Last Post About My House Spruce Up (Probably)

I know it's been close to forever since I last posted. I'd tell you all about why I haven't posted recently, but it might sound like I'm making excuses, even though I prefer the term giving reasons. Besides, it's not like I was on a whirlwind vacation to Europe; I just wasn't up to it.

We finished the house spruce up. My husband worked his tukas (toches, if you want me to be really correct about it) off to get it all done. Without bragging, my house looks amazing. Not only does it look totally different, but it even feels different.

I purged more things, and that felt great. I had some martini glasses I gave away, and also a decanter set that was a wedding gift. It's beautiful, but I haven't used it in over 20 years. I cleared a lot of space from my china cabinet by doing that.

It's funny; my husband did the vast majority of the work, but it took me over a week to recover. I added the finishing touches, but beyond that, I basically didn't do anything. Oh, and my kids were on break; it's hard for me to write when I have any type of distraction. Anyway, I'm back.

In my last post forever and a moon ago, I promised pictures, and pictures you shall have. Don't say you weren't warned...

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

It's been quite some time since I posted; just over a week. I have been consumed with the house spruce up and honestly, I've been way too tired and single-minded to do anything else. There were days when we had sandwiches or pizza for dinner, and I went to bed.

Since I last saw you when I had laid out the plans, the front hallway and the dining room were the only rooms painted. The living room is finished, we even painted the bathroom (same color scheme, just freshened it) and the dining room set is transformed. Oh, and when I say “we”, you know I mean Lee, my husband. He genuinely pushed himself to get this finished quickly, and I'm forever grateful. He's amazing and I love him.

I was telling a friend of mine that I can't wait to enjoy my “new” house, drinking coffee, and get back to writing. I'm not quite finished with the spruce up yet. I need to decide what pictures and photos I'm going to put back on the walls, plus, there's an art project I'm itching to do that I hope turns out like it looks in my head. I mean, the big stuff is done, it's just the finishing touches that need to be done.

I want to show you pictures, but I actually want to wait until the house is finished, so I'll give you some teasers. You saw the “before” of a few things,

 today I'll show you the “after” of those same things. I think the change I'm happiest about/impressed with/adore most is the dining room and the dining room set. I even found a new light for the dining room, and I've been looking for a light since we bought the house.

This was the emerald green room

I think I told you that we rented in Amherst when we first came back to Buffalo. Well, the apartment was probably constructed in the 70's, and still had the original lighting. I mean, original, like it had a stamped metal fixture with a cut-out design around it in the dining area. I tried to find a photo, but this is the closest I could get, and it's from Ebay (so if you're interested, it's for sale!).  

Ours was a little different and even was even fancier; it had little white flowers around the bottom of it. However, it was the same lovely harvest gold. It looked like an original set of Corelle hanging over the table, only in negative. 

Anyway, the lighting throughout the apartment was hideous to me. Lee talked to the landlord, and the landlord said we could get new lighting. All we had to do was save the receipt and he would reimburse us, so we went to the store and bought lights. I didn't go crazy spending money; I knew we weren't staying there forever. I chose decent fixtures that I could live with, but I didn't choose any that were expensive. I picked out lights for the 3 bedrooms, the 2 hallways, and the dining room. Altogether I believe it was about $140 for all those lights.

One day, the landlord came over, so I gave him the receipt. His eyes got wide, and he asked what the receipt was for (even though it was on the receipt from a home improvement store). I reminded him of the conversation he and Lee had about changing the lights. He handed the receipt back to me and told me that Lee could just change the fixtures back when we moved out. Thank goodness my husband saved those ugly old lights, because when we moved, he put those ugly old lights back up.

So, we're in our house, doing the final walk through before closing, and what do I notice in our current dining room? The same light fixture that we bought for Amherst. AAAARGH! I grew to detest that fixture because of what it represented. Through the years, I changed the shades and painted the body, but I still saw our old landlord when I saw that light. Every so often I would look for a new chandelier, but I never found one that I liked in my price range (free to cheap-remember, I'm verrry frugal). I would even look at second-hand stores, salvage stores, Craigslist, and the odd yard sale.

One day, about a month ago, I decide to look for a light. Again. I wasn't expecting much because it's been 11 years that I started looking without finding what I want. Well, I finally had the timing right because I found 5 (five!) that I liked in my price range (free to cheap). I showed my selection to my husband, we narrowed it down and chose one. I couldn't believe it when I discovered I had chosen the least expensive one of the bunch! Even though I'm really frugal, I have expensive taste. Throw in no tax and free shipping, and I was all over that bad boy!

Way back when, my husband put the chandelier from Amherst in my mom's dining room. She loved it because her dining room light was probably from the 50's or 60's, but not in a cool way. Now that I think about it, for all the things my mom loved to change, I don't think she ever really thought about changing the light fixtures. I'm assuming it's because she thought she would have to hire an electrician to do it.

So here is some of our progress. Well, my husband's progress. I'm the idea person, my husband is the one who brings my vision to life. Egads, I love that man!

Paint By Numbers

I recently mentioned in this post  that I'm ready to paint the living room and dining room. I also mentioned the other day that our house has been infected by the cleaning bug. Apparently, it's gotten to my husband as well, because he primed the walls in the dining room yesterday.

A local hardware store has their interior paint buy one, get one free this week for a decent brand of paint. It's not Behr (my usual brand and personal favorite*), but it's a national brand and should do the trick. Who can pass up two gallons of paint for about $25 when you're itching to paint? Not this gal! So for about $25 I should be able to paint the living room and dining room. Well, my husband should be able to paint. I'm just the cheering section and the coffee/food supplier.

My husband had to prime the walls in the dining room because my walls were a brick/terracotta color and we're going much, much lighter. You have to understand; when we bought our house, we had been living in apartments for a long time. Apartments with white walls. For years. Eleven years. I may have mentioned that I was used to my mom painting on a whim, so there was always color on the walls of our house growing up. I was ready for some color, and I wasn't exactly subtle about it. My husband, God love him, went along with every crazy color I chose. I have a tan living room (for the time being). I had a brick/terracotta dining room, had an emerald green room that was my daughter's room, and had a magenta bathroom. The only rooms that haven't been changed at least once are the living room and dining room. Well, the front hallway and computer room haven't been painted either, so maybe I'll pick up an extra gallon of the living room color so we can do those areas, too.

I have a dining room set that really isn't my style. I'm more of an arts and crafts kinda person, and the set I have is more mid-century modern. Through the years, I've looked for a set that's more suited to my style, but the major obstacles are that this set fits perfectly in my small dining room, and holds my stuff. When I find a china cabinet that has as much storage as mine, it's much larger, and won't fit where I need it to fit. My china cabinet is only 36” wide, but it holds my service for 12, plus! When I find a sideboard or buffet, it's too tall to go where I need it to go. What's that? Why did I get this set in the first place? Well...

My friend's mother was having a moving sale/estate sale because she was moving out of state. I went over to help her during the sale. I'd always loved her china, which she was selling. I wanted the china, but I had no place to put the china. She gave me an insane deal on the whole dining room set, plus the china. I figured I'd take it all “until I found a new set”. That was about 10 years ago. After living with this furniture for so long, I've finally had enough. I'm going to paint the set. My husband nearly hyperventilated and had a coronary when I told him. Remember, you can't paint wood. I'm hearing a Monty Python song with the words changed to: “every wood is sacred...”.

I've been on Pinterest a lot, plus the general web and nearly everything I've read about painting furniture says that you should use chalked paint. Not chalkboard paint, which I originally thought they meant, but chalked paint. Supposedly, chalked paint allows you to paint directly onto clean, varnished surfaces with no other prep. No sanding, no priming, just clean the piece and paint it. So I priced chalked paint.

:::cough:::

:::gasp:::

The least expensive chalked paint I found was $16.98 for 30 ounces! That's not even a quart! I'm painting a buffet/sideboard, a china cabinet, a table and 6 chairs. Um, no, not for $17 for 30 ounces I'm not. I'd probably need 3 or 4 cans. Then, you have to apply a wax afterward, and I didn't even price that. You remember that I've previously mentioned my frugality, so obviously, I'm going back to the store that has the BOGO paint and getting a gallon. My friend wants to paint, too, so we're splitting the cost of the $25. I found numerous recipes for making your own chalked paint, so of course, that's what I'm going to do. Basically, you mix plaster of paris in some water, then add it to paint. You mix it up, and voila! Your chalked paint for less than $20 a gallon!

I actually started this post yesterday, but I didn't get to finish it. Since I wrote last, the dining room is painted, and so is the front hallway. The walls of the living room are spackled and ready to go. My kids are beyond excited for all the changes. I even bought fabric (on sale, plus 20% off!) to cover the seats of the dining room chairs. I have to admit, I'm quite anxious to see it all come together!!

*I was not asked to endorse Behr paint, nor was I compensated in any way to mention the name.

She's Crafty

I've been forcing myself to have a handful of super stellar days lately. I'm guessing it's because of the warmer weather, the sunny days, and the feeling that springtime is around the corner.

Of course, the downside to having a super stellar day is that inevitably my body rebels and I have some less-than-stellar-days to compensate for that one great day. You'd think after all these years that I'd know how to balance doing stuff and resting. Nope. Some things require repeat lessons. Repeat lessons.

We wanted to put the craft room back together, but untangling the giant mess of boxes, totes, bags and miscellaneous stuff was exquisitely daunting. I had a hard time starting because:

a) the mess was a combination of crafting supplies, keepsakes, and linens

b) even though I have more square footage to work with than I had downstairs, we had some unique obstacles to contend with

c) I had extra shelving that I wanted to utilize (who would turn down extra storage space?) but I couldn't figure out how to use it all

d) there is only one outlet, so I needed to keep the sewing machine by the outlet

After weeks of study, I finally came up with a plan. I think. We started to execute the plan yesterday, and I think with some tweaking, it should work. We will know once we actually try to use the area, and if it doesn't work, I'll try to reconfigure or rearrange. At least we're at a point where we can organize and store.

I mentioned that the area we're using as the craft room used to be called The Crazy Room in this post. It was basically used for linen storage and Barbieville*. All linens went up there. Comforters, sheet sets, blankets, throws, curtains, table linens, extra towels and shower curtains all made their way into the crazy room. I purged several comforters when we made our pilgrimage to Amvets, but once I really looked at the shelves, I realized there were still some comforters and blankets that we could donate. Maybe 8 or more; I discovered comforters from our old full-sized bed. We no longer have a full-sized bed in the house, it's been gone for several years. I'm getting rid of my son's old twin-sized comforters, save 1 for when he goes to camp. I also donated a couple of my daughter's old comforters that I know she won't use again. Now that I think about it, I'll probably donate a couple of our king-sized comforters. I'm not in love with them anymore, and they aren't my son's style at all.

We've been infected with the cleaning bug; it sunk its teeth into the house and hasn't let go. Completely of her own volition, my daughter decided to organize our pantry one day.

She did an amazing job. I kind of wish I had a “before” picture so you could see just how much work she put in, but I'm kind of glad I don't because it was a hot mess. I wasn't entirely sure we had a floor beyond a few feet from the door. It looks amazing now.

I don't mind being bitten by the bug, except I can't do nearly as much as I'd like to. My former self could finish organizing the craft room in one day, then load the car with donations and go drop them off. However much slower than I'd like, it's still coming together. Patience, patience, patience. I'm short on patience with myself.

She's Crafty

*Sadly, Barbieville has since been demolished, but it housed ALL of my daughter's Barbie things. 

Photo Finish

I woke up this morning with a blog entry outlined and half-written in my mind. I took that as a sign to get my rear in gear and get back to writing.

I was in the car the other day, and I saw a car that looked just like my first car, a 1982 Plymouth Gran Fury. I already told you about that car when I wrote this post. Funny thing, though, when I saw that car the other day, I got a pang of nostalgia. Yes, you're right, I really didn't like that car, but my mother did. Of all the cars I remember my dad having, that was her favorite.

I suddenly found myself wishing I had a picture of my car.

Then I realized, for all the photos I do have, there are probably a billion I wish I had.

It's so different and wonderful and easy now with digital cameras and phone cameras. I grew up in a house that always had a camera, but we seldom used it except for super special occasions, if we remembered to take pictures at all. For example, if I had a bestie sleeping over, we didn't bust out the camera and take goofy pictures. I sure wish we would have. Once in a while, we'd take pictures of regular days, but those were far and few in between.

Taking pictures with old film cameras was almost a daring feat. You took a photo. Maybe it was one of the first shots on a roll of 24, then you put away the camera. If you remembered, you got out the camera for the next occasion. You snapped a photo or two, then the camera went back to its waiting place. Maybe it was a few months, maybe it was a year or more until you used up all of the pictures on the roll of film. Once you got to the last picture, you usually took a picture of any old thing just to finish up the film.

Once the film was all used, you had to have it developed. You could take it to a drug store, you could take it to a grocery store, you could send it away to York, or you could drive up to one of the little booths that littered parking lots all over, Fotomat.

All of those options required more waiting time. By the time you got the photos back, you had usually forgotten what was at the beginning of the roll of film.

The anticipation of opening the packet of pictures was almost like waiting to unwrap gifts on Christmas. You'd try not to rip the paper, but sometimes you were just too excited to see what was inside! Many times, you'd have an envelope full of disappointment on photo paper. Maybe the film was so old some of the photos couldn't be developed. Maybe heads were cut off. Maybe you got a roll of black pictures, Maybe the developer overexposed the film and you couldn't make anything out; it was just a wash of shades of whites. Oh, but those times you did get the shot, those pictures were favorites.

We had a Polaroid camera at one point as well; the instant kind where you take the picture and the camera spits out the photo. We seldom used that camera because “the film is so expensive”. And it was; back then it was probably $15 for 10 pictures. I was a kid, and I didn't really get it, though. They are selling instant cameras again, and I can't believe the prices of them! I know I sound like an old curmudgeon, but the camera is at least $60, and the film is about $35 for 50 prints. I looked into them because my daughter wanted an instant camera at one point. By contrast, I just ordered prints from my digital photos, and I spent $9 for 100 photos. By the way, my daughter doesn't have an instant camera, because “the film is so expensive”. I'm not a kid anymore, so now I get it.

When we moved to Chicago, I bought an inexpensive 35mm camera. We took pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Back then it was still a film camera, so we still had to play the waiting game once we finished the roll of film.

One night, my husband and I met this guy whose company had box seats for the White Sox games. Not luxury box seats, but box seats right near home plate on the first base line. The guy was kind enough to give us the tickets for every time the Yankees came to town that season! I was very excited; I'd never seen a major league baseball game before, much less seen the Yankees play.

My husband and I went to the game decked in our full Yankees regalia. I couldn't believe we were so close to Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, Danny Tartabull, and Paul O'Neill! We took lots and lots of pictures that day. In fact, I believe we used all 36 pictures at the game. The ready date for that film couldn't come fast enough, and of course, we ordered double prints! Oh, the excitement, the anticipation of waiting to see our close shots of Don Mattingly on first base!  We went to the store to get our pictures, and there had been a problem with the film. None of the pictures could be saved. Not one. Talk about disappointment.

These days, I'm all about the digital cameras. You know when you got the shot you wanted, you can take goofy photos for no good reason and it doesn't cost a dime. Even if you want to order prints, it still doesn't cost a dime; it's only 9¢ a print.