Time to Recline

Our living room has a lot of character. After being overwhelmed by all the wood at first, we have grown to like the wood paneling, wood floors, and even the wood built-in shelves for the entertainment center. Hours of work + an incredible wife who decorates = another finished room!

Before




The big project in this room was all the painting. We painted the previously wallpapered walls and what seemed like miles of trim. Although it took a lot of time, we are pretty happy with the outcome.

Middle

The folding chairs in this picture served as our only furniture the first two weeks. A lot of meals were eaten on those chairs!


This gives you an image of the color of the previous trim (left) with the newly painted white trim (right).

After




As you can see, we scored the previous owner's TV! She claimed that 4 guys who could all bench press over 200 lbs couldn't get it out of the house! She asked us if we were interested in a TV, and I said no, because I didn't want to pay for one! I told her if she could get it, that she was welcome to it. It's still sitting in our living room 3 months later, so I'm assuming its ours! It beautifully broadcasts our 4 good digital channels that we pick up from the 'bunny ears' in HIGH DEFINITION. I suppose we will figure out how to get it out of the house when TVs become obsolete....

Where you could sleep, and count your sheep.

The spare bedroom is one of the rooms that we have actually done very little to. With all the painting we have done, we decided to leave the spare room the way it was. Here are a few of the things we did to Millerfy it:

-Took down the 'cute as a bug' decor. (Another way of de-4-year-olding the house)
-Touch-up painted the walls
-Put up new, white blinds
-Hung curtains that we had in our previous house
-Painted closet
-Built closet storage units
-Fill it with furniture from Kristi's room growing up

Other than the previously mentioned items, can you tell what else is different between the first 2 photos?

Before


After




The closet was a relatively small, but pretty rewarding project for me. After getting some ideas, I built the clothes rack (with the help of Kurt) for my hanging clothes out of 2X4s, a 1X10, and a 3/4 inch rod . Then I built the closet maid shelves for my other clothes out of the previous owners metal racks, plus one I purchased. Horray for not having clothes in luggage!

Ok, so I know I said it was relatively small, but to me it was actually a pretty big project. It took days of work to spackle, paint, build, respackle, build and repaint. So when you think a project will just take you a day, YOU ARE PROBABLY WRONG!

Closet Before


Closet After


So now when you visit, you have a place to stay! Even couples can stay in this room, since the bed is a day bed (which I had never heard of).

So schedule a visit!

Rethink the Pink

The Loft (3rd Bedroom)

This room, as you can see, required a LOT of painting (and sticker removal). After days of priming, painting walls, painting trim, and a new carpet floor, our loft was one of the first rooms completed! We turned half of it into our office and the other half into a hang out room. We also put all of our international decor and collectibles up there. And we love the built-in bookshelves! Can you believe we didn't keep it the way it was when we moved in?

STAIRS

Before

During

After


SIDE #1

Before

During

After


SIDE #2

Before

During

After


The loft is definitely one of our favorite rooms in the house. We're looking forward to hanging out up there this winter, as it is waaaay too hot right now.

House Updates Have Begun- Two Rooms Done!

Here are the promised house updates! We're still working on several rooms, but we have felt a sense of accomplishment this past week as we can now count the remaining big projects on one hand. We'll begin with the rooms that took the least amount of work and have changed the least. Mostly because they're the only rooms that are actually finished...

Bathroom: This was the room that we had absolutely no recollection of what it looked like until we moved in. I wasn't sure what I thought about the tile at first, but it has grown on me. It reminds me of Seville every time I walk in (minus the bidet). All we had to do for the bathroom was buy a shower curtain, shower hooks, and a shower rug, and we were set to go!
Before:

After:


Laundry Room: This is technically a little cubby in our basement, but I refer to it as the laundry room. We've tried making it feel homey by adding the carpet that we removed from upstairs. It was quite a project to get our new washer and dryer down the stairs. When the Sears men came to deliver them, they wouldn't fit down the stairs. They left with our washer and dryer and told us we needed to go to Sears and find a washer and dryer that were one inch smaller. We went to Sears, but they only had one washer and two dryers that were the right size. However none of them were the same brand, they were not high efficiency or front loaders, and they were more expensive than the ones we already had! (We got a great Memorial Day sale on ours.) So we decided to tear off the trim going down our basement stairs and saw off an overhanging wall, and called Sears to bring back our washer and dryer! It was a VERY close call, but they made it down the stairs. At one point, the man said it was stuck and wasn't going to fit, but with a little maneuvering, they made it down. Whew!
Before:

After:


More to come soon!

Howdy from AK Rowdy

We're back! After a month and a half without internet, we are finally connected to the Cyber World again. A lot has happened since our last blog update. We have been working on lots of house projects since we moved in, and are still in the process. Our house is starting to feel like home and we are settling into Akron (AK Rowdy). Josh has begun working as the youth director at Goss and is really enjoying it. Also, I accepted a teaching position last week at CVCA (Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy), a private Christian college-prep school about 25 minutes from our house. I will be teaching 8th and 9th grade English, and I am really excited. However, I am not excited that I start working August 10 so my summer is coming to an end.

Josh and I also celebrated our second anniversary this week! Josh surprised me with a "Welcome to Akron" scavenger hunt and took me to some popular Akron sites.

We began the day with Toy Story 3 in 3-D. (Okay, maybe this isn't a popular Akron site, but we had been wanting to see it.)


Next we headed to the gorge for some hiking, after stopping for a shake at Swenson's Drive-in (our favorite Akron restaurant).

After our hike, we had dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse. I asked if we could sit in the trolley, and we had it all to ourselves! Then we went to see an Akron Aeros game. Josh was excited because Cabrera and Choo (Cleveland Indians players) were playing with the Aeros this week while they were injured. And we had dessert at the game, Dip n Dots for me and a $1 hot dog for Josh.


After the game, we came home and watched our wedding DVDs. It was a great date day to celebrate two wonderful years together.

Stay tuned for house updates!