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Butler's Pantry Doors

We’ve been working on small projects here and there. Some more pleasant than others. One exciting one was installing the second butler’s pantry door on the bottom. It’s been kind of funny having one attached door and the other one missing. The first one was such a pain that I think we’ve been procrastinating on the second one. To our surprise the second one was soooo much easier! I guess Patrick has become a better chiseler. Additionally he tried out a sanding drill bit to cut out the area more evenly. We still have some adjusting to do, but here are the attached bottom doors. Voila!

Kitchen butler's pantry

In the meanwhile I was running back and forth between the kitchen helping Patrick and working on removing paint in the bathroom. Nothing too exciting to report from the bathroom yet. We’ve just been removing a bit more paint from the built-in and from the door and molding.

Then we’ve done a few more things like hanging up artwork. I know, it’s been like what – a year, year and a half since we’ve moved in? And we’re only now hanging up art? I suppose this is the part where I don’t mention that we have about 10 more pieces stacked in our hallway collecting dust. I don’t know how we do it…every time that hallway is free of crap more stuff seems to appear in its place.

The more unwelcoming house work was a roof leak in the dining room. We had it when we first moved in and we thought it got fixed. Of course after that Atlanta’s been suffering a drought, so if there was a leak it was a bit hard to tell! In any case, the leak came back. It was sometime before Christmas when we actually found it. I guess it’s a bit hard to miss when you suddenly find a huge puddle of water on your floor! Initially I thought I spilled water after watering a plant, but it was too much and of course we soon noticed it dripping from the ceiling. We finally got it repaired and have had a few downpours since. So far so good. *Fingers crossed*

Oh, and in other unwelcoming news – our gas bill! I think some people pay as much for rent as we have for our gas bills. So we started getting attic insulation quotes. One of those boring projects that costs money and doesn’t do anything for us aesthetically!

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Breakdancing Bungalow

Too much partying, not enough home renovating! But that’s ok, we’ll get back to work before too long. There’s just been so much going on around the neighborhood lately. But you know what, that’s what makes our neighborhood so wonderful – all the amazing people that live here! It’s been a little over a year now that we’ve lived here and we’ve truely met some wonderful neighbors.

So speaking of wonderful neighbors – one of them had a party this past Saturday. A 70s/80s hip hop themed party! It was pretty funny to see what “costumes” some people came up with. :) And in the true spirit of the party the old skool hip hop was playing, the couches were moved to the side, and the hardwood floors made the perfect breakdancing spot!

It’s a little bit dark, but I have some video of the breakdancing…

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Westview breakdancing

Look at those crazy skills!

Westview breakdancing

Some great outfits…

Patrick wings

And some awesome ribs to chow down on…

What more could you ask for?! Like I said, I love our neighborhood! There’s no one better to party with than your neighbors. :)

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The BeltLine Is Coming

I once again admit that we have been slacking in the house renovation department. That’s not to say that we haven’t been working hard in other ways though! The last few weeks have involved lots of neighbor get togethers to work on certain projects to improve the neighborhood. Aside from the work aspect it’s been really fun sitting together with a few neighbors in the evening. It’s evenings like these that make us realize that this already wonderful neighborhood is that much stronger due to these wonderful people. We couldn’t have asked for better neighbors!

Ok, so schmooze talk aside…Atlanta has been working on this project called the BeltLine for a few years now. It was the thesis project of a GA Tech student (in 1998 I believe?) and is now slowly becoming a reality! Atlanta already has the somewhat laughable MARTA subway system that has two lines: north to south and east to west. (I say laughable because anyone that has experienced true subways systems like in London or New York wouldn’t consider this a real subway system.) The BeltLine will create a loop around the intown Atlanta neighborhoods and will, among other things, connect to MARTA. The project is made up of three aspects…paths, greenspace, and a light rail. The rail part is still a few years off, but Westview and West End make up the first segment of the path and greenspace construction. The first part was started on January 22nd and is slowly heading up the blocks towards us. So we truely are the first BeltLine community!

Since construction has now started, but planning for our segment is far from done, the BeltLine was drumming up volunteers to go around the affected neighborhoods to inform them about what is happening. Even though the BeltLine has been talked about for many years, many people still haven’t heard about it. Patrick and I volunteered to go around nearby streets to hand out the flyers. I’m not usually one to be up and ready to go at 9:00am on a Saturday, but we decided to take one for the team and set the alarm on this Saturday *gasp* to spread the cause. For the sake of walking paths and an arboretum just a few blocks from our house! :)

BeltLine canvassing

We are now back and even got T-shirts and a reusable water bottle to proudly display our volunteer spirit! (Early Saturday morning spirit, that is.) We can’t wait to see what the paths turn out to be like.

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Steffi Strips!

Last Saturday it was snowing, so we decided to make an amateur video of Steffi stripping! ENJOY!

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Our trusted paint stripping technique starts with the heat gun to remove the easy stuff. We then use a chemical stripper to get rid of the hard parts and the detail. Lastly, we sand the remaining stain off with 180 grit sandpaper. It’s a pretty involved process (that looks easy in the video), but the results are worth all the effort.

The music is by Jack Tuttle. He has some wonderful MP3s on his website, and he even gives lessons if you are in the San Francisco area. His website is www.jacktuttle.com. Thanks Jack!

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Snow Bungalow

I know people in the north are going to laugh at us, but….it snowed!! Atlanta like never has snow. Last night the news announced that there may be some sleet, but I think the snow wasn’t really supposed to come down as far as Atlanta. Well, sometime around 4:00pm I saw itty bitty flakes. Then it got harder, then it let down, then it got harder, then it let back down, etc. Eventually it came back with really large snow flakes! And at that point they were actually starting to stick! I think the last time I remember there being enough snow in Atlanta to do anything with was…uhmmm…7 years ago or something? And when I mean “do anything with” I mean like half an inch to an inch. Needless to say we were getting really excited about it! :)

Snow in Westview

Little flakes coming down earlier on.

Patrick catching snow

Patrick catching the snow. (You can see a little getting stuck in his hair.)

Me getting excited about the snow in the back yard:

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The front of the house as the snow is starting to pick up a little more:

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The snow got heavier as it got darker, but unfortunately it was too dark to take pictures anymore. But all the ground was pretty well covered (for Atlanta standards) by 7:00pm! Then it turned into rain and I think by morning nothing will be left. Well, that was our annual snow day, I guess! Haha. :)

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