The Kitchen is Brining Us Down - Again.

Mornin' Lovlies! Having fun in the sun? It's been beautiful, we can't help but have a smile on our face and find excuses to spend more time outsite the past few days. So much time Porkchop got a little friend he brought home with him. We didn't approve, so we kicked him out stat. A tick does not belong in our home. Poor pup, he has a tiny scab where the tick was trying to dig into him. El groso for sure. Want to know about something else gross? Our kitchen!

You are totally jealous of our first ever invented dishwasher. We can tell. We have heard so many times that the kitchen sells the house. What were we thinking when we bought this place? The kitchen is the worst part of the home, the most expensive to fix, and used the most (except the living room). One of the first things we did, way back when, was paint the cabinets. Major fail. We used matte paint. Don't do that. You'll have a heck of a time cleaning them if you do. We also covered up the horrid plastic stick on floors with a quick Ikea fix, which has served well as a long-term-temp.

Then, Home Depot was having a promotion to have someone come over and check out your kitch to see what it would cost to resurface your preexisting cabinets. Sounded like something we needed, so we said "sure".  So a nice gentleman stopped by a few days later and we went over our options, and for the cheapest resurface (remember, these are not new!) it would cost....get this....TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. Um.....no thank you. It cost that much to have someone paint the ouside of our whole house.

So back to the drawing board. Think. Think. Think.

See those grooves? Those are super 50's. I think that's that last time someone updated this kitchen. Sinse we aren't going 50s, the grooves have got to go. So, Joey had an idea.

He told me to take those bad boy's off the hinges, he wanted to fill them in with wood putty, then repaint them....He was thinking. The kind of thinking I like a lot. A bit of love and labor can save you a ton.

So after some brainstorming of what we could DIY, here is what we cam up with.

• Wood countertops from Ikea
• Pulls from Home Depot
• DIY Cabinets, resurfaced
• New Farmhouse sink

....and we will call it a day for now. Unless of course you lovely people think those yellow counter tops are just too amazing to let go of.... :)

We will keep you posted and show you how the cabinets turned out, and share the (hopefully!) successful story of how to DIY this yourself and keep your 10K! We will also walk through the backsplash replacement, and counter installation. Also if we invent a magic want to make this archaic stove go away, we will share that too!

Switch-A-Roo!

We are not designers, but we adore design of all sorts. We are proud of the content of our blog, but when it came to building it, we hit our "design skill peak" in the pretty-digital-user-friendly department. We are proud we made a decent first run at MAHAH, but it was about time we called in the professionals to help us out. This was a very bizarre thing to do being, this is my real job. I help companies optimized their web real estate with information architecture, and then I bring those companies to the public eye with marketing. It's the only thing I have ever done as far as a career, heck, I have been doing it 12 years - and now I was doing it to myself and Joey. Weird. Want to see what will be coming to a screen near you very soon?....

This is basically it! A few minor edits, and we will be live! L-I-V-E! So here is what's changing, so take notes!:

• You can get to us by using the usual URL JoeyandLana.com as well as the new MakingaHouseaHome.com
• The Shop is going through some major changes! Exclusive discounts, art, and top picks will be available to all!
• DIY Projects will now be super easy to browse through
• Jump will help you Jump to anything you may be looking for, super easy!
• More sponsorship options
• More give-aways!

On that note, we want to say thanks! Thank you for stopping by to say hello, reading about our adventures in homeownership, and always saying a kind word. We have loved blogging, and will continue to grow along with you. So, thanks for that.

Secrets of an Old House

Mornin' Lovelies! We hope your week is treating you fantastic! Things are well over here. In fact, I got a new car this week! I am super excited about more trunk room (for all those picking trips!) and a reliable source of transportation. Today we thought we would share a little history, perks, and unshared photos about the 'ol house!

Call it love at first sight. Call it fate. Call it what you will, but when we laid eyes on this pretty lady, we knew we would one day make this place home. After looking at over 30 homes, and spending every weekend for months on the search for the perfect place to set our roots, it was relief to find something in our budget, in the neighborhood we wanted to be, with 95% of the things we wanted her to possess. I think finding love was easier than finding this house!

This blurry picture is super meaningful. It's the room that sold the house. The master closet - one of three. I leaned over to Joey and whispered "sold" as soon as I peeked inside.

This third floor fully air conditioned space was another selling point. It's now Joey's studio where he writes all his fancy music for movies and tv. We promise to share the progress soon!

This is the front door. We changed all the white to black, I think it looks way better. This summer we will be painting the house. BIG project, but I think we can do it. At least I hope we can.

We learned via our neighbors and the town historian, this guy use to own our house...

That's Fran Tarkenton. He's a big football guy. Seems everyone else knew who he was but me! It seems the owners after him was super into gardening. You can see bits of their spirit shine through. Joey went outside and came back in with these guys on our anniversary while I was working on my computer.

Pretty excited the peonies have survived all these years! Plus, therse were the flowers we have at our wedding! In my top three flower faves!

This is our backyard. Strange thing about our house is our front and side yard is way bigger, but the backyard is pretty sweet too. When we moved in the deck was this kinda red color. We have changed it to a more toned down neutral since. We love the ivy, but hate the moisture damage it causes. It's going to come down when we paint, but for now we are enjoying it.

This little secret is the way into our sideyard that we have a neighbor on. This is going to be a very special place for the puppies one day. A patio will be made!

Our basement it quite huge....and dank. A lot of working needs to go into her to make it what we want it to be. Confused about this faux fireplace though....

This is the other sideyard, where we have no neighbor on. It leads to the driveway and steps to the back yard. This is where the birds like to hang out.

So there are some things maybe you didn't know about our 1930 English tutor. We still fall in love with her every day!