The Austin Crib: 2010

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Quality Fence?

This is our "Quality" brand fence after the FIRST winter storm it has been in. Nice...Quality? Let's see what they say when I call them tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Our Changing Landscape...

I last posted an update to our changing 4 corners on February 22, 2010. Want to see it now?

Looking to the West out of our patio door.

Looking to the West towards our new neighbors across the street and model home over the fence.

Looking to the Northwest out the back yard

Northwest...view from the backyard (that will soon be changing).

New Constuction - This was taken YESTERDAY...Today...Dirt pile in its place

View to the North out the back yard - New neigbors straight out (but far) and to the right in the picture)

Neighbors in the ranch moved in last April (and are super nice!).

View to the East from the kitchen window

Today's view (beside the model home is another hole being dug. Yeah.).

Lovely...dirt and more beeping

View out front to the Southwest

Out front door

View from Front door to the East

View from front

Front yard


View looking out the front door

My, how our landscape changes from day to day around here.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I should not be the one writing about how to paint rounded corners. When painting our rooms from the kitchen to the family room, all I did to help was Google where to tape. Chris did the exact work (and it turned out beautifully!).

So, how do you know where to lay the tape and make the line? First off, you need painters tape...frog tape to be exact. The blue tape just will not do the trick for this project. In our home, we have what are called bullnose corners, but they come to a point at the bottom. At the bottom, it is easy to form the line between rooms. Then, we just selected the inside of the round point and taped. Sounds easy...but it really is not. It is has to be a perfect straight line or it will just look awful. The tape needs to be applied from the ceiling down in most cases.

Once the line in taped, it is time to paint. Paint away. Once both coats have been applied (let's be honest, the "2 coat paint" never seems to be quite good enough), the tape should be removed. I have found the quicker the tape comes off, the better.

And here is the result form our painting project. Kitchen: Valspar Burnt Caramel (from Lowes) and the family room: Sherwin Williams Latte.

Progress Towards Goals

On January 31 of this year, I posted our goals for our home for the upcoming year. As my Dad always says, you have to have goals. So, how are we doing?

Here were (are) the 2010 home goals:

* Shutters to the windows half at a time (they are expensive!). CHECK!

* Build a closet in our laundry room AND DROP ZONE - CHECK!

* Build a linen closet in the master suite Um, nope. We did not do this one.

* Purchase new bedding in the master suite CHECK!

* Paint throughout. The home has flat paint which is hardly child friendly. PROCESS MADE TOWARDS GOAL.

* Maybe a fence. With that said, we have to purchase vinyl or iron in our neighborhood, which could cost $10-15,000 for our large lot. Ugh! We may think again after seeing the estimate. CHECK!

* Knick Knacks for the Family room. I have the selected, just need to get Chris' approval. CHECK!
* Replace some of the extremely ugly fans in the home.CHECK!
* Hang our artwork (after the walls are painted).CHECK - but we can always use more.

2011 Home Goals:

* Finish Interior painting

* Finish landscaping
* Wrought iron spindles
* Possible extended patio
* Possibly recarpet the basement

That should keep us busy. More to come!

Here are some before and after pictures from 2010: