Tuesday's Facts

Jeff & I are heading to Ikea after work on Wednesday to check out their desk offerings.  But interestingly enough, my need for a desk at home will drastically decrease in the next few weeks... why?

Because I am presenting my final graduate project (my capstone project) tonight!  So that ::shriek:: of excitement you hear at about 9:30 pm this evening will be me!

We have been working on our projects, among a few other deliverables, throughout the semester.  And tonight we present them to a panel of faculty, fellow students, and really anyone else who is interested. 

{images via}

Then we submit our final projects at the end of this week, have 2 more weeks of other classes (theory for me)... And graduate on May 6th!

Although I'll still have 1 more class to finish up this summer, I cannot believe I am just weeks away from graduating!  The last 3 years have flown by, and I am nervous, excited, sad...

But for the moment, mostly feeling lots of butterflies about this presentation!  Wish me luck!

Deciding on Desks

It's finally time (well, almost time) to move furniture into the sunroom!  By the end of this week, all the paint touch-ups and trim work should be finished!  And Jeff & I are already discussing our desk options.

I knew I wanted something 'open' that wouldn't take up a lot of visual space... So I've been gravitating towards sawhorse desks.  Originally, I planned to buy Ikea legs and add a cool old door or shutters with a piece of glass over the top.  Jeff wasn't too enthusiastic about the glass top, so on to Plan B (oh marriage compromise!)

Here are the current front-runners, within our small budget of course...

Pier 1 Sawhorse Desk

World Market Campaign Desk

Or, the most cost-effective option, pairing either of these Ikea legs with a birch table top...

Ikea Vika Artur

Ikea Vika Lilleby

For some reason, I'm leaning towards a birch/ light wood finish with several of these options... What do you think?  Is the light wood too bleh?  The Ikea options also come in a white lacquer finish, but not sure if it would be over-kill with white walls in the room?

Feel free to pipe in with your two cents... Hoping to pick out our desk this weekend!

Two Nights of Grout

Wednesday night was grout night.  Jeff and Amy's husband Ray (once again!) teamed up to work on the floor.  They had all the grout done pretty quickly, and then it was time to clean (& that's where yours truly came in).

Apparently, you grout the tiles (which is quite messy), then go back with a damp sponge and wipe up the floor.  And repeat.  And repeat... Wiping with a clean, damp sponge until the grout (and eventual 'haze' that's left behind) is gone.

Easy right?  Ray headed home after two rounds of cleaning, and we were all convinced that it was maybe a few more rounds, and we'd be done in time to watch Modern Family.

Fast forward over two hours later... And we were still cleaning.  With a light haze still on the tiles (and slight grumpiness from both of us), we called it a night about 11 pm.

Fortunately, we were able to clean off the remaining 'haze' last night with sponges that have the scrubber side (and yes, that is the technical name).  And we are so happy with how the floors came out!

Jeff is planning to seal the tile tonight and hopefully put up the last of the trim this weekend... We're finally closing in on the finish!

One More...

I couldn't resist sharing one more project as we go about 'sprucing up' the house for spring and rearranging a little with the sunroom addition.

After much back-and-forth, I decided not to go the DIY route with an upholstered ottoman coffee table (like Jenny did)  But leave this one to the professionals!

Now I'm super excited to get it back in a few weeks.  Especially since I picked out the most swoon-worthy fabric. ever. 

It's a gorgeous peacock blue velvet... And I could not be happier with how it picks up the gradient shades of blue in our living room throw pillows (fabric at top of photo).

Hoping the end result will be similar to this...

But in a size appropriate for a small-scale living room... And in peacock blue, of course (I'm just a little obsessed).

Sneak Peak

We have a ton of little projects around the house right now, and I just can't help but share a 'sneak peak' into the goings-on in the Whittaker household....

Repainting rooms:

Thrifting furniture:

Painting furniture:

Rearranging rooms:

And building furniture:

On a similar note, although we disagree over my love to continually completely redo tweak the rooms in our house, I am so thankful to have such a supportive husband!  For the most part, he puts up with my requests to install new towel racks, pick up or move in thrift store purchases, hang pictures, and move furniture outside so I can paint (or repaint) it... Oh, and add on a sunroom. 

Whoever said 'patience is a virtue' must have been referring to my home project ideas... Thank you, Jeff!

Sunroom Tile: Check!

This weekend we made major sunroom progress... Our floors went in!  Friday night, Jeff and I headed to Lowe's to purchase the tile and other materials.  We had gone back & forth so many time on what to do with the floors in this room.  Surprisingly, after pricing out several options (including stained concrete and cork), tile ended up being the most cost-effective.

So Saturday morning, Jeff went to work.  A huge thank you to Amy's husband for coming over bright & early and helping lay tile!  The floor was a little bumpy and uneven in spots, so it was time-consuming to lay the tiles straight and flat... But the guys did such a great job!  And another huge thank you to Jeff's dad and brother for cutting tiles and helping out over the entire weekend!

With our small crew of free labor, the floor was almost finished by Saturday afternoon.  A few more pieces on Sunday, and the floor was down!

And, because I owe you a few other updates, the door trim is also done and columns are finished...

{even Ellie's doggie door got a little trim}

Up next:  Installing the shoe mold, painting all the trim, touch up paint on the walls, and grout & seal the tile!  Fingers crossed that we finish up by next weekend... making it almost exactly 5 months from when we started!

Weekend DIY Fun

We have some big DIY plans for this weekend, like most others recently.  I've been behind on the sunroom updates, but we've been working away!  The ceiling and walls are primed & painted, most of the trim is in place, the columns are complete, and we're picking up the tile for our floors tonight.

I can't wait to share some more pictures next week!  I keep telling Jeff that I'm submitting him to host an HGTV make-over show after this project.

And much to Jeff's dismay, I've been investing in a few other projects around the house too... Like picking up fabric for my own skirted table, scouring Craigslist, and painting.

Some of my inspiration for the weekend...

{images via}

Happy Weekend!