Guest Room Reveal

Here's the before.  We nicknamed it the strawberry shortcake room.

This is where we're at today...

  The walls are McCormick Paints "June Breeze."  I still need something on the windows (white 2" wood blinds? or some gauzy curtains?  Not sure yet...), and some photos, art, and accessories.  But we'll get there.  See my cute chandelier?  I should have turned the lights on for the pic, huh?

We've got a full-sized bed in here, which is okay, except for the tall headboard.  Wherever we put the bed, the headboard blocks part of a window.  So I've tried setting the bed at an angle.  It may be the only way.  Of course Tom doesn't like it. But I've seen it done in magazines, and in show houses or model homes.  

What do you guys think?  Do any of you have beds or other furniture at an angle in the room?

White Chandelier Reveal

Finally, I have something fun to share with you! It's the old, never-been-cleaned chandelier. Remember it from the back hallway?

Well, it needed a lot of cleaning.  First I took off all the crystals, and washed them with plain old Joy dishwashing liquid--which left them sparkling like new.  Then I used plain water and a toothbrush to scrub the rest of it.

The lamp cord was frayed, so Tom needed to re-wire it.  He needed 16-gauge wire, and the only place that sold it was the electrical supply place--and only in 500 foot lengths!!  The very kind man there relented, cut off 6 feet of wire, and just gave it to Tom for free.  Wasn't that nice?

Here is the lamp in the intensive care unit, getting its volts and ohms checked.  I have no idea how to re-wire a lamp, but I'm sure I could learn if I had to. (hahaha!  Doesn't Martha have a DIY on this?  Thank goodness I have Tom so I don't have to figure it out myself.  BUT, remember, I could if I wanted to.)

Next, I took the lamp out to the back yard to paint it with Rust-Oleum Hammered Finish White Spray Paint.

I love this stuff!

I tied the chandelier to a tree, and Sarge barked at it.  I guess it was kind of scary looking, just swaying there like that.

Very precarious...I don't recommend hanging your lamp like this, but I'm kind of lazy..and it held long enough. The paint dries very quickly.

Those are the old candle covers--I'm just using them to cover the connections while I spray.  They're cracked and split, so I bought new ones.

We took it to the CP today and Tom hung it up in the guest room.

What do you think?  Isn't it nice?

This shows a little more detail around the bottom.

Tomorrow we'll move the rest of the furniture in the guest room, so the new chandelier will have some company.  I can't wait to post some pics of the whole effect!

I love doing this

Stopped by Home Depot on the way home from school today to browse the new Martha Stewart paint colors. I grabbed the *last* folio of all her paint chips, plus some nice big samples of the colors I liked most. 

I love how natural and fresh they look!  

I'm liking that top color (Hickory) for my living/dining room...but there are about 5 others I love too.

This weekend we're going to help move Mrs. D into her new dream house.  (My job will be unpacking, I think.)  Then on Sunday, we can work on our place.  It's almost ready for move-in!  

Off to bed to dream of paint colors.

Come hell or high water...

...That's an expression my dad used to say. It means "no matter what." And I'm sorry if you already knew that; it's just the teacher in me to explain very simple things to everyone.

Anyway, we've got the high water:

That's our dock, underwater, and the bulkhead is completely covered.  The poor birdhouse is barely keeping dry! 

For comparison, this is what it usually looks like:

And here's how tall the birdhouse usually is:

 

This is the result of the 3 days of nearly constant rain we've had this weekend.  But don't worry, it's tapering off.  Our dock will survive.

As the raindrops fell, we got some work done at the house this weekend.  I'll post updates later in the week.  I also plan to head to the CP after school several days this week to finish off this neverending painting.  It just...never ends.

We've invited family over to the new place for Easter dinner.  So I've resolved that we WILL move in to the Creekside Place before Easter, come hell or high water! 

My green thumb is starting to itch...

The birds have been singing in the mornings for a few weeks now, which gets my springtime green thumb itching.  I really want to get outside and start playing in the dirt at the new place!  I found an inspirational naturalized cottage garden posted by Cindy.  Look at these beautiful pictures! 

Love these natural walkways lined with billowing flowers, and minimal grassy areas.  

I can see this right outside our kitchen/screened porch...

 I wanna grab a shovel and get started!

But...here's a reality check.  We haven't even moved into the house yet.  This weekend, we hope to get the master bedroom completely finished (painted and closet hardware installed), and the kitchen cabinets painted and re-installed.  Then we can start loading up the truck and moving in for real.  And only THEN can I start playing in the dirt. 

Have you ever seen lights like this?

Look at these crazy things!  

 

I think they're from the 1960's.  They're like plastic flexible sheets...

 

There are fluorescent lights suspended behind them.  I have no idea how to get rid of them, so for now, I guess I can't.

As with anything else I can't change, I'll be painting.  I'll make that green trim white, and the wallpaper will be yellow, matching the rest of the kitchen walls.  BTW, somebody wallpapered directly over wood, which is almost imPOSSible to remove...so I think I'll just patch the seams, sand smooth, and paint right over the rest of the wallpaper.  

Until we do a real renovation, I'll be stuck with these wacky lights, I guess.  I'll post later to let you know how they look with new paint. 

Call me nuts...

But I am seriously thinking of buying some of this stuff:

 

to use on our kitchen countertops.  Now, before you scream, "No!!", hear me out.  We can't afford to renovate this kitchen for at least 5 years.  This stuff costs $20 at Lowe's, so I could do the whole kitchen for less than $50.  There are 16 colors to choose from.  And I've found lots of You-tube videos of people using this stuff (and lots of other countertop painting methods) with great results. It appears to be idiot-proof--a very important factor where I'm concerned.

Convinced yet?  No?  Well then, you forced me to do this.  Last, but not least, there is this:

   

 ...this is what I'll have to look at for those 5 years, if I DON'T paint.  

I'm thinking about a dark gray.  Are you with me?

 

I have seen spring, and it is good.

Tommy got home for spring break today, so we had an extra pair of hands to finish scraping the kitchen wallpaper, which was nice.  On Sunday, I actually got it sanded, cleaned, primed, and a first coat of paint on it.  Tom cut the beadboard for the wainscoting, so he'll get that put up this week.

 

 And the boys got out on the creek in the new canoe, which was nice...

 

 I think that, even though this birdhouse needs roof work, there is an occupant, which is nice...

 

  And Sarge was full of energy, running up and down the dock, (but not jumping in), which was nice...

 

 Are there signs of spring in your neck of the woods?

I wonder...

I wonder if I could transform our blah, so-so, dated, boring white fireplace

into something more like this very cool one?

(apartment therapy)

It could be done I think...

Herbs in Concrete

Look at this very cool idea for planting herbs! I totally love it and I'm gonna try it at the new house.  I never would have guessed that I would like the look of concrete block!

The photo is by a British photographer, Carolyn Barber, and she does beautiful work with a camera.

The Dog Approves

We brought Sarge with us for last weekend's workday.  It was his second trip to the new place.  He seemed much more relaxed than he was the first time.  I guess the place is growing on him.  Which is a relief, because we don't want Sarge to be unhappy.

 

Sarge-eye view

 

Look to the left...

  

 ...and to the right...

This is a dog grin.  I think he approves of his new playground.