So. Much. Spackling.

I realized after I was about halfway through covering one of these textured stripes that I probably should have been using joint compound for all of this rather than attempting to re-texture with spackling, but since I was already well on my way and we had an ENTIRE GALLON of the stuff, I decided to just run with it. I had to cover about 80 feet by 6 inches of crappy texture and I thought I would never make it through. Somehow I persevered and I got the mirror wall painted today! More on that soon :)

Grills & Lanterns

Now that we're back from skiing (and snowboarding!) we are slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things. Unlike the title proclaims, there is really only one of each thing, but Grill & Lantern sounds like a weird camping magazine. More is coming soon on the crazy changes that have been happening outside!

1. We got the grill put together finally (!) and Nick has been a grilling machine ever since. We've gone through an entire propane tank in the couple of weeks since we've been back. Right now it's just hanging out on the deck right outside of the kitchen French doors, and once it gets closer to summer we'll definitely be looking into a patio set for this area as well, an awning for above it (for rainy-day grilling), and some lounge chairs for the lower deck that surrounds the pool.

2. We replaced the spider-lamp in the mud room with a shiny new motion-activated lantern!  Right now we just have a regular CFL, but we'll probably get a prettier one for in here soon. Now that we've changed the lamp, there's this ugly blob of blue from the last paint job, so I'll be much more motivated to paint in here! Approximately 5,000,000,000 spiders exploded from out of the lamp when Nick took it down I think. The color I've picked (that Nick isn't totally sold on yet) is Sherwin Williams Heartthrob. The trim will be bright white, and I think it will be a great first impression of the house! The door will be much prettier without that dull brown framing it!

We also have some plans to replace the glass bricks (what is it with the glass bricks???) with some more modern decorative screens or something similar. We also have stolen an idea from another house that has HUGE house numbers etched sideways filling the entire glass door, which we both love. Hopefully that will finally help people find our house more easily. Currently we have the number painted on the curb in faded UT burnt-orange (UGH) and a nice longhorn to go with it, which we really need to get covered ASAP. Luckily (maybe) there was a pipe that burst in the street that they had to dig up the pavement to fix, and they just happened to also destroy the part of the curb on the right side that had the same problem. Yay unplanned demolition! Too bad they couldn't have just destroyed both sides while they were here. Smashed curbs look way better than curbs with burnt orange paint all over them.