TV Room

OMG.  

I didn't realize I've been gone since February until my pal, Thirks,  let me know.   **Hi Thirks!**

What have you all been up to?  Livin' life?  

Me too.

Oh, and I'm on Pinterest alot.  Pinning things I should really be doing in real life, but I can't because I'm spending too much time Pinning.  You know how it goes, right?  It's a vicious cycle, is it not?

So, one thing I have been working on is Noodle's old bedroom.  It was (and still kind of is) a mess, but I will show you where I am right now.

But first, a little background: When we moved Noodle to her new room, I had planned on making her old room into my office and store some of her old toys in here for the little kiddos that come to visit occasionally.  So I got to work painting the woodwork and walls in the spring.  It went from Hot Mess to Cold,Unused Office: 

It looks better, right?  Please say yes.

Well, turns out, we don't use the office.
Like, at ALL.

And when One has a small house, One shouldn't have rooms that aren't in use, don't you agree?

One night, Zuddy came home from work after a long, hard day (He works at least 10-12 hours a day) and Noodle and her friend were camped in our small living room watching TV and gossiping and texting and Kik-ing and Instagram-ing and Snapchat-ing and all of those things that teenagers do on their iPhones. 

So Zuddy went upstairs to our bedroom to sit in the quiet.

I had been brainstorming about how to use the office and finally landed on using it as a small TV room.  I thought this was the perfect time to pitch my idea to Zuddy and you know what?

He totally went for it!

So now we've finished the closet.  It will be used to house all of our office stuff like files, the printer and laptop, games and movies for the new room.  

Wanna see it?  I think it's my favorite thing so far in this entire house.

Here is the before...do you remember how we ripped out the ugly closet system and "cedar paneling"?  When we took the paneling out, it took some plaster with it: 

 
Not good.

So, Zuddy put up some beadboard and we installed an elfa closet system from The Container Store.  So far, it's been life-changing.  There is more shelving in this teeny-tiny closet than I know what to do with!  See?

Now we have room for the vacuum cleaner and for visitors' coats.

My next task is to clean out the rest of the furniture and put it to use in the rest of the house.  The desk will be our new dining room table.

So that's where we are right now.  I will let you know my plans.  I'd like to do a little mood board for this room, even though I'm terrible at them :)

What have you been up to?

Noodle

My Poor baby.  

Noodle was really sick for about three days.  She couldn't even keep water down and was getting very thin - even after such a short time of being sick.

I know I don't talk about her much these days, but she is a downright joy to parent. She has the best sense of humor.  She gets decent grades. She picks really nice friends. She's responsible.  I actually think I like this stage of her life the best so far.  I think say that at every stage because it just keeps getting better. Except when she was an infant.  As much as I love babies, Noodle was not an easy baby. 

Anyway, this entry is just for me to look back on someday.  You can stop reading my brag-fest right now :)

So, Noodle was very sick for a few days.  On day three I quietly entered her bedroom to check on her and I knew right away she was better.  She was awake and gave me a weak smile.  I told her how glad I was that she was feeling better and how worried I was about her as I snuggled her and kissed her forehead.

Then she started licking her palms ala Ferris Bueller.  

The little booger.

Living Tiny.

 There is something seriously wrong with me.  Here I sit, with an unexpected day off. I have big plans to wash the floors in my cute little cottage and all I can do is scour Pinterest for photos and links of tiny houses.

I am totally obsessed.

I don't know if Zuddy even realizes the level of my obsession, as I try not to show him everything I pin. I mean, we have talked about a cute little cottage plunked in the middle of the woods and I show him a few photos, which he seems to enjoy. But if saw how much time I spend on this, it may worry him.  

So I will show you, internets :)

Here are some of my faves: 


The mac-daddy.  My dream cottage by Kanga Cottages:

Here is an Airstream makeover found on the Houzz website:

Can you imagine?

Here's a version of a Tumbleweed Cottage customized by a woman in Arkansas ...she has a blog with a tour of this perfect little gem.  Her builder made changes to the original floor plan.  Beautiful!

Okay....now I can go and finish my floors.

Do you like tiny houses?

Update

Dudes.

I can't believe it's been so dang long since I updated this poor blog.

Here's the story:  I've been working 2 jobs and it has been KILLING me.  For 15 weeks I had a food project and was working my part time job as well, and my schedule was nuts and all screwed up and Dammit!  I was tired!

Also, I've decided to go back to school.  For computer-y stuff.  I've visited a local college and I just applied last night!

My recipe work has been dwindling over the years and now I'm ready for a change.  As much as I love to cook, doing it for a living has kind of wrecked it as a hobby for me.  Plus, Noodle is older and I feel like I can go back to work full time now.  And?  Teenagers want stuff.  Like iPhones. And Uggs.  And spending money.  Little money pits, that's what they are.

And you know what else?  I'm sick of not having extra money to throw at all of these house projects!!

So. You may not see any more house projects happening around here for a while....though I'm for sure going to keep plugging along at painting the woodwork and the rest of the house.

Now, the bathroom update:

I have actually taken some photos, but all we have for a camera is the iPad, and for some reason, I can't send photos from the iPad to my computer. When I do, the computer turns its nose up at the photos and won't read them.  Weird.

So, here's the shower curtain scoop:  I bought that one from Pottery Barn, remember it?

via Pottery Barn

 Yeah, that's the one!

Well, I hung it up for a while and decided I didn't like it.  There was just too much white.  Plus?  It looked kinda cheap. 

So I gave it to a friend and made my way to Target and bought this one instead:

via Target

Much better!  The quality of the fabric is really nice......much better than I expected, actually.  And it goes great with fluffy white towels and the navy blue vanity.

The vanity?  LOVE IT.  It's the very best Navy blue!  I tried to cut some corners and get the knobs at World market, but they just lacked some details that made them look kind of cheap.  I still need to return them and go to Anthropologie to buy the other ones.

One more thing.  The new fixtures I got from Pottery Barn.  Zuddy put the TP holder up and it's a bust, so far.  Remember what I went with?

via Pottery Barn

 It's not working very well.  I don't know how to explain it, but right now it's hanging with the arm facing down. Zuddy thinks he can rig something up, but I don't want to put the towel bars up until we are sure his little fix works.  Plus?  One of the shower bars was BENT when it came to me.  I don't want to bother returning it and getting a new one until I know if Zuddy's fix will work. 

So, other than the fixtures and the cabinet knobs, it's pretty much done.  I will have to borrow a camera to show you how it looks.

So...that's it until I find a camera to use!  Thanks for prompting me to get this post up, Linda and Thirks! 

Update

Hale Navy

No.

Midnight Blue

Yes!

 I brought the Hale Navy home and I knew it would be too light.

So I asked Noodle what she thought and she agreed: we needed to go darker.

 I've got the first coat of Midnight Blue on the vanity and I think I LOVE IT!!!! 

Also, painting the medicine cabinet white has almost made the lightbulbs recede and become less noticeable.

Now I'm starting to rethink my shower curtain choice.  I wonder if white is a bad choice...will I have to wash Zuddy's filthy filthy man paw prints off of it all of the time?

Will it bug me?

Should I go for something like this instead?

pottery barn

The shower curtain I have now is kind of loud, so I'm ready for a change and didn't really want to go with a print.  

What do you think? 

Bathroom Plans

Yep... I'm going to ALMOST finish the bathroom this week.  Well, most of the painting, that is.  The vanity and the mirror will be done.

But the door.  Oh, the door.

I mean, who really wants to take the bathroom door off?  It's just so...ewwww.  Bathrooms need a door.  It's just how it is, you know?  I have a curtain I can put up with a tension rod.....but, I've been really avoiding this.  PLUS, the door needs to be sanded.  Outside.  And we are getting another snowstorm overnight, so outdoor sanding may not be happening anytime soon.  I'll talk to the Zudster and see how he feels about sanding a door today.  I'm thinking since it's his only day off he'll nix it.

Anyhoo.....I will be priming tomorrow and Tuesday and then Wednesday I will pick up a quart of paint.  I still haven't decided yet.  I've been looking at peacock blue, but I can't seem to find one that floats my boat, man.  So I'm going to pick up a sample of Hale Navy (Benjamin Moore) and see if that's the color I want:

Here are a couple of photos I found on Google of things and rooms painted Hale Navy:

via Amy's Casablanca

via Apartment Therapy

via Houzz.com

Here's the blind I will get:

via Lowes

 And the shower curtain:

via Pottery Barn

Also, I need new knobs and other bathroom hardware.  Here are some examples of things I like:

 

knobs from Anthropologie

via Pottery Barn

Here's a reminder of how the room looks right now:

Boy, I sure wish we could replace that medicine cabinet, but we're afraid it would open a can of worms that we want to stay closed :) I'm hoping painting it will take away from some of it's "eightiness".....kind of high hopes, but hopefully, it will do for now.

The wall color will be Valspar's Sesame, just like the hallway and all of the woodwork will be painted Swiss Coffee by Behr: 

Here's something else I'd like to mention:  Who cares about home rehab when little kids are in pain?  Please go to Sarah's blog and send little Molly some love.  My heart is breaking for her.  She is a beautiful, strong little girl who is enduring way too much right now.  I'm praying for her speedy recovery from her pain and some much needed relief.

Shades

Aaaahhhhh.  There's nothing like Sunday nights....watching Downton and blogging :)  Are you watching Downton Abbey?

Okay, so I haven't been able to work on the bathroom....but here's a photo of the shades I bought from Lowe's for the kitchen:

  

I know the photo kind of blows, but I had to take it with the Noodle's phone.

One thing I should have mentioned: the width is customizable, but the length is not.  Well, I should say: Lowe's won't alter the length for you, but it's easy to do yourself!  I did it under the watchful eye of my Mom, and if I can do it, so can you!  Maybe I'll do a little tutorial when I buy the shade for the bathroom.  All you need is a scissors, some Gorilla Glue and a couple of little clamps.

Anyway, I really like these shades.  I'm probably going to get some for other rooms in the house. I got a them with a liner, but you can get them with or without one.

Have a great week!  I'm working a lot these days (a good thing!), but I need to get my act together because I need to get going on my garden planning and winter seed sowing!