Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Chairs for my office

About a year ago I found these chairs in the basement at work. I fell in love with them. I told my boss I wanted to buy them and she said, "You can have them!"  The plan has been to re-upholster them, but I did a little research- they are Good Form Furniture Co- so I didn't want to alter them that much myself. So plan B- just cover them.

Bad pics- sorry

I love the aluminum frame.
Our little photo bomber is back too.

These are super sturdy, but the padding is rock hard and they wouldn't really come clean. I added a layer of padding before the fabric and the upholstery is held on with clips so I (Adam) just had to remove those and reused them.

I'm not going to lie, I fought with this one. I get frustrated easily, and walked away to let it sit more than a few times. But I'm stuck at home again today with a snow day, so I had no excuse not to get it done. 

I'm pretty happy with the how it turned out. Now to get the other one finished! 


xoxo

Lissa

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

A project I LOVE!

I'm so excited about what's been going on in our house over the last week or so. After talking about it for a long time, we bit the bullet and picked out flooring. We'd said all along that we wanted to go light with some dark streaks in it to give it some character. Of course it's never as easy as that and, wow, once we started looking the darker woods were gorgeous. But logic prevailed, and for several reasons we stuck with the original plan.

Neither one was our final choice

We've shampooed the carpet at least once a year since we moved in, but between dogs and grand babies there were some spots that kept coming back. Yucky and embarrassing both.
Before

This was a HUGE source of stress but couldn't be avoided. The living room crammed into the kitchen and dining area. 

We had to do all the "demo" on Sunday since there would be no time at all during the week.

Annie is a blur because she was a nervous mess. She ran and back and forth like a tennis ball at Wimbledon

The carpet and pad portion of the program went so fast. Fast as in about a 1/2 hour!

Not so the tile though. OH EM GEE! What a stinkin mess. Thankfully it was a really nice day so we could open the front door.
Clouds of dust
It was kinda fun smashing the tile out, but we did have to be pretty careful. Tile EXPLODES when you smash it, and since we didn't want to add "Replace drywall & paint" to the to do list, we went the slow and steady route. I love this picture for a few reasons.  1. I didn't even put shoes on. What a dummy. I had shards in my slippers and it's just like breaking a plate- the pieces are really sharp. 2. Yep, I'm wearing safety goggles. Hot, right?! But again,it just explodes, so necessary. 3. This makes it look like I did TONS all by myself. Um, no. I'm pretty sure the ratio was like 3 to 1, maybe even 4 to 1. And even then my hands hurt like crazy. Gripping a baby sledge hammer and a heavy chisel made them pretty sore. Yes, I'm a wuss.

So pathetic. But at least she found a spot out of the way where she could see us. We kept joking that she was plotting revenge of some sort.

This is how our week went by. Our Tommy Bahama beach chairs on a concrete slab. This part didn't bother me in the least.

The flooring was delivered on Wednesday. It needed to acclimate to the house for a few days before installation. She is just the best little photo bomber ever, isn't she?? 

Saturday 8am couldn't get here soon enough. I was so excited to hear the installers pull into the drive way. They did prepare me for the possibility that they wouldn't get done in one day, mostly because each job is different, and rooms are not always square, etc. Lucky for us he said everything was great in that department, even the coat closet. Makes me feel good about the way our house was built!
A relatively thin pad with a reflective backing went down first. Moisture barrier and some insulation too. 

I really tried to stay upstairs and out of the way. But I had to come down for coffee a "couple" times. The progress in this picture took me by surprise. This was taken at 12:40 pm when they stopped to get something to eat. 

I can't even tell you how happy I am with the results. Sure, we could have done the install ourselves. But there's a lot to be said for knowing what you're doing. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these guys to others, and I asked for some cards to take to work or give out myself. 
Everything was all cleaned up when they finished. Not even any sawdust on the porch. They left the box of left over wood on the floor at our request but didn't want to. He wanted to wrap it and put it away for us. 



Do you love it too?

xoxo

Lissa

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Way back Wednesday

Blonde and faux fur. Not a lot has changed, other than now the blonde is mostly faux too. 


3 year old Lissa was just as sassy I'd say


xoxo 

Lissa

Sunday, February 3, 2013

And Gweny makes 5


 What a week! It really started last Thursday morning with a call from Courtney. She had been having some pretty good labor pains since the middle of the night and they were headed in to get checked. Her due date is February 9th so I figured we still had a couple weeks, but posted this picture with a comment that it would be a beautiful day to have a baby.


 Sure enough, home they went. One discouraged mama and a helpless daddy that just wanted to get it over with.

We got through the next few days with no more drama- like how I say WE?

Then Tuesday morning I got the call. They were headed back to the hospital. Her water broke in the night and so I'm quoting Ray here, "Thundercats are a go". God I love my family!

Unfortunately there were things at work that had to be taken care of (I had until 9am to get payroll done) so when I got the call that she had progressed from a 5 to a 9 in 1/2 hour, I knew I was going to miss being there for this baby girl. 
Gwndolyn Isabella Ruth
7lbs 14oz 20 1/4 inches
Of course instead of the beautiful weather of a few days before I got this, and it was a "pull over and wait it out" storm. 
Right after this was taken most of the cars on both side pulled over to let it pass a little.

I got through the storm eventually and made it to meet our sweet Gweny. We just hung out all day and took turns holding her and remembering the past 4 girls birth-days. Each had their own little dramas of course!
Myla just hangin' with her Auntie playing the piano
After school here came the girls to meet their sister. When their g-pa picked them up at the crack of dawn, Grace had asked her Mama if they were going to "take apart her belly" to get the baby out. So sure enough she walked in the room and wanted to see Court's belly to make sure all was well. 


Gabi meets her baby sister. Melts my heart.

Gwen has dimples like our Grace

Myla entertained herself while Maggie gets to know her sister.

Myla was in no way impressed with her new cousin.

So now there are 5 little girls in our lives. I can't wait to see, not only how she fits into the mix, but how she cuts out her own place in it.

xoxo

Lissa