Strong Winds + Fallen Tree = Sad Faces

Well we lost a tree in our back yard. To be fair, this tree was half dead anyway, but now it’s totally dead and is destined for our fire pit.  Last week we had some pretty strong winds roll thru these parts and it took down the tree just outside our kitchen window. Thank God it fell the way it did or we would have been havin’ tree branches for dinner.

{The 3rd picture shows where the kitchen windows are located.}

So we did what every southerner would do, Griff got out the chain saw and went to town.

We’re sad to see our tree go but glad we have firewood for the winter!

Black is Back Baby

Black is back! The back door I mean. If you’ve been looking around blog-land lately, as I have, you might have noticed a lot  of people painting their back doors black. Sense we all know I am the President of PEBA, {Painting Everything Black Anonymous}, I thought I’d give it a try. It’s only paint after all. If I hated it, (haha!), I could paint it back. I must admit, I had a bit of  an “oh shit” moment when Griff walked in and goes “you’re painting the door black?!”, and I said “trust me babe, I got this.” But I really didn’t know if I would like it when I was done. Still I forged ahead and I am so glad I did because I stinkin’ LOVE IT!

Let’s take a look at the back door before her mini makeover shall we?

{Sorry the light is so bad, I swear one day I’ll figure out my camera… or maybe not.}

AND AFTER!!!

I also changed out the discusting brass door knobs. Ugh, brass.  May you die a fiery death.

{I took these pictures when the first coat of black was drying which is why it looks streaky.}

I had a bit of trouble with that dang top lock. For some reason the 2 sides DID NOT want to line up with the screws. I wanted to scream. SKAH-REAM! Griff gave it a go as well and we were both were SO frustrated. Our friend Jake was coming over a couple days after our fight with the brass began to replace and paint some outside trim for us, so we slipped him an extra $20 to make our problem his problem. Thank you Jake!

Seriously, this project was so dang easy, {minus the fight with top lock}, and it’s one of my favorites we’ve done to the house so far. Such a small change with big results.

Come on Baby Light My Fire

I’m sure the band The Doors were not thinking about my fireplace when they made their 1967 hit Come On Baby Light My Fire. Which according to Wikipedia is ranked #35 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Er, but I digress. Since we moved into our home in April ‘10 we’ve had the view of our lovely brass fireplace surround to great us when we walk into the front door. She gave me the stank eye everyday. I mean, wha’d tha hell did I do to her anyway? Bitch.

So while I might have bought what I needed to fix the brass beauty around, oh I don’t know, 9-ish months ago… I finally got the bug to actually do it. First I removed the fireplace surround. I was able to just pop off 1 side but the other side took some Griff muscle to pry her from her brass death grip.

Then I took her to the garage where she met her fate with this stuff, Rust-Oleum Flat Black Specialty High Heath Spray Paint. This stuff runs about $5 a can and I used 1 whole can.

I covered and taped the glass and brushed off any rust with some steal wool. Then I lightly, lightly, exfoliated her with 15 grit sandpaper. My first coat is shown on the right. I don’t remember how many coats I did, but I would cover it well then let it dry for an hour or so then apply another coat. When I was finished applying the entire can I let her dry overnight.

I have to say after her make-over she looks just gorg! Such a simple project with GIANT results. Why did I wait so long to do this?

LSU beats tha crap out of Oregon

So last weekend we went to Dallas and to Cowboy Stadium, {AKA Jerry Land}, for the LSU vs. Oregon game. It was the first game of the 2011 LSU football season and the weekend did not disappoint. The Tiger’s won and the bourbon flowed like the Salmon of Capistrano. Griff’s Uncle Warren scored 4 tickets to the game but he couldn’t go. So he offered the tickets to G and I believe he said yes before Uncle Warren even finished asking him.

G asked our friend Sidgy, {pronounced CJ}, and G’s long time friend Thomas to go with us. Sidgy lives by us but Thomas lives in Houston. So me, G and Sidgy drove in but Thomas flew into Dallas and we picked him up from the airport.

Friday night we met with with G’s sister Noelle and her husband Brian. On our way out to dinner we spotted this fine LSU Tiger fan in the elevator.

After dinner I might have had my way with a giant deer.

Then we headed down to McKinney Street and commenced with the parting.

Game day!

Now, I had heard just how big and badass the Dallas Cowboy’s stadium was an let me tell you first hand it is. This place is HUGE! And the screen hanging from the ceiling over the field is GI-normous.

The Golden Band from Tiger Land takes the field.

If you think Thomas looks like he’d had a few that’s because he did. We all did. I think my liver is still recovering.

LSU beat Oregon 40 to 27. And thank God the Tigers won. That would have been a LONG drive back home with 2 pissed off boys.

 

2 Year Wedding Anniversary

You might remember our post from last year about our trip to San Antonio and our 1 year wedding anniversary. Well this year we kept it low key. Just dinner out and a night at home watching out wedding video. It all started with beautiful flowers delivered to my office. Griff knows that stargazer lilies are my favorite flowers and he did not disappoint. It smelled like a flower shop around my desk all week. Plus all the girls in my office were jealous. He he.

After work Griff took me to dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse. O.M.G. it was delicious. I got the filet that was like 2 inches think and served in melted butter. Griff got the T-Bone, also served in melted butter. For sides we ordered mashed potatoes, {which totally go against our Paleo way of eating}, and sautéed mushroom, {also served in melted butter}. Let me tell you Ruth Chris loves his butter. Even the mashed potatoes were served with a pool of butter. Nice.

G knows me so well. I am such a steak & potatoes girl. None of that fancy fish crap for me. Give me a plate of meat with a heaping side of smashed potatoes and I’m in heaven.

Full bellies of meat and a night at home with my man and our 2 furry girls watching our wedding video. It doesn’t get better than that.

Thanks for 2 wonderful years baby. I love you more today than the day I married you.

Guest Bath Makeover Part Deux

So last weekend I was bitten by the DIY bug and wanted to redo our Guest Bath. When we first moved in I painted the bathroom to cover these God awful stars and moons stencils, added a shower curtain and called the room done. A few months later Griff install a new light, mirror and faucet.  The in November of last year we extended the new floor into this bathroom and the hall. After we made those changes the room wasn’t horrible but I longed for something better. I had grand plans and let me tell you I completed all but 2 of them! And that’s only because 1 idea requires the input of Griff and the other idea… well I just flat ran out of steam! Here is the grand To-Do List.  {A line through it means I completed the project.}

1. Re-paint the walls in Kingsport Gray by Benjamin Moore.
2. Stencil a damask patter on the walls
3. Re-paint all the doors and trim. {Door to the bathroom and linen closet door.}
4. Make base boards bigger by adding additional trim.
5. Replace the UGLY brass door knobs and hinges with ORB knobs & hinges.
6. Re-paint the cabinets.
7. Spray paint the cabinet knobs with ORB spray paint.
8. Find and purchase a white shower curtain and replace the curtain liner.
9. Find and purchase a white micro-fiber bath mat.
10. Install crown modeling. {Yup, I plan on doing this myself.}
11. Install new counter top. {Griff needs to agree on the type of counter top.}

Let’s take a look back at the bathroom when we moved in shall we? There were moon & stars stencils, a moon & stars light switch cover, yellow stained vinyl floors, a rusted toilet shelf thing, and a floral shower curtain.  You can see the vinyl floor in the first picture. And that dark blob on the wall in the second picture was a test paint spot that I did.

Then here’s the bathroom as it was after we made a few changes. First, from the hallway, then standing in the bathtub, then standing next to the bathtub looking at the cabinet. You can see the new mirror in the 2nd pic and the new floors in the 3rd pic. In the 4th and 5th pictures you can see the new light fixture and the ugly brass door knobs. Man, am I happy those are gone!

So let’s get started with the update! First, I painted the whole room in Benjamin Moore's Kingsport Gray. I actually took the swatch of this paint to Home Depot and had them match the paint color to Glidden paint. I happen to like Glidden’s paint a lot and it’s about $25 cheaper than Benjamin Moore.

I couldn’t start the stenciling before the walls were dry so while they were drying I started on the trim. I bought a piece of trim that I planned to just add to the top of the trim that was already there so it was bigger. I’m a fan of big fat trim and our house wasn’t blessed with it. See? Wimpy. And all that black crap at the bottom is the black grout from when we had the floor done. Yuck. The picture on the left is a picture of the wall right in front of the toilet. So every time I went to use the “facilities” I stared at this wall in disgust. I had to change it.

I bought some trim from Home Depot and my plan was the add it about an inch above the trim already in place and paint the space in between white. Faux trim if you will. I tried that out and didn’t like it. So I placed the trim right on top of the old trim and it looks great! So I got my miter saw out and went to town. This was my first attempt at mitering anything and it went pretty well I’d say. Only a few miss cuts. Then I caulked any place where there was a little gap. See?! In. Love.

Look at  the mitered corner between those 2 doors. And behind the toilet! I am so dang proud for doing this all by myself with no help from anyone. Not even anyone at Home Depot!

While the caulk was drying  I started with the stenciling. I bought the stencils from Hobby Lobby and spaced them 6 inches apart. I started on the wall between the tub and the linen closet which just so happened to be 18 inches exactly. Woo! I love simple math.

I continued this all around the room. {I’m probably the most impatient person ever and I just had to hang the mirror back up to see what she looked like with the newly glorified walls before I was even finished with the room.}

After I finished the stenciling I took off all the door knobs and hinges started painting all the doors, trim, and cabinet with Glidden Trim & Door Paint. This stuff is tha sh*t! Only issue is it’s oil based so it needs at least 24 hours to dry completely. Ugh. Did I mention I am impatient? But man am I glad I waited. The shine on these doors and trim is amazing! I can see myself in the door. Seriously.

Old hinge and new hinge.  Soooooo much better!

So what does the almost final project look like all said and done? Well, let’s take a gander shall we?

I love it! Griff is not so sure about the damask stencil pattern on the walls but I love it!