Our First Home

As I mentioned in the previous post, we are selling our house.  I have mixed feelings about our little "SugarHood" home.  We've kind of had a love/hate relationship for the 3 years we've lived here.
It has so much character and charm but with that comes projects...and Matt and I don't do projects well.  Thank heavens for our parents who are all so handy and helpful...They have donated so much of their time and energy into helping us fix it up.  It has been a lot of work but we have loved how it has all come together.     I love the area in SLC it's in and this is the house that we brought our baby girl home to.  For our first home and at this point in our lives, it really has been the perfect fit for us and I will always love this house for so many reasons....but I will also love not having to work so hard on projects.  As it is time to move on I wanted to post a picture of each room of our first home to remember it by.

The Front View

Entry Room

Dining Nook

Master Bedroom

Closet of Master

Kitchen

Kitchen

Bathroom

Desk/Office

Loft

TV room/Loft

Smaller Basement Bedroom

Larger Basement Bedroom

Back Yard

The Beginnings of a Nursery

We have a 3 bedroom home...Our bedroom and 2 extra bedrooms in the basement.  One is the guest bedroom for when our family and friends come to visit and the other is where all our junk lands a storage room.  Since finding out we had a little one on the way I have been trying to get organized so that our extra room could be her nursery.  It has been a project.  I have bought at least 15 plastic storage bins and that is still not enough.  We each gave away 3 full garbage sacks of old clothes and we still are swimming in extra clothes.  I wish I had real before pics...it was not a pretty sight.  After everything was out of the room, it was time to get down and dirty and whip that room into shape.  We stripped a couple layers of paint and a few layers of wallpaper off the walls.  Then, with the expertise and amazing help of my mom and Noni, we plastered the seams and textured the walls.  It was a process.  After that, it was time to be primed and painted.  I chose a creamy gray paint for the walls, and I really love how it turned out.  I picked up the crib bedding last night (which I could not love more than I already do) and the carpets are getting cleaned on Thursday.  After that, it will be move in and decorate time!  We have all the furniture except for the crib.

Scraping layers and layers of paint and wallpaper off the walls

Plastering and sanding the seams (did this step about 4 times)

 Ready for texture (didn't take pics on my iPhone of us texturing and priming the walls, so just use your imagination for those steps).

First coat of paint

View looking in of finished paint product

Another view of finished paint product

 

Nursery Bedding Preview

They are handmade and just perfect!!

Us at James and Shanelle's wedding

(25 weeks)

Everything is coming along!!!  I can't wait to get all the furniture moved into the room and see how it all comes together! 

...a chair for our desk...

We have slowed down quite a bit on home improvements and big projects around the Olsen residence.  Part of the reason is that it's winter and hard to be motivated during the long/cold winter months.  Part of it is that is costs so much money/time/energy and we question how much money/time/energy we should dump into a house that we know we won't be living in for much longer.  Part of it is that Matt has been busy working on his CFP.  And because of this last part is the reason we made a small home improvement and finally bought a chair for our desk (that Matt built, mind you) so Matt can study for his classes.  

We found this chair at Pottery Barn and have had our eye on it for a while before we finally decided to pull the plug and buy it.  The best part about home improvements like this is that we can take it with us wherever we go.  We are very happy with it.

Matt is enrolled through Kaplan to complete his CFP.  He is in the accelerated program and will finish by the end of this year.  It is very intense and time consuming for him.  Every week he has 3 classes that are 3 hours each.  On top of the class he gets a thick study textbook to read each month as well as online quizzes and modules to complete.  He spends about 20 hours a week studying on top of his 40-50 hour work week so I don't see too much of him.  

I am so proud of him for how hard he works to be better and better his career.  In the short 3 years he has worked with his company he has transferred up the ladder about 8 times which means he hasn't stayed in the same role for more than a few months.  He is currently working on the bond desk and for only having 3 years of experience with the company, this is quite the accomplishment.  Most of his co-workers in the same role have worked with the company for 15+ years.  I always knew Matt would succeed at whatever he set out to do in life and he is doing just that.  I love you so much honey!

This is Matt jokingly modeling for me and my iPhone camera after we attended his cousins wedding (hence the suit).  Isn't he "so fierce?!"

Give Thanks

 

This year we had Thanksgiving with the Olsen side at our house in SLC. 

The food was delicious and the company was even better!  After din din, the girls did a little crafty craft while the boys watched footy ball.  It was another great holiday with the fam.

We are so thankful for our families and all they are to us and all they do for us.  We love them so much and don't express our gratefulness enough!

Not the greatest pics, but you get the idea....

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!

{...I love decorating the house this time of year...}

We've Moved...

Into our basement, that is!!  Summer is officially here and that means the Olsen residence is hotter than Hades these days!  We don't have an AC and our house is very old and inefficient so in the winter we freeze and in the summer we melt! There are three floors in our home and as you go up a level the temperature rises about 5 degrees so hanging out in our beloved loft is OUT of the question!  Instead you can find us in the dungeon with the spiders and the small tv but at least it's not a scorcher down here.  You know we are desperate to give up sleeping in our comfy memory foam king!
So...until it cools off again you can find us in our spare bedroom in the basement where it is at least a cooler than the rest of the house!!

Our Grundle Maker

My sister in law Kelsey and I had our first yard sale over the weekend and it was a TON of work!!  Luckily it turned out to be well worth it.  Between the two of us we made over $1000 which completely shocked me!

We advertised our yard sale to be from 8am-2pm but that didn't stop people from coming at 6am!!!  Luckily I was up and at em at around 4am in anticipation of the big event...I couldn't sleep, I was like a kid on Christmas morning! Then 2pm came along and we were still busy so we decided to keep shop open till it slowed down....that turned out to be around 6pm.  It was an all day ordeal and by the end of the day we were all SPENT!!  It was exhausting!  You meet some pretty interesting people at yard sales to say the least...and they ALL like to barter on the price.  One guy was buying an iPhone case from me--I had it marked at 50 cents (orignally paid $30 for it) and the guy asked if I would accept 35 cents...sure whatever!  I would usually just accept whatever they offered cause I just wanted to liquidate and get rid of stuff but it was SO funny to me that people fussed over less than a dollar!

At the end of the day our loot was pretty picked over but we still had tons of stuff...There was no way that any of it was going back in my house though after all the work we went to go through it and sort it and de-junk so we decided to box stuff up and DI it.  As we were getting it boxed I found some jewelry that didn't sell so I grabbed it and took it over to the little girls in my neighborhood and they thought that was pretty awesome!  Then I told there mom that the rest of it was going to the thrift store unless she wanted any of it and she said she'd take ALL of it, so that made our job much easier and we just hauled it all across the street.  I am so glad to finally have my basement back!!! 

Thanks for all of you who came and for all of you that helped!  Hope you had as much fun as we did!

I was domestic today!

And it all started when I heard about this stuff:

Brilliance in a box!!

Since I can't sew, I have had a dilemma with the curtains in my loft for months.  They have needed to be hemmed (is that the right word?),anyway, they needed to be shortened and I couldn't do it.

Then I heard about the iron on fabric fuse stuff, so I got some at Smith's for $3.99 and WAH-LA!!  I have shorter curtains.

 They aren't perfect so please don't judge! And PRETTY PLEASE  try to ignore our horrendous back yard through the window. It is our spring project this year, so anyone who wants to come over and do yard work is more than welcome to!

After I did the curtains my domestic-ness didn't stop there.  

This side of our loft has been bare for too long. Here is my progress so far:

 
It still needs more.  We are thinking maybe some sweet vintage wallpaper rather than the green paint? Also, I want to learn how to make a nice fabric covered foam cushion for the window seat.  A Chair for the desk.  The walls need a decoration or two. And the window treatment still needs help along the top bar...

Yes indeed, it still needs more, but for now it will do.

GIVE THANKS

It's the last day of November 2009 and it's time for me to give thanks.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Here's the main things I can think of.

MATT:  I am so thankful for my best friend.  I am so lucky to share my life with this man!

• DRAMA:  It may seem silly to some of you and before I had Drama I would be right there with you rolling my eyes, BUT I am forever changed now that I have her.  I love my dog so much!  She really is like a child to Matt and I.  She is smart and playful as well as cuddly and loving.  She is the perfect friend and I don't know what I ever did without her in my life!

• MY FAMILY: I love these people.  We have been through a lot together and have managed to stay a pretty solid family unit.  I have great parents and I love my siblings more than I ever tell them, the older we get, the more fun we have together.
  

• MATT'S FAMILY:  I lucked out in the in-laws department.  They are all so great and loving.  I love to spend as much time as possible with them.

• MY FRIENDS:  I have awesome friends, old and new.  My only complaint is that I don't see you guys often enough!

• MY JOB:  I love my job.  I can't think of a better job for me.  I get to meet so many amazing people and travel the world.  I never want to have another job.

• MATT'S JOB:  Matt has a great education and got a great job where he can use it.  He has done several different roles with his company and has excelled in each one.  He recently got a promotion that we are ecstatic about.  It will be a transfer to the SLC office as well as a better role for Matt's interests.  He is now a Premium Relations Associate.  In English that means he deals with high net worth clients which totally excites him.  This is such an honor for Matt to have this job because he has only worked for his company for a year and a half and hundreds of people applied for this position and only four were chosen to fill the role.  Matt's hard work has paid off and we couldn't be more pleased.  The 8 minute commute is one of his favorite parts of his new role!

• OUR HEALTH:  Matt and I are both really healthy people.  knock on wood.

• OUR HOME:  Our first home is small, old and has plenty of flaws but I love it.   It is perfect for us and I love that it is ours.
  

• OUR CARS:  We have been blessed to have reliable cars.  Knock on wood.

• HOLIDAYS:  Who doesn't love this time of year?  Shopping, Food, Family, Gifts, Giving, Christmas Lights, Parties, Festive Music, Traditions, Warm Clothes, etc.
  

• VACATIONS:  We have been so lucky to see many places in this beautiful world together; Maui, Paris, St. Louis, Miami, San Diego, Phoenix, L.A. Tiajuana,Oahu, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerta Vallarta, Nassau, Key West, Savannah, San Francisco, Vancouver, Louisville, Las Vegas, Havasupi Falls, etc. 
  

• BLOGS and FACEBOOK and E-MAIL:  I love the technology we have that connects us all together.  I love being able to document our lives without having to make a scrapbook (yuck)  and I love being able to have a small view into each of yours.  Keep blogging!  I am finally back in business with internet in our home.  

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving 2009!!