Monday, June 4, 2012

new desk - such a deal!


 Saw this painted, solid-wood desk at a shop by my house
and knew it was perfect for the guest room/office.
It didn't have a price tag, so I asked the store owner about the price.
She said $75. I didn't think that was too bad, but then I realized
I had no way of getting it home. If we had to rent a truck at
Home Depot, that would be another $20. And the shop charged $25 for delivery.
Enter mad negotiating skills.

Since I have Phone Phobia, I had my husband call and ask if they'd take
$75 cash - total. The shop owner said the consignee would go down to $65 for the
desk, but that the delivery people still charged $25. 
I told Hubby fine; I really wanted that desk.
We went into the store and there was now a price tag on it of only $55!
We pointed it out to the shop owner and she said she had to honor that price
(you betcha, tootsie!)

 I was all set to hand over $80 but when she wrote up the bill of sale,
she wrote up the desk for $50!
Sooo...I ended up paying only $75 total.
Win!

The cats love to perch on the desk and look out the back window.
Should be interesting when I actually start using the desk.


Here's how the room is looking now.
I'm still hunting for:
  • A round rug
  • Blinds (maybe Roman shades?) 
  • Curtains if not using Roman shades


 I also need to start hanging things on the walls - artwork and shelves -
but that will come in good time.

 

Saturday, June 2, 2012

the new painted (but bare) walls

We are finally done cleaning and moving the furniture back into place.
 I decided since we're starting over, why not rearrange things?
Keep in mind ~ these rooms are not nearly finished yet.
I didn't even want to post the pictures because the rooms aren't pretty!

First up is the living room. (Hello, Zippo in the window!)
 The wall color is Cafe Latte from Glidden.
(Note: Some of my paint colors are from Glidden or Martha Stewart Living,
 but I chose Behr brand when I got the paint.)
Instead of having the large sofa on an angle facing the fireplace like it used to be,
I placed it against the long living room wall.
Where the wicker chair is (temporarily), there will be a slipper chair.
I'm still hunting for just the right one. I had a deep red club chair in the living room,
but I moved it into the guest room for now. It took up too much room
in the tiny living room.
Shopping for new curtains, too.


The green pillows on the couch will probably go and I think eventually, 
I will get a new rug. This one's a little dark, especially for the warmer months.
I have no idea what I'm going to hang on the wall above the sofa.


The fireplace wall is now Toasted Oatmeal (Glidden).


The kitchen wall color didn't change much - just a "duskier" shade of blue.
It's called Faded Ink (Martha Stewart Living).
Like the large living room wall, I'm overwhelmed by this large kitchen wall.
One day, we're going to have a big square shape cut out of the wall - like a
pass-through window to the living room - but for now, I gotta decorate it.
I have a collection of hand-painted blue, cream, and brown plates
from Mexico with birds on them, plus a collection of blue and white plates.
I'm thinking of doing some kind of plate collage on this wall.
(That's Clementine under the table.)

 
I could get as complex as this:
(from casasugar.com)


Or do a more traditional arrangement like this:
(From addicted2decorating.com)

Decorative plate wall with blue and green plates, from the 2011 Princess Margaret Showhouse


Anyhoo...I've managed to hang one picture in the kitchen on another
kitchen wall. It used to be on the other side of the china cabinet.


Egads, I hate to even show you this photo of the main bath because
it's still ugly. We have picked out a new light fixture, a new toilet,
and porcelain tile for the floor, but we're still waiting on the contractor to write 
up an estimate to install everything. I found the black framed mirror at
HomeGoods in the clearance section (yay!) but we're not hanging it up
until the new light fixture is installed. I'm also shopping for 3 white floating 
shelves for the wall space above the toilet. (IKEA, here I come!)
I forgot the name of this paint color and I can't find the paint chip.
I was going for more of a classic gray, but it turned out to be a gray 
that has blue undertones.


I did find a really cool, colorful towel for this bath at HomeGoods though!


On to the master bedroom. Again, a photo I don't like showing because this
room needs to be totally redone. We've been trying to get rid of the elephant in the
room (AKA, the headboard) but no one wants it! It's a solid oak monstrosity.
It's beautiful - especially at night when you can turn the light on that's underneath 
the top portion and the whole headboard lights up - but it's just way too big for 
our small bedroom. Shopping for new drapes for this room, too.
There's outdated carpeting which will eventually be replaced with hardwood floors.
Paint color on the walls is Heavenly Blue (Martha Stewart Living).
Oh ~ and please ignore the ugly fan by the window. I obviously didn't stage this photo!


The hallway color is the same as the living room color, though it's hard
to tell in this photo. I LOVE my red accent wall!
Glad I took the risk on this one. A dark red is very hard to get just right.
The painter told me it took eight coats of paint!
The color is Red Delicious by Glidden.
Looking for a gold sunburst mirror for this red wall.


Then on to the guest room/office. Another color I am really liking.
This one's Frosted Lemon by Behr.
Miss Clementine had to get into this picture, too. She was following me all around
the house when I took these photos.
As you can see, these windows still need blinds AND curtains.
Lots of work to be done!
Did find a desk today though - an older white, distressed one. It'll be delivered
tomorrow and will go underneath the window to the right.


The only room I didn't show you was the master bath and that's because
it's a rather boring color ~ just a cream (Pip by Martha Stewart Living).
 Since the master bedroom is a bolder shade of blue, I thought it'd be
best for the bathroom wall color to be subdued. And when I saw the name of
the color, I knew it was the right one...my oldest son, Philip who passed away
2+ years ago...my nickname for him was Pip.


Friday, May 25, 2012

making a little bit of progress in the house

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. This first floor re-do in my house was a lot more
 complicated than I ever imagined. To be practically living in the basement amongst all
the stuff from the first floor thrown everywhere was chaotic and nerve-wracking.

But...the painting is done and now the clean-up (oy!) and putting-the-house-back-together
has begun. There was plaster dust everywhere. I have vacuumed the whole house ~
including floors, window sills, inside cabinets, you name it.
Today I am washing the floors in the living room, kitchen, and hallway.
I just finished moving living room furniture around (Superwoman!) and
decided that the red sofa chair we have in there is simply too large
for this small room. So, I'm taking off to Home Goods to look for a slipper chair
and a bathroom mirror.

In the meantime...

There was one day last week when the contractors were at my house and I was tired
of hiding out in the basement. I had taken a couple of vacation days to stay home and
keep an eye on things. Besides, I would've never found my work clothes, shoes, or purse!
So, I headed out for a long walk in one of my favorite places: the State Park.

It was so cool to walk along this boardwalk through the marshy field...


There were beautiful flowers everywhere...




And Sandhill Cranes...




I hope to be back soon with pictures of my "new" rooms!


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

before: let the destruction begin!

 Thanks for all your kind comments on my last post.
My life has been pretty darn stressful lately.
Someone had asked if I'd ever had panic attacks before. There's no definite answer for that question.
Several years ago, I started experiencing what I thought were panic attacks
but after describing what happened to my doctor, she was perplexed.
I had a ton of tests, including a brain MRI, an EEG, an EKG, and blood work.
Everything came back normal.
Anyway, this anxiety or panic attack that happened last week at work was
indeed a true panic attack, from what I've heard from others who have had them
and from what I've read.

Sooo...just to add to my stress level a little bit, we decided to have the ENTIRE  house painted!
It started out with just having the main hallway bathroom painted and the painter
 that we hired said that he could do every room in the house in a week
 and that his prices were really low.
After giving us a price - including refinishing all the oak cabinets in the kitchen, we said,
"Go for it!"
Nuts, I tell ya.

It gets even better. The painter called us Tuesday night and said he could start today - Wednesday morning. We had absolutely nothing prepared! Nothing taken off walls, no furniture moved, no supplies bought. Hubby and I worked like whirling dervishes - with a little help from our son - 
and moved most stuff downstairs into the basement. And then hubby had to run to Home Depot at the last minute.
We didn't get much sleep and were up at 6:00 for the painters.

 Here's what we're living in and with for a week:

The living room...





The hallway...

Guest room/office...

Master bedroom not prepped yet, but a lot of stuff from the closet thrown onto the bed...

Master bath...

Hall bath...

 One of the kitchen walls...


The basement piled with stuff from upstairs - we look like hoarders!

*sob*

 Oh, so there's where some of my clothes are!

 Needless to say, I took a vacation day from work today and tomorrow. I don't work Fridays,
Saturdays, or Mondays, so those days are covered. (And the painters don't work on
Sunday.) As for next Tuesday and Wednesday, well, I guess my son will have to
hold down the fort.

I know it'll be a challenge to put everything away and back into place once the painting is
done, but the part I'm looking forward to is re-decorating.
Hubby just shakes his head. ;-)

Friday, May 11, 2012

flowers and sunshine are good therapy


 I had a really bad day at work yesterday.
I suffer from anxiety, so I need my life to be as peaceful as possible.
Of course, some of that is beyond my control.
I work in a high-stress office and yesterday was just totally insane.
By 2:00, I finally snapped. I had to get out of there.
I got up from my desk and walked out of the building.
I could feel the hot tears spring to my eyes as soon as I got outside.
Then, I started having what I guess was a panic attack. My heart was pounding,
my hands were shaking and then went numb, and my head would spin
 if I tried to stand up. I tried breathing techniques that I've learned in yoga,
but it didn't really help. I couldn't go back into my office because I was afraid it'd make my
panic worse. But yet, the fact that no one was coming outside
to look for me also freaked me out.
  My supervisor, who is also one of my best friends,finally came outside and said,
 "Oh, there you are! Are you OK?" 
To make a long story short, she went back in the office and got my stuff so I could leave.
She walked me to my car and made sure I was OK to drive.
I made it home, got into bed, and slept until 7 PM! I was actually able to go to bed for the night
at 10:30 PM and slept all the way through until 7 AM.

I don't work outside the home on Fridays (one little blessing is that I only work PT),
plus today was in the 70's and sunny - perfect! This May weather here in northern IL
has been so iffy lately, that I haven't even been able to plant flowers yet.
Today was the perfect day to head up to Home Depot and buy some blooming beauties.


I love fuschias ~ I buy them every year.

This welcome planter is actually leftover from Christmas. 
It was filled with evergreens and holly when we bought it.
I picked out these flowers because I liked how they hang out of the basket,
but after planting them in this planter, I realize I need something tall to fill the
space between the basket and the welcome sign. Hmm....

I ADORE daisies!

These little petunias will look so much better when they fill out in this
vintage iron pot.

I know geraniums are a popular flower, but I've never seen ones with a 
trailing vine like this. Maybe the vines are a different plant?
All it said was "geraniums" on the plant marker.


 It felt so good to be working outdoors, feeling the warmth of the sun on
my skin and the breeze gently blowing some of my stress away...



Monday, May 7, 2012

milwaukee public market

I love spending time with my family and discovering new places...


Good question! 
This was the first time any of us had been to the Milwaukee Public Market...


My adventure crew...Aunt Suzie, hubby Brian, and Mom...


Tons of spices to choose from...


And wine...yes, please!


We had a wonderful lunch from The Green Kitchen.
I had herbed egg salad on multi-grain bread.


After we walked around the market and bought some food items,
we headed outside for a walk through the downtown area.
These girls certainly were having a good time!


Spied an Anthropologie store and exclaimed, "I have to go in there!"
I love looking around in this store, but I didn't buy a thing.
Talk about over-priced! And all the clothing items I looked at were made in China or Vietnam.
Same with the jewelry and most of the dishware.
Walking around the store, we realized that people get caught up in the atmosphere
and design of the store. These designers know exactly what they're doing.
It's all about marketing, folks. Didn't fool us one bit though. 
My mom did find a packet of cookbook bookmarks for a good price,
and knowing I use little Post-It flags in my cookbooks, she bought these pretty
bookmarks to save for my birthday in August. I pretended I didn't see her buying them. ;-)


You'd have to know us ~ we are Goodwill shoppers. (Not Anthro!)
We thrive on finding designer clothes, purses, and home decor
at bargain prices. So when we spied a Retique store (a really cool Goodwill boutique),
we just had to go shopping in there. Aunt Suzie and I found some clothing items,
but not my little mommy. Isn't she so cute and tiny for age almost-72?
Oh, she's going to kill me if she ever reads this, lol.


So, tell me...when was the last time YOU did anything for the first time?