...and then we sawed our bed in half.

Step 1: Remove staples and box spring cover.

Step 2: Saw box spring in half.

Step 3: Fold bed in half.

At this point, you may be wondering why we cut our bed in half.  Practice for future work in divorce law?  As a magician?  Unfortunately, the truth is not so exciting.  

It turns out that our the stairway to our basement isn't tall enough for a queen-size bed spring.  Our first thought was to build a new platform for the bed in the basement, which would avoid needing to make it downstairs.  Then, while searching for ways to make one, I came across a bunch of articles titled, "How to cut your bed in half."  I was intrigued.  It turns out, not surprisingly, that we weren't the first people to have had this problem.  

The next step was to convince Renee, as we actually had a person lined up from Craig's List to buy our box spring.  At first, I think she pictured me grabbing a chainsaw and hacking the bed in half.  But, once I showed her my plan...well, you can see the results.

Step 4: Rebuild the box spring with new boards.

Step 5: Reattach cover.

Complete!  Hopefully our guests enjoy the queen-sized bed.

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Here's an early birthday wish, babe! There's a couple dozen of these waiting for you when you get home. Love you!

Honey buns!

Nope, not talking about Josh. Here's a good recipe worth checking out for a sweet breakfast treat. http://www.marthastewart.com/354671/honey-buns

Jake update

Jake really likes soft toys that squeak. We discovered this when we bought him one of his first toys: a sock monkey. He loved this toy a little too much, and though I tried to mend Monkey several times, he's since departed the Christensen homestead. Sorry, Jake! Monkey had to go!Monkey with a mended butt.

Here's Monkey. At this point, he's lost an arm and an ear.

Here's Jake recently (underneath my feet, as usual). You can also see the banister-railing sanding project is still going on. A good improvement since September!

The inner hallway - a work in progress

You may be asking yourself, "what have the Christensen's been up to?". Yes, faithful reader, it has been sometime since we created a blog entry. That's not to say that we haven't been doing anything blog worthy; on the contrary!

The last 2 months or so have been a focus on the inner hallway, downstairs and upstairs. When we moved in, there was a beige paint color (surprise! more beige!), and perhaps one of the worst pain jobs Josh and I have ever seen. Here are the before pictures to give you a vague idea:

Now with the high walls, and an ever decreasing amount of time, we decided to call in the professionals to help us get this done. The day before the painters were to arrive, I discovered that our banister and railing "only" had 1-2 layers of white paint covering the original wood. Well, one thing led to another....

And well, you get the idea....Needless to say, we are still sanding the last bits of paint off the railing. Josh has wanted to kill me several times since we started this, but I hope that once this is done we can enjoy how beautiful it will make our home. It looks much better than this right now, but we'll post a big finale picture once the work is complete...hopefully soon.

Here's the nearly final work product: crisp, glacier white walls. Surprising that we went with white, after all, but there was something so classic and clean (and bright) with choosing white for this space.

This weekend we hung a little collection of frames. We still have to fill most of them with family photos, but we've got it started with a couple of wedding pictures and my baby picture.

Here's the downstairs entryway: nice and bright with a new rug and greeting card holder that Josh made himself (with my urging!) with a salvaged window frame. He did a fantastic job, right? Now you all know that when you send Josh and me a greeting card, it will grace our front entryway as an ever changing piece of art. Can't wait until Christmas cards start rolling in...

Josh, Renee & Jake Go Hiking!

One month ago, we were lucky to adopt a great dog from the Washington Animal Rescue League. So please welcome the newest member of the Christensen family -- Jake!

In an effort to tire Jake out, we decided to pack up the car and head out of town to the beautiful Shenandoah National Park. It's a relatively short 75 miles from DC. Little did we know, these are some serious trails! We took most of these pictures before we were dripping in sweat. One or two might even make the Christmas card this year.

Fried green beans and other ways to ruin perfectly healthy vegetables

We had a successful crop of green beans this year. For most of them, we boiled for dinner, blanched for salads, or froze for later. But for the last half pound of beans, I decided to try something a little different: deep-fried green beans! I found the recipe in Country Living. Surprisingly good - though I never quite got over the idea that I completely adulterated a completely nutritious vegetable.

Despite Josh's expression here, I am pretty sure that he enjoyed these...

There is more than enough zucchini to go around this time of the year. I didn't plant any zucchini in our garden this year, primarily because it is a vining plant that would have taken up all of our garden space. But then my friend, Diane, recommended that we try training them up the side of the fence, and take advantage of all of our vertical space in our backyard. Fantastic idea, right?! I'm excited to give this a try next spring, and I'll probably attempt with zucchini and cucumber.

I bought some zucchini anyway, just so I could prepare some of my favorite dessert recipes (and some new favorites). Last week, I made Mom's chocolate zucchini cake. There are lots of loving memories with this cake. I also love having an excuse to use the bundt cake pan. Whenever I pull it out of the basement kitchen storage, I go into predictable pattern of reciting my favorite lines from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. At least I laugh; I can't guarantee anyone else will find my one-man movie amusing.

This weekend, I tried a new recipe: zucchini nut bread cookie sandwiches.

If you like carrot cake, you'll love these cookies. The frosting is a homemade cream cheese frosting! Josh liked 'em, of course.

Curtains - at long last!

No one ever tells you how much money custom window treatments will cost you when you first buy a house. I have my theories about this phenomenon (probably because everyone banishes that horrible memory of paying that bill), but that is really only a side issue to this post. Here's the important news: we've got some curtains!

If you remember from our last post about the dining room, we were still waiting on those curtains to arrive. They arrived early this summer, and they really worked to soften up the space. They are a cream color with a criss-crossing twine (yes, twine!) pattern.

Just before the 4th of July, we had our master bedroom curtains installed. What a difference! They really change the look of the room, but they also have an incredible amount of function. Before the curtains arrived, we had a lot of stray light coming in from a street lamp. No more! These curtains are blackout lined! Not only do they provide light control, all of the extra fabric in the room really absorbs sound. Not like we had a problem with an echo before (this room isn't that big), but it definitely makes it feel more cozy.

The other window treatments (roman shades) are in the pictures posted for the living room. We were also extremely happy with how those turned out. In all, worth the wait.

Christensen Farm Update: We've Got Beans!

Down on the Christensen Farm, things are looking good. Despite exceptionally dry weather, then a really nasty thunderstorm on July 3, we're starting to harvest green beans. So far I've gotten 3 chopped cups (freezer), and I'll be picking some tonight for dinner. I am really enjoying seeing the vegetables rolling in. It's really satisfying!

These are the neighborhood cats that like hanging out on our backyard fence. As you can see, they are too well-fed to be strays. They are afraid of Josh and me, so they run away as soon as we open the back door. Josh took this picture, so I am not exactly sure how he got this close!

In the District of Columbia, apparently tomatoes grow on trees. I have never seen tomato plants get so big. There are tomato cages in there -- good luck finding them!

I ordered two rhubarb roots, but unfortunately only one grew. That will mean that I will be behind by one more year if I order another root next spring....the wait will be worth it, just so I can make Josh's favorite dessert (Grandma's rhubarb jello cake).

The green peppers are looking strong, just small yet. I'm really looking forward to these!

Happily, these did not blow away in the July 3 storm! I think that we'll have enough tomatoes to even can a few jars -- a new skill I'll have to pick up. We go through so many cans of whole tomatoes during the year, so I hope that the effort will knock down the grocery bill.

Here's what we're eating right now....mmmm! They will accompany some steaks on the new grill.

Living Room Nears Completion

Do you remember the old living room? I don't. I couldn't even find a very good old photo to share the before and after. But this is what I've got.

As you can see...the before included a lot of beige and plantation shutters.

And here's the AFTER: contemporary with some rustic and industrial elements.

As you may have noticed, we are still missing some art and another chair from the end of the room that I was standing in to take this photo. We're hoping to go for some 1930s WPA mural-style art. It's going to be difficult process to find, but I think it will be worth it.

The Hemingway leather chair...already distressed, and will only get better over time! A favorite hang-out for Josh to enjoy a cold beer or scotch.

Have you ever tried in vain to find an attractive entertainment stand? We have. And then we discovered this beauty. Industrial tool chest meets entertainment stand.

The Christensen Farm: Late Spring Follow Up

It has been a busy spring at the Christensen farm. We had done a lot of work setting up the raised beds and moving the fence -- all of which drew a significant amount of curiosity from some of the neighborhood kids (from right to left, Stephan, Jo'von, and Dequan).

Ever since we started to build the raised beds and fill them with soil, we have had visitors who have wanted to help. When they come out to visit, I put them to work. They are very eager and excited about the vegetables that are coming later this summer. I asked the boys to help me plant the green beans on their recent visit. I even gave them the rest of the seeds to plant in their yard, which really made their day.

A couple weeks later, and we've got some serious plants. Unfortunately, only one of my new rhubarb plants came up. I'll have to get another before the summer is over so that it can get established. In two years, I want to be able to harvest some rhubarb!

On the far right of the first bed, Josh has attempted to grow some tobacco plants. They are still very small, but they are currently thriving.

I've also taken some time to plant some perennials in the backyard. The only things that aren't doing so well are the poppies, which I don't think will bloom this year (hoping that they survive the year and then maybe next).

When I visited Vicky for her graduation in Raleigh, I picked up a cute little climbing rose bush - Charles Darwin. When I bought it, it had two gorgeous orange English-style roses (which have since faded). It's already started to get some new growth, and so maybe soon we will have a couple more flowers.

(Uno through) Cinco de Mayo

This recipe for chipotle tacos (made in the slow cooker!) fed me and Josh for almost a whole week and they are very, very tasty. Combined with the free Mexican beer that Josh acquired from an office party, we were eating like kings....

Office Curtains

Of all the new homeowner expenses, window treatments are the biggest surprise. How many yards of fabric?! How much per yard?! How many hours of labor?! It's a tough bill to swallow.

On top of that, the timeline for completion of custom treatments from a professional seriously takes forever. Josh and I paid for custom treatments for the living and dining rooms, and we are still waiting for them...four months later. Everything that has gone wrong has.

In an effort to contain costs and restore some sanity to this process, I decided to bravely attempt sewing the drapery panels for the home office. Thanks to Josh's help with the iron and pins, the project didn't take long at all, and I am so happy with the result. The panels look great with the new wall color. I can't wait to finish this room -- just a new bookcase/filing cabinet and some art!

Josh is convinced that I should try doing our master bedroom treatments, though I think that the job would take a bit more skill because of the size of the job and the configuration of the windows. If we never get the dining room and the living room work product, I just may end up being the seamstress after all.