I love primer in the springtime

If you’re like me, the first sunshine-y semi-warm day puts me in a decorating/ cleaning mood. We had one of those recently here in South Dakota. That’s right, I said a warm day recently in South Dakota – it was 60s and sunny and delightful!

Of course, this week the temps hovered around zero – but the pretty snow on the ground was consolation.

Anyway, I have been saving up for Rob’s departure all my decorating projects and this one is the first tick on my list. I made the shelf off this simple design from Ana White’s website and modified it slightly to be a coat rack as well.

Primer

Then, my freshening up of the entry wall made it look so plain. Since I already knew what color I wanted to paint it (I tested it on the upstairs walls earlier) I went ahead and started painting the living room.

*Sigh* I do love fresh paint. It’s like cleaning with color. It makes the same old room suddenly seem polished and fresh and posh.

So, I painted the wall in the living room as I finished the new coat rack. The color is called “Sand Between Your Toes” and I love it. It wraps me in warmth and sunshine while still being a subtle touch of color. Plus, it contrasts nicely with the ultra white that we’re using for trim (and the coat rack).

I felt I needed to divide the space in the entryway. As much as I think I love a great room, one needs a little transition when one walks in the door. Opening the front door to a big one-room place is too overwhelming for me. BUT, Rob didn’t want to sacrifice his line of sight with the front door… SO…

I’ve always wanted to use old windows in my decorating and I finally can! What’s more, I checked out Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore and got these for $1 each!

Of course, I missed Rob severely! He’d have had them hung in an hour – but let’s just say it took me MUCH longer. Between joist direction, finding it, learning the spacing, realizing it wasn’t where I needed it to be, figuring out how to hang windows between the joists, and actually doing it… that was about all I accomplished that day.

Don’t my new walls look pretty??

My next step is living room curtains (we’ve been living with shears since we moved in). I’m working on other decorating (most are still in-progress as I learn the personality of this house and as we renovate), but here’s one other room.

Our bedroom. Still in progress, but mostly done.

Notice the rockin’ nightstands! I made those! Modeled out of the West Elm catalog and topped with our concrete sample pieces.

I haven’t figured out what I want in a headboard – I think a piece of architectural salvage would be really neat, but I haven’t found any in South Dakota. I’m thinking about making a headboard and bed frame… don’t know yet.

But I’m having a ton of fun decorating! I finally feel like I’m not living in a hotel. I can live in the happy green bedroom, the warm and shiny bathroom, the blue room (which is my yoga room – awesome!), and now I can live in the living room. Of course, we’re still planning on changing a whole lot in the great room (living/dining/ kitchen), but with Rob’s new deployment schedule, we won’t get to it for almost a year. Ergo… decorate then re-decorate. But such has been my military life anyway. This way, I get to try out TWO living rooms with the same floor plan.

Looking forward to more warm spring days! (but enjoying the snow outside my window for now).

I Kinda Like It Here

 

Who knew? But South Dakota is NICE! I haven’t minded the winter much at all! Sure, it’s cold, but people know it’s cold and it’s also a matter of having the right equipment.

Christmas gift exchanges were very heavy in the warm clothing category – I think our families must have felt sorry for us – or they at least knew we would appreciate it. I came back with, among other things, a down coat. Mmmmm. Now, I face the winter days with insulation and preparedness. MUCH better.

Plus, when it snows, it’s usually very sunny the next day! That means the snow is sparkly and white and drapes the drab winter under-colors in a fluffy frosting of bright white. I can usually wait until the warmest part of the day to shovel the sidewalk (that’s right, I shovel the sidewalk!) and often become pretty warm with the activity.

Plus, my super-nice neighbor has a snow blower that he loves to use and now that Rob’s gone, he makes sure to do the sidewalks in front of my house (and sometimes more!). Did I mention South Dakota has really nice people?

It’s been snowing this week and sitting in front of my bay window is like staring at a giant snow globe that’s just been turned right-side-up. It’s kinda nice.

Rob left earlier this week for his final training. I dove right in to more home improvement projects, mainly in the vein of decorating, but more on that later.

It’s certainly not nearly as fun without Rob around. He’s only my most favorite person in the entire world, so it’s an obvious given that life will not be quite as full. But I intend to make the best of it and first on the list is a cleaning/ organizing/ decorating campaign. Tasty.

I’m still teaching yoga, and more now that the owner of the studio is going through some medical stuff. I’m picking up a lot of slack and extra classes and not minding the additions to my schedule. I’ve got regulars and I love helping them progress! My teaching is constantly evolving and I’m loving it.

Although, I have decided I need a bit more socialization. I relish nights when Rob works late, so I’ve been getting my fill of eating light meals, watching lots of comedy, taking long baths, doing pedicures, decorating, and doing yoga. But as I filed our taxes and blogged on this Friday night, I realized I probably need to go out.

I shall begin filling my social calendar.

Bathroom Before and After

Before

 

After

Demo

Concrete countertop curing

Bathroom cabinet that my super-skilled husband MADE!

And more final pics of my new favorite room of the house!

Getting handles and pulls soon. They will match the faucet.

Yes, that box controls the heated floor. Yes, it’s programmable and is set to be warm when we wake up. Yes, it’s awesome.

And these are the cabinets that Rob built to be set into the walls maximizing storage. I just think he’s the most talented husband in the world!

TA-DAH!

Ode to The Flying Biscuit

 

I love The Flying Biscuit. We ate here a couple years when Rob and I came to Atlanta for Valentine’s Day. I bought the recipe book. Once again, it steals my heart.

The food is a perfect blend of comforting and interesting. For example:

Biscuits and gravy. Delicious. Simple. Familiar. Yet, the biscuits are lighter and fluffier, with a little sugar sprinkled into eggwhite brushed on top, giving them a little something extra – like a biscuit/scone. The gravy is made from turkey sausage and has familiar textures and flavors, yet special – there’s something more there in the spices. Yum.

I also love the chocolate bread pudding, made from their leftover signature biscuits – it’s dense, yet fluffy… light, yet rich… chocolate-y, yet creamy… I love the balance! And that something extra that makes it special!

I make the blueberry cobbler from their recipe book often. I love it. It’s fairly straightforward, except there’s a bit of cardamom in the biscuit topping, giving it that extra something. It’s familiar, but special…

Everything on their menu has that special quality of making your brain go, “oh, I’m familiar with this food, no big deal” and the mouth go, “whoa! this is new! I like it!”

LOVE.

Adventures in Atlanta

The time here has been simply wonderful! There’s no remodeling to be done, no chaos in my kitchen and living room, and nothing at all that has to be done… not even blogging. It’s divine.

I have spent my days relaxing, walking, shopping, yoga-ing, and eating! Atlanta is awesome! There’s stuff to do and places to go and everything! And stores! Real stores! And the yoga instruction is great – I’m trying to absorb as much as I physically can!

Some highlights:

Ethiopian food on New Year’s Eve. It was yummy! Eating with one’s hands is really fun! The owner was so nice and gave me extra of the side dish I adored!

Shopping at real stores, and touching the fabric, not opening internet windows!

Eating at Nava and this WOW-beyond-words dessert. That cube is filled with chocolate mousse.

Eating at the Flying Biscuit. Atlanta does breakfast REALLY well! I mean, it’s amazing! This is my favorite breakfast place, but Chicken and Waffles is pretty good too… and Thumbs Up… and every other breakfast we’ve tried!

This amazing yarn store in Virginia Highlands! Everyone who came in was showing off what they’d made, or sitting at tables knitting and talking. It was delightful! I made a return trip just because it was such a fun place!

Aerial Yoga, done from hammocks hung from the ceiling. It didn’t seem difficult at first, but my muscles were DEFINITELY sore the next day!

Here’s some photos of fun things I saw while out. Enjoy.

Yes, those dogs are all wearing sunglasses and matching sweaters. And yes, they match the dog-walker as well.

Did you know this is how brussels sprouts grow?

The very nifty yarn ball winder at the fun yarn store – Knitch.

 More aerial yoga.

Christmas Renovation!

We rented a texture gun for the walls and ceilings. Rob got a little adventure when he learned to hold both the top and bottom of the gun after it separated and spilled globby texture all over him and the plastic tarp.

Rob cleaned the texture gun in the shower because he just thought it’d be easier and much more pleasant than rinsing it with a hose outside in the snow and ice.

I spent my days alternating between painting cabinets, walls, and doors and sealing concrete.

We moved the cabinet Rob made into the bathroom, scraping the paint off the doorframe as it barely fit.

We woke up on the 23rd and basically had just a cabinet and tub in the bathroom. Thus begins the long day.

With icy rain the night before, the base closed so Rob was able to stay home. Yay!

We put the back on the cabinet, installed the drawers, installed the face frame, and attached the countertop.

We installed the floor heat thermostat (SO excited about heated floors!!), new switches, expanded the box to provide space for main light, fan, and fan light. We installed the light fixture, backsplashes, side cabinets, toilet cabinet, and sink and faucet.

Late that night, we began cutting and laying the pattern for the tile. I numbered them so (hopefully) it’d be easy to put them back where they fit and mostly it was. One tile was off and made it a little imperfect, but if I can get over it, visitors can too.

We found a surprise in our box of auction tile! Some of it is beige! We had more than enough, but will remember to look more closely at any tile we might buy at the next auction…

We installed the heated mat under the thinset for the tile and finished laying tile at 5am. Whew! When we woke up again, I traversed the bathroom without touching the floor (special yoga powers) and sealed the grout in the shower. I also installed this AMAZING shower and tub set (a SWEET auction deal!).

Rob doing attic electrical work.

We grouted the floor, hung the shower rod, installed drawer fronts, and tried to finish. We’re not quite done, but here’s a picture of the bathroom in an almost completed state!

Cold Weather “Did you knows”

Did you know that after a snow, people in South Dakota still go about their daily lives? Seriously. The world is covered in white and people are grocery shopping and going to work like it’s no big deal.

I kind of wondered why everyone shoveled their driveways and sidewalks the very first morning after a snow (I thought they were just really involved in neighborhood beautification)… did you know that if you don’t, the snow forms ice? and makes it twice as difficult to shovel later?

Rob’s battery died this morning and he exchanged it for a new one at the local Wal Mart. The guy there noted the “s” at the end of the serial number… did you know they sell batteries for southern and northern climates? Rob worked at a battery store in Texas and had no idea. Now Rob’s battery has a 800 crank capability, rather than the southern’s 600.

We’re learning fast.