Dog House

I really wanted to build a dog house for my pups. I thought it would be good practice for that tree house I am dreaming up for the pumpkin monkey. However, it boiled down to needing additional space for all the items that got moved in last month. The dogs currently "live" in our sun room, but with all of my crafty endeavors, I really need a studio as supplies are in every room and closet of the house. With all the additional furniture and miscellaneous items, there is no longer a work space I can use. I hate to kick the pups out, but it needs to be done. Their new home is pretty nice. I worked the numbers and it was much more economical to buy versus build and this is what we bought:

They can still come in on especially hot or cold nights and they will have a cooling cot for Summer and a heated doggie pad for the winter. 

Though the extra storage and space will be greatly appreciated- getting there will NOT be fun. The room is covered from floor too ceiling with three years of hair and dander, to which I am allergic.No one else will be cleaning the room, so I am currently searching for hazmat suits on eBay. Okay, maybe not, but I probably should.

Updates to follow.

P.S. I know I haven't posted lately, but all the moving and organizing is pretty tough. I will make it up to you with before and after pics ;-)

It's Done

Moving time is over- now the unpacking. Where to begin?!

Changes

My boyfriend is moving in some of his furniture that has been in storage for two years. That means it is time to re-shuffle, rearrange, dispose and de-clutter.

One area that will likely change the most is the formal living room.

He wants to set up the room similarly to how he had it at his house. The room shapes in both of our houses are similar in that they were longer than wide. However, his place had windows along the wall where I have a fireplace, no fireplace and no French doors. I am willing to try it, but the set-up looks a little crowded to me. Another concern is that I don't have cable hook-ups on the wall where he wants to move the tv, nor can I because I am on a slab. He would like to designate this as the "movie room". Regardless of the configuration, I am certain it will be better than the hodge-podge I have in the room today! Pictures to come in a few weeks.




Tiny House 2

Another concept for the Pumpkin-monkey. I think this one is a little more fun and we could call it a "tree house"...

Tiny House

My son is now over a year old and a few months ago, he out grew his old baby carrier type car seat. So we bought him a big-boy seat that he can use until he is 100 pounds. Such a seat comes in a very big box. Like every other kid I've ever met, my son apparently likes boxes very much. So, although the purchase was months ago, the box is still in my living room because I can't bear to take his "toy" from him.

Instead, I think I'd like to replace it. I have a project in mind... a play house! I am still assessing my skill level and my dedication to the project because although I want them, I don't have too many woodworking power tools. I think I could build something pretty nice if I had a few key things like a table saw and a compound mitre saw (yes- I actually know what these things are AND what they are used for!).

This is my first, not-so-sophisticated design:  

I know, not much more than a box. Again, assessing my skill level. I am also thinking he may not be able to use a playhouse effectively for about a year until he can play somewhat unsupervised (i.e. farther than 10 feet away from mommy) at least some of the time. So, by then, I could have built my tool collection and maybe practice a little bit.

Have you ever considered a play house for your child or did you have a dream house in your younger years? Tell me about it!

Pounce!

I had fun with last week's Decorating with Pounce feature, so here we go a again!

Again, I cycled through pounce until I found a decorative item:


Find it here

 I am excited because this was a seller that is local to my area, how cool! I also like the fact that it is summery. My first thought was lakeside cottage, so I am running with that.

1. You have got to have kitch. It is a lake house afterall. And what are lake houses for? Entertaining of course! This item has the perfect balance. The classic boat shelf, reimagined for entertaining.  Find it here

2. What is a lake house without a dock? I love this coffee table. It reminds me of a well-worn dock. I just want to sit on the end and stick my feet in the water. Find it here

3. Entertaining is important, as I mentioned above. So you need a nice serving tray for all the goodies. When it is not being used to dish out appetizers, you can always use it to keep your remotes nice and tidy. It gives the room a little pop of red to tie into the statement art piece. Find it here

This Week

On Saturday I picked up some supplies for sprucing up the homefront while my guy is in San Francisco this week. My power bill was a whopping $300 last month, so I decided one really good investment would be programmable thermostats. I also wanted to address the kitchen floor that is drawing my ire, so I also bought a scrub brush and some grout stain.

Everything started out just fine. I got about 1/4 of my floor done thanks to naptime for the Pumpkin-Monkey and help in the evening from my mom. I have to do the staining in stages and it is a multi-step process.

When I got home from work last night, my kitchen was unusually hot. I chalked it up to the 97 degree+ day we were experiencing in the Atlanta area. I made dinner for Pumpkin-Monkey and I, then it was bath time. Last week, the thermostat needed batteries, so the AC stopped pumping. It was really hot in the upstairs bathroom so I checked the thermostat and it said the batteries were low (I replaced them last week!) so I opened it up, took the batteries out and put them back in and turned the temp down again. The fan was blowing so I though it would cool down in time for bed time. Oh no.

It was still sweltering when I put the Pumpkin-Monkey to bed. This just can't do. I looked outside and although the fan was blowing upstairs, the actual AC unit was doing nothing at all. Great.

All I could do was strip the tot down to his diaper and turn on all the fans upstairs and leave his door open. Even then I felt guilty, so I tried bringing him into my room where I have a fan. That didn't work at all. He just wanted to play. After an hour or two of that, I thought it had cooled down enough since after dark the inside temp went down by 5 degrees, so he went back to his own bed. Instantly went to sleep (c'mon, REALLY??). Ugh.

So today I called the service company and they are yet to return my call. We may have to resort to sleeping on the couch tonight.

With that- the adjustable thermostats are kind of moot, for the time being anyway. So much for my plans!