Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Guest Room Blues, er reds





I have two spare bedrooms to turn into guest rooms.
Maybe I'm weird, but I really heart theme rooms. I think coming home everyday should be like taking an exotic vacation. The minute you open the door, , you're somewhere interesting and fun, far from the bland drudgery of work and chores.
This is especially true for guest rooms. I want the people who stay over to feel like they had a neat getaway.

Unfortunately, I don't have crap to work with. My smallest guest room is the size of a postage stamp. It's also a problem color-wise because it's got red shag carpet. I really love the carpet. It's in great shape, the color is super bright, but it's also a huge decorating dilemma. How the heck do you decorate around it?

I'm hoping inspiration will come soon.

A small victory






I hardly beleive it, but the bookcases are stained, sanded, varnished, and up and running. It only took four months, but hey. We're relieved because we finally got to unpack all of the boxes of books that have been rotting in the corner, taking up tons of space. The basement is totally "man-spaced" out yet, but it's closer to pimpin' fabulous than it ever has been.

I also managed, miraculously, to coax my father-in-law to install my new fab "bubble" chandelier in the kitchen. It's much cooler than the brass thingee that was in there before. eek. They sure loved that brass in the 80s, didn't they?

It's like I'm a new me! Finishing all of these projects is giving me an identity crisis. Good thing I still have plenty on my to-do list...Up next? Tiki-ing the sunporch and Hawaii-islanding out the guest room. Stay tuned!•

Confessions of a renovator with a short attention span...





As always, I promised myself I wouldn't start a new project until the basement was finished. Alas, two of the four bookcases grandpa made us are still in the garage, unfinished. (Part of that problem is the hubby wanted to make that his project, and I don't want to nag him to get it done because he'll never volunteer again!)

We can at least sit in the basement. But it's definitely a man space, filled with boxes yet to be unpacked, and the sad tiny bits of pretzels that have long ago been eaten, gathering under the sofa.

So I confess. I started another project-repainting the kitchen. When we moved in, it was covered in an awful floral wallpaper, and had a dull red vinyl floor that was peeling at the seems. I mean it was absolutely awful.

The layout of the kitchen is fantastic, though. It's long, plenty wide, with lots of custom birch cabinetry from the 1950s, and an awesomely spacious breakfast nook. We're using that as our dining room, because any 50s architect who thinks the dining-room-at-the-end-of-the-rectangular-living-room thing doesn't feel cramped is crazy.

We've already replaced the floor, with relatively eco-friendly marmoleum in black and white. (It's awesome by the way, very easy to clean and tough as nails).

This is the second time I've painted the kitchen in a year, so Erich looked at me like I was crazy when he saw new paint cans on the kitchen table. But he's practically blind, and the last color I chose, a dark plum, made it almost impossible for him to see. I decided to go lighter and brighter. So I repainted the entire kitchen and ceiling in that American Tradition Cincinnatti hotel beige I used in the living room.

Then, on the wall running behind the table, I went with a medium-dark purple. Something that would really shine next to my vintage $35 thrift-score red formica table and chair set.

It's very cheery. He says it looks like we live inside of an easter egg. And it does.... Unbelievably, I actually managed to FINISH this project. Two coats of primer, two colors, all in one weekend. Well, almost finished. Never mind that I haven't replaced the baseboards since the floor was installed, or that I have to get rid of that awful light fixture above the table. But alas, I'm still searching for the perfect chandelier, and cutting those 45 degree angles to install baseboards? eek! I'm not sure I'm cut out for that!•

The basement is wrecked still...



The basement is wrecked, still...




I always start out with good intentions. Get the basement started. I'll be able to finish it...and hang the new towel racks in the bathroom...and repaint the kitchen...and find a new vanity for the half bath.... and... You get the idea. The half finish projects list just keeps growing. It's not like I'm sitting around watching TV, doing nothing. I am perpetually overbooked-- leave the house at 9 a.m. and not home in bed until midnight. I'm left to paint and primp and install in the odd hours when I'm not supposed to be somewhere else.

I did manage to get a little bit more done on the basement. Mostly just removing the cardboard boxes the new sofa came in and moving two of the four bookcases grandpa made me into place. They still have to be attached to the wall and I have to stain the shelves, but hey, little victories right? It will all be very cool when it's finished. As you can see from the pictures, it's far from glamorous so far! The dropcloth for the woodstain is still on the floor, wires are everywhere, and no shelves or books yet on the cases. They are very cool though. They were built using this free pattern for built-in bookcases. We just altered it a bit so they were freestanding. The only thing standing between me and a (mostly) finished basement is a husband who is reluctant to sand and stain the remaining two bookcases. Wish me luck with that....•

The basement is wrecked...


So maybe I bit off more than I could chew. I have a bad habit of starting a lot of projects all at once, then leaving them half finished. I tell myself that I won't do it again, that I'll quit being so schizonphrenic and just stick to one room at a time, start to finish. But who am I kidding. The creative process doesn't happen like that. I need to install the new towel racks and regrout the tub in the main bathroom, I ripped out the vanity and have yet to find a replacement in the half bath, and I have yet to prime and paint the kitchen, despite the fact that the new floor was installed a month ago.

So what do I do? Start on the basement. Yep. You guessed it. Now that room is half-wrecked too! It's not terrible, mind you. My honey was nagging me about the boxes and boxes of books we have yet to unpack since we moved in. Our last pad had built-in bookshelves. This one, well, it just wasn't meant for books. I talked my 80-year-old grandpa into building us 16 feet of custom bookcases. So with a nagging husband and a grandpa anxious to see his handy work in action, I started in on the basement. Noble reasons.

Don't get me wrong. It's a big job. To start off, the room was a wood paneled nightmare, with very little light and a long, skinny shape. So far, I've primed and painted the panels American Tradition Empire Fleet blue because it was the only color we could agree on. Not too shabby, considering the carpet is maroon. I was afraid it'd look like a 1970s-style Spirit of '76 bicentennial color scheme. But so far, so good. Two fo the bookcases are stained and the new sofa, from Ikea, finally arrived. But as you can see, the room is still a work in progress...•