My Mind Palace

Hey! Remember when I said that I was hoping to finish my spare room soon? No? That's because it was like 2 years ago. (Whoops!)

It's still not done completely, but I really love this room. It is my little escape where I go to write or read or simply escape. We jokingly started referring to it as my Mind Palace (Sherlockians will get it) and it has somewhat stuck though I still call it the spare room on most occasions.

I decided that since we never had visitors, there was no need to get a futon as previously planned and got a comfy accent chair instead so I have set up the nice little reading nook for myself.

That's my writing idea jar, because I have a habit of coming up with new ideas before I finish current projects... you'll note there are already papers in there.

Since I had a reading nook here, I figured I should have my books here too so I moved most of them into this room.

I printed off some artwork but there is still some shelf space that needs occupied. I also want to get my writing area more organized, but at least I found a tissue box that even matched (why yes, I am a lunatic. Thanks for asking).

And since every room in our house is pretty small (this one is 11'x10'), I have my make up area here as well. 

There is still a lot I would like to do, but I am so excited to share what I have so far!

Holidays are Here!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the holidays. This is a busy time of year for just about everyone and it is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle.  Last year I just didn't get into the Christmas spirit, but this year we had a nice snow and I really tried to get the decor up and looking nice (at least somewhat nice). 

First things first though, one of my favorite musicians put up a free Christmas song and said we can share it with everyone, so here is a link: A Christmas Theme. 

Valentin Wiest is brilliant and I love everything he puts out. He has two albums in a series called Fragments of Legends. You should totally grab them because they are fantastic!

Now that I have put in that little plug, here are some pics of my holidays so far!

I got one of the fancy (cheaper) iPhones and now I can take panoramas! CRAZY!

Though the new tree looks better at night. I'm doing it up ROYGBIV style next year!

We also picked out stockings this year. This is the first year Chris and I have done stockings. His outshines mine by, y'know, being a freaking wookiee. 

My Christmas village continues to grow and just down the street (as in, on the entertainment center - as seen in the panorama above) is the village we had when I was growing up that I spent hours playing with, it was a pleasant addition to our home. 

Catzilla terrorizing the people of the village.

I decided to also try my luck with a direct request to the man in red. I asked him to make my mortgage disappear. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

In other matters, I have been on a motivational kick with the spare room. Remember that room? The one I posted about painting in October of LAST year? It's still not done, but holy crap are we close!! We have a nice big bookshelf that I have loaded up and bought some cute items for the wall after a moment of clarity. We were walking through Hobby Lobby and I saw an aisle of items that were gray and another color (coral, teal and yellow). My brain clicked into place as I realized the yellow and gray would work with the spare room (right? Please tell me that's right)! They were 50% off so we snagged a magnetic board, light switch cover, and a cute glass piece.

I am planning a trip to Ikea (first time on an Ikea adventure! I AM PUMPED!) to grab a table to replace the crummy free, broken desk that is currently taking up space in the room. I'm also grabbing some stool to replace the green seats (since they no longer match), and a side table to put by the futon which will eventually be ours! 

WE. ARE. GETTING. THERE!

Have a great Christmas everyone! Go see your families, tell them you love them, give them hugs and kisses and I hope everyone is blessed beyond your imagining in the next year!

Christmas at Our House - Kinda Blah

We don't have as many decorations for Christmas as we do Halloween. I get a little down in the dumps when I see other people's houses because they really go all out and I saw so many elegant homes this year. We put up our trees and whatnot, but they don't look like everyone else's big bushy beautiful trees.

I guess I just need to try harder. I do put up garland about and a few things here and there. I guess I just can't get into it like I could when I was younger.

I picked up this gingerbread couple awhile back and think they are adorable. They usually sit on our table, but I thought I would make use of my shelves Chris hung.

I always decorate this shelf a bit. I didn't have the hedgehog candles there the whole time, but a friend got them for me and I just had to put them up. But they do match my....

Swag! I had trouble getting a good picture, but the white is actually the snowy look. The mushroom, fox and owl were ornaments from Target and I thought they were adorable, so I felt a swag was in order.

Growing up, we had the greatest tiny village that I played with every Christmas. My wonderful mother-in-law has been helping me build my own by getting me a building every year. I'm running out of room in the current location so I'll have to figure out what to do next year.

I think the best part is that she doesn't pick out pieces all willy nilly. Each one is especially for me (a school for when I was going to be a teacher, pet grooming for the year we got Xerxes, bakery, coffee shop, etc.)

Despite the head shaking of many people, I grabbed my sweater trees on clearance at Target. I don't know why I like them so much. They are silly and a bit ridiculous, but for some reason I like them.

Of course we did more than this, but nothing as amazing as most bloggers. I don't think any of the houses I saw had pets or at least cats because that stuff just wouldn't last here. My trees barely survive, last year our tree didn't so I guess this year we made progress.

Wish Lists

Isn't it amazing how many things you want to do, but odds are always against you?

I think Santa needs to re-think his situation and start taking requests from adults. I have quite the list of things that can only be cured by magic... or at least guidance.

I want to start hanging out at the local hardware stores so that one of those home improvement show hosts see me stumbling around like the sad and clueless little homeowner I am and help with the magic of their knowledge, skills, and huge muscular arms and abs... those are a necessity for renovating my bathroom. Shirtless. Don't let anyone tell you it is unsafe to remove tile like that.

Tear away my baby blue sorrow with your Zeus-like arms!

In all seriousness, I have a hefty list of things I want to change about our home, but I feel like I am unprepared for such daunting tasks.
I did weeks of planning for our back patio area that included all the steps and procedure and we even had 2 friends helping. Despite their amazingly hard work, the patio is unusable. Months later.

 

This is the before... but honestly, it doesn't look much different.. just less grass and the stones are put together unevenly like a drunken blind man tried to put together a puzzle with pieces from 3 different puzzles.

 

Problem 1: Cost (You want HOW much for that dirt you call sand?!).
[$4/bag doesn't sound bad till you realize that one bag covers NOTHING!]

Problem 2: Clueless. The step-by-step lists became useless when faced with the actual situation. In the end, we hastily put it together as best we could. We got some free sand (dirt should always be free!) from my parents when they expanded their porch, but it will take lots more and currently the dirt is sitting in the shed waiting to fulfill its destiny. A few stones at a time.


This project stays on my mind all the time. It has scared me off of other projects because I worry about not having the money, or if I go the cost-efficient route, will it be a flop. If I try and it fails, I have to see it every day for years till I can afford to fix it.


My Home Improvement Wish List
(These need a miracle to happen)

• Bathroom: Change color scheme from blue to black (actually there was black tile and they changed it in the renovation! They did it to torment me!) 
• Patio: Um... fix it please. 
• Front Porch: Remove outdoor carpet and make it even. 
• Siding: For some reason, ours has lots of dents, mismatched sections from re-modeling, and what looks like bullet holes from failed assassination attempts...

My Home Improvement To-Do List
(Totally working on these... slowly)

Painting: When we moved in, I was not able to take vacation time, so we moved in slowly and didn't get to paint beforehand. It took over a week, 3-4 hours a night by driving the stuff from the apartment to the house bits at a time (fortunately it was less than 1/2 a mile.... unfortunately we only had help a couple of times and were so exhausted we couldn't eat.)

Spare Room: This room is awful.... I don't let people in it currently because it has more furniture than it should right now. But that should change before the end of the year (I hope). I want to get rid of the bed and replace it with a futon since we never have guests anyway. I can use this room for crafting, storage, and make up (I have a vanity at my parents' waiting for me!)
I'm moving out most of the spare crap this weekend so all I need is the futon so I can move the rest of the project along.

I need to win the lottery.... I guess I would have to start by actually playing the lottery. But one ticket is almost a bag of dirt! Ha!

Recent Projects-Lessons Learned

I know I have been slacking, I was just focused on other things... For example making my last max level toon on World of Warcraft (I now have a max toon of every class.... till next month when the expansion comes out...)

I did complete a few things around the house though.

When I last posted about the bedroom I flaunted my dresser. But I didn't have the mirror up. It took a month of it sitting in the living room before I told my husband that it had to be done this weekend. So it was taken care of Friday night. It is much larger than I am used to and I have been startled a number of times seeing my own reflection out of the corner of my eye.

We also snatched up a nice bed set before they (whoever they is) decides that teal, turquoise, aqua and every shade of said colors are no longer popular and cease to make them.

I also took on what turned out to be a much more expensive and frustrating project: 

Blurry like Bigfoot and just as large and difficult to paint.

Our kitchen table was a huge pain to re-do. I was so angry all day and easily could have taken the same amount of money that I spent on spray paint to buy a less than durable new table at Walmart. It has taught me a couple of valuable lessons.

1. Go with the best paint. I almost always use Krylon, but the color I wanted to use on the chairs was not for sale at Wal-mart so my only option to buy it in Krylon was to spent double at Michael's. So I used Valspar, which is also a good brand. I used it for all the handles and other detail work in the bedroom. 

Boy did my eyes open! Valspar cans were NOT made for large items! The nozzle is not focused enough so I'm pretty sure that more paint went around the chairs than on them. And when it did hit the chairs it POURED on and they don't look nearly as nice as they should.

2. "If you are good at something, do it yourself." I asked my husband to help and while he did an good job and I appreciated his help, I'm pretty sure I could have done the same coverage with much less paint. Combined with the above fact about Valspar, that is a lot of wasted paint. I had to make 2 trips to Lowes.

3. Don't rush. The weather forecast had a 0-10% chance of precipitation all day, but the sky would constantly get dark so I was constantly worried. So I rushed. That just made things worse. Then I went to Walmart to get more white paint and I got one gloss and one dual primer/flat. I was in such a hurry that I didn't realize the cashier just scanned the more expensive one twice thinking they were the same. I didn't go back in because I was in a hurry and frustrated and while it was just like $2... with all the other money I dropped on paint that day I was a raving maniac over those $2. (Also the lady should have taken the extra freaking 30 seconds to pick up the other can!!)

Overall I do really like the table and it makes the room much more cheery.

But I learned a lot and I apologize to my dear, dear Krylon. I will never forsake thee again.

Also, I made this super crummy wreath today. I had seen one really awesome one on Pinterest and my mom had an extra grape vine wreath that was collecting dust, so I put this together... It is not nearly as cute as I was hoping. 

I'm sure the fact that the wreath itself is probably older than I am and has been buried in a basement doesn't help.

The Living Room Progress (Not Much of It)

In addition to re-decorating the bedroom, I am also trying to make the living room look less like a jumble of furniture and more like a room. We had brown and black furniture, blue curtains and a khaki couch. So I painted the coffee table a gray to help with the curtains (dark metallic-y blue) and throw pillows (a gray/blue) and entertainment center (black & silver). 

Then I went out shopping with a friend and got a neat piece to hang above the couch that would tie in the khaki and black/gray but I wanted to put pieces on either side. After a lot of work, we got some scrap booking paper from her house that had khaki and blue/gray and I put it in a frame after removing the glass and affixed some neat drawer handles to them.

Seems to work out okay, now to take care of the rest of the room.

Almost Done!

If you have been following some of my posts on here or Facebook you know I have been slowly re-decorating our bedroom. It was very... brown. None of the pieces matched and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't  amazing either. I ended up with a new bed set and needed to make the room come together (because I went to buy a lamp for the guest bedroom; yes, one new lamp=whole new master bedroom).

Here are some before pics of the bedroom:

And After:

If you look at my previous posts you will see the changes made over time; switched out nightstands to ones I painted, painted coatrack, painted one dresser and some accent pieces (a birdcage and also a basket that I never saw the need to post).

So that covered just about everything... except one more dresser. We happened to obtain a free one (with one wonky handle, some warping, and lots and lots of bugs!!)

So after an incredibly thorough cleaning and days of set backs due to storms, I finally got it painted to match the nightstands. 

 Before:

In Progess:

I used adhesive contact paper on the bottom and sides of the drawer to keep my clothes from smelling like wood (not sure how to get that smell out of the dresser...) and add some pizzazz. I got a bunch of it from Target for less than $6 and still have some to spare for something in the future!

After:

All that is left is to paint the walls gray and hang the matching giant mirror for the dresser and it is DONE!
I also am working on the living room, details in next post on that one...

Can't... Stop... Painting

I might have a problem. A spray paint problem. Not the huffing kind, the painting everything in the house kind. I already posted the bedroom pics and it is nearly complete as I added in a spray painted basket for my lotions and such and took care of my dresser.

This is all thanks to (the fault of) Better After. Ever since I saw her site I felt inspired. We fall short in the financial sector of our lives so we can't buy fancy new furniture. However, spray paint at Wal-mart is only about $3.67 /can. My husband thinks I'm nuts, but is always pleased with the results.

My dresser was really rickety and beat up when I got it, I had to do repairs before I started spray painting. Some of my amateur repairs made some new dents but it still looks better than before.

I just got this dresser when we moved into our house because my other one was gigantic, so we ended up putting it in the guest bedroom. Chris' dresser is the only thing in our bedroom that doesn't match now, but we are a little torn about painting it. It's metal and super heavy. But it is a good dresser and was my grandmothers so we just don't know what to do yet.

Final Product:

I was going to get new handles, but I really liked the old ones so I just painted those too. Why Not?! I'll just paint the cat next!

This is far from over. I still want to paint the office furniture, my coffee table and probably the cedar chest from my aunt. In the end I will have to spray paint the driveway as it currently looks like a bird pooped puddles of liquid skittles all over it.

If you have never been to Better After you should go get inspired. Her posts are always entertaining to read and even if you want to mindlessly wander through the internet, the photos are very enjoyable to look at.

Warning: Your vocabulary will be plagued with the following phrases; "I can do that!", "I should paint the ____!", "I'm gonna paint the whole house!", and "I'm gonna paint the whole WORLD!"