Grant Meets Santa

The excitement of the holiday season is here, and Kim and I took Grant to a local mall to meet Santa for the first time. At 18 months old, I wasn't sure if he would smile, cry, or look like a reindeer staring in headlights. Check out the video, and see for yourself!

Bathroom Complete!

And the bathoom is finished! Yay! We now have a presentable bathroom for our guests to enjoy, complete with the following features:

• Custom paint on walls (wall opposite mirror has striped treatment; faux tile above shower)
• New fixtures in antique bronze
• Custom painted cabinets (crackle treatment in antique white)
• New shower curtain

And with that, I'm done redoing things. For now....frankly, I need motivation to plant stuff outside; however, given the current season I lovingly refer to as the raging inferno, we'll have to wait until late fall....

Here are pics!

Beginnings of Beautifying the Bathroom

I'm posting early because I'm pretty sure I won't have time this weekend. Okay ... back to remodeling ... So the next project is the guest bathroom. As you can see in the picture here, the cabinets are dark and dated - definitely a relic from the early 1970s. Since our budget is tight, I have to see what I can do with some paint and a little creativity. Luckily, the we changed bathroom when we moved in, so flooring is not an issue. But, the cabinets and sinks are going to be too pricy to switch out, so I thought, "what if I antiqued the cabinets in some way?"

Well, I did, and they look great! I used a taupe color on the cabinets first. On the doors and drawers, I then used a crackle finish on top of that. Once the crackle finish dried, I used an antique white paint on top. They now have a nice worn look. I was able to reuse the gold and white ceramic door and drawer handles by spray painting them (several coats) with an "antique bronze" color, which matched the existing door hinges perfectly.They'll look even better once we paint the walls the colors we want and replace the light and towel fixtures.

Can't wait! Stay tuned for August's installment!

Have a fun and safe July 4th weekend!

Joy's Wedding - 5/3/08

My little sister got married this past May 3rd in Sedona to the best man I could have dreamt up for her, Johnny. Our family is so happy to have him in the group that we've lovingly dubbed him, BIL4 (brother-in-law #4). He's taken the moniker quite well!


Anyway, here are some highlights! You'll see the groom's reaction to seeing Joy for the first time, the cake my aunt and cousin made, and other random fun ones. Enjoy!

This is for you, Laura!!

Here are some pics of our newly finished dining room and pool table room. The closets are gone, the ceiling is raised and finished, and I painted!! Woo hoo!

(And yes, those ARE Star Wars posters on the wall!! We're dorks.)

What's the next project? Right now we are taking a break, but I do have paint swatches for the guest bathroom, which boasts a very outdated sink cabinet, yucky fixtures, and a blue shower curtain. Stay tuned for the update! Hoping to start painting in the next week or so.

Remodeling - After!

Here are some pics of the tiling we've done!

Remodel Slideshow!

Finally! Here are pictures of our house remodeling projects - the before view!

Pool Remodel - Part 3

The pool is being replastered today! Woo hoo!! I'm at work, and when I return home this evening, the plaster should be in and the refilling should be on its way. I am so excited to have our pool back - it's been hot here! Yesterday, I was taking some items out to the alley behind our house for bulk trash pick up. I wore sunscreen, a hat, and glasses, and my freckles on my cheeks still popped out. Eeeeesh ... what's a girl to do?

Stay tuned for part 3 pics!

Pool Remodel Part 2

We came back from our vacation on Saturday, June 16, to find some progress in the pool remodel. They put in the new tile, and our waterfall feature to the left of the bench is in place! Now all they have to do is plaster it! Woo hoo! Stay tuned!

Pool Remodel Part 1

Here you can see the remodeling of the pool has begun! In the first picture, we had just drained the pool. Note the dried brown algae on the bottome of the pool. On the steps, you can see the missing chunks of plaster. Imagine those chunks missing all over the pool! Stay tuned for Part 2!

Our Pool - Before

Here are a couple pictures of our pool before we started the remodel. The previous owners did an amazing - and enigmatic - job at keeping it crystal blue during the sale of the house. A week after we moved in, it was a lovely algae green reminiscent of the Mead family above-ground pool we had in Riverside, CA, for a time. Yuck! The dark spots on the bottom of the pool are rust spots from the metal rebar coming through. Also, the plaster had huge chunks missing all over the place, which you can't see in the photos. Stay tuned for the Remodeling updates!

Our New House

Here are a couple pictures of our new house, including the family room, kitchen, living room, and entry way with two hall closets. All this has changed. Stay tuned for the next post!

Welcome!

Welcome to The Young Spot! Brady and I are so excited to have this to share with our family and friends. This is the spot to read about all the latest and greatest happening in our lives right now - and we've had a lot going on, which we'll be posting very soon. Enjoy!