Living Room Progress

Things are looking better. But there is still so much to do.

Here is the completed desk area.

I had these cork boards hanging up before the makeover. One covered the awful hole that I have now hid with my handy-dandy mail holder. I decided to cut the cork in half and hang them back up.

It's nice to have this to pin things up instead of putting them on the fridge. I can put appointment cards up there too.

I've been struggling to find a light to replace that wretched fluorescent light.

I moved the bright yellow table out of this space so that the emptiness will scream at me everyday to get to work. I want an electric fireplace here.
I need to get going on a fireplace soon so I can still enjoy it this year. Not sure if it will happen or not. But I'm hoping.
I'm thinking I will take out the center shelf where my ironstone pitchers are. I want the fireplace to flow all the way up. What do you think?

I moved most of the cords out of the way. I still have one left to move.

I went down to the basement and drilled new holes for where our router and the cable cord can come up. Now it comes up through the cabinet under the TV.

I also moved all the Wii stuff and the DVD player into the cabinet so that it would keep it more organized.

Yes, I made the ugly shelf inside the cabinet but some day I will have doors put up and it will hide the grotesque sight. (Do you notice any blemishes staring in your face^^^^^?)

I also drilled through my new wood top to connect everything together.

(ooooh. How 'bout a closeup of these blemishes^^?)

Sorry. It bugs me.

Anywho.
This is the cable cord I still have left to move.

Now I need to work on de-cluttering the shelves and make some nice arrangements. That is where Pinterest will help me out a lot.

Ha! The one side has all our library books and a shelf that collects everything when we come in the door. The other side has....not much, really.

I need to get going on a fireplace soon so I can still enjoy it this year. Not sure if it will happen or not. But I'm hoping.
I'm thinking I will take out the center shelf where my ironstone pitchers are. I want the fireplace to flow all the way up. What do you think?

Oh, and I did find some curtains. We don't have a neighbor behind us, so they aren't really for privacy. More for filtering the sunshine. They are pretty see-through. I got them at Tuesday Morning. They were $15 for two panels which I thought was pretty good.

I got the rods at Tuesday Morning too. I think they were $10 for the small and $12 for the wider one. I'm kind of in love with that store.

There still is quite a lot left to do. Different furniture, artwork, shelf decorating, trim work and tons more.
But at least I'm having fun!

Crazy Boy Birthday

It's Noah's birthday today. 

I made a Paleo cake that I could eat too. 

I'm thoughtful like that. 

I have so many things to show you that I've bought for rooms other than the living room. But I am trying to finish one room at a time. So I'm waiting. But not very patiently. 

Here is birthday boy with his new bat. 

We almost had a fire disaster on our hands with 8 candles on one slice of cake. 

He danced while we sang to him. 

He needed some assistance to actually put the flames out. 

Love you Noah Dean!

What I'm Reading Right Now

Still procrastinating my work on the living room. 

My books-

Caleb's Crossing- I am loving this book. I'm so glad our book club meeting got postponed so I could finish it. 

Teach Yourself Accents- North America- This looked like something I'd be interested in. 

Anatomy for Runners- I yearn to run. But alas, no working treadmill still. :/

Wildlife-Friendly Vegetable Gardener- Spring is right around the corner. Right? Tell me I'm right!

Playing with Image Transfers- Anything with photography interests me but especially mixed media things. 

A Beautiful Mess- I followed her blog some time ago but not anymore. She is very creative and has great photos. 

A Field Guide to American Houses- Just a little eye candy for me to flip through. I love seeing peoples' houses. Yes- I am that creeper that looks into lit windows at night while driving by!

What are you reading?

Phone Dump

I'd love to show you more progress on my living room but that would require me to go make cuts out in the garage in below zero temps. 

So it's not happening. Not yet. 

Here are some random photos from my phone. 

Clean laundry pile

Awesome tile found at Lowes. 

Debating between these two tiles for entry and laundry rooms. 

I think this was taken by accident. 

Ironic book found at thrift store. 

Attempting to arrange plate wall hangings (not sure why it's upside down). 

My attempts at Paleo cooking. 

Happy Monday to all!

(And to those who are fortunate enough- happy snow day!)

Flooring Posing as Desktops

If you remember, I ripped out the old, painted laminate desktops.

(old pictures)

Those pictures came from when we were installing our pine plank flooring. We have a lot of that flooring left over. That is what I am using to resurface our desktops.
You can see it a little in this project....

And when I did my colorful calendar.

Here is what it looked like before I applied the trim along the front.

I didn't remove the old plywood. Instead I just applied the pine boards over the top. This made it a thicker layer than it was before. A 1x2 wouldn't cover everything, so I used a 1x3. It looks pretty wide compared to what used to be there.

I filled all of the holes from the screws with stainable wood filler and let it dry. I then sanded it all down.

I put on one coat of Minwax Early American, same as the floors, and then did one coat of Minwax Dark Walnut. I love how they turned out.

I put on two coats of Poly. I probably should have waited for that step. I discovered the spots where I used the wood filler turned out strange.

You can see it clearly in this picture I took to show you our annoying cable cord.

What is more annoying is the marks on the front of that board!

I'm still debating what to do about it.

I also had some paint touch-ups to do before I moved the TV back in place. The marks are left from the shelf that I removed.

Here's how it looks. I have holes to drill and wires to move before I am finished.
Grrrrr. Those marks are laughing at me. Something must be done.

Have a great weekend!

Winter Poem

I've found many that I like, but this is my favorite. By Robert Louis Stevenson.

Winter-Time

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed,

A frosty, fiery sleepy-head;

Blinks but an hour or two; and then,

A blood red-orange, sets again.

Before the stars have left the sky,

At morning in the dark I rise;

And shivering in my nakedness,

By the cold candle, bathe and dress.

Close by the jolly fire I sit

To warm my frozen bones a bit;

Or with a reindeer-sled explore

The colder countries round the door.

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap

Me in my comforter and cap;

The cold wind burns my face, and blows,

Its frosty pepper up my nose.

Black are my steps on silver sod;

Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;

And tree and house, and hill and lake,

Are frosted like a wedding cake.

Snow. It's a nuisance and easy to get annoyed and start complaining. But when it's this beautiful- I just can't. 

God is the ultimate artist.