JP Home & Garden

I'm Dreaming of a White Beach House. . .

2011-11-14T22:26:00.001-08:00

As a girl highly influenced by the changing of the season, I tend to want to redecorate when the weather changes. Whichever season is setting in is my favorite. In the summer I want nothing more than to run away to a the beach, spending my days with my feet in the sand, sun on my face, and my nights nestled in a cedar shake clad beach cottage with windows flung open to let the breeze drift through. Pale shades of creamy white with accent shades of sky blue and sea glass turquoise would fill the interior. I picture myself reading a book on a cozy window seat while light, gauzy, sheer curtains waft in the breeze and an icy drink in a mason jar sits close at hand with beads of moisture condensing on the glass and a straw propped jauntily on the rim. Ahhhh, summer.

Then autumn sets in and I'm filled with giddiness as the leaves turns a thousand brilliant shades and the comforting scent of wood smoke mixes with the crisp fresh air. I bundle up in sweaters and scarves and dream of cable knit throw blankets and crackling fires and hot cocoa. Chocolate browns and pumpkin orange and aged cream. . .

But fall, my true favorite, never lasts long enough. And winter rain sets in, only broken by the festive cheeriness of holiday cheer; white and red and silver and glass and evergreen fill my home. And of course the whispering of anticipation, cheerfulness and good will, and the secret hope for snow.

Finally, spring arrives in bursts of color; white and pink and yellow. . . bursts of happiness and unbidden smiles and peeks of sunshine. I want to throw open my window and fill turquoise mason jars with pink flowering plum blossoms and full, white peonies and pale, fragrant lilacs. . .

Every season is distinct.

So you see, it was a little strange to find myself headed for the coast on a gray and misty autumn morning, driving past fields of spent corn and forests of fiery autumn splendor, listening to Christmas music. . . on my way to tour a few beach houses.

It was all mixed up.

But somehow we'd strung together the best of all the seasons, and once at the beach the sun was peeking through. And no matter how you slice it, the first house we saw screamed summer. It was enough to make me giddy, no matter the season. . .

A Million Ways to Spend Your Money. . .

2011-08-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

Our house, the day we first looked at it in '07

Have you ever noticed that there are infinite ways to spend your money? And often we find ourselves spending on things we need instead of want. If we are really lucky, we get things we need AND want. Like our decision this year to hire a yard guy. The final push occurred when Rob and I were sitting on the rockers on our front porch, just back from a run, enjoying the breeze in early spring, when some of our neighbors strolled past. They clearly did not see us on the porch and went about pointing out particularly shabby sections of our yard and whispering about our lack of maintenance. I didn't really hold it against them. It was a shabby eyesore. And I LIKE yard work. But despite our hard work in other areas of our lives, the ones that were showing didn't speak well of us. Because there are also only so many hours in a day to spend, and the yard was suffering from low priority. So we hired a yard guy for a surprisingly small amount of money. Now our lawn stays mowed, our shrubs stay trimmed, and our weeds--well, what weeds?! Well worth the money.

But I had higher hopes for the yard this year than merely being mowed and edged (though it is a VAST improvement already--I am sure the neighbors will agree!). I planned to add a archway to the side lane for the kids to use when running to the neighbors, replace a few dead shrubs, and plant a cutting garden in my barren side yard. If I allowed myself to dream a little, I contemplated putting in a stone patio under the pergola off the back porch. It looked lovely. . . if only in my mind's eye.

If you look past the stained paint, you can see the grassy area under the pergola section, of which I speak.

As summer got under way, however, it became apparent that our house was in need of a paint job. The trim paint was thin and peeling in a few places, and the lovely buttery cream body paint was stained and tired. Dreams of my lovely landscaping dwindled and died.

After contemplating painting it ourselves, we decided to leave it to the pros and hire someone--and while this may sound like a growing trend. . . well it has been. We, the-do-it-ALL-yourself-family, have discovered that we can get a lot more done if we occasionally hire some of the work out.

*gasp*

(I even hired a housekeeper. . .once. I realized it took me a day of cleaning to get ready for the house keeper. Weird.)

We learned day one of pressure washing that while paint may trump flowers and arbors, roof trumps all. Apparently pretty flowers and fresh paint don't mean a lot if your roof is leaking. And we were in dire need of a new roof. So the paint got scratched. And the next week of sun turned into a tear off and re-roof fiasco which included three hours of rain in the less than 24 hour period when the roof was completely torn off. Awesome. Having the pitter patter of rain tease you awake is annoying enough in July--it is particularly irksome when you are indecently exposed overhead.

And despite "hiring" someone, we still managed to be a large part of the tear off process--Rob even found himself on the roof a couple days. See little Rob up there, helping paper after the rain cleared?

But now that it is done, we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Our green shutters have gone black and our brown roof has gone charcoal. I like it.

Maybe next year I will get to landscape. . . or paint my house. . . or maybe something else will crop up and take the cake.

For now I am just going to sit back and enjoy the fruits of "our" labors.

Just ignore the gap in the wayward front "hedge" I am attempting to grow in front of the porch--that dead bush will be replaced soon--maybe even this year! Or maybe all the free cash we can scratch up will clothe the girls for school. . .

On the Road to Better

2011-05-02T16:28:00.000-07:00

It is often said that things get worse before they get better. . . I think that applies to the progress at the rental. Of course, things actually are better, but you can't really see that. The whole house has new electrical and some leaks and drywall issues and the basement have all been improved upon. But the random passerby might not appreciate how far this house has come in the last three weeks. They might think the new owners are crazy. They might be right!

Before

During (we got a little farther than this on the paint)

Before

During (after tile, before refinishing)

Helper #1

Helper #2

Of course, we are not nearly done yet. Things will indeed look better soon. Just as soon as the paint scheme comes together, among other things--like new carpet and light fixtures.

But no one can argue that the yard has improved. Too bad I didn't take a before and after of the back yard. It was pushing three feet in spots! Of course, that is an after that will have to happen every week.

To be continued. . .

Take Two

2011-03-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

It seems this little home and garden blog has been a bit hijacked by my House of White blog. And now this space is getting lonely while all my projects get their moment of glory over there. But with spring finally starting to make an appearance around here, I have yard and garden projects that will be getting their reveal right here. And if all goes according to plan, in another month or so, construction on my new shop/garden shed will commence (I can't wait!).

PLUS, in case the last reno wasn't enough, we have closed on another rental property. This one is super cute with lots of potential, though we probably won't do as much work on it as the last one. I have a few ideas though, so we shall see. Here she is:

She needs a little help in the paint department. It isn't in bad shape, but I'm not digging the color combo--at least not the darker blue trim.

Let's step into the large airy living room. . .

The green tile will be removed, or at least covered with some molding. I am loving all those windows!

Under all the carpet are hardwoods--this bedroom floor is painted blue instead of carpeted, and though I would love to rip all the carpet out and refinish the floors, or even paint all of them, we will likely just carpet it all up.

The bathroom is large and bright, though the pink will go--and perhaps some white tile and bead board will make an appearance.

The kitchen doesn't need as much work as the last one, and the yellow paint make it so cheerful.

I love all the charm this place has, even down to the glass door knobs.

I also love the flowering plum trees and camellia bush in the front yard. And the park at the end of the street.

Over the next month we will whip this little lady in to shape and show you what we can make of her.

Why Renovate the House I Live In. . .

2010-12-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

. . . when I can renovate the house someone else gets to live in?

My biggest complaint about our house renovation is the very s l o o o o w progress. No room ever gets done all in one shot, let alone the entire house. I have a hard time finishing even small projects, like the slip covers for my dining room chairs I started LAST November. I got one done. Now I have a whole new table and set of chairs! Luckily they need slipcovers so we will try again. I also have a half done laundry room, a living room with no furniture and a list of things to do a mile long.

But I have been steadily checking things off another list I made a while back. And I can sort of check #15 off that list: Own and restore a historic home. It isn't what I had in mind, and I don't even get to live in it. And even though it was built in 1941, it isn't on the historic registry, and it doesn't have a name. But it has come a long way and I am rather proud of it.

So with that stellar introduction, meet our first little rental house:

It was dark when I took the after pictures so I will have to go back in the daylight for the exterior "after" picture. But here is a "during picture". The exterior had been painted, but the trim wasn't finished and the fence hadn't been fixed and the shutters and house numbers aren't up, but it's still cuter:

UPDATE: Finished exterior

When we purchased the home two months ago, we were fairly enthusiastic, and my husband ripped right into the place before I had a chance to even take before pictures, so I nabbed the pictures from the listing. Let me take you on a little tour, room by room.

Welcome to the living room I walked into that first day back in May (it was a VERY long process):

And welcome in today:

Let's look around the living room:

Let us enter the Kitchen, shall we? Here is the before:

And the after. . .

Let's pivot around the room:

Moving on to the dining room--prepare yourself:

Ahhhh, much better. . .

Laundry room/mudroom--a short step down from the dining room. . . before:

After. What else can I say? Except, that at some point it will probably be sporting bead board and a shelf in the future.

The master bedroom (which used to be a one car garage--complete with maroon painted cement floor):

After. This was the one room where all the things on the list didn't happen due to time restraints--our renter wanted to move in, little things like that. . . Plus it wouldn't really be OUR project if we actually finished everything!

Let's walk back through the laundry room. . .

and up through the dining room. . .

and back through the kitchen--do you see the peek of the bathroom? Wait for it. . . .

The crown jewel of the remodel: the bathroom (the one and only). But first, the before:

This picture doesn't begin to convey the gross, dirty, leaky, ewwy, smelling mess that was this bathroom.

Annnnnd. . . AFTER:

I spent hours and days and days and hours and massive amounts of arm strength on tiling very nearly every inch of this bathroom. . .

Subway tile. . .

How I love thee. . .

despite the pain you caused me. . .

This faucet was actually very inexpensive, but I want to put it in my girls' bathroom when we renovate it (with hundreds of subway tiles).

I seriously love the way it turned out--can you tell. . . by the sheer number of pictures of it.

It was hard to get it all in a picture with such little space to work with. . .

Okay, I am leaving the bathroom.

With only a couple backward glances. . .

And on to the two bedrooms. Bedroom one before (there wasn't a before picture I could steal from the listing--perhaps because they didn't think we could handle that much design style--and the day I took this I had only a 50mm prime lens. But I assure you, this flag covered one entire wall, and the rest was worse):

Loads of primer later. . .

The second bedroom was all girl before:

But now it's all soothing, crispy clean:

I love the old door hardware and those old doors (even though I had to sand and plane EVERY door to get them to close).

Then back to the living room and glancing back down the hall:

I might just have to put some of the trim paint in my house. The walls, on the other hand are darn close to the color on my own house. Together they are perfection.

What do you think--would you rent this little blue bungalow?

In Case Four Blogs Weren't Enough. . .

2010-09-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit of a joke around here that I haven't got a lot of focus. This collection of blogs is sort of the proof of that. I have a lot of interests. And my latest venture may not prove otherwise! For years it has been my goal to become a published author, and I while I haven't given up on that goal, I have certainly set it aside to pursue something else.

This section of my blog represents my love of projects and home decor, as well as gardening. But it might have a little competition in my new blog. . .

I have taken one of my hobbies and have turned it into a little business venture with the aid of my good friend Lisa. It is small now, but we have big hopes for our little company. Feel free to follow our blog, House of White, as we document our adventures into the wide world of employment.

Paper Pleasures

2010-08-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have never been a big scrapbooker. I have, in fact, completed three scrapbook pages ever. But, I do like paper crafts on occasion. It really is amazing what you can do with paper. For instance, have you seen the things in the gallery at Anthropologie.com lately? My aspiration are much lower.

It really started when I bought a paper wreath at an antique store on my birthday.

Then I saw a picture of a wreath like the one in my last post and I decided to make it.

Yesterday I attempted to recreate the one I bought. It didn't really turn out the same. . .

But I sort of like mine better!

I started with a foam wreath again.

Then I rolled pages out of an old yellowed dictionary.

First one row all lined up around the ring, attached at the back.

Then two more rows glued down over the top.

Then I felt like it really needed something. So I added some tissue paper rosettes. Just like the fabric ones I made for Hannah's friend's birthday necklace. It's all a matter of twisting and twirling and periodic/strategic gluing.

I have to say I quite like it.

Who knew books were so much fun without actually reading them!

Incremental Decorating

2010-08-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

You know those home decor blogs that constantly post pictures of makeovers--room makeovers, furniture makeovers etc., all in one post. . . this isn't one of those. My makeovers take eons to complete and if I waited to show pictures until the projects were complete I would still not have posted anything on this blog.

But I can give details as they come. Last year (or was it the year before? I loose track during the process of project hopping!) we started Hannah's room makeover. I had intended to do something fun above her bed other than hang a picture, but it took me forever to get around to it. Well, it is finally complete:

I actually started this wreath months ago and then put it in a cupboard and forgot about it.

I pulled it out last week and made Hannah finish it! It was for her room, after all.

I even took pictures of the process. . . of course those pictures where numbered among the poor deceased thousands that weren't backed up when my hard drive died (Though I am still holding out hope that some will be miraculously retrieved here soon).

So all you get is the lovely after.

I bought the frame at the Goodwill, painted it white and distressed it a little.

The wreath is made with a foam wreath bought at Joann's. The brown part is a gagillion paper sacks punched out with a scalloped circle punch--2", I think is what I used. I would have preferred a 3" but there wasn't one at the store I was shopping at.

Remember in grade school when you made tissue paper wreaths by taking a square of tissue paper and folding it over a pencil eraser and then gluing it to a wreath? That's how you make it, only you use hot glue.

The butterflies are cut out of various blue scrap papers and pages from an old dictionary. I found a butterfly shape online and used it as a template in three sizes to cut them out.

Easy peasy and only like four months to make! But I think it was worth the wait.

The Fruits of My Labor

2010-07-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

I am a firm believer in working for one's rewards. Fruit does taste better after you have worked and weeded, watered and sweat over the plants that produce them. Nothing is sweeter than waking up on a cool summer morning, strolling out the garden and picking breakfast. The only thing that beat me to the berries this morning was a bunny--trying to snatch a few blueberries from under the netting. He quickly fled upon my arrival.

This is not the first year I have grown strawberries, but it is the first year I have gotten more than an handful of little berries for my efforts. But this year my efforts are indeed being rewarded. I may have had to build raised beds to contain them, transplant them and weed them--and most importantly, construct a protective net covering for them to keep out the birds, bunnies, and deer--but it is all paying off.

Added to a little Greek style yogurt with a handful of granola, the fruits of my labor are indeed very sweet!

Sew Much Fun

2010-06-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

When school let out I had an uncontrollable urge to be crafty. This translated in large part into a sewing frenzy which hasn't entirely abated. I try to take advantage of the urge to sew and whip out as many projects on my to do list as possible before the urge passes, because once it dies down, nothing can induce me to sew, even if I happen to stop mid project. Ask my daughter, I still have a half sewn apron from the last go round.

Here are few things I have been working on in the last few weeks:

Aprons

These started a couple years ago when I saw a super cute apron on someone else's blog and thought "I can SOO make that." So I did, then I made a dozen more! I gave them to my family and friends and kids and a lot of them to the graduating senior girls from church--sort of a "Congratulations on graduating and growing up--good luck cooking for yourself. But hey, look cute while you do it!"

Plus they are reversible.

Here are a few I have made:

Head Bands

I first made a couple of these for a friend of Hannah's for her birthday. Along with a fun rosette necklace that I have yet to make more of.

These are pretty easy and super cute.

The flower is actually made of satin ribbon and is a pin, so it can be removed and pinned other places--like on a sweater. . .OR a . . .

Purse

I decided that in my old age carrying a purse is quite handy. It holds LOTS of stuff.

I like being able have lots of stuff and still have my hands free. But mostly, I like being able to take my camera (and an extra lens or two) with me without looking like a tourist.

So I whipped up this little number one day and I LOVE it. I even gave it a magnet snap and interior pockets. I may make another. . .

This next one was really out of necessity, though I have been wanting to make one for while. Every Sunday when my kids drag out their coloring books and crayons in church and the inevitable CRASH of the spilled crayon bin makes me cringe I think, "I really should make that. . . ."

Crayon Roll

It is super easy and so neat and quiet in the car and at church and anywhere we go. Plus it tucks into my purse or church bag real slick. Plus I made one for each girl so no fighting!

I still have loads of things to sew on my list. Like the chair covers I started last October! I got ONE done.

Unfortunately, this chair has seven siblings I must cover.

But it sure is cute with the pillow I bought off Etsy:

Add to that a bench cushion for a friend, a skirt for my daughter, some curtains for my daughter, and a new cover for a foot stool for my other daughter. . . the list goes on. I hope the urge to sew lasts as long as the list--I have a feeling it won't, particularly since the list keeps growing!

I shouldn't ask (for the sake of keeping my list short), but :

What have you sewn lately? Or at least, what have you wanted to sew lately?

Forward Thinking Sedum

2010-06-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

I have always been under the impression that sedum was a lover of heat and dry locations.

They are acclaimed for their drought tolerance. . .

I took that to mean that they would not do well in very wet weather. . .

I live in wet and cloudy Washington.

So when I made these hypertufa pots last year and planted sedum in them I thought they might drown over the winter.

Last month we got 200% of our average rainfall for the month.

Apparently these plants are storing up for the future.

Sidetracked. . . As Usual

2010-06-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

Necessity is the mother of invention. . . or rather, of construction in our case. At least that's what I call it when a washing machine goes out and it spurs a laundry room makeover. A deadline helps to. Of course, that deadline has passed, as has the over zealous gusto with which we started the project.

"We have three days to make over the room before the new washer and dryer get here." got us really going on the project. . . then reality set in and we made sure the floor was done so the washer and dryer would have something to sit on. Here is where the dilemma of the walls (and the sink/cabinets/shelf) brought this project to a screeching halt. In typical fashion, we abandoned the project midstream. Or at least set it aside, missing baseboards and all, while we figured out what to do with it and got on with life.

And by got on with life, I mean we jumped ship onto another project, of course. I am having flashbacks of working on the garden, deciding the west side yard needed done, which is tied to the east lane gate area project (trust me on that one) so we worked on that area for, oh about an hour, before changing gears and focusing on the tree house for the entire weekend.

Clearly we have issues.

And one of them happened to be an overflowing non-functional under-the-stairs-closet-catchall-black-whole-where-winter-coats-go-in-but-don't-come-out. . . among other things (a couple sewing machines, a couple tubs of fabric, several jackets and backpacks--oh, and the vacuum. . . and carpet cleaner). I bet you didn't realize a four by four space could hold so much. My argument was that it really could be holding so much more--if we did something about making the space a little more vertical. I was thrilled to find my daughter's coat we all took for lost last December. Though it is less urgent now that it is June. . . or at least it would be if the weather would remember that it IS June.

And since we dove into this project with very little forethought, I have no actual before picture. So just picture this room without the partially installed shelving and with the aforementioned crap stacked half way up and making a fairly successful attempt to spew out into the hallway. . . or don't, because that probably says something about me as a person.

We installed four 12" shelves, painted the room the same color as the hallway, and the shelves white.

We attempted to move the hooks off the door and onto the wall inside the closet, but of course we only succeeded in making several holes I will now have to repair.

In the meantime, we ran to The Container Store and stocked up on divided organizable storage totes that would fit our shelves and I began sorting. I started with the sewing stuff, but will likely add some other craft supplies which are currently in my office.

I may need more space. . .

But in the end it looks so much neater. . . and I actually know what is in there.

Plus, as a bonus, I no longer have to shove the door hard and fast to keep the vacuum from bursting back out from lack of floor space.

Now the question is, will our next project be the rest of the laundry room?

Sunshine in My Soul. . . And My Garden

2010-05-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

I couldn't ask for a more beautiful day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, my house is clean and quiet and my windows are open. My dog is even snoring softly in the other room.

So I wandered outside to bask in the sunshine and discovered my flowers were basking as well. It makes my insides smile see such loveliness.

Something about the patterns made by the arbor and the ethereal pinkness of the rhodies next to the spring green of my chocolate vine makes me a little giddy.

I could spend hours out here on days like this.

I just need some great loungy furniture to lie upon and while away the hours. . .

Well, it was a nice fantasy and a few moments of pure relaxation.

Now I am off to my graduation rehearsal. Funny how life seems so much calmer now that school is over. I am finding time to sit back and enjoy the roses, er rhodies.

Sowing and Sawing

2010-04-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

In typical ADD fashion, we started the weekend with one project in mind, which we started, only to get sidetracked by another project or two. But really, those other two projects were things we needed to wrap up. The first was the never ending treehouse project, which we almost got done. I will post about that once it is entirely finished (Or read about our weekend working on it here).

After spending all day Friday working on the treehouse we decided to quickly plant the garden--after all, we had bought the plants and had some we'd been growing from seed all ready to be planted. So as the sun was setting we ran around our now neat and tidy garden boxes tilling up the earth and planting lettuce and broccoli, spinach and cauliflower, tomatoes and peppers, basil and pumpkins--to add to the other herbs, potatoes, onions, strawberries and blueberries already planted.

There was only one thing left to plant, but it required a little construction.

So Saturday we woke up bright and early and started building the second tuteur (the first of which we built two weeks ago). Here's a quick snap shot procession of the process:

I had planned on planting beans on one and snap peas on the other but the family asked for just snap peas. I obliged, but I kind of wish I had done beans on one. Fresh beans from the garden are yummy--but I planted bush beans last year and they didn't eat them well (of course, I didn't often remember to pick them before they were too big!).

I can't wait for all those lovely vegies to grow in. I am particularly excited to see the vines creeping up the tuteurs.

What are you planting in your garden this year?

The Garden Project: Update

2010-03-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

This spring marks the third year of our efforts to turn our raised bed garden into a. . . raised bed garden.

Why all the time and effort to make something we already had? you might ask. Because we are making it better, I tell you. Here is a reminder of our progress (this is as much for my benefit as for yours--we take so long to get things done that I sometimes forget where we started!)

When we moved in the side yard had three raised beds with roses and a few other various bulbs and bushes, and a tall fir tree that was sort of sickly. This picture is the only picture I took with it in it. . .

And yes, it's there. See that line along the left side of the picture? Not the best, I know. I took this picture the day we looked at the house back in August of 2007. We moved in a couple months later and before the end of the year the tree was gone. (We took out a tree in the back yard that had put a hole in our roof and decided to take this one out too since the neighbors had expressed concern about the possibility of it coming down their direction).

Of course it fell on the only raised box that wasn't rotten. . . and smashed all the roses ( though I planted their remains elsewhere and they have since recovered). So the following summer we had to start from scratch. Here is a montage of our progress the first year:

And then we did nothing but let the weeds grow in. We plunked a couple tomato plants amidst the weeds and called it a day, er year.

The following year required a lot of reclaiming efforts. And we also had the stump ground out--and discovered a massive network of narly roots, including one the size of a tree trunk. Our well equipped neighbor brought his truck and chains over to drag it out. Then we swore our way through five of the boxes before calling it good for a year. We grew some from seed (most of which perished) and some from little plants we bought at the nursery. Mostly it was a year of discovering what we would eat and what was fun to plant but which no one was interested in eating--oh, and we learned never to buy pumpkin plants called "trickster". Unless of course you want 23 pumpkins that will fit in the palm of your hand!

AND, never wait too long to put your tomatoes in cages. When they didn't have any at the first store I went to I put it off and had mass mountains of tomato plants. Not good, I tell you. But the end of the season left me with a freezer full of tomato pepper soup and basil pesto and a cupboard full of dried herbs--YUM.

This year we got started early thanks to some very welcome early spring weather. And I like to think our procrastination was actually brilliant planning on our part, because this year the roots were all decayed and pulled out like a dream. The soil was all nice and rich and we whipped those last three boxes out in a couple weekends. Of course, since the bed was mounded up in the middle it required us to dig down a foot to make the boxes level--which was surprisingly easy. Then we covered the pathways with gravel to make it cleaner and help with weed prevention. I even got started planting already. So far the potatoes and onions are in, and my strawberries are all transplanted to their own little box. Can't wait to plant more and to get my bean tuteurs up (they will go on each end of the row along the garage). Maybe Saturday.

Now you are all up to speed. Hopefully this year my garden will be prolific AND beautiful.

What are your garden plans this year?

Spring Mantel

2010-03-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

I have issues with my mantel. It has been barren for some time now. Just four lonely mirrors to reflect the empty room. Well, maybe not empty, but since the puppy's arrival when we had to rescue the rug from potential desecration, at its perpetual lack of any occasional tables, it feels pretty empty.

And due to my impossibly slow decorating technique, things don't change quickly. . . until today. Here is what I had this morning. . .

A few months ago I added the finial on the left. . . then on my birthday eight days ago I bought the little dove and put it next to the finial, and the wreath, which I hung on the nail still there from my Christmas wreath. . . then a few days after that I decided the other side looked empty so I added a pitcher. It didn't really help. But I knew I just needed to think up more stuff to add that didn't look like I was just adding stuff.

Then the other day I was at the Good Will looking for more pitchers and some frames I could make over for another project--and I scored the second pitcher (the one on the inside left). It is Ironstone. . . and I got it for $3. Yea! (Signe is demonstrating my joy with a twirl--decked out in St. Patrick's Day green.)

Then I spent part of my day painting and lightly distressing the frames (I will show you what for tomorrow). But when I got done I suddenly got an idea. . .

And I went crazy on my mantel.

I "borrowed" the frame I had just painted and found another in a storage closet that I WAS going to paint white, but I kind of like it not white in this case.

And then I nabbed three of my herb pots from my kitchen window--making that little arrangement of five pots in various height glass pedestals look a little thin :).

Does it work? Is it too busy, or just ugly?

I mentioned to Rob the other day I was contemplating layering some frames on the mantel and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Why would you mess with the mirrors? They look good."

And they did--not that he is partial, seeing as how he made me those mirrors six or seven years ago. Besides, they STILL look good. And the combination of black, white and tan fits the aesthetic that the room has going already--only with green accents instead of the blue (which is fitting since it is St. Patrick's Day!).

It will probably change again soon. I had another idea in mind that included some of the blue I have used as an accent in the family room and kitchen. Plus the frames are going to be serving another purpose tomorrow. . . and the herbs might need to go back to the kitchen window. But I kind of like it.

What do you think?

It's New to Me

2010-03-10T17:08:00.000-08:00

For a change, this year on my birthday I decided to forgo the annual trip to Banana Republic. The BR trip started a few years back as a retaliation tactic that became a tradition. My wonderful husband had this habit of taking business trips on my birthday. Apparently he still does. In the 12 years we have been married he has only been home for four or so birthdays. So one year I got fed up and decided to go to BR and buy myself a VERY generous birthday present. . . or ten.

Only he didn't really object. Which proves he was guilty, right?

Anyway, it became expected that he would go out of town and I would go shop--and then even when he was in town I would go shop, he would just come with me. But after maybe eight years of birthday shopping sprees I decided to change things up (Plus I was having a hard time finding much I wanted to buy at BR--I hate when that happens).

So I decided to feed another passion. My house. It needed accessories more than I did anyway.

I called a friend and made plans to hit the antique district in Portland. With the kids in school and 30 antique shops on a single street in a matter of a few blocks I sensed fun in my future.

I was right. Though I honestly thought I'd buy more. I might have to work up to the big purchases. Because there were plenty of great things to be purchased.

None-the-less, I returned from my maiden antique shopping excursion with a few fun items.

This cute chippy dove that is sitting on my mantle.

A fun and fabulous paper wreath made out of an antique shorthand book.

I love the way the light plays off the rolled paper. . .

and how it reflects in the mirrors that hang above my mantle (try not to notice the dust on the mirror. Jeez you'd think I don't dust. . .hmmm, when was the last time I dusted those mirrors. . .?)

Can't you just picture this chamber pot filled with peonies, or hydrangeas? I can.

And this crate gave me visions of summer barbecues. I have plans to purchase a soda making machine and thought it would be fun to buy bottles to put the homemade soda in and then serve them in this crate. Want to come?

I may not have bought much, but there is always fun in the hunt. My biggest purchase I actually found a couple days ago at the Good Will. . .

When I get done with this dresser it will be lovely. I plan to paint it antique white and buy it some shiny new glass knobs. It's new home is my guest room, whose transformation has been slow and minutely incremental. Isn't that always the way? Always a work in progress.

What projects are you working on?

Moon Garden

2010-02-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

I'm dreaming of spring. In my dream there are lots of flowers. . . white flowers. I love white--white dishes, white decor, white tipped toe nails, white clothes, white sheets, and white flowers.

I have an area of dirt on the side of my house that is screaming for attention. I have ignored it for the past two years because I had it in the back of my mind that we were going to put an addition there. Maybe, maybe not. Not soon by any means. So I am making a plan. A plan for a moon garden.

I did not know that is what all white gardens were called until I started googling white flowers. I have a few in mind: Hydrangeas, ranunculus, peonies, sweet woodruff, lily of the valley, delphinium, camellias, crocuses. . . all in white. Great profusions of white. I want enough that I can cut some and fill my house with white flowers in white pitchers.

And in my side garden I want a white picket fence with a little white gate that beckons to the back yard.

Doesn't that sound lovely.

Bathroom Sneak Peak

2010-02-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

Did your mother ever tell you "Slow and steady wins the race."? I like to think it's true.

It gives me an excuse for the dreadfully long time each of my projects takes.

Take my master bath for instance. . .

I have been painting my room and bathroom (I believe I first bought paint last November). It's still not done. I ran out of paint. . . twice. I clearly don't plan well. Actually, I ended up painting the laundry room and powder bath the same color so I needed more paint than I thought. But somehow the master bath ended up getting painted last, so I still need to finish up the main area of the bathroom--just as soon as I get a couple unclaimed hours (and another bucket of paint). . . whenever that might be.

But since the little toilet and shower room got finished I decided to update it a little. (Rob's ADD is rubbing off on me). Ultimately the whole room will get remodeled (new tub, shower, vanity, lights and mirrors, and tile floor), but in the meantime I did an inexpensive little touch up. Because it makes the morning more fun.

We put up new hardware.

And one of those hotel towel racks I love.

And I printed some flower pictures I took last spring.

And put them in silver frames.

One day the whole room will be as fresh as those flowers.

For now I will just close the pocket door and pretend it already is. . .

A Place to Play

2010-01-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

My girls are lucky enough to get a whole room just for playing in. And over time it has become quite filled with toys. When it is clean all the toys fit nicely into three tubs, the barbie house, and stow away in the dress up chest. . . but they usually aren't stowed away.

They usually seem to multiply like rabbits and mysteriously clutter up the place. How do you suppose that happens? No one is ever willing to fess up.

I need a better system.

One that includes a shelf for all their books. . .

Too many toys go "hiding" in the house when it's time to pick up.

And the dress up chest wears as much fancy finery as it stores.

Maybe the barbies are doing it. . . all 36 of them.

Certainly not these two. They don't seem to notice the mess and chaos. They get really excited to play in the room when it is clean, but they certainly don't like to clean it. I don't really blame them. Things need a place to go.

Letting go is a bit of an issue. . . For Christmas Santa brought Signe a new barbie house--one more compact, that would sit against a wall and take up less space. . .

Apparently as parents we were thinking crazy to suggest they part with the old house. I mean really, where did we expect the 36 barbies to live? They need BOTH houses, of course! Nevermind the dilapidated state of the old one.

It doesn't help when we throw a never used weight set into the mix (you want a weight set? It is on the ax list. Maybe I can sell it to help fund the "fix up the playroom" project.)

'Cause all this stuff has got to go somewhere, and I prefer it not all over the floor. . .

And it is quite clear the oh-so-attractive bin system isn't working out all that great.

I definitely need a plan. . . or less toys. And I am open for suggestions. . .

Our 12 Minutes of Fame. . .

2010-01-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

While I am finishing up some projects to post about I thought I would share one MAJOR project that consumed the end of my summer and most of fall last year. I was called to be the Roadshow Director for our ward at church. The youth were participating in a stake competition (10 wards). I had to gather a committee and write a script, then cast and direct a 12 minute roadshow (which included a 3 minute olio that a couple of the youth wrote) with three musical numbers (which my lyric writer did a great job with)--and try to incorporate as many youth as humanly possible.

I started undaunted. . . mostly because I hadn't a CLUE what I had gotten roped into! But luckily I managed to get a group of talented people on my committee and around 40 willing and able youth.

In the end I ended up making most of the backdrops (with a little help) by sewing them completely out of scraps in my fabric bin onto what was essentially four large pillow cases that slipped over PVC frames.

Without further ado, here is the script ( I will post the actual youtube video of the performance at the end should you choose to view it.). This will make for a very long post. . . sorry.

BYU: Set Crew carry backdrops on stage--place side by side with common room facing out. Place chairs. Stationary mics on forward stage right and forward stage left. Drucella, Anastasia and Ella lounge in dorm common room along with other girls--studying, reading, gossiping etc.

Set Crew: Carry sign across stage : “BYU Dorm”

Dorm Mother enters stage left with messenger (stands near stationary mic): Ladies! Listen up everyone, and invitation has just come.

Messenger(Taking dorm mother’s place at mic (Spotlight)):

Hear ye, hear ye, one and all

We hereby invite you to a fairy tale ball

Dust off your slippers, find a gown

Get ready to dance, party and get down.

Arrive at seven Saturday, don’t be late

This may be the dance where you find your mate!

Girls Cheer and act excited as messenger exits stage right. Dorm mother remains on stage but stays left.

Girl #1 By stage right mic (Spotlight): Oh, a dance!

Girl #2: Here’s my chance!

Girl #3: For a little romance!

All Girls: We must enhance!

Tech Crew - Cue the music

Song # 1 - “Part of your world” (girls) with interjected shouts from non-speaking girl actors - Band down in front of stage left.

Look at this stuff

isn’t it neat

Wouldn’t you think my collections complete?

Except right now I’m the girl

The girl with no date tonight!

Why can’t I be

Chosen you see

By an RM who would want only me. (interject - ONLY ME!)

Looking around here you’d think

Sure, she’s got everything.

I’ve got texting and twitter and facebook

My clothes are the most fashionable look

You want the hottest footwear?

I’m right there (interject - I’M RIGHT THERE!)

But who cares

No big deal

I want more

I wanna be where the boys are

I wanna see, wanna see the one for me dancing (interject - THE ONE FOR ME!)

Taking his picture with my new---what do you call it--? (Trio, blackberry, etc. [all girls say what they have])

Forward his picture to all our best firends

This is required to prove tuition’s not wasted!

We’ll find the guy, we’ll find the one

We’ll find the one who will choose not to run

Looking for love, finding the one

Starts with this ball. (interject - THIS BALL!)

Dorm Mother still stage left (Spotlight):

Silence! Anyone who wishes to attend the dance

Must follow the rules--no second chance!

An example thou must be, in word and charity

No improper conversation, if you want an invitation.

No breach of faith, no impure acts, No admittance

where spirit lacks.

Dorm mother exits stage left. All girls except Drucella and Anastasia cluster together and whisper about dance at center back. Dru and Ana front stage right (by stationary mic -- spotlight)

Drucella: A fairy tale ball, how divine. . .

Anastasia: Just hush and listen, we haven’t much time!

We need to make the others sin, to keep them from getting in.

We’ll be the only girls at the dance, against us those boys won’t stand a chance.

Drucella: I know just the boys to do the trick, And just the girls I am going to pick

Anastasia: Start with Ella, she’s far too prim.

Drucella: I have a boy in mind, let’s go tell him!

Girls exit - stage left.

Stage Crew: Turn panels sideways -- remove chairs

Song #2: Boys enter stage left & sing “Kiss the girl”

Band down stage left

Nice to the girl

Yes, a girl’s nice

But what can we really do

It’s possible they want us, too

There is one way to ask her

It just takes a word

Just a pleasant word

That’s how we get the girl

Sing with me

Sha-la-la-la-la-la

Don’t be scared

With just a pleasant word

Just try and talk to her

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-

Don’t stop now

It’s time to take a chance

We’re goin’ to the dance.

Sha-la-la-la-la-la

Don’t be scared

With just a pleasant word

Just try and talk to the girl

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-

Don’t stop now

It’s time to take a chance

We’re goin’ to the dance.

Exit stage left.

Stage Crew: Turn panels to dorm room side - - return chairs to Belle’s panel, pail and mop to Ella’s panel. Bird on stick behind Snow’s window. Roll Yellow brick road across stage. Move stationary mics back out of view (if we have directional mic, point at each girl as she speaks, if not put clip mic on Ella)

Yellow brick road across stage with Dorm rooms and dorm room windows along the way for each of the seven girls (Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, Repunzel, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora) Girls get in place near their panel and freeze -- spotlight follows each girl as she interacts with boys -- and follows the girls as they turn from on dorm to another

(Ella--panel most stage right--: mopping and breaks a nail--approached by Dud #1 from stage left)

Ella: Snap! I broke a nail, on this DARN washing pail!

Dud#1: You’d feel better if you swore, such tame language is a bore!

Ella: It takes less skill to swear than parry, with a large vocabulary.

(Dud#1 leaves stage left and Ella turns to next dorm where Aurora is sewing a dress for the ball--Dud #2 approaches)

Dud#2: Is that your dress? It covers chin to shin! You’d get more attention if you showed more skin!

Aurora: Respect and admiration is gained by being modest. And everybody knows that modest is hottest!

(Dud #2 leaves stage left and Aurora joins Ella--they turn to Snow white, who is feeding the birds from her window -- she is approached by Dud #3 and his posse from stage left. They approach single file and bump into each other, then cluster together.)

Posse Member #1: I heard it from Rob. . .

Posse Member #2: who heard it from Andy. . .

Posse Member #3: that Jessica’s brother. . .

Posse Member #4: is cheating on Brandy!

Posse Member #5: Ask Snow what she knows. . .

Posse Member #6: . . .what dirt she’ll disclose!

Dud#3 to Snow White: Have you heard what they’re saying, tell us quick, no delaying!

Snow White: I would not gossip if I were you, or soon your friends will bid you adieu.

Dud#3 and Posse leave stage left. Snow White joins Ella and Aurora. They turn to Jasmine--being approached by Dud #4 from stage left.)

Dud #4: Hey Jasmine, let’s go see a movie. I’ve got tickets for the one where the kid is in juvie.

Jasmine: You know I won’t watch an R rated show, So if that is your choice, the answer is no.

(Dud #4 leaves stage left. Jasmine joins others. Turn to Ariel--being approached by Dud #5 from stage left.)

Dud #5: Let’s go for a drive and get out of the traffic. I know a great spot that is very romantic.

Ariel: You know what I say to a foreword boyfriend? “My body’s a temple and you don’t have a recommend.”

(Dud #5 leaves stage left and Ariel joins the rest. They turn to Rapunzel up in her dorm window --who is being approached by Dud #6 from stage left. He kneels to look up as though at a distance.)

Dud #6: Rapunzel come down, we’re missing the party!

Repunzel: It’s nearly past curfew. If I go I’ll be tardy!

Dud #6: Just tell your dorm mother you’re sleeping at Johnna’s .

Repunzel: Please go on without me, I won’t be dishonest.

(Dud #6 leaves stage left and Rapunzel joins the others who turn to Belle (who’s reading a book with a boy) -- being approached by Dud # 7 from stage left)

Dud #7: Hey loser, take a hike, toddle off down the lane.

Belle needs a man who is much more urbane.

Belle: This boy is no loser, this boy is my friend,

If forced to chose, I pick him to defend.

Dud # 7 leaves stage left, Belle joins the others. Group hug/huddle, maybe give an excited squeal -- Girls exit stage right.

Stage Crew: Turn panels sideways - Remove pail and chairs

Girls and Guys grab getting ready props. All cast enters stage -- boys enter stage left, girls stage right and --

Cue the music:

Song # 3 - “trash in the camp” danced while getting ready for ball

Band still in front of stage left -- Cue Spot light near end (last ten seconds)

all leave stage -- girls stage right and boys stage left.

Stage Crew: Turn panels to common room backdrop for the ball. Put mics back in stage front right and left positions.

Cue Music (Down low):

Song #4: Chris Brown “Forever” starts playing down low

Drucella and Anastasia hold court stage left behind mic surrounded by boys. . .doing a choreographed group dance around the two girls. . .

Drucella: Our plan was inspired. Just look how we’re admired!

Anastasia: The others didn’t stand a chance. Now we get to rule the dance!

More dancing . . . Ella and girls arrive stage right and Dru and Ana see them, stop mid dance, stumbling involved by all boys, one girl bumps into other and shrieks:

Ana: Who let them in? We made sure they would sin!

Large collective gasp.

Dorm mother step in from stage left : Is this true, Dru? Is this something you knew?

Dru: We didn’t MAKE them, you see, they still have their agency!

Dorm Mother to Ella and girls: And did you choose wrong, or were you all strong?

Ella: We do have a choice, But hear you my voice:

All Girls:(to Dru and Ana): We can but we won’t, ‘cause we know what you don’t!

Dorm Mother (to Ana and Dru): Return to your dorm. Your punishment I must form!

Dru and Ana stomp off in a tizzy. Dorm mother steps back. Boys turn to girls. Ella walks forward a few paces to center stage--loses her shoe--boy rushes to replace it for her.

Guy#1: May I have this dance, You had me at a glance.

Ella: It would be a delight. . .just get me home by midnight!

Cue Music (up loud):

Song and dance - Chris Brown “Forever” sound goes up

Guys pair up with girls

Cue Spotlights - flashing around, like a night club.

Couples dance down off stage and exit through audience followed by cast and crew with all props and then the backdrops. Followed by the band. Followed by the bishop sweeping up after them.

Curtain closes.

I have to admit that an hour before the show I was convinced it was going to be a train wreck! But despite having the simplest costumes and hardly any props beyond the backdrops, we won 3rd place! And I was told that had we been judged on this recorded performance rather than the first one (we performed at two buildings the same night) we would have at least gotten second. The first place winners were pretty great, but they DID go over the time allotment, which we had been ensured would disqualify us, soooo, perhaps we should have gotten FIRST. . . but I have to say I was more than thrilled it went off without a hitch and placing third was just fine by me (and frankly better than I thought we'd do--not from lack of a great cast, however).

Unfinished. . .

2010-01-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

I feel bad about posting nothing on her for MONTHS. I have been doing LOADS of projects, despite being in school. But the truth is, none of them are finished. I keep thinking I will finish some up and post before and after and everything-in-between pictures, but I haven't finished anything (which you might have noticed is a personal problem of mine if you read my resolutions post).

Which is why I thought this picture of the tree house we started a year and half ago was a very fitting picture for this post. It is mostly sided, partly painted. The cedar shakes are unfinished. . .

It is the perfect symbol of my current state with regards to project progress: Unfinished.

Add to the treehouse: half finished crown molding in our family room, unpainted trim elsewhere, a partly painted bathroom and a started laundry room makeover, 8 partially sewn chair covers for my dinning chairs--not to mention the three bathrooms that need remodeled. . .

There's more--I think I'm blocking it all out right now.

And--Come summer the list will only get longer.

What I am trying to say is, SOON I will have loads to post about. I have pictures of half done projects just waiting to be posted.

Soon, I tell you. . . Soon I tell myself. . .

First Impressions

2009-09-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of visitors headed our way in the near future. So over the weekend Rob got a bee in his bonnet. The entryway. It needed flipped.

Just to remind you what it looked like before we did the floors last January here is a really before picture. . .

Since then, the rails have remained the orange-ish oak color. . .which I didn't get a good combination picture of, unfortunately. (I always think of these things halfway into the project.)

But here is the entryway today:

Along with the new floors, we put in new baseboards and trim around the doorway into the family room. This weekend we painted the rails black and hung picture frames up the wall.

We first made a trip to good ol' Walmart and loaded up on random frames--and Rob didn't say a word about how many I threw in there. He had suggested we hang three frames up the stairway wall. . .I had other ideas. When I got home with my loot I laid it out on the floor to show him what I had in mind. He had been skeptical, assuring me he was keeping the receipt. But this made him start rethinking his lack of confidence. . .

But of course we had to get it on the wall. I must say this was the most flawless wall hanging experience I have ever had--which is crazy since there are 14 frames--on an angle. But I measured and measured on the floor before we started nailing. This isn't a great picture, but you get the idea. Then I had to find things to put in my empty frames.

And since I take bazillions of pictures the hardest part was finding the right ones. But when you send them to Costco and only pay 20ish bucks for the lot of them, I'm no too worried. I can change them at any time. . .

I think it looks great. And the best part? Rob admitting I was right!

And now look at the view from my office. I get to enjoy our hard work all day long while I remain glued to my office chair. . . doing loads of homework. . . which I must now get back to.

Have you done any fun weekend projects lately?

Is Too Much Blue Too Much Blue?

2009-08-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

So if you've been coming here a while you might have gotten that I love white and blue. I use them a lot in my house. I have blue depression glass dishes in my kitchen and a blue rug in my family room. My bedroom is a gray blue with white and navy blue bedding. My laundry room is the same blue gray. And, of course, I am just finishing Hannah's room which is pale turquoise blue and white.

I now need to finish up Signe's Room.

It has all the bedding I made when she was two with the furniture that she has had since birth--except the beds, which we made when she was two (notice the "H" and "S" on the headboards)--back when the girls shared a room in the last house.

Now she has both beds in her tiny room.

Which works great, because half the time both girls either sleep in the two twin beds in Signe's room . . . or they both sleep in Hannah's full bed in her room.

Now I just need to paint Sig's room and make curtains and hang things. Now the color is beige. . .kind of an orange toned beige. It's fine. It's not really working for me.

In her last room the walls were wainscoted and had a light taupey green on the bottom and a yellowy cream on the top. I loved it.

I think I want to go a different direction here.

I am thinking the same light turquoise that I used in Hannah's room. (See previous post)

I am not pulling this out of nowhere. That exact blue is in her bedding. . . (it's there--I promise!)

Plus I recently bought these cute 8 X 10 alphabet cards with flowers on them and want to hang four above each bed--framed in white frames.

Some of these have blues in them too.

And those curtains--the ones that came with the house--will likely go.

I actually have fabric that matches the little pinkish plaid pillow on the bed and was thinking I would do a pleated roman shade--you know the kind that sort of poofs a little when pulled up because of the extra fabric in the pleat?

What do you think? Can I pull off the blue? If you hate it, help me out and suggest something else.

It all Comes Down to Black or White

2009-08-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

So, I have been working on Hannah's Room for a few weeks now, and it's nearly complete. . .

But while I show you around her little room. . .

I would like to get your opinion on a little matter. . .

. . . of black versus white.

I believe that a little black accent goes a long way in creating contrast--just look at my kitchen!

But my plan for this room was light and airy, crisp and white, warm and cream. . .with a hint of turquoise.

And I think I have succeeded for the most part.

But I still have some left over remnants of her previous decor, which was all red white and black (too bad I didn't take any before pictures of her room before we stripped it bare).

Note the pillow on the bed, the curtain rod, the nightstand, the lamp, the picture frames.

Also, the new dresser has antiqued silver knobs that sort of come across black.

Does it distract? Should I paint the rod, table etc? Or keep the little accents of black?

Either way, I am in love with this room. . . and that bed (which she practically needs a step stool to get into) is divinely comfortable.

You should have seen her all snuggled up in there last night in her light and airy white night gown. . .

I still need ideas for what to put above the bed and what to put on the shelves (that was me throwing things up there to get them off the dresser--not actually me arranging anything).

What do you think?

It's A Boy!. . .and A Girl!

2009-08-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

So my sister finally had her first baby after YEARS of trying to get pregnant. . . and he arrived in time to come to his own shower. My mom and I put the shower together and I wanted it to be something special.She named him Gideon and I just happened to find a book about a caterpillar named Gideon to base the shower around. I also had the guests sign the book at the shower with notes to Dawnette. Someone did that for me when I had my first daughter and I loved it.

I took inspiration from the book to make the invitations.

We sort of shared the shower with Dawnette's step daughter who is also expecting and was due a few weeks after Dawnette. She was having a girl (Nevaeh - she had her Wednesday, August 19), so I found a book with butterflies (to keep with the theme) and did a girly butterfly counterpart to all the Gideon caterpillar stuff.

I made banners for each of the babies:

And I made a cupcake tower with cupcake flags for each baby:

But the piece de resistance was the cake pops:

I made little caterpillars out of fondant to grace the blue cake pops:

. . . and candy melt butterflies to adorn the yellow cake pops:

And once they were assembled-- with a few little flowers to dress them up:

They were so darn cute you almost didn't want to eat them:

Most people actually took theirs home covered in little plastic bags and tied with ribbon:

And when everyone was gone I took what was left of the goods and assembled a few upside down cake pops just for fun:

. . . and then I took a bagillion pictures of my adorable nephew:

Almost as many pictures as I took of the cake pops!

Welcome Home Gideon & Nevaeh!

A Hint of Turquoise

2009-08-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hannah has been begging for a blue room for a while now. I actually painted her room the same color as the rest of the house last year, which was a taupy off white. But no, she wanted blue. Recently we found some pretty bedding at Target that she loved. It has a light blue turquoise blue quilt and a white comforter with coordinating pillow shams. So I bought it and took it straight to the paint store to match the paint for the walls.

She was so excited she took pictures of me painting her room:

At first it almost seemed to be white, but as the paint dried, a hint of fresh blue appeared.

That dresser will have to go. . .

I even painted the ceiling. . . the chandelier is staying. I brought it from the last house.

The shelves are staying. . .

The color brightened up the room and set the tone for the new look. I can't wait to pull it all together.

Stripping in the Heat of Summer. . .

2009-08-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hannah has been begging me to redo her room. She decided a year or so ago that she wants a light turquoise and white room. I got a vision a while ago and have been keeping my eye out for elements to fit the vision.

One thing I had been searching high and low for was an antique iron bed--can't you just see it piled high with crispy white, slightly foofy bedding? I definitely can. I searched craigslist daily and three times had to convince Hannah she did not need whatever bed Rob saw in some random store and offered to buy, right now. She has a weakness for the "buy it right now" temptation. But we pulled through.

Then a couple weeks ago I remembered that last year my neighbor was trying to sell an old iron bed. I had looked at it, but had not bought it because it was full and I really thought I wanted a queen because we had a queen mattress set already. Guess what? They don't make antique iron beds in queen and if you get an altered one they are a small fortune. So I walked across the street and asked if they still had it. . .

They DID! Yeah me. Plus it was lovely. . .

. . .or at least it would be once I stripped the paint and painted it antique white.

Which is just what I proceeded to do.

I scrapped and sanded and picked. . .

. . . through white, pink, red and green layers of paint. . .

. . . until I made it bare metal.

Then we sprayed it down with Rustoleum rust killing primer. . .

. . .and painted it antique white.

The actual color was Valspar's Porcelain.

It's not perfect, but it IS lovely.

I would have loved to have had it sandblasted and powder coated, but Rob thinks I will get sick of this bed in a couple years--so it wouldn't be worth it. He is so wrong. This bed was in my neighbor's family forever. She raised her daughter on in, had it before that herself, and before that it was her father's bed--back when it was new. I love knowing that.

It has history! It has character. It's going to look fabulous in Hannah's room.

Just you wait and see.

Hypertufa Pots

2009-06-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

I finally made the hypertufa pots (sometimes called troughs) I have been talking about for over a year. . . and I LOVE them. I may make more at some point, but the ones I wanted first were to line my front walk.

First you need to decide what forms you will use for your pots. You can use buckets or boxes or a cooler or whatever, you just need to cover them in plastic so the cement mixture does not stick to it. I wanted two the same shape and size so I used some very large cardboard boxes to make four smaller boxes--two to fit inside the other two with a 2 inch gap.

Next you need to ingredients:

Peat Moss

Perlite

Portland Cement (pure portland cement)

Mix and a 1:1:1 ratio.

Add water a little at a time until your mixture is at about cottage cheese consistency:

Pour into bottom of box or other form and then place the inside box onto it and fill the sides. At this point you could make dowels the thickness you want your pot to be (mine is 2") and stick them in the bottom--this will also keep your upper box in the proper place so it doesn't get too close to the lower box.

My upper box keep wanting to lift up so I filled it with a enough bricks to keep the edges even and the bottoms two inches apart. I also placed logs around the edges to keep the sides from bowing too much. If you have a hard container this won't be much of a problem.

Then you cover it with plastic and let cure for 24 - 48 hours depending on the size. Mine was rather large so I let it sit for two days.

Remove from form:

The edges will be crisp where they met box or plastic. To make it look old, like the old animal trough it is trying to simulate, I roughed up the edges and sides with a wire brush--Rob got me started:

See! No more crisp edges. Now it looks older. . . and better.

While it is still kind of soft (it is not totally dry at this point) drill a hole or two in the bottom for drainage (unless you went the dowel route).

Now let is cure for 3-5 days, keeping wet by spraying down with water a couple times a day to help it cure. Portland cement actually become harder and more durable when exposed to water.

Then plant! Here is mine in front of my house filled with two kinds of sedum:

I am all about symmetry so I placed one on each side of the walk. . . the very dirty walk. (Next project: Clean up front walk!)

Living in Washington I probably don't need to bother doing anything to encourage moss to grow on my pots, but I may anyway. To do that, mix in a blender a chunk of moss with either beer or yogurt and brush on the surface of the pot. I will let you know if I try one of those and it works. For now I like the way they look and may just let them age naturally.

While I was looking for succulents to plant in my pots I came across instructions on making a living succulent wreath. . . I have become intrigued. . . I think I have another project on my to do list. . .

Let me know if you try a pot and tell my how it turns out!

A Splash of Pink

2009-05-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about doing my kitchen all white is that I can add little splashes of color now and then for variety. I love fresh flowers and I tend to get white flowers more than anything (Really, are you surprised?). But now that my kitchen is all white, adding hot pink peonies, for instance, has a really lovely affect.

And to think I was disappointed when I learned my nine peony plants were various shades of pink instead of white.

A Vegetable Garden Journey Part 3

2009-05-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

The beds have been filled with dirt.

My little seedlings were not 100% successful. About a third died and many of the rest don't seem to be growing much. I even broke down and bought a few replacement plants.

I decided to plant everything I had left and see what happens. I never claimed to be good at this! What I lack in proficiency I make up for in enthusiasm. . . too bad you can't eat enthusiasm.

Obviously I have a lot of work to do to make my garden look lovely, but at least they are functional. We plan on putting a couple more beds against the garage . . .as soon as Rob doesn't remember how much work the other five were!

In the meantime, let's just hope my plants don't get eaten by the bunnies . . .and deer. . . and birds. . .and bugs. . .and moles.

And Again with the Kitchen. . .

2009-05-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

We finally got our tile installed this weekend--and I LOVE it. It is really amazing what a little tile will do for a kitchen.

Maybe I should have put the outlet covers back on before I took these pictures!

I ended up using a light grey grout instead of white--the white was whiter than my tile and made it look kind of tan.

My dad came up for the weekend with all his tools to help us. (Thanks Dad!)

The grout was different than any I had used. It was colored with glass rather than dye, so the grout does not need to be sealed and never stains.

I still need to caulk and paint the window and door trim, but I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

The Tile is Here

2009-04-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

My subway tile for the kitchen backsplash has finally arrived. Now we just need my parents to get here with the tile saw so we can install these lovely tiles.

The tile is from S'tile (but made by Gainey Tile in California). It is 3X6 handmade tile in cotton white. It has kind of a matte finish that I think will go nicely with my simple white kitchen.

A Vegetable Garden Journey Part 2

2009-04-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to working on our raised beds again--and got the cooperation of the weather. It was a fabulous weekend and if we hadn't run around so much we might have gotten more done. As it stands, we have five boxes built, two to go, and a lot of leveling of the ground to match all the leveling we did on the boxes. But we are well on our way to a lovely raised vegetable garden Here are a few pictures (from each angle):

We are trying to come up with solutions to keep out the rabbits and deer. I have thought about planting repellent plants but am not sure how well they work. We have been told that you pretty much have to put a fence around your garden. One neighbor said their cat keeps the bunnies away--we don't have a cat, but I have been pondering planting catnip to attract the neighbors cat to do the job.

Do you have any suggestions?

Closure. . .Literally

2009-04-15T17:29:00.000-07:00

My missing cabinet doors have finally arrived. . .and only. . .26 days past the original finish date!

Plus the painter came and fixed the gap around my farm sink--LOVE it!

Now if only our backsplash tile would get here. . .

Hardware Is In

2009-04-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

The cabinets are almost entirely done now. The hardware went in and most of the finishing touches are complete. I still need three of my glass doors to come back from the cabinet shop and a couple touch ups still need addressed, but the rest is up to us to do ourselves (moulding, tile, etc.). Here are a couple pictures:

A Vegetable Garden Journey

2009-04-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

First, how old am I? Geez, one day working in the yard and I feel like I might be broken. That is some sad commentary on my physical fitness of late. I blame it on the homework.

Anyhow, in an effort to avoid said homework--and prepare a home for these:

We worked on our side yard trying to prepare for a raised bed garden. When we moved in there was one tall spindly pine tree over there and three sad looking raised beds. The tree came down on one and the other two were rotten--so we tore them all out. Last year all we managed to do was throw a few vegetables in the dirt pile and call it quits.

This year I have bigger ambitions. Here is where we were this morning:

Things were going fine until we ran into this:

We ground out most of the stump last year but apparently we missed this little lovely number. Hours of shoveling and axing and digging and a little chainsawing. . . and we had exposed a big chunk, but little else. Our very nice neighbor came over and offered his assistance--and his truck. . . and chains. (Note the rake for size reference--that bad boy was huge.)

Voila! Out it came. Yeah!

Then we set to work putting in our first raised bed. But everywhere we tried to dig for the corner posts we hit roots under the surface.

FINALLY, a few feet farther forward than we intended, we have one bed.

And we got a little eager so we transplanted our lonely blueberry bush into it. We will buy it some friends. For now I hope it lives through the traumatic five foot move. If we had more lumber we would have built another one in like twenty minutes. The area against the garage is all ready to go. We started with the worst corner. . . I hope.

During our excavation we rescued a handful of chive plants, my garlic plants, and three mysterious bulbs that I will plant in a pot and see what comes out. Whew!

Now it is a race to see if the beds are ready before the 70 odd plants I have growing in little peat pots need to be planted. I will be sure to post our progress.

Down To The Details. . .

2009-04-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

. . . in other words: "Alright already! I want my kitchen back."

Now that we have been on this month long journey to a new and fabulous kitchen it seems to have slowed to a snail's pace. This week we. . . put up the second part of the crown! And that is about it--oh, and they took three doors away to fix that had issues. . . and they are looking for the glass doors that go on the cabinets by the fridge--they never made it back when that cabinet got rebuilt. This may sound like they aren't doing a great job when in fact they are. Our installer has taken an inordinate amount of time adjusting each cabinet to make sure it is flush and level. . .I am just ready to put my dishes in my cupboards and reclaim my space.

Oh, I actually started to do that anyway--regardless of the missing doors and hardware (The missing doors are glass anyway so they will look a lot like this). Here are the most recent pictures:

I am stilling working on the arrangement of these glass hutch cupboards.

A look at my ceiling - it is a little rough since it is painted pine, (and we didn't sand it much) but I've decided I like it that way.

Still to do:

1. Door adjustments

2. Bring back missing doors

3. Hardware installation

4. Sink fix (there is a gap around the sink due to a misunderstanding that will be getting fixed)

5. Moulding around window and door to formal dining room (otherwise known as the piano room since no dining occurs there)

6. Backsplash tile installation

7. Hardwood floor fixes (it needs to be stained in areas where the cabinet footprint changed slightly--then a final topcoat put on)

8. Final touch ups

So you see it's not as close as it looks. And now that I just catalogued what still needs to get done it seems less close than it did a minute ago. Maybe I will go put more dishes away--that seems to help.

What do you think so far? How would you go about arranging the hutch cupboards? Should I put cafe curtains on my kitchen windows (I never meant to but they suddenly look like cafe curtain windows!)?

Oh So Close

2009-03-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

I may have spoken a little too soon. My kitchen cabinets are not quite done. . .yet still, I love them. Perhaps I should make you wait for the final reveal to make a bigger impact--but no. Here is what we got done today: uppers in, first step of two part crown in, cook top and downdraft in, sink in, facet in. (And by "we" I really mean the cabinet installer and Rob--with a smidge of help from me.)

Ode to Soapstone

2009-03-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Oh inky soapstone, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways:

I love the depth and richness of thy color. . .

and the wispy veins that flow upon thee.

I love thy texture and thy shape,

thy silky smoothness and thy soapy talciness.

I love they way you set off my cabinets and make my appliances shimmer.

I love thee with smiles and tears, with sighs and long glances.

I shall love thee here. . .and I shall love thee elsewhere--

should we ever move and have to install thee all over again.

And I love that my cabinets will be all in by the end of the day. Yeah!

Welcome Spring!

2009-03-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

So this time of year I start getting spring fever. I want to be outside--with my hands in the dirt. I start looking up plants and planning beds and thinking of making hypertufa pots. But what I am really excited about this year is my garden. And since my kitchen is on hold mode until Wednesday (since last Saturday) I decided to get a jump start.

Last year was the first year in this house and so the first year I had space for more than a couple tomato plants and maybe a pepper plant or two. But since I had ripped out my rotten raised beds I merely had a dirt patch for a garden. I threw in some tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins and a few herbs and called it good.

But THIS year, I have big plans. I am getting ready to build several raised beds in my side yard for lots of lovely gardening. I have drawn diagrams and made lists. . . and over the weekend I purchased SEEDS. I am going to attempt to grow a garden from scratch. I figure if they all die I can run out last minute and buy plants at the nursery and try again. But since seeds are cheap I splurged and bought like 17 different kinds of seeds. Then I purchased some of those little peat pots for starting seeds.

I filled the peat pellets with water and watched them swell--in equal increments with my excitement--then I pushed tiny little seeds down in the musty soil and stuck in my make-shift labels. . .

Then I covered them up to keep them moist and wait for the day when they will pop their tiny heads up out of the dirt. I can't wait. Just the sight of the water condensing on the domed lid makes me giddy. . .

And now that they are on their way to becoming little plants that will some day soon need a home, I have further incentive to get out there and build my garden. Wish me luck!

Kitchen Update

2009-03-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

Since we went backwards on Wednesday, it may look like we didn't make much progress (especially since an upper that was up is now down--it wasn't square and got rebuilt), but here is where we stand at the end of the week.

The counters have been templated--and will go in next Tuesday. The sink is in place. . . finally (it was a lot of work because it was a little TOO irregular!).

Plus Rob and I installed our convection microwave and our oven. I have to say I used to be stronger! I will have to work on that. But at any rate, it looks great!

Oh, and my bar legs went in. . . lovely!

Install Day One

2009-03-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures for the day. The installers will be back bright and early to finish up. And the counter top fabricator will be here shortly after. And the HVAC guy will come somewhere in between. It is a regular zoo around here.

This morning the excavating guy showed up right before the cabinet installers at 7:30 (We had a grade issue on our side yard that was causing water to pool under our house) and between his dump truck, regular truck and trailer with bobcat plus the cabinet people's two vans, truck and trailer and car we had a regular traffic jam. Hannah was worried the bus wouldn't get through. It almost didn't! Luckily we had alerted the neighbors about their pending arrival so everything went smoothly.

See you tomorrow. . .same time, same place!

A Peek at Progress

2009-03-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

The cabinets are FINALLY going in! Happy birthday ME!

After a minor hiccup with a down draft vent, progress is being made in my kitchen. I have to keep sneaking in to take snap shots of the action. I can hardly focus on my homework--good thing it is spring break (which means I have less work, rather than no work.)

So without further ado, here are some pictures of the progress so far:

The first piece into my house. It is one side of the upper cabinets for my hutch. It will rest on the cabinet. (It is also upside down in this picture.)

One of the legs for my bar. I LOVE this leg. You might remember the kitchen I saw in a magazine that featured these little lovelies. (Only they were stained brown in the picture). I had legs made up to match.

The bar cabinet. . .I can't wait to see the legs and arched valance attached.

Did you notice the new pendent light over the sink area? What do you think? I will get close ups of everything when it is all done.

More to come later.

And. . .Take three!

2009-03-16T19:44:00.001-07:00

Friday was delayed until Saturday was delayed until Monday was delayed until Tuesday. I am promised tomorrow will be THE day. Again with the fingers (not that finger--cross fingers with me please).

Anticipation. . .

2009-03-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's like Christmas around here. The kitchen is all ready and waiting for the cabinets. They were delayed but they are supposed to come tomorrow. Cross your fingers with me.

Kitchen Progress

2009-03-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

Over the past week:

1. Cabinets have come the rest of the way out (and were sold).

2. Electrical outlets/lights have been moved.

3. Plumbing has been redirected.

4. Drywall has been patched.

5. Ceiling has been mostly planked (and will be painted white).

6. Purchased: Cabinet hardware, faucet, pendant light (for above the sink).

Thanks Dad, for coming to help us!

I am now relegated to washing dishes in my laundry room sink! We have been eating a lot of sandwiches, microwave food and the occasional dinner out--and of course crock pot meals. Less than two weeks and we will be back in the kitchen--in style.

Kithcen Demolition: Day Three

2009-03-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

The trick is to get enough work done to be ready on time and not take things out too early. . . like the sink. Because next week we are really busy and won't be able to work on it much until Thursday or Friday. I want to keep my dishwasher and sink as long as possible. Regardless, we did our fair share of damage:

Getting started.

Hmmm. . .that's not good. Plumber?. . . Electrician?

Rob--getting my pot light hole ready to become a pendant light hole.

Overview of the mess--I mean progress.

One more lower cabinet out--but I still have my sink!

Backsplash Tile Anyone?

2009-02-26T15:49:00.001-08:00

So my plan has been to use white subway tile for my backsplash. I found these pretty hand made tiles that are slightly irregular in a dozen shades of white and other colors. Sooo, I went to pick up samples to find the perfect white. . . and came home with a gorgeous watery gray blue tile. I got the white too. I love the blue, but wonder if it will be practical. I sort of wanted my blue depression glass to feature in the cabinets and wonder if they will compete with the tile. . . or if the tile will compete with the soapstone.

I have a sample of the soapstone, though this piece has a little more green in it than my slabs do.

Here are the top two white choices against the soapstone sample and cabinet color (antique white):

Ice Block White

I like the slight crackle in this one--you probably can't see it in this picture. But it has a hint of yellow or peach to it.

Cotton White

I think this white matches better than the Ice Block (close up below), but it has not crackle finish or anything fun, except the hand made irregularity--but does it need more?

And here his the blue:

Topaz

Would you be brave and go blue. . . or should I resist diverging from the plan--and having another rug fiasco on my hands?

Blue. . . or White? (and which white?)

Kitchen Demolition: Day 2

2009-02-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

Out with more cabinets. My kitchen is spewing its contents into my living room. It seems like I just got the furniture and office contents back where they go. . .

Kitchen Demolition: Day 1

2009-02-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

Today we started demolition. We only took one section of the cabinets out today. We started with the oven wall because we are moving the oven to next to the refrigerator. We will have to have an electrician over soon to move that line. Plus we had to be careful taking out the cabinets because we are selling them. Have I mentioned that we have been selling everything but kitchen sink on Craig's list to put money into our kitchen fund. . . do you suppose I COULD sell the kitchen sink? After all I bought my new one on there!

Before:

Demo:

Goodbye ugly red soffit!

(who builds soffits with 2X12 pine boards and plywood?!)

The new cabinets will be going to the ceiling with crown to finish it off.

Goodbye ugly beige tile!!--with grout that never looks clean!

Look at all that open space. I can't wait for the white replacements.

Tomorrow we take out the fridge wall!

My Kitchen Vision

2009-02-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

So this week we are actually starting the deconstruction of our kitchen and other details that need to be worked out prior to the cabinet install. Here is an idea of what I am going for:

My Cabinets will be flush inlay, white, shaker style doors with period latch style hardware on the door and bin pulls on the drawers. . . kind of like these:

Toe kicks like the first picture. My bar has two legs--one on each end that are just like these (only white):

A couple weeks ago I went and picked out my slabs of soapstone, camera in hand. . . and forgot to take a picture. But this slab looks remarkably like mine. . . as far as I can remember! It will go almost black when oiled, with light veining. (I am going down next week to order tile and will try to get a picture of my actual slabs.)

The back splash tile is a hand made, glazed subway tile--"tusk" white. Farmhouse sink like the first picture. To see the actual sink, go here.

I am pondering planking my ceiling (like in the first picture)--would you? I need opinions. Rob is on the fence, I think I want it, what do you think?

New Treasures. . .

2009-02-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

I decided a few years ago that I want original art in my home. I have purchased a few pieces to go with all my photography--which I presume to call art and hang all over my house!

My new purchase just arrived in the mail:

It is the second piece I have from this artist--Dave Robinson. And I love it. Even though I thought it would be more gray-blue originally and planned to put it in my family room, it looks good in my living room.

What do you hang on your walls?

And the Winner Is. . .

2009-02-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

After much debate and two trips to the store, we settled on . . . the first rug I picked--and the rug that the four of you who had something to say voted for.

We may be making progress slower than molasses, but we are making progress. What do you think?

Just be glad I didn't let Rob convince me to get this one:

Okay, so he managed to convince me long enough to get it home (It was on sale and much cheaper) before I totally nixed that. It only got to reside in my house for about 12 hours! And according to my mother-in-law, it belonged on a hippie's backside anyway!

Now for new furniture. . .

My New Favorite Store. . . Craig's List

2009-01-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who has nearly furnished her whole house with fabulous finds off craigslist.com. I had looked on occasion and found nothing nearly as great as some of the things she had found. . . .

. . .until now.

Meet my new farmhouse sink:

Shaw's Original Farmhouse sink!

To make the deal sweeter, I spent about a third of the original price! Happy day! I wonder what else I can find. . .

. . . excuse me while I go shopping.

My Family Room is Making Progress. . .

2009-01-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my family room after we put up baseboards and painted them and the mantel white. I love it. Now if I can just find a way to bury those sconce cords. . .

Decisions, Decisions. . .

2009-01-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

Even though I can't put a rug on my hardwood floors for weeks (to let them cure and all that) I have been shopping. I have two rugs that I am considering and need a little input from you--my lovely readers. My kitchen/family room area is all going pretty neutral--white cabinets, soapstone counters, dark floors, white subway tile, near white walls, and white molding and mantel. I even think I will do natural linen roman shades in the family room windows. The furniture will be neutral as well. So I want to bring in a little color. And since I have these lovely blue depression glass dishes that will show in the new glass front cabinets, I am thinking blue. Here are some of the dishes:

. . . and here are two rugs I have been considering. On is more than three times the price of the other--can you guess which one. And which do you like better. (I have a lot of contemporary/ transitional furniture and would like to bring in a few traditional elements.

So, what do you think?

It's Love. . .

2009-01-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

These pictures may look just like the last ones, but now they are done. and collecting dust like crazy. . . but we won't think about that right now. Now we will just admire (and try not to notice the continued lack of baseboards and furniture).

We will be returning furniture, putting up baseboards, and painting the mantel this week, so I will post pictures soon with more progress.

Wait for it. . . .

2009-01-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

WAIT--before you look at the pictures. . . okay, now that you didn't listen and looked anyway, imagine these lovely dark floors (Which look a little lighter and more varied in person--like the first picture) with white cabinets, and tall white baseboards. The mantel is getting painted white too. Oh, and the window trim will be white also.

These are with the first layer of top coat. He will do two more coats to make it very durable. I can't wait!

Okay, now tell me what you think so far. I can take it. But keep in mind that I love them. So HA to all the floor places that told us it was too hard to do!

In the heat of the moment. . .

2009-01-05T23:32:00.000-08:00

. . .we gutted our office. In fact, the room was cleared and the carpet was half gone before my brain shouted. . . "Before pictures!!" I am sure I have a picture of my office somewhere, but I will have to hunt it down later for the final reveal. So here is the first "during" picture:

And a few more of the office floor going in:

I decided to paint the room while it was empty. The new color is called Whispering Wind.

Rather than tearing out the old wood on the threshold and weaving the new boards in we decided to put in threshold board and change directions. I really like how it turned out.

We had hardwood in a large portion of the house but wanted to add it to the entire main floor. It is 3/4" thick red oak. We added more of the same with the idea of refinishing them in a really dark stain.

Midway we realized we bought more wood than the office needed so we tore out our family room carpet. (The idea was to do that floor--and the living room--when we re-do the kitchen in a couple months, but spontaneity's a good thing. . .right?) Anyway, too late now.

More pictures of the progress:

The living room will have to wait, however, because it currently looks like this:

We rented an orbital sander to remove the old finish and prepare the wood for stain.

12 hours later we called it a day.

Here is a little of Rob's handy work. The marble on the fireplace surround was lower than the wood, so Rob made a frame with strips of oak and beveled the edge that butted up against the marble. I love it.

We had a dark stain mixed up and tested it under our fridge. First coat. . . too light.

Second coat. . . too heavy--and not drying well.

Panic sets in. . .phone calls are made. Three wood finishers turn us down saying dark stains are too hard (what were we thinking? Oh yeah, I think it was something like, "We can do anything!"). Moving on. . . breathing deeply. . . finding acceptance. Better to have fabulous floors than not needing to say "I did it myself" due to the obviously unprofessional job. Besides we did a lot ourselves.

So reinforcements arrive tomorrow. He is going to use Glitsa Stain in Sable with three layers of Swedish Finish. Wish us luck!

On the 24th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

. . . we worked a little magic.

We signed up to be bell ringers for the Salvation Army. I have to say that despite all the Christmas activities we had been doing it was not really feeling like Christmas was just around the corner. Standing there in front of Freddies with the girls, wishing everyone Merry Christmas and seeing all the smiles and well wishes we got, not to mention the generosity of strangers, really made it feel like Christmas. I had no idea that people were so generous. It made me feel a little cheap to see so many people putting $20 or $10, even $5 at a time. I would say at least half the people that passed threw money in that little red pot.

I am sure that having two adorable helpers didn't hurt. But it made me feel the Christmas spirit. The Christlike spirit that the season is really all about. I have to admit, when we signed up to do this, the weather was in the fifties (two weeks ago) and I had no idea we would be getting a snow storm like nothing this city has seen in the last thirty years. But despite cold toes, it was worth it. I grumbled on the way there, but I am glad we didn't cancel, or go home early like we thought we might. My nine year old wanted to stay longer.

I think we may be back next year, ringing that little bell and bringing in a little Christmas cheer and charity.

I hope you have enjoyed this little series, and seeing what we do for our 25 days of Christmas. To see more of what we do each and every Christmas Eve as a family, visit my regular blog. I will post about it tomorrow.

On the 23rd Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-24T20:30:00.001-08:00

We read a few Christmas stories.

I bought some new Christmas books this year. It is always fun to read about Santa and Jesus and talk about the different ways people celebrate Christmas. Tonight we read three stories:

My Penguin Osbert

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

This year at our church Christmas party we also received a bound booklet that was filled with a Christmas story a day for the 24 days leading up to Christmas. Each day it has a scripture (that progresses through the story of Christ's birth) a Christmas carol, a thought that goes along with the theme of the night, an activity to do, and a Christmas story. We did not do the whole book, but they are such cute stories and activities. I am keeping it and will try to do it next year. It might make deciding what to do a little easier.

On the 22nd Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

. . . we were snowed in all day. So Rob and I had a bake off. I made two candies and he made one. The goal was to see who could produce a better treat. Technically, if you take a family vote (and add the stray friend or two) Rob won with his Perfect Penuche.

I think my White Almond Fudge was equally as yummy.

We all agreed, however, that I have yet to master the English Toffee. Try as I may, it always comes out sugary.

I cannot begrudge him his little victory, though. It has been years of attempts (made entirely during the Christmas season) that has finally resulted in the Perfect Penuche recipe. I will have to continue my quest for the perfect English Toffee recipe.

We also spent hours on the golf course hill sledding. For a glimpse at the fun we had go HERE.

On the 21st Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

. . . we had a gift exchange with our neighbors.

And for the occasion I made Peanut Butter Rice Krispies.

On the 20th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-22T09:39:00.001-08:00

Throughout the year hundreds of pictures were taken of the young women at church (12-18) and I put together a slide show set to music that we played during the Young Women in Excellence program in November. We, the leaders, decided to make a DVD of the slideshow for all the girls as a Christmas gift. So I spent part of the day burning DVDs and making labels and wrapping them for the girls.

On the 19th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-22T09:33:00.001-08:00

For our anniversary back in July, I bought tickets to the Chris Botti Home for the Holidays concert. So, despite the snow, we drove downtown and enjoyed some great Christmas music by the symphony and some fun jazz with Chris Botti and his band. He also had a few guest performers. It was fun to walk around downtown and get out for an evening.

Here we are all dressed to go. . .

On the 18th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

. . .we got an unexpected snow storm and the girls spent hours in the snow. Nothing like a little white to make it feel like Christmas:

For more winter fun pics visit my regular blog Here.

On the 17th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

. . .We wrapped, and wrapped and wrapped gifts.

I had been storing up 0n the wrapping. And then we went to the store and bought a cart full of things for friends and family members. So we had a little wrapping party.

Every year I decorate in red, white and silver. . . including my wrapping paper. So we had to make all the gifts lovely and matching so they would compliment the tree nicely and go with the decor. It's probably silly, but it makes me smile.

On the 16th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

I sent out my Christmas cards and newsletter. . . finally.

Of course I ran around trying to get a family picture together, didn't. Then searched through my picture files trying to find a family photo. I have 5 bazillion pictures and almost no family pics. . . because I take them. I found one, not great, from October and threw it on a card, ordered them, picked them up, addressed envelopes, decided to do a newsletter. . . and found a much better family picture. ARGHHH! Oh well. I put it on the newsletter (which we printed on our cheaper printer so its all smudgy, of course.) The joys of the holidays.

Here is the picture I used on the card: (and yes, there IS a glare on it)

And here is our newsletter:

I tried to make it so you could pop it out and read it, but it doesn't, so here is what its says:

A little over a year ago Rob took a new job which moved our family to Washington.

The weather is mild, if a little wet, the scenery is breathtaking, and the people are friendly.

After a year in our new home we are settling in. The girls both have new BFFs despite missing old friends.

Even with all his travels, Rob finally has time to develop a few hobbies and wasted no time buying a boat to explore all the nearby waterways.

Jenni has made many new friends and when she is not running the girls around, or fulfilling her three church callings, she fills her time with photography, gardening, house projects and writing. In January she is returning to school to finally finish her degree.

To see more of what our family has been up to visit our blog:

www.penofjenn.blogspot.com

With our new surroundings come new adventures. And there are plenty of places to explore. Rob has flown all over the Northwest, including Alaska, but the rest of us have stayed closer to home. We are less than two hours from the ocean and surrounded by lakes and rivers. We have taken several trips to Seaside and Astoria to run on the sand and chase the seagulls, but Signe’s favorite location is Seattle. Despite seeing Pike’s Market Place and the Seattle Museum and staying in a fancy hotel, her favorite part was feeding the seagulls french fries from Ivar’s. She recently told us when she is a mom she is going to move to Seattle.

Adventures afar. . .

Aside from our trip to Seattle, we took our traditional summer trip to Idaho. There we filled our days with swimming, fishing, shopping and playing with Manna, Grammy, and all the girls’ cousins. We also took a week long trip to Disneyland this past month and enjoyed lovely weather and met many princesses.

Close to home. . .

With the new boat we have had many adventures on the lake. The scenery is beautiful, and maybe next year we will even get the girls on skis.

But all the girls really need to do for a little adventure is open the back door. When we are not tackling the landscaping, our yard provides a lot of fun and we even spent many free hours this summer building a treehouse for the girls. It almost got done.

When more mystery is in order the girls can walk to the end of the street. 80 acres of forest surrounds our neighborhood and the girls love hunting for newts. They rarely come home without one. . .or six. And in the fall we can walk down the tracks to the trestle bridge and pick wild blackberries. Or just enjoy the beautiful fall colors.

We hope the coming year brings you many adventures too.

On the 15th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

. . . we visited the giving tree.

Our church has a giving tree this year for families that need help with Christmas. The girls each picked a child off the tree to buy gifts for. Signe chose a three year old girl and Hannah chose an 8 year old boy. Since Hannah picked a boy she had no problem giving away the presents she picked. Signe, however picked a girl who wanted princess stuff. She would have gladly kept the things she picked for the little girl. In the end they were both happy to be getting gifts for someone who would be really happy to receive them.

On the 14th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-16T21:22:00.001-08:00

. . . our neighbor invited us over to decorate cookies.

The girls love making sugar cookies. We make them for every occasion, and even though I didn't make these cookies, if you would like my favorite ever sugar cookie recipe go HERE.

The girls, however, don't really care if the cookies taste good or not. They are more worried about what they will put on them. . .

The test is to see how much colored sugar they can fit on one cookie.

They each brought home several masterpieces.

And large quantities of sugar were consumed. But everyone was happy. . . and in spite of all that sugar, or maybe because of it, the cookies didn't last 24 hours!

On the 13th Day of Christmas. . .

2008-12-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

. . .we caught up our advent story chain.

The girls and I made a simple advent chain on the first day of Christmas. Then on sixth day of Christmas we attended our church's Christmas breakfast and craft activity where the girls made these really cute advent chains that had questions about the story of Christ's birth with scripture references in Matthew and Luke where we could find the answers. We didn't start it before we went to Disneyland, so we caught up the on the two weeks we had missed. The girls enjoyed finding the answers in the scriptures to see if they got them right.

Each ring has a question like:

How was the baby Jesus dressed? ( Luke 2:12)

and

What king ruled Judea when Jesus was born? (Matt. 2:1)

I really liked this way of telling the story of Jesus. It kept the girls attention and made it fun. And after a week of commercialized Christmas is was good to remember what we are really celebrating. Now that we are caught up, we can continue to answer to questions until Christmas.

On the 8th - 12th Days of Christmas. . .

2008-12-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

. . .we went to Disneyland!

But don't think we had to forgo all the Christmas fun. Disney was filled with festive Christmas activities--along with lights, trees, decor, music, and bubbly snow.

While there, we visited Santa's reindeer. . .

Made reindeer crafts. . .

Took pictures by trees. . .

. . . and in Santa's sleigh . . .

. . . and spent lots of Christmas money on treats and souvenirs. (Legos for Hannah, and an Ariel costume for Sig.)

I also took a lot of pictures of the lights. I have several posted on my Photography blog, if you wish to see them.

And the rest of our trip is showcased on my regular blog, Jenn's Pen.