MAJOR BLOG SECRET

so we had to decide what to do with out puzzling front entrance and come up with a solution that would work for our little house ... we wanted something covered to protect the entrance way from the elements and something to add a little space to ... on a friday night j and his trusted happy helpers came up with this grand plan to build a covered veranda and they worked exceedingly fast and this massive project was completed in 2 weekends

here's our little hut before all the dormer additions

house completed with the bedroom dormers

our new and lovely two tiered deck

it's wonderful to have all this space

what the house looks like now ...

i can't wait to get some chairs and a table out front ...

and some pots and flowers ...

and the house numbers ...

and the mailbox ...

cheers ~n

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THE FIRST (AND NOW FINISHED!)

j and n are very excited! we have a finally have a home for all our lovely coats and shoes in the front entrance. this is huge as we have waited 3 plus years for this day and finally everything is put away, clean and organized the way it is supposed to be. after much searching the best solution (and affordable for us) was to take a trip to our local ikea, bring home the flat boxes and let the magic happen.

side note - the setting up of the wardrobe unit didn't take long at all ... securing it to the wall was the issue ... j did run into some trouble when attaching it to our lovely plaster walls ... as he was putting the screws into the wall the entire screw and a chunk of plaster disappeared into the wall! our solution was to put a piece of wood in front of the brackets and attach it to the studs and we are happy to report that this beast is going nowhere :)

the beautiful glass doors that n just had to have were another story ... n is gifted at being able to read and interpret those pesky ikea pictures fairly easily and her job is to get the pieces ready and direct j with what to do ... after 7 plus years of marriage and setting up multiple pieces of ikea furniture we have a beautiful system ... there was no such luck with the doors after 8 frustrating hours they finally came together and now we have storage!!

the closet does stick out quite a bit in the entrance way ... much more than we hoped ... even though n is a fabulous photographer and it doesn't seem that way :) the eventual and ambitious plan is to steal a bit of space from the guest room and sink that closet back a bit more ... but we have upstairs dormers to build and a basement to finish so that is a much later plan. we are just excited to have a home for our coats and shoes

let the merriment begin :) all these boxes just waiting to become something

zoe seems confused why these boxes have taken over her play area

the first day the frame is made ...

yeah so close but little did j and n know that it would take forever for the front to be put on

here are the gorgeous

(time consuming pain in the butt) doors

but they are amazing and totally fit our clean line square design for the house

here is each side of the closets with drawers and shelves at custom levels ...

notice the boot shelf height is not too tall or too short its just right

one of my favorite parts of the closet ...

the drawer with all these compartments that can fit all our closet odds and ends

(keys, watches, garage door openers, mittens and all of zoe's leashes)

and without further adieu a final picture of organization perfection

which makes j and n extremely happy

cheers ~n

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THE FIRST

living in an old war time cookie cutter house built in 1960 has a certain element of charm to it ... the big trees, cute as a button houses, one of a kind local shops and stores, parks and pathways to run and bike in and n could go on and on

... although right now j seems to think that the only charm is in the neighborhood and it has nothing to do with this particular house :) and n truly believes the charm is in the house

anyways with this supposed charm also comes many impossible problems that j and n are trying to solve in a way that is functional and isn't just some slapped together solution it also needs to keep with the overall design plan and to quote n "look pretty"

this impossible problem aka mission storage has been plaguing both j and n for over 3 years! apparently people who lived back in 1960 didn't own any coats or shoes or had a need to store them anywhere. j and n scratch their head that for over 50 years no one has bothered to come up with any sort of coat closet in this house. typically this is our solution for the lack of a closet:

do you see j and n's lovely breakfast nook table?

didn't think so because it is now our back closet and part of n's classroom storage :)

this is what j and n have to work with in the front of the house and we have come up with a solution that is functional, pretty and fits our clean line design

side note - we still have a bit to go before this part of the house is done - window and door casings, baseboards, trim for the tile, door handles and another impossible mission (railing for the staircase) but with that said here are the before pictures:

and this is not an acceptable storage solution ... although functional it is definitely not pretty

and the happily ever after (where did it go?)

side note - well j and n had a date on friday night to go pick up the storage solution but n has gotten really sick and they will have to wait till n is better and in the mean time trudge on with function instead of the pretty and will re-post when the happily ever after of their storage fairytale arrives

cheers ~n