Use the Corner Wisely

跟 Laundry room 借了個牆角

起因是水果, 番薯馬鈴薯, 洋蔥等生食並不一定得全數塞入冰箱, 但流理臺上總擺滿了食物, 塑膠袋, 佔了很大的空間也亂七八糟的...

這個角落頭大約23” x 11”, 很少有這麼窄小的櫃子, 雖然在Ikea找到了對的尺寸, 原是用來裝玩具的TROFAST, 但落地櫃把小小的角落顯得更為擁擠, 其塑膠桶的收納抽屜也不美觀:

IKEA TROFAST

改試懸釘架子: 在Pinterest上找了幾個想法:

Source: No.1/ No.2/ No.3/ No.4

算來算去, 還是去HomeDepot買一塊長木板($8.00), 自己切自己漆最經濟實惠, 再配上 Ikea EKBY KANNA bracket 特價一個還是要$3.00

當時整修廚房的油漆工人工不細, 角落頭就直接上漆, 過沒幾個月就出現裂痕, 還得勞動查理斯重新補修: 先得把裂開的漆刮下, 上joint compound, 黏上masking paper, 再上一層compound, 等乾磨平再補漆:

為了這個修補這個角落, 還特地買了這只專修角落的工具

切了20"長的板子, 對齊中間, 栓上brackets就成啦!

常看水果洋蔥等大多都集中在籃子或金屬網裡, 可是查理斯發現每每只稍微一擺久, 水果外皮都會產生壓痕, 接著就很快爛透, 於是我選用Ikea LIDAN baskets 這樣塑膠質地的布袋來裝生食水果, 既不悶氣也不易損傷食物外皮, 髒了還可以直接丟洗衣機, 一舉數得!

一開始就很喜歡 Ikea FINTORP 小盆吊籃的設計, 可是一個就要$12.99再加一條橫桿$7.99, 兩三個下來那真是昂貴又不重用的收納方式, 就是蘋果也放不了四五顆; 於是就只放一籃在另一面廚房的角落, 是不是整潔多啦?!

Merry Christmas 2012 !!!

期許自己一個project: 每年選一段經文, 設計一款聖誕賀卡, 數算過去一年的恩典:)

Merry Christmas!!

今年是 thechusweethome 第一年的聖誕節, living room 繼續施工中...

Break the Walls Down

上個周末起查理斯開始進行 living room 的整建工作, 重點是 insulation 添加玻璃棉; 從 plaster 換成 drywall, 重漆是必要的事, 鼓起勇氣想嘗試一次"超"大膽的顏色, 既然牆壁要拆, 不妨試試?!? 

Benjamin Moore - Classic Red Living room

要漆上對的紅色難度很高, 就連好的樣本圖都不見得找得到幾張... 在HomeDepot試了兩罐Samples, 是有點怵目驚心... paint the wall red 還是需要很大的勇氣地...

Rudolph the Mini

Although we don’t have a Christmas tree this year, we have Rudolph the Mini!!

We found it on Amazon, and it was advertised fitting a mini cooper S!

Reindeer Auto Outfit 2012

Before two-becomes-one, Charles owned a 1998 Toyota 4runner and I drove a 2004 Toyota Scion XA. We were pretty loyal to our cars because they barely caused us any troubles and both had amazing spaces for our needs. We gotta give Toyota a credit for that!

Sources 1 & 2

The 4runner was about to meet its 200,000 miles and it cost Charles about $300+ of gas per month. Right after we got married, we started looking for a “fun” car, which gives us a better gas mileage and most importantly, fun that is. However, horsepower doesn't mean much to me, but for a dude? Hell yeah! We test drove both Cooper and Cooper S. Charles just loved that sport mode in Cooper S all so very much.  

So yep, we dressed her like the Rudolph the red nosed deer for her first Christmas being a part of thechusweethome. XD

Hang on the Wall

Finally I made more progress to decorate our new kitchen like a cute little bistro!


I used to decorate my former condo kitchen with these sassy little chefs on the wall. I liked them very much and decided to do the same to our current kitchen.

Our kitchen is much bigger but unfortunately less wall spaces for the two ladies (11" x 14"). Therefore, I replaced them with three little fat chefs with smaller frames. 
 

I also got this coffee silhouette hook from Amazon and hung some little cute accessories: (from left to right) a tiny cup from a capsule toy, Charles’ bottle opener, a California souvenir key chain, and a miniature wooden spoon.

You might spot the chef decor here and there already:

The clean/dirty sign for the dishwasher was surprisingly Charles’ idea and I found this cute little chef one on ebay! 

We shopped the valances in Anna’s Linen on black friday weekend. We had these two choices in mind:

 

and we both preferred the brown one with the cute variety coffee cups

Need to tie it up one strap at a time

Oh, by the way, Charles has fixed the window I broke months ago so the cardboard cover has been removed. XD

Countdown to Christmas

This year is the first Christmas in thechusweethome. However, we don't plan to have a Christmas tree because Charles is about to start another insulation project in our living room.

So, I got myself a Pinterest Challenge to get some holiday spirit - an advent calendar

Difficulty: Easy

 

 This is where the idea comes from:

younghouselove

I found the same multi-use hanger in Goodwill for $4.99. The original source is Ikea KOMPLEMENT, which is designed to store 28 accessories.


The plastic snowflakes were found in Dollartree, 10pcs for $1.00. I purchased two sets of them that gives me 20pcs.

I decorated the rest of the empty spaces with some ornaments that I have received over the years. This little Angel is 100% handmade craft from a very talented lady :)

The numbers were fairly easy, just computer print-out cut and paste on a leftover color paper.

Even though I liked the combination of blue and green that the younghouselove picked out, I went with the traditional red and green. More Christmassy.

I found these great decoration stuff in Dollartree & 99cents store, cheap and neat

Total Spending on this project: $7.99

I haven't figured out where to hang the calendar though... Maybe in the hallway?

Color Crush Boards

Last time I made myself a color crush board for my own wedding. I love it. It’s pretty. It’s cheerful. It's interesting.

Everyday is Laundry Day

The lovely laundry nook has been finally finished up with this sign that I bought like an half year ago, $4.99 from ROSS, front and back!

The To-do-list is now down to:

Unforgettable Song List

Just when I thought I’m pretty much done talking about my wedding, here comes more - my unforgettable song list:

Slideshow - When we together by Mark Harris
Our friend, also one of the groomsmen made a sweet slideshow, twice, for us. One is for our wedding on March 4th, 2012 in Diamond Bar, US and the other is for our banquet in Taipei, Taiwan on May 6th, 2012. The last version is this song from the movie Courageous: when the little girl asked her daddy to dance with her in the park. A lovely touching song with our friend's blessing verse Romans 12:12.

Grand Entrance - One love (Karaoke version) by Arashi

Maximize the Dining Area

廚房大工程結束後, 一直想放入一張大小合適的breakfast table, such as...

www.onhomedesign.com

總愛先從Ikea下手, 想要購入的drop-leaf table因為價錢太高($169)遲遲下不了手的小桌, 前一陣子居然停產了! 正在尋尋覓覓中沒想到Ikea又重新包裝了一番在上個月推出新品:

The Precious Moment

 Prelude

What’s on the Table

Charles and I decided to have a Chinese Banquet instead of western food by courses or buffet style. The catering company only offered disposal chopsticks. Therefore, we both thought a pair of chopsticks could be a great wedding favor for our guests. I found this supplier in Taiwan who offered minimum order of 200pairs of chopsticks with fairly good price. AND, it came with the colored pouch of your choice!! Pink of course. Charles and I made a little thank you note and tied a bow on each one of them.

The table sign was actually a photo frame from Ikea TOLSBY for $0.99/each which can displays one picture on each side. I used one side as a table sign and the other side as a menu.

Meeting New Friends in our Kitchen

This sarcastic strip is from a Taiwanese blogger who precisely describes the durability of different appliances and very much favors 大同電鍋.

 

Loads of Fun in the Laundry Nook

(80% Complete)

This “fun” belongs to Charles’... because he did the 90% of the job. Top notch!!
This is what I found that quite illustrates our plan for our narrow laundry nook:

From Mini Manor Blog

Dress the Venue

Carnation, is the featured flower that our wedding coordinator picked for us. From the aisle, centerpiece, to the reception desks, carnation was everywhere sparkling the venue in pink.

Pink the Party

I've seen people choose black and white in American weddings, which looks beautiful, great contrast but definitely not the way to go because black and white are mostly used for grievous events in Chinese culture. Red and gold are the typical colors for Chinese weddings but we of course wanted to be more creative.

 

There are a lot more combinations that I believe they would look gorgeous in a wedding, such as yellow with gray, turquoise with pink…

After Kitchen Becomes the Heart of the Home

(80% Complete)

千呼萬喚, 歷經一個多月的工程, 外加額外推拖拉個兩三個星期, 我們的新廚房終於初步完工!! 至少到此為止不會再有陌生人進入了!! 話說放棄了昂貴的開放式廚房, 一樣為了減少支出, 瓦斯和水管管線都維持原位; 曾經一度想硬把4~6人的餐廳空間劃進來, 但這麼一來幾乎沒有儲藏的空間, 於是大體上沒有做出大規模的改變...

最大的改變就是那只大冰箱的位置, 打掉了原有的早餐區隔牆, 空間加倍;

Before Kitchen Becomes the Heart of the Home

(0% Complete)

本來和查理斯最初想動工地方是希望那唯一的大浴室可以一拆為二, 以增加房子本身的價值, 結果搬進來後用了兩個禮拜的廚房, 每次做菜血壓都會升高, 心情都會很壞…  基本上這個廚房還停留在50年代的模樣, 塑膠地板配上老態龍鍾的圖騰, 老舊的櫥櫃和泛黃的磁磚流理臺面… 我強烈的懷疑這個廚房從來沒有被翻新過…就連本來設計放入冰箱的空間還停留在過去單門冰箱的狹小尺寸… 讓人匪夷所思的是 前屋主很天才地把空間不夠的部分硬生生地切割過去, 造成更加狹窄的通道和一個偌大的冰箱卡在同為後門和廚房入口處的窘境…

The Battle of Closet Space

I gotta say, this hilarious post speaks 80% of the truth about our closet...

回顧2010年查理斯獨立完成主臥房兩面拆牆並添入玻璃棉的作業…

Everlasting Photo Album

婚紗攝影在台灣相當普遍化, 其實美國也有類似的 engagement session, 意義相同只是手法不同; 台灣比較制式化, 服裝, 攝影, 景點, 甚至是照相的姿式相似度都很高; 美式風格的 engagement session比較生活化, 自然柔和, 拍攝地點更多元, 可是美式攝影光是攝影師就價錢不斐, 其他如服裝, 化妝, 配件和男伴的打點等都是額外上加的費用, 另外也不流行製作成冊… 和查理斯決定擁有一套台灣的婚紗攝影後, 就著手在知名的 VeryWed 上瀏覽新人們的婚紗經驗談, 我和查理斯以中價位, 人為主景為輔的攝影條件還有各方評價為考量, 選入三四家婚攝公司比較配套,  攝影和風評, 最終以<曼哈頓麗緻婚禮>入選!! 不得不為它們打個廣告, 從頭到末了都有相當專業及親切的服務, 最後的成品也非常滿意~ 雖然荷包還是著實瘦了一圈, 但是附加產品和總括經驗還是讓人覺得相當值得…