Dining Room Acquisition

Happy New Year everyone! First of all I am sorry that I have been so lax in updating this blog but sometimes life takes over everything and things get pushed back. This will be a small update mainly to let you all know that we are still alive and working/kicking. I will be doing a long delayed kitchen post soon I hope and I think you will like the changes. But for now you will have to settle on another one of our infamous 'plop designs.'
Please don't forget to plug your email in to the thingy on the right so you can receive emails when I update the site - as you can tell by my lack of updates I won't be flooding you inbox anytime soon.
I also wanted to mention that six of my larger paintings will be featured on HGTV's 2013 Dream Home Giveaway television show. The first airing is Jan 1 @ 7pm EST. So tune in if you get a chance - there will be several other showings in January, try and check it out if you can.
And now to the photos: 

This was our original Mission style dining set. It saw a ton of use at our old 1920's bungalow especially on poker night. It looked really good in the craftsman-esque home we used to have. It doesn't look bad here but still wasn't quite right.

And here we are now! The carpet is from Flor - the squares are interchangeable and we can take ones out that get soiled or if we want to add new colors. The table chairs need recovering but look ok for now. We acquired the dining set from our now defunct favorite auction house. I told K when we put the new dining set in that from a distance it looks like Captain Kirk's MCM command center had landed in our front room. Jerome is quite pleased with the rug. The cats tend to want to hang on individual squares and don't like to lay across two or more squares. Interesting.

Please excuse the ironing board in the background - we were getting ready for Christmas and it makes a good work surface.

One more little thing. I received this comment from a viewer and wanted to respond in the main text:

Smithe Arvinnese October 24, 2012 10:09 PM

Well, believe it or not but I am really fascinated and hooked when it comes to the flooring of the house. Simply because, I believe that it has a great effect not just on the interior design but also with the lifestyle of the house owner. Anyway, I had a great time reading and watching your post and hoping that I could also hear or read an article about bamboo floors from you. More power and more related articles soon. 

Here is my response:

Clarksdale December 31, 2012 12:07 PM

We absolutely LOVE our bamboo floors! They integrate very well with the existing hardwoods in color and tone. There is only one area where the bamboo meets the hardwood so the effect is minimal. I would recommend this product to anyone. It is affordable, durable, and beautiful - exactly what I used to look for in a date before I got married haha.
If we ever re-do another home and have to put in new flooring we will probably go with bamboo.
Thanks for the comment!

Den Makeover: Bamboo Floors and Wall Colors

NEW POLL: Help us with Kitchen Counter Tops! Poll is on the upper right of blog!

 This is what the room looked like before installing the bamboo flooring. I finished painting the walls. The back wall will be a 'feature wall.' I plan to panel over the paneling with non-groove panels. If that is a total failure then I will rip them out and paint the wall. It is always good to have a backup plan.

 The bamboo is in and we are very, very happy with the results. We debated about carrying the wood into the kitchen but opted not too. We are going to install a black and white checked tile with a diagonal pattern.
I think the bamboo looks smart and it blends very well with the existing hardwood leading down the hallway - the only place where there might be a mixing of wood issue.

 Sedona inspects the new flooring. She is pleased and promptly falls asleep - a sign of feline approval.

 Jerome, the grumpy one, seems less pleased but he finally came around and fell asleep.

 Cramer came out of hiding long enough to say, "What the heck did you do to my floor?" Then he fell asleep.

 I don't know why I included this picture but what the heck it's our blog so I am sticking it in there.

 Please ignore the orange cable in the photo below and the fact that I haven't installed the trim yet. But we like the overall effect of this angle/view.

House Numbers!

I finally got the house numbers up. I used some left over bamboo flooring from our den as the backing for the numbers and then created a black wood frame. I think the effect is quite nice. So now everyone knows - we put in bamboo flooring in the den, and it looks amazing! I will be sharing some photos soon but I wanted to get the new house numbers online.

The Carpet is Now Gone

Ok first off sorry for taking so long between posts but sometimes life gets in the way of, well, life. Also, sorry about the mess in the first few pictures. I am about to rip up the carpet and the room is a bit of a mess as I get ready to get the carpet out. Hopefully K will forgive me for this one. As you can see from the picture above that the carpet simply had to go. I have no idea why people put carpet in homes. K and I are hardwood people through and through.
** Please note that we have a poll just to the right at the top of the blog. We are trying to decide what sort of flooring to put into the den. If you haven't voted yet let us know what you think!!




Let the ripping of the carpet begin!!


Carpet is heavy. I learned the lesson from watching all that HGTV - cut your carpet into smaller strips when removing it. You will thank me later!


I have absolutely no idea why I am wearing an apron - beers maybe? I don't know really. But I had to get rid of all that carpet tacking.


We figured out why the back den is funky shaped - trapezoidal. Based upon the sub floor there was at one point a mud room of some sort by the back door. Interesting. Ripping that out was a good idea but it also means that we probably cannot strip the ceiling of the popcorn as the ceiling will not be uniform all the way across and we'd have to drywall it. So we made the command decision [can two people make a command decision?] to leave the ceiling alone. Often the most cost effective thing to do when remodeling is to do nothing.



And here is what we have at the moment. Hopefully I will be able to get the flooring in soon -once we decide what kind of flooring we want to use!


Sedona and I celebrate a job well done with a much deserved recline.

Our latest art acquisition. Unfortunately we didn't find it at an estate sale!

We also planted the truest symbol of yuppie home ownership - The Japanese Maple. K has named him [all plants are boys to her] Haruki.



Hopefully I won't take so long between posts! Have a great Super Bowl weekend everyone.