House Progress!

Our office/ studio space is by far our biggest project going on right now. It is improving though right now it is a bit of a mess.  Since I want to paint in there we decided to remove the carpet. Underneath the carpet (Zach and Dave did all this demo) we found asbestos tiles. Eww. So armed with their respirators they ripped that up. It looked like laminate parquet tiles. Now we are left with this black asphalt tar junk and permanent dirt lines from the tiles. There is no way this stuff can be scraped up so we are going to prime it with concrete floor primer and then paint it with concrete paint. We've already got the paint (it is like a very light powder blue) we just need to get the time to work on it. Hopefully this gross floor will be looking pristine very soon.

Here are some pictures of the room right now. That black bookcase will be getting chucked very soon now that I have a new bookcase thanks to our friend Erin, but more on that later.

I've painted some swatches. This is the color the accent wall will be, Summer Blue:

Next to the blue I painted a swatch of Cloud Nine but it is really hard to even tell, the biggest difference is the paint I got is eggshell and all the walls in there now are a high gloss.

I did a swatch on the ceiling too, you can actually tell a difference there because right now the ceiling is a tan color.

Walls and ceiling paint color is Cloud Nine:

Floor color is Pale Star:

The desk will be painted white too. So we have a lot of painting to do in the office, but as soon as thats done I think it will look 100 times better. I can't wait. Zach and I just need some days off together to work on it.

The back room/ den/ converted garage/ Zach's man cave, yes this room has too many names, has come a long way too. We've hung curtain rods and moved the curtains we had in the bedroom back there. We've finished the old dresser that we refinished. I'll give you  guys a nice before and after. Plus we have gotten  a fabulous new bookcase thanks to Erin. I have wanted a bookcase like this for a long time too. We actually were going to build one for that exact spot. Here are some pictures!

Before:

After:

 Hard to believe that came from a thrift store for $10!

Here is the new bookcase!

I just love it! We will eventually paint it but that is probably a long way off. We need to paint the back room too, not sure how soon that will happen either. Eventually we will probably get a sectional for the room too.

The bedroom is improving!

So for christmas I got that West Elm duvet I loved! Thanks Mom! My grandma got me a nice down comforter to go in the duvet too. Thanks G-ma!

Here are some pictures:

I also used a target gift card Zach and I got from Josh to get us some non-temporary curtains for our bedroom. I actually ended up getting shower curtains. I think they ended up working out great though, they are double lined so they are really nice. I think Targets selection of shower curtains is way better than their curtains too. I still want to paint the wall behind the bed a grey color, and get some lamps for the nightstands but for now the room looks nice and is quite functional! I am very happy with it. The kitties are too because they all love laying in there!

New Dishwasher

So a few weeks ago our dishwasher died. Dang being a homeowner and its impromptu unforeseeable catastrophes! Luckily Best Buy was offering 18 months at zero interest. We were lucky to get a bit of a deal due to Zach's old work connections and find one we liked in stock at the Best Buy near our house.

Zach, Greg and Dave spent most of the day installing it. After two trips to comet plumbing it was done!

Here is the old junker being removed:

Installation in progress:

Ta-da! Shiny new dishwasher is done!

I am in love with this new dishwasher. It is near silent and works great plus it looks wonderful and matches the rest of the appliances. Bye bye ugly black piece of crap!

I was bummed I had to put off my new counters but we should be getting them when we get our tax refund. So I have that to look forward to. Then the last things left for the kitchen will be the glass back-splash and refinishing the table and chairs. The ceiling also needs work but that's a low priority.

Here is a sample of the counter tops:

Snow

This post is definitely about a month past due, but better late than never!

painting for grandma

This is the 10" x 10" painting I gave to my Grandma for Christmas. This is the painting that got wrapped before I got a picture of it. Sorry the pictures are cell phone pics so the quality isn't great.

Christmas 2009, Christmas 2010

Hey not much has changed....

Zach, Kathy and I

Christmas 2009

Zach, Kathy and I

Christmas 2010

Recent Paintings

Here are some of my more recent paintings!

Here is a better picture of the 36" x 48" canvas I painted for Alyssa's apartment.

Here are some detail shots:

These two 24" x 36" canvases I painted for my Dad's office. I really like how they turned out. Here is a detail:

This 10" x 10" I did for my little brother.

This series I did for my bestie, Ashley. It is three 8" x 10" canvases. Here are individual shots.

 This painting I gave to my parents for christmas. It is either a 30" x 30" or a 36" x 36" I can't remember which. Ooops. Here is a detail:

This is a 16" x 20" painting I did for my Aunt Jooji.

 Detail:

 Details:

This series of three 8" x 8 canvases  is for my Aunt Becky's Christmas present. I still have to ship them so Becky if you see this before you get them then MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

This last  painting is a 36" x 48" canvas that now has a happy home at our friend Justin's.

I did another 10" x 10" painting for my Grandma but I ended up wrapping it before I got a picture. Woops! I will be painting a 20" x 20" and three 8" x 8" canvases for our friend Kyle this upcoming week. So look forward to some more pictures of new paintings!