There is a song from Yo Gabba, Gabba called "Let the sillies out!" (Never heard it before? You'll thank me later when you can't get it out of your head!) The song always makes me want to get up and dance and get MY sillies out...so here they are folks. Some of my sillies:
- I cannot kill a bug while outside. Why? Because I feel like I'm in THEIR home...therefore if I kill them, its murder. HOWEVER, if I find a bug in MY home, their as good as gone. Although, every time I kill a bug, and I'm not joking, as soon as I squish it, I say "I'm SO sorry!" And then squirm all the way to the toilet to flush their little bug body away.
- When I'm emailing out invoices, as soon as I hit send, I smile and hope that when my client opens it, they receive my smile! Corny, suuuuuuure. But, when I receive their checks in the mail and I get super cute notes from them in with their check, I know they totally received the smile, and are sending one back to me!
- If we sit down to eat and you chew with your mouth open, I will ABSOLUTELY tell you to "close your mouth, you look like a cow." That is my ultimate, number one, absolute biggest pet peeve. EVER. Oooooh, and the people who chew gum with their mouths open...that's nails on a chalk board to me.
I'm sure I'll come up with more sillies if I keep thinking about them...but for now, that's silly enough!
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Idle hands...
I like to draw out special dates, for example, my birthday is in August and I prefer to start celebrating Mid-July and continue the festivities into...September-ish? So, really, it should come as no surprise to my husband that I'd do the same with wedding presents.
See, The Hubs got me Jack as a wedding present, 9-1/2 years ago. Pretty sure he thought that would be the end of it, "get her the cutest dog ON THE PLANET, and she'll leave me alone." Well, funny thing about that, when said-dog dies, the gifts just keep on coming. This one came in the form of a brushed metal dog-bone shaped urn to put his ashes in. And, to say I'm in love with it is an understatement.
Lets be real people, its perfect. Its sleek and unique and perfect for my puggle. My biggest concern about the dog-bone urn was that it was a teeeeeeny bit expensive (as if Jack over the years wasn't expensive, with his allergies, and sensitive skin and allergies, and sensitive belly, and allergies and ear infections, oh, and don't forget about those allergies!) But, when I told The Hubs, in typical Action Hero fashion (my uncle dubbed him the Action Hero on our first anniversary when he put out a fire with his foot...stray piece flew out of the burn barrel...) he got right on it and placed the order. Yup, that one of mine, he's a keeper alright!
So, now that Jack is in his final-final resting place, I've got to keep my mind busy. What have I been doing? What haven't I been doing...
You know when you walk around your house and you think, "oh, I should really clean that" or "man, that wall really needs to be repainted/touched up" or "wow, its time to (fill in the blank)" and that's what I've been doing. All of those things that have piled up and have been staring at me, mocking me.
Task one: (finally) stain the nightstand I assembled for Lil' Dude's room. I'm not joking, one of my girlfriends took a trip to IKEA in like, September. I assembled it within a few days, and then it just sat in the garage. Unstained. Unloved. Until, that little saying popped into my head "idle hands are the devil's workshop". Crap. So, I grabbed a brush and the stain and went to work. Lil' Dude picked out the new hardware for it...its Spiderman
Task two: round up the best plumber I know (The Hub's grandfather!) and ask him to install my utility sink in the laundry room. Ask and you shall receive...
(I know there's no sink yet...but the plumbing lines have been installed...the counter and the sink are being installed on Friday! YAY!)
Task three: Repaint the base boards and touch up the paint in the corner where Jack's house was. This one I don't have pictures of. For a lot of reasons, mostly because I didn't want to remember doing it.
Task four: Tackle the back door.
See, prior to us pouring the patio last summer, we had this back door...with the dog door (which, when we bought the house nine years ago we were all "OMG, Jack is going to use this ALL the time!" Except, that never happened. Jack hated the dog door. We have one photo of him near it.) which lead into the side area of our garage. And, prior to the patio, it was like the door to nowhere. No one knew about it. No one used it. It was just, well. It was just there. But then we pour the patio and the guy was all "let's add a walkway, and lets have the walkway go up to the door!" (uhm, what door?! Ooooh yeah- the door that goes to nowhere! Forgot about that!) And, when the patio was finished, that's exactly how the door looked. Like it had been forgotten. It was awful. Paint chipping off, awful caulk job. So, I took my idle hands (which, really given the other two tasks I've undertaken, they really weren't that idle anymore...) and got to work on the backdoor. Once the weather cooperated, it was smooth sailing...
All I need to do to finish the door is re-caulk around the dog door!
Task number five is coming up. I'm excited about it too because its going to change the way the front of the house looks...I'm going to paint the garage door the same color as the back door...which is the same color as the shutters on the front of the house! SQUEEEAL! I'm excited; its going to be a big change, but I can take the challenge!
See, The Hubs got me Jack as a wedding present, 9-1/2 years ago. Pretty sure he thought that would be the end of it, "get her the cutest dog ON THE PLANET, and she'll leave me alone." Well, funny thing about that, when said-dog dies, the gifts just keep on coming. This one came in the form of a brushed metal dog-bone shaped urn to put his ashes in. And, to say I'm in love with it is an understatement.
So, now that Jack is in his final-final resting place, I've got to keep my mind busy. What have I been doing? What haven't I been doing...
You know when you walk around your house and you think, "oh, I should really clean that" or "man, that wall really needs to be repainted/touched up" or "wow, its time to (fill in the blank)" and that's what I've been doing. All of those things that have piled up and have been staring at me, mocking me.
Task one: (finally) stain the nightstand I assembled for Lil' Dude's room. I'm not joking, one of my girlfriends took a trip to IKEA in like, September. I assembled it within a few days, and then it just sat in the garage. Unstained. Unloved. Until, that little saying popped into my head "idle hands are the devil's workshop". Crap. So, I grabbed a brush and the stain and went to work. Lil' Dude picked out the new hardware for it...its Spiderman
Task three: Repaint the base boards and touch up the paint in the corner where Jack's house was. This one I don't have pictures of. For a lot of reasons, mostly because I didn't want to remember doing it.
Task four: Tackle the back door.
Task number five is coming up. I'm excited about it too because its going to change the way the front of the house looks...I'm going to paint the garage door the same color as the back door...which is the same color as the shutters on the front of the house! SQUEEEAL! I'm excited; its going to be a big change, but I can take the challenge!
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
I miss my dog.
I've found the best way for me to grieve Jack, is to talk about him, talk about our relationship and why he meant so much to me. Its been three and a half weeks, and I don't know if I'm getting visited by him constantly or being tortured. Here's what I mean:
- Its late Spring, so the birds are outside chirping. I can't tell you how many times I've mistaken it for his whine at the back door. I instinctively think, "let him in" and then, in a split second it comes crashing in on me that he's not there. That day did happen. He's gone. He's not there.
- During the afternoons, if someone stops by and knocks on the front door or opens the garage door, my instinct is to flinch because Jack is going to start barking, and Lil' Dude is sleeping.
Except Jack isn't here to bark. Or whine.
Its these awful daily reminders that he's gone that I don't know if they are helping me or hurting me more. Prior to receiving Jack from my husband as a wedding present, I had a hole in my heart and my life that needed to be filled. Jack filled that hole and then some.
We've talked about getting another dog (eventually!) and here's the thing, with Jack, I knew him. I knew he would never hurt my son. I knew he loved me and would (and did, on two occasions) protect me (even if the one time it was my husband who came into the room, but it was dark, and no one uses our front door...so, I appreciated Jack's response to an "intruder" in my bedroom!) 
When I say I knew him, I can't explain it and I know its going to sound silly or strange or weird (really, you can insert whatever adjective you'd deem necessary here) but I knew OF him prior to meeting him. Jack was born September 21, 2005. On October 21, 2005, I'm walking in a parking lot with my mother-in-law. I said to her, "I don't know why or how or, really anything, but I KNOW something big has happened in my life and I'll never be the same." She said, "you're not pregnant are you?" SAY WHAAAAA?! No. So NOT preggo! It wasn't until November that we met Jack. I have no idea how I knew he was already born and that he would impact my life forever, but I did. God told me.
So when I met Jack, my husband held him in his arms, and his eyes met my eyes, I knew. I just knew he was mine and it was meant to be and he'd be mine forever. Again, I have no idea how, or why. I just knew he was mine.
And now he's gone. And I'm left with lots of beautiful memories of him and pictures of him but none of them can help this lump that's been in my throat since mid-April when we learned of his diagnosis. So when people walk into our house and say "Its so strange that Jack's not here" or I vacuum and realize there's a finite amount of Jack-hair left in my home, it makes me so sad I have to honestly stop what I'm doing and redirect my energy otherwise I'd be reduced to a pile of tissues. Everyday.
I know everyone has lost an animal and I'm not alone. But I can't tell you how attached I was to that dog. I was his and he was mine.
Today my son walked to Jack's box (which, we've got the dog bone urn on order!) and said, "mama, I miss Jack." (I wanted to break down right then) "What do you miss most about him buddy?" "when he'd run and play with me" and he walked over to Jack's toy basket (its still sitting out) and grabbed this tennis-ball-material-wrapped doughnut toy that we always played tug-of-war with...and Lil' Dude grabbed one end, and I grabbed the other and we played.
I can't remember the last time Jack was healthy enough to play. And that makes me sad. Its been at least nine months. I miss my dog. My family misses our dog. I know time will help heal this pain but for now the wound is open and fresh and painful.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Accepting applications
When I started Erinteriors, I always said that my animals were my co-workers. (Since, ya know, I don't really have a "crew"...its just me!)
Artichoke, our parrotlete, was my PR girl. Her spunky personality brought the house to life every morning. She wasn't a talker, more of a squeaker and chirp-er, but she could MAKE HER POINT! (Just like every good PR does!)
Jack, our puggle, was my VP of Operations. He inspected everything, made sure my blueprints were up to snuff (or sniff!)
Recently I've learned how empty an office can feel when my co-workers leave. Last May, Artichoke passed away- after having her for over 15 years, I woke up one morning and she was on the bottom of her house. I thought our house was quiet without her chirps or her grinding her beak.
This May, we had to put my VP to sleep. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and within a month of the diagnosis, he was gone. He was 9-1/2. What started as a UTI, very quickly became evident of a greater condition.
The house is so quiet now that we only have two fish left as pets. (And, as you can guess, fish aren't really that awesome at answering the phone, or making friends on a walk around the block...) Yesterday I brought home Jack's ashes. Now I'm on the hunt for an urn that's cool enough to hold the coolest dog I ever met. This is the front runner...he's currently residing in a cherry box; which is just too generic for me.
So now, I'm accepting applications. I hope the fish don't mind.
Artichoke, our parrotlete, was my PR girl. Her spunky personality brought the house to life every morning. She wasn't a talker, more of a squeaker and chirp-er, but she could MAKE HER POINT! (Just like every good PR does!)
Jack, our puggle, was my VP of Operations. He inspected everything, made sure my blueprints were up to snuff (or sniff!)
This May, we had to put my VP to sleep. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and within a month of the diagnosis, he was gone. He was 9-1/2. What started as a UTI, very quickly became evident of a greater condition.
The house is so quiet now that we only have two fish left as pets. (And, as you can guess, fish aren't really that awesome at answering the phone, or making friends on a walk around the block...) Yesterday I brought home Jack's ashes. Now I'm on the hunt for an urn that's cool enough to hold the coolest dog I ever met. This is the front runner...he's currently residing in a cherry box; which is just too generic for me.
So now, I'm accepting applications. I hope the fish don't mind.
Friday, December 5, 2014
One of the family...
I send out a lot of emails everyday. And everyday I think, "I wonder if the recipient of this email is going to click on my blog to see what other stuff I'm up to." Which is quickly followed by instant dread. "Uhm...when was the last time I updated my blog? Daaaaang, I hope they don't go to the blog and see I've been quiet for SEVEN months!"
I have a million reasons why I haven't been following up with this and I won't bore you with a single one. Why? Because who wants to read a bunch of excuses? And, I can't really think of any right now! (hehe!)
Christmas time is upon us and once again one of my clients asked me to decorate her home for the holiday season. This is the second year I've done this for her and I have to tell you, out of all the projects I design in a year, this is by far the most personal design I've done all year.
Not to take away from my kitchens and bathrooms (shout out to all those epic master baths!) but going through a families Christmas boxes that are stuffed with family photos and little "things" that accumulate throughout the years, makes me feel like part of their family and bonds me to them a little more.
Case in point, this client and I have been working together since 2011. I was eight months pregnant-out-to-here and they needed help decorating for a big birthday. She mentioned to me, "When we are ready, I want you to come back and design my new kitchen!" I said I'd love to (which I really meant) but in this business, everyone "needs you to come to their house" and everyone "needs help with a project"...so I hand over a business card and have learned that's pretty much where it ends.
Imagine my surprise when about a year later, my phone rings and that same client says, "I've hung on to your card all this time. We are ready to do our kitchen!" Saaaaaaay whaaaaaaaaaaaat?
They never call back. They loose my business card.
So I design her kitchen that summer. That Fall she calls again, "I'm going to leave all my Christmas decorations out in the family room and a key to our house on the porch. I want you to come in, go through everything, throw out what you don't like, and when I come home, I want it to be festive! Oh, and please make the mantel nice. It needs help." Tall order. That's when the bond really started. Seeing their kids photos with Santa and bonding with their dog over Milk Bones.
Over the year we did some more tweaking throughout their home and when it was time for her daughter to get married, guess who she called to plan/decorate the venue. That's right- THIS lady!
The beginning of this week I went back to her house and the same boxes from last year were laid out for me. Except this year, the house was much quieter. Their beloved dog had just passed away about a month ago, and the house was too quiet. (If you know anything about me, I'm a huge animal lover, specifically dogs- so when I was told the news of his passing, it made me sad.) As I pulled out the garland and photos of their Christmas' past, I came across photos of Santa with a puppy on his lap (and one of Santa with a full grown dog by his side). Instantly, tears pricked my eyes.
This is why I don't take my job lightly. I know some people think of designers as frilly, scarf-thrown-over-their-shoulder, drama queens (and I admit, at times I am SO that person, if only in my mind!) but the heart of what I do everyday is become part of your family. Creating spaces that you and your family will enjoy together.
So, after I stopped with the tears, I knew I had to put the Santa photos somewhere prominent.
After I laid out the garland on the mantel, I looked down at the hearth and saw a small box with the words Zeus on it, a photo of him, his collar hanging on the picture frame and knew I needed to add the Santa photos to his special spot in the house. I arranged them nicely around his box and collar, and added a vase of some "balls" (ornaments) for him to play with.
Opening your front door to a designer is a big decision. I'm here to tell ya though, when its me on the other side, get ready for another family member :)
I have a million reasons why I haven't been following up with this and I won't bore you with a single one. Why? Because who wants to read a bunch of excuses? And, I can't really think of any right now! (hehe!)
Christmas time is upon us and once again one of my clients asked me to decorate her home for the holiday season. This is the second year I've done this for her and I have to tell you, out of all the projects I design in a year, this is by far the most personal design I've done all year.
Not to take away from my kitchens and bathrooms (shout out to all those epic master baths!) but going through a families Christmas boxes that are stuffed with family photos and little "things" that accumulate throughout the years, makes me feel like part of their family and bonds me to them a little more.
Case in point, this client and I have been working together since 2011. I was eight months pregnant-out-to-here and they needed help decorating for a big birthday. She mentioned to me, "When we are ready, I want you to come back and design my new kitchen!" I said I'd love to (which I really meant) but in this business, everyone "needs you to come to their house" and everyone "needs help with a project"...so I hand over a business card and have learned that's pretty much where it ends.
Imagine my surprise when about a year later, my phone rings and that same client says, "I've hung on to your card all this time. We are ready to do our kitchen!" Saaaaaaay whaaaaaaaaaaaat?
They never call back. They loose my business card.
So I design her kitchen that summer. That Fall she calls again, "I'm going to leave all my Christmas decorations out in the family room and a key to our house on the porch. I want you to come in, go through everything, throw out what you don't like, and when I come home, I want it to be festive! Oh, and please make the mantel nice. It needs help." Tall order. That's when the bond really started. Seeing their kids photos with Santa and bonding with their dog over Milk Bones.
Over the year we did some more tweaking throughout their home and when it was time for her daughter to get married, guess who she called to plan/decorate the venue. That's right- THIS lady!
The beginning of this week I went back to her house and the same boxes from last year were laid out for me. Except this year, the house was much quieter. Their beloved dog had just passed away about a month ago, and the house was too quiet. (If you know anything about me, I'm a huge animal lover, specifically dogs- so when I was told the news of his passing, it made me sad.) As I pulled out the garland and photos of their Christmas' past, I came across photos of Santa with a puppy on his lap (and one of Santa with a full grown dog by his side). Instantly, tears pricked my eyes.
This is why I don't take my job lightly. I know some people think of designers as frilly, scarf-thrown-over-their-shoulder, drama queens (and I admit, at times I am SO that person, if only in my mind!) but the heart of what I do everyday is become part of your family. Creating spaces that you and your family will enjoy together.
So, after I stopped with the tears, I knew I had to put the Santa photos somewhere prominent.
After I laid out the garland on the mantel, I looked down at the hearth and saw a small box with the words Zeus on it, a photo of him, his collar hanging on the picture frame and knew I needed to add the Santa photos to his special spot in the house. I arranged them nicely around his box and collar, and added a vase of some "balls" (ornaments) for him to play with.
Opening your front door to a designer is a big decision. I'm here to tell ya though, when its me on the other side, get ready for another family member :)
Sunday, May 18, 2014
FIIIIIIIII-YAH!
(Anyone else watch Hell's Kitchen? Each time we start the show, that song gets stuck. In. My. DANG HEAD for several days at a time. Like, getting a pot on the stove while making dinner...turn on the burner, start singing FIIIIIIIYAH! WOOOH-OOOOH!!" Then start dancing, and then add the pasta to the pot...)
So here's why I'm talking about food, because its my weakness. Not that I have a food problem, not that I overeat, not that I cannot contain myself when I see a bag of Oreo's...here's why food is my weakness. Because I cannot cook.
Simple, really. I have a difficult time in the kitchen. Shopping for food. I can walk around the produce section for hours and not be inspired. I look through a cookbook and start salivating and then wonder which store I can buy something like that from. Not make it myself. Why? Because I cannot cook.
I don't enjoy cooking. But I love food. Baking I can do. Actually, baking I totally enjoy, I make a bad-ass chocolate chip cookie as a matter of fact. And I think everything is better with sprinkles on it. The more the better!
So while The Hubs and I are watching Hell's Kitchen tonight (yeah, we are a week behind...that's what happens with a toddler, right? Although, props to us for only being ONE week behind. There are several shows that are sitting on our DVR right now, probably wondering if they got cancelled because they haven't been in our cue for several months...) the contestants had 30 minutes to create a meal based on what mystery food was sitting under the giant silver domes.
In less that three minutes, real time, they had beautiful meals sitting under domes waiting to be judged and that's when I said to The Hubs- "they only had 30 minutes and LOOK WHAT THEY MADE! I could have been in there for two hours and come up with like, chicken. And maybe a side of something that I found in the freezer. That I thawed." And do you know what The Hubs said in response? "Put any of them into a blank room and they will stand there. Uninspired. You go into that room, and things come alive. That's the difference between your passion and their's."
Oh. Well when you say it like thaaaaaaaat.
I will keep trying to cook (mainly because I need to feed my family) and keep finding recipes online, adding them to my "recipe box"...some of them I'm actually considering making. One day. Probably not soon. hehe
I'm on FIIIIIIII-YAH!
So here's why I'm talking about food, because its my weakness. Not that I have a food problem, not that I overeat, not that I cannot contain myself when I see a bag of Oreo's...here's why food is my weakness. Because I cannot cook.
Simple, really. I have a difficult time in the kitchen. Shopping for food. I can walk around the produce section for hours and not be inspired. I look through a cookbook and start salivating and then wonder which store I can buy something like that from. Not make it myself. Why? Because I cannot cook.
I don't enjoy cooking. But I love food. Baking I can do. Actually, baking I totally enjoy, I make a bad-ass chocolate chip cookie as a matter of fact. And I think everything is better with sprinkles on it. The more the better!
So while The Hubs and I are watching Hell's Kitchen tonight (yeah, we are a week behind...that's what happens with a toddler, right? Although, props to us for only being ONE week behind. There are several shows that are sitting on our DVR right now, probably wondering if they got cancelled because they haven't been in our cue for several months...) the contestants had 30 minutes to create a meal based on what mystery food was sitting under the giant silver domes.
In less that three minutes, real time, they had beautiful meals sitting under domes waiting to be judged and that's when I said to The Hubs- "they only had 30 minutes and LOOK WHAT THEY MADE! I could have been in there for two hours and come up with like, chicken. And maybe a side of something that I found in the freezer. That I thawed." And do you know what The Hubs said in response? "Put any of them into a blank room and they will stand there. Uninspired. You go into that room, and things come alive. That's the difference between your passion and their's."
Oh. Well when you say it like thaaaaaaaat.
I will keep trying to cook (mainly because I need to feed my family) and keep finding recipes online, adding them to my "recipe box"...some of them I'm actually considering making. One day. Probably not soon. hehe
I'm on FIIIIIIII-YAH!
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Wowza, its 2014!
A funny thing happens when you're the mom of a toddler who also works...time seems to literally just fly away. All of a sudden its January (which means a new fresh calendar; who doesn't love a new calendar smell, am I right?) and then all of a sudden, you look at the bottom of your professional email and wonder, "if a client clicked my blog link, what would they see"...so I clicked the link and do you know what I saw?! I saw that I haven't updated this thing since, er, December!
You know what's awful, until tonight, April 8th at 9pm, I hadn't even realized I still had a blog! I get so wrapped up in work and projects and Lil' Dude and our house, and the weather (the sun has made an appearance today AND the windows have been open and we aren't freezing...HELLO SPRING!) that I forget to write stuff.
I mean, let's be serious for a second, this blog isn't a serious conversation maker (or wait...is it?! Have I been in the dark and all my followers have been anxiously awaiting my next post, all the while I'm too concerned with the frickin' snow?!) Oh man, if I just described you, Soooooo sorry! Didn't mean to keep you waiting for like, five months.
Ok, so what's new over here, let's start there. Well...I've been knocking out a bunch of projects thus far this year...working on three kitchens and a basement remodel right now, Lil' Dude and I have been visiting their progress on a weekly basis; clearly he's made friends with all of the installers. (Last week while the bamboo flooring was being installed in one of my projects, he picked up a broom and got to work making a pile of dust for the guys!) One of the kitchens will be done in the next few weeks, so I will share photos soon!!
I'm also super excited that in less than a week, my business partner and I have signed two super awesome projects which are going to be amazing! Actually, because of all the projects, I've had to reinstall AutoCAD on my laptop (looooong story, but when I got my laptop back in September, we installed it, but then it uninstalled, so I had to call and have them reinstall it...) AND NOW, just last night, yes, April 7th, AutoCAD was officially reinstalled on my laptop (after uninstalling Windows 8...whatEVER Microsoft!) UUUUUGH, its been so frustrating, I'm really thankful The Hubs is a computer guru and knows how to fix stuff, because I was ready to just throw the laptop out (which clearly would have solved my problem, right?!)
Oooh, I also just finished a wonderful book by my FAV author, Sophie Kinsella!! The book was called Wedding Night, it was a lot thicker than her other books, so I was nervous at first- I mean, there aren't ANY photos in her books...(just sayin') but true-to-form, her story was fabulous and before I knew it I breezed through the 1,000 pages. (No, it wasn't that long- but for real, hold it up next to another book, looks like Moby Dick!)
Pretty sure that's all for now :)
e
You know what's awful, until tonight, April 8th at 9pm, I hadn't even realized I still had a blog! I get so wrapped up in work and projects and Lil' Dude and our house, and the weather (the sun has made an appearance today AND the windows have been open and we aren't freezing...HELLO SPRING!) that I forget to write stuff.
I mean, let's be serious for a second, this blog isn't a serious conversation maker (or wait...is it?! Have I been in the dark and all my followers have been anxiously awaiting my next post, all the while I'm too concerned with the frickin' snow?!) Oh man, if I just described you, Soooooo sorry! Didn't mean to keep you waiting for like, five months.
Ok, so what's new over here, let's start there. Well...I've been knocking out a bunch of projects thus far this year...working on three kitchens and a basement remodel right now, Lil' Dude and I have been visiting their progress on a weekly basis; clearly he's made friends with all of the installers. (Last week while the bamboo flooring was being installed in one of my projects, he picked up a broom and got to work making a pile of dust for the guys!) One of the kitchens will be done in the next few weeks, so I will share photos soon!!
I'm also super excited that in less than a week, my business partner and I have signed two super awesome projects which are going to be amazing! Actually, because of all the projects, I've had to reinstall AutoCAD on my laptop (looooong story, but when I got my laptop back in September, we installed it, but then it uninstalled, so I had to call and have them reinstall it...) AND NOW, just last night, yes, April 7th, AutoCAD was officially reinstalled on my laptop (after uninstalling Windows 8...whatEVER Microsoft!) UUUUUGH, its been so frustrating, I'm really thankful The Hubs is a computer guru and knows how to fix stuff, because I was ready to just throw the laptop out (which clearly would have solved my problem, right?!)
Oooh, I also just finished a wonderful book by my FAV author, Sophie Kinsella!! The book was called Wedding Night, it was a lot thicker than her other books, so I was nervous at first- I mean, there aren't ANY photos in her books...(just sayin') but true-to-form, her story was fabulous and before I knew it I breezed through the 1,000 pages. (No, it wasn't that long- but for real, hold it up next to another book, looks like Moby Dick!)
Pretty sure that's all for now :)
e
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
What do you want to be when you grow up?
If I were to walk into a classroom and ask the students what they want to be when they grow up, most would say some of the typical things:
- Lawyer
- Doctor
- Vet
(Because we all know those are things that will "make your parents proud" and occupations that will "make you happy". Right?)
Well, picture me sitting in third grade. My family and I have just moved to South Florida from New York and I knew immediately what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was never one of those kids who wanted to be a journalist one day and astronaut the next (I don't like to write all the time- as evident in my *almost* once monthly post here...and I don't really "do" science.)
Nah, I knew from the first time I came with my parents house hunting that I was going to design interiors. I just knew. I loved going to friends homes who had two stories because I loved imagining their staircase decorated for Christmas. Did their mom and dad hang lights? Garland? Did they have bows, berries or maybe beads? And when it came to Halloween...the real trick I received when people opened their doors was getting a glimpse into their homes. (If I was kidding about that statement, it would be less weird...but I was totally that kid.)
One of my favorite "Designer in the Making" moments was at my BFF, Jenni's house. Her parents and mine had the same floor plan so I was familiar with how the space could function. I was one of five people who lived in our house, Jenni was an only child. Our house constantly had people in it, thus leaving very little "extra" room, where Jen's (we're in our 30 now...the "i" has been dropped!) house always had more elbow room. Because of this (and that our houses were five doors down from each other) we spent uh-LOT of time at her house. Her mom had a pure white living room. Let me say this again s-l-o-w-e-r for you. a PURE. WHITE. LIVING. ROOM. White carpets, white walls (most of the walls in her house were white actually) and white furniture. I mean, WHITE.
So here's me. Already knowing that I was going to be a designer, I came up to Jen's mom while she was sitting at the kitchen table and had a very stern look on my face.
me: Mrs.W, we need to talk
H: Of course, what about?
me: Your house.
H: Hu?
me: Its lacking color.
H: Hu?
me: For example, your living room. I just want to take a gallon of paint, in ANY shade and throw it against your walls to add a, literal, splash of color.
H: Really.
me: Oh, yes.
H: I'll talk to Mr.W.
I don't know if she ever talked to Mr.W about this, she probably got up from the table and called my mom to have one of those talks..."Erin suggested I throw paint on my walls. If she pulls out the finger paints...next sleep over is NOT here." My point here with this lil' antidote is that I've always just known what a space needs/wants. Its like rooms talk to me (except not in a she-needs-to-be-admitted kind of way)
Fast forward to today. I show up at a client's home to decorate for Christmas (yay!) and after I pass the guard dog (who only woke up once I was settled and put my keys on the kitchen table) I look into the family room. For as long as I've been working with this client, I have noticed that the family room has a severe deficit in the function category. A few meetings ago, I casually brought up to her the space, asking questions like, "can you really see the tv well while its all the way over theeeeeere and the couch is all the way over hereeeee?"
So today was the day. I took another sip of my Dunkin (because who doesn't drink Dunkin...am I right?) and I moved all the Christmas boxes out of my way. (Again, let me point out the whole purpose of me being there today was to setup the stuff that was IN those boxes...) I rolled up the rugs and pushed those couches into a proper placement. (In the moving process I might have cut my finger on a screw...I might need to file a workers comp claim!)
Once I had all the large pieces in their proper place, it was time to start my decorating...and decorate I did.
I know you might be asking for pictures of the space...and I have some, but I'm not writing this from my phone (because why punish my thumbs like that?) so I'll see what I can do about uploading 'em...in the meantime, that's the new festive fireplace!
Knowing what I've wanted to be my whole life has given me the opportunity to be comfortable in my decisions and help clients ease into the idea of spending a lot of money. I cannot express in words how thankful I am that when I told my son this morning that mama had to go to work, I got to go and PLAY all morning...and then when my client came home, receive one of the most warm, wonderful and awesome phone calls!
I never take for granted that what I do is a luxury item for my clients. I am truly grateful that my passion is my work!
- Lawyer
- Doctor
- Vet
(Because we all know those are things that will "make your parents proud" and occupations that will "make you happy". Right?)
Well, picture me sitting in third grade. My family and I have just moved to South Florida from New York and I knew immediately what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was never one of those kids who wanted to be a journalist one day and astronaut the next (I don't like to write all the time- as evident in my *almost* once monthly post here...and I don't really "do" science.)
Nah, I knew from the first time I came with my parents house hunting that I was going to design interiors. I just knew. I loved going to friends homes who had two stories because I loved imagining their staircase decorated for Christmas. Did their mom and dad hang lights? Garland? Did they have bows, berries or maybe beads? And when it came to Halloween...the real trick I received when people opened their doors was getting a glimpse into their homes. (If I was kidding about that statement, it would be less weird...but I was totally that kid.)
One of my favorite "Designer in the Making" moments was at my BFF, Jenni's house. Her parents and mine had the same floor plan so I was familiar with how the space could function. I was one of five people who lived in our house, Jenni was an only child. Our house constantly had people in it, thus leaving very little "extra" room, where Jen's (we're in our 30 now...the "i" has been dropped!) house always had more elbow room. Because of this (and that our houses were five doors down from each other) we spent uh-LOT of time at her house. Her mom had a pure white living room. Let me say this again s-l-o-w-e-r for you. a PURE. WHITE. LIVING. ROOM. White carpets, white walls (most of the walls in her house were white actually) and white furniture. I mean, WHITE.
So here's me. Already knowing that I was going to be a designer, I came up to Jen's mom while she was sitting at the kitchen table and had a very stern look on my face.
me: Mrs.W, we need to talk
H: Of course, what about?
me: Your house.
H: Hu?
me: Its lacking color.
H: Hu?
me: For example, your living room. I just want to take a gallon of paint, in ANY shade and throw it against your walls to add a, literal, splash of color.
H: Really.
me: Oh, yes.
H: I'll talk to Mr.W.
I don't know if she ever talked to Mr.W about this, she probably got up from the table and called my mom to have one of those talks..."Erin suggested I throw paint on my walls. If she pulls out the finger paints...next sleep over is NOT here." My point here with this lil' antidote is that I've always just known what a space needs/wants. Its like rooms talk to me (except not in a she-needs-to-be-admitted kind of way)
Fast forward to today. I show up at a client's home to decorate for Christmas (yay!) and after I pass the guard dog (who only woke up once I was settled and put my keys on the kitchen table) I look into the family room. For as long as I've been working with this client, I have noticed that the family room has a severe deficit in the function category. A few meetings ago, I casually brought up to her the space, asking questions like, "can you really see the tv well while its all the way over theeeeeere and the couch is all the way over hereeeee?"
So today was the day. I took another sip of my Dunkin (because who doesn't drink Dunkin...am I right?) and I moved all the Christmas boxes out of my way. (Again, let me point out the whole purpose of me being there today was to setup the stuff that was IN those boxes...) I rolled up the rugs and pushed those couches into a proper placement. (In the moving process I might have cut my finger on a screw...I might need to file a workers comp claim!)
Once I had all the large pieces in their proper place, it was time to start my decorating...and decorate I did.
I know you might be asking for pictures of the space...and I have some, but I'm not writing this from my phone (because why punish my thumbs like that?) so I'll see what I can do about uploading 'em...in the meantime, that's the new festive fireplace!
Knowing what I've wanted to be my whole life has given me the opportunity to be comfortable in my decisions and help clients ease into the idea of spending a lot of money. I cannot express in words how thankful I am that when I told my son this morning that mama had to go to work, I got to go and PLAY all morning...and then when my client came home, receive one of the most warm, wonderful and awesome phone calls!
I never take for granted that what I do is a luxury item for my clients. I am truly grateful that my passion is my work!
Friday, November 15, 2013
If you give a designer a paint brush...
Ever read the book "If you give a mouse a cookie"?
If you haven't read this book (which, if you haven't, what kind of childhood did you have? Seriously...this is a MUST read!) here's a quick rundown: if you give him a cookie, he will ask for milk...which means he will need a napkin and it just keeps snowballing from there...
Several years ago, I painted our half bath navy blue. 
Our trim is pure white (which was another project I did several years ago. Took two weeks out of my life and did, what I called "Operation Honey to White"...where everything in the house which was honey oak, became white. I ended up getting bronchitis from this because of all the fumes- but whatever, our house looked HAWT!) and one wall in our half bath didn't have a straight cut-in against the baseboard. This might not bother some people...but for me, every time I went into that bathroom (I work from home, so do the math how many visits I make in a day) I'd look at the baseboard and scowl. Yesterday, as Lil' Dude went down for his nap, I went to the bathroom and I decided. Today. Was. The. FREAKIN DAY! (Now you might be getting all, "Erin, what the heck took you so long?" All I'm gonna say, I. Had. A. Baby. I've been busy with other things...like keeping a little person alive, and happy...and guess what else? The Hubs likes to eat. Dinner. Every night. So yeah...a few years slipped by...)
I grabbed my bitty paint brush (the one with no handle...which fits perfectly into my hand and makes me happy!) and went to town on the baseboards. Then I couldn't stop...so I touched up the boards in the foyer, which led to the kitchen...then I decided it was time to stop with the downstairs and move upstairs (just in case he woke up super quick) so I did...and it was good.
Baseboards in the master bathroom, the door frame into our bathroom, the door frame into the master bedroom...and then, the cherry on top. As I was walking down the stairs, I realized the banister could use a fresh coat!
As I was washing my paint brush, I realized I was that mouse. I was the mouse, who needed a cookie (in this case a paint brush) and then a cup of milk (pint of white paint) and a napkin to wipe my milk mustache (paint splatter)...I mean REALLY?! I've always been fond of Mickey Mouse...but who knew I'd find similarities between me and a lil' mouse I read about in first grade!
Things that make you go, hu?, right?!
Monday, September 30, 2013
...wasn't the best laid plan
Last night The Hubs and I went to see Jack Johnson in concert at E.J. Thomas Hall on the University of Akron's campus. We've never been there before so I was all giddy with excitement to see it.
Concert halls overall interest me. While growing up I was always on the stage, singing, dancing, acting...you name it. Then I started doing the set designs (thankfully I had an amazing drama teach in high school who understood where my passion was) and then one day I remember standing on the stage in my high school. I was the only one in the auditorium. It was so quiet. I looked around at all the awful wooden chairs (that couldn't have been more uncomfortable...honestly, it was like sitting on a piece of plywood with a matching seat back. And they wondered why attendance was always low...just sayin')
ANYWAY, as I stood on the freshly painted black stage, I looked into the auditorium and really took it in. The way the lights were hidden from the audience. The acoustic panels that lined the walls. The carpeted aisle ways. I mean, it wasn't going to win an award for best theater design, but what it did was open my eyes to the why of design. Why did they need to use those panels on the walls? Why didn't they have carpet under the chairs, only down the aisles?
Looking back now, I can easily answer these things...but then, at the ripe ol' age of 16 I stood there and just wondered. And that started my affair with the way concert halls/auditoriums were designed.
So we walk into the hall and first thing we noticed were these GIANT silver weights hanging over our heads in one of the lobby areas. The Hubs said, "what the heck are those?" and I casually said, "suspension weights!" (Honestly, sometimes I hear the words that come out of my mouth and can't even believe I know this stuff!) So then my mind started ticking...what are they holding up? Where do those cables go to? WHY, WHY, WHYYYYYYY?? (You might be wondering, "why didn't you take a picture, Erin?" Ohhh, that's simple. Because I forgot!)
Then we walked up about 10 steps to our door. Once inside the door, there were three rows in front of us. One row that you needed to take a step up to get to. One row that was level with the doorway. And one row that was a step down. We were on the stepped down row. So we meander to our seats, 34 & 35. Which, lucky for us, was almost center stage (woot!) bad part was that there were no aisles. Meaning, once we walked down that step, you had to walk in front of each chair to get to your chair. Each row of seats ran the width of the auditorium- about 60 seats.
We amble past the 33 other seats and make our way into our chairs. I notice right off the bat that they are comfy and how much leg room we had...and then it occurred to me WHY we have so much leg room. Because people will be walking past us. Possibly stepping on our toes (depending upon how many drinks they've had...) but definitely making us bend our legs awkwardly to the side and sucking in our breath (because that helps?!) as someone passes us.
Almost immediately as I sit down, I realize I'm trapped. And what happens next? The URGENT need to pee. (Prior to feeling trapped, the bladder and I were cool. I look around and realize there's no way out,all of a sudden- its a water balloon ready to explode. Damn!) Thankfully the opening band was awesome, for the life of me I couldn't understand what the name of it was...but it was a guy with a guitar, a drummer and two lady singers. One song he sung was called Hockey Teeth- referring to a girl he dated who had huge front teeth. (Awww.)
When his set was over, the house lights rose and The Hubs and I read each others minds, got up and walked to the restroom. Nooooooooow, let me preface this with this:
This is NOT my first time going to a major event (concert, sporting event, any place with lots of people). I understand there will be longer lines for the ladies room then for the men's room. I GET THAT.
However, there was ONE entrance to the restroom. ONE. You know what this has in common with that boy band, One Direction? The word ONE. Singular. Uno. Almost nada.
The Hubs and I decide, since taking one look at the cluster f*&^ line to the restroom, that he would be done before I would be. He would probably have enough time to knit a sweater for me too while I'm on my expedition. I make my way to the top of the steps and look down the U-Shaped staircase at a mob of smartly dressed, overly tanned (its the end of September, in Ohio- I'm sure their tans are natural. Cough), carrying-too-large-a-purse-for-a-concert women and I just want to weep.
I know I'm a girl. I know this kinda thing should be second nature to me at this point. But here's the thing. I purposefully left the house last night (as I do most nights when we go out) without my purse. I hand my ID to The Hubs, put my strawberry Chap Stick in my pocket and I'm good. I don't feel the need/urge/desire to lug a purse with me. So, as we are standing like cattle being lead to slaughter, I'm being poked in the back by a big purse, but I can't take a step in front of me, or else I'll be stabbed with a Coach purse being worn on the shoulder of a woman who must not have a nose that works because GOOD LORD, its like she went threw a car wash of perfume. It was just awwwwwwwful. (Yes, I'm totally complaining. In situations like this, I would prefer to be a man. Go in, pee, wash my hands, leave. Simple.)
Ok, I'm going to stop complaining for a second because here is my point. This was a BAD DESIGN CHOICE. I immediately tune into my designer frequency in my head and start a list. It went something like this:
- Only one bathroom? Really?
- You locate the bathroom in the basement, so you have to take the stairs to it. Most women wear high heels when getting dressed up. Couldn't this pose a problem for some? (I wore my new Nike's...gotta break 'em in good, right?)
- The carpeting that was chosen to line the many staircases was dark purple (which, dark colors show EVERYTHING that lands on them). The cleaning crew either needs a vacuum with more sucking power, or they need to replace the carpeting. It looked like a large, fuzzy cat that never gets brushed lives on each stair.
Now, let's talk about safety for a second. At the end of the concert (which was totally fab, by the way!) we stand up to leave. As we are waiting to walk up that one step and out the door, I realize something. Each side of the rows has one door that feeds three rows of seats. There's about 60 seats in each row...split that in half, 30 seats. 30 x 3= 90. So about 90 people, at one time, are trying to leave out of the SAME DOOR. Do you see where, if there was a fire or some other accident that this would cause major panic? 89 other people trying to fit through a 36" wide opening, and then fighting your way down the stairs, to an exterior exit. As I'm thinking of this, I start getting a little frantic (only in my mind of course. I didn't start hyperventilating or asking for a paper bag to breathe through...) but doesn't this seem like it wasn't the best laid plan?
And on top of that, there are no other exits. Meaning, there are no center aisles for people to move through. You sit on that middle balcony section and your trapped. The only exits are those six doors (there might have been more, math has never been my strong suit)...or you could always jump down?
Bottom line, my brain never turns off. This is a bad thing at times...like when we are trying to leave the concert hall and I'm planning my emergency exit route. I know everyplace I go to won't be perfect. I'm not asking for perfection. I'm just asking for more common sense? One bathroom just seems dense to me. Knowing that people are only getting taller and not having an aisle to move through- but instead asking Lurch to slide his legs over, doesn't seem like a great way to make new friends.
So, while I ended up finding out that the suspension cables are used to move the ceiling grid in the concert hall to accommodate the acoustics of the performance...I wasn't really impressed.
(Man, should I start writing an opinion column for a newspaper?? Wait, they still print newspapers, right?)
Concert halls overall interest me. While growing up I was always on the stage, singing, dancing, acting...you name it. Then I started doing the set designs (thankfully I had an amazing drama teach in high school who understood where my passion was) and then one day I remember standing on the stage in my high school. I was the only one in the auditorium. It was so quiet. I looked around at all the awful wooden chairs (that couldn't have been more uncomfortable...honestly, it was like sitting on a piece of plywood with a matching seat back. And they wondered why attendance was always low...just sayin')
ANYWAY, as I stood on the freshly painted black stage, I looked into the auditorium and really took it in. The way the lights were hidden from the audience. The acoustic panels that lined the walls. The carpeted aisle ways. I mean, it wasn't going to win an award for best theater design, but what it did was open my eyes to the why of design. Why did they need to use those panels on the walls? Why didn't they have carpet under the chairs, only down the aisles?
Looking back now, I can easily answer these things...but then, at the ripe ol' age of 16 I stood there and just wondered. And that started my affair with the way concert halls/auditoriums were designed.
So we walk into the hall and first thing we noticed were these GIANT silver weights hanging over our heads in one of the lobby areas. The Hubs said, "what the heck are those?" and I casually said, "suspension weights!" (Honestly, sometimes I hear the words that come out of my mouth and can't even believe I know this stuff!) So then my mind started ticking...what are they holding up? Where do those cables go to? WHY, WHY, WHYYYYYYY?? (You might be wondering, "why didn't you take a picture, Erin?" Ohhh, that's simple. Because I forgot!)
Then we walked up about 10 steps to our door. Once inside the door, there were three rows in front of us. One row that you needed to take a step up to get to. One row that was level with the doorway. And one row that was a step down. We were on the stepped down row. So we meander to our seats, 34 & 35. Which, lucky for us, was almost center stage (woot!) bad part was that there were no aisles. Meaning, once we walked down that step, you had to walk in front of each chair to get to your chair. Each row of seats ran the width of the auditorium- about 60 seats.
We amble past the 33 other seats and make our way into our chairs. I notice right off the bat that they are comfy and how much leg room we had...and then it occurred to me WHY we have so much leg room. Because people will be walking past us. Possibly stepping on our toes (depending upon how many drinks they've had...) but definitely making us bend our legs awkwardly to the side and sucking in our breath (because that helps?!) as someone passes us.
Almost immediately as I sit down, I realize I'm trapped. And what happens next? The URGENT need to pee. (Prior to feeling trapped, the bladder and I were cool. I look around and realize there's no way out,all of a sudden- its a water balloon ready to explode. Damn!) Thankfully the opening band was awesome, for the life of me I couldn't understand what the name of it was...but it was a guy with a guitar, a drummer and two lady singers. One song he sung was called Hockey Teeth- referring to a girl he dated who had huge front teeth. (Awww.)
When his set was over, the house lights rose and The Hubs and I read each others minds, got up and walked to the restroom. Nooooooooow, let me preface this with this:
This is NOT my first time going to a major event (concert, sporting event, any place with lots of people). I understand there will be longer lines for the ladies room then for the men's room. I GET THAT.
However, there was ONE entrance to the restroom. ONE. You know what this has in common with that boy band, One Direction? The word ONE. Singular. Uno. Almost nada.
The Hubs and I decide, since taking one look at the cluster f*&^ line to the restroom, that he would be done before I would be. He would probably have enough time to knit a sweater for me too while I'm on my expedition. I make my way to the top of the steps and look down the U-Shaped staircase at a mob of smartly dressed, overly tanned (its the end of September, in Ohio- I'm sure their tans are natural. Cough), carrying-too-large-a-purse-for-a-concert women and I just want to weep.
I know I'm a girl. I know this kinda thing should be second nature to me at this point. But here's the thing. I purposefully left the house last night (as I do most nights when we go out) without my purse. I hand my ID to The Hubs, put my strawberry Chap Stick in my pocket and I'm good. I don't feel the need/urge/desire to lug a purse with me. So, as we are standing like cattle being lead to slaughter, I'm being poked in the back by a big purse, but I can't take a step in front of me, or else I'll be stabbed with a Coach purse being worn on the shoulder of a woman who must not have a nose that works because GOOD LORD, its like she went threw a car wash of perfume. It was just awwwwwwwful. (Yes, I'm totally complaining. In situations like this, I would prefer to be a man. Go in, pee, wash my hands, leave. Simple.)
Ok, I'm going to stop complaining for a second because here is my point. This was a BAD DESIGN CHOICE. I immediately tune into my designer frequency in my head and start a list. It went something like this:
- Only one bathroom? Really?
- You locate the bathroom in the basement, so you have to take the stairs to it. Most women wear high heels when getting dressed up. Couldn't this pose a problem for some? (I wore my new Nike's...gotta break 'em in good, right?)
- The carpeting that was chosen to line the many staircases was dark purple (which, dark colors show EVERYTHING that lands on them). The cleaning crew either needs a vacuum with more sucking power, or they need to replace the carpeting. It looked like a large, fuzzy cat that never gets brushed lives on each stair.
Now, let's talk about safety for a second. At the end of the concert (which was totally fab, by the way!) we stand up to leave. As we are waiting to walk up that one step and out the door, I realize something. Each side of the rows has one door that feeds three rows of seats. There's about 60 seats in each row...split that in half, 30 seats. 30 x 3= 90. So about 90 people, at one time, are trying to leave out of the SAME DOOR. Do you see where, if there was a fire or some other accident that this would cause major panic? 89 other people trying to fit through a 36" wide opening, and then fighting your way down the stairs, to an exterior exit. As I'm thinking of this, I start getting a little frantic (only in my mind of course. I didn't start hyperventilating or asking for a paper bag to breathe through...) but doesn't this seem like it wasn't the best laid plan?
And on top of that, there are no other exits. Meaning, there are no center aisles for people to move through. You sit on that middle balcony section and your trapped. The only exits are those six doors (there might have been more, math has never been my strong suit)...or you could always jump down?
Bottom line, my brain never turns off. This is a bad thing at times...like when we are trying to leave the concert hall and I'm planning my emergency exit route. I know everyplace I go to won't be perfect. I'm not asking for perfection. I'm just asking for more common sense? One bathroom just seems dense to me. Knowing that people are only getting taller and not having an aisle to move through- but instead asking Lurch to slide his legs over, doesn't seem like a great way to make new friends.
So, while I ended up finding out that the suspension cables are used to move the ceiling grid in the concert hall to accommodate the acoustics of the performance...I wasn't really impressed.
(Man, should I start writing an opinion column for a newspaper?? Wait, they still print newspapers, right?)
Friday, September 20, 2013
Perk-olating
There are a lot of perks of being my own boss. For instance, if I don't want to wear makeup one day, I don't have to (unless, of course I have a meeting. In which case, I grab the concealer and mascara...a girl has to keep her dignity...)
Here are some of the perks I anticipated when I started my own gig several years ago:
- Wearing my pjs while talking to people
- Wearing my pjs while answering emails
- Wearing my pjs while making paint selections
- Driving with the windows down all the time, because I wouldn't have to worry about my hair because I'd being working from home...and who was gonna say something?
- Not having to wear makeup
- If I didn't want to check an email until noon, I didn't have to worry about that
- I wouldn't have to worry about being nice to "that" person in the office...
- Wearing my pjs while brushing my teeth at noon while checking my email (no, I'm kidding about this one. I'm up and showered pretty early...)
My point for the above list is that I knew I was going to be working hard. I knew I would bust my butt, but I also anticipated doing most of the "busting" in my pjs (after all, that's a major perk of working from home, right?) Well, over the past few years I've learned a little something about those pjs. The day you decide its okay to stay in them past the 8 o'clock news, you're screwed. A client will call and need you at the job site NOW or something will happen and you need to leave the house five minutes ago...I've learned that you just wake up when the alarm goes off on the other side of the room and take the shower and stumble around the bathroom, hoping to not poke out your eye with the mascara wand.
One of the best perks I never thought of was vacations. Case in point, back in April we decide to take a cruise with some of our college friends for a week. At most jobs, you get a week off all year, so I start putting this together in my head, I'll let all my contractors and clients know, I will be gone for a week.
And then I realized that I was also gone for a week back in June when I was running the summer camp program for the SPCA. (So, if I worked for an office, and asked for another week off, they'd look at me like I was a nut-bag)...And then I thought back a little further to that week vacation we took back in February...
I start adding all these dates up and realize, if I weren't my own boss....I might think I was a slacker. (Until I'm laying in front of my computer at midnight working on a proposal...or coordinating selections with an empty stomach because the meeting was only supposed to take an hour and five hours later...)
Imagine my surprise while talking to my family about our upcoming cruise and my dad says he just booked a three bedroom suite at one of our favorite Disney hotels. Uhm....
This is when I realized the BIGGEST perk of being my own boss. I made the executive decision that it was more cost effective and more heart effective (meaning, it would do my heart good) to just stay in Florida after our week cruise to spend more time with my family and then go to Disney.
I mean, I was thinking of the environment too. Why waste all that gas and exert all that energy flying me and Lil' Man allllllllll the way back to Cleveland, just to shoot us back down to Florida the week after? So, I did something I've never done before, I packed the giant suitcase and Lil' Man and I piggy backed our vacations.
We did the week long cruise to the Caribbean with our college friends, then spent the most wonderful quality time with my dad and got to watch Lil' Man enjoy the company of his Pop Pop, then got to spend time with my sister, brother and both of their families. Was this the most selfish vacation ever? Probably. But when I think of the fact that I was able to watch my son and dad bond, I wouldn't trade that for any amount of company stock available.
Would I have traded watching my son and his big cousins going down the slide over (and over, and over and over) to sit in a chair and look at a computer screen? No way, Jose.
And I'm beyond thankful for this gift that was given to me. To us. To my family.I'm so blessed to have a husband who doesn't resent that I played for an extra week, while he went to work each day. To have a son who, although his naptime and bedtime was disrupted for two weeks only broke down once....
So, while the working in the pjs is a huge perk, the biggest perk I've found so far is being able to keep my family front and center. Right where they should be. And where they will be forever :)
Here are some of the perks I anticipated when I started my own gig several years ago:
- Wearing my pjs while talking to people
- Wearing my pjs while answering emails
- Wearing my pjs while making paint selections
- Driving with the windows down all the time, because I wouldn't have to worry about my hair because I'd being working from home...and who was gonna say something?
- Not having to wear makeup
- If I didn't want to check an email until noon, I didn't have to worry about that
- I wouldn't have to worry about being nice to "that" person in the office...
- Wearing my pjs while brushing my teeth at noon while checking my email (no, I'm kidding about this one. I'm up and showered pretty early...)
My point for the above list is that I knew I was going to be working hard. I knew I would bust my butt, but I also anticipated doing most of the "busting" in my pjs (after all, that's a major perk of working from home, right?) Well, over the past few years I've learned a little something about those pjs. The day you decide its okay to stay in them past the 8 o'clock news, you're screwed. A client will call and need you at the job site NOW or something will happen and you need to leave the house five minutes ago...I've learned that you just wake up when the alarm goes off on the other side of the room and take the shower and stumble around the bathroom, hoping to not poke out your eye with the mascara wand.
One of the best perks I never thought of was vacations. Case in point, back in April we decide to take a cruise with some of our college friends for a week. At most jobs, you get a week off all year, so I start putting this together in my head, I'll let all my contractors and clients know, I will be gone for a week.
And then I realized that I was also gone for a week back in June when I was running the summer camp program for the SPCA. (So, if I worked for an office, and asked for another week off, they'd look at me like I was a nut-bag)...And then I thought back a little further to that week vacation we took back in February...
I start adding all these dates up and realize, if I weren't my own boss....I might think I was a slacker. (Until I'm laying in front of my computer at midnight working on a proposal...or coordinating selections with an empty stomach because the meeting was only supposed to take an hour and five hours later...)
Imagine my surprise while talking to my family about our upcoming cruise and my dad says he just booked a three bedroom suite at one of our favorite Disney hotels. Uhm....
This is when I realized the BIGGEST perk of being my own boss. I made the executive decision that it was more cost effective and more heart effective (meaning, it would do my heart good) to just stay in Florida after our week cruise to spend more time with my family and then go to Disney.
I mean, I was thinking of the environment too. Why waste all that gas and exert all that energy flying me and Lil' Man allllllllll the way back to Cleveland, just to shoot us back down to Florida the week after? So, I did something I've never done before, I packed the giant suitcase and Lil' Man and I piggy backed our vacations.
We did the week long cruise to the Caribbean with our college friends, then spent the most wonderful quality time with my dad and got to watch Lil' Man enjoy the company of his Pop Pop, then got to spend time with my sister, brother and both of their families. Was this the most selfish vacation ever? Probably. But when I think of the fact that I was able to watch my son and dad bond, I wouldn't trade that for any amount of company stock available.
Would I have traded watching my son and his big cousins going down the slide over (and over, and over and over) to sit in a chair and look at a computer screen? No way, Jose.
And I'm beyond thankful for this gift that was given to me. To us. To my family.I'm so blessed to have a husband who doesn't resent that I played for an extra week, while he went to work each day. To have a son who, although his naptime and bedtime was disrupted for two weeks only broke down once....
So, while the working in the pjs is a huge perk, the biggest perk I've found so far is being able to keep my family front and center. Right where they should be. And where they will be forever :)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Blank
Sometimes I will sit by myself and have nothing on my mind. Literally, nothing. I call these my 'blank' moments because my mind is literally, blank.
Now, when these moments happen to me, I'm amazed (as would be anyone who knows me) because I'm never sitting still. I don't believe in waiting for things to happen, I don't believe in just being. I believe in moving, shaking, doing SOMETHING. Even if its walking around with the duster (because everyone's house can be dusted again...am I right?)
So, just now I finished up a layout for a friend's house, Lil' Dude is asleep, the hubs is busy and I'm sitting here and I realize. My mind is blank. Like, I just opened a Microsoft Word document, blank.
What makes me giggle about this most is that if someone gave me a blank room to work in, my mind would start going a million miles an hour. I'd have wall colors and lamps and decor and stuff. But when I wake up, before the tv is on or the computer is open, I'm able to appreciate my 'blank' moments best.
Because once the day starts and the noise begins, it seems it doesn't end at times. The microwave is beeping because the milk is heated up, the computer bings to let me know I have a new email, the car makes a new noise (new because the car itself is new...therefore I have no idea what any of the lights or "helpful" indicators actually mean)...it doesn't end. Until I have a blank moment.
That little bit of time where I can have a clear head, put things back into perspective, count my blessings (which I already do like a thousand-gillion times a day...one more time wouldn't hurt!) regroup and then, open the microwave, pull out the milk, check the email and read what that light means in the manual...
Now, when these moments happen to me, I'm amazed (as would be anyone who knows me) because I'm never sitting still. I don't believe in waiting for things to happen, I don't believe in just being. I believe in moving, shaking, doing SOMETHING. Even if its walking around with the duster (because everyone's house can be dusted again...am I right?)
So, just now I finished up a layout for a friend's house, Lil' Dude is asleep, the hubs is busy and I'm sitting here and I realize. My mind is blank. Like, I just opened a Microsoft Word document, blank.
What makes me giggle about this most is that if someone gave me a blank room to work in, my mind would start going a million miles an hour. I'd have wall colors and lamps and decor and stuff. But when I wake up, before the tv is on or the computer is open, I'm able to appreciate my 'blank' moments best.
Because once the day starts and the noise begins, it seems it doesn't end at times. The microwave is beeping because the milk is heated up, the computer bings to let me know I have a new email, the car makes a new noise (new because the car itself is new...therefore I have no idea what any of the lights or "helpful" indicators actually mean)...it doesn't end. Until I have a blank moment.
That little bit of time where I can have a clear head, put things back into perspective, count my blessings (which I already do like a thousand-gillion times a day...one more time wouldn't hurt!) regroup and then, open the microwave, pull out the milk, check the email and read what that light means in the manual...
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Use the China!
I grew up in a house where my siblings and I both loved and feared our parents. We knew if we needed them because we were scared of something, they'd open their arms in a heart beat and snuggle us 'til we pushed them away. We also knew that if we did something stupid, our parents would hunt us down like rabid dogs and, my favorite saying growing up, "Break our legs in six places and we'd never walk again!". (Yup, tough love.)
My parents ruled with a no-nonsense approach. If we did something bad, we'd be punished. Plain and simple. If we even thought of acting up in public, we'd be dead; just for the thought! Let alone if we actually were dumb enough to ACT on it! They taught us that hard work equals great rewards and that a home cooked meal can never be duplicated in a restaurant.
One of my favorite things they did with us while growing up was Sunday dinners in the dining room. Say Whaaaaa?? Yes, my parents actually USED the dining room more than just for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even with three kids. Sunday night, you parked your butt in that chair and we ate with the silver (which we polished earlier in the day) on the fine China (which we had to hand clean afterwards because they couldn't go in the dishwasher...)
I received an email earlier today from my dad that read: "OK my Children….how many times have I told you this very thing. Y’all thought I was nuts for using sterling every day!"
Here's the email:
We all know someone who keeps plastic covers on his or her couch in order to protect it. The irony is that many of these people may live their lives without ever having actually made contact with their own furniture! This is a poignant and somewhat humorous example of the human tendency to try to save things for special occasions, as if everyday life weren’t special enough to warrant the use of nice things. Many of us have had the experience of never wearing a particular piece of clothing in order to keep it nice, only to have it go out of style in the meanwhile.
It’s interesting to think of what it would mean to us if we let ourselves wear our nicest clothes and eat off the good china on a daily basis. We might be sending ourselves the message that every day we are alive is a special day and a cause for celebration, and that we are worth it. There is something uplifting about treating ourselves to the finest of what we have. It is as if we rise to the occasion when we wear our best clothes and set the table beautifully, as if for a very special guest. We are more mindful of where we place things, what we are eating, and who is with us. Using the good china, eating in the dining room, and taking the plastic off the sofa might be an invitation to be more conscious of the beauty and grace inherent in our everyday lives.
If there are things you’ve stashed away for a special occasion—a bottle of special wine, a gorgeous pair of shoes, an antique lace tablecloth—consider taking them out of their hiding places and putting them to use tonight, just because you are alive now to enjoy them, and that’s a great cause for a celebration.
While I'm reading the email I can't help but laugh. I know too many people who live their lives like this. They are the "Take your shoes off at the door" people. Or the, "we have beautiful wine glasses, but we use these instead".
For our wedding we received beautiful wine goblets, four are clear crystal, four are colored (one purple- my fav! red, blue and green). For the longest time I wouldn't pull out the colored crystal because I wanted to save it. Or make it more of a special-type of glass. Well, we started using them and guess what? My favorite glass ended up having a little ding in it. At first I was totally bummed out and wanted to see about replacing the whole colored set, and then I realized, that little ding happened while among my friends. It happened while I was enjoying myself and my company and a great glass of wine. Why should I want to replace it?
My point is that we should use all the pretty things in our lives more often. Otherwise, what's the point in having them? My goblet now has history. (Even if I can't remember the details of it clearly...)
My parents ruled with a no-nonsense approach. If we did something bad, we'd be punished. Plain and simple. If we even thought of acting up in public, we'd be dead; just for the thought! Let alone if we actually were dumb enough to ACT on it! They taught us that hard work equals great rewards and that a home cooked meal can never be duplicated in a restaurant.
One of my favorite things they did with us while growing up was Sunday dinners in the dining room. Say Whaaaaa?? Yes, my parents actually USED the dining room more than just for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even with three kids. Sunday night, you parked your butt in that chair and we ate with the silver (which we polished earlier in the day) on the fine China (which we had to hand clean afterwards because they couldn't go in the dishwasher...)
I received an email earlier today from my dad that read: "OK my Children….how many times have I told you this very thing. Y’all thought I was nuts for using sterling every day!"
Here's the email:
We all know someone who keeps plastic covers on his or her couch in order to protect it. The irony is that many of these people may live their lives without ever having actually made contact with their own furniture! This is a poignant and somewhat humorous example of the human tendency to try to save things for special occasions, as if everyday life weren’t special enough to warrant the use of nice things. Many of us have had the experience of never wearing a particular piece of clothing in order to keep it nice, only to have it go out of style in the meanwhile.
It’s interesting to think of what it would mean to us if we let ourselves wear our nicest clothes and eat off the good china on a daily basis. We might be sending ourselves the message that every day we are alive is a special day and a cause for celebration, and that we are worth it. There is something uplifting about treating ourselves to the finest of what we have. It is as if we rise to the occasion when we wear our best clothes and set the table beautifully, as if for a very special guest. We are more mindful of where we place things, what we are eating, and who is with us. Using the good china, eating in the dining room, and taking the plastic off the sofa might be an invitation to be more conscious of the beauty and grace inherent in our everyday lives.
If there are things you’ve stashed away for a special occasion—a bottle of special wine, a gorgeous pair of shoes, an antique lace tablecloth—consider taking them out of their hiding places and putting them to use tonight, just because you are alive now to enjoy them, and that’s a great cause for a celebration.
While I'm reading the email I can't help but laugh. I know too many people who live their lives like this. They are the "Take your shoes off at the door" people. Or the, "we have beautiful wine glasses, but we use these instead".
For our wedding we received beautiful wine goblets, four are clear crystal, four are colored (one purple- my fav! red, blue and green). For the longest time I wouldn't pull out the colored crystal because I wanted to save it. Or make it more of a special-type of glass. Well, we started using them and guess what? My favorite glass ended up having a little ding in it. At first I was totally bummed out and wanted to see about replacing the whole colored set, and then I realized, that little ding happened while among my friends. It happened while I was enjoying myself and my company and a great glass of wine. Why should I want to replace it?
My point is that we should use all the pretty things in our lives more often. Otherwise, what's the point in having them? My goblet now has history. (Even if I can't remember the details of it clearly...)
Friday, June 28, 2013
Giving back
Growing up I wasn't a big volunteer. I mean, of course I'd help out around my parents house, and when I needed service hours to graduate high school I was able to volunteer at the nursing home my dad ran...but giving back was never something that I did on a regular basis.
Rewind four years ago. I realize that the firm I was working for was getting painfully slow, so I started looking for ways to use my engery...I went to the SPCA website and hunted through their volunteer listings. One thing I knew I absolutely could NOT do was work with the animals. Why?
Because I would take them all home.
And then The Hubs would leave me.
And then I'd be that person who, rather than going out to eat with my family, I'd stay home and count my cats.
I didn't want that life.
So I decided to keep hunting through the listings and I found an ad for a Humane Educator. I did a little research on what that would entale and here's the big thing...it did NOT involve animals, instead it described talking to kids and sharing the SPCA's philosophy and how to be a good pet parent. Now that was something I could do!
I met with the director at the time and that started the ball rolling. Well, less of a ball and more of a tumble weed that turned into a bale of hay...which turned into a GIANT ball (...I don't know what its called when its bigger than hay, my point is that things snowballed.)
And in that snowball, we decided we should host a summer camp. Open to the public. And I would run it. Wowza.
I am an Interior Designer. Not a teacher. (Although I did a few semesters at the community college last year...but that's besides the point.) But I was up for the challenge. I dove into the books and binders and websites and found as much information as I could and our first summer camp was a huge success. Last year we had even more kids than the previous year and again, another HUGE success!
This year our eyes might have been bigger than our mouths. We hoped to have 100 kids in camp. (Typically we have like, 25!) And although we didn't even come close to the 100 (thank goodness, I mean I'm only one person, right?!) we did have 20 amazing kids come to camp this week who all got to play and learn about animals and get excited about pet care!
It makes me so happy to run this program. I'm so thankful to run my own business which allows me the freedom to take off a week from the typical workload, and pick up this awesome load of work!
Yesterday was exotic animal day and we had a great time meeting with a wildlife rescue expert who brought some of her animals including two baby raccoons, a skunk (who was de-scented!) geckos, a bearded lizard, chameleon, a tortoise named Bulldozer and a three month old groundhog!
Its amazing to see how big the eyes on my campers faces get when they see these animals and become passionate about animal care! So, while I don't clean out cages (which is so important) or walk the shelter pups, I am able to start planting the seeds of volunteerism into these kiddos heads!! Which makes me so thankful! Who knows, one day all my campers might end up being the best dog walkers out there!!
Rewind four years ago. I realize that the firm I was working for was getting painfully slow, so I started looking for ways to use my engery...I went to the SPCA website and hunted through their volunteer listings. One thing I knew I absolutely could NOT do was work with the animals. Why?
Because I would take them all home.
And then The Hubs would leave me.
And then I'd be that person who, rather than going out to eat with my family, I'd stay home and count my cats.
I didn't want that life.
So I decided to keep hunting through the listings and I found an ad for a Humane Educator. I did a little research on what that would entale and here's the big thing...it did NOT involve animals, instead it described talking to kids and sharing the SPCA's philosophy and how to be a good pet parent. Now that was something I could do!
I met with the director at the time and that started the ball rolling. Well, less of a ball and more of a tumble weed that turned into a bale of hay...which turned into a GIANT ball (...I don't know what its called when its bigger than hay, my point is that things snowballed.)
And in that snowball, we decided we should host a summer camp. Open to the public. And I would run it. Wowza.
I am an Interior Designer. Not a teacher. (Although I did a few semesters at the community college last year...but that's besides the point.) But I was up for the challenge. I dove into the books and binders and websites and found as much information as I could and our first summer camp was a huge success. Last year we had even more kids than the previous year and again, another HUGE success!
This year our eyes might have been bigger than our mouths. We hoped to have 100 kids in camp. (Typically we have like, 25!) And although we didn't even come close to the 100 (thank goodness, I mean I'm only one person, right?!) we did have 20 amazing kids come to camp this week who all got to play and learn about animals and get excited about pet care!
It makes me so happy to run this program. I'm so thankful to run my own business which allows me the freedom to take off a week from the typical workload, and pick up this awesome load of work!
Yesterday was exotic animal day and we had a great time meeting with a wildlife rescue expert who brought some of her animals including two baby raccoons, a skunk (who was de-scented!) geckos, a bearded lizard, chameleon, a tortoise named Bulldozer and a three month old groundhog!
Its amazing to see how big the eyes on my campers faces get when they see these animals and become passionate about animal care! So, while I don't clean out cages (which is so important) or walk the shelter pups, I am able to start planting the seeds of volunteerism into these kiddos heads!! Which makes me so thankful! Who knows, one day all my campers might end up being the best dog walkers out there!!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
No way, Jose!
I get a call yesterday from a lovely voice over at Houselogic.com and guess what she'd like to ask me? GUUUUUUESS! If she could use a photo from my recent kitchen renovation in one of their slideshows! I was all "whaaa?" and then I was thinking, "I totally got prank called." Then I got upset (for like two seconds) thinking of some punks calling up designers saying, "heeeey, we wanna use a picture of yours...as a dart board!" (or something else really awesome) and then I realized, wait. That was a LEGIT call. From a legit person. For a LEGIT website! That people read.
Now let me explain something to you:
I don't write with the intention of people actually reading this...(so why do you write things Erin?) Because I like hearing the sound of my nails on the keyboard and because I have a lot to say and until I get my own tv show (HELLO? Would that be the most uh-maze-balls thing EVER?!) this is how I say what I wanna about design and stuff.
I was so excited that she asked for a picture of MY kitchen too. I mean, in a year I work on a bunch of kitchens. With budgets that are more than my new car. With all kinds of professionals brought in to help make it all fancy-pants. And she wanted to use a photo of MY kitchen. Wowza. (The total cost of our kitchen renovation was about $3000)
If you worked for a company (and not yourself) you would get quarterly or yearly reviews. You'd get a guide set forth from upper management telling you where your weaknesses are, where your strengths lie and setup goals with your manager to help you excel.
I work for myself.
This means I need to be honest with myself about how things are going. I keep a notebook that I write things down in for all my projects. I have another list (in my head) of weaknesses and things I learned on this project to not do on the next project...
So receiving a call like that from someone (who wasn't a punk teenager!) asking to use photos of MY kitchen just felt like drinking a warm cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter night. Warm and fuzzy. (Although this didn't leave a marshmallow mustache on me...)
Another warm and fuzzy I received lately was when I opened a Houzz.com account and asked my clients to review me...let's just say I started to cry a little bit. (And by a little bit, of course I mean uh-lot, while smiling the whole time!!)
All I gotta say is No way Jose! I'm so thankful for this and just super excited to keep doing what I'm doing and making friends along the way :)
Now let me explain something to you:
I don't write with the intention of people actually reading this...(so why do you write things Erin?) Because I like hearing the sound of my nails on the keyboard and because I have a lot to say and until I get my own tv show (HELLO? Would that be the most uh-maze-balls thing EVER?!) this is how I say what I wanna about design and stuff.
I was so excited that she asked for a picture of MY kitchen too. I mean, in a year I work on a bunch of kitchens. With budgets that are more than my new car. With all kinds of professionals brought in to help make it all fancy-pants. And she wanted to use a photo of MY kitchen. Wowza. (The total cost of our kitchen renovation was about $3000)
If you worked for a company (and not yourself) you would get quarterly or yearly reviews. You'd get a guide set forth from upper management telling you where your weaknesses are, where your strengths lie and setup goals with your manager to help you excel.
I work for myself.
This means I need to be honest with myself about how things are going. I keep a notebook that I write things down in for all my projects. I have another list (in my head) of weaknesses and things I learned on this project to not do on the next project...
So receiving a call like that from someone (who wasn't a punk teenager!) asking to use photos of MY kitchen just felt like drinking a warm cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter night. Warm and fuzzy. (Although this didn't leave a marshmallow mustache on me...)
Another warm and fuzzy I received lately was when I opened a Houzz.com account and asked my clients to review me...let's just say I started to cry a little bit. (And by a little bit, of course I mean uh-lot, while smiling the whole time!!)
All I gotta say is No way Jose! I'm so thankful for this and just super excited to keep doing what I'm doing and making friends along the way :)
Friday, May 31, 2013
Kitchen reveal- part 3
After waiting 24, very looooong hours, I asked my father-in-law to pop over and hook up our fancy pants new faucet. Although, it was like Fate was mad at me and I wasn't meant to have a faucet. Why? Because that afternoon (as I'm watching the epoxy dry) my mother-in-law went to play golf (obviously she had a more eventful day than me!) and her car got hit in the parking lot. And not just like, "opps, lemme write them a note" kinda hit. Hit like, holy-crap-I-should-just-pull-away-and-hope-for-the-best-even-though-I-hear-that-I'm-draggin-something-kind of hit. (Ok, I'm being dramatic. He didn't take her bumper...but pretty darn close!) Because of that, once my fil and mil arrived at our house, he worked, then he had to stop. Call the witness who saw the guy hit her car, then drive away, and left a message. Then pick back up where he left off, and stop again because the witness called back. Of course he called back!
When all was said and done, around 9:30 my fil told me what parts we needed to pick up from The Depot, and that he'd be back on Saturday to finish the install. It was Thursday evening. I almost died.
Now, let me be clear. I know that people go several weeks without a functioning kitchen while undergoing renovations. I also know that there are like 100,000,000 people in third world countries who don't even have a kitchen, let alone a kitchen sink (or faucet). So, walking the extra 15 steps to the pedestal sink in the half bath wasn't really going to kill me. However, it kinda was. I'm not going to sugar coat this, I don't really like being displaced, especially in our own home. Its like a mean/bad/horrible joke. Add to that the cutest little person ever-in-the-world who wants a clean sippy cup (I know, right...the nerve of that little kid!) So yes, the idea of waiting another 36 hours (I might have counted) until I got a functioning sink wasn't going to do.
So you know what I did? I did it myself. (You'd think I'd have a picture to post here, except I didn't take a picture of under the sink before I put all the "stuff" back...and now its all kinda blocked.)
No lie. I looked at all this stuff, the strainer basket, the garbage disposal...the plumbing and after picking up the pieces my fil told me we needed (and another trip to The Depot) I was anxious to put Lil' Man down for a nap so mama could play! And play I did. I borrowed my neighbors pipe cutter saw/thingy and hacked away until I made all the lil' tubes fit! I have never been so excited to turn on a faucet in my life! (Oh, I should also give props to the guy on You Tube whose video about installing the basket assembly I watched...) Anyway, after the excitement wore off of the plumbing NOT leaking, it was time to CLEAN!! I scrubbed the floors (having the granite guys come in and out and then having the backsplash installers in and out made it so dusty and took away from the new kitchen smell...) and then Lil' Man woke up...but I didn't really care, because when he was done with his milk, know what I got to do?
I got to wash it. In the sink. With my new faucet. With my newly installed plumbing lines.
When all was said and done, around 9:30 my fil told me what parts we needed to pick up from The Depot, and that he'd be back on Saturday to finish the install. It was Thursday evening. I almost died.
Now, let me be clear. I know that people go several weeks without a functioning kitchen while undergoing renovations. I also know that there are like 100,000,000 people in third world countries who don't even have a kitchen, let alone a kitchen sink (or faucet). So, walking the extra 15 steps to the pedestal sink in the half bath wasn't really going to kill me. However, it kinda was. I'm not going to sugar coat this, I don't really like being displaced, especially in our own home. Its like a mean/bad/horrible joke. Add to that the cutest little person ever-in-the-world who wants a clean sippy cup (I know, right...the nerve of that little kid!) So yes, the idea of waiting another 36 hours (I might have counted) until I got a functioning sink wasn't going to do.
So you know what I did? I did it myself. (You'd think I'd have a picture to post here, except I didn't take a picture of under the sink before I put all the "stuff" back...and now its all kinda blocked.)
No lie. I looked at all this stuff, the strainer basket, the garbage disposal...the plumbing and after picking up the pieces my fil told me we needed (and another trip to The Depot) I was anxious to put Lil' Man down for a nap so mama could play! And play I did. I borrowed my neighbors pipe cutter saw/thingy and hacked away until I made all the lil' tubes fit! I have never been so excited to turn on a faucet in my life! (Oh, I should also give props to the guy on You Tube whose video about installing the basket assembly I watched...) Anyway, after the excitement wore off of the plumbing NOT leaking, it was time to CLEAN!! I scrubbed the floors (having the granite guys come in and out and then having the backsplash installers in and out made it so dusty and took away from the new kitchen smell...) and then Lil' Man woke up...but I didn't really care, because when he was done with his milk, know what I got to do?
I got to wash it. In the sink. With my new faucet. With my newly installed plumbing lines.
Check out my sexy new faw-cet! Isn't she a beaut?? (Notice the door on the counter behind the faucet?)
Alright, so I install the faucet, hook it up and then guess what? I still have six more cabinet doors to finish painting. Why? Here's my reasoning. Before all the work was done (granite install and the backsplash) I decided to paint all the upper cabinets, but wait on the base cabinets. I figured the paint on the base cabinets wouldn't have enough time to cure (dry) before they were getting a beating. And, I also know that while those gentlemen are super careful, they wouldn't be AS careful in the newly painted kitchen as I would be. So, I waited.
And, while I waited The Hubs thought I was loco. Bananas. Gone Mad. Why? Because we have a toddler running around the house and "how are you going to keep him out of the cabinets when they don't have any doors on them, Erin?" and I was all, "I don't know...but I'll figure it out!" And I figured it out. Remember how I told you that I had to empty all the base cabinets out so they could remove the old counter (and install the new one?) Right, well this chicky didn't FILL the cabinets once the new counters were on. Thus eliminating the need to get "fussy" while having a toddler roam the kitchen because the cabinets were, oh you guessed it, empty. Ha :P
So once we had a functioning faucet (ahhhh, I didn't realize how much I use my kitchen sink!) I put the drop cloth on the counters (because all the stuff from the cabinets was now living on our kitchen table) and painted 'til my arm felt numb. Well, actually I painted until I ran out of room. I only had enough counter space for four doors, but I had six...so I had to wait an extra 24 hours before finishing all the doors, then they had to dry and yaddy yaddy...so FINALLY on Monday morning, around 9am, I was able to install the very last of our door hardware and WAHZAM, hang the last door.
This also meant that I got to clean the kitchen. Again. WOOT! I filled my bucket (from my faucet!) got out the mop, grabbed those awesome yellow gloves and a sponge and got to work. When I was finished I had the joy and satisfaction of knowing that a week and a half ago our kitchen looked like "eh- its clean, but nothing to write home about" to "holy CRAP, that's MY kitchen!"
We tiled the side of the tall pantry because the previous counters ran a side splash on it, and we didn't know if once it was removed we would have damage, so we just tiled the whole thing)
One of my favorite parts of our kitchen is that we DON'T have stainless steel appliances. Why? Because EVERY-one has 'em...and this is a great way to show people that you can use "plain white" appliances in your kitchen and make 'em look awesome!
Our new fancy pants under mount sink (and when they installed the granite, they added supports for the counter to the right of the sink and left of the dishwasher, remember in that photo how there wasn't any supports?
The finished product.
Ahhhhhhhh
The one and only thing I had left to do (besides keep it clean) was to seal the grout on the backsplash. We had to wait 48 hours for the grout to dry 100% but I picked up sealer from The Depot and sprayed it on, wiped it off, and pushed all my appliances back into place. Done!
***A few things I didn't know until doing this makeover:
- How much I rely on our family for help. The Hubs' grandpa came over and removed the old laminate counters for us the night before we were to have the granite installed so that we didn't have to go too long without counters (little did I know it was going to be the sink that would cause me the most heartache!) And then having my fil install the faucet, and help me with the parts I'd need for the plumbing lines
- How un-flexible I am. Which is why, during this project of constantly being hunched over, using only my right arm (because I'm right handed) I was at my chiropractor three times during this process.
- How much I didn't like our old kitchen. Damn. You know how people say things like, "I really didn't think it was that bad..." well, I didn't realize it was that bad until I saw how awesome it became.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Kitchen reveal- part 2
And so it
began. I used a deglosser on all the cabinets (which is basically liquid
sand paper) and then followed it up with a nice cleaning on all the
surfaces with TSP (which is a SUPER cleanser/degreaser...so if you ever
need to just give your kitchen a super clean, just this TSP stuff!) Next
up, I used a fine grit sandpaper on any area that the deglosser didn't
do a fab job on. (Like the areas on the cabinets we touch more, even
though we have pulls on the cabinets, sometimes you don't use them...)
I
used Frog Tape to mask off all the interiors of the cabinets and along
the baseboards. (Frog Tape uses fancy-pants technology in their tape, so
once it makes contact with a latex (or water based) paint, it instantly
forms a barrier. (Its the same technology in your babies diaper...that
makes the diapers bulky once they pee in 'em). I used the regular blue
tape (which isn't nearly as expensive as the Frog Tape) on other areas
that the clean crisp line wasn't 1000% necessary.
As
I was huffing the fumes from the deglosser and TSP, I went out front
with Lil' Man to play and started talking to my next door neighbor who
just painted her cabinets a few years ago. I told her I was planning on
painting the doors in the garage, so Lil' Man could play and I could
work. She brought up the BEST point. Bugs. And pollen. And other gross
stuff that lives in the garage. Oh. She suggested that I do what she
did, paint the doors on the kitchen table, in the AC. This way you don't
have to worry about anything falling on them. Score.
See how gross the cabinets look? Once I was all done with the deglossing and the TSP wash, they looked awful and started to get really dark in spots.
Thankfully we only had to go one night (like, less than 12 hours) without counters. But lemme tell you, those were 12 very long hours. Lil' Man thought we gave him new toys to play with (the cabinets). When he went to bed that night, I found a Goofy stuffed animal sitting in the bottom of one cabinet, and a car in another! And, knowing that we were going to need the kitchen table for the contents of those base cabinets, I had to quickly finish the upper doors, to make space for all the "stuff" that lives in our cabinets...
See, no counters or drawers!
I didn't realize, until there were no counters, that there was no support for the counter to the right of the kitchen sink (and left of the dishwasher!)
With all our base cabinets emptied out for the arrival of the new counters, our kitchen table looked like this! To say it drove me banana's is an understatement!
Once the new counters were installed I did a little happy dance. Actually, no. I didn't do a "little" happy dance. I did the Carlton. It was epic.
Ok, so we now have counters (which look totally fab) and we have a new sink (which was SUPER fab!) but I learned that because of the epoxy they used to attach said sink to said counters, we had to wait 24 hours before it could get wet. Lame.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Kitchen reveal- part 1
"What did you do?" my chiropractor asked me when I hobbled into his office. "Just finished painting my kitchen cabinets" I mumbled in pain.
He proceeded to do his magic on my back, shoulders and neck and when he was done he told me, "Erin, are you sure you're done with this kitchen project? From the looks of your back, you should be done." I nodded (now that I could move my head again) and said "I'm finished." And then, maybe a little too proudly said, "wanna see the pictures?!"
And so, here is the big kitchen reveal:
After he templated, I was BUZZING with excitement. This was really going to happen. We were really going to have a new kitchen. And then it hit me, like a ton of big, fat bricks- PAINT. YOUR. CABINETS. BLACK. (It might have just been that I had just gotten off the phone with my dad, who might have said that, over and over and over to me...but whatever!)
He proceeded to do his magic on my back, shoulders and neck and when he was done he told me, "Erin, are you sure you're done with this kitchen project? From the looks of your back, you should be done." I nodded (now that I could move my head again) and said "I'm finished." And then, maybe a little too proudly said, "wanna see the pictures?!"
And so, here is the big kitchen reveal:
yes, that's a Spiderman figurine on the top of our cabinets- I'll explain later
new fancy-pants back splash makes my mixer POP!
Check out my uh-maze-ing undermountsink!
There's Spidey again...just watching over things
My lil' Keurig likes his pretty new counters
Ok, so now that you've see all the pretty's...here's how this all went down.
My dad came to visit the weekend before we were getting the counters templated (and, if you remember that little piece of granite I kept moving around) He said after looking at the samples, "You know what would look awesome? Paint your cabinets black!" and I said, "WHAAAAAAA?" and he said, "Honey, I'm telling you, paint them black. Its going to change the whole house." I nodded and said, "but that's going to be uh-lot of work!" and he just looked at me like, "...and when did a little elbow grease bother you, missy?" Oh.
So he left and the super nice template man, Tony, came to our house. In order to get a perfect template, he needed to remove our existing backplash...
Pretty awesome, hu? When I came back in from playing outside with Lil' Man, I was so excited I was bouncing up and down! I couldn't believe it was actually happening!!
To create the template, he used (what was basically) a lot of yard sticks
He hot glued the yard sticks together to create a perfect replica (that they would later use to cut and layout our granite slab)
After he templated, I was BUZZING with excitement. This was really going to happen. We were really going to have a new kitchen. And then it hit me, like a ton of big, fat bricks- PAINT. YOUR. CABINETS. BLACK. (It might have just been that I had just gotten off the phone with my dad, who might have said that, over and over and over to me...but whatever!)
So I waited for The Hubs to come home and had "the talk".
me: If you were to come home tomorrow and the cabinets were black, would you still love me?
him: What?
me: Was that a yes?
him: Hu?
me: You didn't say 'no' right off the bat, so I'm going to take that as a yes!
him: Oh boy.
The next day Lil' Man and I went to The Home Depot and got all the supplies I needed. I called The Hubs before checking out.
me: Just to be 100% sure, I'm going to buy all the stuff to paint the cabinets.
him: Oh honey.
me: So that's your approval?
him: Not really...I think your crazy. How are you going to do all this painting with Lil' Man running around your feet?
me: Hu? (blowing into phone) I. Can't. Hear. You
him: Erin.
me: (still blowing) You. Are. Breaking. Up.
him: I love you
me: hehe, love you too! BYEEEEEE
Monday, April 29, 2013
Its a bird? Its a plane? ITS NEW COUNTERS!!!
Its happening!
Its finally happening!!
Our kitchen is getting a little make-ova'! (And by little, I mean HUGE!)
I'm around beautiful products all the time, and until now I've been very good at looking-but-not-touching. However, when I found this linear mosaic blend tile I fell. In. Love. Hard. As I was stroking the tile with the back of my hand, I asked my sales rep to pllllllllease order me a sample. (Or two. Or three...) so when they arrived about a week later, I was head over heals with my tile. Yes, MY tile. It became mine within a nanosecond. I received three pieces of three rows of my tile. So I laid them on the counter, and drooled. Then it hit me- TAPE THEM UP!
So I did...
I hung some up here (I used the blue tape to hold them up because its a low-tack tape, so it won't pull off my drywall when its done holding the tile in place!)
And put some over here too...(don't mind the canister of mini M&M's...I feel its vital that every kitchen have some M&M's!)
And over here too!! Yes we will be putting the tile on the side of our panty. Why? Because when they installed the laminate side splash, they glued it to the side of the cabinet. So when we rip it off, we would have a yucky (yes, yucky is a totally 'professional' word) surface, so we are going to cover the whole area with the pretty tiles and call it a day!
Now it might seem like a simple task; just find a counter to go with the perfect backsplash tile, Erin. Shouldn't be a big deal, right? I mean, this is what I do for other people...I should be able to do this for my home without incident, right? Well...I thought solid black counters were going to be the way to go. I was certain it was all about the solid black. I got a sample of Black Uba Tuba and moved it around the kitchen, and kept feeling like "its oooooookay". It wasn't that shock of electricity through me like, "YES! This is THE one...". I knew something was off, so I moved it around and around, and finally I put it in the laundry room so that when I was folding laundry, I could really "look" at it. And that's when it hit me. Somewhere in between socks and t-shirts, I realized what the problem was. It was green.
I asked the hubs when he came home:
me: Do you see green?
hubs: Green?
me: Yes. In the sample, do you see green?
hubs: I see green outside. I don't see any green in the counter.
me: You're sure?
hubs: Is this going somewhere?
me: I see green
hubs: I see your crazy
me: Oh.
Realizing I wasn't gonna convince him that there was green in the counter, I emailed my granite rep, explaining my epic dilema. Mainly that I don't have anything green in our house. Like, NOTHING in our home is green. Its all black, white, gray and beige. Not green. And my perfect backsplash tile wasn't green. AHHHHHH. And could she please knock me off a sample of the gray granite? She emailed me back, told me she doesn't see green in the granite either, but she wanted me to be 100% happy, so if I saw green, she saw green and she'd happily knock me off a piece of the gray.
I brought home the gray granite and put it next to the "black" one. Hands down, I knew. I got that tingly feeling with the gray...but I withheld my giddy-happy-dance until The Hubs made his decision.
me: So, here they are, side by side. Which do you prefer?
hubs: Uhm
me: YOU HAVE TO THINK?
hubs: Uhm
me: This was the quickest, easiest decision ever
hubs: So its the gray one, right?
me: DUH!
(and that's how we communicate)
Because I'm me, I've been moving around the sample of granite too. Its been in every corner, under every item (like our soap dispenser) I have that lives on my counter...I've hung it over the side of my sink (because the new one will be under mount...and I wanted to see how that would look and feel...) I've sprayed my sample of granite with my usual cleaner, just a wet cloth, a sponge with soap...all to find out which will leave a streak and which won't...
My version of an under mount sink...sorta
...and next to the sink
Our little granite sample has become my favorite coaster...and trivet, and cutting board...I might actually miss my little sample. Oh wait, I won't have to have a mini sample anymore...because in two weeks we will have a GIANT counter to use a coaster! EEK! I can put a hot pan on my counters! I can cut directly on the counter! I can TAP DANCE on my counters!! SQUEEEEEEEAL! I'm so excited!
Here are the two samples together:
Perfect harmony...
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