all about decks

Over the past several months we have been pretty lazy not doing anything at all which is fine because months of planning a wedding really does take a lot out of you.  Its really great to get home and have a beer and just not do anything.

Before the wedding, David's project while I was ignoring him to fine tune the decorative marital details was this little project.  Our middle deck.  Its situated in between our garage and our house/master bedroom.  Before it had a gross deck with a hot tub in the covered area.  David cut the hot tub up into about 10 pieces and hauled it off, ripped up all the deck boards, replaced some rotted joists and re-laid all new deck boards and created this little gem of a space.    

The antler wall art was all David.  The pillows are from the wedding.  And the rug is a table cloth that I'll be sealing with polyurethane this weekend.

Again, wall art, all David.  I love it.  And the wet bar is an old baby changing table I got at the Home Consignment store for $100 and antiqued it.  We also bought custom shaped cushions for the bench which makes it so comfy!  I can't wait for the fall/winter when we can enjoy it without being soaked in our own sweat.

David also tore down and replaced the fence that leads to the front door/yard.  It matches our other little slice of fence at the front of the house.  I am obsessed with the horizontal fence boards and the color.  And our Home Depot furniture we got for next to nothing is also a great find!  They also rock slightly which is nice.

And onto the next project... the back deck.  Our existing deck is shown here as David tears it down to its bones.  Its a pretty weird configuration with how it is shaped and with the connection to the house its just weird.

Before

Before

 David ;)

Push out this cut-out corner to be flush.

Push out this side to the corner of the house.  

We'll have to think of something fun to do with this little area.  Or just take that shelf down... 

Our enemy at the moment.  This ground cover is the devil and we want it gone.  Its horrible.

So there you go, our project at the moment.  It doesn't help that its a consistent 108 degrees here in Austin but we want to be able to enjoy it all this fall and winter with all our friends with good food and good drinks!

Blogging from my iPhone...

So, I downloaded this app tonight that helps me blog while I'm on the go. Not that my random thoughts or pictures are of that much importance for people to see immediately and more often, but it makes the day go by faster when im sitting at an art install for 3 hours for work.

And here is a little treat. Our front deck (we have a back one too) that David just re finished.









- Katie Walker
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I did it... couponing.

Okay, so I did it.  I went yesterday, coupons and list in hand and grocery shopped.  The couponmom.com system helped... but its very time consuming, and I'm still a little confused.

I waited about 4 weeks to collect coupons from the Sunday's paper.  There are 2-3 coupon booklets that come out in the Sunday paper, Red Plum, Smart Source, and P&G.  Couponmom.com suggests that you simply collect these booklets, write the date that they are published on the front of each and simply store until you are ready to shop.

When you are ready to shop, you have to go to their "Grocery Deals by State" menu and select your state and your grocery store.  I chose HEB and Randalls and looked at both lists.  When you look at the list it is set up into multiple columns.  I put a screen shot below.  Basically it tells you the description of the coupon, the % you save and the final price with the coupon, as well as (if applicable) the coupon booklet that the coupon is in. 

I've ammended the way in which couponmom.com suggests you store these coupons.  I basically spent about 30 minutes cutting out the coupons that I KNOW that I would be using.  i.e. I won't be using Huggies diapers anytime soon.

Then I put each date's coupons in a different envelope labeled with the date, and just go back to that and the individual coupons when I need them, not the enitre booklet (very cumbersome and annoying).  A little more time on the front end, but easier in the long run when you need to go shopping.

So then you go to the database, shown below.  You scroll down and check the box next to the deals that you want to use at this grocery trip and then click the button at the bottom to only show those selected deals.  This basically becomes your "coupon grocery list".  I had several other items that I needed so that was added too.

On the list of deals, the first set, as seen in the screen shot have a N/A under the column for the coupon code and date.  This means that there isn't a coupon, its just a special that the grocery store is having.  At first I thought this was pointless, but then when I was at the grocery, I realized  I would never have known about these "deals" without this database, and bought these items because they were on special and less than they would be before.  Obviously I didn't buy all of them b/c many were not applicable to our needs.  But some were!

So after some prep time, I was off!  It took a little more time to shop than normal because I was constantly looking at my compilation list of "deals" that I had selected and going back and forth.  But the grocery store was emty because the city was freaked out about ice/snow. 

SIDE NOTE:  We hadn't been to the grocery in about 4 weeks so we needed a lot of stuff, more than a usual 1-2 week visit.

When it was time to check out, I was very excited.  I gave the cashier the coupons and was looking at the toal... before coupons ~$315, after coupons and Randalls card ~$240.

After this total, I wasn't too excited anymore... I looked at the receipt and the coupons only saved me $13... the Randalls rewards card saved me $65.  I think this has a lot to do with the fact that the Randalls card HELPS the coupon... and that is what was showing.  As well as the fact that I did a lot of coupon N/A deals that were only the Randalls rewards card working.

All in all, I think that next time will be better.  I'll have done it before, learning curve started.  And, now I can use the coupons to stock up on things if needed...  I think if the coupon thing doesn't go well after the mere $13 saved, then I'll at least have the grocery "deals" to use to save on grocery specials.

Happy Saturday!

couponing?

So, call me crazy, but I've decided to try the couponing thing... not the crazy extreme couponing that you see on that tlc tv show, but the kind where you can apparently cut your grocery bills by 30-50%. That makes a huge difference when your grocery bill (granted it was after not going to the grocery for a big "everything trip" for about 5-6 weeks) is $300 for two people.

So, we are subscribing to the Austin American Statesman only on Sundays. Besides getting the 3 big coupon catalogs, I'll also get the funnies, so its a win win. David is excited about the concept of waking up early (loves this on the weekends, why??) and walking out to get the paper and sit and read it all day. As my mom says, "Youre marrying your father".

So, I will report back and we will see how I do. All I know is that it would be a good habit to get into and beneficial for the future when we have little rugrats running around, instead of just kittens.

wedding, wedding, and more wedding

So, we've been a little busy planning a wedding and all that goes along with it. As well as the holidays and some new kittens.

Here are some pictures of the kittens when we got them. They were only 4 weeks old. And now they are 5 months old and every bit still kittens.

They love to cuddle.

And here is one of the big projects David and I have been working on lately. A craft project. Yes, it is true we are doing crafts. The whole idea came about when I was thinking about the colors of the wedding. Charcoal grey and chartreuse green. Green is my favorite color so it was only natural. There has been an unbelieveable amount of searching for the perfect linens, napkins, and therefore table decor... which leads us to this project. Wine bottle candles.

Basically everyone we know is contributing. Every week I am handed usually 20-25 bottles from friends, family, and co-workers. We are up to about 100 bottles. The process however is somewhat lengthy.

Before ever doing anything to the bottles, you have to get the labels off. At first the thought was to leave them completely intact and insert a wick and pour wax in from the top. No one understood me when I tried to explain it. But then my dear friend Kathy told me about her cool bottle cutter she had just gotten, and said I could maybe cut the tops off of them. So I got my own bottle cutter and did just that. So, we've been cutting tops off of all these wine bottles. The bottle cutter only scores the bottle. The cutting actually happens when you hold the score over a flame or heat source until pretty hot, and then immediately dunk the bottle into ice water. The pressure makes the cut go all the way through and there you go.

But then youre not done. The cut leaves a really sharp edge that we needed to make round. So we went to David's dad's shop and used the belt sander to grind down the edges. But then the edges are kind of white because of the grind into the glass.

And instead of tediously spending time "polishing" the bottle edge, my dad had a GRAND idea. Just dip the edge in polyurethane to seal the chalky finish and it would be nice and glossy like the side of the bottle. So that's what we did.

So here are the bottles ready for the actual candle part. Btw... all green, no clear ;)

We hot glued the wicks to the bottom.

Then melted the wax. Little by little we will get through the 80 lbs I ordered...

And here is the final product.

We still have a lot to go, but its fun and I know it will be pretty and neat at our wedding to have something that we actually made.

So for now, thats whats been going on. And, although its a joyful season with lots of family time, I am really ready for a new year and to clean my head and home of clutter!

our newest addition

As I see it, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

My whole life I've been watching her. My mom. She's been teaching me the rules of the road. This didn't just appear in my repertoire, this design thing. It is innate, because I've seen it in all the houses we ever lived in, in all the parties we've ever thrown, in all the moments we try to make great for our family and friends. She is more than half the reason I am the way I am.

So when I walked into this magical place that she and my dad created, I wasn't surprised. I've done this too. Plan, organize, plan, make notes, plan, visit, talk, and more planning. 63 boxes and a whole slew of other, well... stuff had accumulated over the past 6 months. And this weekend was d-day. We moved into the beach house.

On Friday night two burly movers hauled everything up at least one, sometimes two flights of stairs. And then it started. We went crazy. For three days we unpacked, put beds together, waited for more stuff from delivery men on Saturday (even more planning ahead), had some drinks along the way, and all in all had a blast completing the vision of John and Reanie.

(NOTE: All the while, there was no cable. We listened to the UT game on the radio, looked at our phones very little, never noticing what was creeping up on us... Hermine. Everything is fine though. David and I and Joanie and David left Monday, while Reanie and John had to wait out Time Warner Cable for their 5 hour window on Tuesday... typical. And then left shortly after.)

Without further adieu, here is the Marchand Family beach house.

Mom's sailboat. The whole basis for the shelving wall.

The details.

Master Bedroom.

Guest Bedroom 1

Guest Bedroom 2.

Kid's Bedroom.

2nd floor deck.

Boardwalk to the beach.

fun find!

So, as I am perusing the internets for all things chic and fun for our wedding, I came across an old friend... Urban Outfitters. Now, when I was in college, we all LOVED "Urban". They had all kinds of neat stuff you hadn't ever seen before, and sometimes you would find that your bff had bought the exact same top you had for that Date Dash party on Thursday night. Bummer, but still great stuff.

So, today, I came across them again. I knew they had "apartment" furniture, but it was always very basic, plastic, and somewhat temporary... perfect for college living.

But now they have some super amazing finds. As shown below with their prices...

www.urbanoutfitters.com

Table $148

Headboard $348

Chair $288

Fainting Sofa $578

Layered Table $78

4x6 Rug $48

Letters $10 each

So, there you have it. All my wants from Urban. Plus, I found some steals for the wedding too.