Phase 3; Living, dining, sitting rooms and office

So this one needs more pics to be taken before it's done but I can start it. So two of my best friends in the whole wide world came out to help us do some house work! It was such a blessing to have their help but mostly to be able to spend time with them! We chatted while working and laughed a lot and got 4 whole rooms done! The living area is a chocolate brown while the dining area is a sage green. The office is taupe while the sitting room is a nice light blue. These rooms aren't completely finished yet though-we're getting ready to put in the pergo! So this one will be update again once we put the floor in and get more pics! Phase 4 was just finished today!!

Phase 2: planting trees, master bedroom, kitchen, and laundry room

So while Matt worked hard on the bathroom floor, I worked on several other things in the house! First I planted some trees; a japanese maple, a flowering plum, and an ash tree. Darrel (Matt's co worker) helped him w/the floor so Amanda (Darrel's wife) helped me w/the trees. She helped out so much even though she's getting to be pretty pregnant. The trees are all doing amazingly well and are happy as clams to be in the dirt where they can grow! Then I worked on the kitchen-I got about 85% done w/the sample size quart-no, I'm not kidding! It looks really good-a nice orangey red color that makes the counters look whiter and the cabinets richer! Then I ventured on to the laundry room-I wanted to get the rooms done where appliances would be delivered shortly. The laundry was easy to do because it is such a small space. Next was the bedroom-Matt helped with this one since he was mostly done w/the floor. We chose a nice steel gray color-it is very relaxing and looks awesome next to the cheesecake yellow! So we are happily living in our cozy little space (bed and bath that is) and our appliances were delivered and look and work perfectly. On to phase 3!

Phase 1: master bathroom

So the pics are a little out of order on here but I am doing all the "renovation" pics in order of when activities were done. First order of business was our master bathroom. There was carpet in there which grossed me out so that had to go asap. We opted for Matt to do it, which was a great project for him! He had never done tile flooring before so it was a new adventure for him! First we had to paint the walls and the ceiling. We chose a nice yellow color, not too bright but cheery-I think it kind of looks like custard or cheese cake so I had a massive cheese cake craving the whole time we were painting in there! After we painted the whole room, we had to rip out the carpet-this is where it got a little gross! There is a pic showing me next to the spot by the shower with a HUGE stain the carpet-which is exactly why I insisted that we do the bathroom floor first. Next it was a process of chipping away the tile in the toilet room and then getting to work on the tile. Matt got a wet saw so he could cut all the tile himself which was nice and handy! The actual laying of the tile took about 3 days since he was doing it all alone (kind of a one man job, and Matt likes to do things his way so I just let him be-I did lots while he did the tile-which will be posted next!) Then we had to let it set about 24 hrs before grouting. Then the grout had to set another 24hrs, then he sealed it. Again, wait 24hrs and presto-we have a new floor! It looks fantastic-even better in person! After the floor was done we slapped another coat of paint on and then we were ready for it to be used, kinda. He still needs to finish the trim and put the toilet back in but we're using the shower and sinks no problem now and it all works wonderfully! We also put a different light fixture in so it's not that blinding vanity. So that was phase 1 of the renovation project. Phase 2 is next!

Owning a house takes lots of work!!

So since we've closed, we've been at the house every day all day long! So far we're mostly done w/the master bathroom (needs another coat of paint and the tile needs to be grouted) and the kitchen is all painted! We still have lots of work to do before we move in but it's getting done slowly yet surely. I'll be posting pics soon since we're on the brink of getting a few things done, I want all to see the evolution from crap to marvelous! AND, thankfully, we're getting helpers this weekend! Two of my bestest friends from CO are coming out to help us! Whoo hoo! I'm so excited to see and get to spend time with them! And they are both amazing workers so we know we're going to get tons done! There will be lots of pics w/them too! Stay tuned, more to come!

1 year married and we still haven't killed each other yet!

So yesterday, May 16, was our 1 year wedding anniversary! It's hard to believe it, especially for us since it doesn't even feel like it's been a year! Since we're buying a house (trying to be responsible to young if you ask me!!) we decided it wouldn't be very responsible of us to go away, even for the weekend. Orginally, before this whole house thing, we thought about several different options such as: carribean cruise, greece, italy, hawaii, bed and breakfast in oregon, b and b in napa valley (which is only 1.5hrs away!). We really really wanted to go to hawaii but apparently it's pretty expensive to not only fly there but also stay and eat food. So, we thought this year we would go low-key and then next year do something wonderfully exciting!
So what did we do you ask? We went the river with our friends Darrel and Amanda (and their little guy Liam). They are pretty much our only friends here right now, besides our realtor (who is a older grandma but spunky as any 20 yr old!). None of us had been down to the river yet so we thought it would be fun to go down and hang out, splash in the water some, and just enjoy the beginnings of summer. The bottom pics reflect that attitude-boys in the water, girls no where to be seen (I was taking the pics!!) Darrel found a craw-dad crawling around so of course we had to pick it up and show it off-he was really big! And pretty fiesty!
Matt and I had dinner reservations in downtown Sacramento; a little Italian place called Biba. It was sooo yummy! I had duck while Matt had a meat trio thing, pork and chicken. It was a pretty fancy place, even though there were still some shmos who thought it was appropriate to wear jeans! It irritates me when people don't dress properly for the environment or occasion. Anyhew, after dinner we walked down to this dessert dinner a few blocks away. The diner was ok but the walk was really nice; the weather was just a little warm but downtown Sac was really nice. We didn't feel like we were in a city at all; it was so quiet and quaint. Overall is was a nice first anniversary, not at all what we were hoping for or planning to do in the beginning but it was great for us and we look forward to many more to come!

Outside Biba









My outfit w/sassy shoes!






















At the dessert diner-Matt eating, what else is new? And me looking into space, again, nothing new there!
















Liam, the boys, the craw-dad!

CAUTION, THIS IS NASTY!!

So I've been cleaning the house like a mad-woman and the master shower is pretty nasty. The drain was seemingly a little clogged and there was hair stuck on the drain cover as is, so I take it off to get the hair off, and there is hair stuck on the sides too! So I pull it and out comes this HUGE glob. I slightly freak out thinking how big and gross this thing is. And I kept pulling and it keeps coming. The sheer size and nature of this thing warranted me taking pics of it to show my battle with the ginormous hairball! seriously, it was moldy and soggy and huge. So, here it is. Look at it with caution, as you may want to vomit while looking at it, which is what I want to do every time I see it. Even when I pick up the garbage bag that has it in there, I have to wear my trusty rubber gloves to not feel contaminated by it.