Finally...

pattern
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, on Monday we got our new mission-style glider and ottoman. Yes, it's beautiful, and yes, we'll be using plenty of baby spit-up protection over it while it serves its initial use up in the nursery.
Oh, and for anyone who thinks Gina wants only the best for her baby, I'm the one who pushed for this, because:
1. It is custom-made, handmade (Amish), and I'd make it myself if I had the tools, time and refined talent (I probably could, but it'd take years). I'm a sucker for top-flight craftsmanship.
2. It's the best for Mom and Baby. It's comfortable, smooth and quiet. Unlike the rocker we have in the living room now, from Value City Furniture, on which the springs bang and creak and everything after only a few years. This has no springs. Just swivel pins -- it's a glider.
3. After spending as much on the roof and things that NEEDED to be done, we deserved to spend on something for aesthetics. :)
4. It will go PERFECTLY in our living room after the baby (and future babies) no longer need it in their room. As opposed to the Babies R Us rockers, which would end up buried in the basement somewhere, probably. This will be a showpiece, and if it's as well-made as I suspect it is (AND IT BETTER BE, for the price), the baby will be rocked to sleep in it now and then will probably inherit it when we die.

I'm really happy, because there were a lot of problems with the store we bought it from (first pattern was discontinued, then not, then it was, delaying our order because we had to go and pick a new fabric; then, they built it but stained it the absolute wrong color). Fortunately, the made everything right, and rushed our correct order, so I feel better about the whole experience. It's a shame, because they were very nice people, and I felt bad getting angry at them. But, I'd expect mistakes like that from big box stores, not little suburban mom&pop custom shops. At least they made it right.

Now to go rest on the glider! ;)

Minor changes and updates...

new window film 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Yesterday Gina and I went to Home Depot to look at and possibly buy new blinds for the nursery. The ones in there are a tan color that doesn't match and looks really horrible, actually, against the light green on the walls now.

We backed off on buying the blinds, and we've actually decided that we'll probably just switch the tan ones in the nursery with the white ones in our master bedroom -- assuming they measure up right, as they are expected to do. We shall see.

While there, I checked out the Artscapes product...it's a static cling window film made to look like stained glass. Our first floor bathroom faces pretty much a brick wall with a glass block bathroom window for "variety" next door. But the PO installed blinds for privacy. That's cool, except the blinds weren't a perfect vertical fit, and they were dark brown (which is nice, except they made the room very dark). There isn't much in the way of ambient light from the fixtures in there, so I wanted to brighten it up some.

I followed all the directions in the package, so we'll see if it sticks and for how long. I figured, for $20 or whatever it was exactly, it was worth a shot. And it definitely looks pretty and is easy to use. Plus, it goes with the Arts & Crafts motif -- this design, anyway. Furthermore, the bathroom is done in gold and beige, so this matches pretty much spot-on. It's better than plain clear frosted film, in my opinion.

You can also head on over to Flickr to see how the nursery's coming along and see a picture of the room with the furniture hanging out, waiting for baby. We've got one month and one day to the supposed due date, so it's just a waiting game now. :)

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

Coupla things, nothing really eventful...

-- As we prepare for the arrival of our baby in about a month, we've been busy around the bungalow, but taking care of things other than the house. We had our baby shower this past weekend, so the nursery is full of stuff. As is the living room. Boxes and boxes of unopened baby stuff. But it's fun.

-- I finally talked to my cousin's boyfriend, who installs fireplaces for a living. Looks like we're getting a Heatilator Novus fireplace. We just have to figure out everything else around it. But at least I can feel as though I've got a better handle on what's going on with that now. He's supposed to come by in two weeks to check out the basement, measure, price and plan with me the strategy. I feel like I'm getting excited again...and that can be "dangerous" in terms of motivation to work. But that's "dangerous" in a good way, of course. I still have the one long wall to strip of the wood paneling. And, of course, then there's still PLENTY to do. :) But now I at least have an IDEA of what one facet of this family room remodel could look like.

-- Other than that, honestly, it's been slow going. I checked out the radiator situation under the upstairs floor through the holes in the floorboards in the crawlspace and did SEE the radiator pipes, but I can't get to them, so there's not much I can do aside from ripping up the carpet and floorboards in our master bedroom, and that's not happening any time soon. That means we'll have to live with the banging for a while. I guess, in a sense, it builds character.

-- More as events warrant, of course.

Somewhat incognito, but still thinking house...

I haven't gotten much done around here -- in fact, I've pretty much done nothing house-related all week, really. I was traveling for part of the week and was just plain busy last weekend. This weekend may be more of the same, honestly.

But, while I was traveling, I bought a couple magazines at the airport. One was from Fine Homebuilding magazine--their "Energy-Saving..." special issue. Was really interesting. But I'm always highly skeptical of these magazines and the "advice" they give you. See, I work for a magazine, and although it is trade press, not consumer press, I'm pretty cynical about the realities of consumer press and its so-called unbiased look at things. I know that sometimes p.r. people are relentless and won't stop until you "review" their company's newest product. I also know how sponsorships work. So, really, I take a TON of this stuff with a super grain of salt.

Such as my continued brain-wrestling match over insulating the basement and how to do it. This is very important, because, honestly, it determines whether I stick with the furring-strip framing that is up there now or reframe the entire family room. I thought I'd had it figured out until I read in this book the 10 biggest mistakes builders make, and one of them was insulating a basement with fiberglass and not XPS foamboard. This kinda bummed me out, because I was all set and ready to go with my "sealed wall" concept (although I'm still looking for suggestions as to how to seal the outer side of the framed wall (plastic sheeting? concrete/masonry sealant on inside of brick/foundation to repel water attempting to wick through the wall? some other way?). The foam insulation idea saves me time, effort and money, but I STILL would have to make absolutely sure no water could get in from the outside. It wouldn't ruin the insulation, it says. Yeah, but it would do a number on my floor and walls.

So, any advice anyone has about insulating your basement walls would be much obliged! Have a good weekend, otherwise!

Well, the crib is put together...

...I'll post pictures in the coming days. It really didn't take long, which is nice. Now, we just have to figure out how to arrange the furniture up there. Ain't gonna be simple, that's for sure.

Haven't really done much around the house this week, since New Year's, anyway. But, maybe I'll get some time this week or next weekend to finish ripping the wood paneling off the one remaining wall in the basement. We'll see how that goes.

For now, enjoy the silence, as Depeche Mode might say.

Happy New Year!

Hope 2008 holds good fortune and good times for you!