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New Home Update

06/14/2012

On Monday, we closed on construction loan. YAAAAAAAYYYY! I’ve never been more excited for a loan closing, probably because we’ve been waiting months and months for this. Kudos to local Wilson Bank for working things out for us and being super awesome so far. Now we can break ground. Woohoo!

Jason and I stopped by the property the other day. It’s hard to not walk around and dream about our new home. I can’t wait to start seeing progress! (SIDENOTE: Today is our NINTH wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary, Jason. I love you!)

While we were piddling around at Home Depot the other day, we spotted programmable light switches. This one made by GE is only $19.97; a better deal than I found last week. We got one for the front lights at my parents house so we’ll get to test it out and see if we’d like to have one or two at our new home.

While we were there, we also looked at some paint swatches. These are all just ideas. Most are Martha Stewart Living and a few are Behr. Sherwin Williams colors are my favorite so we’ll probably get colors from there (plus there is a store right down the street from us) but anyway… top left: kids room; top center: Jason’s studio (which is going to look like a cave…); top and bottom right: my office/laundry room; bottom left: baby’s room. Precious wouldn’t stop eating the paint chip for Behr Raspberry Lemonade (fourth from the left on the bottom) so I’m pretty sure that’s her vote.

1 Comment | Art, Art: interior design, Art: new home build, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: anniversary, new home build | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Mack the square chair and Sarah the lamp

06/12/2012

I’ve decided to start naming vintage furnishings when we buy them. For fun, ya know, to give them a little more personality! We did a little thrift store shopping recently and found Mack, this boxy upholstered arm chair. I’m teaching myself to reupholster furniture (with books and YouTube vidoes) and I think this will be my first official furniture job. I want to tackle the 3 piece sectional (now named Sylvester) but it’s intimidating. If I can do this chair, I can repeat the same process three times on the sofa.

I think Mack would benefit from a set of brand new 6″ wooden cone legs after it has some new upholstery. It’s lightweight, quite comfortable and in great condition.

We also scored this lamp, Sarah, for $2 (half-off day at Goodwill—woohoo!), which happens to be very similar to this lamp we already own. With matching shades, they’ll look like sisters.

Sarah’s long lost sister…

Cara.

4 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: armchair, chair, lamp, mcm, mid-century modern, reupholstery | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Programmable Timer Light Switch

06/11/2012

While we’re waiting to break ground, I’ve been pouring over the plans for our new house hunting for anything productive we can do now. I’ve even studied the electrical schematic, looking at where light switches will be placed for which lights.

Our last house was lit at night by a spotlight kit we got at the local big box store. It came with a timer box, which eventually broke and we just put a regular programmable timer between the outlet and the plug for the lighting system. We had the lights automatically come on at dusk and shut off in the early morning hours (around 4am, usually). In the winter when it got dark at 5:30, it was so nice to arrive home from work to a lit up house. It increased our home security also, since anyone snooping around our house would have been hit with spotlights, making it difficult to be unnoticed by our close neighbors. When I saw the light plan for our new house and the marker for a light switch by the front door that operates the front under-eaves down lights, I had an idea. Surely, someone makes a programmable light switch; one that can be set to flip on and off at set times everyday.

Good old Amazon.com! Seems like I can find almost anything on there! I have two of these Honeywell 7-Day Programmable Timer Switches ($28.75 with free shipping)on my wish list for our new house—one for the front lights and one for the back lights. It can have a different program for everyday of the week. It fits a standard light switch box with a standard face plate (same size as a GFCI outlet, I think) and it comes in white. Perfect!

1 Comment | Art, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: electricity, lighting, new home build, programmable light switch | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

06/08/2012

We stayed overnight at Jason’s boss’ guest house last weekend. This was my view Sunday morning while I fed Precious her breakfast bottle.

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: God's creation, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Annual TN-52 Yard Sale Finds 2012

06/04/2012

This year my mom and Precious and I hit up the TN-52 yard sale for a couple of hours. Nothing compared to the all morning adventure a couple years ago where we found a ton of great stuff. But, I did walk away with a few great pieces and a bag full of stuff for Precious, all for less than $20. For the mid-century modern lovers, this:

It’s a solid wood (walnut?) night stand or end table. The top needs to be refinished, or else the whole thing needs painted. I haven’t decided yet.

The rest of the finds are for Precious except for some necklaces I got for myself (costume jewelry, 3 for $0.50). I’m pretty excited about this handmade wooden play oven. It’s needs a little TLC but for $7, it will be worth it.

These suede Baby Gap apple boots are size 7 and Precious is just barely fitting a size 3 now. But… they were $0.25. I couldn’t resist. The Etnies sneakers are way too big too. They’ll either fit in a couple years or they’ll be for a future foster daughter.

A fall jacket for Precious and a warm winter coat that should fit her this year. It would work well for a boy or a girl. Not the cutest thing in the world, but again with the $0.25. I’m a sucker for a good deal.

1 Comment | Art, Art: fashion, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

06/01/2012

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

New Home Update

05/30/2012

Nothing too concrete to report yet but our construction loan was approved and we’re just waiting for the appraisal to come back so we can close on the loan. Then… the contractors can start. YES! Finally… so that will probably be in the first half of June. This whole process has been taking a lot longer than I thought it would. I’ll be reporting more about that later, if anyone else out there is building a home and would be curious what our process was and how long each stage took.

In the meantime, we’re doing lots of dreaming, planning and window shopping. Pinterest has been a great resource for inspiration and cataloging ideas.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Recent Estate Sale Finds

05/29/2012

It’s estate sale and yard sale time of year and we’ve been hitting the streets hard looking for treasures. It’s interesting how sales are so hit or miss. A few weeks ago I saw a listing for an estate sale about 30 minutes from our house. It was a huge house with tons of mid-century modern furniture items. We actually went out on a Thursday at lunch time. Usually sales run Thursday – Saturday and we just go on Saturday when everything is half price. By noon, all of the good stuff was already sold – couches and tables still sitting there with “SOLD” signs, mocking us. All we got were a few glasses and a metal wall shelf. On our way home we stopped at an estate sale we spotted a sign for, just a few streets away from our house. We ended up finding a ton of great stuff there! (Everything else pictured below.)

These juice glasses looked really grungy but they look brand new after a pass through the dishwasher.

I envision this metal shelf spray painted and hanging in the bathroom, or above a dresser in a kids room, or in the mudroom.

Jason is a lamp guy. I walked right past this one several times and didn’t even see it. It’s actually a very nice color (in our opinion). I like the shade but Jason thinks it’s ugly. It’s pretty dirty so we’ll probably replace it eventually.

An organizer for nuts and bolts and screws, just the way my Papa used to label and store. And an empty red metal tool box.

I’m not sure what we’ll do with this metal magazine rack table but it could benefit from a fresh coat of paint, too.

This handy little cart will be nice in my office or to store toys in the playroom. I’m hoping to find a minty seafoam green like this cart from IKEA.

I was super excited about this tin Marx toys dollhouse and I probably overpaid for it a little bit. It’s missing one wall (on the second story between the master bedroom and the terrace). If you look closely, you may notice I have a couple of the first story walls in upside down.

2 Comments | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

05/25/2012

First home grown tomato of the year

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: gardening, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

New Home: Kids Room Plan

05/23/2012

At our last house, I designed a combined nursery and kids room as we were becoming foster parents. It had to be suited for 1 or 2 kids, either gender, newborn up to age 5…all within a 10×11 bedroom. In our new house, we’ll have a nursery for Precious and another bedroom that’s set up for our future foster kids. I’m not really sure what parameters we’ll set next time around so I’m planning this room for 1 or 2 kids, boys or girls, ages 2-12. The room is approximately 10×12. We already own the bed, dresser, curtain, book ledges, owl, sheets and chair. The rest would be new purchases.