It's Bright In Here!

The boys weren't really sure whether they liked it. Doug said it was "bright". Eventually, they all decided they liked it, although Doug said he "wasn't sure why".

Not exactly a glowing recommendation.

That's okay, though. The walls glow enough for us all to be happy. I am speaking of the boys' room, which was prepped and awaiting color. Doug took all the kids (!) camping, leaving me to myself for a Friday night and Saturday morning. Oh, what bliss!

So I finished painting the boys' room. And I just love it.

Collin's bed

This picture is closest to showing the true green on the walls -
and yes, Jack still needs his bed

In a fit of craziness, I decided to try painting the door...it'll work (for now)

Still needing closet doors, the closet looks soooo much nicer white!

Do you remember what it used to look like?

The lime green does need to be tamed a bit by hanging artwork and curtains, but that will happen in good time (meaning, not soon).  Yay, one more painting project down!

High-Steppin' Preppin'

In high school, my senior English teacher used to call the over-achievers "high steppers". Well, this prepping job definitely counts as an over-achievement. Let me tell you.

If the builders of this house were slackers on drywalling upstairs (and they were - you can see almost every seam), they are even worse downstairs. The exiting paint job isn't the best, either. Add to the basic flaws the fact that this bedroom has seen at least three boys living there for the past 5-7 years (previous family and mine), and you can imagine the state of this poor room. There are knife marks, coloring projects, and just basic bumps and scuffs.

It took me a complete week - granted, not a full 40 hours, but any moment I could spare - to sand and clean and plaster and sand some more. Oh, and definitely caulk. Now it is done.

Better yet, it's even primed. Yahoo!!!

Of course, Sophia had to color on the wall after it was primed. Thanks for the help, dearie. This goes in the category of "three steps forward, one step back".

Next, color. Be very afraid.

And They're Off! (to School)

Finally!

The summer has officially been declared over, and the three oldest made their way to school today. Malena was so excited, she didn't even want to stay still for a picture. So this is what I ended up with:

Notice Collin's new glasses?

After picture-taking, Malena was off like a shot, and Collin was gone not long thereafter. Bonnie was the only one who let me take her to school.

And Jack starts preschool next week! Ah, the joy!

Pokin' Holes in the Roof

Doesn't sound like a good idea, does it?

When Doug suggested this, I wasn't so sure. He was talking about roof vents, which ideally would have been added during construction. They weren't. The guy who built the house acted as his own general contractor (GC), and skipped out on a few things...some important, some not. This was one of the more important ones.

We spent an evening looking at our options. Ridge vents, along the top of the roof, are the best option both for looks and function. Retrofitting that to an existing roof was a little more than we wanted to take on, so we            passed on that. We also looked at electric options - we'd only need two of those, but they would need to be wired, wouldn't work without electricity, and would actually cost us money to run. Scratch that. Then we looked at the basic roof vents. We'd need eleven to vent the house and the shop, but they don't require electricity and they work no matter what. Sold.

So Saturday morning, Doug went up in the attic and marked where he wanted those suckers. Jack wanted to go up, too.

Then he spent the morning putting in the vents.

Bonnie kept him company.

The benefit was immediate - without air conditioning, our house only warmed up to 74 degrees in the time it usually took to get to 78. Hopefully we'll see the difference on our A/C bill, too.

Here's what the roof looks like now:

The back of the house

The shop

A very productive weekend. Hope you all have a a great week saying goodbye to August and hello to September!!!

PS - again, no new blooming plants this week. My delphiniums are reblooming, though!

It's the Little Things

And sometimes the not-so-little-things.

Last night, Doug and I were eating dinner when he casually asked, "So, what's the next household project?"

Thinking "FENCE!", I calmly said, "The kitchen, then we can start drywalling downstairs."

He smiled. "I've been thinking all day about drywalling!" Then he realized that my first suggestion was not drywalling. "What's wrong with the kitchen?"

After sighing and rolling my eyes, I started enumerating the many faults of the kitchen-that-almost-was-finished. The doors on the cabinets don't open from the center out.

The bottom hasn't been fixed yet in this picture -
both upper and lower cabinets all opened to the left.

The trim has never been finished around the tops of the cabinets.

Again, just one example of many...

And what about the tile that has never been finished around the door? There are other trim issues, but this is the most noticeable...

There are random screws that have never been screwed in - mostly because they don't fit and just need a shorter version put in.

We need handles on the doors, so we're not constantly prying the doors open from the sides (which is doing a number on the sliding mechanism) or the bottom (which would be better but is always second choice).

In the way of improvements, I want to get rid of one of the top cabinets and put up shelving on either side of the range hood so that it looks, well, not symmetrical, but more purposeful. And as if they have a purpose.

Doug then shocked me by starting in on the work in the kitchen. No kidding! He fixed the cabinet door that had been split before we moved in (gotta keep responsibility where it lies, right? Otherwise known as My Kids Are Not Breaking Everything - Yet).

Glue drying on the split cabinet...I can't even see where it was broken anymore.

Then he turned the cabinet doors around on the pantry cabinet so that they opened the right way. This whole thing took maybe half an hour.

And we've been waiting for a year to do that? Seriously?

Then he took down the upper cabinet. Or tried to. It was resisting all efforts in that direction.

Hanging on for dear life

The cabinet over the range hood, directly adjacent to the offending cabinet, was screwed into the trim using torque screws (yeah, I didn't know what they were either, until Doug told me). The offending cabinet was also screwed into the trim...but somehow the heads of said screws were missing.

See the little hole? That's where the screw is located - without a head to unscrew it.
Bad screw!

After "banging on it a little" (Doug's words), he finally just sawed off the trim, and took it off with the cabinet.

Doug made me remove his little helper shortly after this shot

Viola! No cabinet!

Now I just need shelving. Not bad for an evening's work, huh? He must really want to drywall. 

Staining the Fence

Sadly, not a new fence. This is the fence that the neighbor put up to keep his grandchildren from chasing our chickens underneath his horses' hooves.

Yup, that one. Doug volunteered to stain it to protect it from the elements. He felt really badly that our neighbor was shouldering the cost of the fence. He could do the stain, right? So here it was...

He got a lovely natural cedar stain...

And now the fence looks just lovely. And it won't turn grey in a winter. Not that I would mind, but whatever, I wasn't on the committee for this fence.

More fence news. Doug is still not sure what type of fence he wants. What he is sure about, though, is that he wants to do it himself. He also does not want to follow the city ordinances, which state that you cannot have a fence forward of your house. Now, we have a lot of property forward of our house...and Doug doesn't want to consign all that land to the front yard.

So it's going to be a while until the real fence gets built. So I proposed a compromise: can we at least put up a temporary fence, using chicken wire, or whatever, so that I am not constantly retrieving our toddler from the side of the road when trying to accomplish any small task in our yard? Doug said he would look into "rodent" fencing. His words, though said with a wink and a smile.

Here's hoping.

What's Bloomin'

There is still a lot in bloom. And this week, there are even a few new things, strangely enough. Some I didn't even plant - more volunteers. Love it!

The first is an aster (I think), and it is super happy. It has been sprouting 1-10 blossoms from the beginning of summer, but I didn't post it. Why? Mostly because I couldn't figure out what it was. And now it has really come into its own, so it was time.  Whatever it is, it is really, really excited to be in my garden.

This is an ornamental gourd plant - which technically doesn't count - but aren't they cute?

They're even cuter when they grow up into a gourd...

And here are my volunteers.

A whole bunch of sunflowers waving good morning - and good evening - and just smiling at me throughout the day. The sunflower house lives again. Ahhh...this is where gardening gets good.

Have a great week, ya'll!

Waiting for the Flood

There are now curtains hanging in our master bedroom, which block out the light and really look sophisticated.

They also have a host of issues. One, they are still being tucked unceremoniously behind the unmounted headboard. Doug has all the tools and hardware to mount that baby, but he was spraying the cedar fence last night (no, not a new fence, still the one that the neighbor put up to keep his grandchildren from chasing our chickens underneath his horse). He was not too interested in helping me find the stuff I needed, so that project has been delayed. Again.

Next, we have the issue that WalMart only had three curtain panels instead of the four I needed. So, I thought, I'll just go home and order more on their website. Oh, no. Not that easy. They don't show it on the website. So now I have to hope that they restock these babies and check back until I see them on the shelves again. Maybe there's a better way...but that's how I typically handle things like that. 

The curtains, by the way, are Eclipse "For Kids" grommet panels with blackout liner. Which works very, very well. I may never wake up again. Why the "For Kids" label? They were less expensive, and the fabric didn't look like the shiny polyester that Eclipse normally uses on their regular curtains. Why do they do that? More people might buy them if they looked less like a '70's throwback. Just sayin'.

Last, but not least, they look like they are high-water curtains. This is the anticipated issue: most curtains come in 84" length, and these were going to be hung as close to the ceiling as possible. So I knew there would be some alterations in the future. I'm actually going to use the other side of the fabric I used for the headboard. Cool, huh? It has two different patterns, one of which I liked better for the headboard. The other will work just swimmingly for the curtains.

Hopefully, these curtains will never have to swim, though. Again, just sayin'.

Double-Double Monday: Blooms and the Great Reveal

When we lived in California, I didn't like In-N-Out much. But I've been craving it lately (go figure), so I thought I'd throw in a double-double...just for you! No extra charge. See, that's how much I care.

Last week, I promised you a reveal of the master bedroom. Well, now that Doug is at work (and not lounging on the bed), I have some actual pictures for you!

Here you can actually see how peaceful the grey is on the walls. Love it. The Van Gogh over the bed really doesn't go with everything, but it works better than the other pictures I had. So I'll have to work on that.

From the other side of the room...it looks pretty much the same. The next task in here (other than mounting the headboard and fixing the trim that my helpers were painting grey) is to get curtains back up. I do like the plantation blinds, but they let in way too much light.

And here you can see the unmounted headboard just resting on the floor. Height-wise, it's not a problem. But it will be a problem once I get those curtains up...

And here's your double-double...the blooms popping up in the garden! This is the Tradescantia, also known as Spiderwort (I prefer the Latin name on this one, for obvious reasons). The flowers look like the thumb-print versions made by kindergarteners. They only appear in the morning, so you have to get outside before noon (difficult with the pile o' laundry awaiting me downstairs).

The Stonecrop is also blooming. These pictures don't really do the flowers any justice. Normally, I take pictures at dusk, because the light is just perfect. However, since some flowers are only available in the morning (divas!), I had to make do.

Hope you have a great week - with or without In-N-Out!

Bits and Pieces

The master bedroom grand reveal will have to be put off for another few days. I know, sad!

Doug is currently jet lagging and lounging on the bed, so there won't be any pictures of any completed room. But the painting is almost complete. "Almost" because the boys were "helping" me paint...and accidentally painted the white trim that was already finished with the wall color. It's attractive. But the walls are painted. Here's a sneak peek:

We now have grey walls! The door is also painted, so it no longer bears the stains of being stashed in the garage while the previous owners looked for better doors. Why anyone would remove working doors while just looking for new doors is beyond me. They had kids, too, so a master bedroom without a door would be...well, uncomfortable for me.

Here's a peek at the fabric for the headboard:

Right now, it is just propped up behind the bed. Not a bad thing, but actually mounting is important if I ever want to put curtains on those windows again. And I do. Want curtains.

And just to add something random to the mix, I also rearranged my kids' portraits in the hallway while Doug was gone. He had complained that they didn't really fit in the stairwell (I agreed there) and that my second arrangement was too low (didn't really agree there, but the light switch wasn't working with the composition anyway). So here's what we have now:

The light switch doesn't bug me so much now. I did have everything level at one point, but the kids have seen to it that they won't stay level. I even tried putty to make them stay. But kids are ingenious about getting around things like that.

Once Doug gets over jet lag (or goes back to work on Monday), I'll be sure to take some better pictures. Have a great weekend!

Masterly Progress

Even though I can't show you what I've been up to (camera still enjoying its international trip without me), you'll be impressed by how much is already done.

Prep:

• Clean: this is a big one for the master bedroom, since I live with a pile-er rather than a put-it-away-er. Gah. Done!
• Patch: this took me a lot longer than anticipated. There are two patches in my room that took a long time - they are about 5"x5" and were just covered and taped when we moved in. Luckily, it was joint tape, so it was ready for plaster. This definitely needed a few coats, with sanding in between. Then there was the easy patching: nicks and dings and nail holes. Done!
• Caulk: now this was easier than expected, thank heavens. Not too many gaps between the wall and the baseboards or trim. Done!
• Supplies: paint has been purchased. Done!

Painting Trim: As always, I do trim first. For some reason, painting is easier for me this way. All the baseboards, door trim, and even one of the doors (interior only - hey, the kids were starting to get annoyed) got painted my favorite white (Swiss Coffee - I know, very boring).

Headboard: Oh yes, I'm making a headboard, too...

• Backer: bought some plywood at Lowes. Did you know they will cut it for you for free? Okay, only two cuts for free, but since I only wanted one cut, it was perfect.
• Batting: had a ton of this hanging around, so no spending there (and I'm using up something - yay!).
• Fabric: dragged all the kids to Joann's (bad idea) and barely made it out in one piece. The fabric was still good, though.
• And then I stapled it all together. It's now ready to mount on the wall. I can't wait to show it to you!

Today I'm  hoping to get two coats of paint on the bedroom walls. I'll probably have more help than I need - or want - but that's what keeps it interesting, yes?

What's Bloomin'

Nuttin'. Zip. While there are still many flowers in bloom, there is nothing blooming right now. My daisies, cone flowers, and chrysanthemums are doing quite well, but...well...you've already seen them.

And there's another issue: Doug is in Ireland this week, so he took the camera. Understandable, totally. Bummer for me and the blog, though.

Since he's in Ireland, I am going to do a makeover on our room. It is so hard to work on the master bedroom when the master is home! So...evil laugh...it will be fun to surprise my jet-lagged husband when he comes home. And without a camera,  you'll have to wait to see it...though I'll keep you posted on how it's going. Hehehehe.

Have a great week!

Hanging Artwork

The first thing I do when we're about to pack up a house is to take all the artwork off the walls. Without the artwork and pictures, the house just doesn't feel like it's "mine" anymore. So the boxes get packed faster and I'm much less nostalgic.

Done that a few times. It works really well for me.

So why is it that it's taken more than a year to get some pictures up in our new house? I know that artwork is what makes my house feel like a home. Whatever my problem, I've finally gotten around to hanging a few things. Already this place is feeling more homey.

These pictures are so calming...

Parks and landscapes. These black-and-whites also have a slight greenish tint to them. Works perfectly with the grey-green walls. I even got to use my fancy laser level that Doug got me when I first started staging. 

I even hung our family picture. Shocker. I think it's been at least four years since I've had a family picture in my home. These are my favorite people, I swear. I just don't like looking at myself every time I walk into a room. Or having other people look at my picture. Weird. Yup, that's me.

Funny story - I hung the kids' individual pictures down the stairwell. The next morning, Sophia started "talking" to them. She even tried to get through the banister to touch them. This went on for a good fifteen, twenty minutes. More than once that day. She really loves having the pictures up there - and having me identify everyone.

Going down the stairway...a little askew due to the kids "loving" them

A long time ago (when we had real cable), I used to watch "The Stagers" on HGTV. Loved it. One of the stagers noted that, if he had to choose between furniture or artwork (not being able to use both), he would always choose artwork. That statement has made me think a lot over the years. At first, I wasn't so sure I agreed with him. Now, though, I think I know what he means.

Furniture makes a house functional - no matter how beautiful it is, furniture is really meant to be used. Artwork makes a house beautiful, gives you something to look at when you're sitting on said furniture, and really personalizes a space. An empty space can still be beautiful with artwork. With only furniture, a home can still look relatively empty. Case in point: most of my house.

Yes, I really need to work on that wall and those chairs. Oh yes, and the couch. It's kind of funny that my front room houses all my current projects. Once they're done, though, I can hang art in there, too. Looking forward to it!