Thursday, July 22, 2010

A SNEAK PEAK AND SOME RANDOMNESS

The paint has been flying. Well, not exactly flying. It's actually going slower than I'd hope. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could get my entire bedroom - walls, ceilings, doors and trim - done in a day. It took me 10 hours Monday just to get the walls done. I did take quite a few very short breaks, but in all, I pretty much painted all . day . long.

I'm sharing some pics of the room I took this morning. Our bedroom doesn't get good morning light. The light's way better in the afternoon, but I was anxious to share the work I've done so far.


I am thrilled . . . squealing inside thrilled . . . about how the colors came out. The walls were painted a shade of green called Juniper Breeze in a satin finish and the ceiling was painted a pale blue called Tranquility in flat.


Hubby was not too sure about the whole green wall/blue ceiling combo. I told him that the tone I'm going for in our bedroom and master bath are calming, soothing colors . . . think beach glass. He's still not sold. I told him it will all come together once I get all the textiles in the room that have all those colors and will tie everything together.


Oh and a little review on Lowe's Valspar Hi-Def paint. Fantastic! Excellent! Superior! For just $6 more a gallon than the regular Valspar paint, making it around $32 a gallon, it's worth every penny more. The paint had fantastic coverage. I could have almost gotten away with just one coat. I couldn't have been happier with that paint. I'm glad I decided to try it.

Now, on to some more ramdomy things. I wanted to share these two new books I just received. Well, they're not really new new, but new to me.

Junk Beautiful
Outdoor Edition

and
Country Living's
Simple Country Wisdom

I've had Sue and Ki's other book Junk Market Style, which is just great.

And although I haven't really had time to go through the new book, I can tell I'm going to get lots of great "junky" ideas from this new book.

Some pages from Junk Beautiful - Outdoor Edition
(I'm apologizing now for some of the pics being blurry. Hard to take pictures of book pages.)







The Country Living book, Simple Country Wisdom, is another great CL publication. It's a compilation of photos and ideas from the magazine - one of my all-time favorites for many years. I like that the book's mission is to offer "old-fashioned ideas to simplify your life". I can't wait to get into reading some of the ideas and gain some inspiration from the book. And I love the size of this book. It's different. It measures 6-1/4" wide by 9-1/4" long. Doesn't take much to get me excited some times ;o)

These next few pics are from Simple Country Wisdom.


Here's a little bit of bizarre ramdomness. Son No. 2 had been not feeling well since the end of last week. Scratchy throat, some all over achiness, slight fever. Even his glands in his neck were starting to look a little swollen. He saw the doctor on Friday and the doc wasn't quite sure what was going on with him even after a thorough exam. She was actually suspecting it was the mumps.
The mumps???
And that he'd be the first recordable case of mumps in our state for many year. Our doc's office had to call the board of health and CDC to inform them, and they told us to keep him quarantined for 10 days starting from the first day of symptoms.

Kids don't get mumps anymore! I mean, I had the mumps, but that was before MMR inoculations. On Monday he had blood drawn so they could test for mumps. It takes 3 days for the results of the those tests, but in the meantime, he was starting to feel much worse. Tuesday evening he called us and asked us to come get him (he's just recently move out into his own apartment with a some friends) because he was feeling real bad and wanted to come home.
When I picked him up, he was quite feverish and was complaining of his lower back around his kidneys hurting and his throat was so sore and scratchy he could barely speak. I was a little nervous. I actually drove him to a local emergency care unit, but it was closed. Instead of having him sit for hours and hours at the hospital's emergency room, I opted to bring him home and contact the doc. She called back right away and said the kidney pain was most likely from dehydration.

Well, long-story-short, we're pretty sure he has/had the mumps. The test results should be in today, but last night he called to tell us a good friend who was visiting with him last weekend came down with the same illness, and his test came back that he did indeed have the mumps. Crazy! Apparently, mumps spreading through colleges is becoming a mild epidemic. Even to kids who have been immunized, like my Son. He's doing much better now, and went back to his place last night.

Well, it's back to some painting today - the boy's bathroom, hall, foyer, etc. I'm determined to get all this painting done as soon as possible so I can start on the fun part of redecorating my bedroom. I'm dying to get the new bedding on that I purchased months ago, and I have to make new window treatments with the fabric I purchased months ago. Lots to do!



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Monday, July 19, 2010

HARD HAT AREA


This is what my house has looked like for over a week now.
A construction zone.
What you're seeing in these pics is the foyer and upstairs hall.

Yuk!!! After 17 years, I just HATE all the stained woodwork in our house. Part of our massive repainting efforts will include me painting the spindles of the staircase banister you see there. I'll be leaving the handrail and main banister support posts stained, but painting every.single.spindle a creamy white color called "Malted Milk". Oh . . . not sure if I'm ready for that tedious job!



I'm not complaining . . . well maybe just a teeny tiny bit about having to vacuum and dust and wipe everything down almost everyday for the past 10 days.

You see, the finished drywall work that was done in our house when it was built 17 years ago was not done very well at all. After a few years of living here, the drywall tape in practically every wall corner and every place where a wall joined to the ceiling started to pull away and/or ripple from the drywall.

Below is an example of what I'm talking about. Purdy, isn't it?! :o(



When we contacted the builder about this happening, he told us it was normal house settling. Ughhh . . . don't think so. Nail pops and maybe little cracks in the drywall around door ways, windows, etc., would be a result of settling. What we were dealing with was poor workmanship. And we weren't the only ones in the neighborhood who've had this problem over the years.

The Master Bath Below
The master bath will be going under a huge transformation. Not only newly painted walls, but new tile floor, new tile tub surround, new countertop and sinks, and a complete transformation of the vanity base - it's ugly stained finish will be gone and will receive a new painted finish.



The Main Bath (or boy's bathroom) Below



It's been something we've been kind of ignoring for years. Hubby didn't have the confidence to fix it himself, as drywall finishing work can be tricky. And I actually had a hard time trying to find someone who would do the work. It's one of those jobs that can not be done in a one day. One day to apply the tape and spackle, then one day for it dry to be able to be sanded.
It's a process.

The guy who's been doing the job has been here 7 days over the course of the last week and a half. And that's just to do the second floor. We still have to have him come in and do the first floor.

What all this work means for me, aside from all the extra cleaning due to the sanding process, is pretty much me having to repaint every.single.room in our house. And a few of those areas upstairs, I just painted within this past year.

The master bedroom striped walls and stained molding and trim, after today, will be no more!!! Or at least will begin to be "no more" today. Shouldn't get too over-confident that I'll get the entire room done in a day. ;o)

But the bestest part of this total house upheaval, is our master bedroom and master bathroom is finally getting their terribly overdo redo. YAY!!! I can get started on redecorating those areas by painting and not have to worry about the unsightly corners and ceilings.

We went to Lowes over the weekend and bought lots and lots of paint. We're trying their new "Hi-Def" paint in the bedroom.

It's paint with primer added. I'm hoping it will make covering those painted stripes a little easier and with less coats of regular paint.

Still have more paint to buy for the master bath. But with just lit'l ole me doing all the painting, I don't want to feel too overwhelmed having mountains of paint cans taunting me.
(I'm pretty much the painter of the family. Not that I'm all that great of a painter, I actually enjoy it.)

If I'm MIA for a few days or more, you'll know what I'll be up to. I'll be sure to share any significant strides in my work as I go along.

I'm off to gather up all my painting supplies . . .


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Sunday, July 18, 2010

TWILIGHT - NO, NOT THE MOVIE

But twilight on our deck. We love our deck. We sit out here as much as possible. It's not big or fancy, but it's a comfy outdoor space for us. A variety of seating areas, lots of plants and flowers make it super relaxing.





It's one of my favorite places to hang out.



One corner of the deck is set-up as cozy conversation area. This is where we hang out most.


A stack of magazines and a glass of wine makes for a very relaxing evening.


I love this glass cylinder taper candle holder. It's just perfect for outside use. I found it at Yankee Candle years ago. Of course, it didn't start out this color. It was originally an olivey green, but I decided it need a makeover using my can of ORB paint.


A chaise lounge for sunning, taking a little cat nap or just getting extra relaxed and comfy.

Opposite the conversation seating area - a place for dining alfresco.


We've always had big plans for this deck. Adding a roof. Then one day adding screening. Eventually enclosing it with windows, and making a three-season room. But some other expense always crops up and takes priority over our bank account.

The dining area that's down by the little fish pond next to the deck.


Below, a view of the pond from the deck


As darkness settles in a little more, the candles and twinkle lights add a warm glow.




We're still dreaming of upgrading our little deck someday, but until then, we enjoy every moment we spend out here just the way it is.




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