Back to School...

I remember back in May when I signed up to teach summer school. Why?  Why would I do that?  Right when I was enjoying the summer, going to the pool, painting the house, sleeping in...

My alarm went off at 6:00am this morning and all I said to myself was "Why?"

But today is the first day and the first day is always the hardest right?  So far it has been good, I have had a student who woke up on the street with a hangover and came to school without shoes on, and a student who thinks he's going to ask his girlfriend to marry him because she knows how to change out a transmission and that is, "so freaking hot."

But hey, at least they're here at school and not...other places.

In other news, Dave and I finished painting the family room and dining room in our new favorite color and guess what...it looks awesome.  We love it.  Bleeker Beige turned out to be a creamy taupe with tan and gray tones to it.  Basically perfect for decorating with any colors.  So happy that debacle is over, now what colors for the bedrooms...haha...

It's Like a Play Place for Grown ups

How many of you have every been to Ikea?  It is like 5 Costco's (or Sam's) put together.  Add more furniture, take away the groceries, add a cafeteria, a daycare for the children, and a huge warehouse were you get your own items off the shelf.  That is Ikea.

You think I am kidding about the size?  Check out this map (and this is only of the showrooms, not the marketplace, cafeteria, or self serve warehouse).

We love this place though.  Especially since a lot of the fun things we can do now that we have a house.  Here is a short photo list of things I want from there right now:

Butcher Block Counter tops to go with my freshly painted cabinets:

 

White TV stand

 

and I'll have you...

 

Vanity for the Master Bedroom

Oh and I have to tell you that we finally picked our family room/kitchen paint color!  Some of you know the battle we have put ourselves through to pick a color (see previous posts with 97 paint samples...not really but it felt like that many).  It is Bleeker Beige from Benjamin Moore and it is luscious and creamy and perfect because I say so and because I am sick of second guessing our color choice.  Also we are currently putting it on the walls, so it stays.

 

Bleeker Beige

And just FYI I am thinking the accent colors are going to be blue and yellow.  You have to see it to believe it, but I have some good feelings about it.  Wish us luck! :)

Bargain Hunting Craigslist Style

Ahhhh...Craigslist.  The only way that first time home owners and indebted student loan payers can afford nice things.

When we were looking for a house, we checked out new construction homes (where we could get things just the way we wanted...which come to find out is extremely costly) and existing homes.  We ended up going with a Traditional brick home built in the 90s.  We love the neighborhood, the trees, the mature lawn/landscape, the windows, and the price which gives us a little more room to customize.

When we first moved in to our house, we created a list of things we needed/wanted to do.  This was a stipulation we had set prior to buying the house.  We had to make a list, otherwise it wouldn't get done.  I am a closet list-lover.  Are you?

The List: 

As we wrote the list, it became more and more apparent that all money would go towards "fixing up" type things and not really the "fun" things that we had waited to do.  This isn't a bad thing, we just have to get the rooms the way we want them before we decorate or go out buying TVs.  Ha ha...Dave?  You reading this?

Anyway, on to the first item...we found a few really good deals on Craigslist.  A stainless steel fridge, gas range, and a washer.  All three together would be about the cost of a new fridge.  So the first week we lived in the house, we jumped on the opportunity and picked the items up.  But as most of you who have ever done a deal on Craigslist know, things almost never go smoothly!

The gas range was a cinch, except for the renting a Home Depot truck part, driving the central Austin, and not bringing any bungee cords or blankets (hey we've never bought an appliance in our lives)!

Here are some photos from the adventure:

Good thing they used an airtight form of security so no one can steal the Home Depot truck. 

Seriously though, who still uses The Club?

It was all worth it though and the people were really nice. They even let us use one of their bungee cords and blankets (Thanks Heather and Sam).  I just made that up.

  Here's the range we HAD (only LOTS more sticky) and here's the range we GOT!!

The fridge, we found on Craigslist as well.  Dave even bargained with the guy and got him to deliver for cheaper.  Here's a photo of it that I found online:

The Dishwasher we searched and searched for.  This is the most important appliance in the kitchen (in my opinion).  If you get a good one, you can save so much time.  We eventually got lucky with a Frigidaire dishwasher at Best Buy that was the last one since they were coming in with a new model.  It was also tax free weekend and we had a coupon, so it was a good deal.  We went from this:

To this:

Probably my favorite thing in the entire kitchen. 

We also bought a washer, which was actually a huge headache, but I really like it now and it was dirt cheap, so I guess it was worth it.  I'll just give you the shortened version of the story, the lady opened the door and immediately said, "I'm sorry honey I am so dizzy from ALL THEM MEDS I've been taking.  Who are you again?"  You imagine the rest.

Good times with Craigslist peeps.

So what did we do with the old appliances?  We sold them on Craigslist for a pretty penny.  And the cycle continues.

**Real photos of the appliances in the kitchen will be coming up when I do a post on the dramatic kitchen renovation my mom and I did a few weeks ago.