20 Weeks

Painting Fun (not really)

I'm not the biggest fan of painting, but I do it because I'm the only one who will. Unless it's rolling. Matt will randomly appear on occasion to roll the walls. I managed to get one major wall, and two mini walls painted in the bathroom and I have to say: I love the color!

What do you think? I'm in love! This is a bit lighter than in real life. My human eye sees a color that is a bit more teal. I blame the CFL bulbs.

 Clearly the white temporary curtain I made will not be staying. It makes everything ugly. Good job making things gross, white curtain. Although, I do appreciate you not letting people look into the bathroom. Here's what I'm thinking to replace it with: A bamboo shade. Pretty no? Ignore the bad photoshop job.

That dark brown color is what I want to stain the mirrors and vanity as well. And no worries, that wooden dowel, shower curtain rod will not be staying. I want to get a crome colored one that is curved for a little extra elbow room in the shower. Did I say that already? Probably. I repeat myself a lot lately.

Our beautiful nasty-gross hotel room in Texas had a curved curtain rod and I loved it. Seriously, that was the only good thing about the room. The brown water when I turned on the shower at first was probably the worst part. Ew. Anyway, what do you think so far? Please ignore the ugly floor. Eventually it will go. For now it stays. That's what rugs are for right? Right?!

Bathroom Progress

Well, I managed to prime everything again! What a pain. *Sigh* But Matt isn't following through with caulking the rest of the bathroom. Boo! Good thing he isn't on call anymore so he has no excuse not to finish up tonight! This means I'm behind my timeline (surprise, surprise), but not by too much!

In the mean time I managed to paint some of the trim (like five percent of it) just to see if I liked it. And I do! I am in love with it! It's called Shooting Star by Olympic.  It's got a bluish tint to it, so it will complement the bathroom well. We got it in a semi-gloss and low VOC. I also tested the blue paint I got for the rest of the walls. I'm in love with that, too! It's called Alpine Valley (also Olympic), and we got that in satin, no VOC.

I bought the blue paint months ago so it needed to be stirred up again!

Avalyn decided to help. This meant pull all the towels out of the closet onto the floor, put on her cowgirl hat and boots, and "paint" the wall.

I didn't realize my shadow was in the picture, but can you see the difference between the new paint on the trim and the old paint above? Like? I do!

And here it is with the blue above it. Yey! I can't wait for this to be done!

The best part about this project is: I can do whatever I want! We rented for so long so deciding what paint to use without asking permission is amazing. It's also nice to know that once I paint I will be around to enjoy it! Believe me, I will enjoy it. 

It's amazing how many rooms in this house are blue. Keith chose dark blue, Avalyn's room is blue, I'm painting our bedroom blue next week, and the bathroom is blue. I never knew I liked it so much! Anyone else crazy for blue without realizing it? 

Double Jogging Stroller!

Remember when I found the jogging stroller for Avalyn back in 2009? It was about two weeks after I found out I was pregnant. I jumped the gun and bought it because it was on craigslist for $20 and it was right around the corner. Score!

Here it is (look how tiny she was!). It's nothing special but it got the job done! We aren't fancy so the stroller doesn't need to be.

Well, the new one isn't fancy either. But look at the listing!  How could I say no?

It's down in my Mom and Dad's neck of the woods. So, my mom is going to pick it up for me. Isn't she awesome? I told the seller I'd buy it sight unseen, not sure if that's wise but I'm in need of something.

Yes, it's pink. Yes I'm aware I'm having a boy. This is just the beginning of a long line of pink this little guy will be sitting in. Think swing, bouncy seat, activity center... ;) Doubt baby's care much. As long as they're loved and cared for that's all that matters. Besides, before WWII pink was a boy color. He's being named after my great grandfather and he was from before that time, I'm just bringing the trend back with the name. Hehe!

Also, speaking of the difference between boys and girls, Avalyn's baby mullet went bye-bye. And contrary to Matt's belief, trimming her hair did not make her look like a boy. Though the bow and pink nails help. ;) She wanted "pretty pink color" on her fingers.

Anyone else find an awesome deal on craigslist recently? I love that site!

I screwed up

Remember the bathroom project I've blogged about once and then ignored? Yeah, I sort of forgot, too. It's time to get back to work on that sucka!

In case you forgot, here are the before shots:

 And here is the shower curtain that is my inspiration. Note: I got this from Bed Bath and Beyond. Matt and I went there again tonight and saw a "bed in a bag" set that looked just like it. Then there was another in purple called "Gwen" how funny is that? Only funny to me? Okay.

Here it is now. After my screw up. *Sign*

 Matt and I got the chair rail and wood up, and I primed everything, but there is a GIANT mistake. See it?

 Let me give you a closer look...

Yeah, totally messed up the caulking job. It was something that Matt was supposed to do, but after four months of waiting for him to do it, I gave it a shot. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea!

Well, this meant going to Lowe's and getting some caulk remover (we bought no VOC stuff that is considered a green product so it wouldn't harm our little Grasshopper - I still ventilated the crap out of that room, though), and we got some mineral spirits (shuddering at the bad memories of working in a screen print shop) to clean up some paint on the floor.

While I fixed my mistake, Matt got to caulking what he could. He did the chair rail I missed, the door frame and the lattice (which we bought to make a board and batten look). This is how it's supposed to look when it's caulked. Nice right? Should have just waited. Oy.

 It took about an hour to scrape up the caulk mess but look what I'm left with.

 Here's a closer look. Yep... I've got to re-prime everything. Boo!

 And the caulk remover pealed up a few old layers of paint (looks like the bathroom was green (or similar) at some point. So, after a few hours I added some Spackle to even her back out. Nice look, huh?

Tomorrow I'll have to sand everything down again and prime it. Probably while Avalyn naps. Wednesday I'll do the first coat of white on the board and batten and trim. If I can I will do the second coat Thursday. Friday I will paint the walls. Saturday and Sunday will be my back up days if I can't get to work on any other day. Then I will be done for a little while! Yey!

Here's what I'd like it to look like when we're done. It's not well photoshopped, but hopefully it will give you an idea. Eventually we'll tile the floor, but the linoleum will be fine for now.

As you can see, I will have to stain the mirror frames and the vanity but that will have to wait until the baby is older. I don't think staining while pregnant is allowed. The artwork is a cute little cow print I found at Amazon. I love it. Not sure if its really bathroom art, but what is? Drawings of toilets? No thanks. Oh, and the shelf is from Pottery Barn, but I will probably just make something. I only used it because the picture was the right angle for me to photoshop in!

So, here's the to do list:
- Sand and Prime everything (again)
- Paint the board and batten
- Paint the walls
- Make/buy a shelf
- Find artwork for the walls
- Get a new shower curtain rod (preferably a nickle one that is curved so we have more arm room in there)
- Make a new curtain (seriously the one we have up belonged to the old owners, it was from Keith's room)
- Buy new shower/tub fixtures (ours suck)
- Stain the woodwork a darker color
- Tile the floor
- Buy a new vanity top (that one is for Matt. He hates the cream colored one that's there now - I don't mind it but hey, why not?)

So, that's it! Anyone else mess up a project that set them back A LOT? I hope it isn't just me, not that I'm wishing for this to happen to anyone else... *Sigh* Back to work!

Playing outside

It was beautiful here today! 40+ degrees and sunny. I'm putting that in the win column. So the kids and I went outside to play.

Here's my lovely daughter.

 Trying to get both kids to pose is always a nightmare. But, this actually turned out great. It really shows their personalities to a "T." Keith looks playfully annoyed, accepting his fate as big brother, Avalyn, meanwhile, screams at the snow on Keith's boot and smacks it away from him in pure toddler form.

 Look how nicely they play together when they think I'm not looking. Keith was showing Avalyn how to build a snowman.

 Avalyn tried to go down the slide and got stuck. That snow is held on by ice. After I broke it up she shot down it like a rocket.

 Keith's snowman.

 Avalyn started taking all of the snowballs off of the poor guy and this is Keith trying to negotiate with her (good luck buddy) to get them back.

 This is such a lucky shot. I love Keith's eyes here. And yes, Avalyn totally got him with the snowball.

 I distracted Avalyn from Keith's snowman by building her a snow-toddler. Something she can destroy so Keith's hard work stays in tact.

 She threw snow at it and it bounced back and hit her in the face. Don't worry, she laughed it off... then she proceeded to beat the crap out of the thing. She's so sweet...

Did anyone else have beautiful "play outside" weather today? I love days like this!

Master Bedroom Mood Board

I'm not very good at these, but with Matt's bonus around the corner I'm thinking a change is in order. I already have the paint, and most furnishings. I just need to get off my bum and get things done! Matt is even on board with my choices. How odd because he hates green... better not ask too many questions!

Can you see my vision? I hope so, I didn't leave a lot to the imagination.

The dresser is close to what we have now. I couldn't find a picture online since I bought the thing seven years ago at Art Van. But the color and mirror are right, so this picture is serving it's purpose.

The ceiling fan right now is brass with faux wood blades. I found an awesome tutorial through Pinterest on how to paint a ceiling fan, so I'm going to give that a shot. The faux wood will stay the same but the brass will become an iron color (the hardware on my dresser is iron as well).

Next, I plan on painting my wall lamps (also bronze). I'll do those in an iron color as well. Probably at the same time as the fan... heck, I'll probably do the ceiling fan in the living room then, too. Kill four birds with one stone. Woot!

That brings me to what I'll have to purchase. First on the list is a headboard and bed frame. Right now our mattress is on the floor. Classy huh? I found a bed frame on overstock.com for $79.99, but I hope to find one used somewhere cheaper.

Speaking of overstock.com, that's where I found the headboard I like! It's composite with MDF so I might have to build something like it because $175.05 seems like a lot for a fake wood headboard. Hmm... Maybe I'll just forgo the bed frame and headboard purchase and make something instead. Ana White has a great plan on her site for a King Size Storage Bed. Maybe if we alter the plans and make the bed a bit longer we can add a bookshelf headboard. I like that idea. My guess is we'll spend the same amount for a better quality bed we'll enjoy more. Keep looking at the headboard in the picture above, though, because I really like that look!

The bedding is what I'm most excited about. Matt actually liked it. He hates green! I found it at Bed Bath and Beyond on clearance for $89.99. I would love to get it before it's gone but I don't think it's in our budget right now. Darn!

Those brown pillows are on clearance there, too, for $23.99. I love them! They are floor pillows, so I'm thinking we can make a bench for the end of the bed to store sheets and things and those pillows can be the cushions.

I will either make the nightstands and paint them green, or I will search second hand shops, garage sales, and craigslist for something. Either way, I'm not buying new! Nightstands are expensive!

The curtains pictured are from The Land of Nod and are a whopping $39.99 per panel. Yikes! Clearly I'll be looking for something different. My guess is the fabric store will have a similar fabric I can work with. I've gotten pretty good at making curtains so that's no biggy. Bet I can make four panels for $39.99 or less. Dare me?

Do you see the weird pattern behind the curtains in the picture? I'm going to buy some black out shades (love those things) and paint them. They're awesome but super ugly so I decided to beautify those babies by painting them. I'll let you know how it goes!

Finally the carpet. Right now it's a dark green color. Not exactly what I want. It will cost us around $350 to recarpet the bedroom in a more neutral tone. Keith's was done this summer for that amount, including install, so I plan on using the same carpet (it's so soft) in a different color for our room. Here's what it would look like with the current carpet. Yuck, huh?

Ahh much better! Carpet really does make the man... er master.

I can't wait to get started on it. I seem to be starting upstairs and working my way down. Probably because the farther down the stairs I go the more expensive the design ideas get! I'm estimating this to cost us around $1,000, but I don't plan on doing everything at once. This idea is much brighter than I'm used to but it seems relaxing at the same time. What do you think? Too much, too little, or just right?