tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-961835681912774552024-03-05T15:54:07.818-05:00I Am Kilo BravoKayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-7855584625709590392018-12-13T10:07:00.000-05:002018-12-13T10:07:41.345-05:00Please sign up for new posts on the new website page!Helloooo!<br />
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Well, you saw the news - I finally switched over to<a href="http://iamkilobravo.com/" target="_blank"> IAMKILOBRAVO.COM.</a><br />
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But what you probably didn't know - is that my email subscriber list did not move over (one of the many pitfalls of using Blogger, hence another reason to move over to wordpress and my new site: so I can have more flexibility and control!).<br />
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I'd love it if you visited the new site and subscribed to receive new posts over there. I've got some things in the works (Spring/Summer 2019) and you'll be the first to know about it as well!<br />
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Thanks for reading!<br />
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Kayla AKA Kilo BravoKayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-65560954952607906642018-11-21T08:12:00.000-05:002018-11-21T08:12:04.363-05:00I AM KILO BRAVO HAS MOVED!!!Well, I finally did it. Even though I purchased the domain <a href="http://iamkilobravo.com/">IamKiloBravo.com</a> back in...2013?, I never ponied up and moved over to it (if you typed it in previously, it autodirected to this site, KiloBravoInspired.blogspot.com, which I created in 2010).<br />
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Well it's real now folks. Go head over to <a href="http://iamkilobravo.com/">IamKiloBravo.com</a> for new blogging content, and hopefully some more surprises in a few months! All of my old posts are there too, don't worry. If you have trouble finding anything as things get tweaked, just shoot me an email or find me on Instagram!<br />
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Most of all, thanks for reading :-)<br />
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Kayla aka Kilo BravoKayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-18662147978224374662018-11-08T10:59:00.000-05:002018-11-13T16:38:22.153-05:00Budget Home Theater - The Budget-Baller Reveal {ORC Fall 2018: Week 6}Yay!! The <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/details/">Six Week One Room Challenge</a> is complete! I finished a few days late waiting on some packages...and we are still waiting on the rest of our sectional (that we ordered in August!!)...but this room is happily functioning exactly the way we envisioned!<br />
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<i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory. </i></div>
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<i><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-cameras-are.html">Week 3</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">Week 4</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-breakdown.html">Week 5</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-baller.html">Week 6 - Reveal!</a></i><br />
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Let's take it way back to a mere 6 weeks ago, where this space started. We had a speaker system and a cozy nook of our new-to-us, semi-finished basement. Let's just buy a projector, screen and couch and be done, right? Right.<br />
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Fixing a kitchen sink issue led to fixing some potentially major drainage issues outside the house. I cannot extol my praise of gutter extenders enough. When we first plugged in 2 dehumidifiers a few weeks back, this room was at 80%+ humidity and it felt like it. Now it is set to 60% and usually hovers at 50%, ALMOST rendering the dehumidifiers useless (we would never risk getting rid of them).<br />
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We gave new life to some tables, a chandelier, and old curtains we were no longer using. We finally made a decision on artwork (we finally went nostalgic 80s - it was a <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">major nailbiter</a>). We thrifted. We bought some new stuff. We made some changes as things came together and we even impressed ourselves a bit with how cozy this little area has become.<br />
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We talked about the 'budget' a bit. Throughout this I thought to myself, will this space be a place we really use? Are we spending too much? Are we not spending enough? Will we regret not going all out with stadium seating and adding drywall to make this a separate room and maybe buying more new than used items? GUYS. I am so happy to report that I truly feel like we found a nice happy medium for ourselves. <b>BUDGET-BALLER</b>, as Tom likes to call it. There are not a lot of inspiration out there of a room that functions quite like this but didn't cost an arm and leg and another arm and another leg. Go ahead, search pinterest. It's a step up from just an extra TV area. It feels like an EVENT to sit down here, for us and for the kids. I really feel like we created something special here that we can be proud of and thoroughly enjoy. I'm going to enjoy this moment, because I don't do it often enough (a little more on that <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/welcome-back-to-i-am-kilo-bravo-vague.html">here</a>, if you'd like).<br />
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Blah blah blah. Enough chatting! On to the final-ish pics!<br />
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Some last minute changes occurred as the room was pulling together, as per usual. Last week my brother was over and mentioned the space between the two curtains looked empty above the screen. I had just {poorly} hemmed and trimmed a pair of the curtains, and realized the trimmed part made a pretty perfect valance, but the top hem lines were off due to the tabs that the curtains were currently hanging from. So I grabbed the extra pair, turned them upside down, and hung everything from the original bottom hem with a new single rod that spanned the 112 inches we needed. It works for me!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoS4YoHPmXThwi-M3Erdhwgl7eSpRIGuVeVqJcL94EXfiqvSKC_GiTT5tLx32HYRh5HhlnDFlhYAMhyphenhyphendrH0V4MroVx4ixdzJFTqj59ixUwxk6ZshVb97L1YfVPnaF5hMgnbLmaoV-YqSFZ/s1600/DSC_0814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoS4YoHPmXThwi-M3Erdhwgl7eSpRIGuVeVqJcL94EXfiqvSKC_GiTT5tLx32HYRh5HhlnDFlhYAMhyphenhyphendrH0V4MroVx4ixdzJFTqj59ixUwxk6ZshVb97L1YfVPnaF5hMgnbLmaoV-YqSFZ/s640/DSC_0814.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom really wanted this shot of Lo-Pan to be in the background of a photo</td></tr>
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The original pair of curtains got attached to the back wall with the extra 18 inch rods we now had leftover. It was very much a "will they/won't they work" moment. My brother and Tom were skeptical, but I put them up anyway and it really gave it that extra coziness it needed, and cleaned up the paint line that differentiates this space from the rest of the room.<br />
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Next we knew, that back wall was screaming for some artwork. Tom wanted a light up marquee, but<br />
with time running out and our pockets a little exhausted, I realized we had a chalkboard with an ornate gold frame in my craft room just collecting dust. It's kind of perfect, right? Here's to shopping your house, amIright?<br />
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I did it. I bought the popcorn maker and bulk kernels, coconut oil, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Medal-Prod-Flavacol-Seasoning/dp/B004W8LT10/ref=sr_1_1_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1541617144&sr=1-1&keywords=flavacol">flavacol</a>. Per the internet this is all you need. Yes, that is microwaved popcorn in my styled shot because right now the photos are more important the trying out my new toy. Once we really had the cozy factor going last weekend I was convinced we will be using this space often enough to warrant this purchase. How much fun is this going to be for the kids as they get older and have friends over? I'll let you know how the popcorn maker actually works after our next movie night on IG.<br />
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The pillow, blankets, baskets, and random table tchotckes were all shopped from other rooms in our house. I didn't want to go full movie memorabilia in here, but a few can't hurt, right? It you have any questions, let me know and I can try to find links.<br />
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There is a sentimental secret inside this copy of Harry Potter - <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2011/09/he-put-ring-on-it.html">if you'd like to see</a>. <a href="https://www.pbteen.com/products/harry-potter-golden-snitch-clock/?catalogId=64&sku=2612831&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Decor%20%3E%20Electronics%20%2B%20Tech%20Accessories&cm_ite=2612831&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2o_fBRC8ARIsAIOyQ-nEAuMcZUIpKs2MYZJAt7ZKc_3e_pmSZXNhCFLra-rvLIm09ivWmugaAqfhEALw_wcB">Golden snitch</a>, as you do.<br />
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What did I miss? Anything you want more information on? As always, a HUGE thank you to Linda for creating such a fun, inclusive, and positive group experiment. Thank you to <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week6">featured</a> and <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/orcguestsf18wk6">guest</a> participants for joining in, and the sponsors for keeping this going and making becoming a featured sponsor something worth working towards! Check back next week for some of my favorites. Maybe I'll see everyone again for the Spring 2019 challenge :-)<br />
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<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-13656398429346114152018-11-01T08:36:00.000-04:002018-11-15T14:56:53.047-05:00Budget Home Theater - The Budget Breakdown {ORC Fall 2018: Week 5}I think the word budget is very subjective/relative, especially in the interior design world. I grew up in a small rural town where the average household income ran somewhere from dirt poor to lower middle class. I never really was aware of this until I entered college, because the one nice thing about living in an area where most people have a similar standard of living is you don't have a lot to compare to or to even be jealous of. You don't know what you don't have because no one around you has it either. I was blissfully unaware of how the "other half" lived. I should also note: I had a GREAT childhood. Zero complaints. From graduating high school to now, I've bounced back and forth between NYC and surrounding areas and upstate New York. I've lived in a trailer in the woods, in walk up slums in shady Brooklyn and Bronx neighborhoods; I've lived in doorman buildings in Manhattan and very upper middle class suburbs in NJ, and everything in between.<br />
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All this is to say, I know I'm calling this a budget Home Theater, but let's be honest, we are still spending (or have spent) a pretty penny on some of these items. This is not a $100 or $500 or even $1,000 makeover. It's also NOT a $15,000 makeover. I was super inspired last week to pull back the curtain on what this is costing us after reading <a href="https://www.michellegage.co/blog/2018/10/17/one-room-challenge-week-4">Michele's Week 4 post</a>. So for anyone interested (and since all I've really done is poorly hem some curtains this week) I thought we could talk about the budget for this space. We didn't have a maximum amount we planned to spend, it was more of a fun challenge to see what we cobble together with a semi-frugal mindset. We didn't need a gut renovation job, frankly we didn't need any of this, but it was more of a personal challenge to create a "finished" space that is functional for us <i>and </i>pretty to me. Also guys, I'm too lazy to try to get sponsors, because that is a job in itself, so this is clearly all out of our own pocket. It's not my livelihood to provide pretty content. I think there is a place for that, it just isn't here.</div>
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<i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory. </i></div>
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<i><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-cameras-are.html">Week 3</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">Week 4</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-breakdown.html">Week 5</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-baller.html">Week 6 - Reveal!</a></i></div>
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Here's a breakdown to the stuff we <i>expected</i> to spend money on:</div>
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<a href="https://colemanfurniture.com/vacherie-chocolate-double-reclining-sectional.htm">Sectional</a> $1239</div>
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2TlwENA">Motorized screen</a> $125</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Optoma-HD27-Lumens-Theater-Projector/dp/B01JR7G672/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1541074318&sr=8-1&keywords=optoma+hd27+3200">Projector</a> $550</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Companion-Control-Entertainment/dp/B00N3RFC4G/ref=sr_1_5?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1541073328&sr=1-5&keywords=harmony+remote">Universal remote</a> $110</div>
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Paint $60</div>
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Artwork (no, we still didn't buy anything yet! FML) ~$150</div>
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The stuff we <i>didn't expect</i> to spend money on:</div>
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More paint $30</div>
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Cement and waterproof cement $20</div>
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Gutter extenders $20</div>
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<a href="https://www.lowes.com/pd/Halo-New-Construction-Airtight-IC-Recessed-Light-Housing-Common-6-in-Actual-6-5-in/3241080">Recessed lighting</a> $120</div>
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Plumbing updates and electric labor ~$300 (this was baked into other odd jobs around the house)</div>
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The fun stuff we picked up/plan to pick up along the way:</div>
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Popcorn bowls $8</div>
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Snack tower $40</div>
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<a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/Big-Joe-Milano-Bean-Bag-Chair-Multiple-Colors-32-x-28-x-25/51744431">Beanbag chairs</a> $60</div>
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Curtain rods & gold tassels $10<br />
To buy/make: Pillows and blankets ~$60<br />
To buy: Popcorn Maker ~$150 ???</div>
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The stuff we already had that convinced us we could do this on a budget (I made some best estimates for these because some of this has been around for a long time):</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sonos-3-1-Entertainment-Set-Theater/dp/B0799381YC/ref=sr_1_5_acs_osp_osp20-e6a0f53c-8a_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1541073397&sr=1-5-acs&keywords=sonos%2Bplay%2B5&tag=bestcont06-20&ascsubtag=e6a0f53c-8af8-4841-ac27-101286765f76&linkCode=oas&cv_ct_id=amzn1.osp.e6a0f53c-8af8-4841-ac27-101286765f76&cv_ct_pg=search&cv_ct_wn=osp-search&pf_rd_r=KCSFEV8Z4V9EQ41XXKHY&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-inline&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_r=c5b17962-ac57-477c-b7a9-2a305e8ee454&pf_rd_i=sonos%2Bplay%2B5&pd_rd_w=M1eGi&pd_rd_wg=VpQAv&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=53b688eb-671a-4acd-886f-dc89fa36d3d2&creativeASIN=B01KU6XP2S&pd_rd_i=B01KU6XP2S&th=1">SONOS speaker system</a> $1,700</div>
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Tables/counter $300 - $500</div>
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Microwave (that I don't even plan to use anymore) $50</div>
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Chandelier $150</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/NICETOWN-Burgundy-Blackout-Draperies-Curtains/dp/B0171CZD9C/ref=pd_ybh_a_46?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4W86B77QXJ6VWEBCBB8D">Curtains</a> $60</div>
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Paint supplies $20<br />
Candy dishes and trays $40 - $60</div>
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So there you have it! <b>Somewhere between $3,050 and $5,000 when this is all said and done. </b>We went into this thinking we could do it for about $2,000, given the fact that we already had the speaker system and extra table on hand. We were somewhat close (this is also making me rethink the popcorn machine that I haven't pulled the trigger on yet) and the ~$500 and effort spent on making sure our foundation stays dry are clearly going to add YEARS of life to this house, but I wanted to include it be thorough.<br />
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As I'm doing this calculation I'm like "whoa" we really <i>did </i>spend that much! We don't often cram to design and decorate a room down to minute details that appear "pinterest-worthy" (<--sarcasm font) often. If it wasn't for the ORC, we still would have eventually gotten to this room, but we probably wouldn't have spent all that money in a roughly 6 week period. Everyone knows I'm a slow decorator, this normally would have taken us a year or two or three, but the benefit of this challenge is that you completely transform a room from top to bottom in a set time frame. I'm definitely glad we decided to join in again for this space! It means we get to enjoy this area thoroughly for many more years to come and my mind won't drift to what else I could do to it while watching a movie with my kids. I will BE in the moment, dammit! Thank you ORC!</div>
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One week left - let's see how everyone else is doing! My top picks for this week is to go check out the <a href="https://www.mimosalane-blog.com/blog/2018/10/30/one-room-challenge-week-five-playroom">wallpaper Albertina</a> is putting up and I am now in love with <a href="https://brepurposed.porch.com/2018/10/31/one-room-challenge-week-5-its-all-coming-together/">Bre and her blog</a> in general. As a lover of blogs, it's fun to come across new-to-you bloggers whose voice you really enjoy.</div>
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Check 'em all out here! <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week5">Featured</a> and <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/orcguestsf18wk5">Guests</a>.</div>
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Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-41515399958359065272018-10-24T23:14:00.003-04:002018-11-13T16:39:08.883-05:00Budget Home Theater - Embarrassingly Debilitating Decisions {ORC Fall 2018: Week 4}So...almost nothing has happened since last week. I started a new job this week (yay! health insurance!) so not much has moved forward. But ideas are brewing...if I could only make a decision.<br />
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<i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory. </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-cameras-are.html">Week 3</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">Week 4</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-breakdown.html">Week 5</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-baller.html">Week 6 - Reveal!</a></i></div>
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If you followed along in my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamkilobravo/">IG stories</a> last week I presented probably the biggest nail biter as far as decisions go in this space - art work for the walls. We are waffling between two different aesthetics: Classic 80's Graphics vs. Modern Metal Minimalism. Classic black frames vs. metalwork. 3 large scale vs. 4 medium sized. To add to that list of innocuous decisions that are becoming debilitating: To use what we've got or to buy an unnecessary popcorn maker. To hang a small chandelier or hack our new recessed lighting. I'm sure there will be more. It's hard trying to make something pinterest-worthy and also practical.<br />
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Let's start with the art. I'll state that all of these movies have some sort of meaning to us, some more sentimental than others, and clearly the artwork itself and overall cohesiveness to either aesthetic played a major factor in narrowing it down. I now present to you for careful consideration:<br />
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<u>Classic 80's Graphics:</u><br />
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<a href="https://theposterdepot.com/products/xl23billandtedsexcellentadventureposter01">Bill and Ted's</a> <a href="https://theposterdepot.com/products/xl23gooniesposter01o27">Goonies</a> <a href="https://theposterdepot.com/products/xl23bigtroubleinlittlechinaposter013?gclid=CjwKCAjwgabeBRBuEiwACD4R5qeUrF_R5WM5Fr0DIW1fMOysfV7-Y954H0tAwtr-wg6g026J4G46IhoCAYQQAvD_BwE">Big Trouble</a><br />
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Pros: The graphics are great. We will put them in simple black frames which are safe (literally and figuratively) and familiar to a theater setting. Our house was built in the 80's so you can even argue that it is staying true to the time period of the home. We will probably never tire of seeing these on the wall. Huge nostalgia factor here.<br />
Cons: Is it a boring choice?<br />
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<u>Modern Metal Minimalism:</u><br />
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<a href="https://displate.com/displate/110858?q=bill+ted+minimal">Bill and Ted's</a> <a href="https://displate.com/displate/38656?q=totoro+minimal">My Neighbor, Totoro</a> <a href="https://displate.com/displate/138646?q=ace+ventura+minimal">Ace Ventura</a> <a href="https://displate.com/displate/264670">Whiplash</a><br />
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Pros: I dig the minimalism in general, and the one liners on the bottom. I like that we can comfortably fit more on the wall because it was HARD narrowing these down (hi, we love movies). I like that it's a little unexpected and the Ace Ventura one is a particularly clever design. Ironically it feels more exciting to me even though these are minimalist in design.<br />
Cons: Is it too try-hard-y and pretentious? If those metal things come off the wall (they go up with a magnet) is a kid going to lose a finger? These are a bit more expensive too...<br />
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And clearly this was a tough decision for anyone voting on IG: There were even a few friends who sent me DMs to switch their vote after thinking about it longer! And guess what, here I am, a week later and no closer to a decision. HELP ME PLEASE.<br />
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Aside from the futile used leather couch search, we've been CRUSHING the secondhand scene since we moved here in August. I am especially proud of Tom - he has been finding some real gems for us. Like this ridiculous candy display for $40. Apparently it was used at school fundraiser functions - and <i>now. it's. all. ours</i>. I picked up a few clear bins to hold the snacks et voila.<br />
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I went down a rabbit hole of popcorn bowls on the internet. It's hard to find well reviewed reusable bowls (I am really trying to avoid disposable things in general in life), and I wanted something a little more fun. We purchased <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Novelty-Place-Plastic-Popcorn-Containers/dp/B0192K7BZU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540420430&sr=8-3&keywords=popcorn+bowls+reusable&dpID=51k9W3CkqIL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch">these</a> and one set of three arrived damaged (as mentioned in several reviews). They are also waaaay bigger than I anticipated. Great for the kids, annoying for me. They are fine for now, but I don't anticipate these lasting too long and will definitely keep my eyes out for something more substantial.<br />
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I've had this random extra microwave since...2003? We were happy to use it but now that everything else is coming together we are like - should we get a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Great-Northern-Popcorn-6010-Roosevelt/dp/B000QWE6S4/ref=sr_1_16?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1540422646&sr=1-16&keywords=popcorn+maker">fun looking popcorn machine</a>? This is a "budget" makeover anyway, and I feel real guilt at the idea of not using what we already have. Can someone appeal to my environmental side and show me where I can buy kernels and butter in bulk so I can rationalize no longer buying individual bags of popcorn to save on paper and plastic waste? Or can someone convince me this thing will be too much of a pain to clean and take care of?<br />
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This chandelier. It was in the original dining room of our NJ house before we gut renovated. We turned it into plug-in swag and hung it up in our NJ office. We brought it with us here, and I really like the idea of it hanging over the tables. But placement is hard because it can potentially get in the way of the symmetry of the artwork and Tom has told me we are at our max for electrical outlets. Tom is also a huge fan of smart devices and wants to put a smart bulb into one of the recessed lights and set it to a dim light that we can just access on the remote, but it seems like a missed opportunity to me. See what this one room challenge is doing to me???<br />
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I'm still completely lost on what to do with refinishing/covering the halved tables, and we've got a few more ideas to make this area cozy. See you next week!<br />
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Go check out the <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week4">Featured Participants</a> and <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/orcguestsf18wk4">Guest Participants</a>! And please chime in below if you've got any opinions on anything above - we need help.<br />
<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-56538694129513695302018-10-17T21:34:00.000-04:002018-11-13T16:39:49.610-05:00Budget Home Theater - Cameras are rolling...but not a lot of action {ORC Fall 2018: Week 3}The title is <i>a little</i> misleading. Things are definitely moving along, but not without a few more CUT! Reshoot!s than expected. (I promise to work on my film puns for next week.) On the plus side, if you've been following along in my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamkilobravo/">IG stories</a>, I think we've finally got it to stop raining in the house. Follow me on IG if you want to join in on some movie posters polling questions this Friday too!<br />
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<i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory. </i><br />
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<i style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-cameras-are.html">Week 3</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">Week 4</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-breakdown.html">Week 5</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-baller.html">Week 6 - Reveal!</a></i><br />
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Let's start with the water issues. <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Last week</a> we scrapped off the loose stuff covering the cinder block walls. We applied <a href="https://www.lowes.com/pd/UGL-White-Flat-Waterproofer-Actual-Net-Contents-128-fl-oz/3073099?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-Paint-_-SpecialtyPaint-_-3073099:UGL&CAWELAID=&kpid=3073099&CAGPSPN=pla&store_code=1784&k_clickID=7d63c978-e06f-4c3a-8a06-8a330690bdef&gclid=CjwKCAjwu5veBRBBEiwAFTqDwWseMZjscGI99xS8t-lwjQlCjSj_EBQHYc6yScsEoFuB3xWLV0cSnBoC388QAvD_BwE">waterproofing masonry paint</a>. We filled in the horizontal gaps we could see with cement we had lying around the house.<br />
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Then it rained again. Inside and out.<br />
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On the plus side, because of the dark color of the paint, it was really easy to see where the walls were weeping. We scrapped again, consulted the internet, and ran out to get <a href="https://www.lowes.com/pd/QUIKRETE-Hydraulic-Water-Stop-10-lb-Gray-Cement-Mix/3012639">waterproof cement</a> (the darker gray patches in the photo below). I asked Tom if he thought we messed up by using the regular cement (lighter gray patches) in the first place, but we did have decent sized gaps and he felt it was correct to fill those holes with that first.<br />
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While we were waiting for all of this to dry, it was time to inspect where all of this water was coming from. It was clearly concentrated on this one area of the wall.<br />
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A little backstory on the house: we purchased this house this past summer from an elderly couple who had bought it in the mid-80s and did some tremendous additions to a much smaller house before moving in. This house has some amazing quirkiness to it (I can't wait to share it all with you!) but as they got older they spent more and more time at their vacation homes and less time here, and had been trying to sell the house for several years. They definitely let it go into a bit a disrepair, which is understandable on many levels. Our inspection brought up rotting siding issues, and among other things, most of the problems were probably due to ice damns forming on the roof line. So we hired a handyman and a gutter company to remove the dry rotted wood, add in additional layers of protection beneath the new siding, and to add in gutters where there weren't any and to CLEAN OUT THE GUTTERS THAT WERE THERE. Folks, so many problems can be avoided by cleaning out your gutters (or getting the covers that eliminate the need to clean).<br />
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So we noticed this when we looked outside. See the gutters running down on either side of the windows? This is essentially our eat-in kitchen area and directly above the area of the basement that was getting wet. Well, a quick peek under the deck showed us that the gutters stopped about a foot away from the house.<br />
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Another quick trip to Lowes for some <a href="https://www.lowes.com/pd/Amerimax-FLEX-A-SPOUT-24-in-Brown-Vinyl-Downspout-Extension/3044722">downspout extenders</a> (not sponsored(yet! Hi Lowes 😉)), some muddy bellies from crawling under the deck and I *think* we have really fixed the water issue. We haven't had a really heavy rainfall since, so time will tell. I've even painted a second coat over all of our cement and fingers crossed, we are basically done painting.<br />
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Not pictured, Theodore taking a turn with downspout arms running up to strangers and yelling "DESTROY, DESTROY".<br />
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In other news - half of our sectional arrived! After too many attempts to purchase used leather couches on craigslist/letgo/FB marketplace, we found <a href="https://colemanfurniture.com/vacherie-chocolate-double-reclining-sectional.htm">this couch</a> online. Tom researches the hell out of purchases and felt it was a great deal, and the same price we were seeing used sectionals listed at. Unfortunately, part of the couch arrived damaged to the shipping company so we have to wait for the loveseat to arrive, hopefully before this challenge ends. It's not exactly what I would put in my living room, but I'm happy to report it is super comfortable and it's exactly what we were hoping for this space.<br />
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This post is getting long, but we need a little help on two decisions if we are going to finish this on time:<br />
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1) We've narrowed down a few movie poster pics we want to purchase to hang on the walls. All of the movies have some sort of connection to us, some stronger than others, but they go in two different directions aesthetically speaking. I'll be posting the options on IG on Friday - please help us vote!!<br />
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2) We are trying to salvage and make use of an old dining room table as a counter down here. Problem is, it has seen better days, and we are taking an unconventional route and taking it apart and pushing the halved sides against the wall. My mother bought this set in the 90's at an auction for $300. It was her set until 2007 when I moved to Brooklyn and I took over the table itself, the chairs, and the large buffet (the small buffet still lives at her house). Refinishing it is the obvious answer (there is years of water damage to the veneer on top), but I'm scared to tackle that. Painting it could be an option too, but I think the prep work will be as much as refinishing it, and more permanent, so again, scared. I kind of want to go the easy route and get a black table cloth and gathered skirt, that kinda screams movie theater to me, but is that lame? Also, those legs are kinda cool, do I want to cover them up? All suggestions are welcome, especially links to any tutorials.<br />
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PHEW. Points to anyone still here. Now go check out Week 3 for the <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week3">Featured Participants</a> and <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/orcguestsf18wk3">Guest Participants</a>! See you next week.<br />
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<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a><br />
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<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-65392590427561618862018-10-10T23:51:00.000-04:002018-11-13T16:40:13.690-05:00Budget Home Theater - Things are never simple {ORC Fall 2018: Week 2}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br /></i><i><br /></i><i>If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory. </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-cameras-are.html">Week 3</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">Week 4</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-breakdown.html">Week 5</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-baller.html">Week 6 - Reveal!</a></i></div>
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Alternate title: What to do when you've got that exposed brick loft look but fear for the stability of your home.<br />
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So please recall this makeover really started with this fun little burst pipe in the exposed ceiling of the basement a few days ago, which we burst ourselves trying to plunge and applying too much pressure to a slow kitchen drain and drano was not doing the trick, that made a general mess of this corner of our basement.<br />
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We *thought* we had a couch coming this past weekend (we've been scouring craigslist for months) and finally found another couch online that has good reviews and the price was comparable to what we were seeing in our area for used couches. More on the couch later, but during one fitful night of sleep this past week, I decided I wanted to paint two of the walls dark, preferably before the couch arrived. So I ran out to Lowes and grabbed a bucket of waterproofing masonry paint that was tintable. I picked a medium - dark blueish gray (Edit: <strike>Sweeping Rock </strike>Storm Cloud from Sherwin Williams) in record time. Normally I would hem and haw and grab test colors and sit on it for weeks but like I said, it was Friday night and we thought we had a couch coming on Monday.<br />
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Snowball: <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">increase rapidly in size, intensity, or importance</span><br />
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Picking up waterproofing paint was merely precautionary and just seemed like the smart thing to do. We definitely have a damp basement but luckily between two sump pumps and with dehumidifiers running, its very comfortable. But it is clear the previous owners have repainted random areas of the walls. Probably to hide issues! While my paint was getting tinted I started reading the back of the can and quickly realized this was more like an epoxy application that in order to do it right, involves scraping all of the old paint off and applying muriatic acid so as to not void the warranty. Guys, this was not happening on a Friday night. We recently expoxy-ed our garage and that was a 4 day ordeal.<br />
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So we did the next best thing and agreed to scrap off anything that was loose, but skip the acid wash. WHICH TURNED INTO THIS.<br />
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Scraping honestly wasn't awful (we did run and get masks early on into scraping). Attempting to vacuum it up (clearly we did not anticipate this and had not put down drop clothes) will probably kill us 20 years from now.<br />
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Our shop vac created a cozy little haze of dust particles which in turn coated everything in the room that we had not moved out. Needless to say, the kids ARE NOT allowed down here for a while. (Safety disclaimers: this house was built and added onto in the late 80s, so we aren't super concerned with lead paint or asbestos, but old mold is a bit concerning - I would NOT recommend dealing with this issues yourself without professional help, we just found ourselves in a mess we had to get out of quickly in the middle of the night.)<br />
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We did find some horizontal gaps, which, per the internet, if they are bigger than the size of a dime, should be concerning, for, you know, stability of the house and water seepage. Ours were not that bad, and luckily there is no bowing out of the walls but we did add mortar on Saturday to fill in the gaps. The walls are certainly texturized at this point, but I'm pretty sure that's a thing now so I'm embracing it? Guys, I really just didn't care at this point. I am ready to put this room back together.<br />
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Generally clean up would come next, but our handy man really likes to find other jobs to do for us, so Monday he offered to install our new recessed lighting after fixing the broken pvc pipe and to take down the old random florescent lighting. Switching out lighting is one thing, running new wires is another, so Tom was happy to hand over this job to him as well. He is not one to clean up after himself (his price and general handywork is right so we accept these inadequacies) so now I've got wood chips all over the floor from where the new wiring had to go. But on the plus side - I LOVE THIS COLOR.<br />
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So now we've got paint on the scrapped walls. I need to paint the other walls white, which are all in much better condition, and I need to pick a trim color (I'm thinking just shades darker than the dark walls). We've got to clean up the rug and wipe down everything we didn't take out of the room. We will start moving stuff back into place and I've got to brainstorm an idea for the halved table that has seen better days that we are using as counter along the side wall. Suggestions welcome!<br />
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Now go check out the <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week2">Featured Participants</a> and fellow <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/orcguestsf18wk2">Guest Participants</a>! See you next week!<br />
<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-84556455112267522352018-10-10T23:32:00.001-04:002018-11-13T16:40:27.455-05:00Budget Home Theater - The Reasoning {ORC Fall 2018: Week 1}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>If you've landed here from the One Room Challenge, Welcome! We've just purchased an 80's contemporary home in Upstate NY that just needs a little TLC to bring her back to her former glory. </i><br />
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<i><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-reasoning-orc-fall.html">Week 1</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-things-are-never.html">Week 2</a> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-cameras-are.html">Week 3</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/10/budget-home-theater-embarrassingly.html">Week 4</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-breakdown.html">Week 5</a> <a href="https://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2018/11/budget-home-theater-budget-baller.html">Week 6 - Reveal!</a></i></div>
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So we've been living in our new home in Upstate NY for about two months now. This house is admittedly, crazy big. We really didn't need this big of a house, but dammit did the aesthetic and location and yard and price call to us. It has turned out to be a BIT more of a fixer upper than originally anticipated, but that's ok. Every time a new problem pops up, we find ourselves groaning for a minute, and then enjoying digging in and trying to fix the problem ourselves. We've gotten braver over the years and have had pretty good luck so far. Cue the angels singing harmoniously. I'm living my dream, man.<br />
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So clearly an attempt to troubleshoot a slow drain in a kitchen sink last week would snowball into creating a budget basement home theater right? I'm sorry, do you not see the obvious thought process on this one? Let me explain.<br />
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As previously mentioned, this house is quite a bit bigger than our last house. This is not often a complaint you hear from home owners. And I'm not complaining, but I do want to find ways to creatively use these spaces. Once you've ticked off the obvious bedroom, tv room, play room, etc. areas that a family with two young kids wants, you start to get creative with the rest. Enter the Budget Home Movie Theater on the side of our semi-finished basement. We technically bought a screen and projector and used our old SONOS system a month ago and set it up some pillows and folding chairs and that was it. But after an attempt to unclog and plunge a slow drain in our kitchen, which in turn caused us to burst a pipe in our basement in front of the screen, which caused a disgusting amount of stinky water to spill onto the carpet, and splatter on the poorly painted walls I thought to myself, hey, didn't the One Room Challenge start this week? Maybe this is my chance to get back into blogging after a 2 year hiatus and albeit sporadic posting schedule previous to that.<br />
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Still with me? So let's talk about the plan and why we are calling this a budget makeover. It's less about the ability to spend and more about the practicality of spending too much on this space.<br />
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Reason #1 - I have serious PTSD regarding water in houses (stories I'll eventually blog about). Even though this basement is already semi-finished (distinct rooms from additions built in the 80s, wall to wall carpeting in certain areas) I will NEVER trust putting up any new drywall in a basement. I've been burned too many times. I don't even get upset anymore when I see water coming in through a ceiling or wall. However, accepting home ownership woes and being a masochist are two different things. What I'm trying to say is we've decided to visually split the usage of this room with paint and furniture, versus adding a wall to make it distinct and separate from the typical rec-room area stuff.<br />
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Reason #2 - My kids destroy everything. This is of course a slight exaggeration, but I do not have it in me to spend thousands of dollars on a nice leather sectional while they are 2 and 4. We started a having family movie night a few months back (in NJ) and they are allowed to eat popcorn on the couch on Friday nights. Greasy, buttery popcorn. It's October, so I can't help but hand them little Halloween treat bags of M&Ms too. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a complete ice queen. So we are searching for second hand or cheaper (and probably not exactly pretty) new couches for this area. The ceiling is too low to do traditional movie theater stadium seating, though we did consider building a platform and nixed it. A sectional with a few reclining seats or a sleeper sofa (sleepovers in a few years!) is the goal.<br />
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Reason #3 - It just doesn't seem necessary to go full fledged makeover. Is anyone else exhausted in reading about online/seeing IG photos of/watching TV shows about gut renovation jobs? I love me a good before and after, and yeah, we did that in our last house. A lot. This house doesn't NEED any of that right now. And I'm happy to call myself a slow decorator (much to Tom's dismay). So now that we are doing this ORC, we will probably pull together a few more things than what I would have normally done, but I can also appreciate calling a spot in our house complete.<br />
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The plan:<br />
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Clean, paint, buy seating, update the lighting, hang curtains, think of a plan for our halved table (more on that later), create a snack area, agree on movie posters to hang because why not. Maybe pretty up the rec room side of basement too, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have time.<br />
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And of course, thank you to Linda and the team at One Room Challenge for continuing to host such a fun group experiment. As always, the <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week1">Featured Designers</a> will link up on Wednesdays, and <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/orcguestsf18wk1">Guest Participants</a> will link up on Thursday through November 8th!<br />
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(Also, if you noticed and are wondering, you are not crazy. This Week 1 post is not linked up to the Week 1 Guest page because, yeah, I'm jumping in at Week 2 and missed that boat. Please accept me for who I am as a blogger.)<br />
<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-79146109433205212432018-10-09T09:58:00.000-04:002018-10-10T08:33:01.117-04:00Welcome Back to I am Kilo Bravo {Vague Explanations and Managing Expectations}<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>**First written in October of 2017**</i><br />
<i>**Edited again in March 2018**</i><br />
<i>**Finally posting in October 2018**</i></div>
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I started this blog in October of 2010. Blogging was VERY different back then. Popular, even. Many have predicted the death of blogs due to Instagram and podcasts, but there are still a TON out there that I love reading. And I still have this personal itch to document certain aspects of my own home's journey. I started this blog as a creative outlet to escape my mundane corporate life and because honestly, even though I'm not very good at openly admitting it, I am pretty proud of some of things we pull off in our home. As it often happens, our lives changed dramatically over the next <strike>seven+</strike> eight+ years. We started out in an apartment in Brooklyn, gots some cats, got married, had a baby, bought a house in NJ, had another baby, etc., etc.,...(sold our house in NJ, bought a house in upstate NY, etc., etc.,...)<br />
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We went through what felt like a horrific incident in our home in the summer of 2016. In hindsight (as hindsight often has that way) it was totally, 100% tolerable. Not something you wish on people, but hey, we made it through and it's a distant memory. Not long after that - and as I was finally sleeping again and feeling ready to share that story, something else happened in our family. Something that put our housing issues into <i>major </i>perspective. It didn't feel right to talk about our house story in a public way anymore (for you seven readers out there that are probably personal friends anyway). How can I initially complain and then share our journey back on home renovations while someone else is going through 'that'. <strike>While we are all going through 'that'.</strike> While we are all still learning how to live in the aftermath of 'that'.<br />
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The truth is that there is never really a 'good time' for anything. As I am often reminded, life marches on regardless. I want to begin to share certain aspects of our life because it brings me personal joy. And if I can give myself these small happinesses, I'd like to think I am a better mother, wife, and friend. Hitting publish on something I feel proud of is not unlike making it to a yoga class on Saturday for me. It invigorates me internally and I feel I am better person outwardly as well. Heck, this was all a way to escape my paying job, but I actually think I become a better employee when I allow myself to do this stuff, too. And to me, that is the point of life, right? At least I feel it is the point of my life. Trying to be the best version of myself that I can imagine? Basically thriving on all levels? (<-sarcasm font)<br />
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So I'm going to start small. I'm going to re-edit all those all old draft posts to catch you up to speed on the NJ house. And CLEARLY we've gotta catch up on the upstate NY house! And why not be really aggressive and attempt to be a guest participant in the <a href="https://www.oneroomchallenge.com/blog/fall2018week1">Fall 2018 One Room Challenge</a>? (Considering my last consecutive stint of blogging was <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/search/label/One%20Room%20Challenge">Spring 2016 ORC</a>, this makes sense to me). Be warned, my photography and photo-editing skills still suck. But most of all, thank you for reading and welcome back.<br />
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<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-79206983404346242122016-08-18T22:11:00.002-04:002018-11-08T10:58:52.526-05:00It was all good just a month ago...Life has been really weird for the past month. Surreal. Bizarro.<br />
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We are all safe and healthy. But our house...our house is not right now.</div>
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But it will be again (like hopefully by October when our short term apartment lease runs out). It's a long, annoying story. And generally I'm not really one to blog about my <i>feeeeeeelings. </i>But the series of events that have let up to today have been nothing short of surreal. And as crappy as what has transpired is - I also don't want to forget this weird time in our lives. You know, when we allegedly want to look back on all this and laugh in 5 years, as everyone keeps telling me. And I also know that once it's over and we are home again - the memory will feel fake. So I'm going to chronicle what I can chronicle now. Some parts I'm intentionally leaving out for privacy as we still don't know how this story fully ends. Yes I'm being vague. But you can probably put two and two together as to why.</div>
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Screen shot from my IG account the morning of July 18, 2016:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfmcS8R8G-oAf7akh0SVhEKWQN0cvpOBykgn5DHd5zNf36B3NPjYrb_taGqEbdiT8JrTRa07txAG7keMBdKfx1Y6-GXvvVZZepygmyPDgy0lixxQYQ7G1fJ89BGgeqjglkbqzY-5mSN17/s1600/Screenshot_2016-08-18-18-05-36.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfmcS8R8G-oAf7akh0SVhEKWQN0cvpOBykgn5DHd5zNf36B3NPjYrb_taGqEbdiT8JrTRa07txAG7keMBdKfx1Y6-GXvvVZZepygmyPDgy0lixxQYQ7G1fJ89BGgeqjglkbqzY-5mSN17/s640/Screenshot_2016-08-18-18-05-36.png" width="360" /></a></div>
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Oh that silly asshole Irony. <i>Amiright?</i> So let's rewind a little bit more to late June. Theodore (who has turned into suuuch a happy, smiling, go-with-the-flow baby) was still sleeping in our bedroom at 8 weeks old. The plan was to get around to painting the new molding and doors in his nursery before moving him in. Yeah, remember when <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-getting-started-week-3.html">we had all the molding and doors replaced</a> at the end of March while working on The Big Boy Room? So I never got around to painting them because I had Theodore a month early. I was beginning to get some sleep and was gearing up to start painting. As everyone knows, this summer has been particularly hot. Our old AF HVAC had been running constantly, and because it's old AF it was installed in our attic in like the 1840's or something (just kidding our house was built in '59). Apparently it's way more common to install them in closets nowadays. Anyway. </div>
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We hadn't walked into the nursery in a few days. It was basically serving as storage so I honestly can't tell you how many days it had been. But I walked in to get something, and out of the corner of my eye (or Tom's eye, I can't even remember who saw it first), there was BRIGHT GREEN FUZZY MOLD on the ceiling. Like, this ish was new. And very happy in it's environment. My plants outside the house are not that happy. I wish I could take credit for cultivating that amazing atmosphere for that mold on purpose. We quickly realized the AC unit was directly above it in the attic. So we turned it off. We were leaving to go on a mini-vaca to a lake house on the NY/NJ border the next day for 4 days. We decided it could wait to be dealt with unpon our return.</div>
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We came home. We had one bumbling plumber come over and break stuff and tell me he had no idea what the problem was after 2 hours. Thanks guy. This was the last week of June and temps were hitting 100 degrees on the reg. I packed up the babes and high tailed it to my parents house in the Catskills. We did a little more due diligence the second time around in looking for an HVAC company and waited to get on their schedule. In the meantime Tom managed to put his foot through the ceiling one day while trying to poke around up there. Add it to list.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYrOCMERCyZ4i0ANATbz0bKa2gc2onVEM_-HvS2q0gwnFh3sgd8pLXW_5KmrwNnNcVoBd-lmbraJ6odaBmMwK7BgecW0gVRi_cc98YPbdgvHeknLRayyy6W5rYQ1E4Bkqj0Jbx0FQyocM/s1600/foot+through+ceiling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvYrOCMERCyZ4i0ANATbz0bKa2gc2onVEM_-HvS2q0gwnFh3sgd8pLXW_5KmrwNnNcVoBd-lmbraJ6odaBmMwK7BgecW0gVRi_cc98YPbdgvHeknLRayyy6W5rYQ1E4Bkqj0Jbx0FQyocM/s640/foot+through+ceiling.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See that tiny patch of mold that we were losing our minds over? </td></tr>
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Skipping some of melodrama of the exact issues, at end of the day we needed a new HVAC system installed. I brought the kids home on July 5th to sit still in the stifling heat (there were not enough box fans in the world for those two days, luckily the boys handled the heat better than I did) so the workers could install the new system. And the guys were great. They stayed late 2 days in a row to get that system up and running for us, and our attic was easily well over 100 degrees. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUi8_LiAmo91p3OgKjG7WNmo9xJkZSpo2cAtyJTXu9AOBlZlF0W_4kbi60bu7rQA03cD_fsfbKzEYmWQUpGxTDg6r_AnVIX5cuNEgyACiBMin0aWX4AoKM03u10KogR7ZGooY09UURHSO/s1600/HVAC+yard+waste.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUi8_LiAmo91p3OgKjG7WNmo9xJkZSpo2cAtyJTXu9AOBlZlF0W_4kbi60bu7rQA03cD_fsfbKzEYmWQUpGxTDg6r_AnVIX5cuNEgyACiBMin0aWX4AoKM03u10KogR7ZGooY09UURHSO/s640/HVAC+yard+waste.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> 'Your attic is a mess - this is going to take a while'</td></tr>
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We called our usual interior contractors to come over and cut out the affected sheetrock and assess any other potential damage/treatment needed. As scary as the word 'mold' is to a homeowner (or a parent), the truth is that if the source is eliminated (broken, leaking HVAC) and the growth is removed, and everything is cleaned properly (patch of sheet rock, some insulation, lotso bleach), you really have nothing to worry about going forward. We breathed a nice cool sigh of relief. Approximately two+ weeks of hot hell was over. Yipee! Our bad luck streak had officially ended. </div>
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Let me just pause to say that it is f*cking comical to write that sentence out now. Folks, we thought that tiny patch of mold, a foot through the ceiling, and replacing the HVAC was the worst thing that could ever happen to us as homeowners.<br />
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In the meantime, we had gotten word that another set of contractors we had hired to basically redo our exterior (roof! siding! deck! fence!) were finally going to to start the work...you guessed it, the last week of my maternity leave. July 18, 2016. See IG picture above if you already forgot what the real story is about.</div>
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To be continued...</div>
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Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-16292740935507004182016-05-12T16:10:00.001-04:002018-11-08T10:58:36.331-05:00ORC: The Big Boy Room - The Reveal! {Week 6}You might be asking yourself "Wait, what happened to Week 5's post?"<br />
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And if you've been following along on this challenge (or noticed my instagram feed to the right), you might have also guessed this happened:<br />
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Yup, Theodore Raiden decided to join us on May 1st, when I was just a day short of 36 weeks. Good thing we transitioned William into his big boy bed literally a week before, when the wallpaper was up, but the finishing touches were not quite there. Lots of big changes in a very short time period for this little big brother, but I am happy to report he has taken it all in stride. I'm really regretting not doing a baby birthday pool sooner.<br />
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But enough about babies, onto the big boy room!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEUbe1V2hyphenhyphenM7uKhrYy7_luQ5a-yS043hJ9DuArFj3V716hV0OhBUouxmIoV7VbwNxDOt79idfonVHYKCbPO0enAKFEGLHiGnZ9tlWkcuWIp_sabsZfUugLEDW6rtvxiy06dJFKB1h0nlE/s1600/DSC_0203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUEUbe1V2hyphenhyphenM7uKhrYy7_luQ5a-yS043hJ9DuArFj3V716hV0OhBUouxmIoV7VbwNxDOt79idfonVHYKCbPO0enAKFEGLHiGnZ9tlWkcuWIp_sabsZfUugLEDW6rtvxiy06dJFKB1h0nlE/s640/DSC_0203.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, that is a pillow with a picture of Tom and I getting ready to sky dive. Seems fitting in the room.</td></tr>
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William really digs his airplane bed. We picked it out without any input from him, so we are glad he likes it. He did fall/roll out of it pretty much every night for the first week, but since then he has been staying in it at night. Luckily, we found a really plush shag rug (my nod to the original decor) that softens the fall, so we didn't even know he was falling out until we would check the monitor and realize we couldn't see him. I've slowly been taking the extra pillows that were stacked around the bed away as he seems more and more comfortable. His instinct is to go straight to the corner when we say its time to get into bed, which is why there are still a few blankets and pillows to the left, but he eventually crawls into bed as we sing songs or read.<br />
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I especially like the toy box on the front of the bed. We added two hinges so the top doesn't have to come all the way off. There isn't room for much else in here, so it's nice to have a place to toss the handful of toys that get dragged up here in the course of the day. We are still lacking in book storage - I'm on the search for a small magazine rack or basket.<br />
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The rocket canopy was not my idea. (Something <a href="http://makinglemonadeblog.com/how-to-make-diy-no-sew-kids-canopy-tent/">like this</a> was actually my original idea for the corner, but, you know, <i>time</i> and <i>energy</i>.) I still think the store bought version is a little too big for the room, but, I was outnumbered by Dad and William 2:1 (I should get use to this feeling I guess). We hung it from a stud, so its a few inches farther from the corner than I would have liked in an effort to minimize how huge it looks, but it is damn cute, and best of all, *hopefully* safe in case a kid decides to try to climb it or something.<br />
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We weren't planning on bringing the glider from the nursery into this room. And it wasn't in here the first week. However, while we were in the hospital, the grandparents were really having trouble getting William to bed, and suggested we move it back in. Sitting in this glider and reading before bed is a huge part of his bedtime routine, and it seemed like there were enough changes going on and we could concede on this small aspect to make his bedtime smoother. It has already made a world of difference. The baby is in the crib in our room for the next 8 - 10 weeks or so, so nothing is in the nursery right now. Hopefully we will be able to move it back when Theodore gets transitioned into his room.<br />
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I'm still looking for just the right diaper organizers for the closet. The pocket hanger we bought from Amazon is a touch too small. We have made good use out of a few simple hooks for clothes, hats, and the wet diaper bag for now though. The clip on light has really helped with making diaper changes more efficient as well. It helps when you can see what you are trying to clean. Go figure.<br />
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The shelving between the windows were borrowed from other rooms in the house, so they are legit vintage brass brackets. The wood tones match the hand-me-down dressers perfectly. The olive green blackout curtains are velvet and match the rug which was a completely happy accident. I wish they were a little bit longer (I cringe at too-short curtains) but they only came in one size. Eventually I have great plans add a strip of fabric (I'm thinking something black and white with a small pattern) to the bottom so they look longer. For now, I'm telling myself it's a good thing the heavy fabric ends right at the radiators, so the heat isn't completely trapped behind the curtains this coming winter.<br />
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Seek adventure, William Odin!<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-76269-Airplane-Toddler-Bed/dp/B00IEH9FQG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1463080411&sr=8-1&keywords=airplane+bed">Airplane Bed</a> <a href="http://www.landofnod.com/to-the-moon-playhouse-canopy/s382233">Rocket Canopy</a> <a href="http://www.westelm.com/products/graham-glider-g667/?pkey=e%7Cglider%7C93%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH">Glider</a> <a href="http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Loft-Luxury-Urban-Shag-Forest-Green-Polypropylene-Rug-710-x-10/9681859/product.html?recset=b0efead1-5861-490c-942d-592231a7907a&refccid=AMTIIVW6BJHZQPCIKDKS53BW6Q&recalg=862,861,839&recidx=0">Rug</a> <a href="http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Velvet-Blackout-84-inch-Curtain-Panel/5093386/product.html?refccid=PABAA5COW6ZJGSCPFBGBJ2WKCE&searchidx=1">Curtains</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hamper-20-8-Hx16-5-Wx16-1-GREY/dp/B00O26X21M/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1463080437&sr=8-4&keywords=owl+hamper">Owl Hamper</a> <a href="http://www.target.com/p/seek-adventure-framed-art-pillowfort/-/A-50075700#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=seek+adventure">Seek Adventure Frame</a><br />
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I'm so glad I participated in the <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/blog/2016/5/m1nln13vvumf9i8mx1qk71ft33qxr7">One Room Challenge</a>. Thanks to Calling it Home for hosting this great event once again!<br />
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<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html">Week 1</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-inspiration-week-2.html">Week 2</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-getting-started-week-3.html">Week 3</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-wallpaper-closet-week-4.html">Week 4</a><span style="color: #444444;"> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/05/orc-big-boy-room-reveal-week-6.html">Week 6</a></span><br />
<br />Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-88358946159535597112016-04-28T07:00:00.000-04:002016-05-12T16:05:08.331-04:00ORC: The Big Boy Room - Wallpaper & Closet! {Week 4}So last weekend, Tom and I tackled the wallpaper wall. Cue the dramatic thunder and lighting sound effects...and then sweet birds tweeting as a rainbow emerges.<br />
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Maybe it was because I over worry, and Tom under worries, but putting up the wallpaper was surprisingly easy. We did some mental prep work during the week, discussing our plan of attack to get the wall done in the limited hours we would have with the grandparents over. I read and re-read this great post from <a href="http://www.redhousewest.com/meras-house/wallpaper/">Red House West</a> about their experience putting up two sets of this particular wallpaper in Mera's play room.<br />
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The wallpaper package itself suggests starting from left to right on your wall, and drawing a plumb line about 1 inch short of the actual width of the first panel (18 inches, so we drew our plumb line at 17 inches from the corner). This is to accommodate for not so straight sheetrock corners, so that excess inch gets trimmed in place. It also ensures your next 6 or 7 panels should be parallel going across the wall.<br />
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We knew we were only going to use about 6 and half of the 8 panels because our wall is a little smaller than the mural itself. We thought about trying to start with the middle panel, so we would have a more symmetrical mural (the trees lower in the middle and get taller on the sides), but given the good advice on the package to start left to right, and my pregnancy brain turning to complete mush lately (more on that later) I couldn't mentally deal with the math (I'm an accountant IRL. This bodes well for my co-workers my last few weeks of work). Short story long, we did left to right.<br />
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We really found 4 of the 5 tips in the RHW post helpful, especially #1 - when it says soak for 30 seconds, they mean it. We timed the first one (we had a plastic table out in the room and were soaking the paper in a large shallow tupperware) and about 15 seconds in, Tom and I were arguing over whether or not to wait the additional 15 seconds. The argument went something like this: Tom "This is gooey, lets take it out" Me "No, can we follow the damn directions? Let's wait" Tom "I'm telling you Kayla, this shit is ready" Me "Fine, what do I know" (Because I'm a real defeatist like that. This is why I'm not a lawyer).<br />
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You know what, Tom was right (as usual). The paper was definitely adequately soaked. As was our floor as we gently pulled the paper out. And it went up just fine. We had more than enough time to iron out wrinkles and shift the paper on the wall. There was a lot of goo, and we had a bag of new lint free rags ready to soak it up. We also used my 18 inch plastic fabric ruler to help smooth out bubbles and excess goo. We didn't buy any other supplies, and I'm glad we didn't waste money on it. We didn't even need the giant sponge I found in the garage. Another tip we especially appreciated from RHW: we had extra razor blades for trimming the excess paper, and went through about 8 blades on the 7 sheets we used. <br />
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We continued this way, soaking for about 20 seconds, and putting the paper up and played around with it for about 10 minutes. We actually realized "booking" the paper wasn't working for us. I think if you had to put up paper yourself, this is probably great, but we had Tom on a stool attaching and shifting, and me crouched near the floor, holding the paper away from the wall ever so slightly so we would only attach it as Tom was ready to smooth it out. We did the whole wall in less than two hours, with a little lunch break in between while my MIL put William down for his nap. Granted, this was a shorter wall, no windows, nothing crazy to cut around. And the print itself is VERY forgiving. But we were definitely impressed with ourselves (and petrified that within three days we would walk in and the paper would be peeling away from the wall in resentment). But I'm happy to report, a week later it still looks good!<br />
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We do have one tip of our own to offer up: When trimming the excess paper around any outlets with your box cutter - turn off the electricity! Figured that one out the hard way (Tom, not me).<br />
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And now the closet. When planning out the room, I was all for the monochromatic black and white look, but Tom was itching for some more color on the walls. I really wanted to keep the other three walls white, so we compromised on painting the interior of the closet. I've previously mentioned when we removed the old sliding doors, we opted not to put on new accordion doors as we did in the other rooms because we knew we would use this nook as a changing area. The bed we purchased had some royal and navy blues in it, and we had found dark olive black out curtains for the windows. I wanted to marry some of those colors in the closet to make it all look more purposeful.<br />
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While contemplating design, I came up with this sick MS paint rendering to send to Tom:<br />
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The light blue was meant to be some leftover paint we had from our master bath that I thought we might reuse here and the black lines depict the shelf above the dresser, the green was a sample pot we had on hand, and we knew we would have to buy the royal blue if we wanted to use it. We ended up making life easier on ourselves (or so we thought) and just buying a single gallon of the royal blue color (Deep River by Behr) and adding a single, angled stripe with the sample green (Grape Leaves by Behr).<br />
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Single, 4 inch angled stripe. How hard could that be you might ask? Apparently VERY hard for me. I thought we would just start in one corner, tape at a slight angle, and let the tape determine the placement. Sounded easy as I put up the top piece of tape. The bottom piece, not so much. What started out at a 4 inch gap, turned into a 3 inch gap as I taped around the three inner walls. So then I tried to measure down 4 inches in a few spots and connect the dots, so to speak. Still wonky. I could only assume the tape itself was wonky from being rolled, or our walls were not straight enough because they are old and we have found some seriously questionable construction decisions in this house. CLEARLY, it could NOT be user error. I spent two different lunch breaks up here (I work from home) trying to figure this out.<br />
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Thankfully, my mother happened to visiting for the week and by the third day, I enlisted her help. Remember when I said I'm a paint hog? It was time to let go. She figured it out in a matter of minutes. (Also remember when I mentioned my pregnancy mush brain earlier? Totally pulling that card again). Once we were satisfied with the tape, I painted inside the stripe with blue to help with bleeding, and gave it two quick coats of green. Voila! Abstract stripe.<br />
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So yeah, 2 hours to do a wall of wallpaper, and about 3 combined hours to paint a friggin' stripe in a closet. Who knew. So what's your favorite part? I assumed it would be the wallpaper (which I LOVE, don't get me wrong) but this pop of color in the closet has made me surprisingly happy! And coincidentally, one of William's cars totally matches this paint scheme. It was meant to be...<br />
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Next week - STUFF!!! Don't forget to <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/blog/2016/4/one-room-challenge-guest-participants-week-4">check out the other participants</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html">Week 1</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-inspiration-week-2.html">Week 2</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-getting-started-week-3.html">Week 3</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-wallpaper-closet-week-4.html">Week 4</a><span style="color: #444444;"> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/05/orc-big-boy-room-reveal-week-6.html">Week 6</a></span></div>
Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-22725111539607872462016-04-21T09:34:00.002-04:002016-05-12T16:04:44.156-04:00ORC: The Big Boy Room - Getting Started {Week 3}<span style="font-family: inherit;">Welcome back! So in my </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html" style="font-family: inherit;">Before</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> post, I mentioned we had fixed a few of the annoying parts about this room. This was all PIY (pay it yourself) because we discussed and quickly decided to hire some contractors to come in for 4 days and deal with all the issues in ALL the rooms on the second floor as this could have easily taken us noobs months of weekends to complete ourselves. And while updating molding and/or hanging doors might not sound that difficult, with a deadline like ours, we were not willing to cut our teeth on this. Sometimes it just pays to pay someone else. To recap the fixable issues in this room:</span><br />
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Those radiators have about 10 layers of paint on them, and are constantly falling away from the wall. Hours of fun for a curious toddler.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are about 3 different types of molding in this <strike>room</strike> entire house. Some clamshell, some colonial, some walls have shoe molding, some don't. This inconsistency is quite consistent throughout our house, by the way. Drives. Me. Insane.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And that doorway is in the left corner of the room (basically where the photo is taken from), however, the door opens TO THE RIGHT. Whyyyyyyyy.</span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The ceiling boob light is about 11 inches to the right of the center of the ceiling. I repeat. Whyyyyyyyyy.</span></li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prime example of the inconsistency in molding hanging out in the middle of our hallway. Some shoe, some not, some non-molding patchwork, as you do apparently.</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The contractors removed all the molding around the floor, windows and doors and installed simple colonial with shoe molding. We have consistency! (PS we had already done this in most rooms on the first floor with initial construction when we bought the house). They also added new pre-hung doors so all of our doors actually shut now (great for guests that don't appreciate when our fat tabby cat pushes into their room to join them on the bed at night). They hung 11 doors and two sets of accordion closet doors (major upgrade to reaching into the closets over the old sliding doors). We decided against rehanging closet doors in this room, and you'll see why soon enough. They switched the swing of the doors on a few rooms and closets as well - so things are feeling much more feng shui. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We also had an electrician come in and center the boob light on the ceiling of this room, as well as move the light switch farther down the wall of the closet because the door to this room swings to the left now, and the old switch is behind the door. This ended up being a step we really didn't need to take and pay for, and I'll explain why in a future post (cliffhanger!). </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 18.48px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last but not least - we have new radiator covers throughout the house! I feel much better about the lack of probable lead paint that was chipping off every time a section fell off the wall when William decided to touch it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We did not pay the contractors to do any touchups - so we have a LOT of caulking and painting to do. We even have to touch up the walls with spackle and whatever color paint was in the room around all of the radiators because the old ones were absurdly high and now crappy sheetrock is exposed. But the focus has been to get through all of those tasks in the Big Boy Room before we move onto the other rooms. Breathe, Kayla, breathe. At least the construction aspect was done in 4 days by someone else. #worthit</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So first things first - we caulked and painted the molding. We are pretty brand loyal to Behr paint products due to the fact that we haven't had any issues, usually can find a color we like made by them, and sheer convenience (Home Depot is about 8 minutes away). I actually don't get crazy with all the different 'whites' out there, and we used their off-the-shelf Ultra Pure White semi gloss for all the molding and doors. Next, we painted three of the walls and the ceiling with their off-the-shelf Ultra Pure White flat interior paint. Easy peasy. What is nice is that these products are all low odor and no VOC so this preggo can do the most of the painting (I find painting seriously relaxing, even if it takes me double the time to do it than it would take Tom. Anyone else hog all the painting for themselves?). I kinda insisted on being the lead painter while Tom (and his father) continued with caulking in other rooms. Even though completely this room is the priority, it all has to get done eventually, right?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I suck at white balance. </td></tr>
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The men did prep the statement wall with wallpaper primer as suggested by the wallpapering instructions. I wrongfully assumed the primer would actually be white, so I'm glad I did at least a little cutting in with the regular white paint before this went up. The primer is actually a milky color in the can (and stinky, so I took this opportunity to put my feet up downstairs on the couch) and dried fairly clear. Though fully dried after 1 hour, its stays slightly tacky, and is allegedly going to help with adhering the wallpaper, as well as making this wallpaper easier to remove down the line (only time will tell on that part). Maybe an unnecessary extra step, but given this is our first attempt at wallpapering, we wanted to go by the book for the most part.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUdSqBY-ldaqNkBaz14PDtsanggfIZxE7-NhmHX5e0pFXl4EbL5WsRa_f7c61En1wfm1tKXcuS3C1GgjNPc5Koa9PUpSsN5tuoYgiDaA9WrrRcqiI_x_JWHOu6c4JCwYCMXDmFxFsDV2V/s1600/DSC_0128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUUdSqBY-ldaqNkBaz14PDtsanggfIZxE7-NhmHX5e0pFXl4EbL5WsRa_f7c61En1wfm1tKXcuS3C1GgjNPc5Koa9PUpSsN5tuoYgiDaA9WrrRcqiI_x_JWHOu6c4JCwYCMXDmFxFsDV2V/s640/DSC_0128.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun fact - see that small section unpainted on the ceiling? WE RAN OUT OF PAINT with only a small section left. So annoying.</td></tr>
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The last bit o' painting that had to occur is inside the closet. We received some hand-me-down dressers from my parents, and the shorter one fits well in here, so after removing the wooden dowel that was used to hang clothes from (you know so William can't swing from it) we are going to attach a changing pad to that dresser and change William in this nook until he is out of diapers. Since there is a lot of white and black going on in the rest of the room, we decided to do something a little more <a href="http://snapwidget.com/v/1229208391156235307">bright in here</a>, that would also hopefully tie in the other colors in the room to make it all look more purposeful. You can also see in this shot that the door now swings TO THE LEFT! The door is going to get some semi-gloss white but I think I'm going to wait to do all the doors & closets (13!) at once after this baby comes.<br />
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Next week: WALLPAPER & CLOSET!!! Teaser because this molding before and after is just too good not to show:<br />
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Don't forget to check out the other guest participants on <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/blog/2016/4/one-room-challenge-guest-participants-week-3">ORC Week 3</a>! And just for fun try and find my link (did I get up early enough to break the top 100 in the linky party? No, no I didn't.).<br />
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<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html">Week 1</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-inspiration-week-2.html">Week 2</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-getting-started-week-3.html">Week 3</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-wallpaper-closet-week-4.html">Week 4</a><span style="color: #444444;"> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/05/orc-big-boy-room-reveal-week-6.html">Week 6</a></span></div>
Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-80290898188504666692016-04-14T08:00:00.000-04:002016-05-12T16:04:31.050-04:00ORC: The Big Boy Room - Inspiration {Week 2}So<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html"> last week </a>you saw the glorious 70's vibe this big boy room was throwing out when we purchased our home just under two years ago.<br />
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We ripped up the rugs and had the floors redone before moving in. And there it sat as a catchall until last Fall when we found out we were expecting #2.<br />
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It's a small room, but rather bright, and the blank wall to the right, opposite the doorway, just seemed perfect for something in the 'statement wall' category.<br />
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I had it in my head I was going to do a 'paint by number' mural for several weeks. Something like these:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5xNEXOxMwE7oYoJK2VB5wlGc1pV0-yBE3RD7nhwdahTSjFVz1mniK-GYl068BWMqaWBIfeUJbvbNt78EU4_aH9IJSqdtVRitwU0f62NVFbFmPGuPY_LHdV07lKeIaYtCMqcljHCzt284/s1600/img_1014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5xNEXOxMwE7oYoJK2VB5wlGc1pV0-yBE3RD7nhwdahTSjFVz1mniK-GYl068BWMqaWBIfeUJbvbNt78EU4_aH9IJSqdtVRitwU0f62NVFbFmPGuPY_LHdV07lKeIaYtCMqcljHCzt284/s640/img_1014.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://easterkiwi.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/paint-by-number-wall-mural/">via EasterWiki</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/before-after-curtis-robertsons-153897">via Apartment Therapy</a></td></tr>
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This last picture was something I remember seeing on a blog YEARS ago and this is only link I was able to find that sourced the photographer. Apparently this is a room for rent at a camp/retreat facility in Illinois.<br />
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<a href="http://www.houzz.com/photos/12050297/Camp-Wandawega-rustic-kids-chicago" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Camp Wandawega" border="0" src="http://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/cc3160780370fb84_8-1885/rustic-kids.jpg" height="750" nopin="nopin" width="500" /></a></div>
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<small><a href="http://www.houzz.com/pro/tereasastyle/tereasa-style" style="color: #444444; text-decoration: none;">Photo by Tereasa Style</a> - <a href="http://www.houzz.com/photos/rustic/kids" style="color: #444444; text-decoration: none;">Browse rustic kids' room ideas</a> <a href="http://www.houzz.com/photos/12050297/Camp-Wandawega-rustic-kids-chicago">via Houzz at Camp Wandawega</a></small></div>
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But the more I looked into it, and tried to source my own paint by number painting from Ebay (as many sites had suggested) the more I realized I was biting off more than I could chew. And admitting that is a lot for me. Maybe if this was a first kid project, but definitely not for a mom of a toddler.</div>
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So it was back to the drawing board, so to speak. We have a mixture of an outer space/safari animal theme in the nursery (I'll show you someday, "I pomise"), so I kinda wanted to go a little woodland creature with this one. William is not quite old enough to have a major opinion on these things, so lucky for Tom and I, we get to make all the decisions ourselves. Tom voted for an awesome toddler bed, of the car or airplane or something else of the really cool variety, and I kept looking for wall inspiration.</div>
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Then I saw this image on<a href="http://cupofjo.com/2015/11/colorful-home-in-utah/"> CupofJo</a>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixIRPtdqqBCw2pIblKciwX8EmRu2AVtd_XhRFwxc58fn3o-5Lf_ibQA0gGoke7K7NbaUVRPKv2_qeRT6z4Xsn4YR2pLcWMDY0f1OAAyvdg8oQmONvjl52QqFFyaK1gsyZBE29PrZ-DWU0/s1600/henrik-coleman-bedroom-2-680x907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixIRPtdqqBCw2pIblKciwX8EmRu2AVtd_XhRFwxc58fn3o-5Lf_ibQA0gGoke7K7NbaUVRPKv2_qeRT6z4Xsn4YR2pLcWMDY0f1OAAyvdg8oQmONvjl52QqFFyaK1gsyZBE29PrZ-DWU0/s640/henrik-coleman-bedroom-2-680x907.jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
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And I loved the simplicity of the black and white image, allowing everything else that is kid related to be in-your-face colorful, as it happens to be regardless of how much I protest. This was a photo they found on Ebay that was blown up and made into a wallpaper. But instead of going through old pictures, it got me thinking...oh...wallpaper murals....</div>
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Maybe like this one?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuLoHBVAD5k1AAnYiJorauHuj7cChnVd5q7QYQxhSu2XA5ITc7jlwYCqkD0HZ_yOhfb0quOlzmCqFsPszAlc-pxPe5pN-qCXqc3nO3gRhVQB1nSkxo6SJMCsj2oSy-zaJZpJd6K-RFhIf/s1600/23766900_008_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuLoHBVAD5k1AAnYiJorauHuj7cChnVd5q7QYQxhSu2XA5ITc7jlwYCqkD0HZ_yOhfb0quOlzmCqFsPszAlc-pxPe5pN-qCXqc3nO3gRhVQB1nSkxo6SJMCsj2oSy-zaJZpJd6K-RFhIf/s640/23766900_008_b.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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The price was right, the size was right, it had decent reviews...so we purchased it from <a href="http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-room/23766900.jsp#/">Anthropologie</a>. Months ago, to be honest. Yes, we thought we'd actually have this room done by Christmas, hahahahahahaahahaahahaha. But! We have made a ton of progress in the past few weekends thanks to some <u>great</u> grandparents that have been coming over to watch the human tornado while Tom and I work upstairs. And this weekend, we will attempt to put this bad boy up. Wish us luck!</div>
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Week 2 of 6 of <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/blog/2016/4/one-room-challenge-guest-participants-week-2">One Room Challenge</a> in the books. Week 33 of sobriety! What will come first, the thrilling conclusion to this bedroom makeover, or the baby!?!? NOBODY KNOWS!!!! </div>
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<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html">Week 1</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-inspiration-week-2.html">Week 2</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-getting-started-week-3.html">Week 3</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-wallpaper-closet-week-4.html">Week 4</a><span style="color: #444444;"> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/05/orc-big-boy-room-reveal-week-6.html">Week 6</a></span></div>
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Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-31650967902353186832016-04-07T21:09:00.000-04:002016-05-12T16:03:51.442-04:00ORC: The Big Boy Room - Before {Week 1}I'm going to skip all the jokes I could make about taking oh, 14 months off from blogging. I never really expected to take that long of a break, buuut...I did. I thought about posting a clip of the opening 3 seconds of Sid the Science Kid but realized how lame it is to admit that was the first thing that popped into my head as my welcome back post. #transformationtoparentcomplete #IusedtobecoolIswear<br />
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Reasons why I stopped blogging: my baby became a toddler, I'm expecting #2 in a few short weeks, work seems to be busier than ever, you know, life in general. In short, blogging just didn't make it on the priority list anymore.<br />
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Reason why I'm making myself start again now: as mentioned above, and fairly evident in my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/iamkilobravo/">instagram feed</a>, baby boy #2 is coming soon. I'm 32 weeks now, and in case anyone remembers slash cares, William was born at 37 weeks. I'm told we should just be ready for anything as far as timing - this one could be earlier, could be later, no one friggin knows. So - as my tax season winds up we are in overdrive to get William transitioned into his "Big Boy Room" and into a toddler bed ASAP. And what better timing than to document it all and participate in the internet-famous <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/oneroomchallenge/">One Room Challenge</a>! This room is getting updated in a short period of time no matter what, so let's see if I can eek out 5 more posts on the next 5 Thursdays? Challenge, accepted.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjTeIETrjE1E9VKzxKYnvQSQVsqGUAe3slKGyG4xipdiWy3JWouhD_jmKnAozxTOVpuqtUuQwOpzPypm10UW1COPcrR87WNpS7ctJ2oSxeBcVn-wcR1XRa69_MoTxzUNr5kb9JRIWOsh2/s1600/ORC+Image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjTeIETrjE1E9VKzxKYnvQSQVsqGUAe3slKGyG4xipdiWy3JWouhD_jmKnAozxTOVpuqtUuQwOpzPypm10UW1COPcrR87WNpS7ctJ2oSxeBcVn-wcR1XRa69_MoTxzUNr5kb9JRIWOsh2/s200/ORC+Image.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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Of course you might also recognize some of the <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/blog/2016/4/one-room-challenge-featured-designers-spring-2016">Featured Participants</a> as well. I'll be linking up on Thursdays (hopefully) to the <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/blog/2016/4/one-room-challenge-guest-participants-spring-2016">Guest Participants</a> page. Go check out the other 200+ bloggers that are joining in on the fun (or at least pretend to). And if you landed here from the ORC main page - kudos to you for clicking through this far. I know I've gotta be one of the last thumbnails. That is dedication.</div>
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So let's look at the glorious "before" of this room. I'm going way back to the MLS listing. We bought this house back in June of 2014, and had the rugs ripped up and the floors refinished before we moved in. After that, this room became a catchall for out grown baby junk and whatever else we didn't want to look at up until about 3 weeks ago. Feast your eyes:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2_Jb05pnG9fPEGRmpZJsP0d2ziYcYNp6011XiGDuEX1MJLW_f_eeP5IkHueEI4fXYKmR88A3q3xsdaGoZIZACVbDv5RPOMm685GGcOFR0Wbvhoc7QA0AcBXFctbXTgU_5gHsG8c0LYOiL/s1600/2+-+Middle+Bedroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2_Jb05pnG9fPEGRmpZJsP0d2ziYcYNp6011XiGDuEX1MJLW_f_eeP5IkHueEI4fXYKmR88A3q3xsdaGoZIZACVbDv5RPOMm685GGcOFR0Wbvhoc7QA0AcBXFctbXTgU_5gHsG8c0LYOiL/s640/2+-+Middle+Bedroom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The real estate photographers get a lot of credit. I haven't seen this picture in a long time and this room doesn't look terrible, just majorly dated. What you can't really tell from this picture is:</div>
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<li>Those radiators have about 10 layers of paint on them, and are constantly falling away from the wall. Hours of fun for a curious toddler.</li>
<li>There are about 3 different types of molding in this room. Some clamshell, some colonial, some walls have shoe molding, some don't. This inconsistency is quite consistent throughout our house, by the way. Drives. Me. Insane.</li>
<li>This room is pretty small. Like 8 x 10 small. Trust me, that bed, if it were still there, is way closer to the doorway in person.</li>
<li>And that doorway is in the left corner of the room (basically where the photo is taken from), however, the door opens TO THE RIGHT. Whyyyyyyyy.</li>
<li>The ceiling boob light is about 11 inches to the right of the center of the ceiling. I repeat. Whyyyyyyyyy.</li>
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Good news is 1, 2, 4 and 5 are fixable to a satisfying degree for me. And, even better, they actually are now fixed. </div>
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So come back next week to either see if I had this kid super early (dear god let me at least make it to 37 weeks again) or to see what we did next in the room. #nailbiter<br />
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<a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room.html">Week 1</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-inspiration-week-2.html">Week 2</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-getting-started-week-3.html">Week 3</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/04/orc-big-boy-room-wallpaper-closet-week-4.html">Week 4</a><span style="color: #444444;"> <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2016/05/orc-big-boy-room-reveal-week-6.html">Week 6</a></span></div>
Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-9919544058099885792015-02-17T07:00:00.000-05:002015-02-17T10:32:19.232-05:00The Hunt for the Hutch {Dining Room Progress}<i>So in my <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2015/02/allow-me-to-reintroduce-myself-our-new.html">last post</a> I gave you a rundown of the progress in the dining room. It didn't need too much to come together, being that there are very few walls in this room, but it was definitely missing a hutch.</i><br />
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I had a few items on my checklist for what I wanted - large enough to display all of my anthro dishes I received for our wedding, fully enclosed shelving to help deal with dust and cat fur, and I wanted solid wood shelves after I saw the glass break from too much weight in my mother's cabinet. I also wanted a walnut wood, and oh a great price too of course. I wasn't really digging anything we were finding in the big box stores so I knew I was going to have to be patient on craigslist. I checked randomly for the past few months, but we had other projects and things we were looking for and I wasn't feeling pressured to buy anything just yet.<br />
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Right before Christmas I found a beauty - this United beauty in fact.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDauUKpRwG5OrNSPJqODM1soAMKnoOmFLk4deliChT78yGuIsbtQF1E_YpzqNxkuLa06tzWkH0sSuFWIJz92kNd-uqIxH5bAcPkju-fFBDWL4IcnMvZsnvE3LImh_Pux4r5K_S3RAVw2c8/s1600/United+Hutch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDauUKpRwG5OrNSPJqODM1soAMKnoOmFLk4deliChT78yGuIsbtQF1E_YpzqNxkuLa06tzWkH0sSuFWIJz92kNd-uqIxH5bAcPkju-fFBDWL4IcnMvZsnvE3LImh_Pux4r5K_S3RAVw2c8/s1600/United+Hutch.jpg" height="640" width="516" /></a></div>
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But I got greedy. I low balled them and balked at the delivery fee from Philly. Who do I think I am? And deservingly I lost it to someone else. I called their bluff and lost it. I hated myself for about a week and constantly opened up the saved photo on my laptop. I may have pet my screen a few times.<br />
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But the guy I was emailing was great - he kept sending me photos of other pieces they had - I almost went for this Stanely piece but it wasn't grabbing me the way the United piece was. A little too plain. I hemmed. I hawed. I checked CL again.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfDAgZ6YSx-_XLpeaiKZ3OVLH-p2kdwAtcsSEpM1kuVJ3cHg3PArmgLbxmz03Eb_Ttd-MO-eJMQA0azxYvT2DfjhCttyGZg1Y4-nypOJvNDPods2PnIooCqZ_yv8wX5DCHzAjd3zwaDhG/s1600/Stanley+2+Piece.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKfDAgZ6YSx-_XLpeaiKZ3OVLH-p2kdwAtcsSEpM1kuVJ3cHg3PArmgLbxmz03Eb_Ttd-MO-eJMQA0azxYvT2DfjhCttyGZg1Y4-nypOJvNDPods2PnIooCqZ_yv8wX5DCHzAjd3zwaDhG/s1600/Stanley+2+Piece.jpg" height="640" width="525" /></a></div>
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Then I took a second look at a Kent Coffey Perspecta. It was for sale in Queens, I would have to hire movers myself, and it was more than the United piece by $400. But I was in the zone. We were purchasing a hutch, and we were purchasing one soon, dammit. Suddenly, I didn't really care that the shelves weren't wood. I checked back with my guy in Philly and saw they had just the bottom piece for only $100 less than what the person in Queens was selling her top and bottom for. She even found my blog and complimented our chandelier. I was ready to say Sold! and decided to do one last search on CL.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSGKfaSJ5ujzoNfvJvnU7tlI1-oFjJe82Z5jsVRON7UMGrFWEFZUgMOdWfYb_8ZfE35pgCyKxTXT6bugEUY6kr7is4KhZWoEt6jRYywDlXcQLVdHvNMAfF7pqybDRn84k-nhBiboyVvrI/s1600/Kent+Coffey+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSGKfaSJ5ujzoNfvJvnU7tlI1-oFjJe82Z5jsVRON7UMGrFWEFZUgMOdWfYb_8ZfE35pgCyKxTXT6bugEUY6kr7is4KhZWoEt6jRYywDlXcQLVdHvNMAfF7pqybDRn84k-nhBiboyVvrI/s1600/Kent+Coffey+1.jpg" height="640" width="476" /></a></div>
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And then I found the same piece, top and bottom, only 20 minutes away for less than half of her price. The pics were a little grainy. The seller was friendly, but not entirely forth coming with details on the quality. ("What do you mean by luster?") I figured either he didn't really know what he had, or he didn't really care and just wanted to get rid of it, or it wasn't in great shape and he was being vague on purpose. We decided the price was too good to not check it out, so one cold Saturday in January we loaded up the baby, borrowed a friend's truck, and made the drive to check it out. I wanted to bring a truck so we could load it up on the spot if we liked it.<br />
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Spoiler alert. We liked it. We bought it on the spot and I paid his full asking price because it felt like the right thing to do. Tom and the seller loaded it up and tied it down. He had previously removed the three glass shelves as well as the glass for the two sides and the two middle doors to make it easier getting it out of his house. He said his wife just grew tired of it and wanted something more modern and even though it was outside covered in tarp, it looked like it was going to clean up nicely. We got it home, returned our friends truck and finally gave the baby some jumparoo time since he had been so good for what had been 4 hours already.<br />
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The next puzzle was figuring out how to get the glass back in. We even called the seller back after a few hours of not being able to figure it out. It was a damn puzzle. A puzzle I tell you! The doors were easy, it was figuring out how to get the side glass pieces in (they had to be inched in at just such an angle) as well as the shelves. They had to go in before the last side was in, but had to be laid against the back wall in just such a way to get the last side in. Then we could put in the brackets and raise each shelf. Another 4 hours later, and we were in business. Yes folks. 8 hours start to finish to buy a piece of furniture that existed only 20 minutes away. But we now have bragging rights. And we didn't even fight once. This feat was more impressive than a trip to Ikea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7nHablibsVT8B5rd8Wbnwy4x5cY0x3PaZXT_Dl1sNvk3SutvBLfQ24c8blZLyv7PXPt0mpTkeZwixF_ZxLEKqJTOuCFMBpBLjZk-M_tgqIl4snKZ4dnVn4-cVRIiUalGl9tBXJT11IZF/s1600/DSC_0063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7nHablibsVT8B5rd8Wbnwy4x5cY0x3PaZXT_Dl1sNvk3SutvBLfQ24c8blZLyv7PXPt0mpTkeZwixF_ZxLEKqJTOuCFMBpBLjZk-M_tgqIl4snKZ4dnVn4-cVRIiUalGl9tBXJT11IZF/s1600/DSC_0063.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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Love those side cut outs. It really allows so much light to flow through the room. This piece is bigger than the bookcases, yet it feels so much lighter in here now.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ub5k9hCpnB0rWCz0QXgCGNHhkHdH91C4WfKqt3F8upDfZTUGxH0V_UTlz_5Ym0mIja5NQaO0u4VsRa9IUhsr9F6SxhSrf7y41FUbCDDST_26vOc1OkNRvGWledWm7WwQQYpKhlt6ZXr0/s1600/side+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Ub5k9hCpnB0rWCz0QXgCGNHhkHdH91C4WfKqt3F8upDfZTUGxH0V_UTlz_5Ym0mIja5NQaO0u4VsRa9IUhsr9F6SxhSrf7y41FUbCDDST_26vOc1OkNRvGWledWm7WwQQYpKhlt6ZXr0/s1600/side+view.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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And look at how pretty all of our stuff looks in it. Most of the white stuff on the bottom two shelves are from anthro, my ugly monkey tea set and the lions were my grandmothers, as were the Japanese vases and little shot glasses on the top shelf. The Japanese plates were Tom's grandmothers and the W etched shrimp glasses were a gift from a family friend from her first marriage when she was a W. It is amazing how it looks like it was always there.<br />
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We kept up with the Asian theme and hung prints that were also my grandmothers on either side of the doors. I'm torn on the idea of getting them reframed and matted. I believe they are original from Korea (my grandfather was in the Korean War) and they were framed at a spot in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (which is now sentimental for me after living there for the past 8 years). But, the frames are thin and weak, and the matting has yellowed. In this bright white room, they almost look dingy by comparison. But I hate to part with the original pieces. Is there a right or wrong answer here?</div>
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And just for fun - let's compare the before and afters one more time of the whole dining room, shall we?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMedznJo3-N37HNtDKt-gVOnF5dQZ3N0fAu6X8MjStupw5P2Zn6Qe2VoHWjHTpu7ZYCqVTg37aWyqASP-_DnyUcXcEmnBvYx9Y3zP5RVU6o9YLWhE54Pji822f9hVuk4KzvTxeg7LsXwZ4/s1600/DR+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMedznJo3-N37HNtDKt-gVOnF5dQZ3N0fAu6X8MjStupw5P2Zn6Qe2VoHWjHTpu7ZYCqVTg37aWyqASP-_DnyUcXcEmnBvYx9Y3zP5RVU6o9YLWhE54Pji822f9hVuk4KzvTxeg7LsXwZ4/s1600/DR+1.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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I found a better pic of the placeholder bookcases on my phone. Oh the days when William sat in that infant seat (PS: LOVE OUR STOKKE STEPS - totally worth the money IMO).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt5-mOlt5iCQa6YGfnsIwGfWWV9l0qigghNGq754zsd7P78mrXlCHa_MhM_CVqNuk9CiVDozRqRajjJlw4_Ba5EnUb22bREy25O6YhWU6zZeYHgapV8f-d9SFXpEtK7pbMEjbAmzS1dDkR/s1600/20141016_132704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt5-mOlt5iCQa6YGfnsIwGfWWV9l0qigghNGq754zsd7P78mrXlCHa_MhM_CVqNuk9CiVDozRqRajjJlw4_Ba5EnUb22bREy25O6YhWU6zZeYHgapV8f-d9SFXpEtK7pbMEjbAmzS1dDkR/s1600/20141016_132704.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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And what it looks like today!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNUtEp1q8gLnbejsPcwrRwBw7XHhnaJsOtFtq8bGBaA3x_T0CxJmEhe8ynaMEKoFPAmUPmavy4KopIURK9ra-HZTqC-3N34Tb-S7QlcFEWgP7XvmX_xk6DfcAkywoWtxmrV7976z36M_N/s1600/DSC_0084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyNUtEp1q8gLnbejsPcwrRwBw7XHhnaJsOtFtq8bGBaA3x_T0CxJmEhe8ynaMEKoFPAmUPmavy4KopIURK9ra-HZTqC-3N34Tb-S7QlcFEWgP7XvmX_xk6DfcAkywoWtxmrV7976z36M_N/s1600/DSC_0084.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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And to clarify, these rooms are all the same size - it's actually slightly bigger now with the wall gone - I am just not as fancy a photog as the real estate broker apparently was. Anyone want to volunteer to photograph our space?? #kiddingnotkidding #seriouslyemailmeifyouknowhowtoshootinteriorsandwillcometoNJ<br />
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Have any epic CL stories of holding out for the right piece at the right price? Anyone better at negotiating prices than me? I once haggled a guy for a sugar shaker from $2 to .50 at a yard sale and I may have oversold my expertise to myself.Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-24564582444392825412015-02-12T08:00:00.000-05:002015-02-12T09:20:25.821-05:00Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself {Our New Old Dining Room}<i>This started as one long post but I decided to break it up into two because my rambling can be excessive, even for me...</i><br />
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So we have been jumping all over the house for the past few months. No single room is what I would call "finished" but the Nursery is probably the closest. And now I think the dining room is pretty damn close too!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLtXscAb5qnW1d8sOi27eqKFD4wx6Z05k6EfHal4IhPRmWCvkoGaJxuNkbn6ofhzZ78Qd2FckN91v-eUYv4eaFvo_ts1rRWoZTfYW9XLd_mWHF6O-y9f60OvQaUGDG5LBaFuYyK0NCgJU/s1600/DSC_0075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLtXscAb5qnW1d8sOi27eqKFD4wx6Z05k6EfHal4IhPRmWCvkoGaJxuNkbn6ofhzZ78Qd2FckN91v-eUYv4eaFvo_ts1rRWoZTfYW9XLd_mWHF6O-y9f60OvQaUGDG5LBaFuYyK0NCgJU/s1600/DSC_0075.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've briefly mentioned that we did a gut renovation on our kitchen, and removed the walls that separated the kitchen and dining room, kitchen and living room, and the dining room was already pretty open to the living room. (Did you follow that? Me neither. Here is the file Tom created to give out to the different companies that gave us estimates for the work. Everything in the red zig zag is gone now).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkCNx4CeMbIBXHLAIC42K74cpBGq-avA65RsQIGk-iQN4NIs-VoyZhfFmr1whCdxO216WMZOjiPEqVCxc6kLsu__LYE9ElRQ6og8QX75UKIPUED_c4fzT2sfNZUXpXS78ngcW35CfiRzK/s1600/Kitchen+Renovations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkCNx4CeMbIBXHLAIC42K74cpBGq-avA65RsQIGk-iQN4NIs-VoyZhfFmr1whCdxO216WMZOjiPEqVCxc6kLsu__LYE9ElRQ6og8QX75UKIPUED_c4fzT2sfNZUXpXS78ngcW35CfiRzK/s1600/Kitchen+Renovations.png" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
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Some before pictures from the MLS listing of the dining room/living room/kitchen:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yDXzQOTqv-5njWtvfhrz4NN6kTqOTjHNSSJ7Eip2pKD29TQXBs56mnsB-C86N7ev7ayykkq0UmOvHPYgZTZKyQcfCXHyE7VScTBpTS5jx5ZfPux0Ao2J5vNPJHQhCmq6voAODF4uHZR6/s1600/DR+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yDXzQOTqv-5njWtvfhrz4NN6kTqOTjHNSSJ7Eip2pKD29TQXBs56mnsB-C86N7ev7ayykkq0UmOvHPYgZTZKyQcfCXHyE7VScTBpTS5jx5ZfPux0Ao2J5vNPJHQhCmq6voAODF4uHZR6/s1600/DR+1.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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So that wall to the right used to lead into the kitchen - we took it down (but we saved the accordion door and the chandelier!). The double doors to the left head into the office/man cave.<br />
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Now from the other side, the wall to the left with the opening into the dining room is gone. There is a wall you don't see in this picture to the left of that kitchen table that we also removed (See it below). Essentially, our island is now where the kitchen table was. And this yellow kitchen is completely gone but that deserves its own post.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuitIqM639sELAB2cbDxeJSxaYE5oixOXMp6HBzNF3hutoLqdD7_XM2jO6RIaP5WkU8ZkS7IBKLhOb3aByd9H7AEFKcg403CT3PHPwgB2k6iuyHin8r1gLfyRLoOI_MA3GeBYpZ-bZ1Wg/s1600/Kitchen+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuitIqM639sELAB2cbDxeJSxaYE5oixOXMp6HBzNF3hutoLqdD7_XM2jO6RIaP5WkU8ZkS7IBKLhOb3aByd9H7AEFKcg403CT3PHPwgB2k6iuyHin8r1gLfyRLoOI_MA3GeBYpZ-bZ1Wg/s1600/Kitchen+2.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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The living room:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6PPgDC8wN6wf4iVJ2f-nVJNRWBBkCGViyIuca8spyzr3w_o7mM1hmCC9YtChvGebkea2o5TaTQTArXeaxt5K7l1UzhS-huA5tNoYJ-F9Ta_rMgj83_Vy7YI8SggMTyXaX63OZb7ex1ZC/s1600/Living+Room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6PPgDC8wN6wf4iVJ2f-nVJNRWBBkCGViyIuca8spyzr3w_o7mM1hmCC9YtChvGebkea2o5TaTQTArXeaxt5K7l1UzhS-huA5tNoYJ-F9Ta_rMgj83_Vy7YI8SggMTyXaX63OZb7ex1ZC/s1600/Living+Room.jpg" height="424" width="640" /></a></div>
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And that wall to the right (which was the same wall in the kitchen) is now gone. You can see the original opening into the dining area was already large, but now we've maximized that opening. I would also like to note that clearly photographers for MLS listings use a wide angle lens. These rooms are definitely roomy - but these photos make them look down right huge.<br />
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So now everything is super open and we have a solid 'great room' which we love and is oh so en trend. But I still tend to look at these spaces separately when it comes to focusing on pieces to purchase to fill up this home. During demo we had them remove the dining room windows and put in french doors - eventually these will lead to a deck when we finally build one, but for now they serve as an nice way to get big furniture into the house. And they let in a lot of light. We had them replace the old chandelier (which I saved for another project) and had them install this darling. Ohemgee I love<a href="http://www.jonathanadler.com/lighting/meurice-rectangle-chandelier/18-2500016.html?dwvar_18-2500016_color=Nickel#start=4"> this light</a>. We even learned how to put in our own dimmer switch after the electricians left. Let's just say because the instructions say you <i>can</i> put in 25 watt bulbs, doesn't mean you <i>should, </i>especially when there are 42 of them. Wattage literally accumulates. Did you know that? Now you do.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0_q9RLOri7U_ceZVhWobXHYFjvh6XMIV8nAudBCEFYm_qR6efZwCSvFoKiXeFl-6UK-oD1J6AlYAzASQf44qQlsgpd7yy4qV1HuBGemzyKQ2WM-uXeV3yfSa13tkt2mDe47qErET58Sf/s1600/DSC_0072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy0_q9RLOri7U_ceZVhWobXHYFjvh6XMIV8nAudBCEFYm_qR6efZwCSvFoKiXeFl-6UK-oD1J6AlYAzASQf44qQlsgpd7yy4qV1HuBGemzyKQ2WM-uXeV3yfSa13tkt2mDe47qErET58Sf/s1600/DSC_0072.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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We purchased a new extendable table from <a href="http://www.westelm.com/products/parker-expandable-dining-table-g830/?pkey=cdining-tables&cm_src=dining-tables||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_--_-">West Elm</a>, and the chairs are from our last dining set, whose remaining pieces have been sprinkled throughout the house. They are a little beat up and not quite the same genre as all the MCM we've got going on in here but they are comfortable and I spent a lot of money on the upholstery back when I didn't have a ton of money to do that sort of thing and I cannot let them go. And because of GOLD, obvs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKHY5JJSqtEvQMN_asVEauefuXLHsbajpK_qcJ_-2joM3ADkLvwQKRIJOT86M2nrwZK642yKKG1RJ-cejKrzHNapu2e2vEnFpHK1ntKRvsL5D_IJLfQMYbtmKnwShwlohkI7dY_xsOpQ-/s1600/table+and+chairs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBKHY5JJSqtEvQMN_asVEauefuXLHsbajpK_qcJ_-2joM3ADkLvwQKRIJOT86M2nrwZK642yKKG1RJ-cejKrzHNapu2e2vEnFpHK1ntKRvsL5D_IJLfQMYbtmKnwShwlohkI7dY_xsOpQ-/s1600/table+and+chairs.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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And we temporarily placed our two old bookshelves from Target on this wall when we moved in and threw in some tchotchkes as place holders while I searched for the perfect hutch for this space. I only have this not so great picture of part of the bookcase, and you can see we saved the accordion door and used it for our holiday cards this year:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYybvsDCb4tkqaya_4IuT-CP8w6UpENy81w7mWwELxawIFXiSCdxOyf_ySGHhVJJbQmLsKD7kOk78iJYHRbRVvG87BBz5b91yjgCfsXiOdZnF5oESil1OSLpKA6cKvHxvldE6mqvl7jde/s1600/DSC_0047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYybvsDCb4tkqaya_4IuT-CP8w6UpENy81w7mWwELxawIFXiSCdxOyf_ySGHhVJJbQmLsKD7kOk78iJYHRbRVvG87BBz5b91yjgCfsXiOdZnF5oESil1OSLpKA6cKvHxvldE6mqvl7jde/s1600/DSC_0047.JPG" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
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I'll take a break there, because the hunt for a great hutch is really what this post was originally about...<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post does not contain any affiliate links. If you have any questions feel free to ask!</span></i>Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-83751390482865364692015-01-07T14:21:00.000-05:002015-01-07T14:21:27.741-05:00Christmas Decorations 2014This year was a pretty exciting year to decorate. It was our first Christmas in our new house! I'm not a huge fan of knick-knacky decorations, but pre-lit garland and decorated trees are my jam. And you'll see them both in excess. Some more sneak peaks around the new house too if you are into that.<br />
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First up: the tree in my home office. It's gold, it's rocking some lime and purple and iridescent white balls, and some purple snowflakes. I love looking past my monitors to see this guy all lit up sitting on top of our craigslist poker table find.<br />
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This white guy - you might recognize him from the dining room of our apartment, but this year he is hanging out in the Nursery. Complete with emerald green and royal blue balls blue snowflakes, and some rustic little critters from Grandma.<br />
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I'm a little partial to our fake green tree in the family room. We always had an assortment of traditional Scandinavian ornaments on our tree growing up but this guy is all Norway, all the way. Straw ornaments, Norwegian flags, and our Julenissen. We've even got our Fair Isle ornaments that we picked up in <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2013/12/our-trip-to-norway.html">Oslo last yea</a><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2013/12/our-trip-to-norway.html">r (November 2013)</a>.<br />
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There is more garland in this room - surrounding this huge window as well as our sliding glass doors to the back patio. But I'll show you around the family room a little more in another post.<br />
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And of course, our REAL TREE in the living room. In case you were wondering, no I did not realize that the top of this tree was seemingly chopped off when we picked it out, nor did I realize that it would look so short and stout in this room. And no, we don't own a star to make it look taller (it's called an illusion, Michael). But next year folks, next year! I will have a properly fitting tree for this room. Until then, I think this guy turned out just fine. We've got the majority of our sentimental ornaments on this tree and I used gold and aqua to tie into some of the other furniture in the room. And yes. Lots and lots of pre-lit garland. <br />
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Can we talk about how ginormous those stockings are? They are beautiful (from Pottery Barn Kids), but I did not realize they would be this big. In a few years <i>someone</i> is going to expect to get these filled with toys, and Mama is not happy about this. He is going to have to settle for half (nay, two thirds!) of it to be stuffed with tissue paper. We will make up some story so he believes that is how it all works, I'm sure.<br />
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And some of our special ornaments from our trips and significant happenings over the years are on our "real tree". This has become my favorite way to memorialize these vacations (and when I can't find actual ornaments, key chains become great ornaments and people are none the wiser except when you blab about on a public blog). In no particular order:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUnMw5H14LlORGfy484x6VpM6aCbGHC0IgK_stlsmDZ6cuCVVPIAh_A7pUe-NOyf5rkOUxnW7c0YeGi22E5tJUrezRrm0suIK0Jt_7N_pQpzGawKkvPXEPfwL82qfRuaEgNKiwaWu4RVx/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUnMw5H14LlORGfy484x6VpM6aCbGHC0IgK_stlsmDZ6cuCVVPIAh_A7pUe-NOyf5rkOUxnW7c0YeGi22E5tJUrezRrm0suIK0Jt_7N_pQpzGawKkvPXEPfwL82qfRuaEgNKiwaWu4RVx/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Read about it <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2011/09/he-put-ring-on-it.html">here</a>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1u1JCc5ZtBs11uGRSJ5arktE5N11s3z_bWaRy5mwPvGs5Q7h9uagcRMpHkih7PZHETDO0UyI5rJCcbON1PiP5jJpc_Ztz2exVfmFvcaVRhsl7t3ciyZARdh_e6z64X5bc4T5PbcTyHUe/s1600/DSC_0123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1u1JCc5ZtBs11uGRSJ5arktE5N11s3z_bWaRy5mwPvGs5Q7h9uagcRMpHkih7PZHETDO0UyI5rJCcbON1PiP5jJpc_Ztz2exVfmFvcaVRhsl7t3ciyZARdh_e6z64X5bc4T5PbcTyHUe/s1600/DSC_0123.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Tri-Kayla 30th Birthday/Cinqo De Kayla/Kentucky Derby Weekend in 2012</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMB_YxBaJ_tX3Ck3L21PMklCei3SPYKIwvJcwMjNmfLyvKZjaDdns8e5F2aRJIBQ44l0ldcF2IJTvftlEkZUBPSnQ7xFF0qwERHD0_-1sn8P_aUHHFqWnue2J4n8v3k4b8G0pen8JDh5K/s1600/DSC_0130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQMB_YxBaJ_tX3Ck3L21PMklCei3SPYKIwvJcwMjNmfLyvKZjaDdns8e5F2aRJIBQ44l0ldcF2IJTvftlEkZUBPSnQ7xFF0qwERHD0_-1sn8P_aUHHFqWnue2J4n8v3k4b8G0pen8JDh5K/s1600/DSC_0130.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2012/10/im-married.html">wedding.</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAMG_SjVivXiQGjo56xTuPTKVxME6Ej_NUF4H8nSev4FKilS2usyL8d9wYq2wIjPVbnM8jQwKtmBhYtsfJbdmEe0FCN2mYXIl-X0LI4BT2AEnqz-nEPcKaf8gteXEmyuoI6Pj6ZBgScVN/s1600/DSC_0132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAMG_SjVivXiQGjo56xTuPTKVxME6Ej_NUF4H8nSev4FKilS2usyL8d9wYq2wIjPVbnM8jQwKtmBhYtsfJbdmEe0FCN2mYXIl-X0LI4BT2AEnqz-nEPcKaf8gteXEmyuoI6Pj6ZBgScVN/s1600/DSC_0132.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I recently posted about our Honeymoon to South Africa <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2014/10/two-years-and-south-africa.html">here.</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj70f22AIEXBLGfmHD6M0hGoexj9l63fAaKmNGoLYYKnEuOBvq9xka1jPvqbGrjeUKhoYsnkHHL_CeT3XZSVxhnDHcB4ZaZIcepFOxU2y9geB6aId2yhxvk1ZVEd8B7t4FdZYBMYU_01937/s1600/DSC_0131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj70f22AIEXBLGfmHD6M0hGoexj9l63fAaKmNGoLYYKnEuOBvq9xka1jPvqbGrjeUKhoYsnkHHL_CeT3XZSVxhnDHcB4ZaZIcepFOxU2y9geB6aId2yhxvk1ZVEd8B7t4FdZYBMYU_01937/s1600/DSC_0131.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We went to a falconry on our second mini-honeymoon in Manchester VT</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDHKlTg0PWs1UdjWFYN0QL0LCigiDYRcIduRm0ceiEzexgIto-U1KOdQGeuy5X_7dspRt1YSDmdTZ9WCUaQb4ffaRs2gO_5F58YqMAwubgyVsJDGhp6aEGaXEa9ben9LL_pBEdNY12rM9/s1600/DSC_0022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDHKlTg0PWs1UdjWFYN0QL0LCigiDYRcIduRm0ceiEzexgIto-U1KOdQGeuy5X_7dspRt1YSDmdTZ9WCUaQb4ffaRs2gO_5F58YqMAwubgyVsJDGhp6aEGaXEa9ben9LL_pBEdNY12rM9/s1600/DSC_0022.JPG" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2014/08/three-weeks-introducing-william-odin.html">Duh.</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Florida in 2010 </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vegas in 2013</td></tr>
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Forgive me for indulging in listing out where our ornaments are all from - some day (probably too soon) I won't be able to remember what year we did what so it's nice to have it all in one spot.<br />
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Technically, I put up pre-lit garland on our front porch, however, there are no outlets outside so we've never been able to turn it on. After a few futile attempts to get electricity outside we have decided to wait to add an outlet when we redo the siding this coming spring. We are already tinkering with ideas for decorating outside the house next year, and let's just say Tom has already mentioned using his raspberry pi to match up lights and music. And you thought four Christmas trees was excessive.Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-26124967961720639482014-12-11T11:47:00.000-05:002014-12-11T11:47:35.137-05:00Mistle Toes Ornaments {Dare to DIY 2014 - Give Homemade }Last weekend we kinda killed it with festive activities. I found a shopping center that has all of my favorite big box stores to shop at and we knocked out all gifts on our winter wishes list from NewYorkCares.org. We got a tree from Home Depot where we were recognized by workers (I guess we've been there a few times lately). And I finished decorating the house inside and out. If felt good to get so many tasks done since I had several days of commuting into Manhattan for meetings for work this week, and we are having a few friends over this weekend for a little holiday dinner. And through it all, I even found time to make some handmade gifts for the grandparents. Spoiler Alert Grandmas: stop reading if you want to be surprised on Christmas morning!<div>
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I recall a few years ago a friend telling me one of the best things about having kids was that you had automatic gifts for the grandparents at every holiday - just give them something baby related and they will be happy. So here ya go Grandmas, they aren't perfect, but they are made with baby love!</div>
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For this project you will need:</div>
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Ornaments <span style="background-color: white;"><i>(I found these flat-ish plastic ones at Michaels for $2.99 each)</i></span></div>
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Craft Paint <i>(I did a little research on this - some sites said acrylic on skin isn't great in general, but tempura or washable paint would flake off of the ornament. I did a little skin test on myself and had wet paper towels ready to clean him up within seconds of putting the paint on him. The sites that said acrylic wasn't a great idea were mostly talking about face painting where the paint would stay on for hours so I felt ok with it since it was literally on his skin for less than a minute. Do your own research to determine what you feel comfortable with. If you have tempura paint, maybe a sealant spray on top would help with flaking)</i></div>
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Flat Paintbrush</div>
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Paint Pens </div>
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Wet paper towels or washcloths</div>
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Sleeping Baby</div>
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If a sleeping baby is not available, Extra Patience and Quick Hands</div>
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What was good about the acrylic paint on the plastic ornament is that it was forgiving for a few seconds. I got two ornaments done before he woke up and then it was a little bit trickier to get a good smudge on the last ornaments so I was able to wipe the paint off and try again. Working quickly is key here on many levels. My kids does not like to get "got" so holding his foot was a challenge, even for a few seconds. </div>
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I threw in some crinkle paper since the ornaments were see through, and if I get around to it, I might even tie a bow to the tops of these. The possibilities are endless.</div>
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"Mistle Toes" was an easy play on words and great given his age and size of foot - but I'm really looking forward to making these cute <a href="http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2010/12/make-these-now-handprint-snowman.html">finger snowmen</a> in a few years when he is a bit bigger, which is the project that was my original inspiration and got the ol' gears turning.</div>
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I'm linking up on <a href="http://www.maybematilda.com/2014/12/dare-to-give-handmade-link-up-and.html#.VIm9AjHF9Lc">Maybe Matilda</a> today! Go check out the fun!</div>
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So what was the over/under for me coming back and joining in a second linky party?? Will I make it to the final party??? Don't fall off the edge of your seats, people.</div>
Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-26270620354699734122014-12-02T14:06:00.001-05:002014-12-02T14:06:31.137-05:00Christmas Tree Napkins {or Dare to DIY 2014 - Entertain! Edition)I've followed the Dare to DIY link parties for a few years. Last year I actually pulled myself away from the toilet (morning sickness lasts all day for some) long enough to make these <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2013/12/painted-cork-placemats-or-dare-to-diy.html">painted cork placemats</a>. It was fun. <br />
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So I told myself last year I would join in at least two of the link parties this year. Baby steps people, blogging on a regular basis is not my thing. And when you are staring at primered walls, that you told yourself you would get painted by Thanksgiving, and there is an adorable 4 month old that is figuring out how to bring his tiny thumbs to his mouth, it's kinda hard to justify to yourself to sit and get crafty. But I saw <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plkWFQ89XyE">this video</a> on FB and was reminded of how much I actually enjoyed the task of folding cloth napkins. I was a waitress at two different family owned resorts growing up, and I actually loved the task of folding napkins for dinner. I still find myself refolding cloth napkins when I'm at restaurants if their fold job isn't up to my standards. #formerwaitressproblems<br />
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So I thought, oh I'll go find some vintage tablecloths and make my own festive napkins for some dinner parties we are hosting in the coming weeks. Then I remembered I have no idea where to get vintage anything in my new town. Seriously, WHERE ARE THE FLEA MARKETS AROUND HERE??? I found one antique shop that takes itself waaay too seriously with the pricing. Someone, someone, tell me where I can find cheap used junk to make glorious again in central New Jersey please.<br />
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So then I thought, ok, I'll skip this link party. And then I thought, NO KAYLA JUST FOLD YOUR WHITE NAPKINS. True, I didn't lug out the paint, the orbital sander, or the sewing machine for this project. I didn't even lug out the iron, and really, I should have at least done that. But whatever. I still like them.<br />
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Feast for your eyes, people:<br />
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Can I make a table look sexy or what?<br />
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Blogger confession: I bought washi tape for the first time. I used it to make little place tag flags attached to little ornaments from the dollar store. Little woodland critters sent down by my mother and Boom. Tablescape is done, ya'll.<br />
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I'm still searching for that perfect vintage holiday tablecloth and napkin set. But for now I still dig this burgandy/gold/aqua number. It really pulls in the gold and aqua from around the room. The room that I'm not ready to show you until it's a little more "done". You know, like more than just primered (it's a real word, trust). But I did put up some pre-lit garland!<br />
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I'll only gush about that <a href="http://www.jonathanadler.com/lighting/meurice-rectangle-chandelier/8671.html">chandelier</a> for a minute - but it's literally the first thing we bought after we bought the house. It is hands down my favorite piece we added. Tom knew a lighting guy and we got it for a steal which was the only way we were actually going to get that thing into our house. I'll give you a real breakdown of the dining room/living room/kitchen soon enough (translation: before the end of 2015).<br />
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Kitchen teaser. Yup, that's an antique rug from ebay in my kitchen. I'm so en trend. And that is my Stokke Steps high chair. Hands down, best money we spent on a single baby item (even though its really like 4 items). I love that thing and so does the little one.<br />
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And here's that napkin folding video. Looks like there a couple versions on youtube, but this is the one that gave me the idea in the first place:<br />
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And if you are here from <a href="http://decorandthedog.net/">Decor and the Dog</a> - welcome! If not, check out the <a href="http://decorandthedog.net/decorandthedog/2014/11/24/dare-to-diy-entertain-link-up-gingerbread-place-card">other party animals here</a> to see what everyone came up with! Will I meet my personal goal and come back for a second link party in the next two weeks? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-15237840041144554992014-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:002014-10-28T13:50:51.548-04:00Two Years {And South Africa}<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Have you ever heard the quote from Anne of Green Gables, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." ? I love that quote because like most people who choose to live in the northeast, Fall is my favorite time of year. (I know, I'm really original like that).</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;">We celebrated our two year wedding anniversary last week with some gorgeous flowers, a box of chocolates, and a night on the couch not doing any housework. We finally cracked that bottle of champagne we were given at our wedding that we were supposed to drink last year but I was in that whole two-week-period-of-the-month-where-I-didn't-know-if-I-was-pregnant-or-not-yet (I was not). It might not sound super romantic, but it was exactly what we needed this year.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;">I thought it would be appropriate to finally show you some pictures from our Honeymoon two years ago. We took an amazing trip to South Africa - spending 4 nights in Cape Town visiting the surrounding areas and then 4 nights in Kruger National Park at a private resort going on safari rides every day at dawn and dusk. It was an amazing trip and one I always said I would love to make again (maybe when this whole ebola thing dies down?)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;">So a big part of this trip was the work that went into planning it. Obviously traveling to an unfamiliar country brings its own risks (and rewards!!) so we decided to go through a travel company. We actually did our own research and mapped out the trip we wanted and priced it out to book it all ourselves and then took it to a travel company that was willing to take on the trip as we planned it (versus one of their canned tours) and actually handle the bookings for us. It wasn't any more expensive to go through the travel company, AND it</span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;"> gave me piece of mind that if a car wasn't at the hotel to pick us up to bring us to our next destination, we had a main contact we could call that would help us with any issues. It just felt a little more secure (read: SAFE) and less of a headache than to have all of the contact numbers for all of the places we were staying and all of the inter-country car services we needed. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>So here is my super secret tip for exotic travel:</b> Plan the trip you want (as opposed to a canned tour that might not have everything you want to do in it), and reach out to a reputable tour company that will take on the bookings for you, and will make sure all of your connecting travel plans are safe <i>and</i> punctual.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Also now that we live in New Jersey, and yellow cabs aren't just waiting outside our stoop to bring us to the airport, we need to rethink how we get to and from the airport when we take trips (even domestic flights). And, when we go on vacation, why not make a little money while we are at it? This is where <a href="https://relayrides.com/" target="_blank">RelayRides</a> comes in. <b>(My super-but-shouldn't-be-a-secret tip for domestic travel.)</b> It's a peer-to-peer car rental service, which is a great way to either save a little money when you are in another city, and/or make a little money on your car that would otherwise be sitting in your driveway at home/long term parking at the airport while you are away. People have been doing it with their homes for years now - so it only makes sense we start doing it with our cars as well. They even have a new initiative to help newlyweds travel well with <a href="https://relayrides.com/airports">airport rentals</a> while on their honeymoons - they are in tons of cities and growing! Of course RelayRides also works great if you just need a truck for a day to get some yard work done, or a mini-van to cart a bunch of kids around for a day at the museum.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; line-height: 18px;">Ahh, now I want to plan our next trip abroad...</span></span></div>
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Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-64680706259704065242014-10-07T12:09:00.000-04:002014-10-07T12:16:29.031-04:00Life Lately...<div class="MsoNormal">
So…let’s back up a bit.
Last winter Tom and I casually dipped our toes in the hunt for a
home. We had a few criteria – I wanted
an open space concept (duh) and Tom wanted a nice master bathroom. We knew we needed either a three bedroom home
with a dedicated office area, or a four bedroom home and one room would be my
office (all signs have been pointing to my job allowing me to work from home
once the baby was born – fingers crossed I find out this week!). In addition to
these items, we had to both seriously consider our commute times. Tom would be driving to Brooklyn every day
and I still needed a reasonable commute to Manhattan for meetings and the
chance that I would need to commute regularly.
We ended up concentrating our search in a few towns in Union County, New
Jersey, and a few towns in Nassau County, Long Island. We quickly eliminated
Long Island because we just weren’t getting the feel we wanted in the homes
that were in our price range. Jersey it was…</div>
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One weekend in April, we went out with our realtor and saw
about 8 houses in one day (this had become our typical weekend). This was a particularly long day for us, and
it had become unseasonably warm, and I think we were just sweaty, cranky and
hungry. We went in to see the last house
of the day. There was a huge office that
was like a time capsule – wood paneling, black leather chairs, and brass
pineapple hardware. I fell in love but kept my mouth shut because I thought Tom
was going to hate it. We sped through
the house in about 15 minutes – after about 30+ houses we had gotten good at
speeding through – and we went out to the car.
Tom said something to the effect of “Ok, let’s buy that house”. Super
nonchalant like we were trying to decide between sesame or cinnamon raisin bagels.
If I wasn’t already sitting in the car I
would’ve fallen off my seat. I didn’t
even really pay attention to the house because I didn’t think he was going to
dig the hefty 70’s groove this house was giving off. I insisted we go back in and walk around
again and we started to get excited. There is a big part of me that still believes
we bought this house because we were tired and hungry.</div>
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Fast forward to June 30<sup>th</sup>, after muuuuch stress
(don’t get me started on the chimney inspection fiasco) we bought the
home. The next week we interviewed a few
local construction companies to give us quotes on gut renovations of the
kitchen and master bath. Luckily for us,
this home had been relatively untouched since it was built in 1959 and we got
it at a good enough price that we could afford our down payment as well as a
pretty exhaustive renovation to these two spaces. As much as I would have loved to take our
time and attempt to DIY some of these spaces, we have never actually done
anything more than binge on HGTV and oh yeah, I was about 7 months pregnant at
the time. We decided cutting our teeth
on these spaces was not the smartest thing to do. There are plenty of other rooms in the house
that need some TLC that we will get to over time. A company was hired and demo
started the first week of August.
Thankfully we had the foresight in mid July to extend our rental to
early September because, remember, <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2014/08/three-weeks-introducing-william-odin.html" target="_blank">this little guy</a> joined us earlier than
planned.</div>
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Over the course of the summer we boxed up pretty much our
entire apartment and brought it over in carloads. We were taking turns running
into granite yards with a three day old in the car, and our son saw the inside
of more Home Depots in his first few weeks of life than I probably had in my
entire life before this summer. Was this
the ideal way to spend our first few weeks with our son? Definitely not. Was it terrible? No, not really. We just accepted our current situation and
made the most of it. We discussed putting off the renovation for a year, but
decided having to displace ourselves shortly after getting situated and having
a toddler running around probably wasn't the smartest idea. We did discuss living in a construction zone
with our pediatrician and we are taking as many precautions as we can to
minimize dust. End of the day, it was the right time for our family and I was
totally willing to camp out in the family room with the cats and baby all day.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioztfX3QLRJ-_u5vB00GsFictdvO0bZRoPo239D3nj07NSLEDWOIy9WobAfPBBN4m0pvhyphenhyphen17-bkMgWwK7fmYtNMwFdz6N8t5dwP-9k7-LNip_Y39XqEU-fy1eoZcVrxpv_cZvGAvBwToIK/s1600/2014091095115346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioztfX3QLRJ-_u5vB00GsFictdvO0bZRoPo239D3nj07NSLEDWOIy9WobAfPBBN4m0pvhyphenhyphen17-bkMgWwK7fmYtNMwFdz6N8t5dwP-9k7-LNip_Y39XqEU-fy1eoZcVrxpv_cZvGAvBwToIK/s1600/2014091095115346.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't tell Tom I showed you this mess.</td></tr>
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So life lately looks like this. One month ago we moved the furniture into the
house and officially left Brooklyn (don’t get me started on the moving truck
fiasco) and me, William, Ella, Allen, and Poe hang in the family from about
7:30 am when the workers get here til about 4pm when they leave for the
day. I’ve got my little kitchen set up
like I’m in a dorm, my dishes in the guest bath, and we are all sleeping together as a happy family in what
will be the guest bedroom at the end of the hallway upstairs at night. Certainly not for the faint of heart, but I
actually feel less stressed now than I did prior to the move. I was really stressing about the idea of
driving three cats and an infant from Brooklyn to New Jersey, a whooping 45
minute drive. That drive that morning was
a very anticlimactic goodbye to my apartment in Brooklyn that I had lived in
for seven years. There’s still a part of me that believes my stuff is still all
set up and we are about to drive home to Bay Ridge one of these nights since we
haven’t really been able to unpack here yet. It’s very surreal still. But I
know even this is temporary.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiDhr1ac2oTp-KvlvojADRKzhVDd0eJygk2Jc341yq20zerSERqBxIGfBv4YFg4c6umvisfHzECTVbnpLhKrFZpvkKnYkhhG3DQsmveBYvfWggT0otBVaTLQEPtivotid2_dH_9gX7jKn/s1600/20141004_122835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfiDhr1ac2oTp-KvlvojADRKzhVDd0eJygk2Jc341yq20zerSERqBxIGfBv4YFg4c6umvisfHzECTVbnpLhKrFZpvkKnYkhhG3DQsmveBYvfWggT0otBVaTLQEPtivotid2_dH_9gX7jKn/s1600/20141004_122835.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Classy tooth brush/bottle nipple/steak knife pic. Oh look, an apron on my dish soap! </td></tr>
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If
you’ve been following along on <a href="http://instagram.com/iamkilobravo" target="_blank">Instagram</a> you know we are nearing the finish
line - the contractors finished up on Friday and now we are in serious clean - paint - unpack - repeat mode. It's happening a bit slower than I'd like (I swear this kid hears me crack open a can of paint and decides nap time is over). I know we made the right decision by doing this now. All of those “someday when we own a home”
ideas are actually coming to fruition and it’s a little unbelievable and
awesome. I am actually in my Someday
Home. And it’s gonna be pretty freaking
great.</div>
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Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-84982328935666955722014-08-15T14:27:00.000-04:002014-10-07T12:17:11.837-04:00Three Weeks {Introducing William Odin!}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwrdargqDBMvxRST5y6RAxA-Ot_hl1kIpuz3ggW-OoboPK5JWYbCcbXhpam1HrJNd8VF_9KWzUGJt72msHdmPVHLbdZUQvh4VLnZqf5TBxAad57ZYrnUzHcFwnrb41jEC78cBa412JWUH/s1600/spaceship+earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwrdargqDBMvxRST5y6RAxA-Ot_hl1kIpuz3ggW-OoboPK5JWYbCcbXhpam1HrJNd8VF_9KWzUGJt72msHdmPVHLbdZUQvh4VLnZqf5TBxAad57ZYrnUzHcFwnrb41jEC78cBa412JWUH/s1600/spaceship+earth.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Today is supposed to be my due date. But three weeks ago, our little boy (crap, I never told you I was having a boy! gender reveal/shower posts coming soon...ish) decided to come a little early and throw the sweetest wrench in all of our construction/moving (crap, I never told you we bought a house at the beginning of the summer and we are renovating! posts to come soon...ish) plans.<br />
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I won't get into the entire birth story now, but I plan to write about it one day. The short version is that I am proud to say I was able to deliver the au natural way without any drugs (although right at the end I was screaming for drugs and they told me I could push instead). It was a pretty crazy experience and I think I'm still processing everything that happened that day. Let's be honest, I'm still processing the fact that I was ever even pregnant and the fact that I'm officially a MOM now, and I have SON. Yikes. Awesome, but Yikes.<br />
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William Odin was born on Friday, July 25th, at 11:26 am at St Luke's Roosevelt in Manhattan. He weighed 4 pounds, 12 ounces, and was just over 18 inches long. They took some extra care with him in the beginning for precautionary measures, but he stabilized well and we were all able to go home together on Sunday morning. He is a our little viking boy and perfectly perfect to us. Even as I gather photos for this post, it is amazing to me to see how much he has changed in just three short weeks. I can't imagine if we had to wait this whole time to meet him.<br />
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I think any parent can sympathize when I say that it is extremely intimidating to try to put to words in exactly how many ways our lives have instantly changed. For all the friends and family that tried to warn me about the utter exhaustion and the inexplicable tears and the unending happiness I would feel, thank you for futile attempts. I finally get it.<br />
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Now, back to snuggle time with Captain Adorable.<br />
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Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-76198834436025263182014-04-09T08:00:00.000-04:002014-04-09T08:00:00.072-04:00So About That 4 Month Hiatus...<span style="font-size: x-small;">hello? hello? is this thing on? </span><br />
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I've never been super diligent with this blog over the years, despite various attempts at getting myself into a good routine. But four months has definitely been the longest break I've ever taken. You know when you have trouble remembering how to start a new blog post in blogger that it's been a while!<br />
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So what have I been up to in the past few months? Well - my job finally upgraded my blackberry to a droid and I can actually do things like access the internet and have apps like INSTAGRAM. You have no idea how excited I am to finally have instagram. Like. so excited. You should totally follow me at <a href="http://instagram.com/iamkilobravo" target="_blank">iamkilobravo</a>!! I miss typing on my blackberry, but since I had no choice I'll say having IG is worth it. All of the cat pics that I refrain from sharing on fb and this blog can be found on IG in case you feel you've been missing that in your life. You've been warned.<br />
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Hmm...what else...Tom and I are finally dipping our toes into house hunting! It took us a long time to narrow down the towns that would work for us so we both had manageable commutes, but still have a real house and backyard by NYC suburb standards. I don't know if people outside of the NYC area can really appreciate how hard it can be to have those things. All of it comes at a premium as well, so saving our pennies for the past 7 years together has been totally worth it as we look at what we can finally afford. The original goal was to actually move by the end of this year, but we started our search a little early in order to get to know the neighborhoods, and we've actually seen a few houses we like that we can afford so we might pull the trigger sooner if it feels right. We have been all over the place as we narrow down what we really want in our home and I have no idea what we will end up with, but it is an equally exhilarating and frustrating experience and I'm so excited that we started a little earlier than planned.<br />
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Tax season...tax season...tax season...<br />
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Hmm...oh yeah - how could I forget? I'M COOKING A BABY IN MY BELLY!!!!!!!<br />
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Yes! We are pregnant! And I'm 21 weeks as I write this. I dragged Tom outside this weekend to take some photos of ourselves as it was the warmest day we've had all winter (I know it's spring, but it still really feels like winter most days here). I think our tripod did a great job getting our good sides.<br />
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So I have so much I want to say about my pregnancy so far, and I'll try to keep it to the highlights (ha), but I want to elaborate on how we found out just a bit first. Humor me, please.<br />
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We had been trying for what felt like too long - just a few months short of a year when I finally went to my doctor right after <a href="http://kilobravoinspired.blogspot.com/2013/12/our-trip-to-norway.html" target="_blank">our trip to Norway</a> in November. (Any long time readers may have noticed I never did New Years goals for 2013 because the only goal I gave myself was to get pregnant). I specifically went after our trip because I figured if I got some not so great news, I didn't want it to ruin our trip, and figured some blissful ignorance for a few more days was a healthy way to deal with things. When I went in to see her we discussed what methods we had been using to track everything (OPKs, BBT, and watching for the old EW if you're into knowing about that stuff - so basically EVERY method because I'm a micromanager) and she told me I would come back on my next cycle to take some preliminary blood tests and we would go from there. And no joke she said the following to me: "Hopefully we won't even get to the blood tests because maybe you are pregnant right now!" And three weeks later I was back in her office taking a blood test because I had not had a visit from Aunt Flo, nor was I getting a positive pregnancy test yet. She called me the next day to tell me I was indeed pregnant! It was the best news and I could barely believe it after what she had said just three weeks before. Basically she chalked up the length of time it took us to get pregnant to my highly irregular system (even doing all those things, science (hormone levels and fetus size) still thinks we conceived about 10 days after I think we did) and the stress of trying. I really feel like once I had given into the idea that maybe this wouldn't happen the easy way for us, I had just enough of a "f*ck it" attitude to finally reduce the stress enough to let it happen. Even our teeny taste of facing infertility gave me the utmost respect for women and families that really truly go through the various stages of infertility. I will forever be thankful and humble for the experience we have had.<br />
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Still with me? Ok now some of the fun stuff and the not so fun stuff. We told our immediate families on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day by getting everyone to do group photos and yelling "saaaaay Kayla'a pregnant!" in the hopes to actually catch pictures of everyone reacting to the news. Tom's family was soo good at holding their pose that no one dared move a muscle to react until after the flash went off! My mother was a little less restrained and I'm pretty sure we have a picture of her pushing my dad out of the way to bite my cheek. Totally appropriate response. I love you Mom,. never change.<br />
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I have never really had a strong sense of smell but holy crap did it kick into overdrive about a week before Christmas when I was about 4 or 5 weeks along. It was like day and night. I went from feeling like normal me, to suddenly not being able to handle any smells, or even the sight of certain foods. I didn't know who the hell I was. And it lasted for what felt like forever. Weeks 5 - 16 can only be described as the worst hangover of my life. And I've had a lot of bad hangovers. There was just no relief and I was pretty convinced this would be our last biological child and it was adoption from here on out. It was hard on me and yes, I was one of those pregnant people that lost weight at first (don't hate the player, hate the game) but I think that stage was hardest on Tom. I didn't look pregnant yet and it was such an immediate switch to go from getting sick from any smells (I couldn't even walk into our kitchen to throw things in the garbage because I could smell food in the fridge) and to crying at the drop of a hat (twice I actually laughed so hard at jokes that I started hysterically crying) but there were no other visible signs that I was pregnant yet. I think it was really hard for him to wrap his head around how quickly I had changed, and how little control he had over anything. I stopped cleaning because I had no energy and just couldn't handle any smells. You can imagine how quickly we had to bite the bullet and hire the cleaning lady we had discussed hiring for the past few years. We would order food every night because I couldn't handle cooking, and my food would get there and I couldn't eat it. There was a lot of wasted money those first few months.<br />
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I felt like I popped right away - but in reality I just stopped sucking in my beer belly. I basically looked like College Kayla circa 2003 by the time I was 10 weeks. Around 14 - 15 weeks I really popped and was finally looking pregnant which felt very validating to me. It felt weird to me how excited I was to finally have a belly to show off. It was like "see, I told you guys I was pregnant and not just a lazy lunatic for the past 4 months!" Very validating indeed.<br />
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Now I'm at what everyone tells me is the fun part of the pregnancy. I've had a bit of insomnia the whole time, even though I feel tired, sleep just won't come and I wake up a lot throughout the night. Learning to sleep on my side has been tough as I'm a flat back sleeper with virtually no pillows most of the time. TGFS! (Thank god for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Leachco-Snoogle-Total-Body-Pillow/dp/B0000635WI/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1397012003&sr=1-1&keywords=snoogle" target="_blank">snoogles</a>). Enjoying bad acid reflux hasn't helped my sleeping either but I'm dealing. But it's all for a good cause, right? Right?<br />
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I think I'm beginning to feel kicks - or it's just gas. I'm honestly not sure. People have described a butterfly feeling but I don't think I've felt that. This is more like popcorn popping. And then I get down on myself for not knowing my body better and I start crying again. Oh hormones.<br />
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For anyone that hasn't figured out the math yet, we are due mid August, so as you can imagine I am SO looking forward to riding the subway in f*ucking July when I'm a sweaty gross slob. Speaking of the subway - I cried the first time someone offered me their seat. Yeah, I am that pregnant lady scaring strangers on the subway "gulp, thank you, waaah, so much, gulp, I'm sorry, I'm just, waaah, hormonal right, gulp, now".<br />
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So yeah - that is my really long excuse for not blogging for the past four months. I was a little preoccupied with trying not to vomit or cry. If you've made it this far - you get high fives and hugs!! Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96183568191277455.post-21998934666507398262013-12-05T08:00:00.000-05:002013-12-05T10:06:58.827-05:00Our trip to Norway!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0FopwtQWfH_oxBo0nb5NIOm1-p99dmNoA4hcmYVw5xbvTBlU5f6jh0KbjeCru_ZlcfXVOsrjjNpZHSEulQ7hqWQICjNDjIyNCZhd8F-9XckabtHvLSp9PjMi64TZMJTcb07WCaBs6dRW/s1600/Norway+Hurtigruten+(42).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin0FopwtQWfH_oxBo0nb5NIOm1-p99dmNoA4hcmYVw5xbvTBlU5f6jh0KbjeCru_ZlcfXVOsrjjNpZHSEulQ7hqWQICjNDjIyNCZhd8F-9XckabtHvLSp9PjMi64TZMJTcb07WCaBs6dRW/s640/Norway+Hurtigruten+(42).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our trip route was Oslo > Bergen > Alesund > Trondheim > Bodo > Tromso > Back to Oslo</td></tr>
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In early November, Tom and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary by taking a week long trip to Norway. It was amazing for so many reasons. We were able to meet some of my extended family (Hallo!), visit some beautiful cities, go reindeer and dog sledding, and see the Aurora Borealis!<br />
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We got some pretty damn awesome pictures too.<br />
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Wandering in Bergen<br />
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Bergen at night<br />
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Oslo Opera House<br />
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Views from the NSB train<br />
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Church in Trondheim</div>
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A few of our friends, and actually quite a few Norwegians that we met asked us why we chose Norway. It's my guess that they don't see a lot of American tourists (we were definitely the only Americans we met on our entire trip, which was the exact opposite of our trip to South Africa last year). There were many reasons why this trip made sense to us now: 1) I have extended family that I always knew I would want to go to meet someday (and next time I would love to take/send my mother and aunt!!) 2) We knew we wanted to do a bit of an adventurous vacation as we are hoping to have kids in the future, and a lot of this trip would have been much harder with kiddos. 3) Once Tom saw some pics of the Aurora Borealis, it was all he could think about! 4) We thought that the idea of going to Norway, and doing a cold vacation in the arctic circle was a really nice bookend to our honeymoon spent in South Africa.<br />
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Views from the Hurtigruten cruise ship<br />
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Getting "christened" with ice water as we crossed the arctic circle by King Neptune!<br />
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The sami tent we slept in overnight</div>
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Playing with the dogs before we went dog sledding</div>
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Over the river and through the woods...<br />
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Our reindeer Gobo that pulled us sledding the night before</div>
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I'm no Anthony Bourdain, but we did get to eat some exotic dishes from an American perspective:<br />
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Reindeer soup in the sami tent<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZTmlZlnA9NGICu6Fw4hITiVPCtAHbdtB0zpa6yzca-KCxXmcOOnjFW4J9olGpilIor3_VP7_xgOs5ZQPnTtEf2VeD9-IUpW29GqOxG-AbpZVhxq940OzwXkEdVzkQVfz2R5xXXpiZF1M/s1600/Norway+Lyngsfjord+Adventure+%252819%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZTmlZlnA9NGICu6Fw4hITiVPCtAHbdtB0zpa6yzca-KCxXmcOOnjFW4J9olGpilIor3_VP7_xgOs5ZQPnTtEf2VeD9-IUpW29GqOxG-AbpZVhxq940OzwXkEdVzkQVfz2R5xXXpiZF1M/s640/Norway+Lyngsfjord+Adventure+%252819%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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...and deep fried whale in Tromso! Tasted just like beef. Delicious.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8WG1pB2Mn7bz_bkNidNNJr7F7oD4VyIEaqV97CnUPuI4kjMOwac8tskmE3kmnIJVMkNdTzMzzOuxX5BhhrrXY5F2qSvDOuIfQ9_JpOWWcL6LLlgmlZV5y2R9kf6h_-r2-ZgXwOFnOkMTn/s1600/Norway+Tromso+Wandering+%252870%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8WG1pB2Mn7bz_bkNidNNJr7F7oD4VyIEaqV97CnUPuI4kjMOwac8tskmE3kmnIJVMkNdTzMzzOuxX5BhhrrXY5F2qSvDOuIfQ9_JpOWWcL6LLlgmlZV5y2R9kf6h_-r2-ZgXwOFnOkMTn/s640/Norway+Tromso+Wandering+%252870%2529.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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Last but not least, some of the blurry pictures I was able to take of the Aurora Borealis!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLw3j0tYhagEJocNJzICCd3VEoNyrC8ZO2BAUTcbUyvzcoYZp5Ps-2gS_odO0yVWi-PSFKWahZMt9xkfvemfZYTMnqa6SybVmqMH65i2e3jKzRqb1snzajoG-X7wN1V_QQwfeF8QXPtqb0/s1600/Norway+Northern+Lights+%252814%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLw3j0tYhagEJocNJzICCd3VEoNyrC8ZO2BAUTcbUyvzcoYZp5Ps-2gS_odO0yVWi-PSFKWahZMt9xkfvemfZYTMnqa6SybVmqMH65i2e3jKzRqb1snzajoG-X7wN1V_QQwfeF8QXPtqb0/s640/Norway+Northern+Lights+%252814%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Getting better at focusing in the dark...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicWalaCkmB5qcb8p4K8M15TfK-zD5bH3nHiMpKVql0BL_5sneUG9I31JyZck8Ph4dDXJujLoR_Bok94HVEigNnVCJYK7Y-AUgOTYwJVFieF-l9PaVco6nACfTI8rZGDZqOIkFlBGWiOYIP/s1600/Norway+Northern+Lights+%252827%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicWalaCkmB5qcb8p4K8M15TfK-zD5bH3nHiMpKVql0BL_5sneUG9I31JyZck8Ph4dDXJujLoR_Bok94HVEigNnVCJYK7Y-AUgOTYwJVFieF-l9PaVco6nACfTI8rZGDZqOIkFlBGWiOYIP/s640/Norway+Northern+Lights+%252827%2529.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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And the non-blurry pic that the professional photographer took. Clearly he earns his money :-)<br />
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It truly was an amazing experience, and Norway is a beautiful country to visit. I"m keeping this post short on words, but if you have any questions about our trip feel free to shoot me an email or post in the comments!Kayla aka Kilo Bravohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09637609740944011295noreply@blogger.com0