New Door Color

I had originally painted our foyer area outside our master bedroom a softer shade of a green/ yellow. At first it looked nice....until we started decorating other parts of the house. It didn't work so well anymore.... here's the before:




Here it is in Benjamin Moore's Caribean Teal. I painted the bathroom door, to the right in the picture, the same color.




I love seeing both the door and the Keep Calm and Carry On print from the kitchen. I need to remember to breathe every once in a while, and that print does the trick since I pass it about a billion times a day!

Before and After: Cellar Stairs

I got a little ahead of myself to take great before pictures. I had already gotten started on creating the after when I remembered, "oh yeah! I need before shots!"

Before, in the stairwell we had an ugly, plastic bag collector for those bags from the supermarket when you forget your reusable bags. We also hung our broom, mop, fly swatter, and duster on the wall from a hideous strip of wood with some fabulous nails randomly nailed into the wood strip.

I decided to use that space to hang some of pots and pans that didn't really have a place to live. They are a bit ragged looking, those pots, but we REALLY use our pots and pans in this house! Here's the after:

Our Daughter George

One day I told our 4 year old daughter that she and I would be heading out the door in about five minutes. "OK, Mommy" she said. As I packed up to go, I called out to her to let her know it was time to leave.

No response.

I called her about 15 times before I became annoyed with the sound of my own voice saying the same thing over and over again. She was completely glued to the cartoon on TV. My hair could have been on fire, and she wouldn't have even glanced my way. I started calling out other names, "Hey, Sally, Jessica, Juanita, Carlos, Sam, Sarah, Bob, George..." Amazingly, as I said George, she turned my way, looked at me as if I'd just arrived, and said "Yeah...?"

Ever since then, she's been a George.

Deck Extension

We had a small concrete patio area at the end of our deck that was awkward to get to, and the concrete was crumbling badly. After a run with the jackhammer last summer to repair an underground pool pipe, Mr. Hubs decided he was all set with the prospect of jacking up that bad boy. Plan B: extend the existing deck already on one side to cover said concrete chaos. We don't have great before photos...That lonely little window on the other side of the pool is the deck extension area.

This is our finished product more or less. Next year we need to invest in some better outdoor furniture, as we love to dine alfresco, but our old set did the job for this summer. We also need to finish staining the railings of the deck. We'll get there!

Fieldtrip!

We did a dangerous thing today- we had our first fieldtrip to Ikea, the fam and I! It was mind blowing; keeping track of a three year old person....no jumping on the beds! Put down that glass vase! Come out from where you are hiding right now-we are NOT playing hide and seek, kiddo! Stay out of that nice lady's way! Where did you go now? You need to stay where I can see you. Then the hubby: Hey, come check this out- Honey? Where did you go? Why do you HATE it? Hate is such a strong word. To remain focused the phrase "Don't worry, we CAN come back again to purchase other things, but we decided we had come here to look at lighting today" flew out more than once....all the while being in complete and utter HEAVEN with all of the design and organization ideas that left this woman, whose jobs as a librarian and mother call for organization everyday, totally breathless. Yeah....I don't get out much!;) With a hefty chunk of money left at the cashier drawer, we left with smiles on our faces and warm cozy feelings in our hearts! I can't wait to install the new lighting we purchased!!! It seems that life as we once knew it will never be the same now that we have visited Ikea....it's just a good thing that it's over an hour away so we won't be there as often as we would if were any closer. Us Rhode Island people think that driving more than 20 minutes involves packing a lunch and is in itself a big deal.