Kitchen Confession

I'm in the mood to repaint my kitchen.  I love the color, but right now it just looks like a dark hole. *sigh*

Dark walls, dark cabinets and dark furniture.  I need something lighter.  

I think a kitchen full of white cabinets is beautiful and open looking.  

Via pauladeenmagazine.com

There's no way I'm going to repaint our current cabinets, even if Kevin were to jump on board with the idea.

So the walls it is.  Now to go through the agony of picking out just the right color.  Any suggestions?

Living Room Layer 1 Reveal

Here it is!!

Yep.  I'm uber excited about this one!

Quick reminder what we started with.....

Flat, contractor beige.  Unexciting and uninspiring.

Now.  Here is the new and improved living space.  {squeal!}

I am loving the colour!!  (Had to upgrade it with a 'u', I'm so pleased!)  I'd be willing to paint the whole house in this color.  Is it a huge difference? No.  But, it is a warmer, cozier color in the space.

Want another view?  I thought so.

Oh, our poor saggy, baggy couches.  :(

I have one last little corner to paint, but I need help moving the cabinet that resides there.  Once that is done, I'll start working on Layer 1-B.  For a hint on what that might be, look at the before picture.  Hmmm.  (finger tapping chin and snotty smirk in place.)

Some wonderful friends have kids #3 and #4 with them at the zoo today.  I'm fighting the urge to just sit back and rest.  I really ought to finish the laundry.  OH!  I know.  Time to sew!

**Paint color is Gobi Desert by Behr

Tuesday's Tip of the Week

Painting the living room has been my goal this week.  I would love to tell you I'm finished, but I can't.  *sigh*  Just a few too many things to do during the day to be able to focus on painting.  I am working hard to get it presentable to take pictures and post tomorrow.

As a result of trying to do too much, I have a great tip of the week.  Usually,  I am OCD about making sure my painting supplies and tools are cleaned right away.  This last time I made sure the brush was cleaned, but did no more than just set the empty paint tray to the side to fix supper.  Guess what -  I completely forgot about it.  Imagine that!!  {Okay.  Not such a big surprise.}  Such a happy mistake, though!
See......

The absolute easiest clean up I believe I've ever had.  I'm really tempted to do this every time.  Every last bit of paint came out of the tray and I was able to just start anew.

So, if you ever don't have time or just totally forget about cleaning out the paint tray, no worries about the resulting dried latex paint.  There was something almost satisfying/therapeutic about getting to pull all that out, too.

I'm Back.......

Hopefully.  :P

This past month has been crazy.  The yard sale went okay, but I really only had baby stuff to sell.  Definitely a hit or miss for anyone.  I've had appointments left and right for myself and 4 of the five kids.  (Nothing serious or life threatening, but still necessary.)  A few more coming up, too.  Plus, I need to start scheduling dentist and eye exams.  Oi!!!

Enough of that.

I'm back at my old games.  Yep.  I've got a sewing project in the works that I'm hoping to get 'perfected' and then get into pattern form for y'all.  I'm also scurrying around the house trying to figure out exactly what I want to do before I go and spend the money on things.  (Absolutely crazy, I know, but this will help keep the marriage together.)

First thing that has to be done around this joint is paint.  And since the transmission guy is getting the money I would have used for a painter, I'm just going to have to stop in creative places to avoid the 20 ft walls in the stairs and entry.

I hear a baby moving around in bed, so I'll have to end this post.  Love to send a shout out to my wonderful neighbor, Karen.  My proverbial life was saved when she lent me a bit of paint to cover up the boo-boo on the ceiling.

Right above the TV, too, so there was no way that would have been missed.

So, unless my darling hubby checks out the blog, he will be none the wiser.  (fingers crossed)

Thanks again, Karen!  AND I'm so glad you picked up the addiction habit joy of sewing from this blog.  Makes the all the time worth it!

Pick A Color, Any Color

I feel as if I've been keeping the paint sample section of Home Depot in business lately.  Who would have thought that picking out a beige would be such an ordeal?  Wanna see?

Yep.  Great conversation piece when people come over.  I've had all the usual problems - too dark, too light, too green, too pink, too yellow.  And there are those times I stand holding the paint chip up to the paint I just put on the wall sure it wasn't the same color.  (Surely I wouldn't pick out something that awful!)  Then I have to figure in the fireplace and the curtains.  

Colors have been up on the living room walls for several months.  I think my ever patient husband is coming to the end of his rope.  Over the weekend I got to do some shopping all by myself and actually took the time to really look at the different paint chips instead of just doing a 'hit and run' on the displays.  And, I came home with 3 new colors.  You should have seen the look on Kevin's face!  BUT, we finally have a winner.  See the square above the light switch?  That's it!  Gobi Desert by Behr.

Now to find a good painter to fix the nail pops and hit the 20 ft walls in the entry and stairs.  There is NO way you'll find me on a ladder up that high.

Little Girls' Finished Room

I posted my start to this room last week.  I actually got it finished on Thursday, but completely ran out of time to post since I had to pack for a weekend trip.  Better late than never, right?

I didn't want another pink room.  When you have girls it is sometimes hard to convince them that there are other colors in the world besides varying shades of pink.  This time I just didn't ask and made the decision on my own.  Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue (a Disney color by Behr) is now on the walls.  (I could make some cheesy comments on magic and such, but I'll refrain.)  I've had the purple curtains for a couple of months and I'm really liking them in the room.

All the dots on the walls are bug/butterfly wall decals.  Really cute, removable and reusable.  I put them on the walls, on the door.....

and even on the light switch.

The look on her face when she saw the room completed was great!  Made it worth all the effort.  

One of these days I might put pictures up.  All the bugs are above the reach of little girls, too, so some grass painted around the room in places might be cute or a tree painted in one corner.  I think I'll move on to the next room and do some more thinking on the embellishments.

Keeping Busy

There's no shortage of projects ideas for me.  My problem lies in trying to decide and priorities which projects to do.

Here is my most recent endeavor.  I've had the paint for about a year.  Sad, I know.  Still, first coat up today and, hopefully, the second tomorrow.  (Or late tonight.)  I'm trying to have it done to surprise child #3 when she returns home next week.

Home Decorating

Maybe it's the hormones or maybe it's the time ticking down; but, I've been on a serious mission lately to get some things done around the house.  Two big things that have been bothering me are the lack of color on my walls and the missing necessary furniture/accessories in our home.  In the past 8 years we have moved multiple (6) times, so in someways I'm relieved that I don't have extra furniture that doesn't work in our current home.  I'll start gathering items such as end tables, decorative accessories and wall art soon enough.  That is a task easily completed with kids in tow.  Well, relatively easy.

The other problem, lack of color, has a limit in opportunities when you have several 'helpers' around during the day.  So, I've been snatching those infrequent moments to do different painting projects around the house.  I'm QUITE pleased with the way my kitchen and 1/2 bath have turned out and thought I would share some before and after pics.

First up - the kitchen.  The color is called Sly Fox and is a BEHR paint from Home Depot.  I had this color in our kitchen in Georgia and absolutely loved it.  It went on in two coats (very unusual for a red) and has wonderful warmth to it.

Before:

After:

The most recent painting project has been our little 1/2 bath off the kitchen.  The color is called Grasshopper Wing and is also a BEHR paint.  (When you find something that works, gotta stick with it.)  I was a bit worried about the dark color in a small space, but it works and really brings out the picture on the wall.

Before:

After:

One of my little helpers:

I have 2 more painting projects I would LOVE to get done before the new baby gets here, but we'll have to see how my body holds up.  (You know me - If I can do it myself, I'm not going to hire it out.)  One is the second kids' bedroom.  I already have a happy light blue color on hand just waiting to be slathered on the walls.  The next on my list is getting a neutral up on the rest of the walls on the first floor.  Still haven't completely settled on that color, but I'm looking at one called Churchill (something or ruther) from Valspar.  Poor planning on my part to run out of rollers and not be able to get the sample color up on several of the walls to see how I like it overall.   Has to play nice with the kitchen color, right?

Kids' Headboards

Remember that Room Revamp I was attempting last March and June? I didn't get too far on it before I changed my mind and made it into the guest room. SO TYPICAL! I seem to have trouble sticking with an idea or having way too many of them.

Anyway. While out searching for the perfect full size headboard, I came across a set of these beautiful (heavy sarcasm) twin headboards at a local thrift store.

They weren't horrible, but they did need some work. The best part about it was the price - $5 each! How could I pass that up?!

So, off to work...... I even schnoockered, er, enlisted my husband into helping with the process.

The end product come out better than even I hoped! I decided to have Hubby take the front sliding thingy off to avoid little fingers getting pinched. (Like the sledding polar bear sheets?)

So, for $10, a bit of elbow grease and a small can of paint the girls have some pretty cute matching headboards in their room. Even a little extra storage space for their special trinkets.

I'm hoping to get more decorating done in the next few weeks. Let's see if my pregnant body will keep up with my over ambitious mind.

Bedspreads are found here.