Picture Rail Perfect

Once we installed the picture rail in the living and dining rooms I had the hardest time finding hooks to hang pictures from. We looked at the hardware store and Rejuvenation Hardware and I spent a lot of time browsing online - but just wasn't finding anything that felt perfect.

So finally I asked hubby to contact his grad school buddy Kim to see what she'd used in her house. Kim shares her Minneapolis home with her boyfriend Kyle and the big yellow dog. They have a beautiful 1920s Tudor - complete with picture rail trim. I love the way they have decorated their home. I wish they had a blog to showcase their decorating/design skills! I did take a few pictures of one of my favorite places in the house. It's the big yellow dog's cubby - complete with squirrel art!!

Kim said her search for the perfect picture rail hooks was exhaustive. She finally found them online at a place called House of Antique Hardware. I ordered the plain tapered picture rail hook in an oil-rubbed bronze finish. Kim described them as the perfect balance of clean but not too modern and they were! And against our walls, the dark finish of the oil-rubbed bronze really looks good.

No More Hand Washing

Installing a dishwasher has been on our list of things to do for a while now. It was one of the top 10 things to do in 2011 - but I honestly didn't think it would be the first thing we accomplished this year. But thanks to our friends Pam and Michael who decided to completely remodel their kitchen - including replace all of their existing appliances - we got a new (to us) dishwasher. They even delivered it! It didn't take us long to figure out where it needed to go. There really was only once space in the kitchen it would fit. So hubby ripped out the lower cabinets to the left of the sink. We called our favorite electricians who wired an outlet to the back of the cabinet space. The following week we had a plumber set up the water and waste line. Then we were in business. The inaugural wash was very exciting and so far it's saved us about an hour of clean up work each day.

Hubby's favorite part of home remodeling is demolition. I think if I was OK with it, he'd have blown out every wall in the house by now. So getting him a demo fix every once in a while keeps my walls in tact.

The space was about five inches wider than the dishwasher. So hubby filled the gap with old Fir boards that he tore out of basement last year. The boards have been primed and all that's left to do is finish painting and add the trim.

Right away we knew we'd need to replace the cabinet storage that we'd torn out. So we put together some metal shelving that fit the space really well. We had half of the shelving already - including the wood cutting board on top. We purchased the second set of shelves at Storables - but they wanted $100 for the wood board! So hubby's awesomely inexpensive fix was a trip to Home Depot for the EXACT board for $15. All we had to do was sand it and oil it.

Tagged

I really do believe that we live in a great neighborhood. In fact, some of the best public schools in Seattle are just a few blocks from us. It's a neighborhood full of parks, gardens, and well loved homes, and our neighbors are some of the most amazing and generous people we know. We LOVE where we live. That's why I was so shocked when the stone wall in front of our house was tagged. We found out about the graffiti via a mid-day email from our neighbor across the street who we lovingly call 'Mrs. Kravitz'. After doing a bit of digging it turns out that the entire neighborhood got hit in the early hours of the morning. This is a post from our neighborhood blog, Wallyhood.
I've never had to file a police report before and I hope I never have to again. I do have to say that outside of the crazy phone tree, the Seattle Police Department was super helpful and called me back immediately regarding the problem. Unfortunately, there isn't much of a resolution or a fix for graffit. SPD does asks you to submit receipts itemizing how much clean up cost. Lucky for us, it was nothing - just an hour of my Sunday morning. It's hard not to feel a little bit violated by someone damaging your property - I'm just glad we have our own Mrs. Kravitz looking out for us each day.

First Day

Hubby heads back to work today. I'm not sure if you know, but he's made me coffee every morning for as long as I can remember. Today I'm making him coffee for his first day. I tried to take a picture of him on his way out the door - but he wouldn't let me. Can you tell that I'm excited?