A New Adventure

When Matt and I bought our house last summer, the plan was a very slow flip. Our main goal was to tear out the kitchen and do a major overhaul. That overhaul is finally underway...And hopefully it will be finished before Megan comes to visit for BDR! (No promises, though; a friend is doing most of the work pro-bono so we're at the mercy of his schedule.)

Here is what our kitchen looked like when we moved in:

Our house was built in the 70s, and I don't think the kitchen has been updated since then.

I absolutely hated the cabinets. They're thin, unadorned wood painted beige; the paint on the handles is chipping and the bottoms of the drawers were all in danger of falling out. Also, weirdly, the cabinets opened in the same direction instead of meeting in the middle and opening in opposite directions. For some reason, that drove me nuts.

Our additional room is full of cabinets.

They're beautiful! We got a few fun, snazzy features I'll share once they're installed, and they're soft-close, even though we didn't spring for that upgrade! I guess it was free! We haven't decided on hardware yet.

The biggest logistical problem was the position of the dishwasher and oven. The doors would catch on each other and that corner was really cramped. I'm having the sink and dishwasher flipflopped to fix that issue.

I also hated how closed off the kitchen was. When I was cooking, I felt secluded from the rest of the house, and it was impossible to get any light in there.

This weekend, we cleaned out the cabinets to prepare for the first stage of the update: demo!

We put everything on the dining room table and covered it with a tablecloth to protect it from dust.

Then, Matt and the crew got to work.

Here it is now:

The view in from the living room. That PVC pipe has already been rerouted back into the wall, so the window is fully open.

The view from the kitchen!

I was adamant about losing that wall. That meant moving some plumbing around. The cabinets will be installed within the next couple weeks (they need to finish drywall and electrical stuff first), so right now our kitchen is basically useless.

My "kitchen" right now.

We put a deposit on some dark gray granite for the counter tops, so the kitchen will look bright and modern once it's finished! I can't wait! My dream-kitchen would have a wired island and a state-of-the-art dishwasher, but this is a good start.

Have you ever done major renovations on a house?
What does your dream-kitchen look like?

ABK

Making Our House A Home

Well, it only took us six months, but we've finally hung decorations, organized the office/guest rooms, and added some warmth to our house. 

There are still a lot of big projects to face, like tearing down a wall and redoing the kitchen/master suite, but for now the majority of the house is coming along. Here's what Matt and I spent winter break working on. (It doesn't seem like much, but shopping and decorating take a deceptively huge amount of time and effort.)

To see the before shots, go here. I'm not putting the photos in this post because, let's face it, scrolling through a million house pictures isn't really why most people read this blog!

Living Room

First, we spent approximately half my lifetime at Lowe's picking out curtain rods and curtains (which we returned, then went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to find new ones).

This is my "OMG CAN WE GO HOME?" face.

Then we got to work!

Matt removed our oatmeal-colored verticals. Yuck.

I patched and painted the holes, with Archie's help of course.

Matt hung the curtain rod...

...with Archie's help, of course.

We debated on colors. Originally I really wanted red curtains and finding a set that matched our rug nicely was awesome. But in the end we went with white.

Our living room gets pretty dark so white curtains make it feel more open. Plus, the sliders go out onto the pool so light, airy curtains made sense.

The finished product. We also hung an autographed SUP paddle Matt won at a race.

Dining Room

Our dining room is connected to the living room, so we wanted curtains that matched. We went with the same white. When we moved, my parents gave us three pieces of real art. We've now hung two of them; the third's frame shattered and we need to reframe it.

We hung the Möbius Strip in the dining room.

The view to our front patio. We clearly haven't done anything out there yet! You can also glimpse the new cushions I got for our chairs...no more red and green plaid!

Guest Rooms

Even though we're planning to get a queen bed for at least one of these rooms, they're still complete enough to accommodate guests.

One of our hand-built shelves came crashing down this week (too many books!), so Matt had to take them down and add supports. Now the office/second guest room is all set up. Our framed diplomas are hanging over the desk, too.

We have two beds in the first guest room, and now there are even pictures on the walls!

I had some fun framing my All Star Game tickets, etc.

Foyer

We hung our second nice piece of art, the King of Hearts, on one side of the foyer. Across from it we put up a nice mirror surrounded by photographs I took during our various trips around the world. I can't wait to add more photos to the collection...We don't have one of Panama printed yet. 

From top left around: Edinbrugh, Aix en Provence, Florence, Jerusalem, St. Mark's Square (Venice), Cliffs of Moher (Ireland), Venice, Arc de Triomf (Barcelona), Aix en Provence.

We plan to get a nice table to put under the mirror, too.

Master Suite

We finally took down our gross, broken verticals in the master bedroom and can now actually let daylight into our room! We have a wonderful view.

We haven't hung anything on the walls in the master yet. The problem is that everything we love we want out on display where people can see it! So our room is still very bland; but our new duvet set, rug, and curtains do help!

Addition

The space off the kitchen that we had been using to store junk has been cleaned out and organized! We're not sure what we want to use this space for, but at least now it's not an eyesore.

 

Obviously there's still tons to get done, but the entire house feels warmer with so many little details added. I'm starting to feel proud of it and like I can really call it "home!"

Do you like decorating and organizing house stuff?

What is your favorite room in your house? Why?

ABK

Rosh Hashanah & House Stuff

Our living room is coming along. Matt has been diligently sawing, sanding, and painting shelves...and now they're finally hung!

Sometimes his perfectionism frustrates me, but I was definitely grateful for it when I saw the finished product!

Matt hung the shelves for our baseball collection first.

Then we hung our race bibs and medals!

The view from our couch.

I love that the living room now showcases the hobbies we care about most: SUP, running, and baseball. Clearly there's still more to do, but I know seeing these hanging everyday will make my motivation skyrocket!

We had Thursday off this week for Rosh Hashanah. Matt and I attended temple Wednesday night...it was the first time we'd gone in the nine years we've been together. I didn't realize how much I missed being part of a congregation until we went. The old prayers, the music...just knowing you can look at the strangers around you and feel so connected...it's priceless.

 The rabbi spoke about inscribing ourselves in the Book of Life, but also about making sure others are inscribed as well...in the sense that we need to remind people that we love them and that they're important. That they belong here and deserve to be here. It was actually a pretty heavy message, but also uplifting.

Thursday, we went for ice cream with Elizabeth and Roniel. I wanted to run after, but I knew cross-training was the order of the day. I did a deck-of-cards workout while watching Seinfeld. (My thighs are killing me today...hope they're feeling a bit less sore Saturday morning!)

Vanilla froyo with crushed M&Ms (they just taste better crushed when in ice cream!), hot fudge, and whipped cream. Tummy ache in a cup!

I used a deck from my bat mitzvah - the theme was Casino Night!

I focused on core work.

You know all that rain we've been getting? The other night I looked out our back window and this is what I saw:

Seriously...could that be any more perfect?!

My long run is on the schedule for tomorrow...I'm seriously pumped!

How has your week been?

Does your school district/work give you Jewish holidays off?

Do you attend church or temple or anything similar?

ABK

Bear With Me...Get Ready for Random

I tried to get photos of the shelves Matt's been making and hanging around the new house, but none of the photos are really that interesting. So here's one of him actually working as he builds floating shelves from scratch.

His expression says: "Please stop taking candids of me."

We've had good weather for outdoor work, and that includes running. I've been taking as much advantage as possible.

Since my first run on the golf course, which I did without music, I've been trying to ditch the tunes for short runs/the beginning of long runs. I figure I'll want to be able to enjoy the atmosphere of the marathon and, toward the end, I may want a pick-me-up. If I listen to music/podcasts for too long, I get sensory overload. So planning to run some of the race musicless seems like a good idea.

But you can't do something new on race day, so I've been running the first couple miles of long runs, and all of my short runs, without music.

It's really liberating. And I actually love the sound of my feet hitting the packed shells and sand along the golf course. It's just me, the crunch of my steps, and a few squawking birds and croaking frogs.

Something like three teeny pinpricks of rain hit me on this run, but the cool air and breeze were welcome!

Monday I ran three miles without music, which is my longest silent run ever. My brain started to kind of wander into its own weird thought process. I was thinking about Archie because...well, why not? Particularly, I was thinking of how we got his name (Archibald Michelangelo), and that led me to think that his name has the perfect ending.

Why not zone out thinking about this cute little fluffer?! For those wondering about how big Archie is, this photo is actually shows him LARGER than he is.

My little sister in my sorority, Jenn, has a dachshund named Roxy. She has this habit of calling her "Rox-YYYYYYY" with a really drawn-out and high-pitched "eeee" sound at the end. And now, when I think of Archie's name, I attach that same "eeee" ending sometimes.

And that, in turn, got me thinking about all the things I've learned from Jenn, beginning with:

1. The best pet names end in "ee" sounds and sound best when spoken at a squeal.

2. Date 'em and dump 'em. Jenn had (past tense, because now she's engaged) a tendency to date a guy, zero in on exactly what she didn't like, and date a new guy who didn't have that particular quality. Boyfriend too shallow? The next is sure to have more depth. Boyfriend too clingy? The next will know how to balance his priorities. She is the master at trading up. I've never known a girl who knows herself so well and is so good at refusing to settle, and she definitely never falls into the trap of trying to "fix" a guy who isn't right for her. I think most women can learn from this!

Jenn, me, and Leah (another sister). Jenn knew Matt before I knew either of them, and knowing she liked him was a definitely mark in his favor when we met.

3. Never back down and always be confident. Jenn can be confrontational; she just refuses to take crap from anyone, and she's smart as a whip and willing to go toe-to-toe with just about anyone. It's nice to have that kind of ferocity in your corner! She's definitely taught me to stand up for what I know is right.

4. Why speak one language when you can speak three? Yes, three. Jenn is from the Netherlands, so she speaks Dutch; she also speaks perfect English, and because she has been living in Panama for the last few years, perfect Spanish as well. Her dogs know commands in all three languages!

5. Be honest. Sometimes she may be blunt, but I've definitely learned that being honest and tearing off the proverbial bandaid is better for everyone most of the time. This kind of honesty leads to unshakeable trust, and that's pretty priceless in a friend.

So, that's what I thought about as I ran along the course Monday evening. Totally random, but a nice reflection. Oh, and did I mention that Jenn took up running? (Between her fiance - who also runs - and me, she kind of had to!)

I'll leave you all with a video of Archie being his usual adorable self. I hope your week is starting out swimmingly!

What do you think about while you run?

Do you listen to music, podcasts, or the sound of your own footfalls when you run?

Who is someone you've learned a lot from?

ABK 

Settling In - A House Post

I haven't run in 9 days, which really sucks, especially because official marathon training begins July 7. But I haven't been lazy. Oh no. Packing, lifting, carrying, bending, stretching, cleaning...who knew scrubbing floors could be such a great workout?! Yes folks, we are completely out of the old house and officially into our first home.

I leave for Cleveland for my family reunion tomorrow, and I plan to run while there - time to take advantage of the cooler midwest weather! In the meantime...here are some photos of the new place!

Remember: we bought a fixer-upper, so we're planning to knock down walls, tear out cabinets, and do some major work.

We got the kitchen done first - with the help of Matt's mom - and that was definitely the best decision ever. It was a huge undertaking and having it out of the way was a relief.

This addition to the kitchen leads to the master bedroom (through that pocket door).

The master bedroom - the bathroom is to the left, then there are sliders to the pool, then another door to the living room. The two entries are weird, but convenient.

The first thing he did when we got the key was fix the hurricane shutters so we could remove them.

Our backyard is the golf course!

My first morning at the new house!

The living room will be one of our biggest projects. We'll be tearing down the wall that connects it to the kitchen and doing something with the door that goes to the master bedroom.

The living room from the front entrance/foyer.

80% set up, from the opposite angle.

Dining room before...

...And after. Besides paint, we won't change much here. I love the sliders out onto our bricked-in front porch.

The guest room was my first big task because my brother and sister will be coming over before we fly out to Ohio. I had to get it in order for them!

That's pretty much it for now. We have to get the office, master bedroom/bathroom and garage all set up. Is it sad that the thing I'm most excited about so far is my new washer/dryer? That must be a sign of adulthood...

I was seriously grateful and blown away by how many people came to help us move. If you want to find out who your real friends are, ask them to help you carry heavy furniture.

Ryan helped Matt with running wires and hanging our TV.

Elizabeth and her husband Roniel were super helpful, and Elizabeth has been helping me clean all weekend!

Matt and Ryan take a breather.

So, that was my weekend. How was yours?

ABK