March Monthly Roundup

As much as we love powering through a project and making progress, we love taking a little breather here and there to sit back and enjoy the progress we’ve made.  It gets crazy ’round these parts sometimes when paint is flying and mud is slinging and the dog is in the middle of it just getting mud and paint all over him.  So monthly roundup days are a nice little refresher from our crazy day to day DIY days.  And the month of March had no shortage of DIY craziness from floors and trim and bookcases…oh my.  Without further ado, the March monthly roundup awards style.

Largest Wood:  And by largest wood I don’t mean Colby’s…never mind…I’m not going to go there.  But the wood award goes to the unfinished wide-pine, shiplap guest bedroom flooring that we installed.  It was a game changer room changer for sure!  Goose approves.

Best Pun Made Out Of An Eighties Song:  Our “Video Killed The Radio Star Post” about FINALLY learning how to use the video function on our DSLR camera.  We even made a few bad videos of the Goose being Goose including this gem of Goose in the snow.

Biggest Buildup:  The new trim installed in the guest room.  We beefed up the baseboards by layering regular old pine boards with some base cap.  And also made some old school style window trim by layering boards together.

Stinkiest Project:  The day we stained and polyed all the trim and doors in the guest room, master bedroom, and hallway.  We used oil based poly, which is stinky and demands ventilation, but it is by far the most durable stuff out there.

Greenest Project:  And by greenest I don’t mean eco-friendly, I mean it in the color department.  We painted up a bookcase a bright green shade for the guest bedroom.  It was a little premature, considering it’s the only piece of furniture in the room so far, but at least we’re going somewhere with the room.

Best Friends:  Goose and the new squirrel speaker from West Elm.  We replaced our old, very broken iPod dock for a sleeker, more stylish white ceramic like squirrel speaker on clearance at West Elm.  Super score!

Biggest Surprise:  Our Puerto Rico honeymoon adventure.  We sneaked away for a week of sun and fun in Puerto Rico…and super sneakily prepped a bunch of blog posts for you all to read in our absence.  Upon our return we shared with you where we stayed (a cute little apartment on the beach found via Home Away), what we did, and what we ate.

Most Exhausting:  The 10K road race that I have yet to run but am officially signed up for.  I registered for the annual, Beach 2 Beacon 10K road race in Southern Maine, one of the tasks on my 30 Before 30 list.  Let the training begin!

Saddest Moment:  The day when Goose broke my lamp.  My first big girl purchase, bright orange, coveted Pottery Barn lamp.  I’m still crying on the inside about our loss.  But I’m trying to let it go.  I really am.

Most Learned:  I’ve learned ALOT in the last couple years of DIYing, like the difference between phillips head and flat head (I wish I was kidding).  But nothing surprised Colby more than my new found knowledge of door anatomy which we shared with you all.  Sometimes all it takes to make you look like a professional is throwing around a few construction terms like “just jimmy the top rail, slide the dental shelf over, glaze it, laminate that low-e leaf, varnish the vertical grain transom, sand down that composite side light, and stile it”. Maybe that’s a bad example.  Never mind.

Most Shameless Money Saving Trick:  Purchasing door slabs and converting them to hung doors.  It saves us HUNDREDS of dollars per door.  But the trick is installing it….not so easy.  But rest assured we’ve broken down the task for you into two little step by step posts:  how to prep a door slab for installation and how to install an interior door.

Longest Awaited Furniture Purchase:  We have waited three…count ’em…three years for a bathroom vanity before we FINALLY found an old buffet on Craigslist that perfectly fit the bill.  It was our first Craigslist purchase and we lived to tell the tale.  Now comes the daunting task of converting the buffet into a vanity.

March definitely seemed very construction heavy with flooring work, trim work, door installations, staining, etc.  Here’s hoping April is a bit lighter lifting-wise and we can log a few decorator-ie projects.  I’m already scheming up a paper flower craft project, a few mirror projects, and some art work ideas.  Stay tuned!

Pssst…Want to catch up on a year+ of projects all in one place?  Check out this list of our monthly roundups.

Pssssssst…How about you guys?  Are you chugging away on any projects?  Do you also like to take a little stop-and-smell-the-roses break every once in awhile and reflect back on all you’ve accomplished?  I think that’s the one thing that really keeps us going some days.  When we look back and remember how 70s ugly our house used to look and how cute it’s becoming these days!