CBB 3.0 – Update (Plans)

03/07/2011

I’m not sure how well these images will come across at the small size but here are the plans and elevation drawings of the house. 12 o’clock is the back of the house, 6 o’clock is the front. The roof is pitched toward the front of our friends’ house rebuild (CBB 3.0).

I made a quick photoshop mock up of what the house could look like with color and landscaping. I think they’re planning on gray tones of paint and an orange front door so that’s where I started. And I just threw in some broad ideas for landscaping. That’s really Jason’s area of expertise, not mine, and I don’t know if they’re interested in our ideas anyway.

Does anyone else love looking at floor plans? Let me walk you through the floor plan of CBB 3.0. The front door is at the bottom of this image. There are wooden steps coming up to the front door from the right. The door opens to a foyer and leads to a family room. To the right of the family room is a dining room and kitchen, separated by the kitchen peninsula with the sink. Off the dining room is a bonus room, which will be a home office and music room. The right front corner of the house is the stairway that leads up from the garage with a coat closet at the top and an entrance to the kitchen. The left front side of the house is two bedrooms, a laundry room and a full bath. The back left corner of the house is the master suite: bedroom, bathroom and gigantic closet (that I’m jealous of!).

It’s a great house plan and I’m so excited for Jeremy and Leila! It’s also be really fun to watch the progress. It’s coming along quickly. More photo updates coming soon! (Thanks, J&L for letting me share your house progress here.)

3 Comments | Art, Art: CBB 3.0 | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

02/25/2011

My niece was born yesterday afternoon! Her name is Eliza Kiley. Not the most flattering photo…she was still pretty fresh. I have better ones in my camera. But it is Phone Photo Friday after all. Eliza is absolutely adorable and I am totally smitten. She has soft, fuzzy brown hair and stunning, big blue eyes. I already LOVE being her aunt. We’re going to have lots of fun together. Uncle Jason and I even got to change a poopy diaper last night.

4 Comments | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Metal Deck Railings

02/23/2011

My creative and handy husband surprised me the other day with an outdoor project. He took the vertical wooden posts/pickets off of our deck (I don’t have a before picture but you probably know what I mean) and replaced them with modern, stylish metal railings. I don’t have any DIY instructions to share since Jason did this all himself but I know he used electrical conduit (the metal pipes) and drilled holes in the wood posts the same diameter as the conduit. If you want more information than that, let me know. 🙂

I love the new look! (And I love my smart, hard-working husband!)

19 Comments | Art, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Pretty Old Drill

02/22/2011

Jason and I were working on some outdoor projects this weekend to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather we’ve been getting in Nashville. One project prompted Jason to dig out my grandpa’s old drill. This is probably from the 50’s or 60’s. It still works and is more powerful than our cordless Ryobi. Isn’t it a lovely color shade of bluish green metal?

By the way, that’s not a small drill—it’s big and super heavy—that’s a gigantic 4″ concrete bit.

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Posted by mahlbrandt

Fruit (Veggie, Grain) Smoothies

02/21/2011

Lately my breakfast of choice is a smoothie. I’ve been experimenting with many different combinations of fruits and vegetables and I haven’t found one I don’t like yet! Recently, the Pioneer Woman had a post about smoothies and after skimming the comments, I got some new ideas for smoothie ingredients. I thought I’d share my favorites.

Frozen Berries
PW used fresh fruit and ice in hers but we prefer to use frozen fruit. Fresh fruit can be frozen when it’s in season and out of season fruits are usually cheaper to buy already frozen. I buy bags of blackberries, strawberries or mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries plus the former two).

Frozen Bananas
I prefer the texture of a frozen banana in my smoothie to a fresh one. (Too slimy.) I peel and freeze my own bananas. You may be able to buy them already frozen, I’ve never looked. Frozen bananas are also great for cooking. Bananas also add sweetness to the smoothies.

Milk or Yogurt
I often add a splash of milk to thin out a thick smoothie or to lighten it to a more appealing shade of pink. It’s true. I’ve used yogurt for the same purpose in the past. Obviously skip this if you’re looking for a dairy free smoothie.

Applesauce
This was a suggestion I saw from a comment on PW. Applesauce can be used instead of milk or yogurt. Apples alone hurt my stomach so I like the idea of mixing applesauce into other recipes. Applesauce also adds sweetness.

Honey or Sugar
If I make a smoothie without applesauce or banana, I like to add sweetener. I prefer the taste of sugar but I try to be good and use honey instead. We always purchase local honey and supposedly having a spoonful of local honey everyday is good for building an immunity to local pollens and allergens.

Spinach
Add a handful of fresh green spinach to a smoothie. It’s undetectable!

Oatmeal
Another addition I’ve tried based on a comment from PW’s post. The first time I added a spoonful of dry oats I couldn’t taste them at all. The texture is a little bit gritty but with all the berry seeds it’s hard to tell. The second time I added way too many oats. That’s all I could taste. I gave Jason the other half and he couldn’t detect the spinach or oats. Maybe it was just psychological.

Carrots
The other day I was making a salad for lunch at the same time as I was making my smoothie so I threw in some matchstick carrots. I couldn’t see them or taste them in the smoothie at all.

Mango, Guava and other fruit purées
I’ve only tried mango so far, though I have guava in the freezer right now. I bought a package of 4 pouches of mango purée from Trader Joe’s. Running the pouch under hot water for a minute or two thaws it enough to mix into the smoothie.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions. If you try any of these, let me know what you think!

12 Comments | Art, Art: Cooking | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

02/18/2011

Working from home in my cloffice while watching The Office. Ironic?

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: Closet Office, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

CBB 3.0 – Update

02/17/2011

From here on out, I’m going to refer to our friend’s house (the one needed painted, then was destroyed by a flood, then knocked down, and now has started to be rebuilt) as CBB 3.0. Why? Because that’s their nickname for their house. They have called their home Camp B_name-of-their-street_ Bottoms since they bought it. The original was version 1.0, completely renovated it into version 2.0 and now they’re building version 3.0. (Search for CBB for anything about this house, CBB 3.0 for the rebuild.)

Jeremy and Leila gave me the OK to share their progress with you. Their new home will be modern with some mid-century influence to fit it with the other 1950’s-1970’s houses in the neighborhood. The biggest challenge has been fitting a design into FEMA’s strict regulations. This had a major influence on the overall design of the house because the foundation had to be raised 4 feet from where it was before but the space below that foundation can not be living space. The solution was to make a garage and storage space under the house … kind of like an above ground basement. Here are some pictures of the recent progress:

The foundation is 2/3 concrete block and 1/3 wood frame.

The large opening is for the garage door at the back of the house.

Flat roof graded toward the front of the house:

The build is moving so quickly, I can’t keep up with pictures. (Hopefully J is OK with me stealing pics off his facebook for now…it’s still dark in evening when I get home from work.) The roof should be complete by the end of this week. Target completion date: 1 year anniversary of the flood, May 1st.

2 Comments | Art, Art: CBB 3.0, Art: interior design, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Tea on my Doorstep!

02/14/2011

One of my favorite blog readers read about my trouble finding my favorite tea and sent me a canister as a surprise. I am so blessed! Thanks Mama, for making my cubicle time a little more fruitful!

1 Comment | Art, Art: Cooking, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

02/11/2011

1 Comment | Art, Art: God's creation, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Master Bedroom Redecorate: Before

02/09/2011

This month we’re celebrating 4 years in our 1955 brick ranch. When we moved in we quickly painted and decorated our living room, kitchen, guest bathroom and master bedroom. Each room has undergone a few changes through the years but generally have stayed the same. I’m ready for a change. Specifically, I’m tired of the brown and blue in our bedroom.

I’m dreaming of the white, airy, clean hotel rooms that I saw behind Jason on Skype while he was in Sweden last summer. We don’t have a white wall anywhere in our house. OK, not totally true—we do have 2 small walls in the unfinished laundry room that are still builder’s beige. But generally, every room in our home is painted. And now I’m craving white. Fresh, minimalist, feather-light white.

5 Comments | Art, Art: interior design, Art: master bedroom redo, Art: mid-century design, Art: modern design | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

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