Before

After

At #8, outdoor square footage is at a premium. As in, we have a 10×7 patch of concrete covered with chipping pool deck. It’s ugly and happens to warrant our DIY attention. In the meantime, I thought I’d bring some life to our otherwise drab and shabby front porch with some herbs.

A few planters made the journey from Harrisburg to Scottsdale and they looked a bit worse for the wear. In comes the DIY panacea: white spray paint.

I heart white spray paint.

Never forget the primer. Yes, it’s an added expense (just shy of $3), but totally worth the time you’ll save in spray paint layers. Never again will I spray paint without the primer coat (or coats in this case).

Because the white seemed so boring, I thought I’d liven the planters up with the addition of chalkboard paint. I liked the idea of labeling the herbs (for Quinn’s sake–we don’t want him mixing up mint and basil, of course). So, after two coats of primer and two coats of paint, I taped off my area and layered two coats of chalkboard paint. Thanks to my intense impatience the Arizona sun I didn’t have to wait to requisite drying period. Hooray!

Then came organic planting soil and Peppermint, Rosemary, and Basil. Rosemary has been the perfect addition to roasted veggies and the Basil found delicious company with ripe tomatoes, fresh buffalo mozzarella and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

The green is an affordable and very welcome contrast to our sorry looking patio (which is under transformation as I type!). Stay tuned!

Edited to note: The herbs have since moved onto another life. Despite strategically placing them to receive the least direct sunlight and watering them regularly, the herbs only lasted 4 weeks or so. Interestingly enough, their death coincided with my week long vacation to Philly and New Jersey. I left Quinn to tend to our mini-garden. You do the math.

The guest bathroom is 99% complete (and occupied by Quinn’s parents this week!) and I’m writing from my closet office as I type. Pictures soon. Promise.

So… thanks for your patience, family. xo

This is a cause for celebration.

I ordered the Gluten-Free Girl’s cookbook last week.

It arrived two days ago. The “crusty bread that even those who eat gluten might like” jumped off of the page. I actually had most of the necessary ingredients on hand.

I baked.

I loved.

I wanted to give the space a little oomph and decided on bead board–cheap fix for a big impact. I do love me some bead board.  I had a particular vision for the room, and although there is always distance between imagination and reality, I’m still happy with the results. The room isn’t completely finished, but here are some photos of our latest work-in-progress.

Before, Before (as in, the day we bought the condo):

Mid-Renovation:

Somehow, I managed to NOT take a picture of the guest bathroom when the initial renovation was complete. Odd.

Paint!:

I know you’re probably thinking, “How can one achieve oomph with more grey?” Tis’ true. Grey is the least oomphiest of colors. But I had to fight Quinn on this one. I wanted a cobalt blue or even a deep purple. I lost. This doesn’t happen often.

New light fixture:

Bead boarded and beautiful:

You may not be able to tell from the photo, but the bead board still needs a nice coat of shiny white paint. We also need to reconnect the sink to the drain (or something handy like that) and hang the mirror cabinet. Then, the prints will go up and the towels will, too.

And only then will you see the final product. Patience.

You really can’t miss a backsplash when you’ve never had one. At Showers Street, I simply wiped my mess off of the walls. Tomato sauce. Emulsion blender emissions. The occasional burst of melted chocolate. No big deal. A little elbow grease and that semi-gloss June Day paint was looking brand new. I of course wanted a backsplash, but contented without one I simply adapted. Splash. Wipe. Done.

We’ve got a whole lotta white going on at #8. White cabinets. White walls. The Cool December paint, although a semi-gloss with wiping capabilities, doesn’t rebound in the same way as the bright yellow June Day. Every little blemish stands in stark contrast to the whitest walls. Even water! And you should see me when I put on those pink rubber gloves to wash the dishes. Water everywhere.

When we were in the midst of the remodel, the blacksplash was definitely less consequential than say, a working toilet, so we decided to save a few bucks and hold off until after move-in. At first I was set on the DIY job. I’ve watched enough HGTV to see that setting tile is a relatively simple task. I thought I might save it for a particularly stressful time in the semester and use it as a nice mental break.

Let’s be honest, people. It wasn’t gonna happen. For one, I don’t own a tile cutter. Secondly, I can’t really dedicate three days to the backsplash. Maybe over the summer. But I’m more impatient than I am eager to tackled DIY projects, so after consulting Quinn and many gorgeous kitchen remodels a la Google Image, we decided to hire out the job.

And the time has finally come!

We landed free (that’s right!) white subway tiles from our neighbor in the exact quantity necessary. Yessir. Our neighbor, who by day is a General Contractor, also connected us with his tile guy. Tile guy showed up at 11:00 AM yesterday and was finished by 3:00 PM. We paid only for labor and because we ponied up the cash money, we got a tidy little discount. $200 all said and done.

Gorgeous, right? Backsplash, I didn’t know I needed you until I had you. You’re lovely.

Bland.

Bam.

Seriously. I’m in love. I will never go back. It’s true. Backsplashes are amazing. And you need one. I’ll apologize beforehand to your significant other who might not see the value in the installation of a backsplash. But even Quinn, a perpetual skeptic of all Cali-inspired projects, is smitten by the clean, crisp tiles.

Next up: knobs and handles. The kitchen is almost complete!

Sorry for being melodramatic. I take that back. I like being melodramatic. And I’m impatient. I don’t like waiting. If income were indispensable, we’d be in the 100% phase of the remodel. But we’re 26 and 27. We basically live off of one income (err, thanks a lot PhD stipend), so we have to exercise patience in making #8 into our home sweet home. One project at a time.

The most recent addition to our renovation is Sweet Baby Grey:

Behold the beauty of our new sectional sofa (C/O Neil and Big Momma). We had been relying on a futon for the past 6 weeks which looked OK but according to David felt like a granite slab. Now we have adequate seating for guests and the perfect spot for enjoying reading books like Alfred D. Chandler’s The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (1977).

We also installed two picture ledges from West Elm over the couch. I love them, but they are a little high for my liking. Because it is far too difficult to patch holes in brick and mortar, we’re going to add two more smaller ledges just beneath it. It gives me a good excuse to put more photographs on the wall. If Quinn didn’t prefer simplicity, then I’d have most walls covered with eclectic groupings of photos. Marriage is about compromise, people.

We’ve also made some progress on the guest room/closet office. It’s a bit cluttered right now because it has become home to the deconstructed futon (anyone? anyone?) and any other miscellanea that has yet to find a home. The closet has abundant storage and we’re trying to be creative with other storage solutions, too. Note the upholstered chest. A nice pick-up from TJ Maxx.

Still on the agenda for the guest room: sew curtains for the closet, reupholster the wing chair (sorry, 1970s kitsch, you unfortunately have to go–I’m thinking a simple geometric print in navy), and purchase new bedding for the trundle bed.

We only have two more big projects: the guest bathroom and the kitchen backsplash.

Originally we thought we might DIY the backsplash. We are more than capable, but real life won’t allow it at this time. We got an excellent quote, and honestly with the cost of supplies and rental equipment the DIY job would have only saved us about $75. The experience would have been nice, but The Visible Hand does not permit copious amounts of free time for sawing tiles.

The guest bath is pretty much a blank slate. White walls. White fixtures. It’s very boring. Although the backsplash is our first priority, we’re (and by we’re I mean I’m) very anxious to get the guest bath finished. It has a ton of potential. I’m envisioning some bead board (to compliment the bead board in the kitchen) and a nice thick chair rail that can serve as a picture ledge. Yes. It will be fantastic.

Until next project!

xo

For now, here are some photos of the condo in it’s 90% stage. The 90% stage means its 90% complete. We still need a threshold, the master bath countertop needs to be caulked, we have to install the backsplash in the kitchen, etc. That sounds more like 85% to me, but Quinn insists on 90%.

Some rather dramatic before and afters of our #8!

We’re slowly settling in here at #8. We just started on my “closet office.” (Stay tuned for a post on this process.) Once the office is finished we can unpack the guest room/office which has turned into the justputitinhere room.

We planned several more trips to Goodwill. It’s been incredibly refreshing to purge. Round one of Quinn and Cali’s “Purge this House” occurred in Pennsylvania. I thought we did a great job paring down our belongings before we waved so long to Shipoke, but when we unpacked in Arizona we realized that we had deceived ourselves. We still had WAY MORE than we needed. Who, other than Martha Stewart, needs two sets of measuring cups and 14 random lampshades? Worldly goods can do that to you, folks!

Yesterday I picked up an unhealthy Z Gallerie habit. I can’t believe I hadn’t been there before. I suppose it’s good in the respect that their design theory is simple, clean, and elegant with a less complicated color palette. I plan to institute a third round of “Purge” in order to achieve a similar style. Many pictures to come!