Backyard Cleanup Day

This weekend Mom and Dad Sherburne came from Maine bearing gifts of milk and meat and eggs. They brought with them two beautiful old antique twin beds that I've had forever and been storing at Grammie Sherburne's in Maine. They're in kind of rough shape, but I'm hoping with some love and hardware they'll be able to be part of our 7 Lafayette lives! I'm currently rubbing oil into them every few hours in hopes they'll recover from being in a sunny window for several years...I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, here's a Before picture of backyard:

and side yard:

And after an entire Saturday of capable Sherburne and Campbell work:

We ripped out vines, cleaned up trash and limbs and twigs, found an entire hillside covered in poison oak (nobody has broken out yet...knock on wood) and discovered some perennials growing in the overgrown side garden. We took a truckload of yard waste to the dump, where we made friends with the very kind dump man who allowed us to dispose of waste from a truck with Maine license plates! (We had identification and utility bills with us--please don't get him in trouble!) We also dug up lawn on the driveway side of the house to make three raised beds

and discovered we have beautiful soft earth there teeming with healthy earthworms! We are very excited to get them fully ready for planting now. We set up our cute cafe set on the elegant concrete slab that used to be a garage

and started making plans for a proper patio. The concrete slabs will eventually become lawn space (I'm pretty sure I could jackhammer that up in no time) but for now they are just perfect as a lovely seating/entertaining area. Add a few plants and some flickering candles and it will be magical, I'm sure of it.

Today we finished the grueling task of hanging blinds in the living and dining rooms. I'm really good at it right now if anyone needs help--I think the last ones went up in under 10 minutes each! (the box says 27 minutes and all you need is a screwdriver. Lies.) But if nobody calls me within the next 24 hours for help I'm probably going to forget all my newfound knowledge and you'll be on your own. Doesn't it look so pretty now?

Plus now the neighbors don't have to watch what we're watching! Very grown-up indeed, blinds. Chris spent quite a while getting the surround sound hooked up and setting up the wii, and now we have SO much movie watching to do. We'd better get to it...

Mud Room

Our mud room was barely worth the name. We realized quickly during the home buying process why it was unused and unloved. No proper foundation, no insulation - it would be impossible to run pipes out there for a washer and dryer, let alone add even an electrical outlet. We were concerned by this, but eventually realized we wanted the house with or without the mud room. We accepted it for what it was - a grimy, dirty place to keep our trash while we remodelled.

As we struggled with finding homes for everything in our kitchen, we wished for a little extra space to store our lightly used appliances (hello bread machine!) and the cans of tomatoes I insist on buying 12 at a time. I decided to work on the mudroom yesterday morning.

Erin went to work and I pulled out the sticky linoleum floor tiles I had bought on sale at Lowes for $20. It went very quickly. I ignored the uneven spots on our floor and just kept sticking them down. Before I knew it, I was done.

Next, I walked down to the local paint store and bought a gallon of paint that had been returned for only $10. I walked back, painted the room and put everything back the way it was. I was done by 12:30. Erin came home while I was at work, having no idea of what I had done. She was very surprised. She told me to shut up and asked if I had a time machine.

Moving day

Good morning! Happy moving day! How's the weather on March 10th? Thursday was 68 degrees...today is

and

but we are

and

so lets do this thing!

The only day of winter 2012. The whole winter in one day. The blizzard of 2012.

Moving Day.

Shall I give you a tour?

Living room, check. Dark Teal. Yummy.

Dining room, before and after. Chelsea Gray. Cool and sophisticated. I love the way the two colors look together!

And this has been a great week at our house! We took a week off to travel to Paris and Reykjavik (so fun, we will post pictures another time) and while we were gone Chris's dad had finished the stairs to the basement, set the new kitchen cabinets beside the stove, fixed several drawers, moved an outlet in the bathroom, and then both of Chris's parents cleaned the house top to bottom. Sanding dust, cobwebs, more sanding dust--all gone.

Whoa. Was that a great present.

So we could start right in on painting! It seemed still like there was an overwhelming list and we would never get through it, but seven days has made all the difference.

Chris sanded the bathroom wall and painted it

and he also painted the first coat on the bedroom (benjamin moore sioux falls....I am madly in love)

It looks different at all times of the day. Sometimes it's very green, sometimes it's very blue. It's a deep, rich color.

Then we spent two days cutting in the kitchen, which has A LOT of trim. We put on a first coat on Friday and returned to cut in a second time on Saturday. Lyndsay made a first visit to the house with her cute Tristan--they got the grand tour. Then the troops arrived! Julie and Emma came to help, along with Erika and Amie. Emma and Erika painted a second coat in the kitchen, Julie cleaned the bathroom of all the paint splatters and grime, I worked on touching up ceilings and trim. Then Emma painted (for the third time!) the crown molding in the living room, while Erika and Amie cleaned and contact papered the upper cabinets in the kitchen. Amie scrubbed the sink for hours, Julie scrubbed the tub for hours, I made a trip to the hardware store for shades and supplies. When everyone had to go, Emma and I finished scrubbing and papering the kitchen and it was time for a break! Thanks to our amazing team--we could not have done this without you!

Today Chris and I packed up our Beach Court kitchen and moved the whole thing to Ipswich. And tonight, we have a kitchen in our house. Remember the before?

Here's the after:

As you can see, we still have some things to do in here, but doesn't our stuff look cute on the counters? And wait til I show you the contact paper and the work we did under the sink...it's so charming now. But that's for another time. By the way, in case you were wondering, this is what our dining room table looks like right now, which gives you a small picture of what our diets have been like these past few weeks...

One week til we live here!!!