...Siding Snafu...

   "Elisa, you're gonna want to come in here and see this," says Kevin, sporting a towel, fresh out of the shower. Um, okay....

  In our lovely master bathroom - the one we gutted and started over on when we moved in {see that post} - now features 2 nails coming through the gray, penny tile of our little shower cubbies... Thank you siding guys. Not only are a few tiles actually popped right out, but the grout is cracked and some surrounding tiles are chipped and scuffed up.

  We worked with a contractor to do our master bath remodel - Kevin is pretty handy, but moving plumbing, a shower from scratch, and moving walls? not so much - and when we asked him to install 2 cubbies in our new shower so we could stash shampoo, soaps and such he said "no problem." What he should have said was, "not on this exterior wall." We have now learned that there needs to be a minimum of 3 inches between, well, anything, and the outside of your house. Our cubby, set directly between the studs on the exterior wall, was no match for the 1.5" nails used by the siding guys. If they had ONLY nailed in, like 4" lower, they would have avoided our cute tile, and come in right in-between our two cubbies.

Here is what the cubbies were like before:

  So! Not necessarily the siding guys fault, but the company is paying for a tile expert to fix us up. Kevin was able to secure an additional sheet of our same tile from the Tile Shop, and a smaller bag of matching grout. I don't think its possible for us to do home projects without encountering the silliest of issues. *sigh* we're used to it I suppose...

Vintage Find!

  I was so pleased to have found these sweet vintage "jewels" on Etsy from Denim Rose Vintage out of New Jersey. For those that know me personally, you know that is it rare to find me without one of my many vintage, pot-metal necklaces. I have one great piece from my grandmother - circa 1950s or so? - and others that I've been collecting along the way.  My orange necklace is the one I sport most often, but I didn't have anything in gray!
  Until now! I was so excited to unwrap this new piece - that came complete with matching bracelet and pair of clip on earrings(!!!) - so I thought I would share!

Hooray! Now I have gray!!

Good-bye Poop-Brown House!!

  So let's just say that when we purchased our house two and a half years ago, we did *not buy it for its attractive outside color - no sir: with flat plywood-like exterior painted that lovely shade of baby's diaper-poo? It was only a matter of time...
  At some point in the year or so before the previous homeowners sold us this place, they hired a painting crew to paint it up brown - EVERYTHING brown: the front door, all of the window trim, every exterior outlet, every wire and utility box, all of the "convenient" shelves with pegs.... It is just a big log - But no more! Lovely new gray vertical siding is on its way!...along with new light fixtures (sorry old 1970's globes: also painted ONTO the house...)  and a fancy-schmancy green accent wall on the side of the house that faces onto the deck. We have "a vision"...

  Without further ado! Let's have a look-see at the parting poo-brown....

Note: the ONLY reason there is ANY contrast on our house in these photos is because we recently replaced all of our upstairs windows - so the old poo-brown frames are already gone + replaced with white...

Good-bye Eagle - you were also completely painted ONTO our home. Now go! Be free!

Accent wall color options....Which color did we choose? You will find out soon!
But until then, care to make a guess? Or wager? Discuss!

Okay, so the front light (on the left side) was probably the least offensive to one's eyeballs, but still. Its gotta go.

Stay tuned! We will be sharing the outcome of our new siding soon - when it's done! As our last post revealed our big news! we are so excited to get these big projects out of the way so we can focus of OTHER projects very soon!

the McBrides are EXPECTING!!

  It's true!! Kevin and I are SO thrilled to share that we are expecting a tiny little McNugget in Feb. 2014! Finch and Rigby are pleased as well even if they don't know it yet. Hooray!!

  As we work towards getting our home exterior projects (siding, landscaping, etc.) finished this summer/fall, and the basement up to snuff after all the water, we look forward to tackling what will become the cutest little room in the whole house! We can't wait to share some of the plans (I've been pinning on a secret Pinterest board since June!!)

Stay tuned!!

The Excavation Site!

  Our front yard =  home to new excavation site...wonder if they will find any fossils?? (okay, perhaps I've been playing too much Animal Crossing.....)
  So! After having so much water visit our basement after recent storms (again, since I last posted about it...) we are onto Phase 1 of fixing the situation... We've hired a landscaping crew to ensure that water is being better directed away from our house. In our conversations with the landscape peeps, it was decided that we take extra precaution and excavate down a good 10+ feet in front our house - just below our kitchen windows - and re-seal the brick down/ensure the drain tile is working out. In addition, we identified the best path for water to take through the yard, away from the house, and agreed to re-grade the earth out there....

Let's have a peek shall we?

Behold! the front of our house! The rocky area under our kitchen windows is the area where water is getting in - let's dig it on up!  {Note: New front door with frosted glass - and get this: an actual deadbolt! Oooooo! the old door was def NOT a front door, it was barely suitable to be a garage service-door...}

Leave it to landscapers and contractors to give you ZERO indication as to when work will begin. This pile showed up in the yard on a Sat. morning...so I guess work will start soon??

We had already enlisted the help of this landscaping company to help us deal with the back yard, and some areas out front - like re-edging some of our planting areas - like this: where a lawn mower had it's way with the plastic..... nice. So we've re-prioritized to start on this project first.

Before and Mid-Progress - 10 ft down and re-sealed the brick. They found that the drain tile had completely failed, and instead of leading water AWAY, it was INVITING water in. Perfect.

DISCLAIMER!! Don't just our rocks full of weeds!! We've been waiting for weeks for the landscaping project to be tacked...thus we have neglected all yard duties except for mowing...occasionally...

The hole is filled back in and the yard re-graded :)

Next Steps: Well, the remainder of the front yard landscaping is on hold until our new siding and gutters are installed - we figure the new planting beds can wait so that the siding guys don't trample plants and ruin stuff... So plenty more to come!! + we can't wait for new siding! The McBrides are saying Good-bye POOP Brown painted plywood house! Hello new GRAY siding!! (surprised?) Hooray!!