Don't call it the basement.

Calling it 'The Basement' sounds so dungeon like. So, until I can come up with a better catch phrase for it, it's going to be referred to as the downstairs. On the basement downstairs front of RHN there's been progress, my friends, progress. As you remember we already renovated the 1/2 bathroom downstairs and I have ideas for the laundry room which is a quarter of the progress, but in terms of the big room we're talking a pretty decent step forward. This step forward progress from the days of gross yellow/turquoise paint, smelly cat pee stained laminate flooring, nasty paneling, drying racks (not for clothing) in the closets, broken doors, holes in the ceiling, titty lights, missing molding, broken windows, and a non-working fireplace. Phew. That's quite the list for a 400sq ft room.

In an effort to not over share about the downstairs until we're done, but still somewhat share what we've been up to, I will be kind and share pictures. I know you all LOVE you're pictures. So far this is where we be:

I don't think I've mentioned the artwork on the kitchen wall.  The veggies painted are actually veggies that we grew in our garden this past summer - Green Pepper, Tomato, & Banana Peppers. My lovely friend, Katie, painted these for us and we adore them!  Such talent she has!!

As you can see we've been busy bees. Paint, paint and more paint. We still have the other 50% to finish, but that 50% is mostly big stuff like carpet, board and batten, trim work, hearth building, and general decor. Speaking of the white lower walls - they're gonna get the red carpet (or white mdf) treatment. Example:

  

This will help keep the room light and balanced and also help give it some texture and a finished look. I've been having a hard time with accepting the idea of carpet instead of a hardwood laminate or cork or bamboo, but having a hardwood like floor down there would mean area rug and less coziness and cold feet. Boo. Nothing worse than cold feet.

Speaking of small updates, we've been wanting and waiting for a long a$$ time to install a tile back splash in the kitchen. We have a general style we have our hearts set on, however, we're torn between two styles. Yea, I know, go figure. We're being indecisive AGAIN. So, here's where I ask... which one?! Or maybe neither? (I should note that the color of the left picture is most likely the color we'll be shooting for due to the business of the countertop.)

And if you remember, this is our finished kitchen:

 

 I thank you for your thoughts and patience and all around awesomeness. We're pretty psyched about the working fireplace in the downstairs and the fact that its inching towards completion. We know we have a deadline - late spring - because that's when we get to go work outside in the front/back yards. Whoop-whoop!

Merry Happenings and a Noise Maker New Year.

As I was uploading pictures from the camera, I came across a few that Ed had taken at Christmastime.  I wanted to share this years Red House Nine holiday pictures as I did last years. This years holiday season wasn't one hundred percent different, but it was missing a chunk of family members. Marilyn & Tyler were out west visiting with Tyler's (awesome!) family (no seriously, his family is really, really fun - let alone some of the nicest people you'll ever meet). My brother Adam flew the Northeast coop for warmer waters of the Southeast with a big 'ol move to be with his lady love. Yes, that sentence was written with jealousy allover it.

The festivities began with Christmas eve being spent at my fathers 12-years-and-still-going party with amazing friends and family. Of course his neighborhood lit up the always gorgeous luminaries that line the streets.

On Christmas Day Cman tore through his gifts and Stella squeaked her way around the hizzy with her new loofa dog toy. For dinner the families came over -we ended up with 8 total at the table - and noshed on a delicious ham, mershed perderders - speaking of which have you seen that hilariousness that is mershed perderders turtle?! Let me enlighten you...

See? So funny! Ok, so some yammers were also present at this party and they brought along their green been casserole friend (well technically my wonderful mother-in-law did), plus we had lots of wine, biscuits, and desserts that were so good! Pumpkin brownies anyone? Thank you, Andrea. :)

After the chow-fest ceased, we opened gifts around the purdy tree.

 Let's visit how this room has morphed since last Christmas. Well, first off we purchased a new couch - of course it was on super sale plus an extra 25% off because that's how we roll. Then we switched out the rug for the one that was in Frumpka's room. We hung new (on clearance!!) curtains, moved the two blue chairs into the room, added a small side table and repositioned the TV.  It's still set up like this as of now, but we're forever changing it around. We need more color - as in NOT blue or gray. I'm thinking yellows and greens and corals. And we need artwork. It's quite sparse.

After we opened gifts, we all hung out just a while longer enjoying the company.

For New Years Eve we went up to Ma and Pa's hizzy to party it up with Ma & Pa, Daisy, and Mar & Tyler who arrived from the west coast a few days earlier.We enjoyed the evening with prosecco, rum & cokes, a few beers and Banangrams. Oh yes, Banangrams. We all get VERY competitive about this game and will play it hours on end; and I'll tell you that's just what we did. We rang in 2013 with noise makers, party hats and champagne.

So, that was the holiday season around these parts. It was wonderful, although some were missed and we can't wait to see them next year. We have been working really hard on the RHN basement and are half way there. The garage got a early spring cleaning and life with two dogs is proving to be both hilarious and noisy - oh and messy. But the two knuckleheads sure are adorable. Slobber and all.

Deck, Deck, Goose!

Well hello.  I wanted to introduce myself. My name is K and I am the author of this blog. Oh, you don't know me? Yeah, well, that's because I've been an absent blogger.  My apologies, but I blame father time.  He pushed the fast forward button. So, let's play catch-up, shall we?

Red House Nine is still Red. Yup, we haven't yet changed that. However, I should share that while we didn't change the color of the hizzy, we did build a deck. Ok, so we didn't build it from the ground up because the 'bones' were still sturdy and not rotted; however, the rest of the red decrepit flooring was wasted. So, let us revisit our deck building adventure.

 In the red deck pictures you'll notice a few things that are what we could label as 'wrong'.  We could start at the most obvious, the color. Not only did it match the hizzy, but it was peeling and moldy and just not pretty. The railings weren't up to code, but that's not the fault of anything but father time. Codes were different 25 years ago. The deck literally swayed when you walked across it - think earthquake - it needed a lot more support over and under. The stairs were all wrong in terms of location, railings and angles.  With all of those fails pointed out, we got to fixing this puppy up to good as new.

We started by ripping the old guy down hulk style. I kid you not. We started with the plastic lattice underneath. Then the railing tops and posts. Then the floor planks. Then the staircase. Taking down this 250+ sq ft deck meant a lot of old wood and plastic to be piled up in the yard. Originally we wanted to reuse the decking for two reasons: 1) save money 2) recycling which means less waste to send to a landfill. Buuuuttttt once we pulled up the decking it was far too warped, rotted, and rusted out (nails) to reuse. Wah-wah. That lead us back to the drawing board. (heehee get it? that was a pun.)

 So, now that we had it apart we had to draw up some plans - and by we I mean Ed and my Dad because math was involved. Anyone who knows me, knows math and I aren't BFF's by any means.

 Apparently the stringers for the staircase were a total bitch to calculate. See, we didn't buy the already cut stringers for the staircase because they weren't long/tall enough for the amount of stairs we needed to meet code...hence the math. We also used some of the old wood as braces underneath the deck to prevent/stop further earthquake shaking while walking and also added new and extra brackets and hardware to make sure this deck 'was built like a brick shithouse' as Ed would say.  Along with building it stronger came a slight redesign as well. The decking from the red deck was one-piece 20ft boards that ran from end-to-end. The stairs just jetted off the side of the deck to meet the basement door below. Ed and I decided that we wanted the deck stairs to spill out into the back yard instead of wrap around to the basement door area. So, what does that mean? It means that we (with the collaborative brainstorming of my Dad) decided to build a smallish platform for the stairs to dump off of into the back yard. It's one bajillion times better! We also decided on pressure treated wood instead of composite for a few reasons - the top two being cost and heat. Those composite boards get HOT in the summer in the sun. We changed the railings to make sure they were meeting code and also changed the pattern of the deck. We went herringbone. Sexy, no? Oh yes. So, my ever so patient darlings, I present to you our newly re-designed deckerooni. 

Isn't she a beaut? Of course she is! She's a beast, too. An elegant, blonde beast. I have to disclose that even though she looks as if she got made over and is looking as if she's going to attend the Oscars, she has yet to be accessorized with her Lorraine Schwartz jewels and Louboutins. We have her accessories waiting for spring time styling. You see, we had to wait to stain her for two reasons: 1) It's snowy here and cold. Obviously it would difficult for the stain to dry in 20 degree weather. 2) We had to wait for the still kinda new and damp wood to 'dry out'. No, she does not drink too much! She's simply needing to mature a little before donning such expensive jewels and shoes. When she's all gussied up, I'll re-share. Pinky swear. 

So other goings on around here are small and slowly progressing. We began working in the basement, we insulated the garage, and put the master 1/2 bathroom back together - added a little paint and artwork. In the basement we took down the icky paneling and took out the old insulation, added new insulation and holy sheet! rocked over it. We're still spackling the walls and new rock and debating what to do with the faux (pas!) rock surrounding the fireplace. 

Well, besides our visiting/vacationing 4-legged nephew, a new couch and dining room table, and the holidays out of the way, I leave you with a promise of another update NOT five months behind schedule.

Itty Bits Here And There.

So, we owe you an update and I'm here to share what you may or may not call a full-on update. Hey! Who you callin' lazy? We've been working away, just at a pace that a snail would be proud of.

Our 250 square foot deck recieved a full on makeover. The beeotch is slammin' now! We had to sadly scrap the original plan that was to be green treehuggers and reuse the old wood that we pulled up. The old wood wasn't cooperating in the least, so we said h-e-double-hockey-sticks with it and went new. How rebellious is my Environmental Scientist husband?! We live on the edge 'round here. Regular ol' envelope pushers. Anyway, you can't see the deck ... yet.  Maybe this weekend I'll divulge the details, but only if ya'll are well behaved lil' blog readers.

Anywhoosle, we've been busy lil bees Brandt's for the last month. (OMG I'm really sorry bout the silence as of late. Whoopsies!) So let's go on adventure, shall we? I'll pick up the tab. You're welcome.

We grew a garden:

We installed a new screen/storm door that leads out to the back deck:

The old crappy one.

Ewwwww.

New beauty!

Isn't she a beaut?! Mama isn't too bad herself.

*The door mat in the pics is hilarious and a gift from Katie. It says: Fo' Shizzle Welcome To The Brandt's Hizzle. Makes me smile everytime!*

We need to just come out and say it; the old door had issues. It opened opposite of the wood door. It was mildewy. It SLAMMED shut all by its lonesome. It was ugly. The handle didn't really work all the time. The screen was being held in/on by scotch tape. Nothing but class here at RHN. Regular ol' classmasters. So, with that, we called the heard on this lil lady.  She needed to retire like an old lady to a singles community in Florida.  The new lil woman is stylin', folks and she hails from a long line of royal Anderson blood. She's got a stainless handle (that works!) and her mother just celebrated her jubilee of numerous years on the screen/storm door throne. The screen retracts into the glass and opens alllllll the way. Pretty sweet, eh? Want to know the best part? She was on clearance at Home Depot. Yup, her royal family was doing their best to marry her off...and they were successful. 

The only other little projects that have been happening around here are small ones that were necessary and neglected while we had our focus on finishing the deck. 

• We bought and installed a new lolly column in the garage. If we didn't, the old rusted one was going to give way and our living room end up in the garage.
• We purchased, installed and painted four new interior doors and their hardware.
• We painted the risers on the steps heading upstairs. 
• We painted more of Ed's old bedroom furniture for Cman and he totes loves it. 
• We hung our guest book guitar from our wedding in the living room.
• We installed an awesome weather station on the roof.
• We cleaned 5 years of crap out of the gutters. 
• We trimmed back trees and bushes.
• Oh! and we had to make a giant purchase last weekend. Sadly, or not so sadly, the leaky, broken, ginormous, missing 3/4 of its shelves fridge that came with the hizzy called the herd. Bit the dust. Said hasta la vista, baby. So, we had to replace the beast her. Her replacement is totally a cousin of our heiress to the throne screen door. She's quiet and shiny and has allll her shelves. She's also got long lean lines. I'll tell ya, being twice married into the royal family we sure are spoiled. 

So, I owe you a fantastically detailed deck building and budget breakdown. I will put that together and share soon. In the meantime we are going to window shop for new living and dining room furniture. We are also working on budget plans for the basement re-do and the master bed 1/2 bath. We aren't quite sure which will be next. 

Peace out, homeboys/girls...

We Got On A Jet Plane...

...And for me, that is a feat in and of itself. Yup, I am one of those anxiety-ridden-terrified-to-fly-freakerouters that shakes, turns white, tries not to cry and vomit all at the same time. This fear sucks; there's not other way to put it. However, even though I suffer through air travel, it's necessary because we have family on islands that require a cruise ship, an extremely long swim, or a jet plane to get to - I refuse not to visit because of a silly fear. So, on a flight to St. Thomas we boarded and what a fantastic vacation was had.

Ed, Cman, my brother, father and I all ended up in the USVI for a week of awesomeness to visit my sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and Tyler. This trip was was planned on a specific week on purpose; it was Cman's 14th (!!!! say what?!) birthday. This trip became quite special right off the bat due to three things: 1) It was Cmans burfday 2) We got to spend quality time with Mar & Tyler (and Blixie, Misha and Scrub) 3) Mar & Tyler were personal tour guides with the keys to the city. See, Mar & Tyler are Marine Biologists & Professors at the University of the Virgin Islands. They have access to cool things like kayaks and snorkel gear and know the best places to see amazing sea and land life without all the crowds.

The beginning of the trip didn't go to well. We missed out direct flight to St. Thomas and ended up being resecheduled for a connector through Miami. This didn't mean that the boys (Cman excluded) weren't going to start vacation the right way at 9am. Yup, brewski's and a coke at the airport pub. Kegs and Eggs indeed.

We finally made it seven hours late - safely and happy to smell the ocean as we disembarked our aircraft. Since it was dark when we finally arrived, all we saw were lights on very steep mountains. All Cman saw was the bed and a new friend, Blixie.

The next morning we woke up to this:

 

It's ok to be jealous, really.  We know we are!

The first few days we were there Mar introduced us to some island gems that I still get cravings for... Udder Delite being one of them. Folks, this is a milkshake stand that's mom-and-pop owned that serves alcoholic milkshakes (to those of age) in so many different delicious flavors you want one of each.

Along the way we ran into some friends:

These suckers all all over the place down there. The parakeets were gorgeous, but so loud and obnoxious. The iguanas just laid in the sun usually in the trees and Cman tried to catch the little anoles, but to no avail.

Downtown Charlotte Amalie is really cool because of the historic buildings and proximity to everything - the rum-on-every-corner didn't hurt either.

While we were exploring around Charlotte Amalie, Cman found this joint call Magic Ice. At first we weren't 100% what it was - it turned out to be an ice bar. We all suited up and embarked on a one rum shot filled freezing cold adventure. 

 I have to say, this place was definitely cool, but really? If the power goes out that's a whole-lotta melty ice!  Over the next few days we visited the Aquarium on the island and snorkeled and drank bushwhackers amd Cman ate bacon, and snorkeled and visited St. John, Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins, Blackbeard's castle, the 99 steps, Cman ate bacon, went to about ten different bays, snorkeled, went to chihuahua races, saw the cast of the real world filming, ate delicious pizza at the pie whole, Cman ate bacon, drank bushwhackers, went to pueblo supermarket and too much more to list. We had the pleasure of dining at Mar's favorite place on St. John, Skinny Legs. Their blue cheese burger is to die for - as is their mango mojito. Ohhh...take me back!

St. John

99 Steps

It was time to go back home too soon...like waaaaay too soon. We thank Mar and Tyler for allowing all of us to take over their home (and cats) for eight days. We had a blast and cannot wait to go back!! Cman was already asking when we could go back and we weren't even on the plane to go home yet! I'm so glad we had an opportunity to go visit Mar and Tyler. Next stop(s) Montauk and Bermuda!