Old Spice

Who doesn't love the Old Spice commercials?




Well, Zuddy found Grover trying his hand at it:

Nurseries

My dear friend Michelle is having a baby girl, so of course I needed to research nurseries!  I went to Rate My Space and found all of these cuties.

I mean, who doesn't love a nursery?








I love the crib here.  I want Michelle to do a gold or silver crib.  Because, appearantly, her nursery should be all about me.

 




Michelle wants pink, black and white.  I think pale pink walls would look great in here.

 



Again.  Palest of pink walls would look great here.  And all white bedding with a silver crib.

 




I just think this is dreamy.  I love the green ceiling.

 



The pictures are fun here!




I love the contrast of the wall color and the curtain color here.





I know this is a boys room, but I love it.



House Tour For Amy

Amy?  Why did you go back to work??  Huh?  We could be spending some quality time together this week!

Here's a house tour for my girl, Amy. 

Well?  Actually it's for me.  Because I'm not sure what kind of house Amy actually wants to see, but this one is a little dream house.  It's just perfect in so many ways.  It's totally updated and perfectly decorated.

The thing that's not perfect?

The price.  Ummmm....hello?  Recession?  Yeah.  We're in one.  We can't afford your $400k cottage!!!



Okay, I just went to the real estate website and found out they dropped the price to 389k. Still...can I get a ka-ching?
It's got 3 bedrooms and 2 3/4 bathrooms and almost 2400 square feet of living space



Here's the living room.  It's 17x13.  The fireplace is gas.  I may or may not have stalked this house in person to find this out.



Dining room.  It's 12x12.  Yummy.



Hello, perfect little kitchen (16x8)!  I love your bump-out in the back!  So smart!  I want to copy you!



The main floor bath.



The attic master bedroom (29x13)



The Master bathroom

The basement family room (23x13) and then you can see the office to the left (11x10)



The basement bathroom.

 I love this little house.  The layout is exactly like ours, but a little larger.  It's in a pretty good location and there's a small grocery store 5 or 6 blocks away.

Do you like it?

How To Wash Windows

I've been washing windows this week.  I love washing windows - I kid you not.  I think it makes the whole house look cleaner.

I used to hate it, though.  That was before I acquired one of these little sweeties:

Do you have one of these?  If not, you should get one (or two).  I have a large one (maybe 12 inches) and a smaller, 7 or 8-inch one. 

Here's what I use when I wash:

• A bucket filled with hot water (about 1 gallon) and vinegar (a 'glug' or more precisely, about 1/4 cup) and a drop or two of dish soap.
• A bunch of microfiber cloths - one to get wet and scrub the windows, the others to wipe off the squeegee and the perimeter of the window after squeegeeing the window.
• Preferably a cloudy day...if you wash during a sunny day, the dirty water starts to dry on the window, causing streaks.  The squeegee really helps this not to happen, though.

That's it! 

Do you ever use a squeegee when you wash windows?

Here's a link to Family Handyman Magazine's window washing instructions...it makes me realize that I probably need to change the blade on my baby squeegee.

Gallery Wall, part 2

Here it is...I had to wait until dark to take the photo or else I get more light than my camera can handle!

See those silver platters?  I got them from my Mom.  That crazy kook had them sitting in a closet!  Alone!  Unattended!  Mwwwaaaaha-ha-ha-haaaaa!!!  

They were begging to be slapped with one of these:

Have you ever used these before? 

I tried to find a plate hanger at Michaels, but there wasn't anything to hold platters as big as my 2 silver foxes.  I know we've all seen these disc hangers advertised on blogs, so I bought a couple. 

They're awesome and inexpensive and the website can help you determine what size disc you need for the item you're hanging.  My platters are heavy, so I got the largest discs.

So, does the wall look okay?

Front Door

Another thing I've done......painted the front door. 

It was a creamy color, just like the body color of the house:

 Now?  Well?  It's not:

And me no likey.
I wanted something that was unexpected - in a good way.

 But, ummmm....me no likey.  I think I need to start by painting that little bit of brown trim around the door opening and make it the creamy color of the exterior.

Help me. 

Suggestions?

Gallery Wall

So, now that I have the power to download my photos from our cruddy little point and shoot camera, I realize there have been a few things I haven't blogged about.

Probably because..... who cares, right?

Right. 

Well, anyway.  Here are the 'befores' of the gallery wall I did behind the sofa.  I started out with the two black and white prints with the navy matting (they're the ones hanging on the wall).  I got them from my friend Kirsten.  I still really like them, but that wall needed a little something more dramatic.

So I went around the house and gathered all of the art I had. Almost all of it is hand-me-down......much of it from Kirsten.

Anyway, I stacked it against the sofa to get an overall feeling of how it would look:

 
Did you know most of what I own is a hand-me-down?  It's true.  Sad, but true.



Anyway, I selected the pieces I was going to use and then I layed them on the floor to mock up an arrangement:

Then I traced the pictures on some art paper that I borrowed from the Noodle and taped everything on  the wall.

Then?
I stacked up the pictures all over the house and left them there for months and months until I got tired of moving them around when I had to clean.

Then?
I washed my slipcover.  And decided the window treatments needed to be raised:

Then?
I waited another month or two before I asked Zuddy to help me hang everything. 

And then?
I never took a photo.

And I will do it tomorrow after I'm finished washing windows :)