Opinions Are Like Eyeballs...

Ok, we are enlisting the help of RHN readers/followers/stopper-byers to help Ed and I choose between two grays for our living/dining/giant room.  So we have it narrowed down to two grays (even though my father disagrees with the choices) pebble gray (medium gray) and Granite Gray (darker gray).  My dad picked out a different "gray", but his gray really isn't gray at all - it's a silver blue called Antique Silver. So, as much as I love my dad and value his opinion, we need (read:want) a gray-gray, not a so-so-blue-ish-gray. 


So, we ask: which gray??

Oh a lil mix up! 

We know which gray we think we like - even if dad doesn't.  The adjoining hallway is a light gray called Shining Silver.  Keep in mind, all trim will be white; the color of the hardwoods is natural and gorgeous; an we are modern-ish. 


So, friends, what's the verdict???  Dark Gray? Medium Gray? or Blue-Silver? 

It's Quality and Quantity, My Dear Watson.

Things are happening at RHN. Are you reeeeaaaddy to ruuuuuuuuummmmmbllleee?!?!? This is going to be a picture heavy post, my dear peeps. Although all of the items done this past weekend were somewhat small, they all added up. So, let's take a jaunt through small accomplishment weekend at RHN.


1.) Ed built the bathroom vanity. It is awesome and made of solid red oak. The graining in the wood is fantastic and almost resembles a zebra. Wanna see? Cman and Saranac helped.

1/3 finished:

 2.) Dad finished mudding the ceiling in the kitchen. We had to quarentine the premises to ensure the dust from sanding the mud didn't blanket everything in the color white. We covered all the newly redone floors in plastic, too.  Oh, and that attic access point in the second picture? That stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb nonsense is now white to match the ceiling. Didn't think it was excitement enough to capture on camera.

3.) Connor ate pizza and drank Arnold Palmer (that iced tea is the shizzle).

4.) Cman and Ed finally replaced the one piece of missing holy sheet!rock in the living room. This piece was the missing link to all walls solid.

5.) My dad is a maniac sander and sanded the old peely, splotchy, kinda-rotting-but-can-be-saved, cracked front door. This door is heavy and solid oak. Translation: replacing a door like that would cost mucho dinero. So, Ed and I picked a stain color called Kona (coincidence?) and I stained and polyurethaned the bee-jeezeus out of it. The color we picked doesn't look 100% cohesive with the red, but there is a method to our madness. Hopefully next year RHN will get its big outdoor makeover. That's all the splainin' I'm doing, Lucy. Anyway, with the stain and poly, no longer will the door be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment known as the the wrath of mother nature. We are super heroes, saving one door at a time.

So, ladies and gents, this here is what was completed this past weekend at RHN while mother nature was pouring down rain. We are pretty close to picking a color for the giant room walls. I think this weekend we will be tackling the air conditioner and priming the kitchen ceiling along with tiling the shower in the bathroom and maybe painting in there. Wait until you see that color for the bathroom. It. is. genius. Ok, that's really not the technical name - honestly, I don't know what name Behr gave it, but in super hero speak, it's genius.

Awesome Sauce Deluxe With A Side Of Amazing. Spank You Very Much.

I want to begin with a note I should have written a few ago but didn't. Now that our (mine and Ed's) worlds are slowly coming back together...


Thank you. Thank you to all of our friends & family whom contributed to Katie and I and the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure to end breast cancer. Katie and I were supposed to walk on the weekend of July 22-24 in Boston. We were supposed to walk 20 miles a day for 3 days and gain a million blisters. We were supposed to raise $4600 total for our team, Baby Got Rack. Due to some tragic and absolutely unforeseen circumstances, we were not able to make it to Boston to walk, BUT we were able to raise just about $5000!!!! We surpassed our goal by quite a bit and we have you all to thank. So, Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and almost blistered feet. Thank you for your support, encouragement, cooling packs for our necks and the sweet post cards and treats, and seriously, THANK YOU for being all around awesome - we have the best group of friends and family on the planet. And thank you for taking the time and effort in this crappy economy to donate to something so meaningful to myself and to Katie.


Thank You. You all Rock.

They Came. They Sanded. They Conquered.

I seriously LOVE. OUR. FLOORS. Yea, yea, I can hear the I-told-you-so's from here. What? As far as I was concerned, the pee stain yellow that was there before was going to rear it's very ugly head and stay forever in our home. That's why I really wanted a medium stain - you see now? Pee stain yellow compliments nothing we have in way of ... anything. Plus, it's pee stain yellow throughout the entire house.  You can't get much worse.


Anywhoosle, the new floors have transformed RHN into a hardwood floor paradise (they must have run out of fruity cocktails, they were no where to be found). Much to my surprise, the guys at TH were able to fill, patch, and sand all of the nasty spots on the floors. Don't remember? I'll post the video tour so you can check all the horridness again.

So, let's begin show and tell with before and afters of our wood floors.


First up: The entryway that used to have the closet.


BEFORE:                                                       AFTER:

Next up:  Giant Room

BEFORE:                                                    AFTER:

                                                                    
So, those are just a taste of the before and after comparisons. I have more, but I figured I mine as well just cut to the chase and dish the afters. Eye candy for all. You're welcome.

Stairway to Heaven 

Spare Bedroom/Office

Giant Room Looking Towards Entryway

Looking From Entryway to Giant Room

Upstairs Hallway

Looking Down Upstairs Steps

And that my friends is how amazingly gorgeous our floors turned out.  They aren't as glossy as I had imagined they being, but sealed up and loved nonetheless. While Ed and I were at Lowes the other day buying the store out of every single bathroom supply they had, we found Connor a ceiling fan to replace the old craptastic one that was in his room - missing blades and all. He had originally picked a ceiling fan out that honestly looked as if it belonged in a 85 year old woman's house in Florida. I had to remind Cman that he is in fact: 1) a boy 2) he's 13 not 85 and 3) he's a 13 year old boy - he needs a boy fan! Well come to find out, Cman is not confused as to whether or not he's a 13 year old boy or an 85 year old female, in the end all Cman wanted was the luxury of laziness. Yes, he had to have a fan with a remote. Now, it could just be the sheer coolness factor that no only can he use the switch, but a remote as well ... or it's the sheer fact that he's 13 and less is more in terms of effort. However, if we were talking room color, that statement just made would be a flat out lie. So, we found said boy ceiling fan on clearance Clarence (what's your vector Victor? C'mon! I know you know this! I know Marilyn and Ma know it) and my dad installed it last night in Cmans room.

See what I mean by no lack of less is more in room color choice? I bet you're thinking, it's not that bad, well that's because I used a flash. It reflects green all the way into the hallway and into the other bedrooms. I'm not complaining, Cman is happy and loves his chalkboard paint wall. That's all that matters to us.

Well, that rounds up this episode of RHN. I'm hoping this upcoming weekend will be full of accomplishments and project completions. Ed has built a piece of furniture that deserves its own post and some tweaking has been made to accommodate some 'things'. Vague you say? Of course! It's only because I heart you! 

Bang! Bang! Bang, Bang, Bang!!

Just a quick drive by ... our hardwood floors are gorgeous. 


Oh, and another thing, we finally purchased the rest of our bathroom supplies.  New bathroom coming VERY soon. 


Did I mention that our floors are amazingly gorgeous???  No? Well, they are. And no, you may not seek a peek until we take our bad ass camera to RHN to document said gorgeousness. Sorry, Charlie. Too bad, so sad. 


Love you guys! 

Not Neglecting Nine.

The past few weeks have been kind of tough for all of us 'round here, but we haven't lost focus on our goal - a move-in date. This past weekend on Sunday, my fabulously fabulous in-laws (Ma, Pa, Marilyn, & Tyler) came down to Red House Nine for a little visit. This was the first time my MIL and FIL had been to RHN (oh! acronyms! Ed LOVES acronyms! he'd be proud of my usage) and they asked for a grand tour. Honestly, it's funny when people come to RHN and get the grand tour; they always seem amazed at a few select things: 1) the openness of the floor plan. 2) the sheer size of the house and how much room we have.  (I could insert a joke about being married  here.) 3) we get a lot of comments on what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks were these people thinking?! I don't know how to answer that question due to the fact that I myself ask that question every single time I walk into the joint. 


So, while we were away tending to family crises, we also spent some quality time with RHN to continue working there readying the hizzy for Mission Impossible: Move-in Before Christmas. I tell you, a little paint does really transform a space, however, one of the colors I chose, I feel I may have done so in error as it pulled a chameleon trick on me and went to a shade that makes me want cringe a little and make that ugly 'what the hell? I didn't pick this color' face. I *think* it's the crap-tastic Ikea-make-everything-pink bulbs, but I won't be sure until we purchase new hallway ceiling lights, install, and flip on. 


Hopefully this weekend we will be able to purchase cabinets for the kitchen and Ed will build his furniture items he wants to build. Then we also have to get shower tile (obviously for the bathroom, since we don't shower in the kitchen. I know, weird, right?) and floor tile for the kitchen. We are stumped about the floor tile for the kitchen. I think we have an idea, but again, we revisit the indecisiveness Ed and I both proudly display. The hardwood floors are being re-finished starting Thursday, but I learned some very sad news. They aren't going to stain them a darker wood color like I had thought. Wah-wah. I was SO hoping for a darker, richer, punch of wood floor - which, we could still get at a pretty decent price tag, but instead they're going to be blonde. ICK! I seriously hope that I don't hate them. I'm not a big fan of light colored hard woods, and this will be the entire house. In the grand scheme of things in life I know this isn't a huge deal, but I have to look at them every. single. day. and if I hate them it will drive me batty (yes, more so than I already am, thankyouverymuch). 


So, besides paint and me rambling on aboot (do I sound like Mike Holmes?) nothing, we have also finished putting holy sheet!rock up on the kitchen ceiling, and conquered our first ever sit around an actual table to eat BBQ with (acronym time!) MIL, FIL, SIL, BIL and the rest of the gang at RHN, and an epic clean-up of EVERYTHING in the house for the guys to do the floors. It was epic. And dirty. And at times, kinda funny. I'm sorry there are no pictures, but how many times can I show you holy sheet!rock and have you say oooohhh... ?  That's what I thought. Until the floors are complete and fully cured, we can't really get into the house and do anything, but when we can I'll dish up a heaping pile of before and after pics - done just how you like um. Cheers. 

One Of Those Rougher (Than Sandpaper) Times

Saying goodbye is one of those things that I never like to say; I always rather just say 'see you later'.  Goodbye just seems so permanent.


I don't know how to write this post because this time goodbye was the only option. This time a wife, a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a sister-in-law, a brother-in-law, a nephew, and countless friends had to face a permanent goodbye to someone we love very,very, very much.

The guy in this picture with the giant smile holding trying to conceal and be slick with a bottle of Jack in Prospect Park is Will. Will is Ed's big brother by three years, Marilyn's big brother by six years. Will is hilarious and has the biggest heart of anyone. Will is an amazing brother to Ed, Marilyn, Tyler, and I. Will is adored by Connor, and Stella loves him, too. Will is an amazing son to amazing parents who equally admire one another. Most importantly, Will is a superior husband to a woman he adores and would do anything for. Will is a best friend to many.

Will had to say to goodbye to present time as we know it and man, we sure do miss him. While I could write about how sad we all are, I'd rather share Will's legacy.  I can still hear his voice and laughter as if he were chasing Cman around playing gotcha-last or hog tying him up in his back yard. I can hear Ed and Will bickering about who-knows-what while holding cold Saranac's, and Will and Marilyn having friendly discussions about politics, science, and the world while surrounded by Christmas gifts.  

Whatever the reason may be as to why Will had to depart so suddenly and so soon no one will ever know. What we do know is that the world will never be the same without Will, and present day lost an amazing human being on this earth - one that was making a difference of good to everyone and everything he knew and touched. Will will forever be missed, but did an amazing job of making his mark on this earth the short time he was here. His soul will forever be generous, hilarious, loyal, a smart-ass, a loving and adoring husband, son, brother, uncle, and friend. But most of all his soul will never be forgotten and will be forever cherished. We love you, Will.