Here’s a question for you classic TV buffs out there: Remember the Dick Van Dyke Show episode when Rob and Laura hired a very enthusiastic Italian painter named Vito Giotto? When Vito was trying to convince them to hire him to paint their living room, he ended his plea with, “Please, give me your waaaaaalls.” Well, Greg and I would have gladly let Vito have these walls we are getting ready to talk about:

The dilemma we are about to share may seem really trivial and like we had a total “newbie moment”. But that’s just what it was — a honest to goodness “newbie moment”. What good would a blog about being first time homeowners be if we hid all of our mistakes and didn’t share the blunders too? After all, we are all about keeping it real here at 7HL.

In the foyer and down the 20-foot long hallway, the previous owners used a textured paint. This particular paint had large bits of sand mixed in to give the walls what the manufacturer calls a “river rock” effect. Our initial thought was to use a sander to remove the texture prior to painting the walls. However, aside from being a massive mess, we were worried there was a chance we would end up damaging the walls. The last thing we wanted to do was sheetrock this massively long hallway. Therefore, we opted to simply paint over the existing texture. Since the hallway wasn’t directly connected to any other room, we didn’t mind if there was a slight hint of texture on the wall. Plus, the new paint would cover that up for the most part. Or so we thought.

Well, we were wrong.  To start out, there was the matter of the newly installed sheetrock were we took out the small linen closet to make more room in the hall bathroom (click here to check out that project). To preserve the consistency of the final finish in the hallway, we decided to paint the new wall with the old textured paint. (The previous owners were nice enough to leave us 1 gallon of the stuff.) As much as it pained us to add texture to our newly sheetrocked walls, it was the only option. One coat of primer, three coats of paint and 36 hours later, we were more than ready to begin painting the hallway our color and finish of choice.

We chose to go with Martha Stewart’s Cobblestone in a satin finish (yep, same as Greg’s office) – same as the living room/dining area. We chose to go with a satin finish after reading that it is better for high-traffic areas because it’s so easy to clean. We thought, “A hallway has a lot of traffic, so it’s got to be satin!” Riiiight…

The rough texture on the walls soaked up a lot more paint than we anticipated. After not one, not two, but THREE gallons of paint, the walls were finally covered. When the paint dried, let’s just say it didn’t look like we thought it would. The old paint was two-toned, which meant it was very forgiving when it came to inconsistencies. By covering it with a solid color in a satin finish, you could see every single grain of sand and brush stroke. To make matters worse, the “satin finish” turned out to be much shinier than the almost-flat, velvety finish we were going for.

At this point, we were worried that we had made a major mistake and that the walls would never be the same. Trying to figure out what to do, it dawned on us: flat paint. Flat paint has the ability to hide imperfections, which is clearly what we needed. So off to Home Depot to pick up yet another gallon of paint. Fortunately, after only one coat, the hallway looked a thousand times better.  It’s not exactly a flat finish, but it’s just what we were looking for.

Needless to say this was a valuable lesson for us “renovation newbies” and we didn’t need Vito after all

Fall is here. As if you haven’t noticed, right? Well, we’ve been so busy with the house renovations that we’ve kind of let fall begin without us. This year, fall is bittersweet. Bitter because we have dusty raw wood floors and yet-to-be moved in rooms. Sweet because even though we are currently living in the middle of chaos, it’s still our favorite time of year…

I love the changing leaves, the plummeting temperatures and digging out comfy sweaters and hoodies from the back of the closet. I enjoy nothing more than pulling out the boxes of fall decorations and lighting the first fall-scented candle of the season (Yankee Candle’s Harvest of course!). Just thinking about it makes me want to cook a big pot of chili and curl up on the couch with Greg, Bentley and a big blanket while we watch some good, old Christmas classics like Holiday Inn, White Christmas or Christmas in Conneticut. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

One thing you guys will get to know about me soon enough is that I love to entertain. Love it! I have files upon files of entertaining ideas on my computer. Last year, when my family was doing the annual “who is bringing what” ritual for Thanksgiving, I was told to bring a corn casserole and, in my mom’s exact words, “something good and fall-ish”. What’s more “fall-ish” than cider, right? Wanting it to be perfect and very “good and fall-ish”, about a week or so before Thanksgiving, I decided to play around with a few recipes that I found online. After many attempts and a husband that was practically floating in cider (thank you, Greg!), I finally formulated the perfect cider concoction. Well, at least I think so anyway. I’m sure Giada DeLaurentiis or Nigella Lawson could give me a run for the money!

My Aunt Dee Dee texted me the other day and asked for the recipe. My first response was, “Man, that sounds good!” So with the fall season being in full gear, I thought I would pass along this family favorite to you…

1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
3/4 Tablespoon Cloves (Whole)
3 Cinnamon Sticks (also some additional sticks to use as stirrers)
8 Cups of Cranberry Juice
6 Cups of Apple Juice

DIRECTIONS: Put the brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon sticks in the basket of a coffee percolator. Put the cranberry and apple juice in the bottom of the percolator. Then just let the percolator run as if you are making coffee. Once the cider is finished, serve with a cinnamon stick stirrer (optional but really cute!).

We made this so often last year that our coffee maker (yes, we used a coffee maker instead of a percolator) ended up smelling like cloves. We tried everything to get the smell out — even the tried and true vinegar method. Let’s just say that that particular coffee maker is no longer with us … So if you end up loving this recipe as much as we do, I’d suggest having a designated percolator just for the occasion.

Since I won’t be doing much fall entertaining this year (cue: pouting), I thought I’d share one of my all time favorite cider serving ideas that I have tucked away in a file on my computer. I guess you can say I’m living vicariously through you guys in hopes that maybe you will use this idea for me…

Do you have any favorite fall recipes or traditions? I would love to hear them so I can imagine it’s happening here at my house…

Cider photo courtesy of Culinography. Cider Bar inspiration photo found here.

When it comes to decorating, every couple’s decorating agenda is different. Since this is our first house, we are learning about ours a little more each day. Lately, it’s been all about the shell of the room (walls, floors, wiring, molding, lighting, etc) rather than what is actually going in the room, so we haven’t quite perfected our groove, yet. Thus far, we have been working pretty good together as a team. When I find something that I think will look good in a certain place, he says “yae” or “nay”. If he says “nay”, but I really love it, it just takes a little more persuasion. You ladies know the drill. However, today, our process is going out the window because we’re going to talk about a room that is 100% Greg… almost. ;)

Greg’s office. Aside from the hall bathroom, this is going to be the first room to get major attention. The main reason for this is he needs a place to work. I think he may be going a tad crazy writing code and putting together his blog posts in my parents’ dining room for the past 6 months. (Wow, have we really been here for that long?) Aside from that, his room needs to house five guitars, one ukulele, lots of books, office supplies, a bunch of computer parts and all the rest of his tech stuff. All of these things have been neatly packed away in a climate-controlled storage unit, but it’s kind of hard to use them from there. We’re getting a little tired of having to drive to the storage unit whenever we need CD-Rs or printer paper.

To refresh your memory, here is what Greg’s office looked like on the day we got the keys to the house. Yes, he got the Redskins room!

Remember that style quiz we took a few weeks ago? Greg’s results were 80% Rustic Revival and 20% Modern Elegance. But the choices he made on the quiz were based on what he’d like to see in a living area of the house. Since this is his home office space, he wants it to be, in his exact words, “tech geek modern”. So far, we’ve ripped out the carpet, had hardwood floors installed, put Martha Stewart’s Cobblesone paint on the walls and had trim painted with Sherwin Williams’ Extra White. Here’s what the office looks like today:

As we mentioned the other day, we are in the process of wrapping up a few projects, then we are having the hardwood floors stained. Once this is done, it’s going to be time to put everything in this room, so we need to come up with a plan now.  Here’s what we came up with…

For years I have been putting together “mood boards” for friends and family. Actually, ever since I took my Desktop Publishing class in the 10th grade. At this point, it has become such a staple in my everyday life that before I make major purchase for a particular room, I must make a mood board first. That’s just how I roll. Over the past week or so, Greg and I have been slowly but surely putting together a shopping list for his home office. The “tech geek” stuff will come through the accessories and finishing touches (including some fun homemade geek art!). For now, we’re focusing on the room’s decor “foundation”. Here is what we have in mind:

1. Kivik Chair When we set out to find the perfect chair for Greg’s office, we knew it needed to be practical for playing guitar, yet comfy for reading a book. We think this Ikea chair is the best of both worlds.

2. Circuit Office Accessories I love these glossy white desk accessories. They have the perfect mix of modern and tech minimalism.

3. Fado Pendant This simple pendent from Ikea is modern yet affordable; coming in at only $29.99.

4. Giant Wipe-Off Board Some people like to write out their flow charts and to-do lists on paper. Greg likes to do it wipe-off board style! For as long as I’ve known him, he’s said that he wanted a large wipe off board in his office. This gigantic wipe-off board will make this dream of his come true in a big way.

5. Crane Grellow Desk Lamp This is one of those “nay” items that Greg isn’t too keen about yet. I’m trying to convince him that it will look great and tie in with the grellow (green & yellow) beads on the abacus. I assured him that if he hates it after we put it in, we can trade it in for something like this.

6. Abacus Wall Art This is the very first thing we purchased for Greg’s office. It’s 100% math geek, but it has a lot of great colors to pull into the rest of the room.

7. Galant Desk Did you notice the odd-shaped box on the floor of the office? Well, that’s the top to this desk! We are really anxious to put it together and see it in the space.

8. Knitted Pouf Rather than getting a bulky ottoman that would use up a lot of space, we opted for this little guy. It’s even sturdy enough to serve as extra seating.

9. Array Bookcase Aside from guitars, one thing Greg has a lot of is books. Rather than putting them on an ordinary bookshelf, we thought this would be a fun way to display his collection.

So that’s what we have so far! We’re going to address the layout once we get the floors done.  We’ve obviously got an idea of what will fit and what won’t, but we want to wait until the floors are done to plan the final configuration. Until next time, how do you like what we’ve put together so far? Are you worried about the geek factor? How would you do a “tech geek modern” room?” We’d love to hear!