I Am Still Here . . . And Still Painting!

Ok, well I have been going in 20 different directions these days! Keeps me busy (unfortunately, not thin though!). But the problem is that I have many different projects but none of them are "done"! So here's another of my incomplete projects, in addition to putting up my spooky Halloween, my goal is to come up with a list of all the little things I need to do to bring the projects to completion and share with you!

Onto the guest room (very rarely slept in) that we are converting into the girls' and my office space. We are putting 3 desks in there, a small one for me to hold all our bills and our desktop computer, and two more, one for each girl. I have lived in my current house for the past 8 years. I have painted every square inch of wall at least one time, many twice and this room - a third time! It started off a Laura Ashley Moss or Green Apple (can't remember exactly which one, but it was also in my mom's and sister's house!), then it went to a goldish yellow with an antique glaze:

,

Sorry the photo is so dark, I am still learning my camera (that is 4 years old!),
basic view of the room before.

Another angle.

We took the closet doors off, many years ago,
and put a bookcase in there that served as a liquor closet!

Our dog's crate was also in there. She looks real excited about the new room!

We used this as our "Travel" room and displayed photos from our trips.
Unfortunately, I didn't quite get that done either before the big change!

So, I hit the local Home Depot, bought my paint, pulled out my brushes and got started. This room was easy to do because it only has 8 foot ceilings. Seriously, I have been painting some big 'ole rooms! Ironically, the green I went back to is close to the green this room was two coats again! Too bad I couldn't just peel off the old layer!

Love the color - ignore the touch-ups, they dried nicely later!

I decided to mix it up a bit and painted the closet (my future desk holder) two shades lighter.

My original plan was to Chevron stripe the inside of the closet - using the main room color for the stripes - from top to bottom. I think it was a great plan, the problem was, taping it off. I looked everywhere for a stencil, couldn't find one, so I had to grab the tape. Now, another thing you should know about me is, I am not a precise person, I eyeball things and just go with it. Then I spend a large portion of my adult life trying to straighten things up!!

So here's my first attempt -

I used chalk and an L-ruler to make sure everything hit at the same spot and was the same thickness!

Then I taped it all off. Because the closet has some crazy angles, I decided to do the Chevron stripes only across the flat back and then they turn into straight stripes (I'm lazy!)

I like it. It looks a little off but since I am going to hang a big calendar and some shelving
on the wall, I think it will look ok.

The desks are assembled (still need to post that blog), hang a few things on the wall, and cover the chairs for the girls and the room will be ready for the big reveal!

This weekend, I am off to the Nickelodeon Hotel with my Cadette troop for our last hurrah! Time to spend that cookie money. Then we are spending tomorrow at Universal Studios, having dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville (salivating over those nachos already!) and coming home Saturday afternoon. My hubby gets a couple of days to himself, my only "Honey Do" for him, bring up my Halloween decs to I can start putting them up ASAP. Hosting Bunco at my house Oct 10 so need to have everything up by then! But that will be for another post!

What Was I Thinking . . .

Ok, in the spirit of the current economy of the US, I have decided to try to cut back a little while redoing my daughter's bedroom. I removed the popcorn off the ceiling myself (she has 12 foot ceilings on a slope). I decided not to prime the bare ceiling because I was out of primer and too lazy (and trying to save $$$) to run to the store to get more so I just painted the ceiling twice with the paint I already had. I will not talk about the two spots that were peeling (yes, at the 12 foot mark) and how I went back over them with a brush and a prayer that they won't peel anymore!!

We did splurge on new carpet and some new furniture. How is that saving you ask? Well, carpet not so much but it was desperately needed (she currently has hot pink carpet which I am sad to see go but it is FILTHY!). The savings came with the furniture. Each of the last two days, I have assembled furniture. No, we didn't need that fancy furniture from a fancy store where it comes assembled and big burly men bring it in your house and put it wherever you want. We got the Target special. Now, you don't know a lot about me yet but I LURVE Target!! It is a great company, with great products and I was an employee there for 3 years, excuse me, I mean Team Member! However, back to subject, each day I came home from picking my youngest daughter up from camp, there has been a BIG, and I mean BIG package at my door.

Don't forget to multiply this by 2!

Now I live in a three story house (No, I am not skinny. Yes, I thought the house would help me lose the baby weight, too!) but I decided it would be easier to assemble the furniture downstairs and carry it put together upstairs. Not sure about that decision yet as I have been in "put together" mode! My fingers hurt, my back hurts, and my right foot (where I dropped the bookcase not once, but twice on it) really smarts!!

So here's the fun I have been enjoying:

That's alotta pieces - again, times 2!!

I'm gonna need a bigger glue bottle!

I see lots of pieces!

It's getting there. Hope I didn't do it upside down!

Taaaadaaaaaa!

Love the detailing.

And double taaaaadaaaa!

These will look great in Liv's room. Can't wait to fill them up and should hold lots of goodies. We found some great, decorated bins to go on the shelves and hold toys and keep us organized!!

Now on to the TV stand!!

Fall Is In The Air . . .

Ok, so it might still be 90 outside but I have set the air down real low (don't tell Al Gore!), have my fall candle burning, and have pulled out the fake leaves, fake acorns and all the accoutrements! Now, you need to know I live in Florida and love it from November through June. July and August are so hot we don't see the outdoors much and are busy praying our A/C doesn't break. September and October, I PINE, and I really mean PINE, away for the fall colors happening in those Northern states.

Above is my mantle. Our living room has really high ceilings which I don't really like but it did allow me room to make some changes (and so did my hubby!). When we moved into the house, the fireplace had a generic tile around it and the all over the hearth. It had a large mirror that went all the way to the ceiling and was trimmed by a light oak frame - yes, so '80s. Didn't make me yearn for my big hair and neon colors though. Made me want to redo it - so I did! We pulled off the tile and replaced it with a nice white tile with a braided tile trim. Since I am so seasonal, I wanted a place to hang wreaths, mirrors and other seasonal decor. Then I found this beautiful antique stained glass. It was from the turn of the century (the last one) and is from a church (all I need to do is pass around an offering plate to help make money to pay off my high A/C bill!). The contractor and I went through several different ways to figure out how to light it from behind, light boxes, build out a frame, you name it. Finally, wanting to JUST GET IT DONE, I said just cut a hole in the drywall and stick in the light boxes, so that's what we did. I love it, I will let you know it looks great at night! But now I have gone on a tangent so back to fall!

Love my Pottery Barn ledges. Use them for all kinds of decorating ideas!

I love to put photos on those shelves. The couch for the family room is opposite them so I can very easily look at all those smiling faces looking out at me!

My sweet babies!

I love the look of this copper-trimmed frame. I wanted to put both these sweet faces in it. I didn't like the look of the two photos next to each other so I added a ribbon between to the two.

Last year, my girls put on an art show for the family. They did color drawings, pencil sketches, and some clay artwork. I loved the leaf and tree so I felt the need to use them somewhere in my house. I found a dark wood shadowbox, printed a picture from one of our fall trips, labeled the picture (I do this on a lot of the pictures with mats) and attached the art with a few drops of glue. Faboosh!

Not so fab!

Many years ago, I splurged on a beautiful wreath shown above. About 8 years ago it cost be around $80 - lots of moola then! It was so gorgeous, it had beautiful leaves, berries and apples, pomegranates and pears - until THEY entered the picture - roaches. Over the course of the years, they have eaten my berries, apples, pomegranates and pears! So I chopped off the sad remains of the remnants and then realized it looked even sadder. It needed some major love. Now I may shock you with this but there is not a Hobby Lobby near me. So now, every time I go to see my parents in Ocala, I need my HL fix. Last time I was there, I came across these papier mache, mercury glassesque (not a real word but I like the sound of it!) pumpkins. So I decided to add them to my wreath and here's the new and improved wreath:

Much better thank you!

This still needs some tweaking. We actually use the plates, bowls and platters in here a
lot so I wanted to keep them accessible.

That's all to show for now. I have some more work to do so stay posted!

The Sounds of Silence . . .

Ok, I live in Florida and this year, August 22nd brings "the most wonderful time of the year" - back to school and back to the car line!! My girls both started school this morning. My oldest is starting 8th grade and is so excited about being BWOC (big woman on campus)! My youngest is in 4th grade and has 2 teachers (one for math and science, one for reading and English) which will be a big adjustment for her. School for our oldest (Caitlin) used to start at 7:20 but changed this year to 9:30. Many parents protested the time change and appealed to the School Board time after time, but to no avail. In our house, we all feel a little bit guilty because we are a family of sleepers and are all happy to have that extra time to sleep-in in the morning!! Now mama likes her sleep but I was wide awake at 6:00 a.m., so what did I do with my time you ask, I played like Martha Freakin' Stewart! I made a breakfast casserole (if you want a great recipe, go to my Pinterest site, under Looks Delish, it's the Amish Breakfast Casserole and is a family fave! Those Amish sure can whip up a mean casserole!) with fresh cut fruit and milk and OJ. Now don't be fooled by this. There will come a day (probably sooner than later) when we are running out of the house late, throwing stale goldfish in a plastic cup and grabbing a "past it's prime" banana but today was one of those perfect mornings. Everyone got up when asked the first time. Big sis helped 'lil sis straighten her hair. Backpacks were filled with new school supplies and sitting by their new desks last night. Fantastic lunches were packed last night topped off by a napkin note from all the other members of the family. It's a little dream world and if we can continue like this for the next 2 days, I will be totally amazed! Both girls were so excited about going to school and looked great!

Caitlin ready for the first day of 8th grade.

Olivia can't wait for school to start and has a new feather hair accessory!

Now my daughter's elementary school is the best! It's small, only 350 students, it's old, been there since 1925, and I just love it! Every year, we have taken a picture of the girls in front of the school sign. It's tradition and the girls know better than to argue with me! Just smile for the birdie and it will be over before you know it!

First day of school 2006.

First day of school 2007.

So I am currently sitting on my sofa with a large Coke Zero (I am not a coffee drinker but still love me some caffeine!) and hear nothing but silence. This summer has been packed for us, dance rehearsals and dance recital, week-long vacation to South Beach and then to Curacao for some R&R, Eckerd College Watersports camp, Warren Willis camp, Tampa Bay Watch camp, visits with cousins, grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, making a quilt, sleepovers with friends, meeting Selena Gomez and attending her concert, 4th of July party, heading to the beach with family to watch the last Space Shuttle launch, Back-to-School party with a live band in our backyard, completely redoing two rooms, celebrating several birthdays, attending Rays games, getting a new hamster and 5 days later realizing that hamster now is a family of 10. No wonder I am so tired!

My entire family loves the seasons as much as I do, so they convinced me to start decorating for Fall (it didn't take a lot of begging!). It usually takes me about 2-3 days to pull it all together (I started yesterday) so as I look out and see "Fall" sitting on every surface in my house (Martha would now be cringing), I realize it is time to get off the couch, grab another Coke Zero, light my Autumn Yankee Candle and pull this house back together. Maybe if I can clean off the breakfast dishes from this morning (I knew there was a reason I didn't usually cook in the mornings!), I can bake some cookies for when the girls come home from school (back to Martha smiling at me)! But that will be for another post!