Take 7

So we get the house keys in our hot little hands next friday (the fifth of june) and I can’t wait to start painting.  The husband and I picked out our colors last night and I *think* we have it all planned out now. We will of course be using sample packets before we buy gallons of paint, but it’s nice to have a plan. I can’t wait to share which colors we’re using! I won’t though until we actually use them because they’re not your typical house colors and our friends were a little shocked by what we’ll be painting…
… Moving on. So here’s the master bedroom. I can see the completed room in my mind (and via my inspiration photos I have saved up) and I can’t wait to get started! This photo shows the two closets with bank of windows and a radiator in between them. The wall to the left has two windows and the wall to the right has one window and the door to the bathroom. I think the radiator top is going to be a cat hangout spot since it’s close to windows and close to heat. They’ll love it.

This is the other side of the room which has doors to the master bedroom parlor. Yes, it has a parlor. How cool is that? We’ll be putting Cody’s computer stuff there and a little loveseat I have yet to purchase. We’ll also be replacing the dora the explorer light switch cover… I have a project in mind for the doors so that they can’t be seen through like they are currently but it’ll be easily removable should we decide we want the clear glass back.

On to the master bath which has a couple things I want to change. The rail going around the edge that is interrupted by the light switch is a good start…

It bugs me as does the hardware that doesn’t match any of the hardware in the rest of the house… Naturally I’ll be painting this room as well as the rest of the house. There’s a door just to the left of the sink (you can see just the edge of it) and that leads out onto the balcony that is big enough for a chair or two.  We’ll end up completely redoing this room if we end up living in this house for  a long time other wise I will learn to live with it.

Edited: May 31st, 2009

Giant Whiteboard table

So I bought this lovely “antique” table at a local store and it was lovely for a while. I have young children though and our table was wiped off a lot. A… LOT! Pretty soon each cleaning of the table took more and move of the finish off of it. Notice the big areas of missing finish?

Feel free to notice the lovely eat me cake stand with handpainted roses next to it. Yes, I’m still on the Alice kick.

I loved the style of the table, but the wood color was never my favorite and now it was flaking. What’s a girl to do?

Create a giant whiteboard of course! I painted the legs of the table a dark espresso color so that they’d match the chairs we have with the table. Then I took a trip to Lowe’s and bought some primer and this lovely Whiteboard paint. This stuff is pretty awesome let me tell ya.  The entire table top is now a whiteboard.

Why is this awesome? Just think of the potential uses. Kids bored waiting for dinner? They write on the table. Playing Cranium with friends? You can DRAW on the table. Playing a card game? You can keep score on the table too! Doing homework? you can do some of the checking work on the table. It’s just…. it’s an  awesome idea. We’re happy with it.

And what’s across from the table? My photo ledge thingy.

So what’s the artwork? Starting from the left we have a drawing my youngest did several years ago, a “drnk” sign I made that used to be over the bar, an R that I painted to match the house, an “i’m soylent green” painting I did, an elephant my husband picked up in Iraq, a mirror I got in trade from a friend, a photo of my husband and I about 5 years ago, half a decorative card that I framed, and a really neat embroidered art thing I picked up for $2.50 at the Salvation army and painted the frame.

What’s next on the agenda? This cart:

It was a whole $7 (compared to the $40 to $50 at the same store) but it’s got a beat up paint job on it right now. I’ll be taking the trays off, cleaning, and repainting it. It’s holding stuff from the table right now while the table dries.

Edited: May 28th, 2009

Cranberry Cake, Whipped Cream, and Puppies

I saw this delicious cake recipe over on Apartment Therapy.  It looked delicious, I happened to have most of the ingredients… all I needed was some kirsch and for that I went to the alcohol section of Parkers. Don’t be fooled by their website, they carry more than just a pharmacy… a kick ass produce section and a guy that knows his alcohol are also there. Alcohol guy helped me find something that was like kirsch without being as expensive. It’s great on it’s own too…

On to the recipe. It makes a cake that looks something like this. I wanted to do homemade whipped cream with some wannbekirsch in it, but we didn’t have cream to whip so I went with the stuff from a bottle.

Which leads me to the puppy part of my post. Our dogs apparently really liked whipped cream. We noticed that they’d line up for their turn when we’d spray some directly in to the kids’ mouths but I didn’t realize how much the dogs liked it. They know the sound of whipped cream coming from a bottle now and came running to line up for their turn. Ms. Anni and Ms. Mousemouse both love it, but I think Mouse loves it more. She actually started licking her lips while she waited.

Edited: May 25th, 2009

Don't feed me, I have allergies

I got to work on a fun custom order today. The buyer’s little girl has a ton of food allergies and she wanted some pins for her daughter to wear so that people would know to not feed her due to her allergies. The buttons had to be something a little girl wouldn’t mind wearing. She likes cats and the color pink.

I thought it was such a neat idea and enjoyed working on it. I ended up putting a set of them in the store and can customize them to be any sort of allergy/color/picture on them.   It got me thinking about other ways this type of thing could be used. Perhaps parent info on a button on a child for when you’re at a big thing like Disneyland?  Something like this perhaps?

I did one for my kindergartener when he went on a field trip without me. It was a Dr. Seuss button and said “I’m with Mrs. Teacher’s Name” on it. I think that could be taken one step further to be something like “Please return to Mrs. Teacher from Your Kids’ School.”

Edited: May 20th, 2009

Strawberry Slush

Doesn’t this just sound yummy? Naturally since it has alcohol in it, it wouldn’t be for the under 21 crowd but I think I’ll have to make some up this weekend to see how good it is.

Strawberry Slush

9 C Cold water
2 C Sugar
2 10 oz or 1lb Frozen strawberries
1 packet of strawberry type kool aid
1 12 oz frozen orange juice concentrate
2 C Rum or Vodka

Mix together and freeze.

Edited: May 20th, 2009

Take Six

The kitchen has a doorway to it from the living room and it also has a door leading to the backyard. The kitchen is connected to the breakfast nook which is connected to the basement and the dinning room.

I love the windows in the kitchen (and there are more on the other side). I like the cabinet style and drawer pulls. I don’t like the Campbell’s tomato soup color paint/wallpaper. I also don’t like the tile thing on the lower left in this picture. It has a little design on it and meh… it’s just not my family’s taste in stuff.

The sink strikes me as odd because it goes over into the next counter area on the left instead of being flush with the cabinet. To me, visually, it’s just off.

That white thing above the bar stools is actually all windows and we love it. The white part under it is the radiator which obviously we’re not moving. The table top thing is so low because of how the window is. Not that you can see it, but to the bottom left of the photo (just out of view) is more heating/cooling stuff we probably can’t move.

the doorway right here is really a pocket door and something we loved. When you open the pocket door, on the side not facing the kitchen is a height chart for the kids that have lived in the house since 1970. We think that’s super cool and we plan on adding our own kids to it when we move in and again when we move out. just to the right of all those back packs is a half bath that is nicely done. To the left of the backpacks are the stairs to the basement/garage/laundry area.

The fridge isn’t shown in any of these photos but it’s opposite of the windows in the breakfast nook and right by the door to the dinning room.  I love how much light this space gets, how much cabinet space I have for my various dishes I like to collect now, how the kitchen area can have people talking to us and yet not in the way of cooking. The kitchen/nook definitely have some good points. I can’t wait to set up my tea cabinet with my jars of tea, tea pots (i have about 12 of them now), tea cups, etc etc.

Edited: May 10th, 2009

Take 5

Moving on from the dinning room and the things I want to do to it, we come to the forest green floral wallpapered living room. Check out that matching fireplace! Forest green tiles and red brick…

I hate the fireplace the way it is now. I’m going to figure out a way to make it not green and red and that little decorative element above the brick is an add on and will be removed. The fireplace is gas burning with faux longs and we’re planning on putting the tv above the fireplace angled down so we can watch it easily. I also saw a neat idea for tv decoration that we plan on doing. The media center we currently have is going to the left of the fireplace (if it fits correctly). I’ll end up putting something on it for the cats to lay on in the sun. Our cats are weird and afraid of the outdoors, but they like to look at it via a window. The media center was a buffet table that had the legs broken off (we replaced them with wheels) and the perfect height now for this window area.

The white bookcases are probably original to the room addition according to the inspector. We’ll probably end up keeping them, but I’d be okay removing them too. The scale seems off to me.

To the right of their entertainment center is the door to the kitchen and behind the couch at the bottom of the photo is the door to the dinning room.

This room has potential to make it what I want it to be. The current owners and my family have vastly different styles. We’re going to go with white roman shades in this room (of the blackout variety) and curtains in front of them. The trim is staying white throughout the entire house and we’re thinking of painting this room gray. The light/fan fixture will be replaced with something else that goes better with the style of house and that has a working fan on it.

Check out those awesome floors though. Aren’t they lovely?

Edited: May 5th, 2009

The Alice Collection

I love Alice in Wonderland. It’s a great book and recently my oldest son started reading it too. He thinks it’s weird enough to keep reading and yet not so hard to read that it confuses him. Plus I think he likes to have a big leather bound book to read and show off. He’s like that still.

Anyway, Alice in Wonderland… all versions… it rocks. I have some specimens in my store I’ve been selling off and on and now that my craft room is being cleaned out in preparation for the move, I’m finding more fun things to play with too. Thus this weekend’s craft projects.

I have several drink me bottles now (some are even up in my store), quite a few painted roses, and a couple different displays. The shadow box is something I’d originally started making to sell. I have another eat me cookie I need to add to it, but I’ve decided to not sell it right now. The cost of the materials inside it, the cost of the box, my time… it adds up and well… it turned out pretty spiffy so I want to keep it.

I’m also digging the one singing flower I made too. I’m working on shipping options for these before I add them to my store. I’d hate to have something that didn’t ship easily.

The jar its in is something I picked up at a thrift store and didn’t know what to do with yet. I love it full of that mossy stuff though and plan on making some more roses for it later after I move.

Then there’s the painted roses and the containers they’re in. I hunt my local antique store for this type of container and I don’t find them too often. When I do though, I’m quick to snatch them up as long as they’re not an insane price.

The metal and glass combination is just neat. I have to find some more though because I’ve filled them all up with Alice stuff. I have a couple more that I’m actively working on and I need to make the labels for them all, but it was a productive weekend and seeing it all lined up makes me happy.

Edited: May 3rd, 2009

Ms. Anni's new bed

It’s supposed to be the cat bed, but apparently Ms. Anni likes it much better than the cats do right now.

I found this lovely apple basket at the thrift store  for $5 and picked up a crocheted cover down pillow for $3. The pillow has a bunch of catnip in it now and is nestled in the basket. Ms. Anni found the basket first and likes it, but eventually the cats will find it and like it too. It just has to be their idea first.

Naturally you can’t see the pillow under her, but it’s there and she hearts it because it’s right by my desk. It makes for a happy Anni

Edited: May 3rd, 2009

My Happy Place Take 4

So moving on from the front area of the house, there’s the dinning room. It’s the room that is right beyond that archway that looks like it doesn’t belong to the house. This room has three doors to it and then a wall of windows.

Not pictured is the doorway that leads to the breakfast nook. So what do we love about this room? The floors of course and the tall ceiling… that’s about it to be honest. I do love their table and the antique furniture they have but obviously that isn’t staying with the house so it doesn’t count.

What don’t I love? The three different patterns of wallpaper on the wall. Hate those, ripping them down as soon as we’ve figured out what color we’re painting.  I also detest the light fixtures because they don’t seem to go with the time period of the house at all. We plan on updating those with a new color to see if it helps (Jordan and I watched some home show were they painted the ugly light fixtures and it turned out nice). So I’m going to try that because I can and if it’s hideous still, I’ll end up buying a new one.

I love the programable thermostat though. That’ll come in handy. I also love that the room is plenty big enough for my table. I’m going to buy a leather bench for the table and slip covers for the chairs we currently have. I loved the look that this young house did with their table when they added a bench.

Our table is a totally different style, but a bench will work well with it. So what bench will I get? I like the idea of this one.

Why? because it’ll store Rockband stuff. How awesome is that? The guys like to play it at my house already and I planned on buying it for my husband instead of having one of the guys bring it over all the time. This way I’ll already have a place to store it and the storage place will serve a function too cool huh? I just have to measure and be absolutely sure it’ll work and be comfortable to sit at the table while eating. I like the idea of the storage bench though and if it doesn’t work at the table, it’ll work somewhere else in the house I’m sure.

Edited: May 3rd, 2009