Madsen Cargo Bikes

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Interested? Check out this link: http://www.madsencycles.com/contest/

Today's Makeover

A few weeks ago, Brian and I picked up an armchair and ottoman at a yard sale. We knew we needed more living room seating - all we had was a couch - and from the road, the set looked great. And for $20, it is a fantastic find, even though we are pretty sure it is from a set of outdoor furniture.

Of the pair, the footstool has seen better days.

Fabric + Staples = a Fabulous (to me, at least!) New Look!!!

I finally cut into the Denyse Schmidt home dec. fabric that I bought months ago and I love the results. I am going to take a look at the chair to see if I can work some staple gun magic there.

Happy Weekending!!

Week 1 of Kindergarten: Completed!

Georgia had a great first week of kindergarten. Her favorite part of school so far is gym class and she is looking forward to taking 1 book from the school library next week.

Have a great weekend!

TV stand: Before & After

It's official: we have a KINDERGARTENER!!

Today was the first day of kindergarten! It has shaped up to be a very happy and exciting morning for all of us. We are at home and will pick G up in about 30 minutes from now. I will update the blog later with details about her day! Can you see her practically bursting with excitement?

The very famous Mrs. Fields!!

G in her classroom

"After"

Brian worked very hard last night to mount these shelves in the kitchen. The exterior wall was very, very hard. I love how it looks and it will be even better once we've painted the entire kitchen.

How we feel today

"Before" photos

Along with the ongoing project of the basement stairs, we've been working on a couple of projects this weekend so I thought we would share some "before" photos.

Not surprisingly, the kitchen cabinets are not the highest quality. Shortly after moving in, we noticed one set of uppers was falling apart. We decided to take them down and hang open shelving. Imagine our surprise that upon taking them down (with Uncle Matt's help) the previous owners had not painted the wall prior to haning the obviously new cabinets. It appears that the stove and vent were once in that spot and that wall has been patched. Although we found no less than 30 cans of paint in the basement, none of them matched the paint in the kitchen. So, we've had to figure out what to do in order to make that wall presentable. We are going to paint this square of the kitchen wall (a temporary fix until we are ready to repaint the whole room) and hang 3 shelves.I suppose the up-side to having an extra set of kitchen cabinets in our basement is that we can experiment with those to see what we can do with the cabinets. We both prefer the look of painted cabinets so we will be able to test out products and processes until we figure out what will work for these cabinets.

Recently we found this large, square end table on the street. We know it isn't pretty (yet!) but is super-sturdy and a really nice size. All in all, it is a pretty fab dumpster diving find! We are converting it into a TV stand by removing the drawer to add a shelf for the components. Brian has already rolled/brushed on 2 coats of paint and it should be finished by the weekend.

Stay tuned for the "after" photos...

Hot fun in the summertime

Last week, Aunt Kathy was in town for a visit and did not have a car so on Thursday we took her to Columbus and went to the zoo for the day. Afterward we met up with Uncle Danny. It was hot but fun.

Yesterday/Saturday we decided to celebrate Georgia's first day of elementary school by going to Young's Dairy, one of our favorite haunts when we lived in Dayton. We had not been there since we moved in January. It was as enjoyable as we remembered. Take a look at this slideshow for some moments from the afternoon.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/9773107@N06/sets/72157621934230737/

Sunday in the Spraypark with Georgia

We to a break from home improvements to go to the spraypark.

So so so SO hot!

But G had a great time so it was worth it.

Home Improvements

We've had a busy day of home improvements! We finally got rid of the caramel-colored paint (also known as "baby poop brown") in the dining room and replaced it with a pale blue.

Here are some highlights:

Brian: "I love to work! Painting rules!"

That is a direct quote. Almost.

A few "before" snapshots of the dining room...

Georgia kept herself busy with some arts and crafts.

Georgia was very excited to help paint the walls. She actually did a really good job.
(All the while wearing the skimpiest "dress" in her closet! That one has definitely moved from the "dress" to "shirt" category!)

Voila! Here is our new and most definitely improved dining room/office. There is still some work to do (new handles for the cabinet doors, adding shelving to the open space in the built-ins, hanging artwork and draperies/curtains, choosing a rug, and installing a new light fixture) but it already feels fresher.

No big updates in the living room, although I did touch up the fireplace with the same paint that is on the walls. I had to cover that faux finish! We do not do faux!

The little blue cabinet in the fireplace is the one I snagged from a guy at the Goodwill. He debated and walked away, violating Goodwill Rule #1: You snooze...you lose!!

The cabinet will likely get a coat of paint down the road and may just end up in another spot within the house.

In the kitchen, we added a chalkboard wall to an awkward space with little use. Eventually we hope to frame it out with some simple mitered planks of wood. We cannot write/draw on this board until Tuesday, which will be a real challenge for Georgia! Patience is not a virtue that she possesses. (I wonder where she gets that??)

Up next: we have some less-than-exciting work on the basement staircase. Last weekend, Brian pried up 2 layers of old, ill-fitting vinyl tiles to find a nailed-down layer of thick board. He is looking forward to using his new toy, a crowbar, to try to rid the stairs of that board so we can see what we have to work with.

We also found a great sturdy square side table that we plan to convert to a television stand. Brian is going to freshen it up with some paint and replace the drawer with a shelf that will hold the cable box and DVD player.

Red 4, Cubs 0

Not a good night for the Cubbies but Georgia had a great time with her family at the game.

Here is a photo slideshow of Georgia's view of the game.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9773107@N06/sets/72157621834363593/show/