Old-to-New Dining Room Set

Dear Deni,

We had such a lovely time at your house last month.  Inspiring, even.  After drooling over all the beautiful, creative things you have done with your home (I remember it from way back when, you know), I have felt inspired to make some changes around here.

First, the dining room.  Our table and chairs needed a serious facelift.

Taking your lead, we decided to freshen-up what we already had.  So we disregarded all child labor laws and put the kids to work.

We also purchase an inordinate number of cans of spray paint.  And Sean rose to the finger-numbing challenge of covering every last inch of faux 70’s wood with sleek black paint.

We ate on a modified dining room table that night.

And Sean braved four more hours of painting in the dark of night.

I love how glossy it all looked under those super-bright lights.

The fabric took a week to arrive, and then it took me another week to find the time to finish the project.

I was urged along by the fact that the seat cushions were not screwed onto the chairs and therefore kept sliding off when people wiggled in their seats (much to the dismay of Alyx and Anna in particular).

Sean spent his lunch hour helping me recover the seats and securing them to the chair frames.

And viola, we had a new dining room.  And as much as I wanted that set in the Pottery Barn catalog, I’m glad we didn’t have to refinance the house to get “new” dining room furniture.

Deni, you also inspired me to finish these little blocks I’ve had sitting in the studio for a year.

Aren’t they cute?

So, my dear friend, know that by just being your creative, industrious self you have improved our life.  You have made it lovelier and a little more fulfilling.  And now, when I think of a project, and that it might be too challenging for my tastes, I think, “What would Deni do?”  And then I do it.

Gratefully yours,

MyLiege

In a Nutshell

I would love to post some big long posts with lots of pictures and intelligent thoughts. That is not a possibility. So this is what you all get: some one-liners on what's been swimming around my brain these past few weeks.

:: We watched Stand and Deliver in honor of Mr. Escalanta's death last week - man, we lead an easy life.

:: Fevers and fevers and fevers, oh my!

:: I have consumed more Advil over the past three weeks than I have over my entire life combined - times ten - I jest not.

:: I can feel the control I used to wield every day evaporating from my life - I think I like it better this way.

:: General Conference was AMAZING - virtually every talk was written just for me.

:: We bought a wii - finally - and borrowed a separate TV to hook it up to. I am desperately praying we will not regret the decision (we have not had a television for over 10 years - this is uncharted territory).

:: A daily shower is priceless.

:: Any daddy who gets up with his baby in the middle of the night so his wife can sleep is a saint - Sean, you have a very shiny halo.

:: I realized I am not going to get any decent pictures of my spring blooms because I am too tired to go outside and snap the shots - and I really don't care - there's always next year.

:: Disneyland is only a year and half away - yea!!!!

:: I LOVE having four kids - life is seriously good.

:: My baby is so very scrumptious!

In Progress: Sleeping

As we all know, babies spend most of the first three months of their lives asleep. I have been working here and there (not as steadily as I would like) on Alyxandria's quilt and some sheets for her first bed. I finished the quilt top last week (now it just has to be quilted), and I whipped up her first of two sheets this afternoon (must always have a change of sheets for babies).

I am so in love with this fabric! I want to buy a whole bolt and make bedding and curtains and dresses and skirts and capris and all kinds of other adorable things for my girls! I LOVE it!!

Sean set up the port-a-crib last night in our room. All of a sudden things are starting to feel very real and very soon. I can't help thinking of all the things I want to do or have done before the baby arrives; raised beds to put in, spring jammies made for the boys, books read, sheets made, crib set up, kids' bedrooms completely reorganized, Alyx's quilt finished, Montessori work areas set up for Anna in the living room, drapes hemmed, a floral photo collage on the landing, pictures hung, boxes sorted, flower seeds sown, etc., etc., etc. I know it is completely normal and natural to "nest" at this point. The challenge for me is trying to enjoy this preparation stage, instead of allowing myself to be stressed-out by it. Sean keeps telling me to breathe. The only problem with that is there is this baby in my stomach that is completely compressing my lungs. ;>

Carpet - At Last!

We actually experienced the scene above three times before it was all said and done.

Carpet layers at work.

Isn't it pretty? ;>

And the loveliest sight of all - carpet in place of tack strips!!! Yea!!

The Long of It

First off, these image may make a person want to either wretch or cry, or both. Consider yourself warned. (Maybe I'm not ready to write this post just yet . . . ) But the story must be told. I am putting my happy face on.

The image you see above was discovered in the boys' room on Friday night after pulling up their carpet in anticipation of the carpet install that was not. Our contractor stopped by on Saturday to take a preliminary look and began work on Monday morning. As he pulled off board after board of siding the dry rot continued down the wall. It actually looked pretty good in the middle, but he wanted to make sure the nightmare actually had an ending point (I'm still not convinced we have reached that mystical point). At the bottom of the wall his hand went straight through the plywood and we discovered a rotted out support beam that was holding up my boys' bedroom. This was a bad thing. It required jacking up the house. Very nerve-racking.

We also discovered this lovely nest of mold (shown below) that is currently attached to the sheetrock in my living room (we have not begun the removal of this exciting piece just yet). I finally asked my contractor how many thousands of dollars it was costing me every time he talked to me. He just laughed and said: "Oh, it's not thousands, just hundreds." Is that supposed to make me feel better?

By Monday night all of the dry rot was replaced and Sean only had one teeny section of carpet left to remove from our closet before the scheduled carpet install on Tuesday morning. So, at about 9:30pm Sean bravely pulled up the carpet and found this:

Oh, yes, there was more of that nasty stuff. Our contractor was coming back the next day to finish up the siding. We figured we would just have him deal with the dry rot first.

So, Tuesday morning arrives. The long-awaited day, and "what to our wondering eyes should appear?" but carpet that falls apart in the carpet layers hands. Yes, you read right. The brand-new carpet - straight from the factory - disintegrated in the carpet layers hands as he was double checking the color with Sean. Admittedly, this was the lowest point in the whole ordeal. My house was torn apart, mattresses overflowing in the living room, a house full of tack strips, and the prospect of another two weeks without carpet. Bad day.

We cancelled our order with Home Depot and found a nice local carpet company in town. We found carpet that we liked much better and just swallowed hard when we looked at the price tag, but said yes. (The tremendous amount of frustration that had accompanied us by this point made money seem like a very irrelevant thing.) Sean rolled the old carpets back out, moved all the mattresses back into make-shift bedrooms and we sat tight for two more weeks. Aside from the general mess of it all, the only dangerous part was traversing the stairs that were covered in tack strips. It was rather nerve-racking. It is all over now, though (except for the mold in the wall in the living room, and a number of plumbing problems), and we are all grateful to have something so luxuriously soft and beautiful underfoot. As soon as my camera battery recharges I will post pictures. Happy, happy day.

One Day More

It could make a person cry. Looking at the present state of my house. A state that we have been living in for two solid weeks.

I can't believe I have been smiling through most of it. In a little over 24 hours my house will be put back together and I will have a new lease on life.

I'm sure I will cry tomorrow. Hopefully I won't blubber all over the carpet layers in effusions of joy and gratitude. If I have any dignity at all I will go hide in my closet, lie down on my new carpet, and cry there. Oh, happy day!

Next post: images that are not for the weak of stomach. I'm just warning you . . .

The Short of It

We are in the middle of a three thousand dollar house project (budgeted and planned for) that has rapidly more than doubled (and I fear is near tripling) that price. Yippee for dry-rot. Yippee for more dry-rot. Yippee for contractors (actually, we really love our contractor). Yippee for brand-new carpet that falls apart in your hands. Yippee for delay after delay. Yippee for holes in the walls. Yippee for having to repaint the exterior of our home. Yippee for sleeping in the living room. Yippee having one more week to go (praying like crazy it is JUST one more week). Yippee to be eight months pregnant through all of this.

Actually the good part is the computer is in the living room - the same room as the couch. I sat on the couch and watched two whole movies today. Pure indulgence. (We do not have a television. Movie viewing via computer is our sole form or digital-visual entertainment.) Really I am okay. I just lack the sense of humor to post actual pictures and go into the details of this whole mess. Maybe later . . . after my movie is over. ;>

Before and After: Studio

We spent New Year's weekend in a very noisy mess of hammers and fancy nail guns and air compressors. It was a crazy, fun, wild ride, and I am delighted to be on the other side of it all this evening. The above room became my studio in earnest around the first of October. Halloween costumes had to be made and I needed a space to create three of them simultaneously. It was functional, but not ideal. I found it rather ugly and, so, did not take any pictures of it (a nasty habit of mine when it comes to before-and-after posts). Last Saturday Sean and I trotted off to Home Depot to take our first step towards making this room a beautiful creative space.

Upon removing the carpet we found press board. It all had to be ripped out and replaced with plywood. Sean painted for two evenings in the meantime. On Thursday the new plywood was nailed down and Sean and his dad spent an hour-and-a-half figuring out just the right patterning for the bamboo flooring (complete with computer renderings (oh, I love that man!)).

On Friday Sean's dad (yes, two whole days in a row, bless his heart) and my parents joined the party. It was ridiculously noisy. I tried to stay downstairs, away from the all the ear-blasting bangs and pops. By about seven o'clock that night we all sat down to ice cream sundaes and then sent everybody home, sore and exhausted.

Today was the fun stuff - the icing on the cake. Sean, Djeryd and I got to put it all together. It took us all day, but at a nice leisurely pace. Djeryd was a huge help. I am so pleased with the results. I know I still have a few days, if not weeks, of organizing all the junk that doesn't have a home yet. And there is still a work table to be constructed to give my new stools a home (not to mention all my paper-crafting supplies). Thanks go out to my parents and in-laws (Carol, thank you for loaning me your husband for two days), my kiddos, and of course my darling, wonderful husband who pushed ahead through every obstacle with a glowing smile on his face and reassuring words on his lips.

For kicks, Sean wanted me to include my original conceptual drawings. I still need an ironing cupboard you see, and the drapes need to be made, but I think it's a pretty incredible match - all things considered.

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!!

Before and After: Master Suite

I think we spent a total of one week sleeping in this room when we first moved in. I know for a fact that the color was a dream come true for the previous residents of this room. However, it was not my dream come true. It actually made me want to avoid my new bedroom - at all costs.

Two summers ago, while Sean was at Scout Camp, I spent an entire week repainting and redecorating our bedroom. It was gorgeous! And Sean loved it. So it only made sense that when we moved into this house last spring, that we would replicate the color and design elements of our beloved master suite. The bedroom was painted within a week (Devine Toile - if you're interested), with the help of my sister and her daughters, but the bathroom remained a hideous (again, just not my taste) aqua. Until a few days ago.

My sweet, sweet husband painted our bathroom and we got all the hardware changed out and pictures hung and the cabinet from the powder room bolted into the wall. The Master Bathroom is so beautiful now (the powder room is, too). We are so happy with how it all turned out. I love paint!

A Return to Domestic Bliss

No pictures today; just happy, sweet feelings. It has been literally months since I have actually enjoyed cleaning my house, or thrown my creativity into making a meal. Morning Sickness seems to have officially departed (although I admittedly slept for two hours in the middle of the morning today). The curse seems to have finally lifted. I am delighting in washing windows, dusting and vacuuming. I'm back to adapting recipes to make them even more scrumptious than the original. I am enjoying making after-school snacks for my little ones. And Anna and I are getting out for a daily errand (just to get out of the house and into some fresh air). Life is good. Life is wonderful. And I can't stop smiling. Yippee for the second trimester!

Before and After: the Entry

Remember this?

And don't you love this?

Ta-dah!

My front entry is finally finished! Yea!

(Sorry the pictures are so stragely oreiented - the area in which to take photograph is very narrow and long - kind of tricky for anything panoramic. I think I need a bigger house.) ;>

Blessings

This is my 100th post. As such, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate the blessings in my life. Also, since I have been a little grumpy about moving lately, and since all the papers are signed and all the money is redistributed and there is no longer anything I can do about it anyway, I thought it would be good to turn over a new leaf of "happy attitude" about our new home and life. So, here goes - my blessings:

:: room for a decent duel
:: room for the kids to have all of their toys out at once, and yet I never have to see them

:: this little boy - all of my kids have a miracle story of coming to our family, but this one . . . yeah
:: my fabulous camera - it was worth every penny (and especially the warranty)

:: living so close to so many play spaces that I can take my kids and all their cousins to fun places at will - no seatbelts required
:: the dear friends we have already made here - thank you for taking us ice blocking, and bringing us goodies, and just including us