Indoor Ceremony

If you're a tumblr fan, maybe you'd like to take a look here. I have begun a new small creative outlet, Indoor Ceremony, gathering all the most beautiful parts of being at home, and creating your own indoor ceremonies. 

Rainy Sunday

stretch it out

Sunday was a perfect stay at home day. We hung out, read books, watched a movie, organized our new desks, spontaneously cleaned out the garage, ate delicious mac n cheese n rosemary, smiled around the house, and listened to the rain. I loved our sunday at home.

rain!

it rained today, just a little. but that never ever happens here, so i feel like it's worth noting. it was a really great surprise. i had to go for a walk just to check out what it did to the neighborhood. so many little spider webs on all the bushes! 

eek! i also worked from home. both of these things are probably nicer because they happen so infrequently. the bushes we have though in front though.... oh boy. there's a reason i only took a close-up pic. one day they'll get some attention. 

living room- quick before and after

when rose lived here- so much pink, squishy carpeting, pastels, carousels...

we feared the fireplace might be pink too, but it was just pink by association... phew!

one day we'll manage to eliminate all of the lilac, but for now, it's still on the front door, and i'll randomly spot it someplace. out!

first night at house...

what a sad, icky carpet

the stairs looked like they'd been partied on by a rat or something.

however, we were getting excited anyway, doing the back-to-back photos:)

ok, getting started now. we pulled up the carpet which was pretty simple, and came up without a fight. the intense work was really all ahead of us, mainly the de-staple/de-nail work, which was brutal!

feeling far less excited now... i'm on the floor pulling out 8,000 staples and tocco's ripping up the nasty bits of long spiked wood around the perimeter. these jobs were tough! maybe we had the wrong tools... though i can't imagine which tool we are without these days.

hours (days? ;) later we were able to do the final sweep... hooray!

we arranged a contractor to come sand it while we were at work. we popped over for a look, and were blown away. a perfect hardwood floor! now that the work is done i'm actually pretty thrilled it was preserved under that carpet for decades. no stains, nothing broken, no patches, just a really pretty floor...

cut to two months later. the view this morning:

(still missing some artwork, a rug, and I want to replace that tv console with something nicer, but it's getting there.)

What a difference. And those stairs (they got their own full day of work) and are pretty perfect now.

ahhhhh

FIN!

Over the Weekend

We had a great weekend! We finished painting the basement...

Enjoyed the new, less glowsticky, kitchen view...

Had a little dinner party, which began and ended with this lovely Humboldt blue fog cheese, which is now my favorite ever...

Like a little cake.

On Sunday, Tocco and I pulled ourselves out of the house for some fresh air. This is the San Andreas Fault, on the way to Half Moon Bay, which has become our favorite weekend escape. Every once in a while the air smells so summery on this road I instantly think we're back on our big summer road trip a few years ago. We even went through this same spot then, so it makes perfect sense.

When we arrived at Half Moon Bay I left T on a bench and took a jog around the beach neighborhoods. It's hard to do much running because I always stop to take pictures. I found this sweet small turquoise house and love it. We're always playing around with which place we'd buy if we could have a beach house, and I'll add this one to the list.

It sat right on the cliff's edge, facing the Pacific Ocean. The mailbox even had our red VW Nalu bus on it, so it's kind of perfect.

Beachy plants. The air was really clean and misty.

Ran back and Tocco wasn't where I left him... searching, searching, follow my eyes to the ocean, down the cliff, and ahhh... of course.

My little beach bum. ;)

Tocco told me to just jump, like he did. I managed not to break anything, and the lady next to us gave me a beer with a laugh.

Back home, I started messing around in the backyard. The guys who helped with the basement took the old shed that was rusting in the back off our hands for free. I love them. I was so psyched to get rid of it. It looks so much fresher in that back corner. I can't wait to start planning out what to do back there. 

Already found fresh mint. Helloooo spring salad.

Going, going, gone

Today I want to escape.

Photo by Max Wanger's Life Book

This morning we finished painting the basement... hallelujah! Tocco did most of it, and he's no complainer, but let me tell you, it was tough. Mainly because yesterday he put 5 full coats on it in one day (2 ceiling, 1 primer, 2 wall color) and gave himself tennis elbow/body. I did the edging. Then we hosted a dinner party with great friends and laughed and relaxed, which was so good, and necessary.

To celebrate another room nearly done we are getting out of the house today, and turning ourselves over the the beach. It has, nearly overnight, turned into 100% Spring here. The birds are chirping. It's the kind of weather where you have to be outside soaking it up. I hope it's warming up where you are too. We are outta heeere.

NorCal beachy cabinet trees (post by Tocco)

This is the situation we have to tackle. A nice Frankenstein green, it even glows in the dark.

Before

Even though you may think one can get used to it while it's daylight...

don't turn the light on, or it starts glowing again.

These are the old hinges, but they are original and still work, so we decided to throw them into a crockpot to loosen the 10 layers of paint, strip them and reuse them, quite a bit of work, but definitely worth it.

Step 1: Select a part of the cabinet tree you want to tackle first, we've choosen the drawers, thinking there is not much surface to sand and paint, but that was around the time where the cabinet tree started to fight us.

Step Two:

Put you warrior outfit on and fight back!

Step Three:

Fight back! The whole frame wants to be sanded and painted. Of course, 10 layers of old paint takes a long time, and if you think you can avoid sanding by hand, forget about it. These old paint layers simply start melting under every sander you'd like to try, just hang in there, and sand it by hand, I swear, it's less hassle after all.

Step Four:

After it seems the cabinet tree won a battle by neglecting to be sanded, we decided it may be enough sanding for now and we pulled out the paint.

Step Five:

Put it back together and get excited!

Step Six:

Overlook you imperfections and enjoy the moment and be a little bit proud of yourself, and prepare to get scared, there are five more cabinet trees waiting to receive the same procedure, and they will beat the heck out of you. But as I said, just hang in there and fight back, one day they will be all done ... ;-) We'll keep you posted and let you know who won the battle, the cabinets or us ...

The Dining Room

When we bought the house the dining room looked like this:

Yikes! It looks like a dollhouse.

The carpet from hell. 

We ripped out the carpet, and spent hours of pulling out nails, staples and carpet bits....

But when we had the floors sanded, it was worth it. Perfect floors! It was like the boards were preserved under that carpet for decades. 

The chandelier was left behind by the previous owner, as you can see above. When the room was empty and we we were painting and working on the space, we kept bumping into all those crystals. It was almost comical how we kept making it swing. It was like we just couldn't see it! I could not wait to replace it. But then! We added our own stuff, more of a midcentury vibe, and somehow the chandelier started to make more sense, and now we love it. 

Got very ambitious and had our first dinner party the week we moved in...

And here it is on a regular work/mail day. The process of homeownership documentation/ bill paying/ loan paperwork is scary business. We're a little terrified we'll screw it up.