My thoughts a week and a half after being burglarized

Oh, happy Friday!

It's been about a week and a half since our house was broken into and you know what?  It still sucks!  So, in an effort to maybe make some good come out of it, I figured I'd post some of the "coulda-woulda-shoulda" thoughts that we've had since this happened, so maybe someone out there in blog-landia could learn from us and hopefully avoid this happening to you.

I will say that one thing I've learned is that there's really nothing you can do to guarantee 100% that this isn't going to happen to you.  You could easily spend a boat load of money buying various things to protect you and your possessions and you can worry yourself sick about it, but if someone really wants to get in, they'll find a way.  That said, I still think it's smart to think about security and find ways that make sense for you to help protect you and your property, especially in this economy when people are desperate.

I know it's terribly cliche, but I didn't think this would happen to us and if it could happen to us, it could happen to you.  And let me tell you: you really, really don't want someone out there with everything necessary to assume your identity.  It's not a warm fuzzy kind of feeling.  And it really sucks knowing that you got about half the money back from your insurance company as you should have because you didn't have the right insurance riders in place.

Okay, so here's my top five lessons learned:

1)  Get an alarm system.  I was never a believer and generally thought they were for paranoid people, but they make sense.  I think there's a preventative value in having that little sign in the front of one's yard to let people know you have a security system.  And if someone does choose to break in, at least you have a better shot of knowing about it before it's too late.  However, if you do get an alarm, use it.  They don't do much good if you don't...you know...arm it.

2)  Protect your documents.  We had a simple fire-proof safe that we kept our important documents in.  Bonus points for us for thinking about it, but we didn't really think that someone would take the safe with them.  So get a safe that you can bolt to the floor or get a wall safe.  Or a safety deposit box at your bank (they can be free or at least very very inexpensive, depending on what kind of account you have).  If you insist on having a small one, at least hide it (and putting it on the floor of a closet doesn't count--it's apparently EXACTLY where thieves think you're going to put it).

3)  Get the right kind of door hardware.  If you don't know what you need, ask around at the hardware store or call the police department.  And be sure to get the extra long screws that will screw the hardware into the stud.  Most hardware gets screwed into the trim only, which is easy enough to pop off with a crowbar, so make sure it's screwed into the stud.

4)  Catalog your stuff.  If your stuff gets stolen, you'll need to prove to your insurance company that you did indeed own said stuff and you're not making it all up just to make a quick buck.  What constitutes proof of ownership?  Check your homeowner's insurance policy to be sure, but generally photos, receipts, packaging, and owners manuals count.  I'd suggest taking periodic photos of every room in your house and storing them on a site such as flickr, Shutterfly, Snapfish, or whatever.  (You could do this when you set your clocks and check the batteries in your smoke detectors.)  Take detailed photos of jewelry or other valuable items and/or scan the receipts.  And for electronics, be sure to get the serial numbers.  Obviously, you're not going to do this for every little thing you buy, but figure out what makes sense for you.  We actually did really well in this department:  we were able to prove almost ownership of almost everything that was taken, save for two bottles of perfume.

5)  Get an insurance rider on your jewelry.  I know.  It's not a fun way to spend your money every month.  But check your homeowner's insurance policy to see what they'll cover when it comes to jewelry.  And don't forget to take into account that watches get included in this.  Then figure out the approximate value of your watches and jewelry and see where you're at.  It might make sense for you; it might not.  But do the research to find out.  Think about it:  if all of it was gone tomorrow, it can add up quickly to replace it. 

So, there you have it.  Not exactly my funnest blog post ever, but I hope someone out there gets something out of it and can learn from our experience.

One Year Later: The Downstairs

Oh boy. Not sure what to think after looking at these photos. On one hand, we've done a lot since moving in, but on the other hand there's a lot left that I want to do.  In no particular order, here are all the rooms on the first floor.

 

 

Entry

We'll start with a fairly straightforward room.

 

 

I painted the walls and painted the front door red and that's been about it for the most part.

 

 

 

 

I got this mirror at a local consignment shop when we lived at the old house and never really had a great place to put it.  It's perfect for the entry way.

 

 

To do:

• Replace the desk with a more substantial piece of furniture
• Purchase an umbrella stand

 

 

Family Room

 

The family room hasn't really changed all that much.  Aside from filling up the bookcases and adding some art, it's very similar to how it was when we moved in.

 

 

Up until last week we had a nice tv to fill up that empty space.  Hopefully we'll have a replacement here sometime in the next week or two.

So far in this room we've changed out the ceiling fan, hung up some art, and brought in some cute throw pillows.

 

 

I hung some curtains shortly after we moved in and painted the mantel as well.  The door will hopefully get replaced this weekend.  Like how it's screwed shut???  UGH.

 

 

To do: 

• Paint the walls the same color as the hallway
• Paint the bookcase interior a medium gray
• Figure out what to do with the fireplace (paint it, leave it as-is, or cover it in drywall)

 

 

Dining Room

 

The dining room has been surprisingly one of my favorite rooms to work on so far.  It's also the room that's the most finished!

 

 

Shortly after moving in, we bought a dining room set, flipped an Ikea bookshelf on its side to use as a makeshift buffet, changed out the light fixture, and recovered the chair fabric.  Then we got some fun artwork to hang on the walls, painted the walls, and refinished a little storage chest.

 

 

 

 

Kitchen and Breakfast Room

 

The kitchen and breakfast room haven't changed much either.  We got new light fixtures and Chris created a pot rack and that's about it.  

 

 

 

To do:

• Paint the walls
• Maybe get a rug for the breakfast area?

 

 

Future Kid's Room

 

 

This has been a fun room to work on: it'll be a kid's room someday, but since that kid is a ways off, I figured that we'd paint it a gender-neutral color and that can work now with just adults living here.  So, I painted three of the four walls a high gloss navy blue and painted the other wall cream.  I also made some crepe paper puffs using a Martha Stewart kit and dug out my old map of Australia from when I spent a semester there in college.  I still need to put some trim around the map as a frame of sorts.

 

 

 

To do: 

• But a nightstand
• Buy a dresser
• Buy a rug
• Figure out what to do with the ceiling fan (it's just weird)

All three of these items will do double duty in the room as another guest room and when the room is a kid's room.  We're hoping that we'll get our tax refund soon so we can start looking for rugs.

 

 

 

Guest Bathroom

 

 

 

Aside from getting new towels, we've done NOTHING with this room.

 

To do:

• Replace the vanity and toilet (both with something taller)
• Repaint the walls (Griz accidentally shit on the wall once {I have no idea how} and when I tried to scrub it off, I scrubbed off some of the paint and I don't have any touch-up paint to fix it.  Oops.)

Guest Bedroom

 

 

I've hung some curtains and refinished the desk (one of my favorite projects, if I do say so myself!), but this room is still remarkably the same as the way it was when we moved in.

 

 

To do:

• Get another desk/tall nightstand for the other side of the bed
• Replace the bedding with something brighter and more colorful
• Get a rug

Living Room

 

This was the one room in the house that was a color other than tan.  Why the former owners chose such a weird green is beyond me.

 

 

One weekend my mom and I painted the walls a pretty cream and it's 1000% times better.  Although it's still not done. 

 

 



To do:

• Sell the enormous red chair and replace it with two side chairs from Craigslist that we'll get reupholstered
• Get a rug (seeing a trend here?)
• Install two antique brass swing-arm lamps above the sofa

Pantry

Not much has happened in the pantry, other than swapping out the standing freezer for a chest freezer.  The standing freezer opened the wrong way, keeping a huge amount of the pantry completely unusable.  Go figure.

 

Sorry it's blurry.

And of course, the former owners painted around the old freezer and so we have a weird blotch of white in an otherwise green pantry.  Does this bother me?  Yes.  Am I going to do anything about it?  Unlikely.  Moving on.

 

Master Bathroom

Ah, the master bathroom!  A gem of a room:

Mmmmmmmm...blue laminate countertop.

Our plan is to basically gut the entire thing.  The tile in the shower and the vanity need to be replaced.  I want something taller, something sleeker and more storage.

Not much has changed, other than adding in some towel rings and towel bars.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is pretty much done for the most part.

To do:

• Add a small table
• Paint
• Replace or refinish the ceiling fan
• Find something to balance the window on the other side of the bed.

So, that's where we're at one year after moving in!  We've made some progress, but we definitely have some work to do!  Maybe I'll go back to my plan of one-room-at-a-time?  Nah, probably not.  That'd require too much focus.

Watching: Miranda

If you need a laugh and like odd ball humor, check out Miranda.  It's a BBC show about a really awkward woman and the only place I've found to watch it is on YouTube. 

One Year Later: The Upstairs

I've promised Befores and Afters of the whole house and I promise I'm going to do the whole thing.  It's just that A) that's a LOT of photos for one post, B) I still have a few more photos to take and C) I'm really warm and cozy under a blanket with my soy milk and Girl Scout cookies (shortbreads, if you're wondering) and I just really don't feel like getting up.

So.  All that is to say that today you're going to get Befores and Afters of just the upstairs.  Which is admittedly the least furnished space in the whole house.  Oh well.

Bonus Room

Beige and generally unfinished-feeling.  After painting what feels like MILES of baseboards and trim, here's where we're currently at:

Same room, different angle:

Things to do:

• Ummm...clean?
• Get some real furniture
• Get a decent tv
• Paint those weird little cut-out windows to the storage room
• Hang some artwork.

Sewing Room

When we first moved in, this room was going to be an office for Chris, but because it's on the opposite side of the house as the air handler, it gets quite warm in the summer, so he let me have the room.  There is no door to the room, so it'll never be a bedroom and someday if I need a more formal office space, this will be it, but for now it's a multi-purpose craft/sewing room.

I painted the trim, created a peg board, painted the walls, re-did the chair, recovered a cork board, and made a table cover out of a canvas drop cloth and ta-da!  The photos make the walls seem blue-er (blue-r?) than they are--they're actually a dark gray (MS Cement Gray, if you're wondering).

To do:

Organize the small closet to maximize the space

Add a small flat screen tv with a built-in dvd player so I can do video workouts in here

Potentially add a small settee, if it doesn't take up too much room

Upstairs Bathroom

Then off to the side of the sewing room is the World's Weirdest Bathroom:

See?  I wasn't lying.

In one particularly productive weekend, I painted it high gloss navy blue (Martha Stewart Wrought Iron), added a little nightstand that I refinished, and ditched the flowery weird shower curtain in favor of a plain white one (which admittedly still needs a bit of work.)

To do:

Fix the shower curtain

Swap out the toilet for a white, high efficiency one

Upstairs Bedroom

On the complete opposite end of the house from the bathroom is this bedroom:

Again, it was beige and felt unfinished.  I have no idea what the former owners had hanging all over the walls (and ceilings), but there were a gajillion (technical term, there) teeny tiny holes in the walls all over the place.  So, I patched the holes, painted the baseboards and trim, and painted the room.  Because this is the only bedroom on the second floor and because it's on the other end of the house as the bathroom, this will never be anyone's permanent room, so I went a little bold with the color and chose Martha Stewart's Butterscotch.

I like it quite a bit better already.

To do:

Get twin beds and some bedding

Hang artwork

Organize junk

Make new curtains

There's still a lot of work to be done in the upstairs, but we're slowly but surely plugging away at it.  I'm really pleased with the progress we've already made and now that the painting's done, the rest should be fun!



Happy Monday

I wander around my house lately and I'm astonished in some respects that we're not further along with everything after living here a full year.  But then I realize that that *might* have to do with the fact that I can't seem to focus, so as a result, I have a lot of half-finished rooms.  I promised myself that I wouldn't do that with this house, but such is life, right? 

Anyway, lately I've been thinking about getting new bedding in our guest room.  I don't mind what's in there now, but it's all very red: 

I just want a little more color in there, so I can keep the whole house color scheme going a bit.  This room just feels like the odd man out, as it is, you know?  If I could find bedding with some navy blue and some red so that the red desk still fits in, I'd be a happy girl.

I've found some bedding at Anthro that might work.

Pavo bedding

I kind of love this last one, the Dynamic Ikat.  I know ikat's been all over the design blogosphere for awhile now, but I dunno--this just seems happy and fun.  It doesn't pull in any navy, but it pulls in orange and some teal and those could be really fun to work in with the red.  Add in a really fluffy white rug, paint the walls the same gray as the hallway, and we'd be pretty good to go!

Thoughts?

Wheeeeee!

There's now a blogger app available for my droid!  So exciting! Now nothing can stop me!  Muahahaha!

TGIF.

I don't think I've ever been so happy for a Friday in my life.  This week has *kinda* sucked.  I know I promised a Before and After of the house on our one-year anniversary of living here, but that's just going to have to wait until next week.  I'm still just emotionally and physically exhausted from our robbery and really don't feel much like setting up a long blog post. 

Anyway, I've decided that I'm giving myself until the end of the workday today to be sad about it and then it's time to move on.  (I have a feeling Anger is going to rear her ugly head QUITE SOON.  Oh BOY!)  I'm still holding out a teensy bit of hope that we might find some of our jewelry and/or watches.  I know it's probably a long shot, but at the very least, I doubt they were melted down for metal.  I'm checking Craigslist and eBay like it's my job and I'm thinking that I'll start checking the pawn shops soon.

This weekend my parents are coming into town and I couldn't be more excited to see them.  They were planning on being here anyway to help paint the front shutters, but now I'm extra glad they're coming.  I just need a hug from my mom and dad. 

I hope that we'll be able to paint the shutters this weekend and I'm also hoping we might be able to do something about this little situation too, because last I checked, doors aren't supposed to look like this:

Anyway, I'll be back next week, hopefully in a better mood and hopefully with some good Before and After pics to share.  Plus, maybe some tips about securing your home and your possessions.  We're certainly not experts on that subject, but there are definitely a few things that I wish we'd done differently. 

Homemade Soap!

The latest issue of Martha Stewart Living has an article about making soaps using herbs from your garden, which reminded me that I had everything I needed to do this.  If you've never made your own soaps before, you should give it a shot--it's SUPER easy and would be a fun project for kids.

Here's what you need:

Some glycerin (available at any craft store), a microwaveable container, some herbs, and a mold of some sort (could really be anything--I used a square cardboard container).

So, first you microwave the glycerin until it melts completely (microwave about 30 seconds at a time).  Meanwhile, chop the herbs.

Once the glycerin is melted, stire in the herbs.

Pour into your mold of choice.

Let it cool completely, then remove the soap from the container.

Now you're left with one big block of soap and you're free to cut it up as you like.

I chose to simply slice mine into three large slices. 

Have fun!