Rooftop Deck

In the Fall, we had a posting about the building of our deck. Here is an update... a look at the completed deck and miscellaneous outdoor projects.

Sam stained the railings with Olympic Maximum Tinted Waterproof Sealant in shade: Canyon Brown, from Lowes.
Rumor is: the darker the stain, the more sun resistant it is. That's not our only reason for picking a darker stain but it should help, since the sun in Baltimore is brutal. Bleached, brittle, grey rooftop decks are a common site around the city- a sure sign that we will have to re-apply periodically or the sun will get the best of us, regardless!

Just like the clock in our previous post, these vintage dinette chairs belonged to my Great Uncle Matt. 

A little old, a little rusty.. but a lot of potential. I disassembled each chair, sanded and spray-painted the pieces.  The seat was simple to upholster but since it was going to be outdoors, I used a water-proof fabric and placed a thin sheet of vinyl over that. 

This next chair, we purchased at Ikea some years ago and was looking very weathered. I discovered rub-on stain (it was on sale at JoAnn's) which was very easy and not messy at all. 

an instant improvement...

a view of Baltimore's skyline and a few more neighborhood roof decks

Spring Projects

Ever since the weather began to warm up, we have been doing projects every weekend. It is time for the blog to start catching up with us...

Clock

This clock belonged to my great Uncle Matt, who has been very missed since he passed away last July. There were several items that we have from him and his house that we are excited about refinishing and using in our home. This clock is the smallest of the items and the first one Sam tackled.

There is no "before" picture, unfortunately, but this is one I found online that was similar:

Sam replaced the original clock face with a slightly larger, battery operated clock (purchased at Ikea). Then, painted it white.

Mirror

We spent a long time without a mirror in the second floor shared bathroom. Most mirrors that I liked the size and simplicity of were in the $300-$500 range. In early spring, we were walking in Fells when I saw a refurbished, vintage mirror at Stony Run Home that was $150. I thought that was the one... Sam thought that he could do better.
He came home an starting building this monstrosity of a mirror:

It measures approximately 3' x 4', is made of solid wood and painted dark brown. It is similar to the mirror that we did see but nothing beats a custom job! Plus, the total cost came in well under $100. 

Happiest Holidays!

We were very excited this year to have a real house and be able to get our first real-sized Christmas tree! We did imagine driving to the county and, amidst Christmas carolers, cinnamon donuts and the smell of hot apple cider, cutting down our own tree with our neighbors. Well, we all lead busy lives and... we bought ours already cut and wrapped at the Home Depot. It turned out to be a great tree nonetheless...

In addition to the tree, we picked up a few strings of white lights.

We didn't have many ornaments to start with, so we made a trip to Crate and Barrel and hit the Christmas jackpot. We bought cranberry garland, a star tree-topper, and a bunch of ornaments. Here are a few of my favorite ornaments...

Also, to help add to our humble collection, Sam and I agreed to make each other a Christmas ornament as part of our gift exchange. 

This is the one I made Sam... for obvious reasons :) 

Sam made me a Ginger Cat Elf. so cute. 

This little angel was a gift from our friends (and Bank Street neighbors!) Chris and Jess...

As for the rest of the house, we didn't purchase any new decorations. We still really like our old thrift store finds from years' past. 

Most of you will remember Santa and the reindeer... considering we had them on display 365 days a year at our old rental :) 

Cards on Display...

Pine Cones, Ceramic Trees and, the very necessary, homemade Cookie Assortment

Our outdoor decorations were pretty simple too. We found these snowflake lights and the red paper star at Ikea. The fresh Wreath was purchased at the same time as our tree and lights, at the Home Depot.

Sam and I really enjoyed having the house decorated.  So much so that we haven't taken one thing down or put anything away yet. There is something so warm and homey about Christmas... even when the tree has lost the majority of its pine needles and has seen way better days. I know that clean-up day will have to come soon but we can at least say that we really enjoyed, and had a very memorable, first Christmas in our home! 

Sam and I even hosted a quick, last-minute holiday party with a few of our friends before the majority of us traveled to see our families...

We hope that everyone had an enjoyable Holiday season! It was a great first one at the Gibbons House!

Productive Weekend

This weekend was a very productive one in the Gibbons house. It is amazing how much housework can be accomplished when (1) We stay in town for an entire weekend and, (2) Ohio State doesn't play a football game on Saturday.

Here's a picture of our two biggest improvements: 

We painted the living room Behr Classic Silver and, more importantly, we finally replaced our cardboard window treatments with real blinds. 

We also found the time Saturday to enter a photo competition...

If you recall, we purchased all of our bamboo flooring from Ambient Flooring. In mid-November, Ambient announced a photo competition asking contestants to take pictures anywhere there is ambient flooring in their homes. Sam and I snapped a few shots on Saturday afternoon, sent them in and won third place! I'm not sure yet if they plan on using the photos for their website, or not.  If so, there is a possibility they will send a professional photographer to take a few more (better) pictures. That would be very exciting but, if not, we still have a promise from Harper to come and take some great pictures for us one day :)

Here are a few of the photos that we submitted:

Finally, we did some Holiday decorating this weekend too.  But, I haven't blogged for weeks so I need to save something else for a rainy, or possibly a snowy, day.

Some Curb (and Roof) Appeal

Time for a little curb appeal...

 The blind in the front window is a definite improvement over the brown paper bags.  We ordered it online from www.selectblinds.com and are really happy with it. The way it was made/mounted we are able to still have privacy but allow light to come inside.

And, finally, a door!

I have blogged about Crestview Doors in the past, when we ordered the kit for the front door. Sam installed them in the flush steel door and they really look great. Huge improvement! It was exactly want I wanted... but couldn't find at a reasonable cost. This custom kit was the perfect option.

Here's what it looks like from the inside:

We still want to paint the door (inside and outside) and get a new door handle.

Up on the roof...

The deck has been finished for a few weeks but I haven't posted any pictures yet. 

 Sam used composite decking for the floor but then built the railings with treated lumbar. We have plans to stain the railings soon.