Le Grille, what the hell is Le Grille?

We're getting close to Summer, which means one thing:

Yup, it's BBQ season.

When we moved into the Money Pit, Dan's brother-in-law (you'll hear a lot more about him later, trust me) gave us his old charcoal grill. He's a good little grill, and did all that we asked of him. Then, enter the Stok. A housewarming gift from my parents. 

This is the Megatron of grills, coming with interchangeable plates to grill kabobs, pizza, whole chickens, you name it.


Megatron however, came in many pieces.

In many pieces, and with complicated directions.
 

I think the old grill is mocking us.

Did I mention we were having company over in an hour?


Oh, I did?  Multiple times? 

My bad.


But it all worked out in the end. 

And damn does Megatron know how to grill.

Some things you can't DIY...

One morning I woke up to let Max out to do his business,
and was met with this.




How does this even happen?

(apparently it happens from crappy locksmiths doing a crappy job)

So, after way too many hours of research, how-to videos, and this

with all the accompanying swearing and banging, we knew we had to call in the pros.

I'm happy to say that we now have a fully functioning back door (hehe), and a couple of new Yelp reviews to leave.

We're back!

I apologize for being such a lame and absent blogger. How can I make it up to you? Would a giant sea monster help? Yes? Good.


The first room we finished was our guest room. You remember the room, the one with the, ehm, lovely wall art?




At first I couldn’t wait to rip that sucker down, but then it started to speak to me. Combined with the fact that each individual mirror was seriously cemented to the wall, and we had no interest in re-sheet rocking the damn thing, the mirror stays.


When life gives you a giant retro schooner, what else can you do but create a steampunk, ocean themed room?


We started by switching out the floral light fixture (the old owners used the room as a dining room) with the one they left hanging in the bedroom, which had a sort of boat wheel feel.





And painted the room a cool, almost denim blue.


Now comes the fun part. Have I mentioned my obsession with vinyl wall decals?


I mean, how can you have a steampunk, ocean room without a kraken?


And how difficult can it be to put a sticker on a wall?


The instructions sure look simple enough.



Yup, easy breezy…when it’s a big rectangle...but our kraken was a tad more complicated.



Step One, the test run: Match up the decal pieces, and tape them up on the wall (do not remove the backing!) and mark where each piece will go.



Step Two: Remove all of the sheets, without forgetting where each one is supposed to go. Repeat steps one and two as necessary.

Step Three: Find the first sheet, and carefully peel off the protective backing. Press it into place on the wall, and use a credit card to scrape it flat and remove any air pockets.



Step Four: Remove the application tape by slowly peeling straight down.



Of course here's where the instructions are lacking. They entirely gloss over Step Five (repeatedly getting the decal stuck to itself), Step Six (cursing at the decal to get it to unstick itself), and Step Seven (threatening the decal with a razor).



Now simply do this for each sheet until finished (or divorced).



Totally worth the trouble!

We finished the room off with some prints we purchased off of Etsy. I just taped up paper where I wanted them to go, and Dan hammered them in place.







Before:


After: