Lord and Lady of the Land

It's a funny thing when you go from being renters to owners. Nothing physically changes. The house is the same, the land is the same, the kids are the same, the neighborhood is the same. You clean the house the same, mow the lawn the same, get the mail every day the same. Yet everything changes. Your whole mentality changes. Or to be really honest here, your mentality is TRYING to change. It's like your brain is behind a day or two. So everything changes. Like overnight. Like as soon as you sign the last paper from the stack of paper that probably took 200 trees to make that stack of paper.

One minute you are renting. You can't change anything in the house. You are continually aware of the fact that everything in the house is NOT YOURS. You have to be extra careful that the kids, cats, dogs, what have you, behave and do not destroy the house. You always worry if the owners will sell the house out from under you (been there, done that), get divorced and kick you out so he can live there (been there, done that again), drop in unannounced (yup), inspect everything (uh huh), or even lose the house and you have no choice but to move (happened to our neighbors just a few months ago). So every car that slows down outside freaks you out because you worry if the owner is losing the house or considering selling or sending over people to "check up" on it.

So here's the conversation between Paul and I a few days ago:

Me: "Someone slowed down right outside the house today and I felt that familiar panic rise up in me again. Are the landlords losing the house? Are they selling it out from under us? And then I think, Wait a minute! I'M the owner! I'M the Lady of the Land! That would make you Lord of the Land, you know."

Paul (in his best aristocratic voice): Lord of the Land! Lord of the Manor, even! Care to have a spot of tea, my dear?"

Me: "No, you're supposed to call me Lady April."

Paul: "No. Lords don't call their wives Lady April."

Me: "You're right. That would be more like calling our daughter Lady Dianna and our son Lord Timothy. You're supposed to call me Lady Russell! Like Lady Grantham!"

Paul: "I will not call you Lady Russell or Lady April. And do they call sons Lord? I don't think that is used for the sons..."

Me: "Well, on Downton Abbey the daughters are called Lady and then their first name. I would assume the sons would be called Lord and then their first name. You know, since I'm Lady Russell and you're Lord Russell, our house has to have a name. Maybe Russell Manor!"

Paul: "No. No. I'm Lord of Yellow Stone Manor."

Me: "This house doesn't have stone..."

Paul: "No, but it sounds cool."

Me: "I suppose.... What about Yellow House Abbey?"

Paul: "No. That sounds sissy. I'm Lord of Yellow Stone Manor."

Me: "Fine. Then from here on out you must call me Lady Russell."

Paul: "I'm not calling you Lady Russell."

Me: "Fine, I'll make all of our friends call me Lady Russell."

Paul: "They'll call you Looney Tunes, that's what they'll call you."

Me: "And we need to get a servant!"

Paul: "A servant???"

Me: "At least one servant. One that cooks and cleans. And I'll have them serve us and our friends tea and crumpets when they come over. And they must call me Lady Russell and call you Lord Russell and call our friends Lady and Lord too. And our friends will call us Lady and Lord and we'll call them Lady and Lord too!"

Paul (looking at me as if I've grown a second head on my shoulders): "I'll come visit you at the mental hospital every Sunday."

Me: "And the workers there would have to call me Lady Russell. And so would you."

Paul: "Sure, dear. Whatever you say." 

Kitchen and Dining Room Project #1 - Painting the Walls

A few days ago I started the whole Kitchen Project. My plan was to do one room at a time. I should know by now that my plans never go as planned. So instead of only doing ONE room, I also tackled the dining room as well. I was thinking: "Hey, the dining room walls are going to be the same color as the kitchen walls so you might as well paint those at the same time!" It sounded good and it also sounded very doable, seeing as it is an open floor plan between the two, plus it just makes sense. That's what Practical People do, right? We always find the most economical way to do things. See, I'm justified. :D

But then it takes longer than planned, plus now I have TWO unfinished rooms instead of just one. I'm sure I'll appreciate this in time, right?

Anyway, here's the before pic of the kitchen.

Okay, now is a good time to explain my big plans with this room and you can see how much change will happen in the months to come. See that ugly floor? That's got to go. I'm undecided on if I want that in stone or in waterproof/scratch resistant laminate that looks and feels just like hardwood. I have a bit more time to think on that. We want to get all of the main floor walls painted first so we don't have to worry about paint drips or plastic covers. When we lay floor, it will be the whole floor. Yes, I think we're crazy. We may decide to inject some saneness into ourselves before we actually do that. 

The microwave is going too. We bought a unit that goes above the stove, which will give us more counter top space. The cabinets will be going through a big change. I'll be painting them and adding knobs and handles to the doors and drawers. The light fixtures are going to be changed, eventually the counters will be changed, and the appliances will also be upgraded too in time. I also want a kitchen island that will not actually be in the middle of the kitchen but on the side to sort of separate the kitchen from the dining room. I don't want it permanent because then we can move it around to accommodate guests and such. We love having people over, so the small spaces have to be easily rearranged and converted for more people, but that will all come later and in many steps. Baby steps! 

Here's our coffee station in the kitchen. I wasn't kidding when I said we love coffee. Have you had some coffee yet today? If not, go get some. 

And since my Kitchen Project now included the dining room, here is the before picture of the dining room:

See that carpet? Who puts carpet in the dining room?? We can't figure out why anyone would do this. A lot of houses in our area actually have carpeted dining rooms. Don't they know people will eat FOOD and drink all sorts of DRINKS in this room?? Crazy. And the carpet definitely shows that a lot of eating and drinking has gone on in this room. The carpet is going away. Far, far away. As soon as possible.

Here's the paint I'm starting with. Isn't it gorgeous?

This color is called Golden Wheat, and it has this wonderful rich earthiness to it. We love nature and anything earthy, so this color really suits us. My first goal was to paint the kitchen and dining room walls. 

Everything has been moved and cleared free of stuff. My dining room table was heaped with all of it. We couldn't use the table that day or the next day until supper.

The new color is now on the walls! 

My poor table.

When it came time to go around the trim and switches, I taped it up. Some people start off by adding those first but I'm a rebel. Below is another picture of the dining room in progress.

And here it looks after the second day of working on the walls. The dining room looks gorgeous now!

My son says the color fits the house so much better than the green did and my daughter says "Oooo! I LOVE it!" Score!

The dining room is FAR from finished though. A lot of decor I plan on putting in it is missing, one of which is my china cabinet which will really set the color of the walls off nicely. My china cabinet is a very pretty reddish wood color. And then don't forget the new flooring soon to come! This area will have wood flooring. I'm waiting on the decor until after the flooring is put in.

The dining room looks really nice, but the kitchen does NOT, so I am not going to show you pictures of that. The cabinets' color clashes horribly with the new wall color and the walls aren't even done yet so I'm not going to show it. Maybe I'll get brave and show it with the new cabinet color in the next post. At least then you can scroll down and see that it does turn out nice in the end. It is going to be such a drastic change, though, that it would make you cringe if I abruptly ended the post with the ugly ducking stage right now. 

Trust me, I'm rescuing you from a heart attack. Like a hero. You will thank me for this. Really.

And now it's time for me to get back to my day job. With a cup of coffee, of course.


***EDITOR'S NOTE:  If you saw this post previously and notice the colors are different in the pictures it's because I adjusted the colors and edited the pictures so they look closer to the real deal. Instead of using the phone to edit the pictures I used Photoshop to adjust the colors. Mental Note: use Photoshop, Brainiac.

Meet the House

Before I get started on the home improvement posts I think a proper introduction of the house in question is quite appropriate, don't you think? I think so. It's only polite, you know.

So here is our home! The one we just bought a week ago tomorrow.

Wait a minute. What's with all the Halloween decorations?? I can already hear you asking: Are you guys like the weird Klopecs from The Burbs or something, with Halloween stuff up in the middle of summer?? While that might be fun, I'm not into dirt floored basements and big scary furnaces. No, I didn't take this picture today. This was actually taken just after we moved into the house 5 years ago as renters in mid October, so it is decorated for Halloween. Lightly decorated, I might add. We do a much better job with decorating now. :D

Anyway, enough about Halloween. I know Halloween is fun and all, and The Burbs is like the best subdivision movie EVER, but we really must move on with this post. You can go watch the movie after you finish reading this post.

The house has gone virtually unchanged during the last 5 years. As renters we couldn't do anything with it, but we kept it in the same condition as when we first moved in. Well, except for the carpets. Those get dirty, you know, even after numerous shampooings. And they are light cream colored carpets. That's basically white, people. White! Who puts white carpets in a house?? Especially with cats and 2 kids walking all over those carpets! So yeah, they don't look so nice right now. But the floors won't be staying that way for long.

It's a beautiful house, really. Beautiful in all it's plainness. You know the plainness I'm talking about. The same type of plainness you see in newly built houses. It's like a blank canvas with neutral pastel colors. Which makes sense because this house is fairly new (only 14 years old) with 3 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths with a basement and 2 car garage. It's a Colonial, but it is so plain that it hardly looks like a Colonial. Right now the house looks like a plain traditional home. Nothing to write home about. But that's going to change. It's my mission to turn this Colonial into a true Colonial, inside and out. With some moose and loons thrown in for good measure. We can't forget the moose! Or the coffee!

Go ahead and make yourself a cup. I'll wait.

Got your coffee? Good.

I actually already started working on the kitchen yesterday. Tomorrow I will show you the progress so far. I know, I know. You were hoping to see it now weren't you? Sorry, I'm mean like that. But it's not done. At all. So you can be patient. Yes, you can. :D

Here's a teaser to show you the paint colors I've chosen to put in the kitchen.

Isn't it gorgeous?? True Colonial colors there! I can hardly wait to see the end product of this house's transformation, but I know it will be a long time in coming. I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but it will be fun work.

But now I've got to get back to finishing up supper. Homemade Pizza night is calling!

Why the Practical Moose?

(This is a wood sign art piece of a moose by artist Penny Wagner. Isn't it lovely?)

Introductions are always the hardest. You go from: Where do I start? to What should I say? and finish with Oh my gosh, I'm so boring! and then you are stuck sitting in front of a blank computer page with that annoying blinking cursor line.

So I guess I'll just start with the moose. They are crazy looking creatures, aren't they?? Kind of like a cow and elk got too friendly one day.

Anyway....

Anyone who knows my FAMILY knows our affection for moose, loons, or anything rustic and north country. It's just what we love. We love the great outdoors and find nature to be the best place to relax and blow off steam.

Anyone who knows ME knows that I'm very frugal and practical. (My husband lovingly likes to call me Scrooge, but that is so harsh, don't you think?? Yes, I hit his arm whenever he says that. :D ) Truth is I am frugal, thrifty, and practical but as an artist I can make even the cheapest things look amazing with very little money put into it. I can also stretch a dollar, make amazing meals with few ingredients, and have family fun without breaking the bank.

So The Practical Moose just makes sense! Or at least it does to me.

I created this blog initially to write down our journey of home improvement. We just recently bought the house we've rented for the last 5 years. It's a beautiful wonderful house in one of those little town subdivisions that people romanticize about. You know the ones I'm talking about - the ones where all of the lawns are manicured and landscaped, flowers surround every porch, people wave and chat to others walking on the sidewalks...Where everyone knows their neighbors, kids are best friends with the neighbor kids across the street, birds are always singing, and neighbors are always out giving each other a hand with something, whether that be with shoveling snow, mowing someone's lawn who needs it, or pet sitting when they go on vacation (which is actually what I am doing for my wonderful neighbor right now). It's a community, and everything I just wrote about is true. At least it is in our community. Of course, this is also the real world so we have our frustrations, like barking dogs at night, screaming kids, lawn mower noise all the time, and the neighbors put WHAT in their yard?! Yeah, everyone knows what that is like too. Might as well be real about it, right? Right. I'm sure you could add in more frustrations, but who wants to focus on negative things? Not me! So this is home and we love it here. :)

Anyway, I'm chomping at the bit to decorate and make this house more like our HOME instead of the rental it has been to us for the last 5 years. I thought this would be a great way to keep our family and friends up to date with what we are doing. I've also considered putting in other things I enjoy, like DIY projects, thrifty living, natural living, recipes, and whatever floats my boat. Who knows? We'll see how it goes.

So anyone who was bored enough to read my lengthy blog introduction and is still reading wants to see what progresses with our house, I hope you will enjoy our journey with us. It should be fun! Having my fun loving comedian of a husband around is sure to make this a fun process. At least for me. I hope you will enjoy it with us.

Tomorrow I will start the process with my kitchen walls. I'm pretty excited about it and plan on sharing my process. :)