Slam Dunk!

Bye bye rusty, old basketball hoop!  Even before moving in, we knew the basketball hoop's days were numbered.  Aesthetics aside, it posed a problem as it was within an inch or two from a major electricity wire attached to one corner of the house, which made me quite nervous when winds were intense the other week.

Project: Goodbye basketball hoop!

Project: Craft Room

I finally have a permanent space to create things!  Things that involve sewing, knitting, scanning photographs, editing video, painting, drawing, and so much more.  Let the crafting/creativity begin!

Project: Craft room! - paint ceiling, walls; remove carpet; replace outlets and light switch

Milestone: One Month

This week marks one month - ONE MONTH! -  since we've been homeowners.  It honestly feels like our settlement was just yesterday!  The overwhelming shock of being first time homeowners and fear of the unknown has slightly diminished over the last month - just slightly.  We're now in a new phase of shock called wowzers, this house and all its projects are expensive with no end in sight!  But we're having fun and we have our very own space to put our stamp on, and that is priceless.

Some things I'm still adjusting to:

- Long-term renting has conditioned me to think all walls are shared and to be considerate of noise, volume, etc at all times.  I was playing music in the house and for a brief second forgot that our walls are no longer shared.  Not waking up to screaming kids and/or people talking loudly is both amazingly peaceful and strange... like there's an empty space that desperately wants to be filled with noise.

- Lots and lots of doors.  Little space, fewer doors.  Bigger space, more doors.  In and out, out and in.  Dr. Seuss would have a field day with all these doors! ;)

- Having a garage door.  It's an on-going relationship full of misfits and tweaking, but I'm determined to make it work.

- The kitchen.  It's definitely spacious but not very functional.  I'm still figuring it out.

- Random noises.  Some of them aren't so mysterious anymore but with every one I can label, a new one appears.  It's like a game.

Roofin' It

With the help of our neighbors who let us borrow their ladder, Thomas replaced the vent covers that protect the plumbing pipes.  I did not physically partake in this project, but I trust Thomas when we said it was not an easy job.  And I wasn't about to go on the roof to test it out!  The good news is that our roof and crawl space will be spared of damage from the rain and gusty winds we're suppose to get in the next couple of days.  And maybe the new vent covers will help us conserve some heat... maybe?

Project: Replace plumbing pipe vent covers

Switch It Up!

We started replacing some of the old school light switches and buttons with new ones.  In doing so, we've visited the lighting aisle at the home improvement store so many times that we are now helping other people find stuff.

The new switches complete the picture in the space.  They give the space a fresh, clean look and, most importantly, they work!

Project: Replace old light switches with new ones