Buffet

Steve and I have been wanting a buffet for our dining room to go under the window for a couple years now and have been looking for an antique.  However, we have not been able to find what we want being that the height can only be 32" so we have resorted to having one custom made.  We have an awesome guy through Brunke's Furniture on Sandy Blvd., just a couple blocks from our home.  He came over to our house and looked at our pictures and created a custom design.  He will have it made in just 4 weeks.  It was nice that in having it custom made, we were able to have some options changed to save money and have other details included that blend with our house and other furniture details.  We plan to stain the piece ourselves to save a bit of money.  We are having it made of straight grain white oak to match our living room chairs.  I hope to actually be able to move some of the cooking supplies (yes, I know, not conventional to store in a buffet) from the basement to here so that getting them does not require a basement trip. 

love everything about this design with the exception of the tiny legs and the back piece on the top

 like the leg height and the arch on the bottom, do not like the design on the inlay of the cabinets

like the side detail design

Brick patio

The back yard brick patio is officially finished.  It took Steve many nights and weekends to finish but it looks awesome!  We broke it in last night with a BBQ.  We were able to fit 2 tables and 8 people...just a bit snug with all the chairs.
Here is a brief layout of the steps used to make the patio:
1. Cut existing concrete out

2. Dig out dirt so brick will be level with concrete around house and level dirt

3. Lay 4" 1/4 minus gravel--> level by pulling a 2x4 cut to width of patio size and pull across

4. Put in vertical bricks on two sides (north and south) and support with additional bricks on sides; tap in with rubber mallet; want finished height to be level with other bricks

5. Tamp down gravel and lay 1" paver sand on top of gravel; tamp down

6. Lay bricks in desired pattern being careful as to walk on sand as little as possible

7. Put vertical bricks in on west side of path (bricks on east side butt up to concrete by house so no horizontal bricks needed)
8. Pour ~4" concrete on exterior of vertical bricks to secure bricks into place and help prevent movement

9. Pour polymetric sand over top of brick

10. sweep sand into crevices well
11. mist sand to wet and help bond 3x, allowing to dry between each misting

12. Enjoy!

Heat Wave

Never would have known last week that it would be over 100 degrees today.  It is hot, hot, hot, but don't get me wrong, I am loving it.  Steve has quite the system of airing the house out at night (I guess it pays off to be an HVAC engineer at times).  Once it gets cooler outside than in, Steve opens all the windows and turns on the fan upstairs, airing the whole house.  We haven't yet had to use our portable A/C unit but I am thinking that tonight may be the night.   The little man woke up in the middle of the night last night (yes, I am lucky and he typically sleeps through the night), appearing to be super hot and me being the protective mom I am, I wouldn't leave the window open in his room fearing that someone might try to come and steal him in the night...I know, I am probably going a bit overboard. 

 Ben sporting the diaper only look in the heat

The only problem with airing the house is that the mosquitos are horrible right now (probably due to it raining up until late last week) and I had about 5 bite me within 20 mins of having the windows open.  This morning I pulled the portable screens that we own up from the basement and purchased two additional ones that will allow us to open the windows wider.

Another exciting project is that the brick patio should be finished this weekend (woo-hoo, I feel a BBQ coming on, pix to come soon) and that I just picked up our leaded glass windows and they look awesome.  

After visiting our friends in Seattle last weekend, I have been inspired and have decided that Steve and I are going to attempt to keep our shoes off while in the house to maybe help preserve the new-ish floors as well as keep some dirt and otherwise non-baby friendly trackings from getting on the floor.  Of course, anyone coming to visit is welcome to keep their shoes on.  Also should work great in the winter with our radiant floor heat. 

Shoe basket on the front porch