Week 34 Project

In the last post I promised more creativity. Here ya go!

90% of people enter my house through the back door. There is a small landing and you either go up to my kitchen or down to my basement. I've been wanting to jazz it up for years, really welcome people into my home... warn them about what they are about to get into. For the longest time I thought I was going to paint black and white horizontal stripes. My kitchen is black and white and I thought it would be a good transition. I must have thought about it for too long because I eventually got bored of the idea.

Well, I saw this wall over on Suzanne's blog and immediately loved it! I had, black, white, yellow and grey paint. I went out in search of a purple to match the Stag's head painting I already had in the hallway and just choose an orange to round out the group. Tapping the horizontal walls took the longest.

For whatever reason I choose to start this project the same week I began loosing the eyesight in my left eye. (I've got optic neuritis. I can basically only discern light and movement in that eye at the moment.We don't know what caused it. I'm still seeing doctors. I'm getting by, but I gotta tell ya make-up application has been a b!&%h) So anyway, that made attempting plumb lines on a staircase quite the adventure. My balance is a bit off, so I had my dad help with tapping the most precarious edges.

Once the lines were up the fun began! Painting "random" patterns took a lot of planning. Ha! My bother is an entire foot taller than me. So he was recruited to paint the top bit behind the painting. I promised him it would take 10mins. But then he walked in the door and suggested a color change (He was totally right!) He had to stay for about an hour putting on three coats of that purple. I love the way it turned out!

Back Staircase Paint Project, Done!

Weel 33 Project

I'm a little embarrassed that I'm still working on last year's year long resolution, but I'm gonna power through this and own it. I will finish. Si Puedo! In my defense, the last three months have been fairly crazy. I quite my job the same week this happened in my basement. 

Yeah, that is about four inches of water. It was the fourth of July weekend. So, everything was closed and everybody was flooded, pun intended, with calls from distressed homeowners like myself. My ever resourceful mother figure out a pump rental situation and I had four family members over at my house within hours making quick work of it. Then the bulldozer came and I became the proud new owner of a very expensive dirt pile, which covers the new main sewer line that had to be put in under my front porch.  See how much fun I've been having! Needless to say inspiration has not been forthcoming. However,  it was really great to work on my tan this summer!

So this" week's" project was simple, cheep and not very creative. After spending all that time outside looking at my lovely new dirt pile, I noticed my four year old railing needed some sprucing up. Enter a can of spray rustoleum.

Railing spruce-up, Done.


More creativity to come, I promise.

Week 28 Project

Dining room wall before:

Dining room wall after:

Its really hard to take a pic of a gallery wall without glare...

 

Looks like you get a glimpse of the Christmas decor too!

I've been looking at "gallery walls" for months and months.

My wall needed more.

 

I had the basic idea before but it just wasn't substantial enough for the size of the wall. I also have been in the mood to simplify. I know, kind of opposing ideas, but hear me out.
I have picture frames of friends and family all over the house. I have a hard time once I decided a picture is frame worthy, to ever switch out the picture. And so the frames just kept adding up and spreading throughout the house. There was a picture frame on every surface in the house. It was like a scavenger hunt. Your eye never had anywhere to rest. Soooo, I wrangled them all up and filled out that wall. I used some art too, just to make it more eclectic. (Which is one of my favorite things and words. My high school portfolio was even titled The Eclectic Ladybug) I think it fills the wall nicely. I also like that it "simplifies" the rest of the house; no longer is the rest of the house hoarding picture frames. Now just this one wall gets to hoard!

Gallery Wall Done.

Home Reno

When my grandmother passed away, I bought the family home. It was built by her in-laws in 1930 and has always been in the family. There is actually a street in my town named after our family. There is a lot of history with this house.

 This is the cousins on my front porch this past Easter. There are actually 8 more cousins. There are 3 great grand-babies in the pic and two more that are missing. If you're counting, that's 18 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.Oh yeah, and miscellaneous spouses. My grandparents raised 8 children in this house, look what they left behind. 
 
This post isn't really about a weekly craft, I'm just showing off my home improvements. It's taken me just over two years, but with a little lotto money I could probably finish off what I wanna do. Maybe I should start playing the lotto.

I've tried to update the house without loosing too much of its 1930s character. There are great wide mop boards around the base of all the floors, arches between the rooms and wonderful old wood windows. I totally need new energy efficient windows, but need cash.  

Here's the family room before.


One day I went downstairs to get the vacuum and then decided I didn't want to vacuum anymore. So I went upstairs and ripped up the carpet. Totally normal rational decision.  I had no idea what was underneath, but was hopping for the same wood that's in the bedrooms. I was in luck! The floor still needs to be refinished, but I love it. I painted the walls and frosted the bottom of the front window, although that's hard to see in this pic.

This is the old view from the living room looking into the dining room and kitchen.
I don't have a the same "after" view.







The dinning room got a new light fixture, new paint and some swapped out and new furniture.

Kitchen before...

The kitchen was repainted.
I made the curtains and inserts for the cupboard doors.
My dad helped me put up the shelf for the microwave, again to add to the counter space.
I added a tin (plastic) backslash.
I hung, amateur style, the light above the sink.
I have more I want to do... black and white floor, new cabinetry, sink, facet, counter top... I really need to buy that lotto ticket.

The table and chairs were removed, since the dinning room table and chairs are just a few feet away. The island was a nice expansion of the very limited counter space. I have no idea how Grandma spent all those years bent over the table cooking for 10.

My absolute favorite reno has been the bathroom.
Tiny sink, light fixture with pull-cord overheard that I could only reach on tiptoe (which was also where the only outlet was located), not so cute pink and blue tile, no shower (just a tub)...












My dad and I put up the new bead-board.
my friend Dave came and put in the new light fixture, which was actually a fixture made for a ceiling, but I got creative. He also added a light switch at a normal level and a new outlet.
I found the sink on the floor at my local home improvement store. It had just been used in a home and garden show and I got it for a steal. Always ask and then ask for a discount.

I lost some storage space putting in the pedestal sink, but my dad and I added a cut-out in the wall behind the door.( I picture of that at a later time. Also one of the shower. So glad to have a shower!)
I made the curtain.Yep, I made that.Oh yeah, I also replaced the mirror in the medicine cabinet. I couldn't find a single new medicine cabinet I liked, so I just spruced up the one I had.
I was so glad to be able to save the old hex tile floor.




I'll probably do another post on the rest of the rooms, but just took some updated photos and wanted to share.

Thanks for letting me brag!

Headquarters

I had originally taken this photo to show everyone the space where all my creative energy would be spent. My mental gym if you will. I staged it. I made sure everything looked nice, the chair was just so, the stripes on my wall were at a nice angle. I wanted to show off the stripes. They took me three weekends and I'm very proud. My house is 80 some years old and the walls are plaster and faaaaarrrr from plumb. Getting those lines that straight took a lot of taping and re-taping

I had just gotten the desk. It's been in my parents bedroom for many years and my mom was kind of done with it. It was the desk my dad's great grandfather's used when he first opened his law practice. It has a huge flat working surface and really long drawers. I love it.

Let's be honest. Here's how the room normally looks....

  

Watching that show Hoarders, gives me panic attacks. I like to think I'm pretty anti-clutter and while it's organized, my growing fabric collection is starting to worry me.