ambervargo's blog

Project Hillside is so cozy in the Fall. The colors of the season and the smell of the leaves make it so inviting. It is also the perfect time to think about our next plans for the house over the fall and winter. Fingers crossed that we can tackle the bathroom!

This weekend after attending the Bloomsburg Fair on a gorgeous Saturday night, we were both inspired by the colors of Fall. On a trip to Lowe's for wine cellar supplies, we first picked up a cart full of flowers and shrubs.

We then went on a hunt for a bale of hay and a pumpkin to add some Fall flair to the front porch.

After about 2 hours of teamwork (yes, I actually helped and got dirty), we now have 4 new bushes, ans 12 beautiful orange mums planted.

The porch has a bale of hay topped sith several gourds, a tiny mum and a big pumpkin.

The front steps have two huge purple mums and the wreath is up along with the fall window clings.

It is amazing how a little bit of work on a Sunday afternoon can transform the house into a cozy spot for lazy fall weekends into the holiday season!

Just like in wedding and event planning, home renovations are full of little details. When you think about a kitchen remodel, even if it's from scratch, you think, flooring, walls, appliances, cabinets, countertops.

But those decisions almost seem easy, when you start to think about the details. And when you wonder why it takes what feels like forever to complete a small kitchen, it's the details again that are the culprit.

Have you thought about the floor transitions from the kitchen to the dining room and outside? What about where you would like some more outlets?

Guess what, you have to buy outlet covers, too. Just like wedding linens, you can settle for plain white but will guests remember that? No, so you look for the perfect colors and textures.

What about the moldings? The stain has to match and you want it to match the rest of the house... but the house was built 80 years ago so those style are now rare if they even exist at all without custom woodworking (read budget increase).

We chose cabinet molding, which looks awesome but was full of another set of decisions.

We haven't even started to try out hardware for the cabinets.

So while I am cooking and baking like a pro in my 75% finished kitchen, the last hurdle may end up being the most difficult to finish. The devil... is in the details.

We have to give credit where credit is due. Some of the people we have been able to find have been incredibly helpful so far. Check them out if you are renovating in the area.

Painting is not that much fun, although not a terrible task. Kind of messy, you kind of end up with paint all over yourself.. Sure, you also ruin your manicure even when you wear gloves.. but the hardest part of all, is picking colors.

I played around on Sherwin-Williams.com for a couple of days and decided on a bunch of color options for the sunroom/living room/dining room. I learned all about complementary colors and accent colors, and flow, hues, warmth, bla bla bla.

Nothing can prepare you for the actual trip to get paint samples. Oh sure, it's great that you can get a little can of paint for just under $3 to try on your wall before you commit. Wouldn't it be great if you could try before you buy so many OTHER things in life. BUT, when you stand in front of the 3 billion little squares of color spanning the wall in front of you at the paint counter, it is easy to quickly become overwhelmed. Martha Stewart? Laura Ashley? Historical colors? I don't know! What do these little brochures think I should do?

After much anxiety, we agreed to buy 5 samples. 3 for the sunroom, which I planned to be an accent color, 1 for the living room, and 1 for the dining room. Always a fan of warm colors (probably because I am a brunette), I decide on 3 shades of pink and 2 gold colors. Yes, I am a woman and I decide I want a pink room. Yes, Jason is a man, and thus, does not argue with me.

My dear friend Renee stops over for a visit and we jump right in to throw some pinks on the wall. Bright, brighter, brightest. Brightest wins. Let's not wait for it to dry. Let's just use all the sample paint of the brightest (old rose) even though the sun is setting and everything looks better during the magic hour. We are on a painter's high! CLICK TO READ MORE

Remember those days of your youth when you would call up a boy or girl that you liked on the telephone and sit around all day jumping every time the phone rang hoping it was them returning your call? You felt vulnerable, anxious, insecure even. These are the same feelings we had Monday when we tried to call 5 or more of the following types of people:

General Contractors - 2 of 5 called us back
Electricians - 1 call back
Dumpster people - Jason called one place every hour, and I called them once. Since I had a number in the proper area code, I got a call back 3 hours later.
Drywall people - 3 of 10 returned phone calls, one not until the next day.

What do people tell us when we ask for recommendations of such skilled laborers as mentioned above? To use the phonebook. The what? No google maps? No .com addresses? Nope, the yellow pages.

I tried to get my hands on one of these coveted books, but you cannot just go pick one up. The phone company mails it to you. I kind of laughed at the rep when she told me that. Luckily, our drywall guy let Jason take a look through his copy that he conveniently keeps in his work van. (What skilled professional doesn't?) I am assuming he had it next to his rolodex and his car phone.

If nothing else, this experience has made us return to simpler times before tweets and status updates... and the internet altogether. My favorite advice came from the township secretary who told us to stop in at the Farmer's Inn (a bar up the street from us) and talk to Margie because "she knows everybody".

Last weekend we finished priming the ceilings in the living room and the sunroom and were finally ready for some PAINT. Several people mentioned to us that using textured paint would help hide any imperfections that might still be visible in the repaired ceilings. Not wanting to jump into anything without having at least SOME knowledge, I spent a good couple of minutes googling about this type of paint. I found out where to get it, how much it cost, what it should look like on the ceiling.... easy enough, right? NOT!

We got a gallon of the sand looking stuff made by Valspar at the local Edwardsville Lowes and decided to jump right in. We get it home and the can says to use a trowel to apply it.. umm what? So while I am googling again how to apply it to a ceiling, Jason opens it up and tried to pour it into the paint tray. Picture opening a can of solid dog food and dumping it into a bowl. It comes out in one solid lump... kind of like cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. Ah, we have to stir it continuously to get the sand to be even in every part of paint. Fine. Then I find that as long as you do a 2 foot by 2 foot section and go vertical, horizontal, and vertical again, the paint should go on nicely.CLICK TO READ MORE

I never thought going to my office job would feel like a vacation! I was so happy to step into the office today and sit in my climate controlled cubicle with my two monitors and no bugs, dust, or power tools. :)

Jason may have now caught on that I will come up with any excuse to go shopping to avoid work. This will explain why we went to Lowe's 3 times in two days. Lots of big purchases! We now have a shiny new commercial grade grill, lawnmower, weed eater and patio set.

I also reaffirmed that I do not like bugs. I had to make two trips to get proper bug spray for my family cookout. Gnats are the worst, especially when you are sitting in the grass putting together a grill for almost 4 hours. I think whoever wrote those directions gave up halfway through! But if you ever need someone to put together a grill or any item from IKEA, I consider myself an expert and am very reasonably priced.

Ripping out the kitchen floor was a lot of fun. People are right when they say that demolition is a good stress reliever. I can't wait to take a sledge hammer to those yucky cabinets.

Now I am thinking about paint colors for the walls downstairs and what should be on the task list for this weekend. A poll may be coming soon to vote for the sunroom colors, stay tuned.

I am putting Jason to work again this weekend. I just e-mailed him the list of things I want to accomplish during the 3-day weekend.

I will be:
Planting daffodil and tulip bulbs
Cleaning the kitchen
Ripping out the hideous linoleum
Getting some kind of curtains or shades for the rooms with furniture
Buying a grill and spending some time outside with family and friends

Jason will be:
Tackling the parlor ceiling
Putting down some kind of temporary kitchen floor to make it liveable
Installing landscape edging

Seems that Jason's list is much shorter but will probably take him the whole weekend. I will just keep supplying him with diet cokes! Fair deal, no?