Our New House

Well, I finally get to tell you what I have been so busy and pre occupied with! I'm so excited. We bought a house. It is a complete fixer. The inspector told us we have a "bad house." Luckily we got a great deal and my husband is a perfectionist when it comes to his work.

So... Here is the BIG reveal.

This first picture taken from inside the living room looking at the kitchen, the entry, and the stairs, going up and going down. Not so bad, right?

Ew! But look at that carpet, can you smell it through the computer? It's pee and poop from dogs and cats.

Here is the bar in the bottom floor. Did I mention it is a 4 story? Actually it is a tri-level with a loft. I always wanted a 1 story and look what I found. 3 flights of stairs. At least the kids are old enough to pick up their toys.

Lovely, cockroaches and rats were found in the house.

Here is the kitchen on the main floor. That is actually very nice, except for the towel wrapped around the faucet for a leak.

This is the master.

Master Bath.

This is coming out!

C's room, lovely purple with black trim.

L's room. It will be pink, but not like this.

Kids bathroom.

Loft - craft room / play room.

Back patio.

Pool.

Escrow closed today and we will have the keys on June 15th. Our move in date is set for June 30th. We have 2 weeks to work our butts off to make it move in ready. I can't wait to share all the before and afters! I already have one for next week. We got to work on one part because the bank wouldn't lend on it till it was fixed.

Doll house bookshelf

I saw a picture of this adorable little bookshelf made to look like a doll house. I thought it would be perfect for L's new room, so I put Mr. C to work again. Luckily this one only took about a week in-between finishing our bed and work.

I think part of the reason Mr. C likes building things for me is because he gets to buy fun tools to do it.

I just love the way it turned out and can't wait to put it in L's new room.

Master Bed

Ever since Mr. C and I married, we never got a "real" bed. We have our mattress and box spring just sitting on a metal frame. The furniture we picked out when we got married only came with a sleigh bed and it just seemed too big for our room. We have decided it was time for a bed and Mr. C wanted a project.

I love this bed from Pottery Barn! But it is a bit expensive. Mr. C thought he could make it for much less. He did make it for less, but it was still expensive and took a long time. Mr. C is a bit of a perfectionist and we had a couple accidents with both the head board and foot board falling over.

Clean up.

I have not been able to park in the garage for months!

I was so excited when Mr. C said he can put it together in our room.

C enjoyed putting it together too.

All that time my garage was taken up was SO worth it. It is beautiful!

I love it! It is our first adult bed, now Mr. C just has to make the night stands and dresser.

Quick Birthday Bag

It was crunch time! I had no time to sew lately and about 15 minutes before we had to leave to a birthday party. I still needed a bag for the present. We got the little girl school supplies, a wipe dry erase board, dry erase markers, pens, pads, paper, markers, crayons, etc. I wanted a little carrier for all of it.

I decided to go ahead and see what I had and this is what I came up with.

I had these two fabrics so I thought I would make a reversible bag.

Remember I said we had 15 minutes, can you tell in the picture? That's me going, "Wait, stop! Let me take a picture."

"Wait, don't go, let me see the bag. Wait! Don't move" (snap) "K, let's go!"

I know terrible pictures, but it's the only ones I have.

Deodorant

Since I try to keep any kind of harmful chemicals away from my family, I don't buy antiperspirant. We have been using just deodorant for years now, but my husband, every once and a while will sneak that antiperspirant for work. I have finally found a solution to this.

1. Throw away all antiperspirant containing aluminum

2. Make aluminum free antiperspirant

Yep, make your own with your own scent.

Recipe:

Equal parts Corn Starch and Aluminum Free Baking Powder (I used 1/2 cup each)
2-4 T Coconut Oil
10 drops essential oil (I used lavender)

Mix the starch and baking powder together, then mash in the coconut oil and essential oil. Mix it well until it is an even consistency and store it in a mason jar or reuse a well cleaned out old deodorant container.

This deodorant works quite well. Let me know what you think.

I'm back!

Wow! It has been a while since I have posted anything. I haven't actually been sewing much. I just haven't had the time. There are a few things I have done here and there that I will be posting but first a little of what we have been doing.

Crafty Kids:

This is a little project C decided to do because he found this perfect stick. It was a secret from me until they were done.

Riding bikes to the beach:

Digging holes:

Playing in the water while trying to stay warm.

So, for today, that's it. I have a couple projects have finished, some Mr. C is working on and one HUGE one that I can't wait to share. It should be up in the coming weeks. Thanks for being patient with my time away from the blog. Sometimes, life just gets too busy.