Calling All Superheroes! [Colin Turns 3]

My little guy is about to turn 3. Sometimes I can’t believe it. Other times, I feel like he should be 21 and moving out of the house already. But for now, I have to remind myself, he will only be little once, and I need to take advantage of that time to throw him birthday parties he has no say in whatsoever.

That doesn’t mean I disregard his hobbies and affinities. And this guy? Loves himself a superhero. Naturally, this year’s birthday party had to center around Superheroes and all their accompanying greatness.  Of course, this decision was made months ago, and as mothers of toddlers know, their tastes can be fickle. I was so pleased when as of Friday afternoon, my kiddo still loved all things caped, masked and lycra’d.

First thing on Saturday, the moon bounce arrived. I thought about doing a moon bounce on a whim, and when I discovered a local company carried this beauty, I called and put it on hold. Did I mention that was three months ago? The answer to your question is no, I don’t actually have that much free time. I’m just crazy.

May I just put out my non-expert opinion that moon bounces are an absolute must for all parties going forward?  I mean, sure, I barely saw the birthday boy during the whole party, but he and his little friends loved it so much.  Also?  Any kid all hyped up on sugar will tire themselves out so badly that they are sure to hit the sack early that night. Win Win all around.

Anyway, I’m a bad blogger, but a good (ish) hostess because though I barely got any photos after setting up, I *was* dressed by the time the first guests rolled in.

 

Elements of a Superhero Party:

First things first. A Justice League Moon Bounce sure doesn’t hurt:

Each little guest got their own cape, made by my own two hands. Which means it was janky. But it did the job.

Since I have no functioning kitchen, I ordered in all food, save for some PB&J’s for the kids, which my mother in law helpfully made and cut with a star shaped cookie cutter.  We had “Super Heroes” (subs) and “Faster than a Speeding Bullet” finger sandwiches  and a choice of salads for the adults. I also ordered the cake topper and cupcakes from a local baker, who does amazing work.  I’ll be pretending I don’t have a working kitchen going forward when doing parties. It made prep a bit easier.

 

Though I knew the moon bounce would be a draw, I had no idea just how big of one.  In case, I had a station for each kid to “Create a Secret Identity” with a mask kit I bought at Target this past summer for $5. About halfway through the party, I managed to convince a couple of the kids to head over to the deck and make one.  Soon enough, we had a whole bunch of masked superheroes running around!

Each guest also got to choose a “Super Power”: these were candies I ordered from Oriental Trading- swirl pops, I labeled “Hypno Pops”, Rock Candy or “Red Kryptonite” and of course, a superpower ring- Ring Pops. Colin chose a green one, not knowing it was a lollipop, and called it his Green Lantern ring. He wore it the entire party.  He looked a little shocked when he saw the other guests eating their rings.

 

It was a great day. I’d even go so far as to call it “Super.”

Yeah, I did it.

Back to School Cool

It’s that time of year- back to school time!  God, I remember back to school shopping. It was awesome. I think I got like one outfit to specifically wear on the first day of school. BUT I LOVED IT!  I’d just sit and stare at my brand new clothes all pressed and neat with the tags still on. It was the best.

The thing is, I am equally excited to pick out Colin’s back to school clothes. He’s like a life size dress up doll. Sure, he’s got some opinions, but so far? He’s been loving my picks.  I knew I liked that kid.

Most of my picks are from the Gap, which I find has good quality clothes with very few cutesy sayings on them. And since the hope is that Jack will eventually wear these as well, I am learning to steer away from the cheaper stores where I might be able to buy more but the clothes start to fall apart, or fade really quickly. I get a lot of stuff on sale days, and the sale section can’t be beat, especially when they are offering an additional percentage off.

Bottom Line: You can’t go wrong with classic basics: Puffer Vests, Baseball Tee, Converse One Stars, an Oxford and a Bright Yellow Slicker. Just mix and match them with some new trends and get that kid on the bus!

Vest/Gray Jeans/ Jeans/ Raincoat/ Baseball Tee/ Striped Tee/ Striped Oxford/ Hi Top Boots- Gap

Rain Boots- Piperlime

Loafers- JCrew

Converse One Stars- Target

The Flooring Is In. [Wood Porcelain Tile]

And on the 104th day (yes, I did the math) the Lord said, “Let there be flooring.”

And may I just thank Him for that?

Of course, I’ll go ahead and thank myself as well, because DAMNNNNNNN. That’s some fiiiiine looking floor!  I mean, once it’s grouted and cleaned up and finished, it’s gonna be fiiiine. This is just a little sneak peek.

If you are interested in using a porcelain wood tile product, I’ll go ahead and prematurely recommend, based on looks alone. Price ain’t too bad either. These are just in-stock Marazzi Montagna tiles from Home Depot in “Gunstock.”

We chose to do tile after our contractor pointed out (correctly) that after a flood ruined our wood floors, we were seriously delusional to consider wood again. I mean, God forbid we should have any water issues again, our insurance would *totally* drop us. However, I just don’t love a tile floor in the kitchen. We’ve always had wood. I have a hard time wrapping my head around tile.  Don’t get me wrong. Tile floors can be absolutely gorgeous. But for me? This whole entire house has wood floors. Some of them are even painted. Granted, they don’t match up very well, they are scratched and dulled as all get out, but still. They’re wood. I wanted the continuity. I wanted wood.

Then I saw this tile at Home Depot. I was all, “SAY WHAT NOW?” I purchased a sample piece and then promptly shoved it into the face of anyone who came through our front door, frantically asking, “WHAT DO YOU THINK?!?!!”  Luckily, I got the thumbs up from all queried.

So with my wood vs. tile dilemma solved, I began the obsessive compulsive google/Gardenweb internet forum/ Houzz research phase of the project. Obviously, I had nothing but time on my hands since this renovation didn’t want to begin, ever.  Anyway. One thing I didn’t realize I needed to know was that you want your tile to be laid like wood. I know. What? What does that even mean? Just lay it on the floor already! I’m tired of stepping on exposed nails and needing tetanus shots!!!  Ahem. Well, the point is, wood comes in random lengths. Tile does not. So you want your tile installers to lay the tile as if it does come in random lengths. Otherwise you get a very uniform (and artificial) look to your tile.  Kinda beside the point, right?

That being said, even though I discussed this with our tile installer, and he agreed, I found that three rows in, he was installing the tile in an “H” joint line– meaning the joints were lining up every other row. Apparently, this is not the proper way to install it if you want it to look like wood (thank goodness I had previously read that judgey and overly critical forum discussion in my obsessive late night porcelain wood tile research!). I just asked him if he could place it in a staggered pattern going forward- or in his words- “more crazy?”-  “yes, please”- and I think it looks great.  PS- I love how I use the term “H” joint like I have any clue what I’m talking about. Everything I know I learned on the internet.

Another thing I learned was that the smaller the grout line, the more your wood-look tile will look like, well, wood, and not wood-look tile.  If you look at old hardwood floors, you notice that the joint lines are darker than the flooring itself, so if you want to mimic this look with the tile as well, you should use a darker grout.  We (I am generously including Kase in these design decisions, but you can go ahead and read the “we” as “I”) asked for a 1/16″ grout line using the darkest brown grout we could find off the shelves. This was Mapei’s  “Chocolate” brown grout, which can be found at Lowes.  Similar dark grout can be found at Home Depot- but the “Sable” color was out of stock at our store and I’m impatient.  If you prefer a more contemporary look, go with a bigger grout line and lighter grout for added contrast.

The only issue we ran into was the transition between rooms.  Three different types of “wood” all meeting up- the wood tile, the old wood transition which was a honey oak plank, and the 100 year old 3 inch hardwoods in the family room. Wood floor party!  But no thanks.  I decided we’ll just bite the bullet and use a marble transition, rather than try to match up the old wood transition piece.  Since we’ll have the marble countertops, I figured what the heck. It will all tie in. Plus we have a pretty substantial door frame leading into the kitchen, and I think it will help to highlight the entryway. Well, that’s my story anyway. I’m sticking to it. And crossing my fingers. If you’ve got a better idea, lay it on me. Floor pun intended.

PS- If you edit this post about 30 times, the word “floor” starts to look really, really, weird. Seriously, read this 30 times. See what I mean?

Why We Chose an Ikea Kitchen

So, let me tell you a little something about my neighbor.  She’s an architect.  A Hah-Vahd educated architect. And her house is AH. MA. ZING. Anyway, beyond being a great architect,  Lauren has been a great sounding board through this whole process. Though she probably rues the day when that bathroom flooded. Poor woman. Too much wine has been poured over this damn kitchen. I am sure at this point, she wishes for something a little stronger.

Anyway, because I’m a full on stalker, I invited myself over to Lauren’s house early and often while we waited out painters and other contractors when we first moved. When I first saw her great room and kitchen, I was floored. Totally something out of a magazine. I went through it all: Oh, I love your carrara marble. Oh, I love these handscraped wood floors!  I love the laquered cabinets! So modern and clean!  I felt like she and I would get along just fine. Especially when I noticed her fully stocked wine fridges. Yes, multiple. As I ogled and molested every surface available, imagine my surprise when she informed me her cabinets were Ikea. SOUL SISTER. I just about died on the spot.

So in the back of my mind, I always had an inkling we would go with Ikea cabinets during this renovation. However, due to our low ceilings and crazy layout issues, and since insurance covered replacing our custom cabinetry, we headed in that direction.

Until I realized that in this case, custom is not better. It’s just expensive as _____.

I wanted drawers, not cabinets. Open shelving. Frameless fronts. Pull outs. Soft-close drawers. Shelf dividers. A warranty. I wanted a custom look with my own ideas incorporated. Silly me.

What I got was a replacement for a 25 year old kitchen. Which means no drawers, but cabinets. And more cabinets. And incorrect placement of cabinets. The most basic framed door and drawer fronts available. 6 week lead times. And additional costs over and above our estimate. Crazy pants.

I do not recommend renovating a kitchen with two small kids. Moreover, I do not recommend extending that timeline to get “custom” cabinetry that doesn’t meet your needs or wants.

So back to Ikea we go.

Equipped with my measurements gleaned from my kitchen designer’s faulty plan, I simply plugged them into Ikea’s planning tool and started moving around cabinets and shelves until I got the plan I wanted. And even when I had that, I still played around. I had about 12 saved floor plans. Any configuration I could think of, I tried. So much fun. So much timesuck. Ikea kitchen planner surpassed Pinterest and Houzz as the biggest timewaster of my life.

I was beyond thrilled that when I tallied up my loot, which included new appliances, I had saved us the equivalent of compact car. Beyond that, Ikea is running their kitchen sale until August 25th, so 20% off for meeeee! Cha ching.

True to my nature, I did a ton of research before and during the decision making process, right up until I hauled myself to Ikea and placed the order (which, even with my advanced planning, took 2 hours! Don’t underestimate the allure of an Ikea kitchen.)  In addition to the advice I received from Lauren and the staff at Ikea, who, and I can’t say this enough, were extremely knowledgeable and helpful and never once rolled their eyes at me (that I could see),  I found great advice from people who own Ikea kitchens in forums like GardenWeb and Ikeafans. Seriously, those people know their kitchens. Definitely consult those if you are looking for information.

Along the way, one of the things I learned was Ikea uses Blum drawer slides that offer the soft close feature, which are superior hardware compared to other RTA (ready to assemble) cabinets and usually an upgrade on most custom designed kitchens.  All those extras I wanted? Not a problem. Certainly Ikea is not charging me $300 for a shelf. Yes. A shelf.

I also found out that there are companies out there who make custom doors for Ikea cabinet frames, so if you aren’t all that keen on Ikea’s options, you can order from sources like Cabinetnow or Semihandmade Doors for fronts of your choice.  You can easily customize your cabinetry, or “hack” it, and there are lots of tutorials for basically any modification you might want to do (though this voids the warranty on the specific piece.) Ikea offers a 25 year warranty, too, though, as Lauren pointed out, “Who even likes their kitchen after 10 years?” (God, she just gets me.) Which brings me to my next point: Kase also likes the fact that the costs are low enough that when I decide I hate the fronts I chose in five years because they are “dated”, I can pick up new fronts for a fraction of the cost and instant facelift!

Though you can easily DIY the whole shabang like Lauren and her husband, Kase and I know our limits. We lack time and attention to detail.  And tools. Like a level. I hear that’s helpful. We are not architects or handy/ uber man/ engineers.  Also? You can hire people to do it, and we like to keep the economy robust (uh-huh.)  I did some quick Google research and also consulted Ikeafans.com and found a couple of companies who specialize in Ikea kitchen installations in our area.  We are happy with our decision as we need some custom elements that we just don’t have the skills for. All said and done, the quote for installation lined up to what our cabinets and appliances came out too, so it’s definitely an area you can save money in, if you have the time to DIY.

Anyway, if it’s good enough for Sarah Richardson, it’s definitely good enough for me. 🙂 I got a ton of design ideas from watching old episodes of “Sarah’s House” and “Sarah 101”- ideas like flanking your  cooktop with undercounter wall ovens, to achieve that open, airy look. Sarah often uses Ikea cabinetry and decor, mixing it with high end finishes to make it custom. And yes, I am on a first name basis with her. In my head, we are besties who travel to Ikea every weekend with an unlimited budget and no children.

Ikea for the win.

Wanna see my new kitchen?

As he cleaned out the garage yesterday, Kase asked me, “Is today like your Christmas?”

And I answered, “HELL YEAH!”

Because….

It’s here!

My new kitchen is here!

Oh. Wait.

Huh.

Hmmmm……..

Yup, that’s 115 boxes of flat packed goodness. No, really. That’s not a joke. There’s two ovens in there somewhere, and a dishwasher. They aren’t flat packed, but if Ikea could, I’m sure they would flat pack their appliances as well.   It took the delivery men 30 minutes to unload the truck. They started off by asking me, “You got 115 boxes?” Like I would know. Oh, right. I have the kitchen manifest, but seriously? I have no clue. I figure we should be able to MacGuyver some sort of functional kitchen out of all that MDF. Right?

One Year Later….

It was one year ago this week that Kase and I broke away from our vacation in Maine, and headed down to Massachusetts for our home inspection.  Hard to believe, one year later, we’re here, in the midst of a kitchen renovation, and still coming up with crazy ideas about what we could do to this house one day.

A year ago, we were on pins and needles as we followed around the home inspector, repeatedly asking him, “is that a problem? What does that mean?” and our personal favorite, “Okay, if we were your kids, would you let us buy this house?” When he told us that our house, built in 1820, was in better shape structurally than many new builds he inspected, we breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, he hedged that by telling us that we’d be working on this house for the life of our loan, but hey, it was a good house.

When we wrote our offer, we had a whole list of things that would need to get done.  This kitchen disaster was most certainly not on that list. In fact, most of the stuff we’ve done this past year was not anywhere near that list. That’s homeownership for you. You really have no idea until you’re in it.

So for my own sake, I wanted to list all the home improvement projects we’ve taken on this year, because, well, it ain’t too shabby. Nor is it cheap:

1. Removed wood burning stove from family room fireplace.

2. Reglazed tubs.

3. Replaced green carpet in master bedroom. Replaced runner on front stairs.

3. Painted entire interior.

4. Removed rotted tree in front of yard, along with scrub pines blocking side patio.

5. Rebuilt stacked stone wall in side yard.

6. Bought snowblower. Got money’s worth during blizzard of 2013.

7. Bought riding mower. Got money’s worth during Summer 2013.

8. Seeded large holes left by tree removal previous Fall.

9. Removed small pine trees randomly planted at edge of front lawn.

10. Seeded remainder of lawn.

11. Dug out and planted (tiny!!!) hedgerow of boxwoods and (tinier!) hydrangea in front of house.

12. Installed white fence along driveway.

13. Enclosed entire yard with green wire fencing to keep the dog and kids in.

14. Installed new liner for pool. Filled pool with a truck full of water. Bought “Bebot” – robotic pool cleaner. Worked on pool. Enjoyed pool.

15. Installed new garage door to replace old and possibly original (but broken) carriage doors.

16. Started Kitchen and Butler’s Pantry Renovation. Bathroom renovation in progress.

17. Removed “Vegetable Garden” smack dab in the middle of the backyard. I’ve got a black thumb and it just made me feel badly about myself. Will plan to re-seed later in summer.

18. Cleared out scary space under barn- lots of old wood, an old dishwasher, and lots of old junk. This is the only item that was on our list back in August ’13. We had asked the owner to take care of it. Oh well.

19. Installed central A/C. AND THANK GOD.

20. Installed ADT alarm system.

We’ve still got a ways to go. That front shutter fell off the house last fall. It just splintered into a million pieces. So we’ve got to replace that at some point. We’ve got big ideas to re-clapboard the front of the house and screen in the side patio space. We have so many plans for the long term, it’s fun and kind of depressing to think about. But for the first year? I think we’ve accomplished a lot.

We do love this house. And we are so happy that a spur of the moment glance online, a Friday evening drive 20 miles west, and a quick Saturday viewing of a house led us here. It just goes to show: Some of our most impulsive decisions turn out for the best.

We’ve Got Drywall, Y’all!

I never understood when people going through a renovation would complain about “the dust- all that dust!” Well, I believe we’ve officially entered that stage of the renovation, because…..THE DUST! ALL THAT DUST!

On Saturday, I finally got a spurt of energy (okay, let’s call it dog hair induced motivation) to clean the house. Part of me has given into Kase’s theory on cleaning- it’s just gonna get dirty again, so why bother? But it had gotten too bad for my OCD, so even though our entire kitchen is in boxes taking up our dining room, I decided to clean the house. Oh, I Swiffered swept. Then I wet Swiffered. Then I Swiffer dusted. Then I actually vaccuumed. I’m telling ya. I was on a roll.

And not even 20 minutes later, I wondered what was wrong with my eyesight because everything looked…..gray.

Genius over here decided to clean while drywall was being installed. Doh.

The good news is that we’ve got drywall, y’all! The kitchen is starting to resemble a real room again. And even with all those wires and open plugs, it’s not nearly as scary to walk Colin through the room to the deck. Still, he has mastered jumping from the family room to the area rug we placed down on the subfloor.  We’re adjusting!

This wall was framed out so that we can recess our fridge. That’s 6 inches of pure counter depth fridge goodness.

You can still see remnants of our painter’s tape outline of the cabinets we’ll be installing. We decided that for storage purposes we can’t completely get rid of the right side wall cabinets, but we are doing away with uppers almost completely in the kitchen. Hopefully it will allow the room to retain that open feeling we currently have…..without any cabinets. Or floors. Or paint.

Next up, FLOORS!!!! How decadent.