Random Musings

I was having a fairly good day at work today and then come home to find:

Fail

Fail

Fail

I am sure you are just dying for background stories on all of these problems. 

I may have mentioned a time or two that our walls are not typical. In any way. Hell, our entire house is atypical. Our walls are not drywall or plaster, they are some kind of mortar/concrete concoction, not unlike the ceiling in the basement.

 So it's next to impossible to hang anything. I thought, since they have gotten such rave reviews, I would try the 3M picture hanging strips. They worked great for about 3 weeks, then BAM! 

Luckily, the laundry basket had not been returned to it's usual home on the other side of the room. It may be a cheapy $3 frame, but if one breaks, I'll have to replace all three (so they match, yeah I'm OCD like that).

I had just come to the conclusion that, despite my bad luck with sticky hangers, I would go ahead and try them in the dining room, since they were working so well in the bedroom. Ha! It's a good thing this is as far as I had gotten in the DR.

Somehow this picture is upside down.

And as you can see, it wasn't going well. Alas, sticky hangers are not for me. Back to the Hammerdrill. Fun, Fun. Mr. remarked "Pictures are not meant to be stuck to the walls, that's what nails are for". I shouldn't expect anything more from the man who makes his own damn tools when he can't find one that is sufficient.

As for the plant, I mentioned a couple weeks ago that the leaves on my plant were turning funny colors. A few people mentioned it may need fresh air and sunlight, so I took it outside onto the covered front porch. Apparently there was no coming back from whatever devastation I had wreaked on my poor tree thingie and it has since died a horrible and tragic death. Weird. There were no webs, no bugs, no anything strange to have caused it just keel over and die in a matter of about 14 days.

And the weird spotty picture of our floor? We are having our house painted(!) next week and the painter came today to powerwash and prepare. There is no weatherstripping at the bottom of our door and he must have washed the front door. Luckily it came right up with my Bona hardwood floor cleaner mop, because I don't think it would be possible to refinish and color match just a chunk of our strange colored floors. 

I will be back tomorrow with some before shots of the house and some inspiration pics for the look we are shooting for.

Where Do You Blog? Par-tay!

I don't have a special place to blog. At the rate I'm going my office/crafty/sewing space is going to be the last space in our house to get organized and prettified. For now, I usually just hang out in our bedroom.

Which is still no where near finished. I matted and framed the prints for over the bed, but I am hesitant to hang them until I have both nightstands in place. In our house it's not as simple as popping a little nail in the wall and calling it done.
I found lamps at TJ Maxx that I love, but I hesitated and now they're gone. I also found a pair of brass lamps a few weeks ago in Ste. Genevieve for cheap that could be painted ala Sara and Jen and the whole blogging universe, but for some reason I didn't buy those either.... Ah, indecision...

I am joining in the Where Do You Blog? Party at Centsational Girl.

Monkey Love

"what?"

Give and Get is Here!

Give and Get is Here!: "Enjoy 30% off from August 26-29 at Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy and we'll donate 5% of what you spend to a non-profit."

Dining Chair Redo: Intro

I mentioned a DR table a while back that the Mr. found on the side of the road.

We had/have a plan to stain the top and pedestal ebony and paint the apron white. Then we were going to collect mismatched chairs to complement it. Our inspiration was the kitchen "set" from the Friends t.v. show, only a bit less country-ish. I want to paint all the chairs white and upholster them all the same to create cohesion, like this or this, but I can't find a fabric I want to settle on!

Here's the chair Before shot:

And here are some shots of the DR to give you an idea of... I don't know; what I've got going on so far? The furniture? The layout? Yeah, I guess. The wall paint is Behr Pale Moon, the tie-ups are a pale off-white or "natural" tone, and the china cabinet is BM White Dove.

There will eventually be drapes in the windows; whenever the Mr. finishes the rod brackets and I, guess what? PICK A FABRIC!

Imagine an external curtain rod over the stairwell and a shelf like this over the little dresser.

I would like to do a plate wall between the kitchen and the door, if I can find some plate hangers that don't make me ill from their hideousness. They all have a plastic coating over the gripper feet and you can see into the end of the tube! Ick. I'm sure people aren't going to be staring at my plate hangers, but still... I know they exist because I ordered a plate from Etsy and the girl sent it with a hanger that looked comparatively nice. The sticky hangers won't work. We have stuccoed walls and don't forget this incident... I am not risking heirloom china by sticking it to the wall, that's just asking for trouble!

Anyway, back to the fabric. HELP! Please. I like fade-ey tones like dusty aqua, peony-ish pink, apple green; nothing too crazy or over the top; crazy patterns make me nervous, but a maybe a simple one (just two or three colors) for EITHER the windows or the chairs might be nice. I thought about ticking for the chairs, but white and navy won't work for me. Do they make fun colored ticking now? I really, REALLY like everything going on in Ashley's house; the colors, the antiques, the funawesomelightheartedness of every room. I also like the colors and designs Nester comes up with. Basically simple, but with lots of personality. It can be done, but apparently not by me...

So.... any ideas? Please?

Monkey Love

Jungle Dog

 

This is my parents backyard... Crazy. It needs to be pruned something awful, but Dozer had fun. He's mean to other boy dogs so poor Louie had to stay in the house while we were there.

I know... so sad, right? Ha.

DIY: Silverleaf Cherub

Yup. I decided to silver leaf him.

BEFORE

AFTER

I used the exact method and supplies I used for the T.V. frame. I never would have thought to make him silver, but Sara mentioned it and I realized what a great idea it was! Thanks Sara!

In other news, the plant in my dining room is turning icky colors and the leaves are falling off at an alarming rate.

Any idea what could be wrong with it? The soil was dry, so it's not overwatered, but I just watered it Saturday, so it's not underwatered... Fertilizer maybe? I've had it since last September (I think) and I've never fertilized it, do house plants need fertilizer?