Nest Changes

There have been a lot of changes going on at Casa de Swan lately.  Here's a sneak peak...I hope to take some "real pictures" (with my camera instead of my phone) once we're finished, but I thought I'd show some "in-progress" pictures for now!

Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration and Mr. Cob for the handiwork

Where do you think this guy will show up?

Refinished floors!



Laundry room - new paint and floor



Who doesn't want a hanging ironing board?  Don't mind the ugly blue ironing board...



Other Stuff

I know I've been neglecting the blog the past week.  It's not for any other reason than that I've been busy with life.  You see:

 The Spring Bonnet Parade at Primrose was last week...

I had a bit of meltdown over life.

Lukas threw up in the middle of the night and slept right through it.  Scary and gross.

I stayed home from work to take care of the little guy.

My mom recovered all our couch cushions on our porch.  Here's a sneak preview before the big reveal to come later.

We had our entire backyard dug up, leveled and re-done.  It is awesome.  And green.  It was not.  Green, that is.  We now have sod and flower beds with no flowers.  Our budget could only go so far.

Lukas loved the tractor.

We're having our driveway torn up and repaved next week.  I'll share pictures of the finished product then.

Oh and then I got the stomach bug and felt like I was dying.

So that is why I have not written in a while.  I'll be back soon.  I promise.

Paint Colors

Sherwin Williams, my favorite paint store, has this great interactive tool on their website where you can upload a picture of the room you want to paint and then test different paint colors on your actual room to see what you like.  So here are some options I'm considering for the basement.  Keep in mind, the floor is changing and I can always make the floor coordinate with the chosen paint color.  I will also probably repaint all the trim and add new window coverings.  But with a little imagination, you can picture our new room...

Mexican Sand (which we already have in our breakfast nook and have left over paint...)

Green (don't remember the name...)

Tan?

Wheatgrass

Underseas

Cherry Tomato

So what do you think?  What's the winner?  Or do none of these work?

Basement Rehab

After realizing how long our list was, Mr. Cob and I decided we should hop to it.  So after dinner tonight we tackled the back part of the basement (project #1 on our "Before-Lukas-Arrives List").

Here are some pics to show you what we're dealing with...

These pictures DO NOT show the reality of the situation.  (Must be my amazing camera just makes everything look better....)  There were cobwebs everywhere, dead bugs, alive spiders, dust, dust and mor dust, and lots of boxes and cardboard scraps.  So we threw out the trash, recycled the recycleables, moved the landscaping materials to the garage and cleared out the space.  And then Mr. Cob swept.  Here's what we have after day 1:

And here is a closeup of the floor....

It's just gross.  So Mr. Cob is researching what, if anything, we can do to level out the floor (aside from a new layer of concrete) and deciding whether or not he needs to try to rip up the old flooring before we lay down the new floor.  I think we've decided on vinyl tiles that are backed with self adhesive - not the most high-end materials, but it should work perfectly for our needs.  Then Mr. Cob needs to do some spot repair to certain areas of the walls and windows (two windows need to be sealed).   And I need to buy window blinds or shades, but I haven't decided what route to go yet. I've also decided we should paint the walls - it certainly can't hurt.  Any thoughts on color???

Home Improvement

Today begins yet another big home improvement project to the Swans' nest.  And the best part is, Mr. Cob and I won't have anything to do with it.  In fact, we won't even be around.  This project is one for the pros.  We're having our entire downstairs heating and air system redone.  This may not sound exciting to you, but its a big deal to us! 

The heating expert came out to the house, took one look at our "system" and just kind of shook his head.  The whole thing was wrong.  The wrong coil, the wrong duct work, the wrong filter.  The heating vents are even in the wrong places!  So we decided to just tear it down and start from scratch.  The main reason is the lack of heat and air into the soon-to-be nursery.  So it seemed like the perfect time.

Lesson learned - when you buy an old house that has been "renovated down to the studs", make sure you have a really good home inspector and some folks who know a thing or two about houses to check it out for you before you buy.  I do love our house, and eventually, once we fix all the problems, it'll be even more perfect for us.  But I can't say it hasn't been a pain at times.

But we've made progress - even since my last home improvement post on April 29.  We've done everything that is crossed out below (or will have had it done by the end of the weekend):

A. Paint the downstairs hallway and breakfast nook;




C. Finish the basement, including adding Mr. Cob’s brew shop;

D. Rework the heating and air duct system and add more registers in the living room and baby’s room ;

E. Find a permanent solution for the “dummy door” in the baby’s room; however, we now have to implement said solution.  We've decided to seal up the door and then Mr. Cob and his dad are going to build built in bookshelves for all the baby's stuff!

F. Paint the baby’s room and the downstairs bathroom, oh and the laundry room and sunroom while we’re at it;

G. Fence in the back yard; repave and widen the driveway; build a lower-level deck or seating area of some sort;

H. Replace all the door knobs downstairs (we did purchase new knobs this week);

I. And any other project I whimsically decide to add to our list. Yup, I've added some...

• Build the bookshelves in the nursery
• Replace the carpet in the nursery
• Replace the upstairs carpet (master suite, office & stairwell)

We're getting there...though I should probably stop adding more things to our list!

Nursery News

Baby Swan's nursery is starting to come together.  Well not exactly.  It still looks exactly the same and has the appearance of a TV room/game room/dog's room/music room, with the addition of the glider (the only baby-related thing in the nursery at this moment).  But we now have all the main big-ticket furniture items.  Which means we bought a crib this weekend!  We already have a dresser, night stand and desk from my furniture in high school/college/law school that we're using.  With a little ingenuity the desk will convert into a changing table and the night stand will go next to the glider.  And the glider was given to us as a hand-me-down gift.  So that just left the crib.

We looked for cribs at Babies R Us, New Baby Products, Georgia Baby and Kids, Target, Walmart, Pottery Barn Kids and The Babies Room, as well as many online stores and sites.  I had decided I wanted either a colored crib (i.e. blue or green) or a black crib.  The furniture we already have is "natural wood" Bassett furniture, and while Bassett baby does make cribs, I didn't like any of the cribs that came in the natural finish.  So I figured that it would be best to find a colored crib or a black crib, rather than trying to match up the woods.  I also think white cribs are more girly and wasn't finding any white ones I loved.  My other big "issue" was that I do not like the really high backed cribs, and most cribs tend to have the high back.

So after a discouraging shopping trip on Saturday, I realized I really wanted the Stanley Young America crib in blue.  Isn't it dreamy?

Well its also pricey.  I could get the non-convertible crib for around $676 plus tax and shipping.  So in the end, we'd be looking at at least $700 for the crib, not including the mattress.  But this is the only piece of furniture we need to buy for the baby's room, so I had convinced myself that it was rational to purchase this crib.  And I was in love with it.  It's for our first baby.  I'm going to be birthing said baby, so I deserve it, right?  Well we decided to sleep on it and I was going to look again on Sunday with my mom.

After a good night sleep and some serious thinking, I still thought I deserved the crib and was justified in purchasing it, even if it would be the most expensive piece of furniture that we'd purchased for our house (aside from our couches).  But mom and I went looking anyway.  I should have known that an afternoon shopping with the savvy smart deal shopping queen would turn out the way it did.  Mom never pays full price for anything and she's passed this on to me.  TJMaxx and Marshalls are two of our favorite stores.  And better yet when we can find things on clearance.  We both like nice things, we just don't like to pay big bucks for them.

So it shouldn't have been a shock to me that we found a crib at Babies R Us that I decided I could work with.  It was $329, which was much more reasonable.  And I liked it.  I didn't love it, but did I really need to love my baby's crib?  I figured I could cutesy it up with bedding and be totally in love with the final nursery product.  The crib was just a single part of the bigger picture.  So this was the front runner as of about noon yesterday:

And then we went to The Baby's Room in Kennesaw.  They had the Stanley cribs in all the bright colors and I again started leaning towards these expensive, beautiful cribs.  And then I found a black crib that I really liked.  I don't know if I'd say I loved it, but I was very much in deep like with it.  And it is black, which I do love.  A black baby crib feels so posh (or maybe I'm just deluded).  The crib was very sturdy and I felt comfortable that Baby Swan would be safe sleeping in it.  I was starting to really like this crib.  And then I saw the price.  Originally $329.  On sale for $279.  Limited time offer of $199.  And at that point I fell in love with the crib.  I sent a picture to Mr. Cob for his approval and he gave me the thumbs up.  And I then bought said crib.  And now I'm happy.

I've realized that I am my mother's daughter.  Just call me the bargain basement princess.  If there's a deal to be had, I'll find it, especially if the savvy shopping queen is with me! 

And really, does a baby need to sleep in a more expensive bed than his parents?  Wait, his parents don't really have a "bed"....just a mattress and box spring.  Hum, maybe we can take the saved money and buy a headboard for ourselves! 

Light it Up

We have a serious lamp problem in our house.  They're all ugly and do not match the rest of the decor.  But they were mostly all hand-me-downs (read: free) and for some reason I have a really difficult time picking out lamps that I like.  I also don't enjoy spending money on something like a new lamp.  But its time to remove all the ugly lamps and replace them with new fabulous lamps.  Or in the case of our guest room, to add a lamp on the bedside table.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

Just pitiful, I know.  My mother, being the interior decorator that she is, is quite ashamed of my lamp collection.  So when she spotted a pair of beauties at HomeGoods (such a great store!  It's TJMaxx but for, well, goods for the home, hence the name...), for only $29.99 each, she jumped on them and insisted that I buy them for our bedroom.  And I couldn't aruge with the price, or the fact that they matched our bedroom perfectly.  So slowly I'm getting out of my lamp rut!

Yes, we still need a bed/headboard...all things in time.

So two lamps down, at least three to go...

Painting Party

This weekend I finally crossed two more household projects off my list – painting the guest bathroom and the breakfast nook. The guest bathroom painting was a spur of the moment decision. We were half way through painting the breakfast nook and realized we needed more paint and lucky for us, Sherwin-Williams was having a 25% off Memorial Day sale. So I decided 25% off was good enough reason to buy paint for the bathroom and tackle one more project. I figured I should use my worker bee (aka my mom) while she was there and willing to paint!

My original thought was to paint the bathroom a pale green, but as that might be the baby’s room color, I decided to go in a different direction. We decided on Cottage Creole – sounds so exotic doesn’t it? Well lesson #1 from this painting project was quickly learned when we opened the paint can and started painting – the color you choose at the store always looks a little different once its in your house (and it goes on lighter than it dries, which can cause for some panic while the paint is still wet and you fear you’re going to end up with a pale pink/peach bathroom). Mom and I both thought Cottage Creole would be a deeper color than it was, but were happy with the final product. I ended up with much lighter bathroom than I’d intended, but once the paint dried, I loved the color. I also decided that with the new paint job, the bathroom mirror needed to be replaced. It now looks like an entirely new bathroom!

Our second project was painting the breakfast nook. I’d picked out the paint (Mexican Sand) and bought it moths ago, back when I purchased the paint for the kitchen and living room. I’m not sure if it was the fact that the paint had sat in the house for three months, or if the existing white paint on the walls was so horrible, but this paint did not go on easily. And I quickly learned lesson #2 of the weekend. As much as you may hate it, you must blue tape the walls, ceilings and molding, especially if you are painting with darker colored paint. Mom tried to convince me to tape the room before we started painting, but I can be hard-headed and told her we could do it with the fancy edging tools we had. Well, lets just say, mother’s always right! The paint was dark enough that we had to put on a second coat, so we decided to tape the entire room for the second coat and the results were much better and cleaner!

However, once the paint dried, I learned lesson #3 of the weekend. If you are painting two rooms that touch each other, and you are choosing colors in the same color family, make sure they contrast enough so that they look like two different colors. The breakfast nook “Mexican Sand” looks almost exactly like the kitchen/dining room “Tamarind” and you can barely tell that the breakfast nook is a darker, redder shade. In the end, its not worth repainting and everyone will probably think that it’s the same color, but I’ll know the truth, and now, so will you.

(the paint on the right is the "darker" color...or is supposed to be)

After painting we rearranged the furniture. I moved the china cabinet to the dining room, moved the table to sit in the corner of the room rather than the center, which had blocked traffic to the back patio, and moved the side table to where the china cabinet used to be. I now need to find some big baskets or a sideboard to keep all of Wrigley’s food in. And I could use some plants and some artwork – but slowly I’m getting this house decorated!

Next up, the baby’s room…the blue or pink path will be revealed on Monday!

Bugs Be Gone

A few months ago, if you will remember, Mr. Cob and his dad screened in our side porch.  And I finally have the pictures to prove it!  They did an AMAZING job!  The porch has now become one of our favorite places to eat dinner, read a book or chat on the phone.  It will be the perfect place to have a glass of wine and relax after a long day of work...once I can have wine again...for now its a great place to drink a virgin bloody mary!

The table and chairs are from Ikea.  The table opens up to seat 4-6 people.  The rug was a birthday present from my dad!

The couch was a hand-me-down from my brother and Ana Lisa - thanks guys!  We've gotten a lot of use out of it!

Didn't they do a great job with their handywork?!  It looks professionally finished!

Wrigley is also a fan of the porch...

Luckily the fan was already installed when we bought the house.

And now some pictrues looking at the house from the street.

I was so happy that Mr. Cob and his dad were able to create a screened-in-look that matched the style of the house.  It looks like its always been there.

And we finally finished re-mulching the beds in the front yard!

 
It feels great to have this big project crossed off our list!  Later today I'll share pictures of the final prodcut from our painting extraveganza this past weekend!

Busy Weekend...

The Swans had a very busy holiday weekend.  Today I feel kind of like Bailey Ann looks...

But it was worth it!  Friday we went back to Athens to attend a funeral for one of our law school professors, Professor Wilner.  He sadly passed away last weekend at the age of 72.  He was the head of the International Law program at UGA and Mr. Cob was close with him.  Mr. Cob took all of his classes in law school and traveled to Brussels with him for the summer program between our first and second years.  Professor Wilner was a wonderful man and will be very missed.  He is the main reason Mr. Cob wants to practice international law and hopefully he'll live out that dream in the next couple of years.  The funeral was a beautiful celebration of his life and made both Mr. Cob and I think about our lives and whether we were living them to the fullest.  We followed the funeral by having lunch at the Globe, one of our favorite spots in Athens.  I miss that town.

That evening, our friends Marissa and Ty spent the night as they were driving from Texas to North Carolina.  (You can check out Marissa's blog over at A Spoonful of Sugar - but be warned, you'll want to start baking and making homemade ice cream after reading!)  It was great to catch up and see them - Marissa and I met in 6th grade and had lost touch for about ten years, but reconnected last July.  They are professional dancers and will be performing in Asheville, NC during the first two weeks of July.  We ate dinner at Wistera in Inman Park, which was delicious!  Definitely a great restaurant if you're looking for somewhere for dinner - the salmon was superb and the deserts were great too.  Then we went to the Samurai Davis Jr. & Dim Sum's Super Mega Happy Fun Time Improv Show! at Dad's Garage.  It's a Japenese Game show style improv show and is HILLARIOUS!  It's playing every Friday night at 10:30 and is definitely worth checking out.  (Did I mention that Mr. Cob is taking improv classes at Dad's Garage?  He just moved up to Level 2!  If he keeps up with it, we might be lucky enough to see him perform in a year or so!)  Oh and Marissa gave me the sweetest little booties for Baby S that she knit herself!  I'll have to take a picture and share - such a thoughtful gift!

Saturday we went to the Decatur Arts Festival and then went to a cookout at our friends' house.  I then spent Sunday and Monday working on the nest!  My mom came over and we painted the breakfast nook a beautiful "Mexican Sand" and the guest bathroom "Creole Cottage".  They both turned out great - pictures to come soon.  I even replaced the boring mirror in the bathroom with a great new find and we rearranged the furniture in the breakfast nook.  The house is really starting to come together!  Next up on the house projects is painting the hallway and the baby's room...only 6 more days until we find out if we'll be painting for a girl or boy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  And a special thanks to all the men and women who have served or are currently serving our country!  You do so much so that we can live free!  As the daughter of a former green beret and grandaughter of a retired Colonel in the Army, I am especially greatful to my dad and grandpa.  And I know Memorial Day is not easy for those who have lost loved ones in wars, so they deserve a special thank you as well.

House Plans

Mr. Cob and I have had a running list of “things to do to the house” since we moved in last year. We’re doing OK and slowly crossing things off. For instance we have:

1. Furnished our home office with a new desk and book shelves;

2. Painted the living room, dining room and kitchen;

3. Caulked and painted the trim in the living room, dining room and kitchen;

4. Painted the fireplace mantel;

5. Replaced the roof (this wasn’t so much something we wanted to do, but something we had to do);

6. Screened in the porch (pictures to come soon);

7. Decorated the sunroom (my mom was a huge help in this project – as in, she sewed all the curtains and recovered the couch and chair and bought the rug – it was a great birthday present last year!);

8. Built stairs off the back deck;

9. Many other small projects (i.e. furnishing and decorating all the rooms, gardening and landscaping, etc.)

And yet we still have a long list of things to do. And with the upcoming arrival of Baby Swan, the list keeps getting longer and longer everyday. Here’s our current list (which is sure to grow)…

A. Paint the downstairs hallway and breakfast nook (do I get points for already having bought the paint?);

B. Re-do all the beds in the front yard and lay down weed mats (we are half way there – three of the four beds have been reshaped and the excess dirt dug out, we just need to lay down the weed mats and mulch this weekend, assuming it doesn’t rain, again);

C. Finish the basement, including adding Mr. Cob’s brew shop;

D. Rework the heating and air duct system and add more registers in the living room and baby’s room (I need to take a picture of the ducts in the basement – they are industrial sized ducts and look ridiculously huge, not to mention the non-energy efficient aspect, which I’m sure is present. I fear this is an expensive project, but necessary as some of the rooms in our house just don’t heat/cool well);

E. Find a permanent solution for the “dummy door” in the baby’s room (there is a full sized door in this room that leads out to a 3 foot by 1 foot deck, which has no use – other than for perhaps sneaking a cigarette if one were to smoke and trying to hide it, i.e. when I was in high school. The door is also drafty. I’m just sure what our options are with this one);

F. Paint the baby’s room and the downstairs bathroom, oh and the laundry room and sunroom while we’re at it;

G. Fence in the back yard; repave and widen the driveway; build a lower-level deck or seating area of some sort;

H. Replace all the door knobs downstairs (we did purchase new knobs this week);

I. And any other project I whimsically decide to add to our list.

Guess we should get started, huh?

Writers Block

I'm having a serious case of writers block.  I've tried to sit down and blog a few times over the past week, but it just hasn't gotten anywhere.  It's not that we don't have much going on, we do, I'm just having a hard time putting it all into words.  So in the meantime, here's a quick recap of the past week -

Last Thursday Mr. Cob's parents drove down from Illinois.  They made the trip in about 11 hours which isn't too bad, but is still a long day in the car.  We ate dinner at a neighborhood joint (Universal Joint) in Oakhurst, the next neighborhood over from ours and just caught up on life.  We'd last seen them right before Christmas.

Friday was a beautiful day in Georgia so we went golfing at Brown's Mill golf course.  Luckily Mr. Cob found a deal where we each only paid $18 for a full round of 18 holes.  I say luckily because I played horribly.  I wiffed on the very first tee.  Then again and again.  Finally I made contact, but it was still a lousy shot.  Everyone rolled their eyes and were sure we were in for a long afternoon when I picked my ball up after 12 strokes on the first hole without even getting to the green.  I gave myself a 100 for that hole... Mr. Cob told me the max was 10 strokes.  As the day progressed I got "my swing" back, which still needs major work, but wasn't a complete disaster.  It was so wonderful to be outside in just a tee-shirt and have the sun shining brightly overhead - Spring is long overdue!

Saturday we began the home renovations!  Mama Kae and I painted the dining room and kitchen a taupe-ish color.  My mom came over on Sunday and helped paint all the trim.  We also replaced the drapes and heavy window valance in the dining room with plantation shutters.  These small changes brightened up the rooms and make the house look much more modern and put together.  Pictures to follow when my camera is back up and running (did I mention its sick?)

But the big home renovation was going on outside - Mr. Cob and his dad screened in our side porch!  Well they got about 80% complete - Mr. Cob and I will be finishing it up this weekend.  It was a HUGE undertaking, but looks amazing already.  I can't wait to spend many nights reading, eating and playing games out there without having to worry about pesky bugs.  Next on the "home-redo list" will be recovering the cushions of our outdoor furniture for the porch.  You can't have an updated screened in porch with drab furniture.  The horror.

Sunday, we went to brunch at one of our favorite spots, Serpas, with both sets of parents.  I started to write a whole post about brunch last night as part of the Church Search series.  My claim was that family bonding is a "church-ish" experience and should count as a church in my church search.  I was kind of stretching for material, although maybe not. 

Oh, the other big thing this month, of course, is March Madness.  Now I have to tell you I am not a basketball fan.  I don't know any of the rules and have never been enthused about the sport.  Although for the past few years I always fill out a bracket and typically end up in last place.  Well this year I'm doing pretty good.  I picked Ohio State to win, and they're still a contender...as opposed to everyone else who picked Kansas!  Although, I also picked New Mexico to play Ohio State in the championship game and they're already out, so we'll see how I finish up.  For now, I'm jumping on the Swan family bandwagon and rooting for Michigan State to go all the way!  How's everyone else doing in their brackets?  I have the potential to win over $350 in my pool - so here's to hoping!

Living Room Renovation

When Mr. Cob and I bought our house we overlooked many of its "flaws."  I rationalized them by saying the house had character and potential.  Let's face it, parts of it were just unkempt and in need of some love.  So after a year I finally got down to business and started beautifying our house, starting with the first room you walk into when you enter the front door - the living room.

Here are some BEFORE pictures:

Take note of the stain on the fireplace...not exactly pretty.  I'd told myself it had the "antique" look...um, that would just be run down and kind of falling apart.

And the trim.  Oh the trim.  Unsightly, to say the least.

Blah white walls.  Very sterile feeling.

It's just screaming for help.

After 3 and a half tubes of caulk; almost a gallon of "Inviting Ivory" Sherwin Williams paint in the eggshell finish; atleast half a gallon of white paint on the trim; and a quart of "Coconut Husk" paint (for the mantel), we were finished.  The room looks amazing, if I do say so myself.  Thanks mom for all your help!  And thanks to Mr. Cob and Wrigley for cheering us on!

And the AFTER pictures speak for themselves:

We also refurbished an old coffee table we had in the basement.  3 cans of brown textured spray paint later and it was lookin great!

The only thing I would like to change/fix is to somehow find a way to get the old paint off the brick on the fireplace.  We tried mineral spirits, but had no luck.  Any ideas?

I'm really loving our new and improved living room!  Next on "the list" is our dining room, kitchen and breakfast nook.  I already bought the paint so I just need to recruit some help and get busy!