Living for the weekend

It's official, I live for my weekends. I love hanging with my Sugar Bear.

This weekend we swam, drank, settled into the new house and ate sweet potatoes for the first time. This eating thing is messy business, but she loves it.

Official First House Tour

So, I have shown you the front of the house and the bathrooms. Since we move in tomorrow, do you want to see the rest?

Well, here is my official house tour- with a little taste of what I hope to do to the house. The pictures with  furniture are from the original house tour-  these folks had a boat load of furniture in our little house:

The foyer- for some reason I actually really love our 1960s doors and yellowish glass. Picture this area with some awesome tile- or what about some wallpaper!?!?:

The main living area- the hallway goes to the bedrooms and the foyer is on the left:

The main living area sans furniture looking into the second living area. This wall is a non-load bearing wall and it is coming out!! Also, I do have plans to paint the fireplace- white or dark gray, hummm:

The second area with more big furniture. Please note that the wall in this room has paneling, so by taking out the wall to connect it to the other room two major things have to happen- (1) the paneling has to come down and (2) we have to match the floors where the wall used to be:

This area has a pass through to the kitchen. I apologize- this is actually our mess after the first night of eating dinner at our house. The sliding glass door goes out to the covered patio and back yard. And yes, those blinds are coming down!!:

And here is the kitchen with the previous owners stuff. The foyer is behind me, and  you can get an idea of the eat in area to the right, plus the horrible laminate floors and boob light:

I have tortured myself over how to make this kitchen better with our Phase 1 reno budget. We are starting off by making the opening to the living room larger (which is to the left of the fridge), putting in hard wood floors and tackling the appliances.  

Why have I tortured myself? Because I need to replace the semi-functioning stove from the early 80s- of course it is a non-standard size of 25-inches. SOOO we either replace it with a super small stove from Europe or Japan or gut the whole kitchen so it can fit a standard sized oven and cook top!?!?

Our solution is a bit of a mickey mouse solution for the time being. The best advice we've heard so far- buy the appliances you want to fit the space you want in the future. So with that in mind, we are going to
(1) remove the stove and (cross your fingers) replace the hole in the wall with a wine fridge, (2) cut out the cabinet below the cooktop and put in a 36-inch-wide stove (more on our super awesome stove next time).

New hardware, a new sink and a new backsplash is phase two- think farmhouse sink and white subway tile. And possibly a makeover of the horrid Formica countertops. New cabinets- phase three.

Ok, on to the three bedrooms- here's the guest room- bland, but a good size:

Here is little Miss Sugar Bear's room. This room is the most beat up- the previous teenager wrote on the walls, did a number on the carpet and the mirrored closet doors leave a lot to be desired as you can imagine. Picture light pink!! Good news- a professional carpet cleaner helped salvage the carpet for now:

To the left of  Sugar Bear's bedroom door is the hall bath, which I previously give you a sneak peak:

Another view of the acrylic counter tops. Can you see the mess we made?? Night one we replaced all of the gold handles with brushed silver. Not only were the handles all gold, but some of the locks faced the wrong way so they had to go stat!! I off-handily guessed that our house was a rental at some point- no self respecting homeowner would have put those handles in their own house- and sure enough, I was right!!:

I so wish we could gut this bathtub/shower acrylic area:

Now on to the Master bedroom- and yes, this is what my family does while I run around like a crazy person taking pictures. This also showcases our first official house purchase and currently our only piece of furniture-a Guest Bed (we've been spending some nights in the house prior to moving all of our stuff in, so for the time being the guest bed is in the master bedroom): 

The other view that looks right into the master bath, which you have already seen: 

I am pretty sure at this point, I took Sugar Bear with me, and so Mr. Spice made himself comfy:

Proof of me holding Sugar Bear and taking house pictures- her first photo bomb:

And finally, the backyard with the previous owners crap, which again needs a ton of work- think grass, lavender, and hydrenga plants:

BUT we have a Redwood tree, and we already have plans to hang a toddler swing from one of the branches:

So there she is. I am trying not to be overwhelmed with all the work that needs to be done, but we have a plan for phase one. And I am hoping that new paint on the walls will make a BIG improvement. (BTW- back half of the house is almost painted and I think I like every color except one- the hall bath!?!?)

Wish us luck!?!?! We officially move tomorrow!!

Have a great weekend! Any big plans??

Decision No. 1: Tiles

My last, very hastily written post was regarding tiles.

Thanks for all the recommendations!! We did end up going with the hexagon white glossy tile for both bathrooms with gray grout (thanks to the great reader suggestion):

Turns out we needed 50 square feet for the Master bedroom bath, so paying $10 versus $5.95 per square foot would have been quite the price difference. 

The good news- thanks to a Memorial Day Weekend Sale- I got the tile from The Tile Store at 15% off and no shipping. So the tile was about $4.64 per square foot- or $441 for 95 square feet. We saved almost $200 from ordering the tile from Amazon or Home Depot. Whoot whoot. (Missed the sale? Go over to Young House Love and you can get their 10% Tile Store coupon code). 

Bad news, we won't get the tile before we move in. So we have to postpone the work a bit. 

Good news- the back half of the house will be painted this week before we move in.

So, here's what we have going on in the hall bath:

Here's our hall bath tile and wall color inspiration- I told you it was good:

I also love that there is a bit of pink (ok, peach) which is kinda girly, and  totally ok because it will be Hazel's bathroom. 

And the Master bath will have two colors. 

Behr Sparkling Spring for the sink area (and for the guest room):

Behr River Rock for the shower area:

Again with the hexagon white tile: 

We had to go with gray to match the existing tile that we won't be changing out (yet). Plus these colors go with the main Master bedroom color, Polar White: 

Some of you might be thinking- why are all the colors so colorless?? Yes, I am known for LOVING color, but our new house is Freaking DARK that I have to lighten it up somehow. And no, I am not just making that up- our super cool new neighbor (yes we've already been to their house twice- and yes, she has already offered to babysit for free!! And yes I will take her up on that offer since she was a NICU nurse), went on and on about how our houses get so little light. She added on and put in sky lights to finally get some light in her house- sigh, some day. 

Back on track, so you will see that my color choices are almost color free, but I kept them in the cool color range to add some light to some dark spaces. Cross your fingers that it works because we are paying a pretty little penny to have the house professionally painted. Yes. We are taking the easy route out. With the move, the new job, a 5.5 month old baby and the fact that I want to paint every wall- I just don't have the capacity to DIY the paint at this point. 

So that is what I have so far. Wall colors and tile. 

What do you think of my hall bath inspiration??

Times are a changing

Please forgive the sentimentality of this post.

As you all know, my list if wishes and dreams are pretty much all coming true. My Go Big or Go Home 2011 list is almost complete.





















New Job: Check
House: Check
Perfect Baby Girl: Check.
Weight loss: Postponed until June 15, 2012 (due to the three above, I have given myself a pass until the dust settles on all the other life change).

 I consider myself very very very lucky. Extremely lucky. Blessed.

But that doesn't mean that I am not looking back with a bit of nostalgia.

On Saturday, we move. Yesterday we took the last walk through our neighborhood as a family. We've already had our last night out in the City for Mr. Spice's b-day (thanks to an awesome friend who babysat); we ordered in pancakes for the last time (yes, we order in pancakes from the place next door because they are so yummy and because we can); we walked to the library, dry cleaner, baby store, book store, grocery store, Walgreens, the Five and Dime, Peet's coffee, the park, and our favorite lunch place (all on the same trip) for the last time.

We've done a lot of lasts as SF Residents. Sometimes we knew it was the last time and sometimes not. I have  been lucky enough to live in SF proper for 5 years now. The first stint was for two years, and then I moved out of the City and in with Mr. Spice. When I moved out, I made Mr. Spice promise that we'd live in the City again sometime. So in a way, the last three years have been bonus time.

Ridiculously awesome bonus time. We joke that our little Sugar Bear has caused all this change and caused us to uproot our entire lives. But the reality, we wanted this change, we asked for it head on. And I am so excited for our future.

BUT all that said, I am going to miss this City, THE City tremendously. I am going to miss our awesome one-bedroom apartment, our amazing neighborhood, all of the dog parks, living three blocks from a National Park, the views of the Bay, living within walking distance to great food and even better friends, the Farmer's Markets and food truck frenzy, etc. The list could go on forever.

This week is bittersweet. I have always been scared of the unknown, and moving our entire lives to the Country is a great unknown for this City Girl.

The funny thing is- I started this blog as a place to share my future dream house inspiration- my own pinterest if you will. And now, I am moving into that house- the house were I get to make those dreams a reality.

As as I stated in one of my very first posts:

This City will always be the place that Mr. Spice and I met, the place we fell in love, the place we explored together, the place we ate amazing meals, had ridiculously fun nights out, the place we got MARRIED...


And the place we became a family and had our baby girl.

This week is bittersweet for sure. But that's how all good books end.

Here's to the next book in my (our) series.

As I said to a friend this weekend, our new lives start Saturday. The irony of statement- we will have been friends for 20 years this Fall. Proof that life changes and you do move on- but you can keep the good stuff with you.

So here's to the City. And you can bet your Aunt Sassy that I have already made Mr. Spice promise that we will move back some day.

Retiring in SF? That sounds divine.

Floors?

I have so much to catch up on it is RIDICULOUS!!

I have yet to even show pics of the new digs. BUT before I get in the back log, I have to make a decision on the bathroom floors ASAP. They are horrid. The laminate is stained, and there is carpet and laminate in the 'Master' bath area, very mullet esque. Before I start- every wall in our house is this horrible yellow/beige/tan. Our neighbors confirmed it- in the late 2000s our house was a rental and thus, our walls are as bland as bland to be. Painting and colors to come soon, but before then-- bathroom floors!!

Here's the Hall bath with the 1980s acrylic sink area and bath/shower surround which is pink/tan:

Can you see the yellow stains in the picture above? 

The wall colors will be a blue to contrast with the acrylic - and of course I can't find my inspiration image for you. But trust me- it's good. 

Here's what we are thinking for the floors, white hexagon 'penny' tile:

Good? 

Question 1: Black or dark gray grout??

Here's the Master with the carpet in the front and laminate in the back: 

We have confirmation that the tile in the Master is the original 1960s tile. Bad news we can't afford to do anything to the bathrooms at this point beyond floors, paint and hardware. For the floors, we plan to change this whole area to tile- it is about 20 square feet.

Here's a closer look at the somewhat awful tile that I am learning to come to terms with:

Good news- the tile in the master is tan with specs of Gray, sooo my goal is to go with a gray paint with blue undertones rather than the blah yellow/tan.

So here's Question #2.

In the master: do we go big with carerra marble hexagon tiles (at twice the cost):

Or just go with the white hexagon penny tile with gray grout:

Since it is such a small area- I kinda want to splurge. What do you think? I know it's hard without paint colors.

Let me know!! More pics coming soon.

Alive and Kickin

 Life is crazy ass busy. I've never been this busy before. We leave the house at 7am with baby bear in tow. I drop off Mr. Spice, then drop off baby bear (at a fabulous day care- seriously love this place), and then go to work, and then I do the reverse 8 hours later. On a good day, we are all home by 7pm. Feed the little lady, bath and then bed time for her at 8:30. I am in bed by 9:30pm, so not much time for life. 

 Good news Baby Bear is thriving. She is rolling over like a champ and growing like a weed (a cute chubby weed). 

Here she is at 4 months:

And here's our little chubby bunny at 20 weeks- almost 5 months: She's loving bath time with Dad and yes she is finally growing some hair!! 

One last thing- WE ARE HOMEOWNERS!! 

WHOOT WHOOT!!

Pictures of the current house to come!! We are meeting with another contractor tonight to talk about knocking down walls and possibly doing a full kitchen reno!! Yep. Dreams do come true!!