Happy Memorial Day!

We hope everyone has enjoyed this Memorial Day Weekend! We have been quite busy over the last week and have decided to take the evening off to finally relax for a bit. The kitchen and the main room are finally starting to come together and we are past a lot of the demo phase.

Remember the wood paneling behind the drywall in the main room? We had to cut it out around the entire main room, which sounds a lot easier than it actually was. We also decided to cut out parts of the ceiling around the fireplace because the drywall had some water damage from before we bought the house. Luckily it was minor damage and we were able to borrow Sara's dad's truck for the week so that we could take a few loads over to the dump. We also painted all of the trim and the kitchen cabinet frames white using Benjamin Moore's Satin Impervo Paint. Note to anyone that uses oil based paint for the first time, make sure that you have plenty of air flow throughout the house and open up all the windows. Also, keep your pets at a friend's or relative's house because as the fumes are really strong for humans, they are three times worse for animals. Tequila wasn't in the house much, but he still had some trouble when he came in to check on the progress so he got to have a sleepover with Uncle Mat while the fumes died down overnight. Here are a few pics from our progress...

The bar...we took off the counter top and painted the frame

Check out the remaining blue shag carpet that used to flow throughout the house (hot)

This is the area that had some water damage from before, but we sealed up everything, cleaned it and repaired any damages

Had to take it down to the studs here to remove the old porch fan and to even out the wall going into the kitchen

We used a drywall patch to cover the hole in the sun room so we will finally have a complete wall :)

After we got two coats of primer and one coat of the BM Satin Impervo paint on the kitchen cabinet frames, we noticed a lot of cosmetic problems that weren't noticeable before so we went ahead and repaired and patched what we could to make the space a little more seamless. Big thank you to Lori Howarter for guiding us and giving us tips to make this project a bit easier. We completely trust her since she did a fabulous job with Sara's parent's remodel and she has been kind enough to offer advice and help us pick out some important pieces to our renovation.

Since we were tearing up the kitchen we also decided to remove all of the old ceramic tile back splash. Here are some of the kitchen updates:

My cute husband making a mess...I mean taking down the tile :)

Check out the gap in the right corner...we didn't notice it until we painted it white. The cabinets are level...the ceiling, not so much

Another shot of the cabinets

We added a trim piece to the top, but it still needs painting some caulk to seal the edges

The trim still needs paint, but it sealed up quite nicely

With all of the trim and cabinets painted white, our house is already looking so much lighter and our room looks so much bigger. We are working on the cabinet doors and drawers, but decided to take a break from those this weekend to tackle the drywall. Sara's parents came back from Maui on Saturday and we unfortunately managed to put my dad to work right away when he decided to ride along with us to Home Depot to pick up some drywall. We did have some drywall pieces left over from when we had to redo the sun room ceiling so we patched what we could before we bought more. The biggest problem we faced with the main room was the difference between the depths of the drywall. Since the previous owners decided to put drywall on top of the wood paneling, we had to buy two different types of drywall and have to try to smooth out the seams and angles with the mud. The most challenging area was the ceiling between the fireplace and the skylight, but we finally got all of the drywall hung. Check out what a difference the drywall has already made:

Main room with the drywall up

Most challenging area...but worth it. There's so much more light now!

The bar area with drywall

A look into the kitchen

Sara cut out the electrical box on the first try...boom!

Our next phase will be finishing the drywall, painting the ceilings and finishing the drawers and cabinets. We have a couple details that we are keeping as a surprise until the end, so stay tuned for more updates. We can't wait to get our kitchen back in working condition, but for now we will take some aspirin and try to relax for the rest of our long weekend.

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

Four and a half years in the making

Since we moved into our house almost 5 years ago we have wanted to lighten up the house. Anyone that has been in our house has noticed the wonderful railroad ties that have adorned the entry way, kitchen and completely enclosed the main room in our house. At first, we tried working with what we had and went for a bold look with a dark teal wall color in the main room and pretty much left the kitchen alone, wallpaper and gold-flecked popcorn ceiling and all. Both rooms are large but are separated by a large built in bookshelf with the same hideous railroad tie finish. Here is what we are working with...

Brian showing off the lovely wallpaper

View of our kitchen...don't mind the mess, we live here

Here's the view of the main room...don't you love those railroad ties?

We have enjoyed the size of the kitchen because it has allowed us to host several parties and holiday dinners, however there is very little counter space and we've had to bring in a fold up table every time we made meals with more than a couple of ingredients. Sara has dreamed of a large kitchen island for years, but we knew that before we could install something we would need to figure out what to do with the bookshelf room divider. 

Lot of space....little countertops

Another view...look at that trim :)

The first thing to come down was the wallpaper. We hate wallpaper and will never put the stuff up in our house, however if you need to get it down, the best trick is to spray some vinegar and water (1/2 and 1/2) on the paper and it comes right off (Thanks Pinterest!). Now for all the railroad ties. After our first run with the railroad ties in our front room entryway, we knew the beams weren't too heavy and we could take down the ones in between the kitchen and main room. It's kind of like a reverse jigsaw puzzle because they are wedged in pretty tight and have more nails in them than necessary, so you have to find the best place to start and work you're way back. This took quite a while because we had to disassemble the bookshelf so we could save some of the wood for another project (which we'll reveal on a later post). It came down pretty fast and without too much damage.

Look at how open it is now!

I'm pretty sure that Brian thought that I would be happy with just getting this piece done, but since it was my birthday weekend we decided to go for it and take down all of the beams in the main room (Best Birthday Present Ever!). Check out the main room now...

I already love it!

Oh yeah, did I mention we scraped the popcorn ceiling?

It's a little hard to see the difference between the before and afters right now because we quickly discovered that the previous owners had dark wood paneling behind the walls that they decided to cover with drywall and then add the railroad ties. But one of my favorite updates is that we scraped all of the gold sparkly popcorn ceiling off in both the kitchen and main room. It was super dusty and tiring, but well worth it!

We have so much more work to do, including lots of drywall and painting, but at least the demo is done. I can't wait to show off our progress over the next few weeks. A huge thank you to Sara's parents for letting us borrow their truck and tools while they are lounging in Maui this week (so jealous). And another big thank you to these two handsome men for making this birthday weekend one to remember...

Safety is important...even for the little ones :)

Stay tuned for more updates and photos!

XOXO,

Sara, Brian & Tequila

Guest Room Makeover

Now that we finally have our house back together, we decided to tackle our next renovation...our Guest Room. We haven't done much with this room since we moved into the house, but since we had to completely clean and patch up the room after our last (and final) roommate, we decided to do a complete makeover. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on the room, but we wanted it to have a completed feel to it. Since we had a ton of mismatched furniture that we inherited over the years and Sara spent most of her sick time looking for ideas on Pinterest, we decided to try our hand at up-cycling our mismatched furniture.  We are pretty pleased with the results and I will have some how-to's posted over the next couple of weeks...here are the before & afters:

The closet

New blinds, curtains and white trim

 

Painted the door black

End tables we bought for $25 at a thrift store

My favorite project...this was an old dresser Brian's parents had that had a huge crack on the top

I love this dresser now!

Tequila wasn't too thrilled we took over his room, but we think he likes the result

We love the new wall color, Dior Gray by Benjamin Moore, and it went so well with the bedding set we received from our wedding. And the best part, we got everything done and hung before Justin & Brad arrived for the tournament!

Here's another pic of the room all put together...hope you like it!

I love the mirrored frames we bought, especially after we switched out the photos in them

Now, back to basketball...Rock Chalk!!

XOXO,

Sara & Brian

March Madness

It's been awhile since our last post, so here is a quick summary of what has been happening in the Schorr household these past few months. We were lucky enough to take off lots of time from work for the holidays to spend almost a week in Mayfield and see family and most of the guys from Brian's Rookies No More fantasy football league.

January flew by and ended with a Surprise Dirty-30 Birthday Extravaganza in St. Louis for Brian's 30th Birthday. With lots of help from family, Justin & Brad and Brian's boss we were able to pull of the surprise weekend without a hitch. The first half of the surprise was picking Brian up for lunch at the office, driving right past the restaurant and onto the highway...the look on his face when I told him we were eating in STL was priceless...I don't think it sunk in for a few moments :) We reached our hotel with good time and settled into our room with a perfect view of the Arch. Unfortunately I had started coming down with a cold, so we had to dine in the room with complimentary champagne and strawberries...not too shabby. The second half of the surprise came early Saturday morning when we got a knock on the door and Brian opened the door to his two best men, Justin and Brad, ready to get the party started. I think Brian was actually speechless for a few minutes...which is pretty amazing if you know him! Not long after, Andy joined us and we headed to Schlafly's for lunch and then to the Urban Chestnut's Microbrew Festival where Andrew joined us and we celebrated Brain's big Dirty 30 with lots of microbrews and music. The boys luckily continued the party into the night because I had to check back in to the hotel early because my cold was getting worse.

A few Instagram pics from January & February

February was a bit more challenging for us because the day we got back from Brian's Birthday weekend, Sara got really sick and had to go into the doctor on Monday morning. After an hour at the doctor, blood tests and a chest X-ray, she was diagnosed with a bad case of pneumonia and had to finish her last week at the Robstan Group quarantined in her room. Leaving the Robstan Group turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Sara wasn't able to leave the house or be around anyone, so she wouldn't have been able to travel to Vegas or New Orleans as scheduled. After a few weeks of not getting better and several doctors visits, her pneumonia morphed into mychoplasma pneumonia which the doctor believed to be caused by being exposed to our roommate who worked in a nursing home. Luckily during those weeks, our roommate found a place for her and her daughter to live so we were able to move them out and scrub down the entire house. The medications that Sara was prescribed have taken a toll on her and have prevented us from doing much outside the house, but we did celebrate Valentine's Day at the Gaslight Grill and spent a couple of snow days together watching Tequila navigate through the heavy snow.

Snow Day fun

Now in the middle of March, Sara is slowly starting to get better so we can watch the Big 12 Champions, the KU Jayhawks take on the NCAA tournament. Let the March Madness Begin!

Till' next time...

XOXO,

Sara & Brian

The Big Reveal - Front Room Edition

So you may remember a couple of months ago we started updating our front room. With everything going on at work and at home, it took us a little while to get everything together, but we are so excited to finally be done with most of the updates. Can't wait to share the updates with our family over Thanksgiving weekend and with all our friends at our upcoming Holiday party. Check it out...

Dining area...notice the wall color, trim, blinds, curtains, lighting and finally a picture on our wall

Intensitile with "Last First Kiss" lyrics - check these out...I can tell you where to get them

"My Best Friend" Intensitile...these are interchangeable...and awesome

"She's Always a Woman" - Love how these turned out...

Tequila says "I love bow ties"

Check out the new lamps (love crystals) and the Intensitiles on the wall

New end table, mirror (we painted), trim, heavenly smelling candles/coffee, and out new black door (we painted)

More dining room pics with the homemade wreath (thanks Pinterest!)

The tree...a little early, but we wanted to continue our progress

Wine which is being finished as I type...and one of our favorite honeymoon photos

Trying to get a full room shot in the background :)

I'm still pretty impressed with my wreath :)

We still have some other improvements that we need to complete for this room, but we are pretty satisfied with the turnout that we can show off for our family over the Thanksgiving weekend. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family, friends, coworkers, health and neighborhood. We hope to spend the holidays celebrating with you all...and especially this guy...

How can you not love this face?

Wishing you and your family and happy, safe and healthy Thanksgiving! XOXO

Sara & Brian

Fall 2012

This fall has been super busy so we thought it would be best to upload a collage of pictures from the last few months...enjoy!

Tequila at his second 5k watching Dad cross the finish line (in his skeleton costume)

Our 1-year Anniversary dinner...yes those are crab cakes flown in fresh from Maryland

Family fall photo

Waiting for Andy to begin AndyFest 2012/RenFest/American Royal BBQ Weekend

We discovered the wineries of southern JoCo...yes, Brian got to drive this

Halloween 2012 in Vegas with Sara's work family

Before Pat & Megan's wedding...congratulations you two!!

Happy Birthday to Christine...with lots of whip cream and giggles to spare :)

Getting ready for Taylor's Bowl-and-Booze-A-Thon Birthday Party in Waldo XOXO

Can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving...the fall went by way too fast, but we had a lot of fun along the way. Best wishes to you!

XOXO,

Sara & Brian