Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Outside

In addition to having 101 projects left to do inside, we have about 99 to do outside as well.  First up was this very necessary addition.

Unfortunately, our brand new 3-car garage was a freaking disaster from day one.  And I blame you, Darling.  Sorry, but you could have cleaned 50 tons of garbage out of the old garage rather that moving it all to the new garage.  Anyway, the garage has a mouse issue now, so that is lighting a fire under the situation, and now that the shed has arrived, we might finally get control of what should be a reasonably spacious garage.  Hope to have some pictures of that soon.

Next up, this!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Judy

Two posts in one day...I may not be back for months after this!   An artist friend of ours came across this piece and asked if we wanted it her.  She came to be called Judy (funny story).  Judy is larger in person than she appeared in this photo that was snapped and emailed to me when I accepted her.

We have a large vaulted wall in our master bedroom that I thought would work for her.

But now that she is in the room (on the floor, not hung up) she is quite heavy looking.  Touring around blogland made me think to spray paint her and lighten up the heavy black frame.  So, I've been spending some time tonight thinking about what color.  The plan is to paint the room "natural linen" beige with white board and batten.  Sooo...white?  cream?  apple green??  If anyone stumbles by this, leave a comment.  I'll be so shocked I promise to take your color suggestion!

Little progress

I think I need to start using this blog to keep track of what I am doing.  Since no one reads it anyway, no need to wait for pictures and all to do a complete post!

Today I sanded down the edges of the hallway chair rail b/c they were dangerously sharp (the returns) and touched up the sanded spots while I had the paint out...

And I had the paint out because it was time to wrap up this little project that I will call the big mistake :(  We had discussed putting up beadboard in the powder room, but it wasn't necessarily high on the priority list.  Eventually I couldn't stand the white walls, and started painting.  It looked GREAT!!  I used Glidden Woodsmoke, and it looked fab with the ORB fixtures.  I did stop at chair level, incase we went ahead with the beadboard.  It stayed for a few months, and just when I was about to paint the bottom, Darling decided to proceed with the beadboard.  As he was loading the materials into the cart, I said "maybe we shouldn't...."  But he assured me that it would just be a few hours and it would be done.  And that this thicker (wider) beadboard that he was choosing was going to look great.


Unfortunately, wrong on all accounts.  1.  This started a month ago and still is not done.  2.  The wider board does not look good because 3.  IT IS NOT BEADBOARD.  Nope.  It is just planks. 
No bead...Just board.  If you have this in your house, I wouldn't hate it, but it is NOT what I wanted.  It is a casual farmhouse-y style, which is just not what I was going for.  Plus the bathroom already had the 2 piece (ie formal) crown molding that went up a few months ago.  Not a good style match.  Plus, any type of wainscoting is supposed to follow that rule of thirds- 1/3 or 2/3 of the wall.  This is at a random height of 4 feet (8 foot boards cut in half)

So Darling, thank you for your hard work and effort.  I'm sorry I dislike it.  But it is what it is, and the fact that it remains unfinished was starting to make me really HATE the room, so I thought I better get to it and finish up.  So, I filled the nail holes and slapped on a quick coat of semi-gloss.  Pictures to follow.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Window Coverings b&a

What in the world is the PC name for them??  Curtains?  Drapes?  I think draperies are just heavy curtains.  Curtains sound so country....speaking of which- Our country curtains are gone!  As i was saying in the old house recap, I was trying hard to reuse the family room curtains, but it just wasn't the right look for the new house.  The old FR had a farmhouse country feel to it (see?), and it just wasn't working here.


So, I found some new "treatments" online that i thought had potential and debated forever, then finally bought one panel to see.  And I still wasn't sure.  But then I found a coupon code, so I ordered the rest.  And here they are.


I wasn't crazy about the rod-pocket style, but Darling cut a hole in them for me so that I could extend them all the way to the end of the rod (meaning over the rod holder piece) which did improve the look.  The fabric is a little thin, but it does hang ok, which may be due to the fact that I ordered 108" so the sheer weight of that length of fabric must help.  They are puddled now, and once we figure out what kind of trim will go around the ceiling we can adjust and hang higher if needed.  We are debating btwn a simple crown or a complex coffered :)



Now, I am jumping the gun on pictures of the room itself, b/c that has a ton of work left.  Currently I need to find accessories for the mantle with some height that will accentuate that lovely mirror!  Oh, and sorry I didn't clean the junk away in any of the photos.  I have to work fast around here.