1434bungalow

Halloween-

2009-11-01T19:27:00.005-06:00

It's been a long week! We are slowly settling into our new home. P.T. joined us on Friday night and is adjusting to his new environment and many spaces to navigate. We took P.T. for a nice long walk on Halloween and scoped out the neighborhood and the park just blocks away. We grossly underestimated the amount of trick or treaters that we would have- we ran out of candy by 8:00. The neighborhood was just energetic and alive- it was a great time!

Packing Frenzy.

2009-10-18T19:23:00.005-05:00

I'm not fond of packing. Neither is Mr. P.T. He spent most of the afternoon patiently awaiting a walk around the hood while we were focused on packing boxes. I don't think he quite understands why all of our belongings are being stowed into cardboard, perhaps he doesn't care. We officially have one week to go and will be picking up our U-Haul on Saturday morning. It's going to be a busy week!

The Meaning of Sold

2009-09-20T19:06:00.011-05:00

It's been an emotional month. 1434 went under contract on Sept 1st, a few mere days after being put on the market. While it was exciting and rewarding initially, it is now becoming sad and heartsick that the home we have spent the last 4 years building and renovating will not be ours within a short amount of time. I have been consciously acknowledging this and facing this more frequently, and am attempting to cherish each moment I have left in this home.

What I will miss...I will definatily miss my wonderful claw foot tubby! That claw foot tub has such history- being found in a classified ad in the LJS (where the owner had rescued it from a Beatrice farmhouse) and delivered home and put into place by my wonderful family and neighbor Jim (who recently shared he has a battle mark on his ankle to forever remind him of our lovely tub and the perils of a cast iron tub and a bungalow stairway). That tub has been my best friend for the past 2 winters, providing me warmth and relaxation. Our new home unfortunately does not have a claw foot tub, and this will be missed dearly. I will miss our enourmous upstairs bathroom that Matt and I spent so much time creating and entire upstairs master suite that did not exist prior to our possession of 1434. I will miss our 10x10 walk in closet and the wonderful rescue french doors into our bedroom. I will always remember those walls with layer upon layer of wallpaper and the painted over fir hardwood floors.

I will miss my funky green kitchen and stainless steel appliances. I will miss the wonderful Mission light fixtures we installed throughout the home that we hand selected over the years. I will miss my built in linen closet that I didn't know even existed until my second walk through of 1434, tucked so secretly behind the bathroom door.

I will miss our backyard and memories of family dinners and socializing with neighbor Jim. I will miss the way PT runs to the back tree and pokes his head through the fence to kiss sweet neighbor shihtzu Pookie. I will miss my huge green hosta that doubles in size each year. I will miss the way the Ivy runs up the back tree, consuming more and more each season. I will miss the fully privacy fenced backyard and the memories of staining each and every one of those fence boards with dear Matt.

So many memories. While we look forward to our new home and the memories that will be created, we are sad to be leaving 1434 and those that have been created. The next few weeks will be spent packing and organizing, but most of all cherishing what time we have left with this sweet, wonderful home.

Doors

2009-08-02T18:46:00.006-05:00

I love my front door. Love it, love it, love it. It's not the front door that came on 1434 when we purchased it. I clearly remember when Matt & I found 1434 on the internet when we were looking at buying our first home. In traditional fashion we each commented on our likes/dislikes of what we saw in the internet pictures, and I highly remember my comment regarding the ugly green front door and saying "that's the first thing I would replace." The door was the epitome of the 1970's. My grandma had the exact front door on her brick ranch. I hated the door and to this day I still hate the door. For some unbeknownst reason many of the bungalows on our street have this front door. It deeply saddens me that the original front doors of these homes were stripped away and replaced with these ugly 1970's front doors. Needless to say, the front door did not get replaced until August of last year (08). Yes, I lived with that ugly door for 3 entire years. I think I deserve a reward for this. It was very difficult to find the front door that I wanted. I wanted a traditional Mission style front door with the leaded glass panes at the top. I found companies that made reproduction Mission front doors for much money. I decided if I wanted this style of front door I would have to search architectural antique stores and salvage stores to find it. And I did, for a long, long, time. I thought my best shot would be finding one at Conner's here in Lincoln. When we had went in there and explained what we were looking for we were told that they very seldom get Mission front doors because they are very popular right now and most bungalows are retaining their original details and not replacing features such as front doors. I was bummed! I thought I was going to have to live with the ugly 1970's front door until we sold our home. But fate intervened- I stumbled across the website to Scherer's Architectural Antiques, and ****yes, my new front door! Not only did they have the EXACT front door I had been searching for, it was the exact needed dimensions! And to top it off, they had the exact french doors that we needed to complete our upstairs master bedroom but that we couldn't find because of the odd dimensions! The stars were aligned! I made the contact with Scherer's and days later owned my wonderful new doors! While we were at Scherer's home, we also found doors for the rest of our entire house, all of them salvaged from historical homes that were torn down. Our front door was rescued by Manuel from a bungalow over on Randolph Street. The french doors were rescued from a home on the corner of 27th & South St. that was torn down to make way for the library parking lot (they were actually side panels in a larger door scheme, hence the odd dimensions). Not only did we get our front door for a steal, Manuel also had the matching screen door set with removable screen/window panes that he threw in with the front door! It was the door set I had been searching for! Fate was on my side for this one!

The actual installation of the doors is another story. I love my husband, and I am very grateful for his hard work and installing new doors on every doorway of our home (minus the back door) per my freakness of hating hollow core doors. Matt refinished all of the doors that we bought from Scherer's and I love that all of our doors were rescued from within the community. They all have a unique history and story. Matt hates hanging doors. We will just leave it at that. And we will also hope that our next house has age appropriate doors so that he won't have to hang any doors, ever again. I also wish I could understand why anyone in their right mind would replace wonderful historic doors with cheap, nasty hollow core doors. What are people thinking????

So conclusion of the post, I love my doors, especially my front door!

Floral Discovery

2009-08-01T21:26:00.004-05:00

Matt came across these funky little blooms this week while out mowing the lawn. Being the sweet man he is he came in and requested I retrieve a vase so that he could cut them for a fresh bouquet for the dining room table. I have no idea what they are. Any ideas??? They still look fabulous days after being brought in. Today while we were out walking the pooch I noticed a few other homes who had some sprouts of these in the yard. I think we have some more coming up in the backyard by the tree, perhaps I'll snag those for inside as well.

Monday

2009-07-27T20:24:00.005-05:00

Oh Monday...my least favorite day of the week. After grilling some hamburgers and corn on the cob tonight we decided to go for a bike ride. I'm hoping this energizing feat to Pioneers Park will spill into the week giving me some much needed energy. And of course make me feel less guilty for devouring some leftover birthday cake that we enjoyed as a family last night. There's nothing like exercise and chocolate cake, right? Tis another week!

Grooming Day

2009-07-25T19:18:00.005-05:00

Today was grooming day for P.T. The day started with the question "do you want to go get your hair cut" in which P.T. contemplated for a few early morning seconds before running to the back door to leave. P.T. appears to enjoy going to NAMC to visit his people and animal friends. Grooming was not always PT's cup of tea- it took us several tries at various groomers until we found the perfect match at NAMC. The result of today's grooming can be summed up simply with the term "fuzzy." After picking P.T. up we stopped at a local farmer's truck to purchase some fresh produce, which P.T. enjoyed immensely! What a cute pooch!

Results of Flower Garden

2009-07-23T21:21:00.005-05:00

Pops of vibrant zinnias are finally flourishing! The flower garden has been taking off, resulting in beautiful home grown bouquets around the house. Cheers!

Anniversary Celebration

2009-07-22T19:54:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, July 21, Matt and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Per usual anniversary celebration fashion this consisted of staying at a local bed and breakfast. This year we elected to stay at The Rogers House. This was our third stay at The Rogers House and second stay in the Bankers Suite. The first time we stayed at the Bankers Suite was in January of 2006. The Bankers Suite has a wonderful wood burning fireplace that is great for cuddling up to at night. What is great about the Bankers Suite in the summer is the fabulous sunroom. And of course the most beloved feature of the suite is the double jacuzzi tub, which we enjoyed immensely!

Our anniversary had unexpected highlights- primarily the weather. July 21 is generally one of the hottest days of the year. We comment every year that we should have wed in the fall because neither of us enjoy the heat nor going into the heat to attempt anything of interest. Yesterday when we woke up it was downright cold and dreary. The whole day was chilly and actually bearable. We enjoyed our morning coffee on the porch in our sweaters and actually decided against a bike ride related to the morning briskness. Very unusual!

For dinner we tried out Carmela's. I had been there once myself for a drink and appetizers with some friends, but Matt had never been. It was really good! I had chicken fettucini alfredo which I think perhaps is the best I've had it my life. Matt enjoyed a filet covered in boursin cheese and stuffed baked potato. For an appetizer we had the cheese trilogy plate. It was a great experience! The environment is intimate and cozy and the food is worth going back for.

We elected to enjoy desert in the comfort of the jacuzzi. We stopped off after dinner and picked up a scrumptous piece of chocolate cake at 9 South Chargrill (raspberry filled chocolate cake with a rum iced topping). Yum!!!

After checking out of the Rogers House this morning we went for a walk around the Near South neighborhood and admired the grand old homes. We then picked up the pooch from boarding and headed over to Cooper Park for a picnic lunch. We then spent the afternoon catching up on Season 2 of Madmen (Season 3 airs next month) and leisurely spending away a Wednesday afternoon. It's been a great anniversary and mini "staycation." Back to the grind tomorrow.

Flower Garden

2009-07-13T19:01:00.004-05:00

This is our first year to plant a flower garden with seeds/bulbs. I had no idea it would take so long to grow! I guess I'm inpatient. We put down the seeds/bulbs in late May. Just this past week have we began to see actual flowers with color. We primarily planted Zinnias. We also did a few packs of Wildflowers and canna bulbs. As my dear husband will tell you there is nothing more I love than fresh bouquets of flowers around the house, so I am very eager for these babies to start sprouting so I can fill the house with pops of vibrant Zinnia color! Grow baby grow!

Weekend Find

2009-07-12T18:21:00.003-05:00

It's been a decent weekend. Today Matt & I spent the day entertaining K.J. while Corrine was at a bridal fair. Per usual tradition that included a stop to the Antique Corner Co-op on 17th St, and per usual tradition I found a new "old" treasure. Today's find is a painted pine telephone stand. I have been searching for yet an additional piece of furniture for our upstairs bathroom. This piece is quite "shabby chic" and is charming. I plan on sanding the piece and then painting a new coat of paint (pondering a shade of green). I can store towels and other items on this piece. When we move (realizing I will never have another bathroom as large as our master) this piece would be great for an entryway or hallway. I think it will be a multi-use piece for many years to come. The color can be changed for whatever use that may be. It's a great addition to our furniture collection.

Kitchen Inspiration-

2009-07-08T20:31:00.011-05:00

I have been having an itch to facelift our kitchen. I'm going to blame our new cable subscription and HGTV for further prompting me to consider this. I'm having mixed feelings however about this because our goal is to sell 1434 and move on. However, the "moving on" has been a difficult and frustrating process thus far (that's a whole other rant) and it is looking like it is a possibility that we will stay in 1434 into 2010. It all relies upon that special house suddenly appearing on the market. So if we are going to stay longer I might as well update, right? Right??? (Reinforcement please!!!)

So above is a picture of my inspiration kitchen. This kitchen is fab! I love the Arts & Crafts cabinetry and color scheme used. This ad is strategically placed in every issue of American Bungalow so I have been eyeing this beautiful kitchen for quite some time. I can see myself cooking a gourmet meal for the family every night of the week in this wonderful kitchen.

Our current kitchen received a major facelift in the fall of 2005 when we first purchased our home. It was in fact the first room that we overhauled, primarily because it is the most used room and it was utterly disgusting and in our opinion unusable at time of purchase. It took weeks to complete which resulted in total burnout of microwave meals and pizza. The kitchen floors (hardwood) were painted white with porch paint. I'm sorry, but who the hell paints hardwood flooring??? I can't even begin to express my anger about the paint on the hardwood floors (yes, the entire upstairs of this house was also painted porch paint on hardwoods). The painted hardwood floor posed a significant issue for us, as we were completely new to home anything and refinishing a hardwood floor was beyond our scope (or so we thought). Financially it posed a problem too as we had used the majority of our savings to purchase the home and move to Lincoln. Through dialogue and considering all of our options and what would ultimately make us (i.e. me) happy in the long run, we decided to move forward and strip the hardwood floors and refinish on our own. We began the process very early on a Sunday morning by renting a drum sander from the local Home Depot. Matt spent the entire day working away on that floor. In fact, he even missed a nice spaghetti/seafood dinner over at S&H's house that evening. By about 1o in the evening the floor was sanded down to yellow pine, no white paint! Matt then proceeded over the next week to stain and polycoat the floor. We were very thrilled with the turnout! It looks great to this day.

The kitchen had to have all new appliances. There was a gas stove left in the purchase but it was so filthy and janky looking we immediately just got rid of it. We had to hire a plumber to move some odd pipes that were in the way of where the refrigerator was supposed to go and had to purchase a new refrigerator to fit the dimensions of the opening of the spot. The cabinets we painted a fresh coat of white and rehung to fit proper. Through shopping for the stove we decided to pursue an electric stove and had to hire yet additional workers to come in and remove the gas line and install an electric outlet. We chose stainless steel GE appliances. For the color of the kitchen we went with a funky bright granny smith green. With the white cabinets and stainless steel appliances it pops! We finished the look with custom made wood shades.

The kitchen looks great. My only compliant is the outdated countertops (white with gold speckles). Countertops are pricey however so I think I will make do. See pictures below of current kitchen.

So the debate is whether to leave said kitchen as is or pursue an inspirational HGTV facelift. Matt & I spent some time at Lowe's tonight checking out sample kitchens, materials, and paint colors. I have fallen in love with a cottage sage green and light historic shade of yellow. My thought- paint the walls in the yellow and the cabinets in sage green. Maybe update the faucet to something more modern and add a wainscot backsplash by the sink. I think these simple updates would look great and make the kitchen feel more Arts & Crafts appropriate. Of course, as outlined above, the kitchen currently looks good the way it is. So do I leave as is or let my boredom and constant decorating streak take over? Hmmmmm.......

A Blog

2009-07-06T21:03:00.002-05:00

Blog. What a strange and perplexing word. I am new to the blog. Yes, at my age a virgin to the blog. I'm not sure how to proceed nor how to articulate the oddity of myself blogging so I will cope internally at this time. I will attempt to join mainstream society and see if anything of substance shall arise, although I am doubtful (and no, I am not one those "the glass is half empty" people, usually... I prefer the term realist).

My dear hubby & I purchased our little brick bungalow in the fall of 2005. We were new to Lincoln. We were clueless about home ownership and frankly life in general. What we have gained by purchasing and subsequently renovating our little abode has been invaluable. It's been an experience worth experiencing. After all, isn't that what it is all about. As I will share upcoming, we have completed 1434 and are looking forward to our next experience, our next chapter, our next home.