Hm

I liked Blogger but I hear that WordPress is the way to go. I'm transferring over to:
seventhandw.wordpress.com
Come by! :)

Microwave Time

We're getting down to the wire!! Our appraisal was yesterday but we have to wait until Monday for the results. Ugh, so much waiting! I'm going to update today on our microwave search. As I mentioned before, the top cabinets will need to be rehung the first day we are in there and we are also going to replace the range hood (that doesn't empty outside) for a microwave. Both of our parents have these and they clear up so much counter space.

We are looking to start our stainless appliances as well and this is a pretty cheap investment.

Our first option is the Maytag for $218. It's pretty boring looking, huh? I figured I could make a microwave post a little more fun!

Our second choice is the GE 1.5ct for $239. I love this one because it is in "Clean Steel," a faux steel that shows fewer smudges and grime. My parents just got a new fridge as their final stainless appliance and my brother has coated it with finger prints. The "Clean Steel" has different side color and sheen compared to stainless so we would be locked into GE appliances. I love GE based on my parents but Rob is a fan of Maytag.

The final option is LG for $319. It seems a little pricey compared to the others but once you go up into 1.8ct size, the prices go to the $300s for pricing. I've never really liked LG and I've seen some bad reviews. Has anyone had a really great experience with them?

Well, I guess it will come down what will fit above the range and what's in stock at our local Home Depot. We'll update you next week with our choices!! :)

Flatware Fun

So, in a future post, I will show off my 72 piece dish set, but for now I need to get twelve places of cutlery. We don't plan on serving twelve people at once but we have 3+ sets of cutlery now that don't even pretend to match. Most sets at Home Goods and Ikea are only 4 or 8 sets so I need to buy two or three sets. Most of the Home Goods we went to don't even have multiple of the same sets.
So I might be a little crazy but I have totally over-analyzed Ikea flatware.

 So, we currently have a mauve plastic handled set, a blue plastic handled set, and this "Bonus" Ikea set. Well, we have a few of each of those with many missing due to work lunches. The set is only $3.99 for four places but the forks are really spork looking and the set is very cheap looking.
 





This set, "Data," is another one of my favorites. The mini spoons are beyond perfect for yogurt and soups. A past roommate had them and I was excited to see I had one left with me. The downside is that it is $29.99 a set, times three, for almost $90 of cutlery. I feel that we can definitely spend our money a little better than that.

 This set was another one of my favorites but I don't love the little features of it. "FÖRNUFT" is 7.99 for four places, so it is very reasonable in price. In the store, I didn't like the shape of the large spoon and forks because they seem overly wide.







Now this set was another favorite and Dragon is $9.99 per set. I really liked the weight of this set and how nice it looked. However, the forks seemed like spoons, they were very deep and the tines were set back so far. The base of the fork seemed like a little bowl. I just wasn't a huge fan!




 I don't like detailed flatware at the same time but the Ikea prices are very good. There are so many nice sets at Home Goods but I don't know that we'll be able to find three matching sets. I think we'll take the plunge with one of the Ikea sets later this summer. Which one would you choose?

Note: All images belong to Ikea.com.

Almost there!

We spent the weekend window shopping at IKEA, Jordan's, Bob's Discount Furniture, Lowes, and Home Depot. We also stopped by the house because we can't stay away. They finally changed the sign to "Sale Pending" (We may have driven by a few times before). I'm so excited for it to be our's, finally!

We get our final financing on May 23rd which will be either a nice surprise of FHA, a normal expectation of conventional, or something else. :/ Our mortgage rep says we don't need to worry but I can't help it! I'm such a worry wart. It was fun to go to the different stores and pick out what we want to put in the house. We have so many ideas and I know it will take a lot longer to put them into process.

Our closing is on a Thursday and the BF's parents have taken off work on Friday to help us out. For the first days, we are planning on rehanging kitchen cabinets, cleaning everything, deep cleaning the carpets, and replacing the range hood with a microwave. The original cabinets seem to hung without regard for studs so we got a stud finder this weekend. The cabinets are nice but the whole falling off the wall thing makes it a little less than functional. Rob is also going to expand the space for the refrigerator. We got a "new to us" fridge from my parents. We're planning on upgrading all the appliances gradually but for now, we will have all white except for the black 80s dishwasher and hopefully a new stainless microwave. We also want to replace those counter tops and add some updated hardware.


We also window shopped at IKEA. We did buy a recycling center and a broom for cleaning out our apartment. I love the recycling stand because each bag comes off individually. The store model had some adorable signs and I can't wait to make them. We also saw these adorable lanterns. Rob didn't feel the same way but I think they would look so cute on the deck. He wants to stain it a nice dark brown and I want some pops of color. Just a few more weeks!!

Reading List

Since reading 600+ pages of Regulation CPA exam material is rather mind numbing, I recently used some graduation money to purchase some home books. By recently, I mean yesterday and by some, I mean $20! I got inspired by John and Sherry's wishlist at YHL and moved on from there. Many of the books were around $20 such as Thom Filicia Style: Inspired Ideas for Creating Rooms You'll Love for $23.10 but I was able to shop in one Half.com store to take advantage of reduced shipping and pay $2-5 for each of the books and spend less than one book on Amazon. I haven't received them yet (more waiting for 2-9 days for media mail!!) but based on past experience, if they are a little "pre-loved," I feel less bad the first time I spill tea on them.

I purchased the following books:

Home Rules by Barri Leiner, Nate Berkus : Transform the Place You Live into a Place You'll Love
Cost: $3.24 from Half.com
Source: YHL Wishlist
Confession: I have no idea who Nate Berkus is. I can glean that he is into home decor. He has interviewed YHL and Bower Power. He has some sort of show? I'm not really sure. It was a cheap paperback so I grabbed it.

Thom Filicia Style: Inspired Ideas for Creating Rooms You'll Love
Cost: $4.74 from Half.com
Source: YHL Wishlist
I tried to find more up-to-date home books since styles change so fast. I didn't want to spend the money to purchase them at full price since I may or may not like the styles inside. The one was the "pricey" one because it bore the brunt of the shipping charges. Half.com allows you to stack shipping for $2-3 more per book. I remember this guy from HGTV random things and Queer Eye. Aw, I miss that show!

If I Had a Hammer by Andrea Ridout: More Than 100 Easy Fixes and Weekend Projects
Cost: $2.64 from Half.com
Source: Me!
This book was never and had some good reviews for being a home renovation book for women without talking down to them. I hate books that talk to me like I am a child or just into shopping. I have more interests like shopping for shoes and shopping for skirts, etc. ;) I am pretty bad with hammers, nails, power tools, so I think I can use this to relearn.

Design Idea Book by Karen Templer
Source: YHL Wishlist
Cost: $2.64 from Half.com
This one seemed pretty. There are a very other books like it and I just need help when it comes to sticking things together and picking out colors. I am really just hoping for all of these books to be picture books after all my tax reading.

Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
Cost: $2.64 from Half.com
Source: Mom
This book has been on my wishlist for a while and it's one of the few that I have actually seen. My mom has this cookbook (from 1989) and it has the best recipes for things like banana bread, oven baked pancakes, etc. I find that online recipes can be a little trendy or incorrect, and I don't like the new cookbook style with 50-60 recipes. This book has an endless amount of recipes for simple things like meatballs and that banana bread. I can usually figure out how to make them but I like to have a recipe to go along with it. It is very compact and doesn't take up a lot of counter space. It doesn't have pictures but I also know what a meatball should look like and there is no guilt if mine turns out a little more lopsided than the stylized food in a book.

All About Us by Philipp Keel
Cost: $3.24 from Half.com
Source: Urban Outfitters
Finally, I got a little treat for myself. I'm really excited for this book. I ordered a "Very Good" copy so I hope it comes unmarked. I saw it a few years back at UO and I really wanted it but again, $15 is kind of pricey for a college student. I'm hoping to use this as another break from studying and general hectic summer renovation life. After 5 years together, I can just quiz Rob on my answers. ;) What's my favorite ice cream flavor?

The total damage from all of these books was $19.14. I saved $3.96 from just the Thom Filicia book. I'm super excited to put that towards some new paint brushes once we get our house! Happy reading!

Credit to all pictures to their respective books and Half.com.

Waiting game...

Well, first, you get an idea. Then you search, and search, and search. You fall in love, narrow down, miss out, back out of, and escape from all sorts of houses. You make a few offers, hope for the best, and then cringe the entire home inspection, and finally you are all in.

Then you wait. And wait. And wait. The waiting is way more stressful than the searching. We did our home inspection a few weeks ago and now we just need to wait for closing. Mortgage stuff is being figured out but it's pretty much a waiting game to make sure everything falls into place. I'm so scared that after telling friends and family and showing them "our house," something might happen to make it "not" our house. I just want to get started!!

Well, with what? Painting, scraping, ripping up old carpet, more cringing, regrouting, more painting, etc. This blog will follow me and my wonderful BF, Rob, as we go through the process of moving into and renovating our first house, a converted bungalow built in 1930!

I can't wait to post more entries of actual DIY projects and I am so happy to be blessed with a very handy boyfriend. He will hopefully make projects a lot easier. You can also follow me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/norarose/. I am addicted to home renovation blogs, thanks to Carrie, and I love arts and craft projects. I am suffering through a summer of CPA exam studying and review (it scares me when Becker ads start to pop up on blogs) but afterwards, come October or springtime, I plan to take on more projects and post more! For now, it will be mostly dreams and small projects to take a break from long summer study hours. :) I'll also post pictures of things I want for our house, yummy food, and silly things. Can't wait to show you more!

Photo credit to Coldwell Bankers, our future home's realtor.

Future House Pictures

If we get the house, the pictures are coming. I don't want to jinx it anymore!