The Master Bedroom Continues . . .

Ok - so now that we've figured out how to put video on this thing, you're going to get the whole multi-step process we went through . . . next up: the walls are finished! At the time this video was made, I believe we had been sleeping on the couches downstairs for 2 nights in a row - now remember, these were not the comfy lovely couch we have now! These were the couches that we THOUGHT would be comfy enough to make do with while we were still moving things in . . . .yeah, that lasted for (the aforementioned) 2 nights - then we came up with a new solution, as you will see . . .

luv!
caitlin

A Mish-Mash

Hi all - we've got a couple of (we think) fun new pictures to share :)

Our new big-kid couch came in - yay!! FINALLY . . .1-2 weeks normal time = 5 weeks (plus several phone calls and the need for Jesse to use his stern 'teacher voice') in Dunk&Bright time - we may think twice before using this furniture store again . . . but we have to admit, we DO love the big, fluffy couch - plenty of room for the both of us to fall asleep in front of the tv like the wild and crazy pair that we are . . .(jesse has just informed me that sometimes we fall asleep in front of the fireplace as well)


While we're not prepared yet to deal with the weeds around the house OR do any formal landscaping (we can't wait!) we did want to get a LITTLE bit of greenness and yummyness around the house - container herbs are the solution! And yes, those ARE South Park pj shorts with Cartmen on them ;)


We had our first delivery as POD leaders for the CSA! Produce from Grindstone Farm in Pulaski, NY is delivered to several sites in the greater Syracuse area - Fellows is 1 of 3 University-area Point of Delivery sites where members who have bought a share in the farm can pick up their share of produce once a week from our garage! So on Tuesday we met most of the members belonging to our POD, including a very nice, friendly veteran of the CSA named Dianna - she met the truck at the house for us (since we were both scooting home around 3:30ish from work and school) and got us newbies settled in. The first delivery had asparagus, broccoli, collard greens, radishes, red lettuce, shallot greens, arugala, bordeaux spinach, mint, sage, mizuna, baby lettuce greens - all delish!! The asparagus we grilled up with a little salt, a little pepper, and some olive oil - holy crappers! They barely made it out of the pan they were so good!





And here is a black squirrel spread-eagle on our garage roof.






Lotsa love
Caitlin and Jesse

Master Bedroom: Appendix A: Clown Collar Colors

HaHA! We have finally figured out how to post videos to this blog!!! So, here is the infamous footage documenting our brief but very real doubts in regards to our color choices in the master bedroom. Without further ado (?), a peak into our process . . .

(***WARNING*** We do drop the "F-bomb" a few times, tho in our defense, we ARE directly quoting Big Lebowski, so don't blame us, blame "The Dude" . . .and "Walter" . . .we hope you can forgive us!)

Master Bedroom transformation...

It's still not finished, of course, but the master bedroom is at least livable. Of course, it was livable from the beginning, it was just really really ugly. There are these 11 panels on the walls with somewhat attractive trim around them. However, the paint used in the middle of the panels was a thickly textured popcorn paint. Really ugly. There is thick molding around all the doors, windows, and along the base of the walls. It took us some time to come up with the colors of the room; Cait was really the mastermind behind it.

When we started the wall preparation, we knew that we had to tackle the plaster cracks and the popcorn paint. Thank goodness we had Lukey Dukey around that week to guide us through our learning process. We originally planned on making a plaster of paris mix every hour. On one of the trips to Lowe's Luke brought back a 5 gallon container of joint compound that saved us hours of needless mixing.

And so began 4 days of wall preparation. We tried scraping the popcorn paint off the wall panels, but didn't want to further damage the plaster underneath, and realized it would probably take decades to finish. So we purchased a belt sander to flatten out the textured paint. I went around the room, one panel at a time, sanding the most thickly textured panels while Cait and Luke followed behind spackling each panel with the joint compound. We had to sand and spackle a second time to get each panel really flat. We also did this on all the other cracks around the room and the holes in the window molding. This was our first experience with wall preparation and I think its why we haven't tried tackling another room just yet...

Finally, we could get down to the fun stuff - actually painting! Before Luke went to join Ellie on their camping trip, he and Cait were able to prime the room with a grey primer - suggested to us by the Lowe's paint guy because we were going with a dark red for the main walls. We still had to do 3 coats to not be able to see through the red, but I'm sure it still made a difference. As Cait and I were doing the actually painting, we were having a hard time seeing the final product and kept questioning ourselves. "It's so dark!" we kept saying.

The day before Luke left, Friday, we tried figuring out how much time it would take to finish the room off. It was a relatively fast drying paint, so, we figured, that we could go back and forth with the kitchen and the bedroom every two hours, and be done with both rooms by the end of the day. We were so naive... Just the taping around the molding also took so much time. After the third coat of red, we were ready for the "spice". Cait told me it took her an hour and a half just to take the tape down! And then we had to put tape back up on the walls when we began the second color. At this point, it was already Monday or Tuesday, and we had been working through the weekend. As you all know, we are complete beginners at all of this, and advice and tips are always welcome.

We started the spice color with the panels; anything that could be rolled, we attacked. We bought smaller rollers for the smaller panels and the flat parts of the molding. Again, we were struck with doubt: with the blue tape, we were skeptical about the colors chosen. Cait compared it to a clown's collar. At least it was moving along fairly quickly. Until we had to do all the detailed sections of the molding with brushes. Working together it still took Cait and I 5 hours to finish the molding. I think when Luke and I were figuring out how long it would take we forgot the part about applying the paint. We were talking as if the paint would just apply itself, or as if it'd be up in 10 minutes like the ceiling paint. Not so much...

All this work was in the week leading up to our move, which happened on Saturday. So, we left the 3rd color, "Old Rose #6" (not pink...), which was going to be for the window seat, for another time. We really wanted to move into our room, because we had been sleeping on our couches in the living room for a few days, and Cait was done with that. So, we threw our mattress on the floor and called it a success!

We still have light sconces to put up, the doors have to be refinished (there is no handle on our main door), one of the windows has to be fixed, and the outlets need to changed, but its certainly better than when we started. All the experience accrued fixing the cracks, and applying the joint compound will serve us well when we start on the other rooms in the house. Next up is the tenant room in about 2 weeks. Lots of love, and can't wait to see you all soon!


Disregard (or make fun of) Cait's expression in that last picture - she had woken up about 2 minutes prior...