OH Remodel

Oh Remodel, how we love and hate you...

Jillian and I moved into our new residence on July 15th 2010 and within two weeks the fun had started. We were tearing down walls, changing counter tops, ripping floors up, changing doors and the list goes on and on and on and is still going. Jillian and I added a touch to the house today that we feel is up to standard to share now.

Jillian and I ran into many bumps along the way. From uneven flooring, electrical problems, leaking sliding door, waiting on oven and contractors. Overall we changed the counter tops from hideous tile to beautiful slab granite, the floors from linoleum and gross carpet to fantastic red oak hardwood floors. A new slider door for the back door. A new five burner gas oven and a brand new gas fireplace. All of which was done by contractors. Jillian and I tried our hardest to do as much as we could and we ended up painting the cabinets a slightly matte black, with Jillian's Dad's help we did the electrical needed, we painted,  we put in a corrugated iron back splash for the counters, we added handles to the cabinets which all nobs but each one is different and our latest feat was adding some texture to two of our walls in the living area. We did this texture by staining 40 fence palings pearl gray then we attached brackets on the wall and screwed the wood in. Jillian and I are very very happy with how the house is looking and are excited. Enjoy.

The first photos are of the before shots of the house.

Above:
Looking from the Kitchen out the living room to the backyard

 

In the above photo the wall on the left was taken out to create an island and a more open space into the living room.

The below photo is a better view of the wall.

 

Notice the gross carpet above.

Above: The wall goes down. At this point we were were thinking it would be completed in a week or ...Hahahahaha the fools we are.

We lived with no oven for two months. Luckily we lived next door to Jillian's parents.

The projects are not complete, But the big stuff is done. Hope you cats like it.

Back to blogging

Okay I have been off my blog game lately and I know all three readers I have are devoed ( Australian for devastated ). So over the next few days I will try and a few new tid bits. First one is a little something I added to my office. I have been lucky enough to be able to start collecting skateboards And few weeks ago I got a chance to put some of them up.


matty3stars

Milwaukee to Chicago

Here in the states we just had a long weekend. Jillian and I celebrated it by traveling with some friends to Milwaukee Wisconsin to visit our friend Laura who recently moved there for school. To make the most of it we took a red eye Thursday night and had Friday off to make it a four day weekend.
We arrived at six in the morning , after a little sleep in we found some energy to get up and go see some sites of the cheese state. Our friend lives in cool part of town which is a lot like Fremont in Seattle or Freo in WA. That artsy type feel to it. We walk around there and got to see the great lakes and it is crazy to see a lake you can not see the other side of after that we headed in to the main part of the city and man was there history and architecture to boot.
It is cool but seriously the highlight of The day was when we took the pub tour called the "Pedal Tavern". It is a 12 seated table that you pedal around the city from bar to bar unfortunately they are still working out the liquor license, so the tap on board was dry. A lovely dinner was had to round out the day. 
Here is a pic of Jillian and the "Pedal Tavern".
















The next day was was a little bit more chilled out but just as fun. We spent the day with our friend Charlie and his family and friends. Charlie lives in Seattle with us and coincidently is from the same place our friend is now going to school. We spent the day bbqing, having a few drinks watching football, playing games and rounded out with us sitting around fire.














Sunday we made am2 hr trip down to Chicago and man was it great. I don't think I can explain how cool and overwhelming it was, by far the biggest city I have been to. As soon as we step out of the tunnel we get to see one of the city's most infamous pieces of art. Here is a couple of pictures of it.
On the second picture can you pick me out? Cause when you were looking into it, it was hard to find yourself.


























 Chicago is famous for many many things, but we were hungry and hunting for one thing deep dish pizza. Let's just say it was worth the long walk and long wait.
Our now friends Annie and Mike (Charlie's brother in-law and sister) came up with a great idea to do a boat tour. Man what a dam good idea that was. We got see great stuff while learning so much about the city.
On Monday we just cruised around and tried to soak up as much of our friend as we could until our flight.

The weekend was great.

Work on the weeknds has never been so much fun

Every year my school SVC has an event called a Wayzgoose which is the old tradition of celebrating letterpress. And to celebrate this tradition my schools asks local design firms, artist and companies to join in the Steamroller Smackdown as well as many other activities.
The Steamroller Smackdown is where each firm creates a design, cuts it out of a 34in by 44in piece of linoleum and places it under a steamroller for printing.

I was mad stoked about this event anyway, but because my own design had been chosen to represent DC, I was over the moon.
The day was so much fun with DC crew getting under the sun.

Here are some photo's of the design, cutting and the steamrolling with the crew.

Well that is it for now. Much Love

Meeting the president

If you call standing about 50 meters away with a few hundred people meeting him. Then yes I met the president.

Mr Obama was having a meeting or something about two blocks from my work. So a few of us headed down there for a little meet and greet.

Our meet and greet was a little more like bird watching you wait, you need binoculars and you see that presidential bird for two fleeting seconds.

It was a fun time. Here is a picture i took on my phone. Don't worry I pointed him out. He is the one in the white shirt with no jacket.

matty3stars

Wedding and art show

While Jillian, Nick and I are living in the chaos of the kitchen remodel we have all had a few things going. Our friends Teigan and Trevor had a beautiful wedding. There tears of joy, speeches and a whole lot of dancing. All in all a great night.



A couple of weeks ago my work offered me a full time position which I am so amped on. Today August 10th was my official starting date. Yahoooooooo I am
so excited.

While I am on the subject of work. We had a great opening night for our latest art show. The art was by a poster design company called "Patent Pending Industries". It was their ten retrospective show. With a few hundred people strolling through the doors throughout the night, a keg, fresh popcorn(courtesy of my old work) and a whole lot of kick ass art.
A bunch of my friends and family were among the few hundred people to walk through the doors. Here is a pic of Jillian and her cousin Thomas.


Peace to ya all. I'm out.
matty3stars

Big news

Last Thursday my boss asks me to meet in the conference room and before both cheeks could hit the chair he asks me if I would like a full-time position at the company. I was so excited I said yes before hearing what they were offering. Luckily they offered something that I was super stoked with. So as of August tenth I will have my foot firmly planted in the world of web design.
Also the firm I work for has a great crew of people who all have mad skills. There is is such a great work atmosphere that males going to work each day very enjoyable.

Feel free to check out the web site www.designcommission.com

matty3stars