So today I’ve decided to give you all a little insight on what Eric & I are going through on the home front!  As most of you have heard….we are still remodeling our home.  YES.  I know.  I hear you shouting right now ‘When are you gonna finish that dang thing?!!!!!’. Well…there’s good news! Actually fantastic news.  We are going full force again come August.  YAY!!!  We honestly we’re quite burnt out for awhile from all the demo & stress & pure clutter.  We are sooooooo crazy for living in this house while it gets put back together….so there may be times where we need to have a slumber party at your home to get away from the madness. Eventually we will have brand new plumbing and brand new electrical installed.  That’s when we’ll be bunking up with anyone…LOL.  Maybe we should just get a tent and camp in the dirt pit out back?. NOT!!!  Ok so I’ve been rambling on about our project and I need to show you exactly what we’ve been describing to ALL OF YOU these past months.  Prepare yourselves there’s a lot to look @…

 

Some quick facts:

We purchased the home in May 2005 from my mom Martha (Casia’s mom) & I’ve lived in the home since the 8th grade . 1995

Home square footage is around 1,140 (small and cozy)

Lot size is around 8,000 sq feet (HUGE for the neighborhood)

Built in 1954 out of slump block & thick ass plaster walls with a pitch roof

Original floor plan consisted of 3 bedrooms, 1 3/4’s bath, and a laundry room

We started the demo September of 2007!!!  YIKES…

 

This first image pretty much showcases the original layout of the main living area. I photographed this angle from our front door.  So what you’re observing is our living room (which is closest to the foreground), then the wall that used to separate the living & kitchen/dining area.  Off to the left is our carport door and then a laundry room door.  Off to the right is our 3rd smallest bedroom that we decided to expose to the newly open living area.  You can see the studs behind the tarped off area.  Also the most extreme change is the very low drop plaster ceiling.  We decided to expose the pitch roof!!!  Also notice the nasty grey clumps of insulation that was in our ceiling.  This image can’t even express what we went through while we had to dispose all that fiberglass crap!!!  I called it the ‘rats nest’…cause that’s basically what the texture consisted of. Luckily NO RATS were found!!!

 

 

This is shot from the opposite side of the house.  I’m now standing in what was the dining area. Off to the left is our poor little kitchen.  Upper cabinets removed & dated lighting fixtures gone!  Down below is the southwestern-like ceramic tile my mom installed a long time ago which was a vast improvement from the retro shag orange carpet & grimy mustard yellow linoleum tile.  Not restorable!!!  So don’t get all bent out of shape since she removed something vintage.  It was ugly…trust me.  The only thing was that the linoleum tile pretty much made it impossible to rip up the tile all together.  In the living room it wasn’t there so that took about 1 hour to pull out and would pop up like a domino effect….stacking on top of each other in a row. But the kitchen/dining was glued together and rock solid since it now had 3 layers of history.  You can see in the middle of the photograph the tiny pieces of tile…that’s because it wouldn’t come up or break apart in big chucks.  SO FRUSTRATING YOU HAVE NO IDEA. We now have large divots in the concrete slab from the jack hammer.

 

 

Now back to the 1st view from the front door.  More plaster ceiling is striped away and so is the rats nest insulation!!!  Now exposed are the really cool cherry wood beams that held up the plaster ceiling…we recycled the wood into trusses (you’ll see Eric’s design shortly).  Oh and our lovely flat fire place…used to have a block edging/step up thing-a-ma-bobber around it.  Weird.

 

 

Pretty much the same view only a few feet over from the front door.  Now you can really see that 3rd bedroom we exposed to the new entertaining space & our pristine wood ceiling.  Shockingly there were no signs of water damage or roof tar that ever leaked through.  We contemplated on whether leaving the wood planks exposed since they were sooooo beautiful but then we would have had to sacrifice no insulation. Unless we did it on the exterior of the roof under a metal roof top?.  After viewing it for quite sometime we decided it was too much wood and it felt very cabin like instead of cozy MOD!  Don’t hate us.  I promise you’ll LOVE the solution.

 

 

View from the center of the house.  All tile is removed…you can sort of see the light vs. dark spots in the concrete slab…YEAH those are the divots I was telling you about from the jack hammer.  You can also see lighter grey lines in the slab where the base of the walls used to be.  And up top are those AWESOME ‘mouth dropping’ recycled cherry trusses.  Eric designed and built all of them while I stained the wood.  We used a mixture of pine & cherry wood.  The pine are the new vertical beams attached to the roof and the old cherry wood are the horizontal lines.  He also mixed in heavy duty industrial bolts/nuts/washers and a center metal suspension rod to square it all off.  Sort of gives it that old vs. new feel. By the way…we installed them OURSELVES!!!  The wooden platform in the distance is what Eric built so we could rest them on top as we lifted the trusses into place.  Talk about ‘back breaking labor’.  Plus it was really much hotter up there so close to the roof without insulation.  I wanna say 10-15 degrees difference from the floor level.  Also off to the further right is that 3rd bedroom that is clearly open to the living area. Now the whole area is HUGE!!!

Oh don’t cha just love all the taped up electrical wiring and exposed plumbing going on?  The old rectangular air duct going down the hallway is also getting a big make-over…think industrial warehouse circular ducting!!!  I believe it will also be raised up quite a few feet giving the hallway a more open feel instead of this dark closed off tunnel which it used to be.

 

 

A view from the kitchen of the newly opened space!

 

 

Welcome to our ‘Cotton Candy’ world!!!  Lovely insulation is installed and the temp is more controlled.  You can see where the old ceiling used to rest and how low it really was compared to the space.  We also flipped the insulation while installing since the wood plank ceiling kept grabbing/tearing the sheets as we slid them along the panels and in between the metal drywall brackets…normally you see the paper backing and the pink side is up towards the roof.  We had to do this only where the trusses existed.  There’s also our fabulous MOD couch that we never got to sit on.  Now it’s in the new office and is getting lots of attention…FINALLY.

Our next projects are finishing the house plans, framing, plumbing, electrical, drywall, and putting everything back together!!!  Oh also that dining room window next to the kitchen is transforming into either a piviting glass door or some sort of stacking door so we can completely open it up to the back yard!!!  Fabulous for parties.  Same is going to happen with the large front living room window to the front yard. YAY…can’t wait to keep you all up dated on our ENORMOUS remodel!  Wish us LUCK!!!

 

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Can you believe it?…another one has gone by!!!  This past year was sooooo incredible.  I’m so proud of all the things I’ve accomplished & just know the next are going to be AH-MAZING!!!  Though I could never imagine it any other way without my super supportive husband!  HE IS MY EVERYTHING!!!  I woke up this morning to find the cutest gift bag & message.  I love & hate surprises all at the same time.  

Clue #1- ‘You will be sick.’  Yep I received this by text message this morning!  So I’m guessing I’m not working next weekend as in ‘calling in   sick?’. I hope it’s not literally…LOL.

Also you’ll notice the bright ‘LIME POP’ color in the background is our new MOD office accent wall!  We cleared out a spare room in our home so we could have a funky production space to work in while the rest of the house is getting put back together again.  YES…we still haven’t finished our home remodel.  Stay tuned for images soon of the not-so progress. Ha.  I just want you all to see what we’ve gotten ourselves into.  Can’t wait for our ENORMOUS home project to be complete!  Can you say ‘HUGE BBQ PARTY’ and everyone is invited when it’s done

 

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To my amazement the ‘Not So Stuffy & Formal’ article featuring Purple Nickel Studio & e.kah.d photography came out early!!!  Due to arrive late July it made its appearance online & in artsy news stands last Thursday.  My lil’ sis Julie ran out immediately and grabbed about 7 copies for us to drool over.  My mom did the same.  They’re sooooo proud!  If you haven’t already heard about the ‘Trash the Dress’ (known as Detour sessions over here in Purple Nickel land) saga then you’ve been living under a ROCK!  YOU need to read this article now.  Yep I said it!  It’s the coolest thing a married couple can do with their digs (wedding attire that is).  I mean come on, what are you really gonna do with your dress that’s been sitting in your closest all this time.  Mine is still in the bridal bag hanging on the back door…never even been cleaned.  I have a feeling this is the case for most of you.

So don’t know what to do with it?

Have the coolest photographic experience ever!!!  Most couples on their ‘Big Day’ never even got the chance to do something this unique and memorable…they were either (a) too busy running around with their heads cut off (b) had a crazy timeline or (c) couldn’t leave the wedding venue.  Well problem solved.  Go ahead get all dolled up, but this time take it to a whole another level.  This aint your mama’s traditional stuffy portraits…where you’re told to say ‘CHEESE’ and look directly @ the camera like a deer in the headlights!  UGH!  This is completely YOU as a couple, showing off your personalities and why you’re ‘IN-LOVE’!!!  I get so happy just writing about it & I think the artwork pretty much explains itself…HIP, FUNKY, and totally FUN!

Two of our amazing clients were also featured in the article!!! How COOL is that…

 

 

Candice & Ryan Hurley

 

 

Lauren & Ryan Brown

 

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We recently (today!!!) just got word that a past client & friend Marcy is going to be participating in a very special event called the Breast Cancer 3-day! It’s a 60 mile walk over the course of 3 days. All the proceeds will benifit research, early screening, and most important treament through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.  We’ve already donated and would love for you all to hear her story.  Please click on the image below to check out her blog, her cause, and to simply support her!  We LOVE you Marcy and can’t wait to follow your journey! 

 

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Meet Tania, Lashley, and adorable Sadie who’s now 1 years old!  I can’t believe it…was just yesterday when I was at St. Joseph’s hospital here in Tucson seeing their little miracle born.  Time is sure flying by.  That’s why I’m so glad we were able to do such a creative session to capture her one year & just how laid back they all are as a family.  Tania & Lashley have always been an artistic couple (Lashley rocks out on the guitar & Tania is a fabulous cute photographer…who is always eager to learn) so I’m sure Sadie is going to pick up either a sketching pad, camera, or musical instrument as she grows.  Awwwwww…..their little one just melts my heart & makes me want a girl 10 times more these days.  But hold on…don’t jump to conclusions…we still need to complete our home remodel first!  Don’t think we don’t think about it though.  We can’t wait for the day. So in the meantime I can just get my fix as being ‘auntie casia’ to my friend’s kiddos.  Lots of babysitting & trips to the playground usually does it.   

We’ll just see what the future has in-store for us!

One week in May Eric and I were scouting out locations & we came across several major underpasses that we’ve always wanted to explore.  So that’s exactly what we did.  Granted we weren’t really dressed for it.  I was in flip-flops and it was scortching HOT outside.  But that didn’t stop us. We dusted everything off as we headed out of the dry riverbed and said ‘Yep this is where we’re going to take them?’.  And so we did.  

The rest is history…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadie told me herself that she wants you to play the slideshow…so I think you should!

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