Someone, Please Pinch Me!

Prepared to be Wowed!  FawnDear finally completed another milestone in my De-hoarding.  The Dining room is DONE!!!  Happy Dance.  I know it seems like forever since I’ve last shared a completed room in my recovery from hoarding.  Honestly it’s because our family has stretched out to be working on 4-5 rooms at the same time.  But we are progressing.

Because it’s taken just that long, let me remind you of the abysmal state of the dining room last November.

Every surface so cluttered you could barely see the table from the front room.

So sit back and relax, this is a long, picture heavy post.

Remember how I de-cluttered in time for Thanksgiving.  Switched the wall that the China Cabinet went on… with reservations.  Ms. Passion told me to trust her and I did.  Now I’m so glad that I listened.  Are you ready???

 

From that to this…

And yes, it is the same house.  It’s amazing what a lot of hard work can do.  I know blue might not be most people’s first choice of color, but it’s mine.  I need the calm it brings.

Many thanks to my big boys for wielding the poles of paint rollers.  Painting cathedral ceilings are not fun.

So the Tall Wall went from this mayhem of mess…

To this…

Say it with me, ‘Ahhhhhh.  So refreshing, Yes?’  Ms. Passion helped me find my voice and style.  It’s been there all along.  I love antique linens and the color blue.  The wall however we painted a Mt. Rainier Grey (True Value), but it looks blue all the same.

The large framed doily was made by my talented Mom.  It had been sitting in a drawer because I was too afraid of my kids damaging it.  But I’ve pulled out the best linen’s.  I’m going to live in my Dream home today and not wait for a someday home that may never happen.  In the Movie ‘Knight and Day’ the comment is made about Someday being the code word for Never.  That struck a nerve with me.  So I’m redefining my Dreams.  My Someday is Today.

 

In deciding on an arrangement of plates, Ms. Passion and myself tried out several different configurations on the floor.

Then, when we finally settled on the one we liked the best we laid it out on the back side of some old wrapping paper I had stashed away in my closet. 

You mark where the plates are positioned by outlining them on the paper.  Then tape the paper to your wall, adjust the height if necessary.   Then without removing the paper, add your nails, or whatever means you decided to use, to hang your art.  Then once they are all in place, slowly tear away the paper.  Ms. Passion and my neighbor Ethel kindly helped with this part.

It’s the easiest way, I believe to hang a collage, and make sure you get  the positioning you want, right the first time.

I wanted more doily art but until my mom sends me more (hint, hint), or better yet until she comes to visit and can teach me how to do them, I settled for filling a couple of my frames with $1 store doilies.  I took a frame and  lined it with blue material from a thrift store T-shirt dress that I found that matched (nearly exactly) my accent wall. I folded the material over the cardboard that came with the frame and taped it onto the back side.   On the large doily display I actually laid the material on a piece of cardboard that had been treated with a spray adhesive.  Trying to insure that the weight of the crochet wouldn’t cause the knit material to sag.  It turned out beautiful.

I used an acid-free glue stick in a couple of places on the back of the doilies to have them stick better to the knit material background.  I also tried to do something a bit different and cut the $1 store crocheted find in pieces.  Yes, I hacked up a doily.  So one doily was used in two different frames.

And the all the coordinating dishes I’ve found over the past few months (super cheap) at the Thrift store or the local antique mall.  It required a lot of patience and multiple trips.

My favorite one, the top platter, I did get on EBay.  I love that it’s of Washington Crossing the Delaware.  And another plate pays homage to my pioneer heritage.  Go Wagon Train!

I love my new Stitch and Dish Wall.

“Each decision we make becomes a stitch in the pattern of our life.”  ~My Mom

Okay, onto another dreadful before view.  Here’s another Clutter War Zone before photo.

 

And here’s the after.

This wall run’s the length of my dining room/family room and is a much darker blue.  ‘Blue Dusk’ from True Value, is the name of this paint.  It isn’t too overwhelming because the huge China Cabinet helps break up the color nicely.  You’ll have to wait to see what it amazingly does to my front room.

Notice how my huge sagging rectangle table is gone.  We replaced it with a Thrift Store treasure.  Ms. Passion found me this solid wood, Diamond-In-The-Rough, oval table, with two inserts, last October for just $43.  But it needed a lot of help.  Stripping the stain and varnish, then sanding, and re-staining to match the dining room chairs and finally applying nearly 6 coats of varnish.  Yes, my kids are that tough on tables.

We decided that the new oval shape would help simplify the room.  Not only is it simple and beautiful, but it’s shape actually gives us more room in which to move around.  And we didn’t lose any seating.

Once again T-rev and Abner were major Elbow-Grease contributors.

Sanding the little crevices are not too much fun.  Special thanks to my little Dremel tool for getting all the nooks and crannies for me.

I also went the extra step and recovered the Dining room tables chairs.  Good-bye brown.

Hello Beautiful.

Love it.

We also, took down the bronze colored ceiling fan and replaced it with a craigslist find.  I nearly jumped for joy when I found this on Craigslist, as it matches (style- wise) a smaller one that I found for the entry way. 

However the old brass didn’t really fit the new rooms color scheme. So, I taped up the candle sticks and pulled out the metal friendly Spray Paint.

I did spray a Primer on first, then followed that up with a couple coats of Silver. 

Now it fit’s the room perfectly.

I also made my first ever woodworking project. I love doing FawnDear firsts.  This first was attempting wood cornices to go over the windows.

The molding was a little tricky, so I must say thank you to whomever invented Wood Putty, sanding and a couple coats of good thick paint to hide my little flaws.

Oh, and another kudos to Prince Erik for mounting the heavy sucker’s on the wall.  Thanks Stud for being such a Stud Finder.  I ended up making a total of three box Cornices in total for the two rooms.

It took me a couple of months to find the curtain material.  But I finally went with a Waverly Toile Print from JoAnn’s.  Home Decorating Fabric can be a jaw dropper at times, but I made sure to only buy it after it reached the 50% off.  I then scored with another 20% off total purchase coupon so ended up getting nearly 70% off regular price.  The lining for the curtains was… can you guess??? Thrifted White flat sheets.  The rods… cheapo Electrical Pipe from Home Depot hung on Closet Rod Holders.  I punched grommets through the top of my curtain material and hung them on the pipe with shower curtain hooks.  So they slide open and shut so easily.  And you would never know about the unconventional assembly because it’s hidden up in the cornice.

 

The white cornice box was beautiful, but adding a stripe of my accent ‘Blue Dusk’ really made the molding stand out. 

Not only am I decorating with colors I love but I’m adding more of me.

The yellow roses remind me of the wild yellow rose bush that flanked the small walkway to the farmhouse I grew up in.

And if you look closely… you might spy something magical.

My wee little friends have picked little play spots all over the room.

The wire bird cages I found super cheap at the local antique mall.  I did spray them with an heirloom white to match.

And they provide even more play space for my pixie and wee feathered friends.

My whole starting point for this room lies with the china that my Grandmother gave me when I got married.

My fairies have their own personality.  Some are more shy and only peak out at you if you’re very patient.

Others dance in the open, loving the spotlight of my mix & match china.

It feels so good to finally express me, in the decorating of my home.  I know it might not be what is most current in the design world, but it’s calming,peaceful, magical and downright perfect for me.  For the first time in my married life I finally feel like this is my home.

Surrounded with items reminding me of my contributing heritage…

As well as my love of Imagination.

There you have it.  My new dining room.  The bonus is our family has had dinner at this table every night for the past two weeks and ‘Glory Be’ we are keeping it this nice all the time.  I’m not even tempted to bring clutter in this magical space.  Thank you Ms. Passion.  You are my Angel.

And the Monkey Threw a Greasy Wrench…

My Doctor told me to slack off the Home Improvement yesterday.  At least that’s what he said…

What I heard was that I have to wear these little pretties while working around the house.

Stupid Monkey and his wrench.  Do you like the paint speckles I’ve contributed to the hideous bondage device?  I might paint them lavender and sprinkle glitter all over them. Maybe even add a lace trim.  Hummm… turn them into Fairy Godmother secret compartment gloves…you can never tell what I might add that will stick to all the Velcro... and my mind wanders… must be all the paint fumes.

So this whole de-hoarding, home improvement journey might take a little longer than originally planned.  I’m not quitting, I just have to take the home improvements slower and make sure I back off if what-ever it is I’m doing aggravates the tingles.

The Stupid Monkey wrench… Possible Carpal-tunnel something nonsense.  All I know is that my fingers are numb during the day, and often my wrists are in pain (the kind that can wake you up at un-heavenly hours), especially at night.

Last night after I spread the joyful news, that my hands might need to back off some of the intensity of our home redo, the boys stepped up big time.  Their task was to prime something previously crusty and old in the kitchen.  And I’m so itching to show you how amazing it’s looking already.

I’ll have to post the whole kitchen process when it’s finished.  But it involved a lot of heave-ho and out-you-go, to stuff we never use.  Lot’s of cleaning, sanding washing, priming, painting, etc.  It’s like the kitchen vomited out of itself and into the dining room and family room.  So I’m extra motivated to hurry and get the painting process done so that we can reclaim the rooms it overflowed into.

Here’s an ugly glimpse at the messy in-between phase.  You know the phase where we pull everything out of the cabinets and you hear exclamations like…

‘Wow, I never knew food could grow that much hair,’ or…

‘It expired in 2006?  Are you kidding me?’  No officer, I’m not trying to poison my family.  The expired food was buried so far back in the cupboard there was no way possible for some starving child to find it.

‘And what does this contraption do?…  Honey, which infomercial did you buy this hunk of junk from?’

‘Really, darling, over forty knives – Five of which were, exactly the same, for cutting bread.’  Apparently, I’m not the only hoarder in the family.  Prince Erik hoards knives.

‘Are those shriveled raisins under the stove???  or…. No… don’t taste them… I really think they are dung from the attack of the R.O.U.S’s (monster rodents) that we fought off two years ago.’  Plenty of shudder’s emanated from all of us on the discovery of an old rodent’s nest under the stove. 

‘I never knew the bottom of that cooking oil shelf was painted yellow?… oh, you say, it wasn’t…  What? it’s really old layers of balsamic vinegar mixed with drops of every oil known to man.’  Quick open a can of elbow grease – see if that will help dilute the hazy layer of muck.

 

Am I making you sick yet?  If so, don’t say anything, just congratulate me for not being in denial anymore, and more importantly, for doing something about it.

To be fair the bottom of this shelf was well above eye level and had I any idea of how nasty it had gotten I would have tackled it um, Years a long time ago.

Have you lost your appetite yet?  Decided that this blog is too much of a biohazard of mental proportions to risk ever visiting again…  Suddenly overwhelmed by the the urge to go clean a shelf… Well if one or more of these thoughts have crossed your brain – welcome to my MIND.

Stick around the Makeover is amazing.  Want a little proof.  Look at one of the project’s I redid last week.

From Blah Brown… to Beautiful Blue  (Looks 100 times better in person.)

See how I did this by clicking Here.  So monkey, take that wrench and do what you will, but beware, you’ll not slow me down.

Dust Doilies and Do Not’s.

The Dust Bunnies are having a holiday around our house.  It’s still snowing remodeling dust in a consistent manner.  Nearly every day, I could probably pull up doilies and still have a decorative design left behind.

My lesson this week - When you try and cut corners it will come back to bite you in the who-ha!  There are no short-cuts in quality home improvement. I’m learning this the hard way.  So my advice to you is to read the instructions – Twice.  Oh, and then follow them.  Precisely!!! Don’t skip steps. 

So I laid out this beautiful tile floor a week ago, and on Tuesday I grouted it.  Wow it was looking nice.  I sponge washed it off, just like they said, but I didn’t dry rub off the hazy glaze left on the tile right away, like they recommended.    Big mistake. – Huge mistake.  I did cover it with plastic and occasionally spray it with water (part of curing the grout), thinking I could wipe up the haze later.  Last night I took off the plastic and was preparing to wipe the floor and then seal the grout.  But the darn glaze wouldn’t come off.  See the streaks?

So with some wonderful helpers, (Prince Erik, Grandma, T-rev, Abner and myself) we had to put in some really good elbow grease time.  Maybe a combined 8 hours of scrubbing that tile hard enough to remove the glaze.  I’m thinking if I ever had to get fingerprinted, they’d have a hard time seeing anything other than smooth.  So FINALLY – Today, I was ready to seal the deal, or the grout.

It’s finally done and it only took us 16 days from start to finish.  Probably 3 of those days were muscling up the mistakes.  My wise bro-in-law pointed out that the good thing was that we aren’t likely to ever make the same mistakes again.  Next time I’m removing the glaze – dry rub style right away.  The other good thing is – I can actually see my arm muscles.  Wa-ho!  I’m going to be a buff dudette when this is all said and done.  And sixteen days later I have a kitchen floor.

From This sliver-full, redneck, uneven, stained plywood floor (which we’ve seen for the last three years)…

To This (A real honest-to-goodness, professional looking) Kitchen Floor…

 

Makes every hammered thumb, chemical thin-set rash worth it.  Oh yes, another rule I should have followed – wear gloves while mixing and spreading thin-set.  It burns the skin.  Another reason why I don’t have fingerprints anymore.

Right before the floor was sealed T-rev was walking across it with a jug of concentrated juice.  I warned him not to spill it or it might stain the new floor.

‘I know mom, and if I stained the floor, you’d kill me,’  T-rev moaned.

‘Nope, because then I’d have to deal with blood stains.’  I replied. 

He smiled and said, ‘Good one, mom.’

It was a tough week, the washing machine died and spewed it’s guts all over the laundry room floor.  Abner kindly took this mountain of unpleasant smells to the Laundry-mat for me.

The furnace died too, on the day of the snowstorm.  Maybe all the dust burnt out it’s igniter.

What is it with my appliances?  Luckily, Prince Erik fixed the furnace, and we bought a reconditioned washer, with a warranty, from a little small-pop appliance store.  It’s worked like a miracle for the last two days.  In the past, two bumps in a road like that would have totally sent me to the fridge for some comfort food, or some escape-from-reality movie.  But I’m doing so well at not letting the hiccups slow my progress.  It feels good to power through.  And the rewards, well, look at how huge of an accomplishment the kitchen floor is.   Wowser!  Things like this make the speed bumps insignificant.

The best part of the week was Pompa and Grandma came for a visit and didn’t whine about the construction mess.  Oh, and Lea and Prince Erik both celebrated birthdays.  So time marches on.

I am overwhelmed at how much harder this transformation process really is compared to what I thought it would be.  It’s physically, and emotionally grueling.  TV shows make it look like one hard week or two of work and snap a beautifully Done project.  Today is my four month mark.  Nine truck loads to the dump, and the truck is filling up with number ten as I type.  The thrift store calls on a weekly basis to see if I’ve more to donate.  It’s exhausting, but so rewarding!  Never in a million years could I have realized just how hard it is to de-hoard.  But I’m so determined to see this through.  Even though I’ve still got mountains of clutter in maybe 5 more rooms, I know I’m past the half-way mark.  That light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter every day.

So dust bunnies – enjoy the construction snow while it lasts because winter is almost over and I’m nearly ready to sweep you out of the house once and for all.