Absent

This summer was crazy, fun, and did I mention crazy?! I obviously got off of blogging, but now that it is officially winter, I better put up some updates. We have been living in the house and are loving it. We don't go very long without something happening, reminding us we are still in an old cottage, but we are finally mostly settled. This summer included lots of nights of beautiful sunsets, dinner parties, gardening, swimming, and wonderful house guests. Here are some pics of what we were doing this summer instead of blogging. This time of year makes me nostalgic for summer days and anxious for winter to be over (yes, already...).

Zeus

We decided (the day after I finished painting the garage last summer) that we didn't like the exterior house color anymore. It was too fleshy. We had a beautiful weekend for weather this spring and spontaneously decided it was time to paint the outside of the house. It was the perfect time since it wasn't too hot and Michael wasn't crazy busy with work yet. So, just like any project we do, we worked well past dark trying to finish ASAP! Our neighbors have to think we are crazy...
We spent Friday night putting different color swatches on the house and garage so we could get paint first thing Saturday morning. One trip to Sherwin Williams, two trips to Wal Mart, 1 date night, and 12 hours later we had a color. The color is called "Zeus," and we love how it is not gray, not green, not blue, not brown, but just the right color. The trim is painted a version of white that I can't remember the name of! Here are some pics of Michael hanging over the roof of the house in the dark (we were VERY determine to finish!), and the house from the lake once it was done.

Who are these cute people?!

So, I am apparently the WORST blogger ever.  We are moved into the house!!  We have been so busy organizing and trying to clean up the inside and outside of Maywood in preparation for summer that I have totally fallen out of the blogging mode.  I promise I will get back at it!  So, just in case you have been missing us, here's a pic of us painting the bathroom/kitchen tile floor (yes, again--this time in a 'flat' finish..that 'semi-gloss' finish always made the floor look wet) and the guest room wood floor looking oh, so cute in our plaid work shirts!

The paint reeked, but we are having fun!

Getting between the cracks...very important!

Go, Michael, go!

Rockin' my kneepads and having fun!

Please join us at our table...

One of the important projects I wanted to do was build a dining room table out of the wood from the trees we cut down.  We had already been able to use some of the wood for the new mantle above the fireplace and for the trusses in the guest bedroom.  We were able to make everything for the table from our tree wood, but had to get wood from another Okoboji tree for the top.  The wood on the top was quater sawn--aka it looks like it was cut like an open book.  The cool thing is you can see the grain drift and connect from board to board across the table. 

We wanted a big table since we love to have a lot of people over for dinner parties, but we also wanted it to be able to withstand the parties.  We didn't want it to be a table that would be ruined if it got a scratch on it.  We both wanted it to look as natural as possible, so, we made our own stain for the wood.  The first mixture was too white-washed, so we had to sand it down and start over.  The second time we got it right.  We love it.   Here are pics of the process.  Now we just have to find the right chairs for it, and we will be ready to entertain! 

Wood getting laid out for the top

Solid wood legs from our trees

See how the grain drifts and connects into the next board?

Another image of the grain.

Getting close to being done!

Almost done--too white washed though!

Too white washed, but we are excited!

Done, and we LOVE it--looks great next to the butcher block!

Done!

DONE!!!

Beautiful West Lake Sunsets

Not a bad view while doing yard work...

Murphy

Our guest bedroom is pretty small, especially since it is also Michael's office.  To get the most out of our space, we decided to add a murphy bed.  I was a little unsure of this when Michael first came up with the idea.  Luckily, I didn't put up much of a fight on the idea, and now that it is done, we love it!  We bough the mechanism, and then Brian built it.  Here are some pics.  Everyone is welcome to stay!  

The beginning..

The handles lift up, which release the mechanism for the bed, and are also used as the legs for the bed when it is down.

The final product!  Still needs some paint...

Leakage

We were woken with bad news this morning. The upstairs toilet decided to overflow all night long. Brian got to the house this morning, heard water running, and started running around to find out why he was hearing that. Michael and I were at the house until 8:30 last night, and everything was fine when we left. The downstairs bathroom took the hit. We will have to possible replace Sheetrock on the ceiling and then repaint. Oh, and get rid of the odor. Great. Just our luck! We are literally only a few days of cleaning away from moving in, and now this. Classic Maywood!

New house color!!

Say what?! That's right, we spent the weekend painting the EXTERIOR of the house a new color! It was a pretty last minute endeavor, but with the GORGEOUS weather we had (hello 80 degrees) we decided to go for it since Michael isn't completely swamped with appointments just yet. We tried 4 or 5 different color samples, and finally decided on the color "Zeus" with trim the color "sedate gray." We are completely done with the garage and only have trim and a second coat on a in a tiny spot on the house left. Otherwise we are done with 2 coats on the rest of the house and everything on the garage! We also have to finish painting 4 doors on the house; the door color is "black fox".
It was a big project and we had lots of visitors both days while working. The only big oops we had was when Michael almost died. He was moving the very heavy, 40 foot ladder when his foot slipped. The ladder slipped as well and landed on the power line. Luckily, after 4 bounces it didn't snap and Michael escaped getting electrocuted and dying. YIKES!
On a happier note, here are some pics of the garage pre-new paint and post-new paint! (The old color is the fleshy color in one pic. There are 3 pics of the new color.)

The island

We had Brian and Jason build an island for the kitchen, which turned out great!  When we first had them build it, our original dimensions ended up being a tad too big.  We were going to end up being pushed up against the island when opening the refrigerator doors, so we had them cut it down to be a little bit smaller.  With this, we also lost a narrow cabinet we planned to use for storage of cookie sheets and pans.  Oh well!  We were able to keep the two cabinets that will be homes for our garbage cans and recycling cans.  

We had also originally stained the wood on the base of the island the same color as the ceiling in the living room.  It looked awful in the kitchen; it was way too purple.  So, with the new island, we just painted it the same color as the lower cabinets (gauntlet grey).  It looks awesome.  We love it!  This first picture is of the completed island, and other pictures are of the first island we got rid of.  

The final island.  Looks great! 

The blue tape indicates the approximate amount of island we cut off.

The stained wood looks terrible on the bottom!  

Most recent kitchen pics

Here are some more recent pics of the kitchen...check out the hardware on the cabinets and drawers!  We are also loving the in-and-under cabinet lighting!

Guest bathroom

The guest bathroom off the kitchen didn't need much for updating-basically just some fresh paint on the floors, ceiling, and walls; also, some updating to the linen closet and addition of a tub sliding door (both to be done yet).  We decided to add a wainscoting to the walls, up to about my eye level.  Brian built it, and we painted it.  We also added new mirrors above both sinks and added a wood frame around both so they look more 'built in.'  

Remember the bathroom was a green color before?  The walls are now 'gray area,' the same color as the kitchen walls, and the wainscoting is 'useful gray,' the same as the trim throughout the house.  The tile on the floor is painted 'universal khaki'-the same as the kitchen tile floor.  Here are some pics of the process and final painting.  We have a few more things to add to the bathroom, so more pics will be added when it is completely 'done.'  

New built in mirrors above the sinks.

Wainscoting going up.

Painted wainscoting!