projects – megan&andrew

So Many Projects

Megan Hampton — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 07:03:03 +0000

I got a heater for the garage which means it’s easier to spend time out there and work on stuff. I stripped, primed, and painted this dresser.

I’ve been building and selling a few sofa tables, plus a special request table for the Jewish Community Center.

I cleaned and re-stained the grout on our bathroom and shower floor.

I replaced all the hinges in the house to match our knobs (after like 6 years) and had some extra help.

Aiden made Andrew a headphone hanger.

Valentine’s Shirts & A Table

Megan Hampton — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 09:02:25 +0000

We don’t usually do anything out of the ordinary today, but the boys did get these adorable shirts from Aunt Ali and Uncle Brent.

I also recently re-finished this table I got from a neighbor.

Keeping Entertained in January

Megan Hampton — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 08:10:05 +0000

We’re back home with a holiday hangover from our travels and being with family on a regular basis. Now it’s back to the rain and entertaining ourselves indoors. Lately that has involved a lot of dress up. They’re in costume on the toilet or in the rain. And if they aren’t dressed-up they’ve got Spiderman close by.

We’ve had time to catch up with our Seattle framily at a taco party and brunch.

Of course, we’ve spent a few afternoons at Giggle Jungle (in our pjs).

I completed my first and only knitted sweater. I will never do it again. I started this two years ago and there wasn’t anything overly challenging about it. The instructions I got were easy to follow, but I started it back when I was riding the bus so it was easy to work on every single day. Then I stopped riding the bus (and stopped knitting as much). So yeah, I’m going to keep to small projects. Luckily, I knitted it WAY too big and it fits Aiden now, and he’s very excited about it.

Daddy makes a good tickle monster and pillow.

I think this is my favorite artwork to come from school lately, and he loves practicing his letters. He challenges us by writing a bunch of letters and then asking what he spelled, so I try to sound out the random gibberish for him.

We got to celebrate Max’s 5th Birthday at his Science Party. Kathryn had 8 experiment stations, themed food, and science outfits for every kid. It was picture perfect and fun!

A 3-deer-spotting in the backyard.

Thanksgiving 2018

Megan Hampton — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 06:40:10 +0000

Aiden and I began Thanksgiving prep a few days before hand. Andrew and Oliver just kept themselves out of the kitchen. We made pierogis and froze them so they’d be ready to fry Thanksgiving morning. Then he helped me batter pork chops while I fried them. They got baked the day of. Our usual turkey chefs were traveling England and Iceland, so we made due with some non-traditional Karas traditions.

Kelly and Matt arrived early and we started the day off with the parade, mimosas, and playing with friends.

The newest little framily member came and got lots of snuggles.

Sarah, Tobin, and Jadaka road-tripped up from Portland and camped in their RV for the night in our driveway. Brody also got lots of snuggles.

Aunt Sarah gave Aiden a little aerial balancing lesson.

Dad, Andrew, and I had some beverages at a few breweries. I snuck off for macarons at Lady Yum when we made a brewery stop in Kirkland.

Aiden got into the Thanksgiving spirit making scarecrows at school.

Thanks to my parents, I completed this shoe bench for our entry way.

I Refinished a Tabletop

Megan Hampton — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 05:05:00 +0000

I only refinished the tabletop because the rest was in pretty good shape. I love these tables. I don’t know why, probably because they seem so practical and space saving (ironically, I will probably sell this because I have no place to put it).

Original condition:

After 1 coat of stripper for about 30 minutes (it scraped off really nicely):

Sanded:

New stain:

Finished with a few coats of poly:

Spring is Here!

Megan Hampton — Sun, 09 Apr 2017 07:50:00 +0000

We can get back outside on a regular basis.

We’ve been seeing deer in the backyard.

Spring means lot of extra Home Depot runs (pretending we know how to do things in our yard).

Teaching Oliver to hold hands in the parking lot…

At the donut shop, everyone wanted to sit in my lap. Aiden declared “We’re a stack!”

Car rides with the wind in their hair…

“MAMA, HELP! I CRASHED INTO STINGING NETTLE!”

This might be one of the first times he played in the rain.

Loving their new swing!

I got a great deal on craigslist flagstone, and have been struggling with this weird space between us and our neighbor’s driveway (his side grows shrubs, ours grows nothing). So I spent an afternoon piecing together this puzzle. Once it was laid out, I filled the gaps with paver sand and sprayed it down with water to set everything.

New Year, New Fireplace

Megan Hampton — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 06:21:00 +0000

We began ripping out our current fireplace right after the New Year. It took us roughly a month to complete.

It was wood burning and we never used it. We were planning to get a gas insert. But after doing all the demo work, we had the pros come measure for the insert. Once they were able to look into the walls, we learned that the fireplace wasn’t structural. We could remove the whole thing and get an entirely new fireplace. The perk to this is we could get a larger fireplace (for the same amount of money). I also pulled of part off the mantle that was running along the back wall, so I took this excuse to repaint the whole room (too ambitious? maybe).

We had gas run to the where the new fireplace would be and I built drawers for underneath the hearth.

We added framing for the built-in entertainment unit that would replace the wood storage box.

The installer put in the new fireplace and hooked up the gas. Since they were doing framing for the fireplace, we also had them add the cement board for tiling (it’s one our least favorite things to do).

I built drawer fronts. Andrew worked on wiring for the entertainment system.

We waited to decide on a hearth until after the fireplace was installed. We wanted to have perfectly accurate measurements and know exactly how much space we’d have under the silver framing. Conveniently Andrew and I both had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off, but daycare was open. We used that entire day to go from stone yard to stone yard hoping to find remnants that might work for our space. We saw very little we liked, even when we did find remnants long enough. However, the very last place we visited happened to have one full sheet of marble that they were selling at remnant price because it was the last of a lot. Plus they could install within 2 weeks, unlike most the other places.

I painted and installed the drawer fronts before the hearth was installed.

The hearth arrived! They struggled to get it in our front door and up the stairs, but eventually made it. One installer spent a lot of time measuring, going up and down, and shaking his head at the staircase before bringing the piece inside.

Next, we needed to decide on tile. I probably brought home 8 options, and we narrowed it down to each of our favorites. Andrew’s pick was the right option (horizontal) and I preferred the left. I agreed to pick the right option if we laid it vertically.

Andrew and I build in the box and shelves. The shelves can slide in and out, and there’s a 4 inch gap in the back for running wires. Andrew’s done a lot of behind the scenes work here to discreetly connect speakers, receiver, projector, internet, and all the gaming systems.

Ana came over to take the boys out for the afternoon and we tiled in about 4 hours.

I was able to grout the next day while everyone was at work/daycare.

The final piece was adding doors to the entertainment stuff.

Voila!

Here’s the before photo.

A Hampton Visit

Megan Hampton — Tue, 17 May 2016 00:31:00 +0000

Andrew’s parents came for a visit this past weekend. We had a wonderful time. Games were played, food was made and Aiden got to go play at the McDonald’s playland. Now he asks if he can go to “Old McDonald” all the time.

We had a great afternoon at the park.

We also got our new front door installed!

French Macaron Making

Megan Hampton — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 09:12:00 +0000

While on maternity leave I spent time trying to master making french macarons. I made 3 failed batches long ago and was very discouraged. But for my 30th birthday I thought I would try again.

So far my favorites have been pistachio and lime. I really want to make and like lavender but the flavor has been too strong with both my attempts.

I also had several failed batched. This is what happened when I tried to bake 2 pans at a time.

And this is what happened when I took them out of the oven too soon (I think).

24 Weeks (Round 2)

Megan Hampton — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 06:21:00 +0000

I reframed our gaming alphabet poster for the toddler/baby room.

In the living room we have a coat closet that was mostly useless. I removed the hanger rod and single shelf and added adjustable shelves for toys and DVD shelves to the side nook.