New Kids on the Block

The best part of a new house (especially one that's bigger than your old house) is all the new stuff you get to buy for it!!  And thus beginneth part one of...what, probably twenty? posts regarding all The New Stuff.

New Sofa!!  D.H. and I have been waiting for this guy for weeks, we actually purchased him right after the new year, ordered him in the color we wanted, and then waited and waited...and now he's here!  World, meet new sofa:
*Sidenote for my Mama: I came across someone named Sofa the other day...one more name to add to the list, along with Allstar and Top Drawer and Empty Lot.

We love how tailored he is, and all that nailhead trim.  There's nothing I hate more than poufy, frumpy-looking furniture.

One of my main passions in life is trolling Craigslist for treasures...which is where I found this little darling, crying out for attention and love.  She weighs about a thousand pounds, so I'm especially grateful to my D.H. and our friend Buddy who carried it down and around a narrow, angled staircase without seriously damaging anything or anyone.  I don't know what color to paint her, yet, but I do know once she gets a little beautification going on she'll be a knockout, perfect for storing our ever-expanding collection of DVDs.  You can't beat that for fifty buckanos!

Ah...and my new, 100-year-old oak buffet.  D.H. and I did a dangerous thing and discovered a wonderful antiques store in McMurray, PA called The Forget Me Not Shoppe, which is not only well stocked with awesome pieces but they are also reasonably priced.  And they deliver.  This charmer was even on sale.  squeeee!  That foggy, age-warped mirror!  Those drawer pulls!...I need to go lie down.

We actually went in to the Forget Me Not Shoppe for this desk for the Mister...

Not that I blame him, it's gorgeous, and in perfect condition, right down to the leather panels on top.

All in all it's been a very productive week for all The New Stuff, which means, of course, that it's time to replenish ye olde bank account before we go for it again.

*And just between you and me, I would put money down that the Mister had the same reaction to the desk that I had to the buffet.  Squeeee! 

Busy Beaver

D.H. and I have been watching Mad Men, and it cracks me up when they say "busy beaver," as in, "you've been a busy beaver."

Not to say that I have been a busy beaver, I spend most of my time sitting on my arse.  Before Christmas, though, you should've seen me go.  I built my husband a workbench for his Christmas present.

I know.  I'm pretty damn amazing.

I didn't think to take pictures of it before now, though, so you don't get to see it in it's pristine newly erected beauty, but as it stands now - covered with stuff.

Our first project!

First, let's get this out of the way: I don't like ANY of the paint colors in our new house.  I really don't know who chose these colors, but my feeling is they either couldn't really see yellow or they really REALLY liked yellow, because every color they used has a yellowish tint.  The entire downstairs is yellowish-green, the upstairs rooms are yellowish-white, the kitchen is yellowish-orange, and the upstairs bathroom is was baby-poopy-yellowish-brown.

Clearly, the bathroom wall color was the first thing that needed to go.

I decided pretty much immediately that I wanted something soothing, a nice blue-green color, and Darling Husband went along with it, saying "I don't know, that's your job" when I asked what he thought.  I bet he wishes the prepping and painting was entirely my job, as well!

We removed the gross orange baseboards, which were secured using FOUR INCH NAILS!  Come on, people!  Isn't that a little bit of overkill?  The prepping took a lot longer than we had originally planned, due to the serious over-use of caulk on every. single. little. teeny. crack.  When we were pulling the baseboards off, there was so much caulk on top of and behind every one of them that it ended up pulling the paper off the drywall (which was installed right on top of the plaster, and cut to fit around the trim on the door and window.  What!?  I swear, it makes me so mad when people don't just do things right!) so we had a LOT of patching and sanding to do before we could even start to paint.   

I was in charge of cutting in around the edges and D.H. was in charge of roller-ing, and we made out like bandits - once we actually started painting it went really fast.  And in no time we had all the new hardware installed, everything cleaned up, and every time I walked into the bathroom for about 3 days I would sigh loudly and say, "I LOVE our new bathroom!"

We even installed a new light fixture (prompting us to call ourselves "master electricians" for the rest of the day), going from this hideous disaster...

...to this lovely, clean lined beauty.  

(Please don't mind the roller smudge on the ceiling...it was getting pretty late and our hand-eye coordination was a little off.)

Of course, there are still several things I want to do to this little W.C., like removing the uber-trendy 12-inch tile on the floor and installing some sweet, more age-appropriate-for-a-century-old-house black-and-white basketweave tile; and re-staining the trim around the door and window...they are in some bad shape.  And I've been on the hunt for a new vanity for over a month now.  But for the moment, I'm happy to be free of that baby-poopy-yellowish-brown paint.