Merry Christmas!

I was AWESOME today, and got the Christmas lights up....I had to climb up on the roof to put nails up and everything.  It was scary, but Casey wasn't entirely interested in putting lights up at all, so I had to get it done to convince him it was necessary! 

The tree is also up and decorated, it fits perfectly in our big picture windows.  It's all cozy and homey now, and we just love it!

While I'm here, I'll post some photos of other updates.  The best being the beautiful new shower and bathtub/shower in the bathrooms.  Mind you, the bathrooms are NOT remodeled yet, but we do have 2 lovely new showers that make our lives much happier!

We also finished the dining room, with Casey's map wall (nothing else is allowed on the wall!) featuring his awesome pallet-wood frames.

Since the photos were taken, I added some crafty maps of California and Wisconsin, which I am particularly proud of. 

After the Christmas light mission today, I started attacking the overgrown plants in the front of the house...a photo (which without a "before" will not look impressive, but believe me, it is) of my hard work...

And finally, a photo of two ceramic creatures that I uncovered in the mess of dead foliage.  I've lovingly named them Joe and Darleen.  If we had known we'd uncover so many ceramic creatures, I'd have kept them and started a nice collection in the shed. ;)

That's all for tonight... we can't WAIT for the school break, so we can get some more work done!

LOVE, JESS

Belated Updates

September was an insane month for us...  It started with a trip to San Francisco to spend time with Tom & David Udesky.  We went to a Giants game with Peacock Acres kids and staff, and saw a local production of Beauty & the Beast.  On the 15th, we attended Eric & Amber's wedding and had a wonderful 4-day visit from Melani (the guest room was put to use!).  I bought a wedding dress!  Then we made another trip to the Bay Area for a Sugiyama family function, and wrapped up the month with madly trying to catch up on house-related projects...

First we did the laundry room.  Here is the Before & After:

Notice the lack of any dark brown paint, AND the fabulous new doggie door!

Then we worked on the living room...It's not complete yet, we have baseboards to put in, art to hang on the walls, chairs to re-upholster, and curtains to hem, but for the most part, it's done!  We painted, got a new entertainment center, chairs, and put in new lighting.  We also took out the slatted decorative wall thingy in the entryway.  So first up, photos of the demolition :)

It took a whole weekend and 3 coats of primer to make the orange go away, but once it was gone, it was a breath of fresh air....the place started to feel like it was really ours!

Hours and hours and gallons and gallons of primer later...surely an improvement!  We got to tear out the carpet when we finished painting, and that was simply awesome!!

And here is the (nearly) finished product:

Here are the "After" photos of our guest room (please excuse the mess!):

I don't think it's quite as yellow in real life as it looks in the photos.  I didn't take photos of Ethan's room, because it's grey and you can't actually see any dramatic improvement, except that there isn't filth on the walls...  I haven't gotten around to hanging his curtains yet either, so we'll wait on that one.  

Last for tonight are the photos of our bedroom...which was the first room to be complete.  The only thing I am missing a photo of is our closet with it's awesome curtains (instead of doors) because the kittens have decided to climb them...so they are out of order for the time being...

That's really it for improvements over the past 2 months...we've been so busy!  We're having our bathtub & shower redone, so photos of those improvements are forthcoming.  We are VERY excited about that!

October had proven to be a slightly less hectic month, although we did manage to see Sachi's homecoming football game (she marched in the band) and a few of her JV Volleyball games, and I ran the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon in San Francisco!  Casey has gotten busier with grad school, and my work never ends with 33 students this year.  The bathroom improvements are the last big changes until after the holidays, I think.  We might figure out some stuff for the yard, and get some more art on the walls, but aside from that, I think that our focus might be required for wedding-related business.

So with that...I'm off to bed!  I leave you with kittens!

LOVE, JESS

Let's Take a Look INSIDE...

Alright, here we go!

Here are some of the "before" photos of the inside...

Our Pumpkin-Orange living room...looks the same at the moment, minus the saloon doors and plants, plus our fabulous furniture :)  This looks like it will be our Labor Day weekend project...the carpet is yucky and smells like smoke, so we're eager to get it out of here.  Still working on a less offensive color choice, and figuring out carpet vs hardwood.

We're also going to get rid of the wooden slats that are in the entry, although there is a little monkey girl who might be extremely disappointed.

 

And then we have the kitchen and dining room, also unchanged thus far.  We spent forever putting new shelf paper in the cabinets and filling them with all our stuff...at least now we're getting to cook in our kitchen!

All three bedrooms are done - painted, which is a huge relief.  Ethan's room is grey, the spare room is yellow, and .  We got free paint at the Last Chance Merchantile, so we just went for it.

Here is the "before": 

 Ethan's Room ^

Spare Room ^

Our Bedroom ^

Look at all the awful smoke stains!!  We're so glad to have them covered.... I'll take photos of the new rooms soon.  They're filling up quickly, and we're getting all of our stuff sorted and out of the garage.  Speaking of all our stuff...here's a look at what our living room looked like when we hauled all our stuff in from the apartment...

We had so much help from my parents and Sachi and Ethan...even Asia pitched in.  We were covered in paint and dust, but we got so much done, and just before I had to go back to work. 

Ethan and Casey built an awesome fence to keep the dogs away from the kitties.  It's working quite well.  So to close out my post for today...kitties :)

More later ~ our internet is all hooked up, so I can actually keep up with this business.

LOVE, JESS

Project: Backyard Demolition, part 1

Here's the front side yard, about 1/2way through...there was originally a smallish tree against the wall that blocked all view to the area.  And then below, is a photo of the mostly completed, cleared yard...

This is the front of the house after we got rid of the big ugly bushes in front of the chimney.  We still need to get rid of the ivy, but maybe the fumigants will help us kill it!

Then we had to deal with the HUGE bouganvilla that took over the backyard along with a jasmine plant.  It was at least 10 feet tall, covered at least 10 feet of the backyard wall, and stuck out about 10 feet into the yard.  Yes, a giant ball of foliage.  

Part of it was originally tethered to a big telephone pole, which we uncovered after cutting the plant trunks and watching in disappointment as it did not topple over like we hoped. 

And now look at how the boys dealt with that one!

Finally, on Saturday night, we got it all down and rolled the last piece of it over so we could cut it into a few pieces.  The rest was already lying out on the front lawn...

So then today, Sunday, our task was to haul all the brush away.  So we borrowed Ernie's truck and trailer and only walked away with minor wounds (bouganvilla has NASTY thorns!!)...

We were welcomed this morning by a pile of kitties, and Penny, hissing away at me.  The pile retreated into their hideout, except for Sheldon, who kept sleeping. :)

Casey and I hauled all the brush (from the front yard, side yard, and the 2 big halves of the rolled bush that we left in the back) into the truck and trailer and miraculously made it all disappear in 2 loads to the Gonzales dump.  Hooray!

Tomorrow...photos of our cleared yard and hopefully I'll get some interior painting in!

LOVE, JESS