W E E K E N D P R O J E C T

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hubby was itching to do a little project this weekend. i've had this wood sitting around forever with the grand plans of making a nice little place for the cats to sit by the window (these are the things i think about??). so this past weekend was the perfect time for the cats to get their shelf made, and for chris to try out the electric planer he got for christmas. everybody's happy!!

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L U N C H T I M E M I N I T R I P S

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i usually try and get out during lunchtime...go for a little walk and explore.

a few blocks up park avenue from the office is the Scandinavia House cultural center.

There's a museum, a cute restaurant, and a fab little gift shop...worth a little peek in.

and you know how much i love scandinavian anything!

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J U S T S H O O T M E

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my good friend emily is building her photography portfolio of interiors. i was honored,

and totally jazzed, when she asked if she could shoot ourplace. how cool is that? here's

some of her shots, but be sure to check out her site to see all of her fabulous work!

She'd be a great contact for any brokers out there, or if you're looking to sell your

house and want killer shots.

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T H E C U T E S T

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even though we haven't renovated our kitchen yet, i'm already shopping for accessories.

i've kind of had it in my head that i would make my own simple little cafe curtains, like

the photo below, with a modern and graphic print fabric.

wouldn't this fabric be so cute? maybe too cute?

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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a too cute double shot...arnold and my nephew Vin.

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C G H I S T O R I C D I S T R I C T

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There's talk around town that the Landmarks Preservation Commission would like the expand

the "pitifully small" area that was designated back in 1973 to include all the blocks bound by

court street, henry street, huntington street, and first place...hey that means us!!!

sounds like a great idea!

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U N I T # 3 B E F O R E & A F T E R

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we are lucky enough to have 2 rental units in our house. one was already in fairly good shape when we bought the place, but the other was pretty bad right from the open house. we bought our building with the tenants already in place. a good tenant in the good apartment and bad tenants in the bad apartment. not bad as in bad people...annoying, yes. but bad in a dirty, loud, young&naive, why do i have bugs oh maybe it's all the food out, way.

forward to the winter of 2009...when these gems left we fully gutted and renovated the leaky bathroom and 1972-era kitchen. there will be no drop ceilings in my house!

oddly, this is the only part of the house that still has some of the lovely details of a house made in 1901. including some great moldings, original wood floors, and a marble mantle, which is the only mantle left in a house that probably had 3 of them. of course i'm jealous and secretly wish the mantle was on our floor (we'll buy one when we get to that room).

this renovation was alot of work... alot of long hours after work and torturous weekends along with our (somewhat) trusty friend phil and our plumber jon.

it came out wonderfully and has pretty much held up through one set of tenants (although they did cause some damage, through no fault of the materials).

heres to many years of happy, careful tenants.

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T H R E E G L O R I O U S Y E A R S !

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happy anniversary!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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L A S T Y E A R S P R O J E C T

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This time last year we were in the midst of the 'epic shed build of 2009' where

C designed and built, from scratch, our modern and cool garden shed. At the

same time we put in a fabulous bluestone patio, and a new fence to block out

the recently demo'ed building behind us (this is what prompted the whole project).

A ton of work...there was a jackhammer involved, a pallet of bluestone,

50 something bags of gravel & sand, lots of digging, a mexican day laborer,

and the help of muscle-y friends (yes coco that's you).

Basically....that summer sucked because this really took the whole summer...i

cursed my dear husband in the thick of it, especially on those 95 degree days.

But it turned out gorgeous! This has to be the nicest shed in the neighborhood!

I know you agree! So now that we have some nice matching bluestone topping the

little wall at the other end of the yard (this summers project) we consider this

yard DONE!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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is it the heat or is willis just trying to be super cute?

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F I N I S H E D P R O J E C T !

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here's some images of the bluestone topped divider wall in all it's finished glory!

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T H E L A T E S T P L A N

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here's the latest in kitchen cabinet news. we've decided to ditch the ikea

cabinet idea because C just doesn't believe in the material they're made of,

and I just dont like any of the colors & finishes they come in. After lots of

research it looks like we're going with 'custom ready to assemble' cabinets

from Scherr's in N.Dakota. Fun!

I heard about them because alot of people who don't like ikea doors use doors

from Scherr's instead. Which got us to thinking, let's throw a drawing at them

and see how much the whole enchilada would cost. This enchilada's very affordable!

Plus, they can paint them any color, they're amazingly well made, the customer

service is awesome, and they're custom! We just put them together...which is easy

if you're somewhat handy. So we're working with them on drawings and

configurations. This is very exciting. Really. Here's my plan that was sent over to

them. Whatcha think?

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F I N I S H I N G T O U C H

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like the good friend that he is, coco helped install the bluestone slabs onto the brick wall.

a finished pick to come tomorrow (didnt get a good shot yet ;-)

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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G E E K LO V E

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ok. yes. i fully admit that i was one of those people who waiting

in line to order an iphone i won't get for another ten days!

And it's not just because it's so freakin' cool. i'm still using the first generation

iphone...a dinosaur! my old phone must know that i want a new desperately

because it's really taking one for the team. it's giving me good reason to

want...no...need a new phone by crashing, typing out texts 4 words delayed and

generally moving slowly like the ancient beast it is. makes me feel kinda sad

for it :-( i promise i will give it a peaceful, restful retirement.

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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not much 'news' other than how cute the cats are ;-)

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H A P P Y B - D A Y F R A N K !

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a big happy 45th goes out to my big brother...truly one of the most

important people in my life.

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L I G H T S H O W

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this past weekend's project was wiring and installing low voltage landscape

lighting. It was so easy, i wish i had done this 5 years ago. Then again maybe

the yard wasn't ready for it's evening close-up. It sure is now! It's absolutely

stunning!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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the garden lights came in a perfectly arnold sized box.

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I N B L O O M

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I N B L O O M J U N E

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one of my favorites...oak leaf hydrangea.

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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unlike arnold, willis doesn't like having his picture taken....so consider each shot of him

actually looking at the camera a gift ;-)

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M O R E G R A Y L O V E

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i just cant get enough of my favorite gray kitchens! from chelseaatelier.

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A S I M P L E P L A N

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here's a quick-ey landscape lighting plan as viewed from the back door.

maybe 3 path lights along the long deck and 2 at the right side of the yard...

an uplight/spotlight into the leaves of the tree and a spotlight attached to the shed

(the shed's hiding behind the tree in this photo). maybe we'll tackle this project

memorial day weekend. stay tuned!

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O N E T H I N G L E A D S . . .

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to another.

since the brick wall's been shortened, which leads to the deck needing a few

new boards, which leads to "now we need to powerwash the deck since they won't match",

leads to "we can run some wire for low voltage garden lighting with the deck board out".

low voltage yard lights, according to my research and the bible 'this old house' magazine,

is super easy. just run the lights/wire to a transformer which is just plugged into a

regular ol' outlet. fun! i'm on the case!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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arnold likes to cuddle up with mid century modern furniture

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J U S T L I K E N E W

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we bought a cheap electric power washer to clean the deck...i was a little dubious and

didn't think it would work this great. the deck looks practically new!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y !

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we love how willis sits on the arm of the couch like this...with both legs hanging

over like a saddle.

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9 5 % C O M P L E T E

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the spring 'little wall' project is almost done. great weather this weekend gave C a good

chance to finish the bricklaying portion. now we just have to get a nice thick piece of

bluestone for the topper. oh and get rid of the excess dirt and bad bricks.

I think it'll be a nice divider between the deck and the yard!

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