Disgusting Dishwasher

Since moving in, our dishwasher has been disappointing. Speckles of food, weird streaks, etc. I thought this was a filter problem, but as ours doesn't have an easily reachable, cleanable filter, I'd have to get out the screwdriver if I wanted to clean it. Seeing as we had just bought a new oven and range hood - and that I am daughter to I'm Not Paying Someone Else To Do That Joe P. - I realized that was my best option! This kind man on Youtube taught me what to do and I highly recommend watching his video if you're having similar issues.

I wish I had taken pictures of the horrors that greeted me in the depths of my dishwasher - although you might be vomiting right now if i had. I got out rags, toothbrush, bleach, oxyclean - and two hours later - cleanest dishwasher in town!

Our dishes have been wonderfully, perfectly spotless since. I am worried, though, that the amount of black gunk I found is not normal and might indicate drainage problems. I'll just wait and see if the spotting returns.

Hanging Hamper

 I assumed having the laundry room upstairs in this house would be super convenient, which for the most part it has been. It has left us with the unexpected question of where to stash downstairs laundry (rags, kitchen towels, dirty play clothes - more than I would have thought!) without having to run upstairs every single time. The pile of damp rags at the bottom of the stairs hasn't been looking very nice these last couple months, so Ethan and I made a hanging hamper for the closet knob yesterday out of some scrap material we recently unpacked.

I modeled it after a trash bag, with the string cinching the top. I apparently was so inspired, I even unintentionally stuck with the white bag and red top theme - ha! It took less than an hour, from conception to completion, and I actually made it harder than needed. If I were to make another, I'd cut it in a tear drop pattern (who needs the extra material on the top that a rectangle forms?) and not mess with two different fabrics - just fold over the top, insert the drawstring, and sew. That would be 20 minutes, tops.

Built In Bookshelves

Before even fully unpacking the boxes, we set my parents to work on painting the built-in bookcases in the family room. Wow this project was a lot of work! They/we started with a de-glossing liquid. In retrospect, we should have just gone in whole hog and gotten out the sander. It would have been a
smoother look and probably not have taken that much longer. We then primed each shelf (removable thankfully) and door with Kilz, and finally painted one or two coats of glossy white interior latex (one or two, as I gave up after a couple weeks on some of the shelves and decided I was not spending any more time on this project!!). 

During the painting, I hung the blue and white wallpaper - a clover / trellis print. Hanging the wallpaper was definitely the best part - instant gratification and no paint brush clean up. I'm sure everyone over 30 is now saying "yeah just wait til you have to take it down":) A nugget of wisdom I learned from my sister during the agonizing process of choosing the wallpaper pattern: there is not only one perfect choice. This philosophy has rocked my world and I am trying to remember it in all aspects of decision making. 

We hung the newly painted shelves and doors, replaced brass door knobs with simple silver ones, and spray painted the forgotten brass hinges silver. The hardest part of the whole process for me was organizing the objects on the shelves to look fashionably disorderly, rather than just junky. I put out every book we owned (we majorly downsized when we moved) and searched for every blue and white trinket I could get my hands on, because the various colored items i'd originally put in looked terrible. I'm fairly pleased with the final look and love the cabinets of storage beneath. 

The rest of the family room has a ways to go to completion. An electrician installed 5 recessed ceiling lights because I felt like we were living in a rainy cave the first couple weeks. I painted the walls a powder blue - we were going to go with gray, but decided this was a bit more cheerful for the dark room, while putting it on the cooler end of the spectrum. We receive new couches in a couple weeks, after which we'll select a coordinating rug and figure out the end table situation. I plan to spray the brass components on the fire place matte black and hang drapes to coordinate with the kitchen valances. Will post pics when that is done in a couple months. 

Before

After

The Knee

Figured I'd throw in a quick update about the knee, since everyone's been asking. We moved into the house in late June and at the end of July, I tore my ACL. We were having a family ballet dance party and I tried to out-leap Nate. I looked awesome in the air, but the rips and pops following my collapse made me feel downright geriatric.

I finally had the ACL replaced with my hamstring tendon in late August and was lucky enough to have family here taking care of the kids and me during the recovery. (If I look drugged in this picture, there's a good reason!) Now, one month out from surgery, I'm going to physical therapy twice a week while the kids are in preschool and trying to do my "homework" therapy other days. My leg feels pretty swollen at the end of the day and the hamstring pretty tender, but all-in-all, recovery is going smoothly. Now - on to the fun projects!!

Welcome to C'Ville

Move In Day

When we purchased our house in Charlottesville, moving cross-country from Denver, we had a few concerns and knew we'd want to make a few cosmetic changes. And of course, like every house we've owned, since moving in, I now have plans for changes to every room! Luckily, we have not run into any major problems and can do these updates slowly. The house is in great condition and we are having fun personalizing it.

I've created this blog as a place to show pictures and ideas of the changes we are making, so friends and fam who don't live in Virginia can now visualize us in our new place. I plan to cover deep, important issues such as: how did I chose that wallpaper? why did i make a foldover seam on that throw pillow instead of a zipper? and can I really sew kitchen valances? The title "Work in Progress" is appropriate as none of these rooms or projects are actually finished yet. I would love any comments, ideas, etc if you have the time.