A Very Late Update

Earlier this month I promised you a cool living room thing, and I admit, the reason I haven't posted is that I just CANNOT get a decent frikking picture of it.  I've tried and tried, but I'm back to my phone cam again (new phone, at least), and it just can't handle the weird light in the living room.

But here goes, anyway...

Before stuff:

Living room, almost just like it is now. We're looking at the space behind
the couch, this time.  Ignore the blankets on the couch, we're working on it. 

Brown shoe shelf in the front hallway. 

A gigantonormous wood-framed mirror (40") I picked up
via Craigslist for FORTY DOLLARS. 

 After stuff: 

Yay, the shelf is painted!  And also behind the couch! 

Yay! 

A couple of notes: 

• craigslist is da bomb
• yes, these were both painted with the same black-ish paint that I used on the hallway doors, the little Ikea candlestick table, and the dressing table in my bedroom
• I cleaned the mirror glass before taking these pics (you're welcome), and while I was at it, I went ahead and cleaned all the other mirrors, too, and I counted as I went.  Turns out I have nine mirrors in the house, and that's just mounted on the walls (not counting jewelry boxes and makeup mirrors).  Weird.  

Next post:  who the heck knows?!

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It Begins

The process, that is, of turning my guest room into an art studio.  I've always wanted a dedicated space to paint and draw, and damnit, it's about time I had one.  I've only just started, but here are a few "before" pictures and some (slightly fuzzy) shots of some of the furniture I'm painting for the room:

Before: 

A whole bunch of stuff crammed into the room. 

A whole bunch of art supplies (that's a 6x3' table)

An *ugly* little Kuntry Kitch nightstand - lovely oak, horrible, aged finish,
scratched and stained and warped beyond belief, but sound of construction.

And then:

Nightstand: just as kitchy, but now cute as hell in blue!
Not sure yet, but this will probably hold small canvases.

The beginnings of a painting corner.  If you recognize the
blue supply cart, good on ya!  It's the little red tool cart
that used to be in the garage, with a fresh paint job. 

Lots, LOTS more to come!  I'm working on this room and the craft/sewing room next door at the same time (because allll of my art, sewing, and craft stuff was in the sewing room, so I'm having to organize both as I go along).

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You're Gonna Kill Me...

Just a note to say that I'm sorry I haven't been blogging this month.  I've been:

• extremely busy out of the house
• not feeling well, physically or emotionally
• spending a lot of my free time sleeping, and trying to heal

I will be back soon with some new projects, and a whole room do-over...aaaand most of it will be about - you guessed it - light fixtures, LOL. 

Back soon as I can.

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Technical Difficulties

Whoops!  Having some camera/phone/computer issues.  Will post living room, paint, and other stuff as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, I sometimes make pictorial to-do lists.  And sometimes, I post them on Facebook, because the way people guess what each line is supposed to mean cracks me the hell UP.  Here's today's:

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2




3







4









5

Guesses so far: 

1. make a bear head
2. turn a cupcake into a ziggurat and a shirt
3. Set hair on fire and enjoy it
4. stub toe until it throbs with pain;   or  injure toes with decorative spikes
5. This was the one that got the most attention: 

• ride a flaming wave into Hell, collect insurance
• teach a brachiosaur to fire-walk
• ride a brachiosaur on a raft
• cooking money
• watch a tiny space person riding a three-legged dinosaur on a viking ship
• set a cartoon moose on fire for money

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OMG GUESS WHAT.

Another freaking lamp!  Are you tired of these yet?  Tough shit!  :D

Back in May I took the bedside lamp apart and altered the shade a  bit, and put it onto another base, on the computer desk.   But what happened to the base?

 I'm glad you asked:

I am ded of cute.  

"Hey," some of you just said (and thank you for paying attention), "That's the Ikea lamp shade from the white ginger jar lamp in the living room!"   Indeed it is.  And I'll tell you about that tomorrow. :)

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Living Room Sneak Peak II

Oh, and then there was that long, low shelf that was in the front hallway, full of shoes and bags and whatever the hell else people would just chuck on top of it:

Yeah. That thing.  I LOVE IT.   And it was useful in the front hall, but the color wasn't my favorite, and I really wanted it where I could see it all the time and appreciate it.  It's one of those cheapie, screw-together things that breaks down flat.  Dorm furniture before Ikea, before Sauder.

And it really, really wanted to be black:

Holy crap, what a difference.  I love it even more!

So where does this, and the china cabinet library fit into the room at large?  Keep tuning in...



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Living Room Sneak Peek

I have a BIG living room post coming up.  BIG.  But for right now, here's a taste:  you know the big china hutch in the dining room?  The one with the rock collection in it?

This one. 

You would NOT believe what a Herculean effort it was to empty this entire thing out, find new homes for all the stuff inside - not just the rocks, but all six drawers, and the space underneath - and then push it across the entire freaking house to its new home:

Library! 

Fortunately, when I moved this thing into the house to begin with (in two pieces), I had the foresight to put slidey-feet on the bottom, so it was easier than I was afraid it would be to push it all by myself.  (I didn't repaint the living room; that's the same gray, it just looks really blue in direct sunlight).

And now it's a library!  There were two giant bookcases in the master bedroom that moved out over the weekend, and left my book collection homeless.  Some of it will be going into other rooms - music stuff, and art/design stuff, for example - but much of it now lives here.

And because I'm just cool like that, the cabinets underneath are filled with video games, LOL.

In case you don't recognize the wall, this is the "tank wall" where I've always had aquariums, and once hung a giant silk bedspread.  This is the north end of the looooong living room.

I can't wait to show you the rest. :)

IT BEGINS.

Typos are hilarious.  IT BEINGS doesn't have nearly the same ring to it.

So.  Kress is all moved out, and my house is all mine once more.  The move went well, and we said tearful but happy goodbyes to each other and to each other's pets, hehe.  It all ends on a happy note, for both of us.  On to bigger and brighter things!

And then I began the complete reorganization of my entire house, which will end up taking me all summer.  I started by cleaning.  Hoo boy, moving raises SO much dust!  I was on my feet all day and evening both Saturday and Sunday, and I have a LOT to show you.  But we'll start where I started, after the place was clean:  with the closets in the master bedroom.

My closet has always been the one in the bathroom, on the bottom of the picture.  You saw the makeover for that one back in  December.  The other closet, up on the left, was Kress' closet.  I spent the whole weekend cleaning both, and re-distributing items and furniture.



In my closet...

While I loved the shoe shelves, back in December I got in a little over my head - literally.  I could barely reach the towels on the top shelf, and have been dumping them on my head for months, and I was TIRED OF IT.

So I removed the shelving and installed it lower, so that the tall boots are on the ground, and the tallest shelf (now housing stuffed dinosaurs, manatees, and alligators with big floppy aardvark ears), is about forehead level.

I also moved my dresser out into the bedroom, to take the place of some large bookcases that moved out of the room.  The two plastic bins on these shelves are for my unmentionables.  I like having them in the closet, but not in the dresser.

Since the dresser was gone, I got a set of two café curtain rods from the dollar store (for all of $1.29, seriously), and used them to hang my collection of scarves.

They're within easy reach, not taking up hanger-space on the clothing bar, and I really like the way they look hanging like this.

With the dresser out, and the shoe shelf lowered, the closet feels a ton more open.










The other closet...

...is now both my linen closet and my SCA closet!  About 10/90%, too - you can see the towels there.  Everything else in the closet is SCA:  long, heavy dresses, shoes, underlayers, and drawers and baskets full of hats, sleeves, scarves, snoods, and all sorts of other accessories.

There's still some renovation to be done in here:  there's carpeting on the floor that's original to the house.  It's in good shape, but it and another closet elsewhere in the house are the only pieces of carpet left.  And, believe it or not, the walls in here have never been painted. Also, you know how I detest that wire shelving.  So, updates on all that forthcoming.

Meanwhile, ALL THIS was in my other closet!  And the dresser was in there! That's too much stuff!  So this helps a lot.








Later this week I'll show you what I did with the dresser in the bedroom, as well as some work going on in the living room, some furniture painting, and some furniture building!  WHEW.


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