Basment Update - Done!

So, the basement if FINALLY finito and paid fo. We will no longer have men bang-a-langing around it's 22 crooked walls all the live long day. Woo hooo! I can't even believe it's true.  It's like the best news ever.  That and the fact that we love every inch of it.  Even the inch that already has chipped paint on it. Ack!  But don't get me wrong, I am SOOOO happy this reno is over. I used to think people who hated renovating were cray cray because hellooo, it's so worth it in the end, but now I see the light. The cold hard 'grass is greener' truth. Reno's are hard. Even without children and a month away from it all. They're hard, they just are.

So here we are...in a place between renovating and decorating.  And even though we can't really use it properly, it is super fun to hang out in. Who wouldn't want to hang out in the best insulated floor of the house?!  

Oh, and by the way Jeff's TV is 50 inches. I just felt that I should clarify that fact since he was worried these pictures might make it look small due to it not being mounted correctly. HA. 

Remy looooves the new basement.  You can tell from his hesitation in going down the steps.

The bah.

Bar into loungey area...couch being delivered Thursday! Woooooo!

Washer and Dryer or as I like to call 'em, old googly eyes

This room would be better with a bigger TV. I kid, I kid.

There is a window back there, not pictured.

From haunted to HALLELUJAH!!!!

Basement Reno - It is coming together!!!

From the beginning to now...here is a small idea of how far we've come...

And we thought clearing out the space was hard!

This basement renovation has really been an interesting learning experience for me. And don't get me wrong.  When I say interesting...I don't mean awe-inspiring, I mean equal parts AWFUL and INSPIRING.  There is something so incredibly inspirational in having a vision and then getting to watch it grow into something day by day.  And actually seeing the progress is really necessary and makes it all the more special to me.  I mean, when you hand over a 100 year old crappy basement, it is beyond impressive to see what can be done with a boat load of elbow grease and patience.

I guess that is why when I have a really hard reno day like today, and I am forced to stand witness to our contractor plow down a small portion of my neighbors' fence, I have to remind myself that this is all worth it.  It takes WORK and lots of it.  It is not going to just appear finished one day. There will be hiccups and blemishes in the process but I know it is a process.  It will be completed soon, though and I am confident that the finished product will be all 'us'.  

xoxo
L

Finally, a shower!

We are seeing progress, people!  Our 36x36 stall shower is being installed! 

This bathroom is by far the largest in our house, so that may be the reason why I'm sooo insanely excited for it.  The shower isn't huge, but I think that just having it will be good enough. Plus, I'll buy one of those curved shower curtain rods. That should help!

Next up...new windows!

xoxo
L

The Basement Bathroom Floor is Here!

It looks and feels like carrara marble, which really fits with the period of our house, but costs a fraction of the price.  And it's durable.  I want the bathroom to be classy and fit in, but it's still a basement bathroom at the end of the day.  I can't go too crazy!  Oh, and we ordered it from Home Depot for just over 2 bucks a square foot.

Bull.

Looking for the perfect over-the-fireplace accessory?

FOUND IT!

I noticed my bull friend whilst walking by their storefront and KNEW he had to be mine.  Unfortunately, they only had Bull in bubblegum pink, so I had to go ahead and special order a white one.  He came in a week later from Mexico and he's perfect!

I bought my bull at SHED in Maplewood, NJ (Go small business! Yay). You can find them here: http://shedhome.blogspot.com/   

xoxo
L

Basement Remodel Step 1: DEMO

We're remodeling our basement!!!  All I have to say is, what a mess. 

Knockin down walls and taking names.

The basement toilet shed is gone!

The area formerly known as Bar 52

So much mess!

How exciting is this?!  We're adding a FULL BATH, LOUNGE AREA, laundry area, storage area, and a completely revamped BAR 52!  Pretty fun.  Except the living here through the renovation part.  As of now, we're hoping it will be completely done by Halloween.

Homemade Hair Care: Deep Treatment

So, my hair is dead.

A hairdresser a few weeks ago actually held up the bulk of it into a loooong ponytail and exclaimed, "ALL of this hair is DEAD! You need to cut it all off!"

Not gonna happen.

If it is true that ALL of my hair from my ears down is dead, I will have to find another way...I was never cute with a bob.

Proof:

Normally, I blow dry my hair once a week, wash it 7 times a week, and barely brush it or dye it.  This is why I know my hair is just brittle and thin and probably isn't meant to be long. I don't care. I like long hair. (My mothers hair, aka the ultimate "mom" haircut above may have scarred me)

That is why this morning, I did this:

3 eggs

2 tbsp olive oil (or safflower oil)

1 tps vinegar (I used the clear one)

Mix together, apply it to your tresses, cover with a plastic cap (or plastic wrap), and leave it on for 30 minutes. You will look awesome.

Then shampoo as usual.

Okay, I just got out of the shower and my hair kinda feels the same. Wah.  I'll update if anything unexpectedly glamorous happens. Stick around...

UPDATE: I brushed before going to bed and my hair feels a lot better.  This stuff definitely works well as a deep treatment. Highly recommend.  

Day 2: My hair feels even smoother today! I think this stuff made a huge difference! Love it!  


xoxo
L

Homemade Face Lotion

So, as I scoured some of my favorite blogs this week I came across a homemade face lotion recipe (from ohdeardrea.blogspot.com) that I knew I had to try.

Normally, I use Olay Regenerist in the mornings while swapping out Vaseline to use at night because I am too afraid of using 2 possibly toxic lotions in one day. Paranoid? Too bad! Because now I won't have to!

The new cream is made up of:

2 tbsp Coconut Oil.
1 tbsp Organic Baby Butt Cream
A few drops of Organic Almond Oil.

I bought everything from Whole Foods.

It isn't the prettiest concoction, so there's no huge plus of seeing a finished product. It really just looks like pasty white poo floating around the bottom of a glass jar. What matters is the application.  NOT TOO MUCH!  Just dip your fingers in and smooth evenly over your face.  I even put it on my lips and it seemed to moisturize them, so yay, laziness wins again.

I'll be updating this for the next 7 days to see if:

a) my skin looks and feels any better

b) the cut on my chin heals and how fast

Day 1 - So far, I significantly freaked out at how oily my face looked directly after application.  Decided to take a 10 minute breather from looking at myself or applying makeup and revisit.  Upon revisiting, I felt good! My skin is super soft. Let's see how tomorrow goes...

Day 2-3 - Loving it!  Cut on chin - still there.

Day 4 - reapplying at night now and my chinny chin chin is healing!

Day 5 - 14 - Loving it.  The key is not putting on too much. Whenever I do, I feel gross and wipe off the excess.

BREAKING NEWS: It is August 16th and this stuff lasts forever. The hubs and I have been using it since the first day we discovered it and we still have a ton left! 

Sinks are more fun than my rebellious uterus.

Since I've been home from taking the best vacation ever, life has been HECTIC! With a capital...everything.  You see, for the past year the hubs and I have been dealing with some rather annoying issues pertaining to a certain body part of mine that hates complying with the reason it is there to begin with.

Basically, my uterus is not up to snuff.  I first found out that things were amiss in May with doctor 1.  However, upon switching doctor's (to doctor 2), I found out that YES my uterus was still crazy-pants, but I was previously misdiagnosed.  Blah blah blah, surgery was needed (I was excited), a septum had to be removed and it all took place last week. I'm in the healing phase now and will hope to hear how things went on Monday.  Obla di, obla da.

However, I am a TERRIBLE waiter (both laying on the couch and working in a restaurant). I have the shortest attention span and I simply cannot sit still for too long. How long is too long? Probably around 29 seconds.  So, since I've already rearranged (aka - told Jeff where to move things) multiple rooms in the house, I figured it was time to focus on our 3 x 4 miniscule bathroom again.  Hooray!  

Out with the old sink (in the above link) and in with the new...

I can't wait for it to get here!  I mean, with the extra 4 inches of space we'll be getting, who knows what will happen! 

xoxo

L

Home Grown - Dining Room Hutch Makeover

HOLY SMOKES! I officially know I'm an adult now because of how flipping proud I am of this project.  I love it. LOVE it. I may marry it.

So, we decided to paint ourselves a hutch.  A dining room hutch.  We have no experience with such things, but we also have no experience in restraint, so we went for it.

It was an old handmade piece that a friend of my Mom's gave to her years ago.  My Mom kept it in her basement, in pieces, so we decided to put it to use.  Also, there is a gaping hole/empty wall in our dining room that needs some covering.

Diving right in, we grabbed our little sanders and began to sand.  Every side, every shelf, every door, every...thing.

Then, we got to painting.  Martha Stewart Heavy Goose.  We had no clue where to start, so we just started everything. At once. 

Hardware - For this, I went to the seemingly massive spray paint selection at Home Depot.  They have about a million colors to choose from and they're all unbelievably boring aside from about 5 vibrant/cool ones.  I went with "Candy Apple"...which incidentally was a green, even though candy apple's are red.

After 2 coats of white on everything and newly greened hardware, we left the hutch to the garage and forgot about her for the past week.  Finally, it was Friday again and time to bring 'er in.  We thought working on touch ups from inside should be fine and not too hazardous.  We were sorta right.

One more coat of touch ups...

Then, it was time for...(wait for it)...ASSEMBLY!!!  Wooooooo!

Dog sitting and hutch assembling go very well together.

My stick-arms got a pretty good workout.

Of course, there were still a few paint fixes to be had.

But once that was done, we were finally, almost at the finish line.  We let it dry before drilling in our new little wine rack things from Bed Bath and Beyond ($9.99).

And then what do you know, VOILA...

We were done! Our dining room is complete!

Since the hutch was free, this whole project cost under a hundred bucks.  It was kind of a pain, especially since the doors didn't line up perfectly (please ignore the hair tie holding them shut for now) but it was completely worth it.  Our dining room feels so different/cozy/us/amazing.