Busy weekend!

It's funny/disgusting how fast the weekends go by.  It seems like it just began, but here we are and it's already a new week. We had a very busy, but productive weekend at Casa Bedtelyon, and my only regret is there wasn't more time for naps.  :)

The weather was amazing, filled with clear, sunny skies and temperatures around 65.  Just that perfect fall weather that seduced us into taking a short break early Saturday afternoon to run to one of our favorite places - Old Town Alexandria.  We made a quick stop at the Book Bank, a terrific used bookstore where we always seem to find something to buy (like the very handy "How to Be Pope"), before making a slightly longer stop at Random Harvest.  They carry an incredible mix of one-of-a-kind antiques and gorgeous new pieces, with everything expertly grouped and wanting to come home with me.  Although we can't afford anything in there, I love to browse the showroom and dream of one day owning such classy furniture and home decor.  I think I fell in love with just about every lamp in there.  I didn't know it was possible to actually love lamp.  After that, we walked over to Restoration Hardware to pick up a set of knobs to replace the unfortunate ones that adorned our master bathroom vanity.  While we liked the overall look and feel of the existing knobs, my OCD would not allow their brushed finish in an otherwise polished nickel environment.  Lucky for us, they were holding a "Friends and Family" sale, so we were able to pick up the knobs and an extra hook all for 20% off.  Check out the transformation...

Our knob of choice... RH's Gilmore knob

Before: Brushed knobs.  Boo!

After: Polished knobs.  Yay!

Back at the home front, we assembled two of our dining chairs (which wasn't nearly as difficult as I was imagining), installed new toilet seats on all of our toilets (whisper-close is the way to go), and John did a bit of leaf blowing.

Sunday morning began with chocolate chip pancakes, which I must say, is a great way to start a day full of housework (yay chocolate/syrup buzz).  John did more leaf blowing/mulching, and as you can see here, thoroughly enjoys it.  Our yard consists almost entirely of deciduous trees, so luckily for John, there will be plenty of leaf-blowing in his future.

Blow, baby, blow!

While John played in the yard, I took on a new project - spray painting.  In reading all sorts of DIY blogs, I've discovered you can spray painting just about everything under the sun to give new life to old items or help give something a new purpose.  In our case, we purchased a small TV stand for our upstairs living room that needed some feet to lift it up a bit.  We picked up some feet at IKEA, but the only color option is plasticy gray and we needed something black.  Here are the results of my first attempt at spray painting...

Little plasticy feet before...

Little black foot after!

While the feet dried, we decided it would be a perfect time for a Home Depot run.  What Sunday afternoon would be complete without one...or several?  On our way out, we were surveying our pathetic landscaping at the front door and concluded the flower beds are in need of some stone edgers, so a trip to Campbell and Ferrara was added to the itinerary.  We have frequented this local nursery/landscape design center since we moved to the Alexandria/Annandale area and would spend many an afternoon strolling throughout their grounds dreaming of one day having a yard to landscape, but never thought we would be able to afford any sort of property in the area, so it's certainly a dream come true to finally have some land.  With winter just around the corner, now isn't the time to be filling our land with plants, but Campbell and Ferrara was having a great 60% off sale on their outdoor pots, so we picked up a few for next spring.

Pot party!

After returning with our sweet finds, we happened to run into our across the street neighbor and John was able to borrow his ladder to clean out our gutters... which desperately needed some TLC.  Eventually we'll get some gutter guards, but for now, John will have to take care of it.  And look how thrilled he looks to be doing so.

By the time John was done on the roof, my spray painted feet were dry and ready to be installed.  We chose IKEA's Mosjö tv stand to complete our entertainment center and the $40 price tag couldn't be beat.  Assembling the unit was a snap, the feet screwed in perfectly, and just as we were scooting it into place, we realized it was just a couple inches too big.  A real long story and a Dremel Multi-Max later, the unit fit perfectly into place and we were ready to call it quits for the weekend.

Before: mismatching and gross!  Note Elliot being helpful as always, overseeing from his cat tree...

After: so nice!  Check out those cute feet!  Now we just need to do some clever book/odds and ends arrangements.