My asphalt kick your asphalts....

Selecting roofing material for your home can be quite a bore. Let’s put it up there with 8th grade algebra. You know you need to pay attention (after all you could be stuck with your selection for the next 30 years!) but all this technical talk and terms is dull. The outcome (like a correct answer) is emotional. This is how I feel about my new Timberline 30(yr) Architectural shingle. I literally would like to crawl up on my roof and hug it all over! Timberline is now manufactured by GAF/ELK. This is very exciting to those in the industry because ELK produces a shingle that you would swear is not actually asphalt! An asphalt shingle is what 90% of us use to cap our home. Other choices include cedar, metal or slate but those are left for another entry. Let’s just focus (FOCUS) on the versatility that today’s asphalt shingle will provide to you! I’m having a hard time containing my enthusiasm for shingles! Ahhh!

Here is a picture of the GAF Grand Sequoia. Isn't it just piece of asphalty heaven! Look at that texture and color! Here are some benefits of this shingle:

* Has a Super Heavyweight "PLUS" design. This means this roof will last longer than your marriage and for sure your décor so you better love it! FYI- “Heavyweight” means that you will be charged more for install because it is thicker than most.
* Lifetime limited transferable Warranty. If you move the warranty goes with to the new homeowner. Not very many products will say/ do this.
* 110 mph Limited Wind Warranty. Oh! It’s comforting to know that if a tornado comes and blows away your house your shingles will stay in tack!
* Is a fiberglass asphalt shingle. You will have to ask Bob Vila to explain this to you cause it is confusing and dull. When do we look at the colors???
* Algae-Eater™ Protection. OK- you better watch out you algae bugs my asphalt is gonna kick your ….

Here is a before and after of my house. We went with the Timberline 30 year Weathered Wood. The 30 year shingle has a standard weight which is much easier to install (so I've been told) and you don't need any out of the ordinary tools. We choose Weathered Wood after we picked the general color for our exterior. See future posts about how to make you exterior work for you and your neighbors!

Not the best picture but you can see right off the bat this color had to go. YUCK! The three-tab drove me crazy and even if for some reason we wanted to keep it I'm pretty sure this color has been discontinued so our addition would not have made sense. Unless we went with a nice contrasting metal roof like I really dream and drool for.

AHH and the after. Much better. We have dimension and a nice taupy warm gray that will look great with the exterior color selection.

4" Silhouettes are here!!!!

Here are some photos of a Hunter Douglas project I just finished up. This client has a lovely Cudd home with a 2-story wall of window that face straight west! The glass does have some protection but it wasn't enough. They had only been there for two days when the Silhouettes were installed but they had mentioned it was an uncomfortable two days! Good timing on my part huh!


Here is the before....

I absolutely love the new 4 inch Silhouette! The upper windows have the platinum technology motorization which is like BUTTER! I will never use anything else. My installer did a fabulous job programing the remote and showing the client how they operate.

And the Toujours fabric is just yummy!












The linen texture really helps create some depth and character with the huge run of Silhouettes. I typically use the Originale fabric (good colors, no texture) in the Silhouettes but this job needed a little more and I think it turned out perfect!

Thanks Cudd! Keep building more of these that face West...on hills!

Cohoe's Under Construction- Fireplace

Here is the awesome after shot of our fireplace! Hubby did the cabinets and mantle himself. The design goal is mod rustic. The contrast between the Lake Tahoe River Rock and the straight lines on the mantel achieve the exact look we are going for. I can't tell you how rewarding the little piano windows are! They are situated on the south wall and the main part of the room faces east....with a hill. The room would feel cave like with out them. Small investment people....big return!

And let me tell you I love the detail on the trim. Who doesn't dig maple with a walnut accent? The is more of that to come...just you wait!!!!

Oh also big KUDOS to Uncle Mike for the stellar stone job!

Cohoe's Under Construction

I will be posting about my own fixer-upper on this blog forever. I am not exaggerating. My husband and I (boyfriend at the time) purchased an "older" home in 2003. It is not so much the house but the location. We are nested in the suburbs but in a very rural setting. Close to a huge nature preserve and one block north of a great lake and near Emma's elementry school. We are in the woods with not may accessible neighbors. There is one neighbor that we share our long driveway with but that is a story for a different day. See Bill.

One of our first projects was tearing out the wood burning brick fireplace and taking out the large chimney on the exterior. I was pregnant at the time and a wood burning fireplace was a definite 'NO'! So poor hubby was sucked right into the nesting phase with me. Good for me not for him. Here are some pictures of that nasty fireplace coming down. The two small "piano" windows were installed durning this project also.

Here is a picture from the interior:

Change of Plans

Hello! Since I have last posted I have decided to leave the "going nowhere fast" position I was in a the cabinet shop. They have kept me on as an outside sales-rep, commission only. I don't get much sales and marketing support from them but the price and product rocks and the lead times kill the competition. I am on a serious grass-roots marketing/ networking campaign for them and so far so good. I speak with contractors about their cabinets needs and most of them will hire me for the design selections or pass my name along. My days of working for myself aren't as relaxing as I had anticipated. Emma is in daycare everyday while I am working 10+ hours with clients and networking. My goal is to become more established over the next 12 months so I can keep her home with me at least one day a week. Stay tuned as I post about current project (including my own) and topics such and: "How to keep your marriage in tact while remodeling"!

Future Top Chef!!!

Close to 40, Somewhat sunny, windy

Ahhh the energy of a two year old! Emma is certainly full of it. She is talking non-stop. Her favorite things to say is “what’s dat?” or “hear dat” (head cocked, hand on her head) when you ask her something that she knows the answers to she will say “dunno!” for a reaction. She also tries to justify herself…how funny, like a little lawyer! Emma why did you make a mess? “Because!” She says “cause” a lot, she must be needing to get her point across at daycare. Yesterday after daycare we all sat down for a snack together (so rare) and discussed our days. Chris headed out to the garage and I wanted to get a jump on dinner. Emma decided she would like to take her snack in the living room and make a huge mess of her crackers. I stopped her in her tracks, explained why she can’t eat crackers in the living room and like a mini-miracle she came back to sit at the table. I think I belong to some angle child club out there. Seriously this kid is too easy! After snack (and some crafty paint time) Emma helped me make a batch of banana bread. Her eyes were as big as pennies she was so excited! I think I will keep her on this cooking kick and she will be able to make us cookies and other yummy treats by the time she is 6!!!

Yesterday was my grandpa and grandma Hewitt’s 68th wedding anniversary. Chris and I are going on 1.5 and he makes me crazy sometimes. I can hardly imagine 20 let alone 60+ ! Words from Dad

68 years ago, this year, my folks wanted to get married, but the Catholic church would not marry during lent (may still doesn't how would I know), so they picked the first day after Easter to get married, which was March 25.

In that 68 years, this is the only time that march 25 falls after Easter, since the first time. That is quite interesting.

They are quite the couple that’s for sure and an inspiration to us all.

SNOWY

30ish Snowing like Mother Nature is out for a vengeance. She’s pissed!In the last two days I have burnt my hand twice. I don’t know what the deal is but I am on serious edge. I think I may be having serious anxiety issues. All I do at this lame ass job is obsess about everything that needs to get done, how little time I spend with Emma and how I am a completely wasting my talent day after day withering away in this chair staring at this screen. I’m sure between this job and the stress I have aged 5 years in 2 months or maybe it’s because I’m 30 now.

Yesterday was mom’s birthday. The calm family get together of the past is so long gone I dread going over there anymore. First Dad insists on cooking jambalaya were, of course, Mike will help with the effort. I love how the Hewitt men cook. Let’s find the recipe that needs the most ingredients and dirty every pot and pan in the house and then the girls better clean up. I am still frazzled with chasing Emma and Maura around and keeping Emma from having a complete emotional breakdown from being so overwhelmed with the people, music, Maura and all the noise. Which she did and I really wanted to start crying with her. Especially when Chris is sprawled out on a recliner looking all lovely and relaxed. The jambalaya was crazy spicy and took forever to cook, Uncle Bernie was late and before we knew it 8:30 rolled around. I nicely asked Chris to take Emma home and put her to bed so I could stay and do the Cinderella duties. He snapped and told me to take her home after I was done cleaning. A dagger must have shot out because he put his tail between his legs, packed Emma up and went home. I started to clean and quickly realized that this mess was going to take about 2 hours to tackle. I put some stuff away and got the hell outta there. I know it was wrong put I was so damn tired it felt like I was going to fall over standing up. It’s nice to know that Easter is on Sunday. Can’t I just hide out all weekend at home under the comforter? No!! We have to paint!!! God I am crabby today. I need some chocolate to get over this.

It was cute to see Emma mimic (or try to keep up with ) Maura and how affectionate she is with Owain. She is so gentle with that child! I do believe she was just born with a sweet gentle soul. She is such a good eater too! I see other mom’s complaining that their kids don’t eat or will only eat certain things. Last night for her dinner she ate 5 shrimp, handful of chicken and three huge helpings of rice with some cheese on top. Mauna hadn’t touched anything on her plate so Emma finished off her rice too. SO funny! Ms. Michelle has commented that she must have a really high metabolism because she is so small but out eats all the other kids there. Good fortune has reigned on my Child. She will be tall and skinny and will be able to eat whatever she wants! I worked with a woman like that once. She would eat brats for breakfast and steak whenever she pleased. She was about size 2 and over 50! Can we all be so lucky?! So anywho amsit all of the chaos (and headache today) Emma seemed to dazzle and make it all worth it! Maybe Easter won’t bee to bad after all. This weekend I hope to clean the house from top to bottom, paint the entire basement and color eggs and “craft” (hell yes) with Emma. I want to make and egg carton catapiller. I think I will bring the stuff over to my parent and we can do it there on Sunday. It will be a calm day with a perfect child, yummy food and no chaos. Yeah right!