Chatter Boxes

The line for the ladies room was quite long when I arrived. I opted to go down one floor and use that one. No one was there and I marched right in.

I - ahem - sat down and glanced at the back of the stall door. There was a plaque near the latch that simply had the manufacturer's name etched in the metal. The company's name is "Hiney Hiders".

I thought it was funny and giggled right there in the stall. I laughed more when I thought about working in their office. "Hiney Hiders this is Kim, how may I direct your call?"

With the house well on it's way to being complete...it's time to put things in it. We don't need a lot but a few items here and there to finish off a space or complete "the look".

Here are a couple projects I've been working on. It's amateur work at best but works for what we need. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

First up...my $7 table. There are a hundred places I wanted a little table. I scoured flea markets and found this beauty.



Okay...so it needs some lovin'. It's okay. I have love to give.



Coat of primer, two coats of paint, and a piece of wood to fill in that hole...

Viola!



It's cute and I like it. I'm still debating it's placement but I'm sure I will find the perfect spot.

Project #2...

I wanted a headboard for our bed but couldn't find one I really liked and with the pricetag I wanted.

"Hey!" I thought, "What about that fireplace mantle in the basement?"

You see...several months ago our friends remodeled their living room. They removed a giant mirror that was over their fireplace (which they also removed). We had the mirror re-cut for our master bathroom. While picking up the mirror, they said, "Do you want that mantle? We're just gonna throw it out on big-trash-day tomorrow." We took it thinking maybe we could sell it at a garage sale or maybe use it someday when we put another fireplace downstairs in the basement.

The wheels started spinning and after many minutes of measuring and calculating, work on the mantle headboard began.

I didn't get a true "before" picture because I forgot. I was just so excited to get started. Imagine this is white instead of primer grey.



We added two painted boards to the middle.





And Voila!



A grown up bed!

Here are the long awaited pictures of what has now become our home. Some of them are dark and all of them are rather golden. I took them late last night because for some reason I only think about taking pictures of the house at night. It makes it look warm don't you think?

Sit back, relax, and remember to keep your hand and arms inside the car at all times.

The Entry - (How do you like my chair Aunt Marilyn? I thought of you when I found it! Update - Aunt Marilyn liked my chair.)



The Living Room - Bonus points if you can tell me what's hiding in the bottom left corner of this picture. (Update: Good Job Aunt Marilyn - you were the first to guess. It is a saddle. My parents were borrowing it as decoration for a dinner but it was dusty and cobwebby...so I polished it. I wanted to watch the Olympics so I set it up in the living room. I tried to get it out of the picture but it snuck back in. It's not usually stored in the middle of the living room floor. 100 bonus points for you.)



We used this old ladder during construction...as a ladder. I told everyone to be careful with it because someday it would be a blanket and magazine rack. That day is finally here my friends. Behold!



The Dining Room



The Kitchen



This is one of our favorite features of the kitchen. We had shelves installed in place of a cabinet.



Your Room (Guest Room)



Still in the guest room. These are cool shelves my talented husband built. They appear to be built-in bookshelves. They actually have a hinge and swing in so you can access the attic/crawl space. They're like the secret passage way shelves you see in movies that reveal a room full of spy equipment. We'll probably only have Christmas decorations but it's still cool.



The Loft - we haven't quite decided what to do with this room yet so for now it houses our extra couch.





Master Bedroom



And here's my very talented husband relaxing in the house he built. Take note of that headboard and stay tuned for my first installment of "furniture redo" coming soon to a blog near you.



The Master Bathroom



Here's Sheena relaxing in the house she in no way contributed to.



This completes our tour and we thank you for joining us. Please remember to exit to your right only after the blog has come to a complete stop. We hope you enjoy your day here at The Lodge.

WE PASSED OUR FINAL INSPECTION YESTERDAY!

Praise the Lord!

It is a giant accomplishment. A lot of hard work for a piece of paper with just an "X". But when that "X" is marked in a box next to the word "pass" - it gets centerstage on the refrigerator.

We did not actually take a summer vacation this year. We're okay with it. As much as I enjoy traveling and exploring new places, investing that time and money into your dream house isn't a bad trade-off.

We did get a chance to visit John's parents a few weekends ago. John threw in an overnight trip to Robber's Cave State Park on our way.

Enjoy the pictures.

Here's our cabin at the park. The bed was on the front porch when we arrived. I kinda make fun of the tendency of Oklahomans to store indoor furniture in the great outdoors and I love photographic proof! On this same trip we saw a house with no less than 20 refrigerators in the front yard. I would have taken a picture but we were driving and somehow I don't think John would have stopped...turned around...and let me get just the perfect shot.



Here's John checking out the info on Robber's Cave. It was supposed to have been used as a hideout for outlaws because of it's rocky terrain and isolated locale. There no proof that outlaws actually used the cave. But I could see how they might.



Here's me hiking



Here's me in the cave



John's shadow in the mouth of the cave (is that what you call it?)



We drove onto John's parent's house Saturday morning. We attempted to fish several times over the weekend, but it was just too hot! We waited for cloud cover and were finally able to take the boat out on the pond. We did well despite the 106 degree temp (IN THE SHADE!)

Here John displaying the fish who are headed for the fish pond in the sky!



I love this picture. I know it's blurry but it looks so Norman Rockwell-esque. The sun had gone down by the time we got around to cleaning the fish (and I use the term "we" very loosely!). John's dad is an expert fish cleaner-upper. He rigged up this spotlight so they could see and there they sat...father and son...teacher and student...one generation extolling wisdom to the next. They would probably roll their eyes at how touched I was and say, "We were just cleanin' fish." But I thought it was neat.



We had a great time and got to meet our new niece, Katie Marie, on our way home. This picture was taken when John's parents went to see her (we weren't there). I like this picture a lot too. There's just something about the contrast of the sun-tanned rugged arms of a hard-workin' man against delicate, brand new, pale baby skin. John's brother took this picture.



And finally...here's a picture of John's mom's dog, Marty, which qualifies this post for Pet Pic Friday. She's a lot of fun. She's a herding dog and takes her job seriously. She'll herd you, cows, other dogs, sometimes even herself.



I'll have updated pictures of the house up soon. It's looks quite different than the last time I updated. And at this very moment, it's clean, so I'll try to get pictures before it's all cluttered with equipment again.