you should definitely give this one a read too.
I hope these tips were a little bit helpful to you. Be sure to come back tomorrow and read Amanda’s awesome post!
Amy
by Amy | Aug 21, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
When I first saw our house I thought “Whoa…there’s a deck.” Immediately I knew that I wanted to pretty up the front porch and make the back deck look more like it is part of the house. Instead of something just slapped on the back. I wanted things to flow.
To me my front porch looked kind of hap hazard. When I visualize the words “front porch” I see something cute and inviting. When I looked at my own porch I saw something that fit neither description. With a small budget and we added a whole lot of curb appeal to our home. And we didn’t even have to uproot any posts, pour new cement, or rebuild.
In the front we removed the square spindles and replaced them with more shapely ones. We painted the new spindles {before attaching them} and the rails with a white deck stain. Then we coated the floor and steps with a cedar colored stain.
Now…it’s not quite done. I still want to add some post caps to the rails. Maybe like these. They are only about $3 from the local Menard’s. Pretty sweet deal. I’ll add them to the back deck too. Speaking of which…take a look at that!
Back here we didn’t bother removing the original spindles. Instead we just added new brackets to straighten up the existing railing and painted it all white. We used the same stain on the floor here as the front porch.
It’s definitely not perfect. There are a few white drips on the floor. I moved our giant grill off the deck solo…which left a huge gouge in the steps. I may have even spilled some stain on the cement surrounding the deck. But I really love the way it turned out. And I think it’s quite lovely.
Now I’m looking to further improve the curb appeal by adding a cuter storm door, maybe painting our house door…and adding pots of mums and pumpkins just in time for fall. Oh, and I’ll be whipping up some back deck seating {hopefully in time to enjoy the rest of the nice warm weather.}
To help me pull it together I’ve started a couple pin boards! One for the front entry…one for transforming my back deck into a lovely outdoor room. So go over and check those out. And if you like, you can follow me over there.
Let’s look one more time.
Oh yeah, and here’s a cost break down. We used Weatherscreen deck stain in white and natural cedar. Our decks took 2 gallons of each. {2 Coats of white, 1 coat of cedar stain.} They were on sale for $20 per gallon. The new spindles for the front were $1.19 each, we used 15. Leaving the whole project under $100 to complete. Awesome!
Amy
by Amy | Jul 24, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Living, the house
Well, it all happened so fast. Allison and Scott got a call that there is a house available for them on base. Last night was a flurry of packing and dropping things off to the new place. They stayed here last night, and this morning they took off to unload in their own house.
And I leave for Indiana tonight.
The full house quickly became a nearly empty nest. Derek and Panda Kitty will be here on their own for a while. I know PK will appreciate it.
When I was a kid I remember reading a story called: “Too Much Noise.” It’s about a man who thinks his house is too noisy. The doors squeak, the floors creak, the windows shake. He can’t get any sleep. So he goes to the village wise man for advice. The sage tells him to get a cow. And the story progresses…the cow just adds to the noise, the sage then tells him to get a donkey…a cat…a dog…a sheep…and the list goes on and on until his house is a zoo.
Finally, at his wits end he goes back to the wise man one final time, pleading for a better solution. This time, instead of telling the man to get another animal, the elder tells him to get rid of all the animals.
When he gets home, the doors still squeak, the floors still creak, and the windows shake…but all seems quiet and peaceful.
I’ve been thinking about that story lately. When I first saw the house {Derek put the offer in before I was in Minot, so I’d only seen photos before we bought it} I thought “My, oh, my…this place is small.” I just didn’t know how everything would fit in here. Then our furniture arrived and we managed to get things in order. But it still felt small. Then we added two more adults, a dog, a baby…and a very scared cat. The house seemed full but not crowded.
Now that everyone is gone and all the toys are picked up this house seems like the coliseum. Isn’t it funny how perspective changes like that?
I’ll miss the full house. So I guess I need to start peer pressuring the family to come up and visit!
Amy
by Amy | Jul 23, 2012 | Blog, The Art of the Moment, the house
Hello there. I hope this welcome will be well received by old readers and new readers alike. I’m thrilled to be launching the all new amy allender {dot} com today.
So, have a look around. Here’s what’s new and why I made the shift.
My lovely husband pointed out that I had a few too many online presences for one little girl and one small business. I had a personal blog, a neglected business blog, a website, and two facebook pages… and a personal facebook page. I think he was right. It was too many for little young me.
So I took his advice and melded everything I love into one place. My business, my life, my home. They are all here, living in harmony.
If you have read for a while you know I’m more play than business…so I like to think that this will be a place where my business can be roommates with all my fun projects.
Why I think you’ll love the switch:
- Everything you loved about Aprons & Ambitions is here. The awesome content, the misadventures…they’ll all be posted here on the new blog.
- The blog address has been simplified. Now you can find me here at amyallender.com/blog…not a jumble of dashes and blogspots.
- Derek and I just moved into our new {old} house…and I’ve got loads of projects coming up.
- Since I’m merging business and pleasure, you’ll get to view all the sweet eye candy and awesome videos I produce at work.
- I’ll be simplifying my labels, so your favorite posts will be easy to find…but you can always go back to A&A. There is a link under the “blog” menu in the navigation bar.
Here’s what’s new and awesome:
- Amy Allender Productions is growing a focus for awesome family/lifestyle photography. So you can bet you’ll see more of that in the coming days.
- Much. Many. Long is my new motto. After lots of prayer and consideration, God spoke to my heart and let me know that doing as much as I can, for as many as I can, for as long as I can is the most important thing in life. I’m working toward that goal and hope you’ll come along with me. I think we can all make a difference if we employ our natural skills and interests to change the world.
- You can now follow me here. One place on Facebook.
- My services are more comprehensive, my rates are more simplified.
- I’ll continue to post free printables…and now they’ll have a category of their own, easy to spot.
So yeah. I think it’s a good move. Please stick with me as I finish up the switch. {The RSS feed is giving me fits.} In the next day or so I’ll have all the follow buttons you could want and we’ll be off and running!
I’m planning to post again tonight. So grab your friends and check back soon!
Amy
