Monday, April 21, 2014

Bookshelves for baby

Before we moved into our house and faced a mountain of our own projects, we took on a project for my sister and her little fetus.

Ashley texted me a few months ago and asked how to make bookshelves. Long story short, I volunteered Jason and I to make them because 1) she has other things to worry about (like growing a human) and 2) this is something we can give to the baby that will last a really long time.

Ashley gave us the dimensions and some pictures of inspiration furniture. We visited our favorite lumber yard and our three-weekend adventure began!

First we cut all the wood down to the right size at the Hills' house so that we could sand, stain, and assemble at our apartment garage.

Everything at the correct size loaded up and ready to go:

We sanded all the edges for the planked sides, top, and back to 45 degrees so that the seams were more defined. We also sanded the front corner posts to 45 degrees to baby-proof it - we learned quickly after building our bed that "sharp-looking" lines are also sharp-feeling.
And, as all good carpenters do, I wore hunting socks with flip flops.

After all the cutting and sanding, we started to assemble. We used biscuits and pocket holes so there are no visible screws. These were new techniques that we tried out on this project and it ended up working really well.
 
Screwing in the pocket holes on the backs of shelves:
 
Everything except the back assembled and clamped (plus my very attractive groom):
 
Then we stained the front and back separate to avoid pooling and unevenness. We had a grey stain originally but it didn't bring out the grain in the wood so we mixed it with some dark brown and came out with this:

 
Then... we assembled!
 
Once we fully assembled we burned our initials (CJA and JAH) in the back with the date of the baby shower where we were going to give them to Ashley and Hunter:

 
We told Ashley that we couldn't bring them up because it was pouring the day we headed to Charlotte. We actually took them straight to the shower location and they were set up with books by the time she arrived. It was a fun way to surprise her with something that she already knew was coming.
 
 
And that's the journey of the Baby Edwards bookshelves! Only a few more weeks until we meet him!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Homeowner happiness!

We have a house!

On March 26th, Jason and I closed on our very first house. We've talked about buying a house for years and knew we wanted to be settled in one before the wedding.

We're staying very close to where our apartment (and my office) is in Roswell - we really like the area and my commute is ideal. We found a three bed, two bath ranch in a neighborhood that is 1,984 square feet and, possibly most importantly, has a two-car garage! It was a pre-approved short sale and, against all odds of it being a short sale, we closed one month after we initially saw the house. The bank was extremely responsive and both the bank and previous owner were motivated to sell.

Since it was a short sale, we bought it as-is. Which means we have lots of fixing up to do! Ten days into owning the house we've already put a big dent in the work that needs to be done. So consider these the before pictures.

Jason was so eager to get started that, immediately after closing, we went straight to the house. We drove separately and I arrived about 30 seconds after him. When I pulled in, he was already started.



Here we are right after closing:

 
Here's the outside:
 



 
And then our pretty trees bloomed:
 
 
 
Oh, right - we have an atrium in the middle of our house. It was marketed as a "plant lovers dream" but everyone that has come into the house so far has expected some Led Zeppelin and a cloud of smoke. We put a hibiscus in it to curb the rumors.

 
When we bought the house, the living room was orange. Like...pumpkin. That was one of our first projects.




 
Luckily now it's a nice beige/grey color. Muuuuuuch better.


 
Our guest rooms were lime green and teal. And our master was a yellowish color. We tackled the master the night we closed - now it's a smokey blue!



 
This is our master bathroom. It needs some work. We've already done a good bit but the "after" pictures will have to wait until it actually looks like an "after" and not a tornado site.

 
Buying as-is also meant that we got to keep appliances, including a washer/dryer that are much better than what we had before. BUT we also inherited a garage full of... treasures.


We have been cleaning and painting and renovating non-stop since we closed and so far this is the best adventure ever! I'll try to update as we tackle projects. Cheers to being homeowners!!!