Ikealand

Going to Ikea, going to Ikea, yep, I am singing the Ikea song and loving every minute of it!  How much do I LOVE Ikea?  Well, I drove 7 hours JUST to go enjoy this bad boy shopping.  Not only did I drive 7 hours just to go shopping, I am driving back home 7 hours so I can put together my new fun toys!  YEP!  14 hours of driving in a 24 hour time period.

Can I just say that I am going to be POOPED!?!

Good part is, I get to see my kiddo's and of course, the mom so it does make the Ikea experience all the better.

I will be sure and share my wonderful finds as soon as the hubby puts them all together!!!  =)

Front Door

Here is part of the front of the house, "Hi, little prius!" and let's face it, it is BLAH with a capital BLAH.  Stephan will be sprucing up the dirt this summer, but in the meantime, I just wasn't happy with the lack of color of our new home.  I live in the desert and I am tired of the drab browns and tans, thankfully that wonderful man of mine was in agreement.  So today we trotted off to Lowe's and loaded up on all sorts of goodies, one of them being MORE paint.  And here I thought I swore off paint forever!

Our favorite paint assistant, Lawana, was working and I got to rave about how much I loved the Valspar paint.  Not only did Lawana hook me up with some more fun paint for the front door, we also ran into the Valspar Vendor at Lowe's.  Yes, Dad, the Vendor Vest was alive and well and I didn't have to wear it!  (Not that I ever really did!  LOVE YOU!)

The Valspar Vendor Man gave me some great pointers for painting and wait until you see what color we picked out!!!

Personally, I think the fun part will be in YOU guessing which one Stephan and I picked up to make our front stoop POP!

So, leave your guesses and as soon as I finish with the door I will post more pictures!!!

Suzanne

More Yucky Finds

Eewwwy

Thankfully the nasty stove in the kitchen didn't work and even more thankfully, it is out of here!  Talk about nasty and I am not even going to tell you what Stephan found underneath and behind it.  Primarily because I don't know, he wouldn't even disclose that information!!

Now that the painting is done and the appliances are out of the kitchen it is time to clean the kitchen and the cabinets that are covered in grease and soda splatter.  By the time I am done cleaning the kitchen, I will probably be wishing I was painting again!  Or maybe not!!

Midnight Treats

Over the weekend, Stephan and I headed up to the house to work and look what we found waiting on the door step.

Bud Light...really?

Not sure who put it there and since neither Stephan nor I drink Bud Light, I am assuming it wasn't anyone we actually knew.

The best part is that same day, I received ANOTHER midnight delight from someone who DOES know what I like!

TRUFFLES!

Oh ya, baby!  Truffles from afar!  My girlfriend Jessica knows just how to rescue me when the going gets tough!  CHOCOLATE and not just any chocolate, but GOOD chocolate!  The piggy was my FAV and then the purple butterfly.  Talk about YUMMY!

Made working this past weekend all that much enjoyable!

Thank you, Jess!

DONE PAINTING!!!

I cannot tell you how happy I am to be finished with all the painting!  My hands can finally go back to normal, perhaps I will be able to sleep at night again and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to wear my wedding ring again!

Pictures of the finished rooms will be coming soon, but I will say I LOVE the dark grey in the laundry room and the light grey in the bathroom is STUNNING!  I do have to get a new light fixture in the laundry room so make it less like the Halls of the Mountain King, but the contrast with the white is so yummy!

The BEST PAINT EVER!

 As much as I hated painting, I could not have covered up the nastiness without my favorite paint EVER.  The Valspar 2000 kicked some serious booty!  I only had to use one coat over even the nastiest of stains and it dried like a DREAM.  Stephan and I are beyond grateful for Dan and Lawana at Lowe's for hooking us up with this bad boy paint!

Masking in the master bath

I had so much masking to do in our bathroom it was hysterical!  And in all honesty, the blue even looked good with the grey paint!!!

I promise more pictures!  =)

The important part is...no more painting!

Troll Home

You thought I was kidding about the troll, huh?  Nope!  At least the big scary dude has good taste in food and has Domino's delivered for munching.  But truly, there is a GIANT hole under that pizza box (that was our booby trap to see if it was coming out at night, pretty smart, huh?  LOL)

Thankfully, no critter came out over the past week, because he wouldn't have been too happy with what Stephan had delivered on Friday!

Big ol' pile of dirt!  There are so many holes in the yard we needed to fill them all in and level off the back yard.  I must say, there is nothing better than fresh dirt, ya know?  It is so soft and cool, it took everything I had NOT to go and dig in the dirt!

Needless to say, the troll living in the hole would not have been happy.  I am pretty sure he high tailed it out of there with the previous occupants, at least, a girl can hope!

Pretty Lights

THIS used to be my light in the dining room...which has been overtaken and is part of my studio now.  =)

Then we found THIS one!!!  I love the brushed nickle and it is going to look FABULOUS with my new Ikea tables I got for classes.  It looks so clean and happy and I love it!  I think we are going to get another one for over the classroom tables in the main area.  At least, that is what I am crossing my fingers for.  =)

Bathrooms that make you shudder

My wonderful husband took great pity on my over the weekend and for Mother's Day he hired a gal to come out and clean the bathrooms for me.  I had just about had it and even thinking of the bathrooms made me shudder and want to crawl into the closet and cry for my mommy.  Thankfully, he saved me from the indignity of it all and my bathrooms are now decent.

Ummmm, I think NOT

This is actually the vent...not sure what it was actually VENTING

The bathroom lights...can  you believe those are supposed to be WHITE

Seriously!

I must have pissed off the Big Guy something fierce.

Not only did an elfie come by and clean up this disgusting mess, Matt came to the rescue and painted it for me!  I will have to post good pics tomorrow, because he did an AMAZING job!  I painted Elisabeth's bathroom and it didn't turn out nearly as good as Matt's.

Did I mention we actually found burn marks in the linoleum in the bathroom?  Really?  What is it with people?  Do they REALLY find it socially acceptable to poop and smoke at the same time?  Ya can't wait?  Or find a stinking ash tray?  Or better yet, you were all so skilled at having soda wars in the house, why not use an empty can and put your ash in that, genius!

My patience has worn thin with dogs, dirty boys, smoking and general ickiness.  I can see the headlines now, "Woman goes berserk and kills family because they had dirt on their shoes".  Mom, please be sure and show the judge these pictures, maybe he will understand!  =)

Things that make you go hmmmmmm

Chicken coop or dog pen???

We aren't really sure WHAT this monstrosity was SUPPOSED to be, however, someone did put an old computer monitor to good use and turned it into a target for pellet guns.  I, honestly, keep thinking we are going to unearth a dead body in the back 40.

So not only were the inhabitants of this humble abode pure SLOBS their pooches were dumber than a box of rocks.  This tilted structure is actually a dog house, but the brilliant pooches dug all around it and made it tip over.  Pretty sure they were putting up a moat to protect them from the troll that lives in the resident hole.

No more coop!

The good news is we had a guy come and clean up a bunch of the garbage in the yard.  They have already taken away the chicken coop converted into a dog pen slash shooting range.  THANK GOD!   So far no dead bodies, so I am pretty shocked and pleased at the same time.  The dog house is still here, but they should be picking up the remnants of the piano AND the dog house sometime today.

Patrick has been slaving away pulling all the weeds, the poor little guy is up to his arm pits and it's quite funny watching him yank on those weeds.  He he he How can I NOT sit back and chuckle when he pulls so hard he falls on booty?  He is beyond adorable.

Pooped!

I am definitely tuckered out and I still have about two more days of painting to go and I am NOT happy about that.  I will say that I am very happy that I do not have carpet to contend with while I paint.  It is nice being able slop paint on the nasty walls I am dealing with.

Let me introduce you to my kitchen (hope you haven't eaten yet!)

Bug Guts

I can not even begin to describe to you the mass amounts of bug guts that are all over the kitchen.  This entire wall is COVERED in bug guts not to mention the ceiling in the kitchen.  YEP, the KITCHEN!  Talk about DISGUSTING!!!

Another icky wall in the kitchen

How in the world does a house get THIS dirty!?!  All I know is that tomorrow I am going to have a nice and clean kitchen with new appliances courtesy of my wonderful in-laws.  Our neighbor, Matt, is coming to my rescue again tomorrow and painting the kitchen while I finish the master bath and the laundry room.

I cannot wait to take pictures of my bathroom and laundry room!

I must say I am happy to have the help with the painting process.  We have been painting the house for the last 9 days and my hands are beyond swollen and Stephan says my wrists look like kankles.  EWWWWWW!  (He is right though and it is very sad!)  My poor fingers look like little sausages!

Thursday and Friday I am swearing to take some time off before I start packing and getting things over to the  new house.

PLUS, our new carpet should be in on Friday too!  Oh ya, baby!

Now to get some more of these posts written while Stephan is out cleaning off the top of the plant shelves in the kitchen.  =)  He is a keeper!

It's A Comin Along

The walls are now WHITE!

The last several days have been full of lots of painting!  Matt and I have been busting our butts getting the walls and ceilings painted in the front area of the house and after one snafu it is looking good!

If you EVER decide you want to repaint your entire house, don't.  BUT if you are feeling wild and crazy then make sure you get GOOD paint!  Stephan picked up a 5 gallon bucket of some white paint and holy crap was it AWFUL!  The streaking was atrocious, the nasty nicotine stained walls showed through and it was a nightmare to work with.

So my hubby ran off late one night to rescue me and came home with some kick ass killer paint from Lowe's.  One little coat had this room shining and lookin pretty!  Plus, it is a dream to work with.  Well, it is unless you are painting a frikken closet!

Not that the paint is the issue, but the closet definitely is.  I have just resigned myself to the fact that the closets will look terrible and that is just the way it will be.  =)

I also tried my hand at painting doors today!  I got tired of looking at those nasty yellow doors and was kind of scared at first.

Nasty door

Pretty door!

Thankfully my door turned out nicely and I am excited to get the really nasty ones done!!  Not to mention finishing up with all the ceilings and closets.  Ick!

Good thing is, Stephan took the day off tomorrow so he will be able to help me out around the house.  The carpet goes in next Friday so all the painting needs to be done by Tuesday so it has time to dry.  After that...moving in my stuff!

Color Me Fun

Let's have some fun, shall we?

I figured since I have to paint the whole house I may as well have some fun and do up some pretty colors in some of the rooms.

You saw my inspiration piece for the laundry room...

Here are the colors I picked out to try.  Keep in mind the laundry room isn't done and it is still filthy!  My father-in-law should be all finished today and I will be able to post "pretty" pictures soon!

I am liking the darker color for the laundry room.  I figured the dark gray and the white would be a cool contrast.  The freezer and washer/dryer are all white and I am going to have Stephan install some nice white cabinets for above the washer/dryer area so I don't have to look at laundry detergent all the time.  =)  If I don't SEE the detergent maybe I will forget it is a Laundry Room!

Which do you like???  Dark or light for the laundry room?

And here are a couple of ideas I had for the master bedroom.

The really cool part is I have a cute little sitting room right off the master bedroom so I could literally do both of those rooms.  I am really liking the blue and brown.  Stephan LOVES the doors with the different colors.  Not sure I am quite up for painting the doors, but we will see.

As far as the chandeliers go....Um, YA!   Mom would so approve!  I just need to find out where I can get a cute tufted headboard!  Oh, mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!  =)

I also LOVE the purple room, but my honey bunny isn't a fan of the purple color.  But I had to throw it in too!

And I LOVE THIS for the bathroom!  I have got to figure out how to do a darker wood for the cabinets, but I just love this look.  I am definitely taking out the nasty bronze and gold fixtures and replacing them with silver, but the counters and the cabinets are a gross goldy browny nasty color.  But it is something to aspire too and why not add another chandelier, ya know?

When is an onion more than an onion?

When it's growing in my kitchen!

We had quite a few surprises in the kitchen when we were cleaning it out; cell phones, batteries, a sandwich bag full of silverware, and a bag of potatoes and onions growing in a drawer.

Can I just tell you how horrifying the smell was???  NASTY!

The best part is, after my big "eww" Stephan asked what I found and I told him, "There is a bag growing a huge onion in it."  I then hear him speak softly to Matt and explain to him, "She is over dramatic sometimes".

REALLY?!  ME?!!!  OVER DRAMATIC!?!  SOMETIMES?! Are you kidding me?  Honey, I am over dramatic MOST OF THE TIME.  But this time, there really was a big huge bag of onions growing in the drawer.  So, ya, suck it, babe!  he he he  LOVE YOU!

Which I just realized I haven't even told him I was doing this blog, I suppose I should, huh?

Anyway, I have found growing onions, spiders taped to the walls, dog feces and I am pretty sure I am going to unearth a dead carcass from a nasty critter at some point.  And I swear to God there is a nasty troll living in a hole in the yard!  (How do you like that for being over-dramatic?!)

=)

Ok, enough playing, off to get some work done!

Suzy

My Best Friend Is.......

So WHO is my best friend?  I am sure many of you could guess, so let's go ahead and see who are options are!

There is THIS handsome guy!  He is like the BEST husband EVER!

Of course, there IS the bestest.

BUT, as much as I absolutely LOVE those two guys, there is ONE guy who goes above and beyond the rest.  The man who is sexy, knows how to make a girl REALLY happy and never argues with me!

My HERO!

Ladies, can you blame me for displacing the hubby and the bestest?  He is one hot bald dude and let me just show you the amazing action this guy can do!

Nasty Stain on the Wall

See that stupid stain?  Not really sure what it was, a clock maybe???  But it was driving me INSANE.  So the sponge and I had a nice date set up.  He showed up, brought his bucket with water and had a lot of well intentions.  But <sigh> his short comings were too great and I just had to cast him aside.

When I saw this big hunky, bald dude (let's face it I am a sucker for hot bald men!), I just HAD to test drive that bad boy!

It's gone!

Me and the Magic Eraser went to work and look what happened?!  The stupid stain is GONE!  So, who is my Best Friend?

Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser, of course!!!!!

(Jessica, take your mind out of the gutter!!!!  He he he, I guess it does sound a little salacious, huh?)

I don't know what I would do without the Magic Erasers though.  This house has some NASTY stains and I am afraid even paint won't cover them up.

UGH!!!

Now that I have my secret weapon, those stains are going DOWN!  Oh ya, baby!

Laundry is SO Over-Rated

Hmmmmm, whatever could THIS be from?

Not to mention THIS???

Seriously?

Yep, this would be the laundry room.  Let's face it, I am not a fan of laundry.  My idea of ironing is turning on the dryer to the steam mode.  And hey, why even bother taking them out at all, when you can just tumble, right?  But THIS takes that hatred to a whole new level!

According to town lore, the lovely residents would leave the back door open so the dogs could come in and out at will.  Nice, huh?  If you honestly think that is nice, I am disowning you, just so ya know!

The walls are COVERED in dirt and scum.  I am not sure how most of the holes got in the wall, but I am assuming that some of them needed a midnight snack and thought some dry wall and paint would make a great combo meal!

However, all hope is NOT lost.  I have a kick ass father in law who is amazing with wood and he is putting up some pretty wainscoting to cover up the horror that is my laundry room.

After the initial nightmares stopped, I found the light at the end of the tunnel on Pinterest and I found an inspiration picture of a killer laundry room MINUS dirt, dust, holes and dog stink.

Inspiration Room

Isn't that GORGEOUS!?!  After looking at the "before" pictures, Gollum's cave looks inviting!  I would even take the raspy whispers of, "My precious" if meant no more doggy nastiness.

I love the split rail with the dark grey, but we are doing the bottom half in the wainscoting and the upper half will have the dark grey paint.  I love the hook idea for the kid's coats, backpacks, etc. and since they will be coming in through the back door, I figure this is the perfect staging spot for their stuff.

I can't wait to start on the laundry room!

Paint Woes

I finally get started on the painting tomorrow, at least of the walls this time!  I have been painting and sealing floors for the last several days so it will be exciting to see some real progress in making this place look pretty!

However, painting with a sealant or oil based paint is a NIGHTMARE to get off the skin!  I have some great white freckles all over my arms and a couple splattering my face...yep, I look ridiculous!

At least tomorrow I get to paint with real live paint that will come out of my hair.  Did I mention I got the other stuff in my hair too?  Eeek!

Plus, to top it all off, I am pretty sure I am having an allergic reaction or I got a sunburn indoors today.  I am pretty skilled so it COULD happen.   =)

FOUR GOOD REASONS WHY I PAINTED AND SEALED THE FLOORS

Did I mention THIS was the dining room???

Above are GREAT examples why I am not fond of pooches in the house at the moment.  You can remind me tomorrow that I keep my dogs in the house, too.  I just don't let them PISS in the house.  NASTINESS!!!!!!!

What Happened to the Piano

Le Piano

We may not have had door knobs on all of the doors, but the house did come up with a beat up piano.  Lucky us!  Because we all know how much Suzy LOVES noise.  It just makes my heart swell with love and adoration for those creating it!  Ya, right, more like I want to break fingers and rip out vocal chords.

Thankfully, Stephan was on the same page so he and Matt did a wonderful favor!

Bye bye piano!

The inside is pretty nifty!

I must say, the inside working of the piano are pretty snappy and sound amazing!  Matt and I had a good time playing with the little chords that make it sound pretty.  Of course, we had to do it fast before the boss man caught us.  He can be quite the stickler, that guy!  Good thing I think he is kinda cute or I would have to quit!  =)

And for those of you dying that I had a piano tossed out on its hiney, don't worry, the thing was missing keys, smelled of cigarette smoke and let's face it, it was pretty trashed to begin with.  Did I mention the dog poop we found in it?  One word....EWWWWWWW!