Friday, May 30, 2008

Updated Flooring Photos

Okay, so it's not completely done but I had to share. We still have all the quarter round to put on, but all the flooring is down! It got rough at times. Poor Kevin is still hurting from ripping that old linoleum off the kitchen floor - that was NOT fun. We'll call this category of pictures 'Hell's Kitchen.' Because it was a helluva job to rip this doo doo up off the floor! Thank goodness it's done!

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The thing that saved us - a $10 heat gun from Harbor Freight & Tool. I melted my shoes a little with this puppy, but it sure did help get the floor up!!

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This is what got us through the late nights! Go Juice!! Starbucks coffee is my friend!

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Look what you can make with scraps - Ethan and Abby had a fun time making novalis flooring towers and tee pees.....

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Olivia kept herself very busy "painting" on the art easel...

So bottom line - would I recommend Novalis vinyl planking?? Hells Yes! If you're laying it over existing linoelum, it's so easy. If you're ripping existing flooring up, not so easy. But still worth it in the long run. It looks so much better than what was here. Someday I will post a blog of before pictures when we moved into this house so you can see how far we've come, but that is for a much later date!! For now I leave you so that I can go enjoy my new flooring! Next big projects are finishing the stairs and wine rack - then we're onto putting MORE novalis in the bedrooms upstairs. Til next time, I'm signing off for now. I leave you with the updated pics!

Family Room...

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Front Room...

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School Room...

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Powder room - not done yet as we have to paint the walls red and add wainscotting and a chair rail to the walls. The flooring will be the novalis as well, but we have to take up the toilet and sink so we decided to save this for another day!!

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Hallway...

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Kitchen...

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Molly's Music for the Week

I know what you're thinking. Couldn't she come up with a better title than that? It's 10:09 on a Thursday night, so no I couldn't. I decided that every Friday, I will try to blog about one of my fave bands or albums. Not to brag (blog+brag = brog/blag??), but I have been told I have fairly okay taste in music. I couldn't start out with any other band but The Shins.

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They're super indie with I would say a beach boys twist. Something about them is so old school beach boys on a couple of their tracks. I don't know what it is, but if you get the latest album you'll agree I think. "Wincing The Night Away" is probably one of my favorite albums from any band ever. There isn't one bad song on the album. It is summer in a cd case. Perfect for just listening while you're on the patio grilling or in the car driving somewhere fun. Track 2 which is better known as "Phantom Limb" is pure genious. I don't even try to understand the lyrics. I've looked them up, read them and they still make no sense to me. And I don't care!

These guys are out of New Mexico and Wincing the Night Away is actually their third album. I intend to get the first two, but need to hear them first just to be sure they're just as good! Maybe better! Take a listen for yourself, people. It's good stuff. My mom has the album - she's too cool for school anyways but you KNOW a band is good when your ma asks what the heck you're listening to and could you please hook her up! Maybe you've heard of them, maybe you haven't. Maybe I've just introduced you to your fave new band!! Let me know whatcha think!



It's too hard to pick any other favorite songs from this album, but check out their site for more great stuff!!

http://www.theshins.com/

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A website I had to share...

So if you've been following along so far on my blog journey, you are learning how random I am! The order of the blogs will make no sense - just whatever comes to mind at the time and whatever I feel is worth sharing with all of you!


So far, I've blogged about home stuff and music. Homeschool is pretty much out for the summer (even tho it doesn't feel like summer! Yesterday was 85 and today it's only 58! WTF?!) so there won't be a lot going on there for a little while. But on the subject of school, I never really cared for it while I was in it. I didn't hate it and I didn't flunk out, but it just was okay. I did love history though. Something about the past intrigues me. I love seeing the way people used to live and the lessons we can learn through their stories. One of THE coolest websites I have come across is about one of the most horrific accidents of our time. The Chernobyl disaster. I came across the site by accident one day and shared it with my dad first, as he is a nuclear radiation technician for Commonwealth Edison Nuclear Power Station so I thought he's appreciate it. He's worked there for at least twenty years I think (I've lost track) and I've always found his job interesting to hear about. Although I don't always understand the terminology!

Anyways, here is the link.

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl%2Drevisited/

The author is a very smart, witty young woman who rides her motorcycle through what is called the "dead zone" with nothing but a radiation detector and her sense of humor. It takes awhile to read, but what she documents is so interesting to me that I had to share it. The pictures of the ghost towns and her account of what happened are truly haunting. I think it's a great tribute to all those who perished and to those who still live with the economic effects of the disaster that cripple the area to this day.

Monday, May 26, 2008

My 90s Mixed Tape

90s Music You Loved!!


Okay, so clearly I am having trouble sleeping tonight. The 80s were fun, but I am thinking the music from the 90s was so much better! The 90s will soon be the new 80s. We'll be having house parties in the 90s theme - wearing flannels, combat boots & old concert tees. I am going to make a KILLER mp3 mix to play for patio parties and neighborhood BBQs this summer and it’s gonna have all my fave bands from the 90s! Here’s my incredibly long list.....so far.... You KNOW you will want to copy it! And you’re gonna have to look some of these up to even remember who they are! Yes, I am cool. You don’t have to tell me! This will also make some of you feel super old. Or young. Depending on how old you were in the 90s! Get ready to be taken back!

Toadies - "Possum Kingdom"Hum - "Stars"Blur - "Song 2"Smashing Pumpkins - "Mayonaise", "1979" just my favesGarbage - "Stupid Girl"Nirvana - "All Apologies", "Molly’s Lips" again, just my favesBush - "Machinehead", "Comedown"Blind Melon - "No Rain"The Breeders - "Cannonball"Collective Soul - "Shine", "Precious Declaration"Candlebox - "You", "Far Behind" dedicated to my bro MattCouthing Crows - "Mr Jones"Cracker - "Low"Toad The Wet Sprocket - "Walk on the Ocean", "Fall Down"Dishwalla - "Counting Blue Cars"Eve 6 - "Inside Out", "Here’s to the Night"STP - "Intertstate Love Song", "Vasoline"Everclear - "Santa Monica"Everlast - "What’s It’s Like"Filter - "Hey Man Nice Shot", "Take A Picture"Foo Fighters - "Big Me" remember this video?? Mentos? "Monkeywrench"Eagle Eye Cherry - "Save Tonight" hello Dawson’s Creek!Fuel - "Shimmer"Blink 182 - "All The Small Things"Days of the New - "Touch, Peel and Stand"Gin Blossoms - "Hey Jealousy", "Until I Fall Away" LOVE themGreenDay - "Basketcase", "Longview"Weezer - "Sweater Song", "Buddy Holly"Lit - "My Own Worst Enemy"311 - "Don’t Stay Home"Goo Goo Dolls - "Slide", "Iris" my wedding song!Harvey Danger - "Flagpole Sitter" ha ha!Hole - "Celebrity Skin", "Malibu" if u didn’t own this, it is a good album!The Cranberries - "Dreams", "Ode To My Family", "Linger"Fiona Apple - "Shadowboxer", "Sleep to Dream" sexy sexyAlice In Chains - "Would", "Rooster" go get your flannel, u know you want toButthole Surfers - "Pepper" so good!Beck - "Loser", "Where It’s At", "Devil’s Haircut" - LOVE me some BEckSoundgarden - "Blackhole Sun" this video gave me nightmaresK’s Choice - "Addict" Live - "Selling the Drama"Local H - "Bound for the Floor"Marcy Playground - "Sex and Candy" baby!Caviar - "Tangerine Speedo" get me a towelREM - "Drive", "Man on the Moon", "What’s the Frequency Kenneth"No Doubt - "Don’t Speak", "Just a Girl"Our Lady Peace - "Clumsy"Meatpuppets - "Backwater"NIN - "The Perfect Drug" remember how controversial Trent was??Luscious Jackson - "Naked Eye"Oasis - "Wonderwall", "Champagne Supernova"Rage Against the Machine - "Testify"Porno for Pyros - "Tahitian Moon", "Pets"Offspring - "The Kids Aren’t All Right", "Pretty Fly"Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away", "Under the Bridge"Silverchair - "Tomorrow"Stabbing Westward - "Save Yourself" from my angry days...waitSublime - "What I Got"Third Eye Blind - "Semi Charmed Life"Tonic - "You Wanted More", "If You Could Only See"Veruca Salt - "Seether"The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony"Soul Coughing - "Circles", "Super Bon Bon" saw them live, now Matt DoughtyNada Surf - "Popular" too funny video!Radiohead - "Creep", "Karma Police"Dave Matthews Band - "Everyday", "Satellite"Smashmouth - "Then the Morning Comes"Sugar Ray - "Someday", "Falls Apart"Presidents of the United States - "Peaches"Spin Doctors - "Two Princes", "Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong"Hootie and the Blowfish - "Hold My Hand"The Refreshments - "Banditos" you WILL remember it!Cake - "Rock and Rock Lifestyle", "Never There", "The Distance"U2 - "One", "Mysterious Ways"Alanis Morrisette - "Hand In My Pocket", "You Oughtta Know"Mazzy Star - "Fade Into You"


Okay, now my head and hands hurt..... some list! You got anything to add!! Do it!!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Novalis Vinyl Planking, you are my favorite!

Not too much time to write about this project because we're still in the middle of it and it is FAR from being done. But I HAD to post pictures of how fab this is all going to look when it's finished!

What's under all that nasty carpet??

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First, we had to remove all of the carpet. We decided to start in the family room just because. After cleaning the heck out of the concrete slab, we were ready to prime it with the latex floor primer.

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Now comes the fun part! Sticking down the tiles! This stuff is too cool. It's affordable beyond affordable, looks and feels more like real oak than most laminates AND the only tool you need are your hands and a utility knife! Your grama could do this! Look how pretty it is!

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Anyone who has ever worked with peel and stick tiles before would probably think we are crazy for choosing this flooring. But let me tell you, I did my research and heard nothing but good things! Here is my man working hard. He wouldn't let me have the utility knife, so he did most of the cutting. ;)

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When we were first putting it down I was nervous and thinking there was no way it was still going to be stuck in the morning. We finished the family room at 11:30 pm and went to bed. I woke up this morning and what do you know? It's still stuck and really well I might add! Love it!! For anyone who is interested, you can buy this at Lowe's and it comes in four beautiful colors - gunstock (a dark color), golden oak (what ours is), natural oak (a lighter blonde) and rustic (a very cool rustic pine color). It is very versatile and can be installed right over top of your old vinyl flooring, a prepared concrete slab (makes it a great solution for basements) or prepared plywood subfloors. It does not outgas (have a nasty smell) and it is so easy to work with! Stay tuned for more pictures of finished rooms! We're actually putting this in our entire 1800 sq ft house - bedrooms too. Hopefully getting rid of the carpet will help with our allergies!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Extreme Makeover - Molly's Home Edition

Hopefully I won't get in trouble with the people at Extreme Makeover for stealing that title. No one tell on me, okay? So here at our house, we currently have several home projects going all at once. This is usually the case as that's the way I tend to be. Random, haphazard (not sure on that spelling, but it's a rather fun word so I thought I'd try it. I think it means all over the place.) projects. Kevin gets a little irritated because his rationale tells him to COMPLETE one project before going onto the next. Mine tells me that I am bored with this current project and I would like to start another one now. So I do. And that why the house looks like it does right now! A disaster! But I swear to you it's going to look so super nice when it's all done!

Here is a little tasty taste of all the randomness in its superb glory....

The stairs. One day in March I just got sick of their bootiness. (yes, it's a word and you're welcome to use it.) Gross, dirty, matted down carpet that would never come clean. The eyesore of the century. The bain of my existance. Here is what happens when you rip the carpet off the stairs.....

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Not too bad really?? Think again. After sanding, using goo gone (WTH is in that stuff?) to take the paint off of the treads, sanding some more, cleaning and cleaning some more.... I finally was able to stain the treads. I had to mix two different colors of stain to get the color right. We are trying to match this flooring we're going to be putting in the whole house (another project - are seeing a pattern here). So I finally got it right. It took three coats of stain - had to do every other stair so we could still get up and down them without walking through it....

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Not too bad??? THEN came the painting of the risers. I decided to tape off the stained part so as not to get white paint all over it. Good call, except when I did start to take the tape back off of the stairs it left this weirdness on the part I had worked so hard to stain. But with a little cleaning, it looks better...

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Piper (fluffy yellow lab) is super thrilled with my progress. I am almost done with the white paint part and then I will get to move on to put poly on the stained treads. The question is how many coats will that take? Not enough and it will look bad. Too much and we'll all be slipping down the stairs. Stay tuned for how the finished picture of the stairs project!

Wine Rack

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After searching for cabinets to fit over the fridge and turning up with empty hands, Kevin decided it would be way cooler to put a custom wine rack up there. I thought he was genious! So using scrap wood from the very disorganized garage, he started to build. This is how it looks so far! It will eventually have crown molding around the top, be painted white to match the cabinets and hold lots of wine!

Tiling the laundry room

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This little project turned out to be more than we bargained for. I will post pictures once I'm finished decorating the room, but for now here are a couple of when it was just finished. We had to disconnect the washer so we could take it out to put the tile down. The valves had gone bad, so you couldn't exactly turn them off. No worries. Kevin got these caps to put on the part where the hoses were. Fast forward to evening time. I am upstairs giving Olivia a bath when I hear ALL this yelling downstairs. And water sounds. Lots of water sounds. I get her out and RUN downstairs to find Kevin in the laundry room with water shooting out of the wall right into his face. He couldn't get it turned off and the water was rising so fast. It was like something you'd see on a sitcom. I am slipping all over, trying to get into the closet under the stairs to turn off the main valve. Which you apparently need a wrench to do. After what seemed like forever, we finally got the water shut off. And spent the rest of the night shopvaccing instead of tiling. We can all laugh about it now. And the floor looks great!! Lesson learned - when disconnecting any sort of plumbing, it's best to shut off the water main to avoid flooding the house.

More pictures of other projects to follow!!

Everybody else is doing it, why can't I?

Yes, guys. I'm blogging. Blogging Molly! My first attempt at blogging anyways. It will be about lots of different things that are my life. Homeschooling, home decorating (or disaster) projects, make up, and other really exciting stuff. So it back, relax and enjoy! This is just the beginning...

About Blogging Molly

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I am a mom to three great kids - Ethan is 12, Abby is 9 and Lulu (Olivia) is 5. I've been married to my highschool sweetheart for almost fourteen years. I love to paint, renovate and live for anything DIY. I love music and I love to bake. I also teach dance at a local studio. Thanks for stopping by my blog!!!

What I'm listening to.....


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