It's Ready!

 My goal was to have the pool ready by the 4th of July.  After all the hard work of scooping out the pool, shocking it, and adding the right chemicals, the pool is finally ready!! I took a sample of the water to Leslie's Pool Supply today to see if the water was sanitary and had the right amount of chemicals.  It did! The water is crystal clear and I am ready to do a cannon ball off the end of the diving board! I will get back from the canoe trip on Sunday so I will probably have some friends and family over on Monday to celebrate.  It sure will be nice to have somewhere to cool off.

Camp and Canoe

     I am really looking forward to this weekend because I am going to the Escatawpa River to camp and canoe.  I did this last year 4th of July weekend too!  We had so much fun, we decided to do it again! I have seven friends that are coming on the trip too.  I am especially excited about seeing my friend, Shea.  Her and her husband are coming down from Birmingham. 
     The trip is 15 miles.  We will probably canoe about half way on Saturday and then find a beach to camp on.  We set up our tents and get the tiki candles ready for dark.  We cook out on the beach and build a fire.  It's great to just hang out with friends and be on the beach.  The next day we wake up, clean up and get back in the canoe to start our journey.  We make stops all day to swim and eat.  It is a blast! If you have never been before you should check out their website http://www.escatawpahollow.com/
If you don't like camping, you can just take a day trip.

~Tiffany~

Water Meter

    As you know, I have a swimming pool at my house that was not in very good condition when I took over.  We have vaccuumed out so much algae and in the process also taking water out of the pool.  Much of this water needed to be vaccuumed out because of the paint and other things that were dumped in the pool.  Needless to say, I have added thousands of gallons of water into my pool.  This amount of water can get expensive so I had an irrigation meter added on Friday.  If you are not familiar with this, it is a water meter that can be used to water grass or fill a pool.  The best part about an irrigation meter is there is not a sewage fee on the water used.  There is a minimum charge on the meter even if it is not used, but having this meter will be very beneficial for me. 
~Tiffany~

Time to Decorate

     I am pretty much moved into my house now.  I've done some painting and a few repairs.  Now it is time to decorate my home.  My decorating experience is very limited.  Growing up, my mom would let me pick the paint color of my room, but that's it.  She did everything else.  I feel a little lost on where to start.  I tend to find things I like, but it is difficult for me to match them with other things.  I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on where to begin decorating or tell me about some of your favorite places to find home decor.

~Tiffany~

Energy Savers

     With the hot summer heat overtaking Mobile, I am very glad to have had ceiling fans installed in every room in my house.  It really helps keep the house cooler and it doesn't use as much energy as the air conditioner.  I have heard that power bills can sky rocket in the summer time from a constant running air conditioner.  Ceiling fans can even be beneficial in the winter too.  Of course I did spend money initially buying the ceiling fans, but I'm sure they will save me money in the long run!

Tiffany

Kitchen Cabinets

The cabinets in the kitchen are wooden but the previous owners were in the process of changing the cabinets. The cabinets on one side of the kitchen are wooden, but on the other side the cabinets are white.  Even the handles are different.  I guess my problem right now is what to do.  I'm a little hesitant about painting all of the cabinets white because I know dirt will show.  I have heard a few opinions about white cabinets and I cannot decide what to do.  Do you have any suggestions for other cabinet colors that may look good in my kitchen?  Oh, and one more question!  I also have cabinets on the other side of the wall from the kitchen that can be seen from the living room.  Do these need to match the others? Check out the pictures and tell me your opinion.
Thanks!



These are the cabinets that face the living room. Do these need to be the same color as the ones in the kitchen?

 Tiffany

The Pool!

My house has a swimming pool and before I purchased it I could envision fun times with family and friends pool side.  However, the pool hadn't had any TLC for about one year.  As my boyfriend, Michael, and I begin to clean out the pool, we soon realized it was more like a swamp! Leaves, algae, and frogs had taken the pool over. The smell as we scooped these items out was horrendous! I also learned from a neighbor that some neighborhood kids dumped paint in the pool when the house was vacant. I thought "Awesome, how could this pool situation get any worse!" This added to the challenge of getting the pool clean and prolonging my vision of fun times by the pool.  After several days of scooping the pool out, we started shocking it with chlorine.  Now we are vaccuuming the pool and cleaning it daily in hopes it will be ready for the 4th of July.
Tiffany

WWYD

I was thinking today about the previous owners of the house.  I wonder if they drive by my house or if they will knock on the door one day to meet me and see any changes I've made to the home.  I have heard of people doing this. Would you? If they do come by, how should I respond?
~Tiffany~

Blinded by the Price

The home I purchased was a foreclosure so many things were missing from the home.  One of these items is the blinds so I decided to tackle this because I didn't want people to see in.  I know exactly what blinds I want because my parents have them at their house.  They are 2 inch faux white wood.  I love the way they look in a room.  I begin meausuring all the windows in the house so I can purchase the correct sizes.  With the help from my mom and brother, Chance, we've got the measurements and head to Home Depot.  We get to the blinds section and I locate the ones I want.  My mom and I point to the sizes we need and my brother loads them into the buggy.  Before I know it, the buggy is slammed packed with blinds and we are rearranging them so they will all fit.  I start to have a slight panic attack thinking about the cost of all these blinds!  I was unaware until now that my house has 15 windows!  It never dawned on me until now.  Needless to say, I made it to the checkout and made my first "big girl" purchase for my house.  The blinds look great and it was worth every penny.  It really gave each room a nice, clean finish.

~Tiffany~



The blinds in the breakfast area.



So Much Paint!



The first thing I decided to do in my new home is paint.  This will help freshen it up and make it my own.  So I went to Lowe's to pick out paint colors for two of the bedrooms.  This was probably one of the most overwhelming experiences! Have you ever seen all the various shades and brands they offer? It's insane. I thought I had somewhat of a clue as to the shade of colors I wanted but now there is just too many choices. Before I knew it, I had probably 30 swatches and decided to take them home to think about.




The swatches I left with on my first visit.



I decided to go with a yellow, gold in my room and a soft green in the guest bedroom. This time I went to Home Depot to make my paint selection and I walked in with confidence. I was determind to not let all the choices deter me from my decision.  I made it to the paint aisle, took a deep breath and dove straight in, searching for my perfect colors.  It took me a matter of minutes to find the shade I wanted for both rooms.  I handed the swatches to the employee and she mixed them up for me.  Before I knew it, I was out the door with two paint buckets, brushes, tape, paint rollers, and a drop cloth.

My colors are on the walls and I love it! If I could offer any advice to someone searching for the right color, it would be to take your time.  The experience can be overwhelming, but I promise you will find exactly what you want if you are patient.  Check out the swatches and see which ones I decided on.




The colors I picked.

 
~Tiffany~

It's Mine!

I have been house hunting for about a year now and my family began to grow tiresome of my daily calls of "come look at this one" or "this one seems nice."  I also began to grow tired of my mother's nit picking of every home I looked at. Then one day after work I met a friend at this house that was emailed to me from my realtor.  As soon as I walked in, I knew it was the one! I called my mom and she was there in twenty mintues.  If you knew my mother, she is very picky and wants what is best for her only daughter.  My realtor asked me, "So what does your mom think?"  I knew immediately she liked it because I hadn't heard her complain about anything in the home.  This was a shocker!  Before I knew it, I am now a first time home buyer! This is really exciting to me...but where do I begin?  There are a few repairs that need to be done, definitely some fresh paint in some of the rooms, furniture, blinds, ceiling fans, etc.  The list goes on! I will share with you my day to day experiences in my first house and will be glad to take any suggestions you may have to help me through this adventure.

~Tiffany~