Are We in St. Louis?

Because this house has arches.  Four, actually.  Which is four too many for our taste.  One separating the family room from the breakfast nook and kitchen.

Square-Pattern-Rug-in-Family-Room

An arched door in the family room near the top of the stairs.

Rearranged Family Room Angled Chairs 2

One in the living room directly above the railing.  And one more from the dining room to the kitchen.

Mohawk-Rug-in-Living-Room-toward-Window

With the family room as our focus, it was time to tear three out.  All three are too close to the ceiling to have added our new crown molding above, have poorly patched sheet rock, and don’t fit our style.  I really detested the proportions of the corbels turned stopping point in the living room.  And the placement.  I understand wanting to visually separate a large expanse, but above the railing seems redundant.  It also makes the window and door look off centered.  Although, we did like the placement of the one between the family room and kitchen.  Ben started by taking out the oak columns on either side of the arch.

Removing Arches and Post

Followed by scoring of the sheet rock corners to reduce damage to the ceiling and walls.  Then pulled out the arch supports.

Removing Arches Structure

Leaving us with a two by four across the ceiling.

Family Room Arch Removed

On to the next arch at the stairs.  Ben and Handy Sammy followed the same steps.

Removing Door Arch

And left us with a beat up top door frame.

Door Arch Removed

Now, we could have stopped there, as we had done the work for the family room side.  But, the arch above the stair railing would have been in the way of the new door trim (and we already had a big, dusty mess to clean) so we yanked out the last arch, too.

Removing Living Room Arch

Ben’s favorite part of any home project is the demo.

Removing Living Room Arch Tear Out

And we’re already working on patching and rebuilding.  Stay tuned for the next episode of Arch Adventures.

 

 

Gimme a Giveaway: Lily & Val and Our Humble Abode

This giveaway is closed.  Thanks for entering!  See who won here.

We’re officially in February, the month of love.  How about a love themed giveaway?  I think so.  Allow me to introduce you to Lily & Val, a lovely Etsy shop with chalkboards galore.  Real chalkboards, digital chalkboard designs, and pretty chalkboard prints.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Where There is Great Love, for the Valentine lover.

Julia Child Quote, for the foodie.

Let It Be, for the musician.

Culinary Herbs, for the chef.

But wait, there’s more!  Two winners will get their choice of print from Lily & Val and two prints (of your choosing) from our shop.  Maybe Venn Diagram, for a dose of geek chic.

Simple and classic Love Heart.

Or a Kelly Clarkson quote to brighten your day.

The Goods: One 11 inch by 14 inch chalkboard print from Lily & Val and two 8 by 10 inch prints from Our Humble Abode, winners’ choice.

To Enter:  Leave a comment, which can (but doesn’t have to) include our Just for Fun question.

Just for Fun: Tell us what you love about February.  Valentine’s day?  Abundant chocolates and flowers?

For additional entries:

1.  Like Lily & Val on Facebook.

2.  Follow Lily & Val on Twitter.

3.  Like Our Humble Abode on Facebook.

Contest Closes: Thursday, February 21st, 2013.

Number of Winners: Two!

Ships: United States residents only.

Other Info: We will select the winners using random.org and announce on Friday, February 22nd.  Good luck!

Organization Strikes Again

You know when you’re busy working on house projects and other areas get trashed as a result?  I do.  Usually our garage and laundry room are the victims.  So are we because it takes an eternity to find tools and supplies.  Like the electrical box covers for the sconces.  First I looked in the laundry room, then the garage, then my office, then our tool stash in the pool house and still came back empty-handed.

Knowing they were in the house somewhere, I brought a chair in the laundry room, dug around the higher shelves and found the bag with covers buried under paint rollers. Right then, I had an organization intervention with myself, vowing to clear the crap sometime this week.  We’ve got plenty of storage space, like this catch-all cabinet.

Laundry-Organization-Tools-Before

Light bulbs, caulking, batteries, tape, and more.  Half used cans of spray paint and test pots.

Laundry-Organization-Spray-Paint-Before

A variety of screws, nuts, bolts, and miscellaneous hardware.

Laundry-Organization-Screws-Before

Across the room, we have a paint cabinet.  Not in as bad of shape, still not great.

Laundry-Organization-Paint-Supplies-Before

After sorting through containers of screws, boxes of nails, and moving all supplies to the laundry room, things are easy to find.  More importantly, all in one place so we’re not searching several places.

Laundry-Organization-Tool-Cabinet

Same for the paint cabinet.  Everything paint related is stashed behind one set of doors.

Laundry-Organization-Paint-Supplies

And all paint cans, test pots, and stain stays in the neighboring cabinet (which previously held cleaning supplies).

Laundry-Organization-Paint-and-Supplies

Speaking of cleaning supplies, I condensed everything cleaning to one cabinet.

Laundry-Organization-Cleaning-Cabinet

 

Just for fun, how many different brands of laundry detergent can you count?

Laundry-Organization-Cleaning-Cabinet-Laundry-Detergents

The answer, seven, plus one sitting on the washing machine.  Of which, we’ve purchased only one (number 4).  Handy Sammy has a few (1, 5, and 6).  Tenants have given Ben the rest when they’ve moved.

For now, everything is grouped and easy to find.  Until it gets used, neglected, and we start the process over again.  I’m thinking bins would be great.

Coloring Book

Even though it’s January and we’ve got temps in the high twenties, Ben and I are already thinking, planning, and talking about the exterior of our house.  Before we know it, warmer Spring weather will be here, giving us the prefect weather to tackle outdoor projects.  Like installing the rest of the house windows and new siding.  To help us decide on products, finishes, and styles, I made a coloring book version of our house.

Exterior-House-Outline

Just a to scale outline of the prominent features.  While in Photoshop, I made a few siding styles.

Exterior-House-Partial-Outline-with-Coloring

Currently, the front-runner is a combo of horizontal siding with board and batten for the bump outs and peaks, kind of like this.

And fiddled with different features.  One big change we’re planning is converting the dining window to a sliding door and extending our deck over.

Exterior-House-Partial-Outline-with-Deck

The garage end is mostly a tall blank canvas, desperately needing some detail.

Exterior-Garage-Outline

Maybe all horizontal siding on the bottom with natural cedar board and batten on the peak?

Exterior-Garage-with-Coloring-Natural-Cedar

Or painted board and batten with a pergola detail over the garage doors.

Exterior-Garage-with-Coloring

Perhaps similar to this one?

At any rate, we need to break up the exterior with at least two, preferably three finishes.  Now I’m curious, how many different materials are on the exterior of your home?  Do you have a tall house you’ve added interest to?

Sconce Free in 201-Three

In addition to installing trim (more on that soon), Ben made a quick swap that makes me smile.  It seems the previous owner had a love affair with sconces.  The more traditional, the better.   Sconces in the bathroom, the living room, family room, master bedroom, hall, and guest bedroom.

Hall-Gallery-Wall-with-Sconce

I’ve had enough with the unnecessary sconces.  Time for a simple change; a semi-flush mount fixture we took with us when we moved and a few blank covers.

Hall Without Sconce

Ben hung the new light, then took down the old hall sconce, covering the wires with a blank.

Hall Without Sconce Covered

Not my first choice for the hall, but it was free.  And I can hang pictures over the sconce hole.

New Light in Hall

While he was at it, I asked him to pull out the sconces in the guest room.

Guest-Bedroom-Large-Window

A few more blanks and I can finish the bird and feather art wall.  Now you see ’em…

Guest Room Without Sconces Gallery Wall

Now you (mostly) don’t.

Guest Room Without Sconces Finished Gallery Wall

Only two more sconces to completely cut out and two more to swap.

Guest Room Without Sconces

Any quick projects crossed off your list this weekend?  Do you have an excessive amount of sconces in your house, too?