Weekend Projects: New Outlets and Water Filter

Bradley helped me tackle a couple of projects around the house this weekend.  The first was replacing some of the outlets in the living room and kitchen.  The old ones had loose grips on all of my cords so they would easily fall out in the middle of vacuuming or charging my phone.  We still need to replace a couple in the dining room and bedroom, but we’ll get to it later.

We also decided to install a water filter at our kitchen sink.  We had an extra hole left from installing the new faucet, so it was the perfect place for the small filter faucet.  I don’t care for the chrome faucet that came with the system, so we will be replacing it with a brushed nickel filter faucet soon.  Now we don’t have to constantly take the Pur tank out of the refrigerator to refill it.  It will make filling water bottles so much less of a hassle.

Bookcase Display

As I was going through blog posts the other day, I came across a Better After post about sprucing up cheap laminate bookcases.  The part that inspired me though, was the staging of one of the finished bookcases.  The shape of the bookcase is like the ones we have in our dining room.  I have the hardest time staging them without a cluttered feel.

Here is the inspiration:

I like the clean stacked look, and I have my parents’ wedding china that I have always struggled finding a way to display in a way that it can still be used.  The amount here is not overwhelming and the flow from item to item is in a nice stair-step, layered pattern.

Before, I had my old yearbooks laid horizontally in two stacks with a couple of things on top, a tall blue vase, my salt rock lamp, and my parents’ wedding china tea set.  Not terribly dining room themed.

I moved out the blue vase, year books, and salt lamp.  For an airy, stacked look, I placed some of the china on a large crystal cake stand that I scored at Goodwill recently.  I added the teacup saucers so that I could stack them neatly on the bottom shelf with one of our wedding pictures.  On the top shelf, I included a hurricane filled with wine corks, my West Elm squirrel, and my crystal punch bowl to balance the shelf visually and to bounce light around.  The large mirror and frame stayed in the back of the bookcase to lighten the dark color of the cabinet.

I realized I haven’t posted about it, but I moved the bookcases from the window wall to the wall opposite the foyer a while back.  I thought it gave a better flow around the table and doesn’t press in on the drapes anymore. 

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Emerald Green Giants

In my never-ending quest to make our yard look intentional, I have installed a few new plants: Emerald Green Giants.  These are Arborvitaes that grow to be 15′ tall and 4′ wide.  The tag calls them ‘medium’ speed growers.  Not as big and fast growing as the Thuja Greens we planted a couple of years ago.

Two of the new trees went along the fence at the top of our backyard hill.  I wanted a little privacy screen that would grow up between the dogwood tree and the magnolias on either side of it.  The houses behind us sit level with our second story windows – aka our master bedroom windows.  Not that I really expect any privacy from these little guys before we eventually move on, but I don’t mind trying to establish something now for future owners to enjoy.

The third tree went at the front corner of the house.  I ended up buying a 2.5 gallon size for this area instead of the 1 gallon size that went in the backyard.  You can see the vision I have for this corner here.

In other exciting news, the little crape myrtle sprouts I pulled up and planted next to the old pear tree stump took root!  I was getting more than a little annoyed that the stupid sprouts were popping up everywhere, but were seemingly not wanting to root where I wanted them.  Now I’m happy again!  Hopefully, this wil be the perfect thing for this spot – able to grow roots around the old stump and provide a little of the shade that was lost when we had to take down the pear tree.

Dream Home Dreaming

I have been playing around with homestyler.com for a few months.  It lets you build floor plans and view them in 2D or 3D.  I have been tinkering with my ‘dream home’ plans off-and-on just for the fun of it.  Disclaimer: I have not been paying attention to the actual dimensions or logistics so it could be totally unrealistic, hence the ‘dream’ in ‘dream home’.

Ideally, I would live in a single-level bungalow, but with a full basement.  The garage would be attached, but would not face the front.  The master bedroom and one secondary bedroom would be on the first level, with a guest suite on the basement level.  Bradley would have an office on the main floor and I would have a large crafting area in the basement.  The main living space would be open, but have some definition to constrain the living room from the kitchen from the dining room.  We would have a separate foyer, with double 8-lite french front doors.  A patio would be sandwiched between the master bedroom and a sunroom for privacy.

For me, it would be more about finishes than size.  I would love to have large craftsman moldings and solid wood doors.  Interior transoms and hardwood floors throughout.  It would showcase true craftsmanship that is such a rarity in so many homes today.

So far, this is the best layout I have come up with:

Yesterday, Bradley was kind enough to drive me around some of the side streets near downtown Marietta to take in the older homes in the area.  I would love to live near a downtown area like Marietta (close to the interstate, lots of activities, established landscaping), but without the maintenance of an older home.  Here was my favorite inspiration of the night:

I love the roof lines, the tapered columns and the stone work at the base of the columns.  The double french front doors with transoms are almost perfect too.

Bathroom Clutter

I was tired of walking into our bathroom every day and being disappointed by all the clutter on the counter.  But I know myself, and I will never stick to a system of putting away every little item every single day.  So I compromised and bought this cute little box at Tuesday Morning.  It is the perfect size to catch all the ‘stuff’ I use all the time.  I like the taller sides too that keep things from tipping over easily.