bye bye carpet, hello dash and albert runner

The carpeting on my stairs was a mess. Stained, dirty, gross. I have always wanted to get rid of the carpeting and put in a cool runner but was a bit afraid of tackling the project on my own. 

So I found a great contractor who came in, ripped off the carpeting, sanded, sanded, sanded, and sanded the stairs down, stained the plywood and painted the risers, then installed the dash and albert runner I picked out.

I love it! So happy.

Here is where we started:

The stairs under the carpeting were in terrible shape. I knew they weren't going to be pretty which is one of the reasons why I decided to put in a runner instead of leaving them barewood. Also, I have 3 rowdy young boys who are up and down these stairs all day and without the runner the stairs were slick. Really slick. I actually slipped and fell on them.

We installed a small piece of moulding on the edge of the stairs to pretty it up a bit.

The landings (shown below) were an ugly particle board that I covered with peel and stick vinyl "wood" flooring. Since they were going to be covered I wasn't all that concerned about it. But I love the vinyl floor and am actually considering putting it in my mudroom now! And at $30 for 24 square feet, you can't go wrong.

                           

 The contractor was able to stuff the upstairs hall carpeting into a gap in the floor so the top bullnose shows. I am very happy with that. Of course I would love hardwood in the upstairs hallway, but that is just another thing on my list....

So now I have to deal with the banister. It is a lighter wood which matches my downstairs floors. But of course now my stairs are a darker wood. Originally I had thought about staining the entire banister, balusters,  everything the darker color, but on second thought I wonder if I should only darken up the newel posts? So it looks like the lighter downstairs flooring and darker stairs were supposed to be that way?

Any thoughts?

New french doors, darker kitchen cabinets, fireworks, and a birthday

We have been having a fantastic summer! I made it a point to not over-schedule things this year, and boy what a difference that makes! Baseball is almost over, my oldest still has karate twice a week (year round), an art camp in August, and that's about it. This summer really feels like summer - staying in PJs until 10, going to the park, playing in the backyard until it is dark, hunting for bugs, bubbles, blow-up pool, bikes, community pool and dinner picnics, neighborhood friends - this is what it is all about. I am done with the classes, multiple camps, lessons, etc. I am reclaiming summer! And it is great.

Oh, and video games/computer/electronics are limited to 1 1/2 hours every other day. And the TV is only on for 1 hour or so during the day. I am lucky to have 3 boys that really enjoy playing together, so we have had many days go by without them ever asking about the electronic stuff because they are so busy with their "games". The house is usually a disaster, but who cares? They all 3 help clean up at the end of the day (sometimes after lunch if I can't see the floor).

Okay, onto the kitchen. Our sliding patio door desperately needed to be replaced - it had a broken seal and was letting in tons of air. So we decided to go with french doors and I am in love!

I decided on plain roller shades instead of fabric just because I tire of pattern quite easily. 

I also used Minwax polyshades to darken up the kitchen cabinets a bit. Just to bring them up to date and not look so builder-grade.

And I had these cabinet doors replaced with glass to lighten things up a bit.

I am kinda thinking about putting white curtains here, with black iron curtain rods and rings. Just a thought..

Finally getting some organization of the legos....

sort-of...

Although the holiday has passed, I thought I would share a fun, quick 4th of July craft with black construction paper and glitter glue:

 And finally, my sweetie pie turned 8 last week! Oh how the time has flown. 

Even more reason to have him hanging out at home this summer with his family. I know someday he won't want to talk to me, so I am taking advantage of this time while I can!

Hope you are all having a great summer! I have a 10K coming up in August, and my (now) 8 year old, husband and I are planning on this:

The Chicago Monster Dash 5K. Should be tons of fun! Now I just need some good costumes...

The SheRox Triathlon

I know it's been a while, but I've been busy.

Working out.

Swimming, biking, and running to be exact. 

So I could compete in:

The SheRox sprint triathlon!!

Just finished it yesterday. An 800 yard swim, 14 mile bike ride, and 5K run.

These were the bikes just for Wave 5. There were 30 waves with up to 75 participants per wave - about 2000 athletes total!!

Some were professionals, some were cancer survivors, some were thin, some not-so-thin, some young, some more experienced, and lots of people just like me. 

Oh, and all of them were women. Did I mention that?

It was awesome.

I got to do the race with my friend who I have been training with since March, and my 18 year old niece who totally rocks. She did the swim in 11 minutes!! She gets a gold star. Plus she is smart, independent, pretty, healthy - I could go on for days.

My boys, waiting...

And just under 2 hours later, we finished:

Yea!! What a fantastic experience.

People would pass me on the bike or run and say "good job", "keep up the good work", "you look great" - and then I would say the same to those few people I passed. What other race in the entire universe is that supportive?

If you have a SheRox event in your neck of the woods I highly, highly recommend it. It was difficult, yes, but that's what makes it so rewarding.

You grow when you challenge yourself. 

I have been surrounded by and have been talking with such positive, healthy people during my training, and I know this is the life I want. 

I can handle stress better.

I have more patience with my kids.

I don't crave sugar anymore.

(I still crave my morning diet mountain dew, but I'm working on that one.)

I now eat for fuel.

I have more energy.

I know my body better.

I recognize the difference between being tired and needing a break, versus being unmotivated. 

And for those unmotivated days:

I am making myself take the week off. Although I think I may fit a strength training session or two.

I would love to go for a run, but I won't.

If anyone lives in the Naperville, IL area and would like a training buddy, email me!! I'm not stopping just because the race is over.

Because there is another one in August!!

Have a wonderful, productive, healthy week, ladies!!

PVC piping wine rack

I live in a new construction home with this weird arched opening above the fridge. When we were looking at houses, I thought it was the coolest thing.

Then, I had to decorate it. 

That wasn't fun. I'm not into the fake plants and bottles full of marinading peppers, so I had a cheapo wine rack in there for a while. 

Once we started accumulating more wine, something had to change.

In a Cottage Living (RIP best magazine ever) years ago there was a spread where a homeowner found some concrete tubes and has those placed perfectly in a nice square opening above his fridge, then filled them with wine bottles. Great! But where do I get concrete tubes? 

My dad suggested PVC pipes.

He's so smart.

It's not completely perfect (plus, I need one more tube), but it is so much better than what was up there before.

 

I bought the pipes at the local Menards in 5 foot sections, then cut them down to size with my compound miter saw.

The whole project cost about $35. 

Now, onto the Easter decorating!

Have a great day!

the trees are gone and all is serene

Well, after about a week, I couldn't stand the trees anymore.

For whatever reason, every time I walked by the playroom or even glanced at it, I became irritated. It was just too much. Too busy.

So I decided to go in a completely different direction.

I went white.

I took the slipcovers off the two chairs to expose the white/natural upholstery.

I also added doors to the two middle bookcases to hide the Dr. Seuss books, firetrucks, playdough sets, etc.

The room is so mild now. So calm. Inviting. Serene.

I never, ever thought I would paint my walls white. Even with all the popular white stuff going on right now. I never got it. I mean, who, in the real world, would want white walls?


Apparently I do. Now, I am not going to paint every room in my house like this, but I certainly love it for one room.

Oh, and I also painted a landscape to go along with the calmer room. It hangs above the piano.

Do you think you could ever go white?

hand painted wallpaper and a new (old) table

A couple of weekends ago my husband and oldest son were sick. The twins go down at 8, so I was left alone, by myself, on a Saturday night. I drank a couple of diet mountain dews that day so I would have the energy to do all the laundry, cleaning, etc that is involved with sickos in the house, and ended up with a ton of extra energy while everyone was sleeping.

So this is how I spent my evening:

I had been wanting to do something with these walls for a long time, so thought I would paint some trees on them.

I've been enjoying them, but now the room feels much busier and not so calming, so I will probably paint over them. I am thinking a faux grasscloth paint treatment. Because I change my mind all the time and don't want to fully commit to wallpaper.

On another note, my parents are consolidating from two houses down to one and were going to put their wooden kitchen table in storage. It is an awesome table - I used to do my homework on that table - and I thought it would look nice in my kitchen, so my dad brought it up to us.

I am really happy with it.

The only issue is that it is much nicer than my old white table, so I have to really watch the kiddos to make sure they aren't gluing or using markers on it.

I keep cloth placemats on it all the time and I think that kinda scares my boys away from it. 

It certainly makes dinner nicer.

And I am thinking about putting a rug underneath - one of those indoor/outdoor rugs from Ballard Designs. We'll see.

So, to completely fancy up the kitchen I decided to move the wicker chairs from the kitchen table to the dining room, and I moved the fully slipcovered chairs from the dining room to the kitchen.

Moving those chairs around really made a difference in the dining room.

It feels much less formal now, which is great. 

Because this table is used for legos, ninja battles, games, etc.

It is only used twice a year for dinner.

And it opens up to the playroom.

The winter mantel

So that's what has been going on around here.

We are getting 6-8 inches of snow today. School pickup should be........interesting.

I'll post again once I decide on the playroom walls.

Stay warm!