Thursday, March 31, 2011

Happy Anniversary 765!

It's hard to believe but 1 year ago today Travis and I were celebrating on our very own porch with pizza and champagne. After quite the ordeal trying to purchase 765 (remember?), it was finally ours. What's to come in the next year? We've got alot more orange blossoms on our tree this year, bare cabinets ready for paint, real doors for the shed, more consistent blog posts (maybe?) and a garden that's already proving more productive than last year.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

A Wild Hair

More than a few weekends ago, on a Sunday morning Travis and I were discussing house projects over strawberry pancakes.  The conversation led to the kitchen where we are stumped on the puzzle that it is: lots of wood, a washer and dryer next to the fridge, and 100-year old cabinets that need a serious refresh. Our lower kitchen cabinets are painted in the stark, cheap white that shows every bit of grime, probably the worst idea for a kitchen, ever. It was also painted with an oil-based paint, without sanding or priming beforehand, so it's thick, uneven and just all around ugly.

By 11:30 that morning we were removing cabinet doors, drawers and knobs and turning the earlier conversation into a major sanding mission. I headed over to the paint store and brought home more samples of gray paint than you would ever imagine existed. Taped all over the walls in different pairs, we pondered 'Uncertain Gray' with 'Misty' or 'Jubilee' with 'North Star'? I bet you can guess who pondered longer....

{uneven handles}
{BEFORE}


Our kitchen is now in the living room, there's an absence of coffee in the morning because of all of this, and we're wondering why on earth we started this right before the wedding, but everything inside has been sanded. And let me tell you - I always thought sanding was kind of fun - taking off the old to show the even older. Hours and hours with an electric sander in your hand can change your mind on that. I was sore.

{Sanded}

{And more sanding...}

Our grays have been selected and now it's time for the fun part.... painting.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Spanish Town Mardi Gras: The Aftermath

One of the benefits of living at 765 is its amazingly close proximity to the Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade route, the largest parade of the season in Baton Rouge. Known for often being inappropriate and getting out of hand (this year's theme: BP Blows and Wiki Leaks), it's not exactly the family friendly parade.

Even with severe thunderstorms and tornado watches in the forecast, 100,000+ people were still expected to come downtown for the festivities. The morning started out dark and only got darker, but at 7am you could smell jambalaya cooking and crawfish boiling from anywhere in the neighborhood - rain can't damper this crowd's spirits. The parade rolled out a little early in hopes of beating some rain, but instead landed right in the middle of the storm. Our party stood in a truck bed, screaming for beads as the wind batted the rain into our eyes, while severe weather conditions damaged houses in other parts of Baton Rouge. We were drenched to say the least, but with neck-fulls of beads and a drink in hand nobody cared.

I wish I had more pictures to prove it, but our first Spanish Town Mardi Gras Parade at 765 was one to remember.

{post-spanish town mayhem}