I think I need a bigger disco ball (part 2)

With fireplace insert removed and the surrounding brick painted a nice healthy, happy white... Its amazing to see how much the room brightened up.  

I mentioned in my previous post about the fireplace being accessible from both the living room and dining room and until I could get the creative juices flowing of what I was going to put there, I hopped over to Home Goods and purchased a boring mirror and some boring candles to detract from the gaping hole that unfortunately opens right up to a view of my hideous linoleum in the dining room (that's besides the point).  

A friend came over and suggested a Disco ball.  I laughed it off but he was serious because an hour later he sent me a link to a craigslist ad selling a disco ball...  

So then the party lights went on and the disco ball was spinning...  I had sparkles in my eyes..  Why not?!   I checked out the likes of Pinterestland the two pictures I found, I decided this is a good idea.  

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So I measured my fireplace and decided a 12" disco ball would be a proportionate size... I snagged a good deal off of ebay and patiently awaited its arrival...

When it finally did arrive and I installed it, I was saddened to see it didn't quite have the presence I hoped. 

But first lets take a moment to pause and see how good my newly painted fireplace looks... (ompare to pictures here, here and here (sigh)!

 Ok... Carrying on.  

It needs to be bigger...

 

It needs to be flashier....

 

It needs to say "Hey Girlfriend!  The party's Ova Heeya!" 

So alas, now you see why I need a bigger disco ball.   

 

I think I need a bigger disco ball (part 1)

I took a week off in April between leaving my old job and starting my new job.  One of the first things on the agenda while I was 'fun-employed' was removing the custom home made fireplace insert that had been in place for close to 30 years. 

 

My dad and brother (bless their hearts) nearly broke their backs trying to remove this thing...

It was very...

Very...

 Heavy.

The enginerd engineer that my brother is, figured out a lever system with two by fours and a hand cart and faster than we all expected was able to get it out of the house, across my patio and into my garage.  

WHERE... the next day, my uncle was to hoist it up and haul it away... 

The End!

(kidding)

I'll share a snippet of our conversation once my uncle (UD) arrived:

UD:  "They're not going to take this with all of these bricks still inside...." 

Me: "....?  Bricks?"

UD:  "Yes" as he leans down and rolls up his sleeves to reach inside and knock a brick out of its spot.  With a soot stained brick in hand he educates me.  "The insert is lined with bricks."

Me:  Thinking back to the conversations and cursing that went on regarding the size and weight the previous evening... "Uh... Ok... Let's just not tell Dad and Scott."

Then I whipped my phone out of my back pocket, snapped the below and sent it to my brother.   

 

 All in all the 28 bricks we removed from the fireplace insert weighed about 150 extra pounds.  (sorry Dad/Scott!!)

So once it was hauled away...  The next fun step of painting began...

Adios Soot stains and red bricks...

If you haven't already noticed, my fireplace is a fun one... accessible from the living room and the dining room.  Rico and Riley were quick to realize its a great shortcut/hang out between rooms (a habit we're trying not to enforce and by we - that means not me - I happen to think it is funny/cute so breaking them of this habit, isn't really falling on me.)

After all that, you're still waiting for me to whip out the disco lights and mirror ball...  but consider this a prelude...  My next post will clearly show why 'disco ball' and 'fireplace' do belong in the same sentence blog post.

Hangin' Around

In design blogs, magazines, and even Pinterest (duh, everything is on Pinterest!)... there have been a lot of rattan chairs hanging around....  See...

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So way back in the day, when I first moved in, the house came with this funky old rattan chair (this post proves I had the idea first!)

Old and dusty... it hung out for a few years, but I took some time to pretty this guy up with some soap, water, a little TLC and a cushion!!

That's the fun thing about design trends is that they come back around.  This chair got plenty of hang time long before I was born and now its trending again.  I've got a cushion in the works and then I'll be prepared to show you another funky find that I've been able to refresh to modern times!  

Adios Amigos!

On the Fence

Hello?!

Anyone still there?

Anyone remember me?


I'm back?


What? you say...Back!?


Where on earth have you gone?!

You may have noticed writing started to get sparse in the late summer.. possibly fall... and then I completely fell off because life is a teeter totter with the aim to keep balance... and I fell off that balance beam and struggled a bit to get back on.


Yes I know... dramatic

So anyway... bla bla bla... life is back on track with a new job and a happier outlook and I am easing back into embracing everything that is Anne-tastic! I am easing my way back into a happy, healthy life. 


Phew!!

So with that... I'll share a handful of fun things that have been happening around these parts...

We'll start with something maybe not as exciting to most, but certainly most exciting to me. When I moved in two years ago, there was one thing that visibly and sorely needed my attention....  My back fence.  
 

I wholeheartedly ignored it to the point where the ghetto green fiberglass held a certain level of charm for me. Lets face it folks, there wasn't much to look at in my back yard, and what there was, the fancy green fiberglass detracted from it.

So earlier this week I came home to what appeared to be an EXTRA large sized back yard

with a pool, and a pool house and pool boy! (How did I get so lucky?!)  And of course, that was short lived, because within a matter of hours, I had a legitimate, redwood-smelly, grown up kind of fence.  I guess the pool wasn't for me afterall. 

next up: Landscaping (for obvious reasons).  You may have noticed in comparison to the first photo, that I cleared out some weeds as well as masonry, some of which were under about 4 inches of weeds and dirt.  


Slowly but surely...  Its comin' along!


Happy days to you!!

Sorry for abandoning you!


Check back in a couple days for a project I mentioned in my first couple weeks after moving in!


xoxo