Growing Up, October 2011

It rained this week which had me thinking about our garden. This will definitely not be the last mention of our garden on these pages. When we moved in our yard was mostly dry dirt and weeds. To some that might be ugly, but to us it was ours for the planting. We started with the planter in the middle of the yard because it contained and easiest to decide what to plant there. We decided to go with herbs and edible flowers.

First Katie removed all the landscaping rocks.

 

Then we started planting the herbs: mint, lemon balm, chamomile and lavender.

We dug out the pinetree bush and the lilies.

Now we have these herbs: oregano, parsley, cilantro, chives, lemon balm, lavender, chamomile, sage and peppermint. And these edible flowers: borage, nasturtium,  calendula, snapdragon, pansy and viola.

spice cabinet project at 669, October 2011

Our house came with a fold out ironing board in this little cabinet. Since we don't really want to iron in the kitchen and we needed space in the kitchen, we decided it would be of better use as a spice cabinet. We borrowed a saw from the Oakland Tool Lending Library and after we pulled off the old board cover we discovered that the board was a nice piece of cedar. We decided to use that piece of wood from the 40s as our shelves. Again we forgot to take a before photo but you get the idea.

The First Project at 667, October 2011

Since we had just made a big purchase, I acquired a few free sample coupons from a certain magazine issue & went to the paint stores.

So much taping for such a little space.

The first coat of Marlboro Blue.

The finished product.

I wanted some color & thought starting with our small downstairs bathroom would be best. Small rooms are hard.

To Do: Organize Shed--Check! August 2011

We downsized from our one car garage at our house in Berkeley to a little shed for five bikes, two tents, camping gear for four and many, many garden tools. So one of the first things projects we needed to do all together was organize the shed. Patrick built an attic for storage and we installed some shelves as well. Then we hung anything and everything that could be hung.
We don't have a before picture (we need to get better about that and posting our updates in general) but just imagine an empty 4ft x 10ft rectangle. 
 

Painting the Ceiling, July 2011

The first and last time I will ever paint a ceiling! Using the National as our inspiration, Patrick and I chose sleepy blue and conservative grey as the colors to paint our new living room. After a few roller technique lessons from Dad, we got to work the first weekend at our new place.  Painting a ceiling is very hard work!

We took turns of course and managed not drip much on our hardwood floors. The grey walls came a little later and are subtle but ended up looking pretty nice for our first paint job. Now to find the perfect, chocolate brown couch!

Moving Day, July 2, 2011

June, 2011

During the inspection, wondering if we should really be doing this.

Not any more, suckas!

The Break Up

It really all started way before July. Patrick & Abbey moved from NYC into a downtown Oakland apartment with David & me. We enjoyed apartment living for a short while, then decided we needed a house with more space & a yard. So we found Webster St. We loved that little house. We loved the backyard garden, we loved the basement, we loved the bicycle boulevard. But our landlord decided to sell and we did not love the weekly open houses & the parade of realtors. So we found an even more awesome house just over the border in Berkeley. Split level with an extra room that doubled as office, sewing room, art studio and guest room, plus a 2nd bathroom - much welcomed for 4 adults.

And so we had lived together for over 3 years  - the Myszka twins & the boys. We were having a great time, a really great time. But we were slowly figuring out that we might have an even better time sharing dinner every once in awhile, sharing a yard, but not sharing all our personal space. So we started looking for a "break up" house. A place where we could be neighbors, not roommates.

There were many multi-unit homes in Oakland, but over the 8-9ish months that we were slowly looking, we didn't see many that were even close to something that would work. Then Patrick went with our realtor to a place that he started freaking out about. He told Abbey that it might be the one & that we should all go see it ASAP. The next day Abbey & I checked it out. Then we went again with David to the Saturday open house. It seemed perfect. Two identical units with remodeled kitchens & bathrooms, new eco-friendly features and a cool backyard with room for gardening & grilling out. We wanted it.

We did the whole offer, counter-offer thing & I think I can speak for "the duplex" when I say that it was all pretty confusing. But we had great people around us that explained the details & did the research about how 4 people, 2 married & 2 sisters, all buy a house together.

Getting ready to move back to Oakland! July 1, 2011