another hallway redo...

Since we built in bookshelves in the hallway, I've been wanting to repaint it. I loved the orange stripes but am trying to keep a very tight color scheme and orange wasn't in it. Since this is a small hallway, I could do fun stuff.

I first painted the lower half of the chair rail and the built in telephone table a pear/chartreuse green and stuck a vinyl decal on. I'm not sure I like it but it's staying until I can think of something better.



Then Brian and I stenciled the bottom half.




You can see the new black bathroom. I'm going to post more pictures of that soon.

Here is the before:




Now I'm done painting anything in the year 2010. :)

Linking:

i did it...

Well with only 1 day before company comes over, I painted the bathroom black. Olympic's "Black Magic" lightened 25%. I love it! This picture shows it after the final coat this morning and before I put everything back up.

I ordered a black toilet seat and it should be here tomorrow. I wish I had done this months ago!

diy...

You have not lived until you have used duct tape to fix something. This is miracle stuff. Minutes before I was to get in the shower, the rod fell down. I grabbed the duct tape and bam! fixed the rod.

Oh ya.

stripes...

Two of my walls in my living room have always had me stumped. The TV wall is also where our piano is and I didn't know how to decorate. I've tried a long shelf then took it down. Then months later put it back up and then took it down again.

I finally was inspired to paint really wide stripes and I love the look. I love that my sunburst clock looks great there too. We took the stripes around the corner to the other wall behind the couch. I'm not sure what I'll hang there yet.

Before:


After:




I'm still amazed at what a little paint can do. My next project is to complete the hallway and paint the bathroom black. Then I think I'm done painting for awhile!

Link:

christmas eve...

Our family tradition is to open presents on Christmas Eve as we are busy running around all day on Christmas. Since Brian is home all day, we decided to open presents this morning.

Well after Ava went and got her hair cut. Shocking isn't it?


I never seem to capture the present opening but did get some of the aftermath.


There is wrapping paper covering the floor.


Many homemade gifts. This one is made by Ava to Molly.


Gifts that Mom swore she would never buy and then bought because her daughter really wanted them.


Brian putting batteries and assembling everything.

Lots of candy eaten and kids going all over the house playing with each others toys. Now I need to get working on last minute gifts to extended family. It's nice because the kids are too busy with new toys to fight. Right?

christmas....

I finally worked on some Christmas decorating projects yesterday. Not like waiting until the last minute. In my defense, we had the stomach flu for a week and before that we were finishing up school in preparation for our break.


I decked out the chandelier with beads, ribbon and hanging ornaments.


I pulled out the enormous wooden sconces from the attic and put mini Christmas trees on them.


The window got hanging ornaments, two Christmas cards and the little girl holding candles that I picked up at the Goodwill outlet for $.50. These pictures were all from the dining room.

Brian is home all this week and he's working on the little projects that we've put to the backburner. Projects like trimming out doors and sanding down floors.

I went to Goodwill recently and hit the jackpot. Or at least to me.


I have been wanting a starburst clock forever but never could find one under $50.00. This one I spotted at Goodwill for $7.99. It's a Syroco and in perfect shape. I'm not fond of the gold clock face but I'm not touching it as it's worth around $50-$100 as is. I could see the looks of jealousy disguised as disgust on the other shoppers faces as I was carrying it around. :)


I also found a perfect condition wool afghan. I love the look of coziness it brings to the house. It was $3.99 and is worth between $25-$50! And no I haven't yet made the slipcover for that chair. It is my next project.

I've also been collecting gold mirrors to hang in the hallway on the built in bookcases.


And lastly, I made some new fall/winter curtains for my living room.


I'm preparing to paint some stripes on the wall behind the tv and couch today now that Brian is home to help me tape them off. And tomorrow I'm taking the older girls and two of their friends to the latest Harry Potter movie for part of their Christmas present. Brian and I have already seen it and it was really good so I'm looking forward to seeing how much they will like it.

I might now post until after Christmas so I will wish you all a Merry Christmas right now. May you all have a blessed time with family and friends!

growing up...

Just two weeks ago I asked Ava if she would like her ears pierced and she shook her head. Her older sisters have had their ears pierced for years but she was adamant against it.

Fast forward to a few days ago when she casually mentioned she would like her ears pierced, her hair "professionally" cut and some red highlights put in. We were eating breakfast at the time and most of us dropped our spoons in disbelief. Where did that come from?

So we went to get her ears pierced this morning. I'll probably take her to get her hair cut at the beauty school ($5.00 yay!) but no highlights right now. That is a never ending expense that I don't think is really necessary for a 12 year old.

It's fun to watch the kids grow up but does make me a little anxious. I'll never get this time back and there is so much for me to teach them. But that's how it's supposed to be I guess.

p90x

I'm doing my 3rd round (270th day) of P90X. Grae loves to warm up with me and do some of the moves.

He drew this picture for me and I love it for so many reasons but mainly because my sweet boy thought I would be happy to have it.

(In case you didn't know, it's Tony Horton, the instructor. It even has P90X on the shirt and little muscles on his arms.)

more bathroom progress...

I have all of the current tonque and groove primed in the bathroom. Brian is installing the trim but ran out. Another trip to the ReStore is in order.



I'm starting to add some accessories that I've collected because I can't wait. You can see the painting I picked up at Goodwill that was my inspiration for the colors peeking out above the toilet. There will be a aqua colored shelf below it.



Here is that same view months ago:


You can see all the posts about the upstairs bathroom by clicking here.

painting stripes - girls bedroom

The girls and I worked on finishing their closet this week. We measured out the stripes and taped them off. I first painted the whole closet in some aqua paint I had in the garage. After that was dry, Ava cut in and Maddie painted the white stripes.

I ended up hiding the fire extinguisher behind their clothes in the closet and installing some hooks. The hooks were originally in our bathroom downstairs before we remodeled it.

They really like the look and I think it looks fun as well.

Before:




After:




Now on to the hallway and finishing up the upstairs bathroom.

Linked:

black bathroom?

I'm over the creamy walls in our downtstairs bathroom and want to do something dramatic. I'm thinking of painting above the wainscotting a charcoal black but then I saw this picture and now maybe I'll paint the lower half black?


Source

It would match our floors which have black tile in them.


I don't know, it's not like I don't have other projects to think about around here. :)

stenciling...

This is what Brian and I worked on last night. I've been wanting to do it for awhile and had the stencil but never the motivation. But I told myself I couldn't watch the newest episode of Psych on Hulu until I had it done. Brian graciously agreed to help me.

He held the stencil and I used a foam roller to apply the paint. It went pretty fast. We finished both walls in under 2 hours.

Before:


After:






I started freaking out on the first row and thought maybe the Polar Bear White was too bright but decided to keep going. Now I love it.

I'm thinking I need something on either side of the green frames but I don't know what. Something wood tone.

Please ignore my unfinished table. I'm going to paint the base a light gray and sand down the top and either stain it lighter or a mahogany color.

Linking:

2nd bathroom progress

Me: "You have nothing to do? Well I have something you can do..."

So began Maddie and Ava's adventure today in spackling all the tiny nail holes in the upstairs bathroom.





Brian has almost all the tongue and groove put up except for around the built-ins. We also need to install the quarter round moulding where the ceiling meets the wall as there is no room for traditional moulding. Then on to priming and painting the paneling. I'm painting it all Polar Bear White which is a Behr color which I will have color matched in Miller or BM paint. Since there is no natural light up there, it should help to really brighten it up.



Before:



We also need to finish the countertop and I need to sew a skirt to hide the pipes underneath until we decide how to finish off that space. The fabric will soften it up in there and add some color.

I'm going to use Amy Butler's Fresh Poppies as I already had it in my stash and it goes perfectly with the pink paint I used on the mirror. I don't have enough so I'm going to see if I can find some cheap coordinating fabric at Joann's or Goodwill. Cheap is the word around here as we try to finish the bathroom using little to no money.


Here's that same angle a few months ago:




My cute mirror that I painted as it was hanging on the wall. I need to glaze it to tone down the color some. This is one nook we are building in. There are two more underneath.

I'm going to be working on stenciling the dining room and Brian will be working on finishing the built-ins. We hope to have it at least primed by Thanksgiving!

Linking: