paint, paint, paint, and more paint

So far we've painted the kitchen, living room, den, entryway, and 3 bathrooms. All that's left are the 3 bedrooms. It's been fun picking out colors and maybe not so fun doing the actual painting. However, painting is much more fun than removing wallpaper. After a grand total of 6 days of solid work, I can say there is not a speck of wallpaper remaining in this house.

This is my absolute favorite room! Besides having the world's most comfortable couch, the most fun chair on the planet, and cable television, it has an orange-ish wall. Make the nutmeg to be accurate. This was a fun pick from Lowes.

I carried the nutmeg through to the door that leads to the garage. It will possibly be on that front door soon too. That is still being debated. I stopped the brown teepee madness and took garlic clove to the rest of the entryway. There isn't a good picture of the garlic clove but it's on the same wall as the nutmeg door, the brown teepee is on the wall with the window. (and, yes, that's my infamous rooster rug)

Here's our framed Cohen sign. Kim's grandma loving made this for us and it has found the perfect spot in the entryway.

Here's a picture of the eating area in the kitchen. The framed picture is from the French Open. It reminds me of our honeymoon and I love it. I carried that ball theme into the other piece, which is just some metal thing I picked up at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I love this spot too. It runs a close second to our nutmeg den.

Just another day in Huskerville

I forgot to mention that I learned how to remove a toilet yesterday. Kim and I took this puppy out without any trouble. Well except for that screw that was so rusted it just snapped. We will, however, be paying the flooring installers to put it back in. But if you ever need assistance with this type of project, you can call me.

This is my favorite thing to do and I haven't been able to make it happen for over a year. I make a huge pot of soup, freeze it and then eat it for days. This pot was not huge enough only getting 6 bowls. I do this year round. Soup is my favorite meal. This is a variation on our family traditional. We just take V8, beef broth, hamburger, and then make it up from there. I used corn, black beans, northern beans, corn, and a package of taco seasoning. It was delicious.

I found this adorable little chalkboard at Pier One this afternoon. I hung my grandma's measuring cups and spoons from it. The picture isn't that great, but it's a nice green color that works well with the brown walls. I'm guessing we'll be rehanging it in a couple of days when it falls. I didn't have any dry wall mounts and decided to forgo them just because I was desperate to see how cute it would look.

First UNL concert

Steven had his first UNL concert today so he sadly (luckily!) missed the painting party. It was a combined concert with a honors wind ensemble made up of students from all over the midwest. They played Easter Sunday on the White House Lawn by Sousa, Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold) by Eric Whitacre, Floyd’s Fantastic Five-Alarm Foxy Frolic by Carter Pann, The Fantastic Toy Shop based upon themes from a ballet by Rossini and orchestra by Respighi and the 3rd movement from Berlioz's Grand Symphony for Band.

His next performance is with the orchestra on February 7th. Beethoven Symphony No. 2 will be featured on that concert.

Mr. Levi

This little cutie-pie came to help us out today. He loved playing in the curtains.

And exercising on his mat. I mean this kid can roll. He was all over the place. We kept taking breaks to see where he was. 

Did I mention it yet? But these curtains are so much fun! We would hear him just giggling over there.

Progress

This is a mid-progress picture of the den. I found these pictures at Gordmans (local discount store) and just love them. The colors are perfect for what we have going on in the den.

Here's a picture of painting the master bathroom. It reminds me of Dexter (you know the show on Showtime about a serial killer). I felt as if I was preparing my "kill room". All of that work just to keep the shower paint-free. And to be honest, it didn't even matter. The amount of stray paint I had to clean off that shower from the last owner was a real joy.

Ruth, Kylie, and Kim came to help today. Oh my goodness, they are good workers. They put in a solid 6 hours of work. I feel so grateful to have such wonderful friends. The least I could do for Ruth was make her a mocha in our new cow mug. (It replaced Steven's cool elephant one which started leaking from the trunk. Not an efficient design.)

I mean, who has friends who will do this kind of work? Meanwhile I was just snapping pictures and maybe slaving away getting that damn wallpaper out of the half bathroom.

These girls are so good that they don't need tape. That tape I put up was only a hindrance and they had to come back through and fix it. I don't think I've mastered that yet.

The previous owner was a TERRIBLE painter. We're thinking she only did one coat everywhere and her trimming skills were exceptionally sub-par. We using our borrowed ladder and forcing Kim to get up there to fix the trim. 

She's a sport. She'll do anything.

Kylie fixed the hallway, which was driving me nuts!

The pseudo finished kitchen. It's brown teepee on the walls and crocodile tears on just the under side. I think it looks really cool. I can't wait to get the floor installed on Tuesday. I also can't wait to get rid of those kitchen counters. We will be waiting a little while before that happens. Until then, I'm just blocking them out of my mind.

This is my crocodile tears bathroom. Yes, that's the name of the paint. And yes, I'm using the same paint Ruth has in her house. Why not go with something that you know works?!

The last LITTLE things we need to do are paint all the bedrooms, take down the wallpaper in the entry way, and get those new countertops. After that, we're done! (well done is such a final word, I'm sure we'll be fussing around for many years to come!)

More House pictures

This is my most favorite purchase of the week. After struggling with only 4 mugs we broke down and bought some more. We both drink coffee every morning and only have to run the dishwasher every couple of days hence the problem. This was a Pier One find. It's just a tad awkward to hold but that giraffe face makes up for it. Steven got an elephant.

I went to this cute little store called The Porch and found this table runner. I love it! Fringe, of course. There's some gold in there to bring out the gold in the cabinet. We're getting blinds installed today so it will be looking good soon!

Remember that painting post? Well 2 days later, I'm 2 bathrooms in. This is the guest bathroom. I painted the walls grey. It was a bit of a struggle because I had to do some repair where they had a GIANT fluorescent light. Yes, we removed that immediately. I think this bathroom needs a ceiling touch up, so we'll see when I get the energy to tackle that. And, yes, I should have tackled it first.

Our bathroom. Success. It's so bright and sunny in there now. And that's my amazing shelf that Steven installed. We also had to have a little re-work done on the lighting. I may have pulled the fixture out of the ceiling while I was prepping to paint. Whoops! (your eyes are not deceiving you, that's a picture of a little girl's bum on that shelf. it's the cutest thing ever. i've had it in my bathroom since I can remember)

Painting

So I'm attempting to paint the bathroom right now. I probably need the assistance of the experts, Kylie and Kim, but the bathroom is so small it's really a one person job. It's been interesting. After a 5 minute tutorial at Lowes, I felt really confidence. And then I picked up the brush and thought, damn it! Here's some thoughts that were running through my head.
Did he say don't push or don't pull? Which way is push and which is pull? Wait, I'm already not holding the damn brush right and I just started! Was I supposed to read that pamphlet before I started? Why is this primer so freaking thick? I mean does the primer really need to be that even?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I still don't have any answers and the primer is on. 2 coats of it. I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow. I may be calling in the big guns to do some fixing.

Feeling more settled

I was finally able to carve out a little time to run again. (I know, I know, I made my big resolution to run 500 miles this year. I'm way behind but it's not out of control yet. I'm looking for a gym next week so I'll be on track in a few weeks). It was 40 degrees on Saturday and sunny so I bundled up and headed out. We have a trail 2 blocks from our house that leads us to Holmes Lake. I loved the trail and can't wait to get out there again. I also can't wait to get out in the yard and do some work. It was left a little unattended this fall and needs some sprucing up. It's either now or after the snow thaws in April. 

Today Mom and I worked at hanging pictures and rearranging the decorations. Things look good and as soon as I find where I stashed the camera I'll take pictures. We also had some electrical work done on Friday that's helping out a ton. 

And, not to sound vain, but I'm so thankful to have access to all my shoes and jewelry. I'm wearing at least 4 pairs of shoes a day ands switching jewelry every hour.  

Getting settled in Lincoln

I'm probably not surprising anyone who reads this blog, but it's been moving week in the Cohen household. We flew from Dallas to Omaha on Monday and have been in constant motion ever since. We had a walk through of our house Tuesday morning and then called in the carpet cleaners. Each day brings new surprises with the house like "oh we didn't know the owner smoked in her bedroom." Yuck, that's been a chore to deal with and will continue until that thousand dollar duct cleaning is done. And of course each surprise means more dollars spent, but it's worth it. I'm now sitting on our couch watching tv, typing this blog, eating a snack, and enjoying a glass of well deserved wine. (Did I mention that I started some classes on Wednesday. Talk about time management skills, I've had to perfect those)

Our furniture came on Friday. We were so excited. It all fit perfectly and is totally us.

Here's a glimpse at the destruction that is the guest room. That's a bed in the box in the corner. It took 3 humans to get that one unwrapped.

Steven office is shaping up nicely. That's his dad's beautiful antique desk and that's the blasted glass in the corner. Another unexpected project, cleaning all the tape off the glass. One hour later and Steven and I were high as kites from the nail polish-goo gone concoction. 

The very messy living room. The coach is so comfy and the chair is probably the cutest thing I've seen. That's the silly tv stand that was far too hard to put the glass in.