Goodbye Christmas!

It's January 16th and our gorgeous Christmas tree is coming down today. 



But - thanks to that good ole' self timer button, we did manage to finally get a picture in front of the tree last night. 


In completely unrelated news, we've been busy here at the Rothenberger casa. I'm a smidge behind with this whole picture-taking and blog-writing thing, but you should be getting some updates soon! Want a hint?


It's a wooderful sight. 


Cheese much? Yes ma'm.


Have a great Monday everyone!

Stocking Splendor

Thank you for all of your get well wishes. I enjoyed reading what everyone has been working on while I've been laying around on my growing rear. 


But I'm back and I've got another Christmas decor update for you! 


My dear mother gave us an early Christmas present . . . our holiday stockings! My very talented Aunt Robin made these stockings for us. Robin runs an etsy shop that I highly encourage you to check out here. A couple items I'm really digging in her shop lately are this festive Christmas banner, these too-cute-for-school coasters, and this adorable tea towel. 


Oh and at the end of our dresser reveal post you can catch a glimpse of the quilt she made us for a wedding present. Gorgeous I tell ya!


Okay, back to the stockings. . . 

I enjoy decorating with traditional reds and greens, so these fit perfectly with the rest of our decor. I hung some extra greens from our tree with some Christmas balls to even out the banister.

And here's the whole shebang in one shot.

Our entryway table also got a little Christmas cheer.

Pardon the horn-tooting here, but my talented husband sketched that wise men picture. I wish I had an ounce of his talent.

And here's the whole living room. The table was moved by the window to make room for the tree. The wood stove is still perched in the corner awaiting it's next move (not sure what that is yet though - but stay tuned!).

Psst: do you notice that a tv has now made its way in to our living room? We don't have cable or any real function for it yet - but we're no longer tv-less. Not sure if this 16 incher can be considered improvement though.

So tell me . . what do you think? Do you like decorating with traditional reds and greens, or do you take a more taste-the-rainbow approach? Are you surrounded by an incredibly talented family and wondering what happened to your creative genes too? Join the club :)

Light My Fire

I'm pretty sure the "aging University of Miami fan" guess was totally worth leaving you all hanging yesterday. Anyway, we made a purchase. A big one. But first let me give you a little backstory so you don't think we're completely crazy . . . 


When we were house searching our wants/needs list included things such as:
- 3+ bedrooms
- 1+ bathroom
- Oil or natural gas heat
- Basement
- Large, spacious kitchen
- Backyard
- Garage
- Fireplace
- Hardwood Floors


. . . You get the idea. Well, we were able to get a lot of things on our list (4 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, oil heat, basement & hardwood floors) - but a few things were just not a part of the brick beauty that we fell in love with.

So we're going to add something. A wood burning stove!

This is an old Vermont Castings Stove. We saw it on Craigslist and decided to drive out to the boonies to check it out. We fell in love immediately, so we handed over $250 and took this baby home.


Here's where the trouble begins . . . actually installing the stove. Luckily my dad is a mason so he can help us with the whole process, because let me assure you it is daunting. 


A few things we need to do are:
- Work with our township inspector and homeowner's insurance agent to make sure everything is to code
- Install a slate base for the stove to sit on (it will be raised several inches off the ground) - this is because wood floors are combustible surfaces
- Bore a hole through the wall to attach stove pipe and carry it outside
- Decide whether we are going to use temporary pipe and then build a permanent brick chimney or use double-wall insulated pipe and box it in outside.


There's a lot to think about and a lot of decisions to make. We're still not even certain that installing the stove is a possibility. We may end up having to resell it if the installation process is too costly. We need to do some more research and planning. But, we're super excited about the possibility!


If all goes as we'd like, the stove will end up in the corner of our living room with a raised slate base. And yes, I will sit on the couch and lovingly adore it all the days of my life.

Until we figure out exactly what we're doing with this whole wood stove installation nonsense, there will be no loveseat purchasing. That's why among being beautiful and hot (get it?), this bad boy is also a game changer.


We're seriously crossing our fingers that we can get this installed and not spend a small fortune in the process. And we're very excited to see wood chopping and hauling in our future!

I'd love to hear your thoughts - do you think we're crazy? Have you ever installed a wood stove? Any tips or advice?

Game Changers

Last time I talked about our hunt for the perfect loveseat, Justin and I were still a little undecided on the Bella and wanted to try on a few more sofas for comparison. Since then we have visited Raymour & Flannigan, American Signature Furniture, Pottery Barn Outlet, Thomasville, and LazBoy again. We only saw one loveseat that we kinda liked . . . 

But it didn't come in brown, so it was nixed faster than the button flew off my pants on turkey day.


This one chaise was super comfortable, but it was equally ugly. So we smiled and sighed and moved along.

After feeling too much like Goldilocks, we battled our indecisive selves and decided to get the Bella loveseat from LazBoy. 


But the universe had another plan. We ended up making a big purchase that is going to change the layout of our living room and require some serious renovation work. What is it you ask? Here are 2 hints:
- It is old
- It loves hurricanes


192 blogger points to the person that guesses correctly!! Oh and make sure you check back tomorrow to find out what it is and how we plan on incorporating it into our home.


Has any one else had any game changers lately? 

The Hunt

I mentioned way back in our living room reveal post that our room was only about 60% done. Our to-do list looked like this:

     - Hang art/pictures on walls

     - Get a rug for the front door   completed!

     - Get a loveseat 

     - Paint trimwork

     - Find/make throw pillows   completed!

Well we've been working on that third item. Finding a loveseat. Who would have thought it'd be so hard? 


We wanted a loveseat that complimented the couch we already had. We were looking for:
- Higher back
- Wooden legs
- Slightly rolled arm


After an exhaustive online search, we decided to visit Wolf & Interiors. Both of these are fairly local stores that we've heard fantastic things about. So we had high expectations. These high expectations were immediately shot down by the store's equally high prices.


Then we decided to visit La-z-boy Furniture.

The one loveseat that we really liked was the Bella. 

We want to get it in a fabric that coordinates with the couch we already have. . . so we narrowed it down to these 2 choices.

We mapped out how much space the couch would take up. If you notice the frog tape - that's the length of the couch

You'll have to excuse the shoes / bags / artwork - just keeping it real people :)

After some serious photoshop efforts by Justin, we chose the couch in the "Mollasses" color. We went this past Tuesday to order it but had a change of heart in the store. We want to look at a few more places before we finally decide if it's the one for us. Try on a few more couches.

Yeah, we're those indecisive people.

This weekend we're planning on visiting Raymour & Flannigan and American Signature Furniture. Hopefully by Monday we'll have it all together!

Any recommendations? What do you think of the Bella - is she our beauty? Did your couch search take months too? 

Stranger Danger

Justin & I both grew up on farms that sat back from the main road. So having random strangers stop by our house is a new thing for us . . . and each time the doorbell rings I jump up a little bit. I'm just not used to all these stranger visits. And the worst part is that I can never see who is behind our door. Every time I open the door it's a constant guessing game - is this person holding a weapon or not? 

Needless to say, we needed a peep hole. We bought the Gate House 200 degree Wide Angle Door Viewer in Oil Rubbed Bronze from Lowes for $4.98. The installation was really simple too - I broke it down in to 6 easy steps (the last two steps are optional, but I'd recommend doing them just for fun!)

Step 1: Measure the door to figure out where you want the peep hole to go.

Step 2: Use a 1/4 inch drill bit to make a starter hole.

Step 3: Create the hole using the required drill bit.

* The packaging on the door viewer will tell you what size bit to use - we used a 9/16th drill bit.

Step 4: Slide the front of the door viewer onto the outside of the door & the back of the door viewer onto the inside of the door.

Step 5: Look through the peep hole to make sure it works.

Step 6: Ask your husband to stand on the other side of the door and pretend to be a creeper.

And you're done! It's seriously the best $4.98 we spent last week :) Is anyone else making safety-conscious improvements? What's the best $5 you spent recently?

Living Room Rebuild, Part 5/Reveal

Disclaimer: When I said yesterday that today I'd be doing the living room reveal, I should have said that I would be revealing our living room which happens to be only about 68% complete. The hardest parts (ceiling, painting, fixtures) are finished, but we still have a lot left to do in terms of decor. Oh yeah and trim work. But, just like how you need to meet people where they're at. . . you need to meet our living room where it's at. Even if it's only at a D+ in terms of completion.

First, let's remember where it came from. Water-stained popcorn ceiling, tacky brass fixtures, and poopy brown walls.

Sorry the photo is grainy, it's a listing photo from our realtor

And now it looks like this. . . 

You can't see all the recessed lights in this picture, but we have 2 rows with 3 lights each. And they're on a separate switch so you can choose to have only one row on if desired. Ya know, mood lighting :)

The front side of the room.

The right side of the room. This side is very bare because we still haven't found the perfect loveseat yet. Remember, D+ - the room is still coming along.

This picture is the most zoomed out I could get.

This is the view as soon as you walk in our front door.

This is a close-up of our white display cabinet. I got this for free off Craigslist! We are a no-tv family. We may or may not get one in the future, but for now it just gives us more time to paint and conquer house projects :)

A few close-ups of our fall decorations.

*My amazingly-talented husband painted that bird. Isn't she pretty?

Our guard cat. Seriously, check out her smile.

And lastly, the ceiling fixtures I attacked with a can of spray paint. I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover, color: Flat Black. It took 3 thin and even coats to achieve the black beauty look.

So there it is, our living room after the ceiling room demo but still before the arrival of decor/loveseat.

Here is the list of what we'd still like to do in that room:

• Hang art/pictures on walls 
• Get a rug for the front door
• Get a loveseat
• Paint trimwork
• Find/make throw pillows (I can't seem to find ones I like anywhere, so I may end up having to make some)

Okay, if anyone is still here after my ridiculously long post - what do you think? Do you know of any places to find great textured off-white throw pillows? What are your weekend projects? 

**crickets**

 Alright alright, I'm done.

Living Room Rebuild, Part 4

Remove old plaster ceiling
Install recessed lighting
Stop creaking in shower
Fix ceiling joists
Drywall
Tape, mud & sand
SHOWER x 8


Next up? Painting!


We painted the ceiling first. Since there was new drywall up, we had to prime it. 

Photo from Lowes.com

We used 1-2-3 Primer for All Surfaces. It took just 
about the entire gallon to cover the ceiling. Drywall is super absorbent that's why you want to make sure you prime it - because primer is cheaper than paint!!

When we first started, Justin was cutting in around the edges like usual... using our trusty Wooster brush. But, then I remembered that our friend Steve had given us his old Shur-line edger. Now, I have to be honest, at first we were skeptical.


Like how does Santa get to all those houses in one night skeptical.


But - the little thing is a gem! A true diamond!

Photo from Lowes.com

It really does make cutting in so much easier! A few tips though: you'll want to dab the edger off on the paint tray so you get all the excess paint off - otherwise it will come out gloppy. You'll also want to keep steady and even pressure when you're going along the walls.

Check out the edger in action!

While Justin was going around and painting the edges, I was rolling the ceiling. And even though we don't have any pictures to prove it - you've just gotta believe. It's like faith :) 

Once the ceiling was primed and painted (we used Valspar Interior Eggshell in Ultra White by the way), we moved on to the walls. That poopy brown accent wall needed to go.

 

We taped all the possible paint colors up on the wall and let them gel for a while. We needed to see how the colors interacted with the room - make sure they got along. Eventually we decided to go with Heavy Cream for the main walls and Warm Buff for the accent walls. For the main walls we used Olympic Paint & Primer In One Interior Eggshell Enamel in Heavy Cream. And for the accent wall we used our trusty Valspar Interior Eggshell in Warm Buff.

We continued the same process of Justin edging and me rolling.

Again, it's called faith people. Once the main walls were finished, it was time to do away with the poop.

And now . . . 

At first we were worried that the color was too light. It definitely looked darker in the paint swatch. But after living in the room for several weeks we can honestly say that it's pure love. The lighter color really helps brighten the room and bring out the nice wood floors.

Anyone else do any painting lately? Did the color turn out like the swatch or did you have any pleasant surprises? Make sure you come back tomorrow for the final living room reveal (and then you can see what I did with those brassy fixtures)!

Living Room Rebuild, Part 3

After the lighting was installed and the ceiling was still wide open, there were 2 very important issues we needed to solve.
1A. The joists in the ceiling were not level
2A. The upstair's bathroom shower creaked 


Here's how we fixed these two issues.  . .
1B: Before we ripped out the old plaster ceiling there was actually a spot where you could see a slight sag. So before we put the new ceiling back up we knew the joists needed to be fixed. No sense in putting a new coat of paint on an old broken car, right? 


Well, like most things, Justin was the go-to man for this project. But I'll try to explain how he corrected these issues the best I can from my limited understanding of the whole process. Some of the joists were thinner from top to bottom, so Justin added an extra board to thicken the whole joist up. And for the joists that were sagging down too far, he had to shave some of the extra wood off.
* I just made the whole process sound really easy, but it did take some preparation before Justin knew exactly how to correct the problem.


2B: In order to solve the creaking shower, we used Hilti Foam Sealant from Home Depot.

This photo is from the Home Depot website.

This was one of those few times when the whole trial-and-error approach actually worked for us. We knew that the shower was creaking because there were pockets of air under the floorboards, so we thought if we could fill the pockets in then the creaking might actually stop. Well, lo and behold, it actually did! It was surprisingly fairly simple and the steps were as follows:
A. Drive to Home Depot and pick up Hilti Foam Sealant
B. Justin aims can up in to the floorboards and sprays generously
C. Regan runs upstairs to the shower and walks around to see if it creaks
D. Small creaks show themselves 
E. Justin sprays some more foam
                                                                                                             F. Regan walks around in the shower again                                                                                                   and - - VICTORY!!


*Random note: Yes, I did just type in third-person. Don't judge.


Now that our ceiling was straight as a board and our shower was creak-less, we were ready to drywall. Our friend Jon and his cousin Aaron came over to help us put the drywall up. It took a few hours and basically consisted of 2 boys holding the drywall up while the other nailed it into place. I busied myself making lunch for the workers and taking pictures.

Measuring what size to cut the sheet of drywall

The whole process of actually getting the drywall up didn't take too long. The three guys knocked it out in a couple hours. But then came the mudding and sanding. I still have tremors about this part. For those of you that have never done this before let me warn you, the drywall dust gets everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. We lived and breathed drywall dust for several days. Ick. I didn't take too many pictures because I didn't want the little dust particles to destroy my camera.

Jon showing Justin how to tape and mud

Justin taping and mudding

Several days later, once the ceiling was taped and mudded and sanded, we were left with this. Since we were ready to paint now - it was off to Lowes we went!

So has anyone else felt the horrors of drywall dust? How many showers did it take you to get it all out of your hair?