Trees, toilets, and garage.

What's been going on lately?

Garage-Now you see it....

Yes, that huge pile of cardboard boxes came outta the garage. Was saving them for relatives that are moving soon.

Now you dont! I placed an ad on Craigslist for free garage materials for any one who wanted to demo it. I got about a dozen replies and a guy showed up later that evening and got started on it. My son was more than happy to lend a hand and destroy something.

Evil maple tree that was knocking over the garage. Here one day.....

Gone the next. It took 2 days, 3 guys, a boom truck and many trips to get this tree down and theres still a ton of wood left in our yard. Hope they come back tomorrow and finish up!

Heres a pic of the catalpa tree thats directly behind our house. Its huge and the neighbors say its well over 100 years old.

Sorry old tree, but yous gotta go. Cant have your roots invading our basement walls :(

Then I was going to start painting. Above the chair rail-Benjamin Moore's Shanker Beige, below the rail- Hale Navy  OR

Shaker beige over Seedling (green) I love the navy blue color. Its a dining room so it can handle a dark dramatic color. BUT before I could gets started on this project..............

 Freakin toilet in half bath sprung a leak (ok, been leaking for awhile but I assumed the wet spot on the floor was my oldest missing the pot) and soaked the subfloors. I got mad and ripped out the tile. Then.....

Said hell with it and took toilet off too. Ive now got a fan in there with the window open to dry out the floor. Hope its just a new wax ring and re-tile it fix.

I've also found a solution for all my wooden dining room chairs being destroyed by my kids and husband- galvanized aluminum indoor/outdoor chairs. Ha! Take that!

Will post more pics when back yard is cleaned up. Also going to tackle the bushes in front yard this weekend. yay



Now the fun begins

So we are all moved in and 99% unpacked. All thats left to do is hang pic and accessorize. We had a few plumbing issues that's taken up our budget to do fun stuff like paint and install fencing in the back yard but oh well. Good plumbing can't be beat :)

My bro in law installed a new chandelier above the dining room table (a 1800's library table). I'm using galvanized garden chairs as dining chairs. Ha! Just try to wreck those ya heathens!!!

The above the island pot rack my bro in law installed (loves my BIL).  I am short on cabinet space and had no where to put all my cook ware and there was an ugly outdated fixture in the kitchen. Viola! 2 birds, 1 stone.

Another view of our kitchen and the 1950's cabinets. I hate em. Can't wait for a kitchen remodel. Hubs says after we build a garage we can demo the kitchen. Mmm hmm, we'll see.

The dishwasher was jacked up from the previous owner removing the door and replacing it with a diff door not realizing ALL dishwasher doors are universal. Ahem. He was no Bob Vila. Anywho, we gotta great deal on a stainless Frigidaire Gallery dishwasher. Yay! (pardon my hubs' backside in the pic)

Living room in progress. Installed bamboo shades on all windows in living room. Its a long skinny room so its a furniture arranging nightmare. I've already removed the bookcase from that corner. The room has berber (ick) carpeting. I had Stanley Steamer clean them the day before we moved in and they looked brand new. 2 Men and a Truck moving Co tracked them all up(and scratched up the nursery furniture, and folded our mattress in half and ripped it open so the springs hang out now) and they look like crap again. Thanks guys. Good job.

Sorry bout the crappy cell phone pics. Blackberrys are great for organizing all your appointments and facebookin' but suck at taking decent pics. More pics to come(when i find the camera)!