Vote for Zorro!

I entered a pic of our sweet Z-zer into Modernica's "Pets on Furniture" photo competition, and he's in this week's line up!

Yay! Handsome boy!

If you think he's as good looking on that Ironrite chair as we do, head on over to Modernica and put in a vote for him! Go Sneezer! We love you!!

Art

Brad and I have a thing for art. (Or maybe I do, and he just does an awesome job of putting up with me!) In our years together, we've amassed a decent collection. So here's a look at some of our collection, and a sneak peek at our "finished" first floor.

 Year of the Rooster and Chicago Ghost by Dan Grzeca.

Blue Bird Wedding by Middleburg Folk Art Studio. Behind it is a blanket made by my great-grandmother.

Rat Terrier Pillow by Julie Sola.

Our vintage Ironrite chair, a future refinishing project. (Not art I guess, but I liked the photo!)

A pile of art yet to find a home...

  

Our criminal 4-legged family. Back in October, I photographed our pups and Brad's brother's dogs, with a fitting backdrop... mugshot height scale. I love how guilty Rat looks in the bottom photo, and Airlie looks like she was in a bar fight (she was at the worst point in her demodex). Oh, my loveable rascals!

Our wool shag Bertoia chair is Zorro's favorite chair.

And to honor our sweet rat terriers, Hey, Ho, Let's Go! by Angela Bond hangs on the wall behind it.

(It's a bit too small for that wall, so it probably won't stay their permanantly. But for now, it's just fine!)

I actually don't know if our window painting by Emmy Star Brown has a name... Hmmm.

Greens by Emmy Star Brown! Thanks, Emmy!

One of my Christmas gifts to Brad this year was a painting based on one of our wedding photos. It was part of The Commission Project by Paul Ferney.

So there you have it! Next weekend I plan to post a better "house tour" than this... it's a bit hard to get photos in good lighting when I'm at work all day and it gets dark at 5. Such is life.

Have a good week, all!

Happy 2011

Happy New Year!

The holidays have come and gone. Our guests have come and gone. Now it's back to the renovating.

The electrician should be finishing up this week, cross your fingers. (Seriously. This is week 5. He said in his initial bid it would take him a week. He'd better freaking be done this week. I'm kind of tired of him.)

Brad and I need to sit down and figure out what our next moves will be. I want to paint. But that may not be the most pressing item. I just love how finished things *feel* with fresh paint. And beautiful counter tops would be even MORE beautiful when not surrounded by unfinished drywall, right? And I guess while we're at it we can re-hang the trim that we had to pull down in order to put in that new drywall... that might help with the "finished" look...

Anyway, no pics this post. Sors. We'll try to get some up soon.

Hooray, 2011! Here's hoping you'll bring happiness and success! (And timely electricians.)

Ahh! Yay!

Counters are in!

Exciting, huh!?

There's still quite a bit to do. The plumber is coming on Monday to hook up the dishwasher and the sink.

[The not-yet-hooked-up (dusty) dishwasher.]

[Our big, pretty sink. With the faucet inside of it, patiently waiting for the plumber.]

I climbed up on a stool to get a pic of the sink and faucet. While I was up there I spotted this:

Eeeeek! That's a crap load of dust! We've got a lot of cleaning to do...

Which is maybe an understatement...

Oops.

Walls!

Today the drywall was put up, and it looks much nicer than it did yesterday. Here are some photos of the work.

Notice the flooring that we've laid from the post the other day. I think we need to clean it.

The tile is gone! Tomorrow the island will be marble will be installed.

The big hole in the wall behind the fridge is now gone.



Pups

And just in case anyone is worried about the dogs while our house is an obvious disaster, don't be! They're all happy as clams camped out in the bedroom. Or more accurately, on the bed.

Me: "Good morning, Sunshine!"

Airlie: "omg. srsly mom. dont you know what time it is?"

Zorro-lazy-bones takes his time getting up, too.

Rat, of course, is ready to take on the world.

I'm certainly jealous...

10 Days 'til Christmas

We’ve been slow to post details recently so I figured I’d give everyone a brief update.  Does anyone remember those photos we took right after closing? Well the place doesn’t look nearly as nice currently. We’re in the middle of our holiday rush because my parents and my brother and his wife will be coming for Christmas. To say we have a little work to do before then is the understatement of the year. Here are a few quick current photos I just took with my phone. (Sorry for the quality.) Needless to say I didn't pick up before I took them.

The foyer floor is laid, but not yet polyurethaned... and is really dusty.

The living room / floor-staining room.

We put up the Christmas tree in the dining room, but it has since been surrounded by future kitchen stools, tools, supplies, and other clutter.

Jessica's busy laying the cork floor in the kitchen.

Where the sink used to be. It's been moved to the island. And the giant (unnecessary) hole in the wall thanks to the plumbers.

Jess warned you all earlier that the kitchen was bad! She wasn't kidding! Just over a week to go and this all should be back to semi-normal.