Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Ah, we're basking in the sweet glow of freshly painted and completely custom shelves (with integrated lighting and built in wine glass storage). Painting seems like such a simple task, but it is so gratifying when it marks one of the final steps of a project. With this step, our attempt to bring a multi-purpose wine bar and extra storage area to our kitchen is nearly complete!
Over the weekend we finished the overall sanding of the shelves and a applied a full coat of primer and paint. I know this sounds like it was probably a quick and easy completion to the project, but in reality, it was far from it.
Before we could move step further to officially marking this project off of our quick kitchen renovation list, we needed to hang them in their final locations.
The first step of hanging was actually not hard at all, as I decided to use a cleat mounted to the wall that the shelves would rest on and be screwed to. This allowed me to ensure a perfectly level and evenly spaced installation without having to wrestle with the shelves at the same time.
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From time to time Wendy and I are reminded of precisely why we love living in Alexandria, Virginia. Though we derive great pleasure from the easy walks to numerous restaurants and shopping, the various events around town, and the amazing open houses we go on often and describe to you, sometimes we get to do something that lets us realize just how fortunate we are to live in an area with so much to offer. This past weekend we were able to enjoy an eclectic and wonderful event on the main street of Old Town’s neighboring town of Del Ray that really brought that point home.
You may remember our recent Open Housing post about the little blue farm house in Del Ray. In addition to quaint houses, good restaurants, and great neighborhood feel, Del Ray also hosts their annual “Art on the Avenue” event where artisans, craftsman, local businesses, musicians, and many other establishments set up tents lining Mt. Vernon Avenue along roughly 10 blocks. There the various vendors showcase their talents and sell the fruits of their labor.
Wendy, Lulu, and I took advantage of the beautiful day and very warm weather to walk over to Del Ray to do a little shopping and have a little fun. Only about a mile and a half from our house, we were greeted at the entrance to the event by this very interesting van.
Part sculpture/work of art, part form of transportation, this rolling piece of art is indicative of the eclectic mix of people and businesses that make up the overall event.
Let me tell you one thing right away. The place was packed with people. It's really hard to describe, and a photo simply can't do justice to how well attended the event is, but the majority of the walk was slow and steady at best.
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Complain. Bitch. Moan. Whine. Nag. Remind. Scream. Yell. Pester. Beg. Encourage. It only took five years of all of this to get my dear husband motivated to repair the large, unsightly crack adjacent to our skylight in the upstairs hallway.
Do you see it there? Staring at you from the lower portion of the skylight? You might remember said crack from our list of 2012 new year resolutions. This crack has been a sore subject in our home since the day of our home inspection. At that time, we pointed out the crack to our home inspector who responded that the water marks and subsequent cracks near the skylight were "nothing to be concerned about." Boy, were we young and naive. We quickly learned during our major snow melt that we should have listened to our gut instinct and known it was something to be concerned about. With ample evidence supporting a leaky skylight, our first step was to have it replaced.
For a little while we thought the leak was resolved. We went ahead with the assumption that replacing the skylight had corrected the leak, and back in 2004 we tackled our upstairs hallway renovation. During this project, we painstakingly re-plastered the walls and ceiling in this space to smooth out the bumpy, cracked, and sad surfaces, as well as fix the damage from the skylight leak.
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In my post about our quick and easy kitchen shelf build, I outlined the relatively straight forward methods we employed to build the top two shelves for the space above the wine bar. The added shelving in the kitchen will add some much needed additional storage, but it will also serve as a means for filling an otherwise odd space in the kitchen.
Though our previous post outlined the upper two shelves and their relative simplicity, the third and lowest shelf in the set was a little bit different and more involved. We wanted it to look pretty much the same as the other two shelves, but we needed to add two functional elements to the design that complicated the build.
The first, and most important element is lighting. The lighting in our kitchen has always been seriously lacking. Beyond the center chandelier that puts off very little light, the only other lights in the room are the under cabinet puck lighting. This puck lighting does a great job of lighting the counter tops, but it does little for the right side of the room that we're now referring to as our "wine bar." (How pretentious is that?)
The third shelf is a unique opportunity to add some integrated lighting to make up for the fact we omitted any recessed lighting while we were taking care of our disastrous termite wall issue in 2004. (I honestly almost can't believe this is a photo of the same space.)
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Wednesday, October 3, 2012
I've been keeping quiet about something I'm not proud of. You might even say that I'm been trying to hide it. The truth is, I'm ashamed of the sad, pathetic state of the flowers in our front urns. It's a disgrace in fact. With limited opportunity for curb appeal, having no yard to speak of nor having a home that has vast architectural interest, making the most of what we have out front is of utmost importance.
Earlier this spring, we spruced up the front of our home by overhauling the small planted area surrounding our city tree, as well as taking special time and care to select, plant, and care for the new flowers in our cast iron urns. We were thrilled with the results, and once the flowers came into bloom, we had showstopping urns.
Despite our best efforts, the scorching summer temperatures took their toll on our poor flowers. They were teetering on the brink of death, and when returning home from our vacation earlier this month, we learned they had lost their battle. Although still lively in places, the vast majority of our flowers were dried, brown, and lifeless.
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