UP and COMING uPcOmInG EVENTS

{Annie & I on her Birthday @ the family gazebo show in Kanab}

So I feel pretty bad about what I said about the loathing stay-at-home moms. I don't. Really. I am super envious but I'm going to chalk my blog rage moment up to first-week-back-at-work-ness. If you've ever taught middle school Language Arts maybe you can offer up some empathy. I'm over it now. {maybe} It's always uggy going back after the summer. Sum of it: I'm a bit overwhelmed with our finances because we bought our dream house 12 months earlier than we planned (which I will never regret because it is a complete and total dream) so NOW- I have to work instead of oh I'm just choosing to work so it's no big deal because I'm in control. Overwhelmed. It's a lot. Despite more classes this year I am engorged with conflict. My jobs are terrific. I'm great at them. When I'm teaching, I ENJOY the company of students and learning and progress. IT'S JUST THAT I need more of me to go around. Sound familiar? I need to work and mum around and get to OH SO MUCH ELSE. Plus sleep. How are the rest of you doing it?

Enough personal diatribe.
Here's the Up and Coming UPCOMING stuff you should note:

• Grandpa Polly is going to start blogging again so add her if you are private (pollystir@msn.com)
• Mission Mark flies home THIS Saturday. Come to the airport.
• The family PEACH DAYS show is that night. ***memo: GPO's house is a sweltering 90 degrees at coolest.
• Mark's homecoming is on the 11th. You can stay with us if you need to.
• Anyone else INSANELY excited for the annual Halloween Party over here?
  

Annie wants to show you more of her house.

Our 1-year-old is experiencing her terrible-2's a bit early.
She's super feisty and not a little precocious! She knows how to get just what she wants-
and what do I want? More Annie Annie Annie ALL THE TIME.
I started to work last week and it's tragic leaving this perfect thing every morning before I face the 8th grade. Ah the plight of the working mom. All you stay-at-homers, I completely loathe you in my dripping envy! Wish I was one of those! Here's some more Hadley House Love:

ANNIE'S ROOM
I could not wait to put her room together- it was the first bedroom I completed. Well, completed is a relative term; I still have a bunch of ideas but the budget made me stop at this. Of course I brought over the Robert Marbel's and it was even ME who had to convince Quinn to throw our pencil drawing of Yankee Stadium up. We had to take apart the rocker to fit it in the narrow doorway. Then there is the BIG splurge: this amazing rug! Annie LOVES to hang out on her rug. My ultimate rug tip is don't buy anywhere but Overstock- really, just start and end at Overstock. {It's BM Anonymous for those who keep asking about the paint}

BEFORE AFTER

GUEST ROOM
This is our guest room for another 2 years until our next kid leaves our bedroom and our tenants move out. We'll move the guest room downstairs after that. Q built out the closet (but I forgot to take a pic so there's a blank spot) and then there was paint, endless staple removal, new carpet, and all the finishing touches. I have been dreaming about this PB duvet for over a year! If you visit us, you get to crawl into these flannel sheets on top of a feather bed over a plush mattress.

BEFORE AFTER

GUEST BATH
We are extremely lucky to have inherited a previous renovation to our house. The Italian who lost it to the bank put some bucks into a terrific granite and upscale tile bathroom(s) and kitchen redo. The plus is that we have some really nice mediums in the bathrooms until we can afford to expand the Master and guest baths upstairs (in a decade). There is even a new sky light! Some paint, a mirror, and a major scrub down almost completed the guest bath, but don't be fooled, we had to replace ALL the pipes in the house and most of the fixtures. I hate it when you have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on stuff you can't even see!

BEFORE AFTER

MASTER BED & BATH
I still lie awake at night looking out my window unable to believe the .79 acre view! It's a trip. The Master is the after-thought room, it got left with the leftover art and decor that didn't work in the rest of the house. Someday I'll do it up right (yellow please), but for now I have my NYC neighborhood over my pillow and my beautiful tree out my window. The master bath presented a huge storage problem so I whipped out my trusty pencil and drew some shelves on the wall then Q built them out. We have a terrific shower though and don't forget about the new pipes!

BEFORE AFTER

More to come. I've saved the best for last: The library and mud room!

HADLEY HOUSE LOVE

I'm telling you, it was 6 months of incredibly hard work and the ultimate draining of our bank accounts- but... it's a total dream and absolutely the result of 10 years of planning and pinching. We love it! LOVE it! Come take a look.
...but before you do, may I answer a few questions along the way.
We keep getting asked the same ones so let me start with the facts:

• We hired a ninja agent. The best in the business, and she got us the deal of the century. And I do mean deal. We walked in with $50k+ equity bank appraisal before renovations.
• It's being advertised all over SGU so I may as well let you know we got it not too far over $200k. I won't be specific. It was a foreclosure and it was INTENSELY competitive. We had to fight for it tooth and nail.
• It is on almost an acre, we have irrigation rights (3 shares), and it is powered by a non-profit so our utilities are super low. Probably under 1/3 of everyone else in SGU.
• It is 3600 sq/ft. and all of it is finished, however, we have turned the basement into a separate apartment and Q's family is living there while they finish school. You won't see photos yet because we are still renovating the basement as they live there. We feel obligated to extend the blessing of getting this house because we are completely overwhelmed with the miracle of owning it.
• We bought it 1 year too early so I have to go back to work.
• We have a terrific loan and lived on one income the entire time we were married to save a down payment for this home. That means I graded well over 5000 essays to buy this place!

...And without further ado:

ENTRYWAY
We built a couple walls to separate the entry space.
Q did all the renno and I pulled up staples and nails for months.
New floors, new paint, new lighting, new baseboard (thank you Matt) a million hours.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Q & A's I get asked often:

• I started collecting art and furniture while I was in college.
• The blue is BM Solitude as found in Pottery Barn and the Modern Family set.
• We went with BM Wheat Bread for the walls and White Dove for the Trim and ceilings (high gloss). It was suppose to be light grey and we were quite disappointed but this color is terrific none-the-less.
  

KITCHEN
We had the cabinets professionally refinished because that's the only way you can get a modern factory finish. You'll also be able to tell that IKEA is my soul mate. I still have a few things to add. We've re-purposed a hutch to allow for high closed shelving but it has to cure for a few weeks before we can install it.
BEFORE:

AFTER:


BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Q & A's I get asked often:

• Yes we did a ton of DIY but I hate when DIY looks DIY so we waited until we could afford professionals for some of the important stuff. Also, we got a ton of bids for eveything. That's a huge effort on it's own but worth it. If you live in SGU we can refer you to several terrific subs.
• Luckily the kitchen had great bones so it didn't require mega $$$. When we reconfigured the space and switched up the rooms in the living area, the kitchen flowed better anyway.
• I went with an engineered laminate because it will withstand kids and can be sanitized better than real wood. Lots of folks tried to talk me out of the darker color because it's more difficult to keep clean but I insisted on chocolate walnut from the beginning. Right now I'm having a love affair with them. It was worth waiting almost 3 months for them to be delivered.
  

LIVING AREA
I mention reconfiguring the space and boy did we ever. I knew from the beginning that it was a waste of a good fireplace to not have the living there so that was the start of my begging Q to rip up the tile. I knew the second I walked in with our agent where I would put everything in the end. We changed the formal dining room into a library, the family dining into a living room, and the living room into a formal dining space. Carpeted areas had to go. The house totally works now. Although I don't know if Q will ever recover from all the swearing he did whilst re-leveling the subfloor so I could have my chocolate walnut.
BEFORE:

AFTER:



BEFORE:

AFTER:


BEFORE:

AFTER:


Q & A's I get asked often:

• We ran out of money so we ended up moving a few lights instead of buying new chandeliers. It was genius! Also may I recommend spray paint for your ugly ceiling fans. A couple people thought we were crazy but @ $3.77/can, you can beat the price for a modern update.

• We did add cans to accent a new formal dining area. Our electrician cursed us for telling us it could be done. He said it was the worst install he's ever completed.
• All the black furniture you see is going into the basement living room when our tenants move out. We were worried about it fitting but it works for now and doesn't look as ill-fitting as I had thought it would. I want everything upstairs to be as light and delicate as all of the windows.
  

BREAKFAST NOOK
This is almost my favorite area of the house. Annie and I watch birds in the backyard while we eat our meals. I wanted a white round table that extended to fit more chairs for big parties, plus, the leaf stores right inside the table! Between this, the dining room, and the bar, we can sit scores of folks inside plus over 30 on the back porch.
BEFORE:

AFTER:



FORMAL DINING ROOM
I updated our formal dining area buy painting my parents beat up table and chairs in a modern high gloss. I had them sprayed to get the factory look. Because of their traditional shape, they needed a contemporary finish. The table is grey to pull the color from the fireplace and I'm still working to recover the white chairs in a combination of Amy Butler/IKEA fabrics.
BEFORE:

AFTER:

Q and A's I get asked often:

• The formal dining area isn't finished. I scored some awesome acrylic frames for art on the empty wall and I have grand plans to move my grey rocker into the master for our next baby and replace it with an upright grand piano.
  

And there you have it. That's the main living space, more to come. How sad to think we've just finished all this work barely in time to go back to real work. C'est la vie.

P.S. We are VERY active members of the NRA,
own guns, have an alarm, and 8 people live at our house
so it's NEVER empty. Plus we have cop friends so please don't think of robbing us.