Road Trip Tips

With Thanksgiving and the holidays approaching, many people will be taking road trips to see family and friends.  We recently took two long road trips, driving for 10 hours each time from Boston to Washington, DC as part of our move.  Here are a few tips we will keep in mind for our next road trips.

1. Tolls:  there are a lot of tolls on long trips, so bring an E-Z Pass or cash with you. The E-Z Pass lets you skip long lines at the tolls, and the cash prevents you from stopping to get some or digging around on the floor!
   
2. Water:  bring a bottle of water or two, or preferably a reusable bottle that you can refill at a rest stop.  Sitting for hours without water can make you dehydrated, which will not help.
   
3. Sunglasses:  even if you bring a cheap pair, sunglasses will help when you're stuck on a long drive into the bright sun.
   
4. Trash bag:  bring a plastic bag for your trash from snacks, toll receipts, etc. that pile up during the day.
   
5. Phone charger:  we use this phone charger in the car, which allows us to use our phones for GPS and not run out of battery during the ride.
   
6. Truck lock:  if you are making a move in a big truck you rented, bring a truck lock.  It is important to keep your items safe when you stop or park overnight.  You can buy these at truck rental spots, but they will be cheaper elsewhere.
   
7. Rest stops:  if you only stop a few times along the way, you want the rest stop to have good food and caffeine options and to be clean!  We discovered a new Darien, Connecticut rest stop on Route 95.  It's by far the BEST rest stop I've ever been to -- the bathrooms are huge and clean, and they don't smell bad!  Big win.  You can use highway exits guides like this one to see what's available at each rest stop, including WiFi, ATM, picnic areas, gas, and rest rooms.  My favorite rest stop options?  Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks!

Have a safe road trip, and crank up the radio!

My Travel Musts

There are a few things that make travel easier for me. By sticking with these little tricks, I can focus more on the trip and less on what I might have forgotten or lost!  Here are some of my tricks, in no particular order:

1. Always have a big scarf, sweater, or long sleeve shirt for the airport -- either I'm wearing it to the airport, or it's in my carry on. Planes are often cold, and the extra warmth is almost always needed.

2. Place your carry on luggage onto the security belt LAST.  When I put my bags through the security check at the airport, I always put my carry on luggage last.  I take everything off the belt in order, and I won't forget the biggest piece of luggage I have!  That way, I won't forget something small on the security belt (like a cell phone or book).

3. Keep travel sizes of toiletries in a makeup bag, so they are ready to go when you're packing. Otherwise, I'm looking everywhere for shampoo or mini toothpaste, and I have to make a trip to the store to get something I probably already have in the house.  Here are the minis keep in the makeup bag: shampoo, conditioner, q-tips, band-aids, a few makeup minis, toothpaste, a comb, and a nail file.

4. Put in your carry-on or purse a snack that doesn't melt or get smushed easily.  Sometimes you find yourself unexpectedly stuck on a plane for 3 hours longer than you anticipated, and that snack can make you very happy! Good options include protein bars and nuts.

5. Have a designated place for your tickets/boarding passes.  My tickets are always in my wallet or book.  I don't put them anywhere else in my bags.  That way I always know where the tickets are!  It's nerve wracking looking through everything to find a boarding pass.  By keeping them in only 2 places, I cut down on stress and time spent looking for my tickets.

6. Make a list of things you need to remember the day you leave. I make a list of things I need to remember on a piece of paper, then leave it by my cell phone the night before I leave. As I'm packing and I remember little things that I need to make sure to do the day I leave, I can add them to the list.  For example: empty the trash, pack phone charger, water the plants.

I hope my travel musts are useful to you!

Tuscany

This is happening, and I am over the moon excited about it!

Gelato, wine, pasta, pizza, repeat.

Kids' parties

My beautiful niece turned 2 and her parents threw her a great birthday party this weekend.  There were so many kids running around in her backyard, playing with toys and enjoying the sun.  My sister hired a woman who sang songs to the kids and played the guitar, and she also made them balloon animals!  Quite a talented woman, and the perfect party entertainment.  They served pizza to the adults and children, since it was easy to order and serve, inexpensive, and a food that both the adults and kids would love.  For the second year, I made the birthday party dessert.  My sister and brother-in-law asked me to make something healthier than birthday cake for the kids, so I looked on Pinterest (the source of so many things wonderful) and found this great idea:

FRUIT CONES!

Fruit cones are a fast, simple, and HEALTHY children's party dessert.  I made a fruit salad of strawberries, blueberries, seedless green grapes, and nectarines.  The strawberries were cut in half or quartered, the grapes were cut in half, and the nectarines were cut into small bites.  I bought kiddie ice cream cones at the grocery store and filled them with fruit right before serving them (so the cones didn't get soggy).  The cones were easy for 2-year-olds to carry around with them and eat, and they mostly used their adorable little fingers to get to the fruit.  It was a hit.  I have a feeling we'll be repeating this children's party dessert in the future.

Before pictures

Since we're working on transforming our rooms and making them our own, I thought I'd post three before pictures today.

1. Living Room

We're going to put in this room a sectional couch, coffee table, comfy chairs, a side table for the couch, a console table behind the couch, a standing globe, our wine rack, and a wood dresser to hold the bar. We'll also have a lot of plants in here near the windows.

2. Upstairs guest bathroom

We're in the middle of a DIY renovation on this room.  We took down the wallpaper, towel rods, medicine cabinet (to the right of the mirror, not pictured), shower rod and curtain, and mirror. We put up a new, curved shower rod, and now we are adding drywall, sanding, and prepping the walls for paint.

3. Master bedroom

So far in this room we have our bed, a table behind the bed, two nightstands, our dresser, and an over-stuffed chair in this room.  We have a few small rugs in there, too, but we need to figure out whether we want to get a larger rug or big piece of carpet to make the room more cozy.  We also need to replace the windows and put up blinds and curtains. For now we have stick-on blinds (which work great).

Baking up some fall apples

IT'S APPLE SEASON!

I have a great apple cake recipe that I really like to bake during apple season.  My friend Ali passed the recipe along to me a few years ago.  Here is the link from when it was posted in The Washington Post in September 2006.  It comes with a honey sauce recipe, but I always make it without the sauce, and it's delicious!  I often have apple slices left over after I fill the pan, but I'm ok with that.  They're covered in cinnamon and sugar and make a great snack.

Since I'm still unpacking the new house and organizing our kitchen, I haven't baked this cake this year. But I'm thinking about it.  Maybe this weekend or next....

West Elm Sale

I love a good West Elm sale!   West Elm is giving customers 15% OFF clearance items until September 23 with promo code FALL15.  They have great house decor items, and I did a little online shopping yesterday and am now awaiting the arrival of these three pretty items.

Sculpted Origami Pillow Cover in Heather Oatmeal

Final sale, $19.99

West Elm

SHORT NARROW VASE in WHITE

Final sale, $14.99

West Elm

CROSS DYE BASIC NAPKIN SET in red pepper

Set of 4 on Final sale, $9.99 

West Elm

I plan to use the heather oatmeal color pillow and the small white vase in our bedroom.  I'm thinking the color scheme of our bedroom will be shades of grey, blue, and white, with dark wood furniture.  My inspiration pictures are here, here, and here.  So far, we have dark wood nightstands and a dresser from Ikea and a gray duvet cover.

The red napkins will add some cheery color to our table, and they are also more earth-friendly than using paper napkins (right now we have a big bag of Costco ones) when guests come over.  Double win. :)

Travel Dreams - Stateside

My new husband and I love to travel, and we have taken some fantastic trips together in the past three years.  Now that we bought a house, we might be taking fewer overseas trips in an attempt to save up for all the house renovations we want to do.  Maybe that means we'll take more vacations in the US and near our home.  I've been thinking about travel the past few days and great US destinations.

Of all the places I've been to in the US, my favorites are (trying not to put these in a particular order):

1.  Chicago - so much to see, even more amazing restaurants, plus the best free events year-round.

2.  California wine country - Napa and Sonoma are gorgeous and full of incredible wine and food.

View from the Castello di Amorosa Tuscan castle and winery

3. New Orleans - New Years 2010. It's a fantastic place to bring in the New Year!

Delicious beignets at Cafe du Monde

4.  Alaska - we visited Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, and Ketchikan on the Norwegian Cruise Line for my 30th birthday!

5.  Las Vegas - we went for our friends' (non-Vegas style) wedding and had a blast on the strip.

The common attraction:  fun things to do and great food.*  Guess that's what it takes to reel me in!

Where do I want to go next?  Here are a few thoughts:

• Montana - the scenery is supposed to be breathtaking
• Mountain View, California - to visit my li'l brother
• Outer Banks, North Carolina - I've heard the beaches are beautiful
• Delaware beaches - maybe an easy drive for my family to take a beach trip next summer?
• Sarasota, Florida - my mom is going to be living there full time starting this winter, and it's time I get down there to visit! Plus, Key Beach is often rated the #1 beach in the US.
• National Parks out west - the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon, and others

* I wouldn't say the cruise line food was great, although it was much better than I anticipated. Alaska made the list because of the gorgeous natural wonders and views. It's breathtaking and I highly recommend a trip out there in the summer!

Guest Bathroom Makeover - Part 3

Part 3:  Transforming a Medicine Cabinet to Open Shelves

Our DIY guest bathroom renovation continues!  When we took out the medicine cabinet so we could remove the wallpaper around it, we decided not to replace the cabinet and instead use the existing space for open shelving.  We have a few reasons for doing this:

1. The medicine cabinet is old and not in great shape
2. In a guest bathroom, we don't see a need to keep things that will barely get used in there (like medicine bottles).
3. We have a linen closet just outside the guest bathroom where we can store lots of extra bathroom items, like tissue paper, medicine bottles, extra shampoo and conditioner, etc.
4. There is very little space on the bathroom counter, so guests will be able to rest some of their toiletries on the open shelves -- we're thinking toothpaste, makeup, deodorant, etc.

Luckily, my handyman hubby was up for the challenge when I suggested the open shelving idea.  Last night, he got to work!  I provided lots of moral support, one very important karate chop, and my cell phone for pictures.  Here's what the medicine cabinet looked like before we took it down to tear out the wallpaper.

Here's how we began our transformation from medicine cabinet to open shelving:

Step 1: We measured the space in the hole left by the medicine cabinet.

Step 2: We bought a piece of patching drywall that we could cut into pieces to cover the walls, top, and bottom.  (We didn't have to cover the back wall because there was drywall there already.)  It only cost $5 since we needed a small amount -- 2 ft x 2 ft x 1/2 in.

Step 3: My hubby used a pen to mark on the drywall where he needed to cut a piece for the side

Sell home items on Craigslist

I already posted about the wonders of Freecycle.org in this post, and I continue to look on Freecycle often to see if there are items we need for our new home that we can get at no cost.  Another great resource is Craigslist, both to find and sell items.

My mom is selling her house and wants to get rid of a lot of great items, so I suggested she post them on Craigslist.  It's easy and you can make some good money, and the best part is that people will come to pick up the items, so you don't have to do the work of driving them anywhere or lifting anything heavy.

In my experience, to sell items on Craigslist, you should:

1. Include key words that people will search for
2. Post good pictures
3. Write short descriptions in bullet format so the post is easy to read

I really like this Craigslist selling guide from Seventh House on the Left.  Check it out.

Making Old Furniture New

This past weekend we moved a lot of furniture into our house that was giving to us by my parents.  My dad was storing furniture for a few years with the idea of giving it to his children when they moved into houses.   My mom recently sold her house and will be moving to Florida, so she is also giving us a lot of furniture that she won't be taking with her.  I am very happy to be getting some beautiful pieces that have been in our family for decades.  Some of the pieces are in great shape, and we wouldn't think of touching them with paint or taking them apart.  But others... let's just say they could use a little TLC.

Which got me thinking about how best to make some of our old furniture new.  There are many great tutorials out there on the WWW about painting wood furniture, some clever IKEA hacks, and much more.  Here are three of my favorite furniture makeovers that I've seen recently.

1. Censational Girl's Thrift Store Cabinet Makeover

Wow!  Kate used a sander, paint, custom cut glass, and pieces of flat lattice to make this old piece look like new.  Can you believe it cost her a whopping $10?

Censational Girl

2. Dressed Up Dresser

Claire Zinnecker posted this into a great, modern piece on Camille Styles.

Camille Styles

3. Reupholster a Chair

We have some great chairs that could seriously use a new, fancy outfit.  Jessica wrote out a step-by-step tutorial here that I am itching to try.

Four Generations One Roof

So... which of our old pieces of furniture is up first?  I'll have to think about that.

August in pictures

Besides moving in August, and MANY HOURS of unpacking, moving things around, working on our guest bathroom, and making at least 10 trips to Home Depot or Lowe's, we had a few really fun days with friends and family.

On Labor Day, we went with friends to Breaux Vineyards in Purcelville, Virginia.  It was a beautiful, one-hour drive from DC to the vineyard, and the $10 tasting was fun.  We then spent a few hours on the patio with a picnic lunch and we bought two bottles of wine to share: a 2011 Jolie Blond and a 2005 Merlot.  I highly recommend a day at Breaux!

My little niece, B, hanging out on our porch during move-in weekend.  She enjoys the southern charm of our front porch as much as I do!  She likes to look in each window and count the columns.  I measured her against our baby lemon tree (not pictured), and they are about the same height. I wonder if the lemon tree can keep up with her....

Two of our favorite people got hitched in August in Amherst, MA.  Andy and Becca looked amazing and threw a music-filled bash.  My favorite parts were seeing Becca in her Vera Wang dress, watching them get hoisted into the air on chairs during the dancing, secretly decorating their room with rose petals, and chilling at the end of the night on the beautiful deck in front of the fireplace at The Lord Jeffrey Inn (a great wedding location)!

September promises to be a busy month as well:  moving things out of storage from Massachusetts to Maryland, fixing up the guest bathroom, and organizing our linen closets and just about every other room in the house.

Guest Bathroom Makeover - Part 2

Part 2:  Tales of Taping, Sanding, and Joint Compound

Over Labor Day Weekend we made a lot of progress on the guest bathroom makeover.  To start, we used painter's tape to tape off areas of the bathroom that meet the wall.

We don't want to paint the window trim, vanity counter, shower tile, light fixture, etc.  The painter's tape is very easy to use.  You just need to (1) make sure it's lined up well so that it lies straight against the edges of the wall, and (2) flatten out all air bubbles so paint can't get underneath.

Then, my handyman hubby took down the mirror, wall-mounted soap dish, towel rods and took off the toilet tank so we could sand the wall behind the toilet.

Next, he used a hand sander to sand the wall down so it is nice and smooth.  He used safety goggles and a face mask, since the dust from the walls goes everywhere.

After that, he mixed joint compound in a big, orange all-purpose bucket.  It was very easy to mix the joint compound.  (You can buy it pre-mixed, but it's less expensive to make your own.) We got a Super Grout Mixer and attached it to our drill, poured the dry joint compound powder into the bucket, and then added water from the hose.  We mixed it until the joint compound was about the consistency of peanut butter or cake icing -- not too watery, but thick enough to cover the wall and not drip down.

Guest Bathroom Makeover - Part 1

Part 1:  Taking down the Wallpaper

We ripped off the flowery, 1970s wallpaper from the guest bathroom by hand, and it wasn't difficult at all.  I anticipated that we'd need to use a clothing steamer to loosen the wallpaper, but there were a few places where the corners were coming off the wall, and once we had a few pieces loose, it was easy to take off the rest.  Where we needed to loosen a few more pieces, we used our nails or a flat-head screwdriver.

Next steps: sanding, sanding, more sanding. Then we'll put some plaster on the wall to cover some small problem areas, let it dry, and then paint!  We'll post more pictures as we go.

Freecycle - a great resource

I recently learned about a great website: Freecycle.org.  I used it as a resource for our move, and it proved incredibly helpful!  I recommend you check it out.

Freecycle is a non-profit that began in 2003 in Arizona.  Their website allows users to post items that they are giving away for free and to post items that they want for free.  Their mission is "to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."  The website lists active Freecycle groups in every state, plus there are some locations overseas!

How it works:  you choose your local Freecycle group and sign up to become a member.  Then, you can read the posts online and when you find something you would like, just click "reply to post" to e-mail the person who wrote the post.  (You don't have access to their direct e-mail address until they respond to you.)  You then set up a time to pick up the item, and you get it for free.  :)

Guest Bathroom Makeover - Planning

We're in the planning stages for our hallway guest bathroom makeover.  This is the bathroom we currently use the most, because the master bathroom has a tiny shower and doesn't smell that great.  The hallway bathroom, however, has a good-sized shower and tub and it smells just fine!  Thus far, we have changed out:

a. the curtain rod -- for a new, curved, Moen shower rod in the brushed nickel color
b. the old shower curtain -- for a Bed, Bath, and Beyond clear curtain
c. the shower head -- we don't love the new shower head, so we're still shopping around.

Now, we are in full bathroom makeover planning stages.  This makeover shouldn't be incredibly time consuming, but it will involve a lot of small changes, so planning is key.

Etsy Planting Pots for Less Than $25

Look at this little succulent baby!  This is a burro's tale succulent (related to the donkey tale).  It was given to us by my husband's mother about 1.5 years ago when it was teeny (like in the photo), and since then, it has grown so large that its vines now hang over the side of the pot and down off a shelf.  Succulents are a great way to bring some life to your house, since they require very little water, so if you forget about them for a while or go out of town for a week, they will do just fine! 

We have a lot of different succulents, and most of them are in cheap pots we found at Home Depot or got for free at our local nursery.  I've been thinking it's time to get some inexpensive but beautiful pots for our succulents, so I searched Etsy.  Here are three great and inexpensive options to brighten up your rooms.

Succulent in a tiny wooden box planter, $6

Yellow Elephant Planter, $15

The Tile Shop

This past weekend we took a break from unpacking and went for our first visit to The Tile Shop in Rockville.  I learned about them through Young House Love, a great blog about home renovation.  Since The Tile Shop is pretty close to our new home, and they are having a Labor Day Sale, we decided to check it out.  We decided to focus on one project only, otherwise we might get carried away.  First tile project for our new house:  basement bathroom tile.

Why are we starting our flooring adventure in the basement bathroom?  Because we had to rip up the entire basement floor to remove the asbestos tile that covered it.  We removed the toilet and vanity in the basement bathroom, and we want to cover the toilet hole with a new toilet we got at Home Depot.  But we do NOT want to put the toilet in just to have to take it out again when we choose a floor for the room.  So it's time for a new bathroom floor!

Fix It Items

My handyman hubby and I have made some mental lists of what we'd like to change in our first house, and it's time to right some of these Fix It items down.  That way, I can delight in crossing items off the list!  It's true, I love lists, and organizing things calms me.  In the jumble of boxes everywhere and so many things to do, making a list and crossing things off sounds like a great idea!  I decided to start with short-term projects.  Projects we'll tackle later will have to wait for another list.  This one is long enough.  Here goes....

Entryway

__Rip up the ugly floor tile and put down new floor (possibly ourselves)
__Paint the trim (currently an unappealing, buttercream color)

DIY or Hire a Professional?

How do you choose whether to Do It Yourself or hire a professional?  There are so many projects in a new home, that you're bound to DIY some and hire out for others.  For us, it comes down to:

1. Can we do the project safely ourselves?
2. How long will the project take?
3. How much will a professional charge and how much money will we save doing it ourselves?
4. How long would it take to get a professional to the house to do the job?
5. Are we excited to try to do the project ourselves?

We Moved! And... Surprise Non-Working Items

WE MOVED!  This past weekend was chock full of packing boxes, hauling boxes downstairs, loading the UHaul, driving to our new house, and unloading boxes, and doing it all again.

THREE DAYS of moving, and we didn't have any time to unpack things or do any of the little home improvement projects we're aching to tackle.  But after two days in the house, it's time to get started.


You might already know that when you move in to a new house or apartment, you will find that some items don't work and need to be fixed sooner rather than later.  These are items you didn't notice when you first saw the house, when you went through the house in the home inspection, or when you went back for the walk-through.  Little things that you wouldn't notice until you start living in your new home.

Our first surprise non-working item was the master bathroom sink faucet.  It was spraying water everywhere and needed to be changed.

REAL ESTATE AGENTS

We learned quite a few things about working with a realtor while buying our first house. Here are some thoughts:

(1) Choose the right realtor!  This is key.  Your choice of realtor will have a large impact on your house buying experience because of the large number of important steps the realtor has to help you with.  For instance, your realtor will:

(a) find houses that fit your criteria and price range,
(b) make appointments and take you to see houses you want to see in person,
(c) help you bid on the house and negotiate a price until you sign a contract to buy the house, and
(d) help you get a house inspection

BUYING A HOUSE

Storage bin found at Home Goods

Closing on our first house in TWO DAYS. While we have a growing to do list...

(1) find a plumber, electrician, and an asbestos abatement company
(2) choose paint colors
(3) figure out how to take down some seriously old and outdated wallpaper
(4) decide whether to hire somebody to refinish and stain the wood floor in the dining room and living room
(5) prioritize our to-do list!

...clearly it's more fun to shop for home decor. SO. Off to Home Goods I went to return a few things, and after a quick look through the store, I found a great PANTRY find. Two canvas bins from Home Goods! Cute and sturdy.  #avoidance  #timetodecorate