Young House Love

We promised more photos of our two guest bedrooms sporting their new crown molding, so here they are. First, we bring you the second bedroom, with crisp white three inch molding to swank things up: And the third bedroom (also known as our old converted dining room) looks mighty fine with the same polished white molding adding some architecture: But the real transformation took place in the master bedroom, with the addition of an 8 inch plank of wood that makes the wardrobes look like custom built ins. Stay tuned for the juicy reveal tomorrow. We can hardly wait…

That’s what John thought this gift represented when he unwrapped it on Christmas morning. But by around his third guess he’d cracked the code: crown molding. And his gift finally came to fruition this week when our crafty installer returned to hang beautiful 3 inch molding in our living/dining room and three bedrooms. The finished product is polished and purty. And best of all, John didn’t have to lift a finger. He works hard enough around here as it is, so I was glad to let him sit this one out. Here are some detail shots: And here’s the whole living / dining room in all of its crowning glory: It looks just as dapper

I love surprises, and John’s an expert at pulling them off. He’s done everything from arranging for my best friend to fly in for my birthday to pretending to go to work and retuning home 5 minutes later to say that we’re going on a trip to the beach. So from time to time I like to stage a little sneak attack of my own. And when I saw an amazing leather arm chair at Target.com, I just had to order it for him asap. It’s usually scary to buy furniture without actually seeing it (or sitting in it, in this case) but the 5 star rating accompanied by a bunch of rave reviews made

We painted an ugly bronze mirror white for a whole new look on the cheap. Here’s the play by play.

The counters are in and boy are they better than sliced bread. After months of waiting for a surface to dice upon, any old counter would do. But our sparkling new granite is just the bees knees. And instead of revealing the new counters, we’ve decided to make you wait until tomorrow (when the faucet, sink, and dishwasher will be fully installed) and then post the FINAL BEFORE AND AFTERS! Can you tell we’re excited? But the start of the day wasn’t nearly as thrilling as the end. It was full of the usual trials and tribulations of home improvement. First, when the truck pulled up I thought it was some sort of joke. Check

Our new and improved granite slabs moseyed into town this week and, unlike our last visit to the stoneyard, it was definitely love at first sight. Here’s Sherry gettin’ friendly with our two hunks of Pashmina before they go in for cutting. The best news of the day was that our beautiful new counters are coming home on Tuesday. Score! That means our Home Depot installer can come back on Wednesday to hook up the plumbing and – dare I say it? – our new kitchen will be COMPLETE. ‘Til then, you’ll find us drooling over this photo we snapped of our soon-to-be countertop.